50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 414 Returning to the Hua Mansion
Two days later, Daisy came again, bringing a power of attorney, a renovation agreement, and a whole bunch of other documents for Sun Zhiwei to sign.

Renovating a house in the United States is not a simple matter. If you have the money, it's best to outsource it. Otherwise, you'll be overwhelmed by a bunch of applications and approvals.

After a bunch of agreements were signed, Sun Zhiwei wrote two checks to Ms. Daisy.

One of them is a renovation payment to the HOA, which includes the HOA's agency supervision fees, totaling $17.

The strangest thing is that the bulk of the cost is not the renovation and agency fees, but the cost of the three large trees that are expected to be planted.

According to the designer's calculations, a tree that could shade the entire backyard would have to be at least 20 meters tall. There aren't any trees that tall near New York, so they would have to go to the surrounding mountains to find one.

Even if a suitable large tree is found, it still needs to be transported back over several hundred miles, passing through densely populated areas.

They estimate that just applying for traffic control and hiring police to maintain order along the route will cost at least $10.

Seeing how troublesome it was, he started to regret it a bit. Maybe he should just fill in that swimming pool and plant grass instead.

However, after being persuaded by Daisy, he still signed the agreement.

Daisy was right about one thing: no matter how troublesome it was, it wouldn't bother him. He just needed to pay, and someone else would take care of the trouble.

The other check was for Daisy, who had promised to buy him all the furniture and appliances for the house, and he naturally had to pay for it in advance.

Furniture and appliances in the US are relatively inexpensive, as long as you don't buy brand names.

The new house has many rooms, and he also wants to set up a gym, which is quite expensive. So, he prepaid Daisy $10.

With that, everything in New York was done.

He realized he hadn't been back to Washington for months, and he didn't know how much testing business had piled up.

Belinda and the others haven't received any extra commission in the past few months; they might already be cursing him. He should hurry back.

On the afternoon of May 12, Sun Zhiwei returned to Washington.

He checked the time after leaving the airport and saw it was only 1:30 pm. Thinking that the store was already open, he simply went straight there.

As soon as I entered the antique shop, I was greeted by Belinda, who looked delighted.

He was very happy to see her after not seeing her for several months and was about to open his arms to give her a "Golden Pearl Mami Ya Gudu" when Belinda's smile vanished in the next second.

Then, she snorted coldly and turned to go inside.

Sun Zhiwei could only awkwardly retract his half-open hands, and then quickly went inside amidst the laughter of the customers and sales girls around him.

The antique shop is now entirely dependent on Belinda, and he can't afford to offend her and drive her away.

So Sun Zhiwei quickly caught up with Belinda, showering her with compliments, and finally managed to appease her by offering her a raise and making vows.

But when he saw the mountain of special appraisal orders, he was also overwhelmed.

He's been working sporadically, and his appraisal fees have gone up. Even the fee for him to sign a $2 certificate has increased to $500. Why are so many people still insisting on having him do their appraisals?

He had no idea that over the years, as time went by, he had appraised more and more items, and his reputation was growing steadily.

His reputation in the antique industry is spreading at an astonishing pace. This is solely due to his ability to authenticate anything and his guarantee of authenticity.

What's remarkable is that he hasn't made a single mistake so far, and no one has said that his assessment results are inaccurate, which is quite rare.

In the authentication industry, making such a guarantee means risking one's own reputation. Authentication experts will not sign the certificate if they have even the slightest uncertainty.

Of course, those who scam money don't count; such people won't go far, and they'll be exposed sooner or later.

You know, there are many big shots in the antique collecting world. Nobody knows if any of the things they randomly appraise might end up in the hands of a big shot.

To give a simple example, imagine someone gives a gift to a powerful figure, but it turns out to be a fake. Do you think the person who gave the gift and the powerful figure would both want to kill the appraiser?

Looking at the hundreds of appraisal appointments on the register, Sun Zhiwei could only turn to Belinda and say, "From now on, my signing fee will be increased to $5000 per item."

Belinda blinked in disbelief as she heard this, and he could only explain, "There are just too many people coming to me for appraisals. I won't appraise items of lower value anymore; it's a waste of time."

"However, this won't affect you much. My signing fee will increase tenfold, and your commission will also increase tenfold. It shouldn't be much different from now."

“Boss, that’s not what I’m worried about. My salary is already very high.”

"I'm worried that this will reduce the number of customers in the store."

“Belinda, don’t worry. You don’t understand human psychology. The more people can’t find me for authentication, the more they will cherish the opportunity to have my authentication done.”

"I'll teach you another way. Make 10 exquisite number plates and engrave the numbers 1 to 10 on them. From now on, I will only accept 10 orders per month on the surface, and only for members of the store."

The members Sun Zhiwei mentioned are actually customers who have purchased antiques in the store or had multiple high-value appraisals done. Most of them are regulars at the bar next door.

"Boss, aren't 10 too few? This might offend the guests."

"Sigh, silly girl, I already said it's all about the public. For orders from customers you don't want to offend, you can take them privately, just make sure the quantity isn't too much."

"Oh, I understand, boss."

After agreeing on the new appraisal rules with Belinda, he started getting busy. With over 200 antiques scheduled for appraisal, even at his current appraisal speed, it took him ten days to complete.

Ten days later, Belinda calculated the revenue from Sun Zhiwei's appointment for the appraisal, and found that she had received more than 140 million yuan in appraisal fees in those ten days.

221 certificates of authenticity were issued, each worth $500, for a total of $110,500.

Belinda, who was in charge of producing the appraisal report, and the two temporary workers were exhausted. Seeing this, Sun Zhiwei simply didn't wait until the end of the month and settled their commissions on the spot.

The two temporary workers were paid $100 a week. They worked for 10 days and each received a commission of $750, which is equivalent to one and a half months' salary for them. This is quite a lot for the two students.

Before Belinda started working for him, her weekly food expenses were only a few dozen dollars.

Amidst this busy schedule, May quickly passed.

During this period, the embassy did not assign him any new tasks. At present, the focus of domestic work is on diplomacy and the economy, and there are no further requirements for him.

In June, Sun Zhiwei received news that Jimmy's staff in the White House had begun pushing for a Strategic Offensive Arms Limitation Treaty with Russia.

(End of this chapter)