Restart life

Chapter 277 0274 [Making the Big Boss Happy]

Tao Xue reluctantly left the stall.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "What, still hoping to find a bargain?"

"In novels and TV dramas, the protagonists always manage to find bargains while browsing antique stalls." Tao Xue was full of fantasies about this.

Bian Guanyue said, "If there were any loopholes, they would have been picked up by someone else long ago."

“That’s not necessarily true,” Tao Xue said.

Bian Guanyue asked, "You know about antiques?"

Tao Xue, of course, didn't understand. She tried to save face by saying, "But I like literature and have read a lot of ancient novels. I can definitely tell the difference between real and fake ancient books."

Bian Guanyue smiled.

To prove herself, Tao Xue went to a stall that sold a lot of books and picked up several books, pretending to browse through them.

There are roughly four types of people who sell antique books in the capital.

The first type is those who truly understand. These people usually own shops and won't set up stalls, and they ask for very high prices.

The second type is professional swindlers. They play dumb and pretend to be ignorant fools, saying that the book was passed down from their ancestors and that they usually use it to prop up table legs.

The third category consists of middlemen and third-tier dealers. Although they don't know how to appraise ancient books, they are very knowledgeable about market value. They have their own sourcing channels and know which books sell well and which books can fetch high prices.

The fourth type consists of seasoned veterans who lack systematic knowledge but possess extremely rich experience. They can rattle off various technical terms and jargon, but they are completely lost when faced with matters outside their experience.

The stall owner in front of me belongs to the third category. The ancient books on his stall are all mass-produced by villagers in a certain village. He can have as many as you want!
"Young lady, you have excellent taste! This isn't some cheap knock-off from a street vendor. It's a genuine official Suzhou-Hangzhou edition from the Qianlong era!"

The stall owner, probably around 50 years old, lowered his voice mysteriously: "Beijing is hosting the Olympics, so a lot of places are being demolished. This book was dug out of an old warehouse by the demolition team last year. Look at this silk cover. See? Gold threads! If you shine a light on it with a counterfeit money detector pen, you can see the anti-counterfeiting features clearly!"

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Ancient books even had hidden gold thread markings. Why didn't they use that technology to make banknotes back then?"

The stall owner said with great seriousness, "Back then, they were called silver notes. The silver notes in TV dramas are unreliable; the directors are uncultured. Real Qing Dynasty silver notes have these hidden gold thread markings."

Tao Xue was a little confused and turned to ask Chen Guiliang, "Did Qing Dynasty banknotes really have hidden gold thread marks?"

"Pfft!" Bian Guanyue couldn't help but laugh out loud.

A few years ago, if you were browsing through antique markets in Beijing, you might actually find a hidden gem: a thread-bound book. This was because the focus of both vendors and customers was generally not on the books themselves.

However, at the 2002 China Guardian Autumn Auction, "Letters of Famous Ming Dynasty Figures from the Qian Jingtang Collection" fetched a record-breaking price of 990 million yuan. Antique dealers across the country suddenly began to pay more attention to ancient books, and professional book-making teams gradually emerged.

Chen Guiliang cautioned, "The more exquisite the decoration and paper, the less you should look at it. If those 'high-quality' items were genuine, the owner would have already taken them to an auction house."

The stall owner glanced at Chen Guiliang and said, "Young man, you have good taste." He pointed to several books next to him and said, "These are really what I found. They're all genuine. They're definitely not worth millions, but selling them for a few hundred is the market price."

Tao Xue picked up those tattered thread-bound books and started reading.

Chen Guiliang glanced at two of them and found that they were both early Republican-era woodblock prints, mass-produced modern thread-bound books. Moreover, their condition was extremely poor.

It's genuine, but it's only worth a few dollars at most.

Tao Xue flipped through the pages, and Chen Guiliang noticed that one of the books was handwritten.

He took a look and found that half of the book had been soaked in water. Many of the words were unclear.

However, the title on the cover is still legible: "A Record of River Defense Experiences".

Upon closer reading, it was discovered that the author was a river management official during the Qing Dynasty, and the book's contents consisted of his technical summaries of water conservancy projects.

It wasn't exactly a bargain, but this book is definitely interesting.

"Boss, how much is this book?" Chen Guiliang asked.

The stall owner glanced at it: "This one is 1800."

Chen Guiliang said, "Didn't you just say it would be a few hundred yuan?"

The stall owner explained, "Those are from the Republic of China era, costing several hundred dollars, but this one is from the Qing Dynasty. I can read traditional Chinese characters, and it even says something like 'the 39th year of the Qianlong Emperor'."

Chen Guiliang countered, "Take away two zeros. Will you sell it for 18 yuan? It's true that this book is from the Qianlong era, but the problem is its condition is terrible. The author isn't any famous person either; it's all about water conservancy technology. Water conservancy technology from the Qing Dynasty isn't worth much now. If it were in better condition, I might buy it to collect. How can I collect it after it's been soaked in water like this?"

The shopkeeper, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, said, "18 yuan is too little. I'll give you a discount, 1500 yuan."

Chen Guiliang said, "We're just a few poor students. What kind of student carries so much money to go shopping?"

The phrase "poor student" is a powerful bargaining chip, implying that you can't squeeze much profit out of them.

The shop owner, in a fit of kindness, said, "Alright, since you're students, here's 100 yuan."

Chen Guiliang pulled out two 10-yuan bills: "I'll buy it for 20 yuan."

"80 yuan, and I'll throw in two more books from the Republic of China era for you." The shopkeeper was offering a buy-one-get-two-free bundled sale.

Chen Guiliang was too lazy to waste any more time and bought the three tattered books for 80 yuan.

Both parties feel that they have made a profit.

Once they were away from the stall, Tao Xue excitedly asked, "Did we get a bargain?"

Chen Guiliang said, "It's not clear yet. It might have some academic research value, but it's definitely not worth much. I plan to donate it to Peking University and see if they can use it."

"Let me see," Bian Guanyue said, also somewhat curious.

Chen Guiliang took out his phone and dialed a number: "Hello, Professor Han... This is Chen Guiliang... I'm not asking for advice. I just found a copy of 'A Record of River Defense' at a street stall. It was written by a Qing Dynasty river management official. He has a name and surname; his name is Zhuang Maode. If you are interested, I will donate it to Peking University."

Professor Han is a female professor in her fifties who specializes in Chinese historical geography, and is particularly skilled in the study of Chinese historical agricultural geography, social geography and environmental change.

Professor Han didn't forget to impart his knowledge over the phone: "In the Qing Dynasty, the position of Assistant Magistrate in charge of river management was divided into two levels: prefecture and state. Depending on the circumstances, the highest rank was the fifth rank, and the lowest was the sixth rank. Your book has names and titles, so it still has some research value. What does it say?"

Chen Guiliang took the book from Bian Guanyue and opened it to read the readable contents.

After reading a few pages, Professor Han became a little excited.

Professor Han said, "The author of this book describes the technology in great detail. Generally, ancient water conservancy books only briefly mention 'collecting silt after the flood season.' But what you just read is 'collecting silt from the river center three days after the summer flood season, when the water is clear and blue.' Other books basically do not record detailed proportions, but your book says 'one piece of silt, three parts sand and seven parts mud is best, mixed with twenty catties of chopped wheat straw.'"

Chen Guiliang speculated: "This is a handwritten copy, not publicly printed. It is estimated that it was written in detail to be passed down to future generations. It belongs to the secrets of a Qing Dynasty technical bureaucratic family."

Professor Han said, "Therefore, it has great academic research value and can restore some of the water conservancy technologies of the Qing Dynasty."

“Since it has research value, I will donate it to the school next Monday,” Chen Guiliang said.

Professor Han was overjoyed: "That's wonderful! On behalf of the university and the college, I thank you."

The contents of this book are enough for Professor Han to write several papers.

But books are really worthless; nobody collects them.

After Chen Guiliang hung up the phone, Tao Xue cheered excitedly: "Wow, we really got a great deal!"

Chen Guiliang tried to cheer her up by saying, "Luckily you took me to browse the street stalls, otherwise I wouldn't have come across this book."

"I told you there would be something to gain," Tao Xue said smugly.

Bian Guanyue ignored the two of them and walked straight ahead.

The three of them strolled leisurely towards the tea plantation.

It hasn't started yet, but quite a lot of people have already arrived.

Chen Guiliang even saw Zhang Guoli taking out money to send Guo Degang a wreath... oops, I mean a flower basket. Guo Degang's sudden rise to fame last year was not only due to the efforts of newspaper reporters, but also inseparable from the promotional help of celebrities such as Zhang Guoli and Yuan Li.

At this moment, Zhang Guoli and Deng Jie are both present.

"Should we send a flower basket?" Bian Guanyue asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "Send it. Consider it an invitation fee for these crosstalk performers to register on HaiNei.com."

Chen Guiliang got up and went to the backstage entrance to register the flower basket information with the production crew.

The staff asked, "Which flower basket would you like to send? We have ones that cost 80 yuan a pair, as well as ones that cost 120 or 200 yuan. We also have a super large flower basket that four people can carry, which costs 800 yuan a pair."

Chen Guiliang said, "Send two pairs of super large flower baskets. One pair for Lao Guo, and one pair for Yu Qian."

The staff member was overjoyed: "May I ask your name, sir?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Chen Guiliang."

As the staff registered the information, they wondered if the name sounded familiar.

When Chen Guiliang took out his money, he realized he didn't have enough cash, so he asked, "Can I pay by card?"

"what?"

The staff member was stunned: "We only accept cash, we don't have a machine for swiping cards... Please wait a moment."

A staff member rushed backstage and said to Guo Degang, "Master, a young man wants to send two pairs of flower baskets, each worth 800 yuan. One pair is for you, and the other pair is for Teacher Yu."

Yu Qian'er was playing with a folding fan when he heard this and laughed, "Wow, this time I'm included too."

Guo Degang said happily, "Big boss! We need to return for an encore today with two pairs of large flower baskets."

The staff member explained, "But when he took out his money, he didn't have enough cash, so he asked us if he could pay by card."

Guo Degang and Yu Qian looked at each other, they had never encountered such a thing before.

Yu Qian'er said, "You should get a POS machine here."

After thinking it over, Guo Degang said, "It's not convenient for us to show up before the performance. Go and invite that big boss in, and I'll apologize to him in person for our poor service."

The staff member left immediately, then quickly returned: "The person is gone."

Yu Qian said, "Oh dear, the big boss couldn't wait. What a pity about my big flower basket, I finally got one too."

What is Chen Guiliang doing?

I'm looking to borrow money from Zhang Guoli and also to get to know him.

Business people will inevitably need to use celebrities sometimes. Who knows, maybe in the future, when they start a video website, they'll even need to invest in and produce their own films and TV series.

"Hello, Teacher Zhang." Chen Guiliang approached and shook hands with him in a friendly manner.

Seeing that he was young, Zhang Guoli assumed he was a junior member of some family.

Zhang Guoli instinctively shook hands, then asked in a daze, "Who are you?"

Chen Guiliang said, "My name is Chen Guiliang."

Deng Jie realized: "Is that the one who argued with Li Yanhong in the newspaper... had a conflict?"

"It's me," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Zhang Guoli still didn't know who Chen Guiliang was.

Deng Jie nudged her husband's arm and said with a smile, "President Chen also likes listening to crosstalk?"

Chen Guiliang said, "This is my first time here. I wanted to give the two teachers a large flower basket, but I realized I didn't bring enough cash, and they don't accept credit cards here."

“We have it.” Deng Jie quickly took out her wallet, counted out 1600 yuan, and gave it to Chen Guiliang.

These days, rich people carry so much cash!

Chen Guiliang accepted the cash without hesitation and smiled, "Thank you, Sister Deng. Let's have dinner together sometime, and I'll pay you back then."

Deng Jie smiled and said, "We can meet for a meal anytime."

Only after Chen Guiliang left did Zhang Guoli ask, "Who was that person?"

Deng Jie said, "You know Baidu, right?"

Zhang Guoli said, "Of course I know Baidu, it's such a big company."

Deng Jie said, "This guy has been arguing with the boss of Baidu recently, and it's all over the national newspapers. You read the newspapers, how come you don't know him?"

Zhang Guoli asked, "Is his father a government official or a businessman?"

Deng Jie said, "He's a kid from the countryside who started his own business and became a boss. He's worth over a billion yuan."

“He made over a billion yuan through his own business, and he’s not that old.” Zhang Guoli found it hard to believe.

Deng Jie said, "They work in the internet industry."

"Oh, that explains it." Zhang Guoli suddenly realized.

Backstage at Deyun Club.

The staff member rushed in for the third time: "Master, Teacher Yu, that big boss is here again. This time he brought cash, I don't know where he got it from."

"Hey, you unlucky kid, what do you mean by 'I don't know where you got it from'? Did you steal it or rob it?" Guo Degang was furious.

After paying, the flower basket needs to be ordered from next door, and a couplet needs to be hung: So-and-so sends a flower basket to So-and-so, wishing So-and-so so ...

That shop also sells wreaths and makes funeral couplets.

Just as the crosstalk performance was about to begin, two pairs of large flower baskets were carried onto the stage one after another. It really took four people to carry them, making several trips back and forth.

The scene caused quite a stir, with everyone asking who had sent it.

The couplet reads "Chen Guiliang!"

Who is Chen Guiliang?

"The big boss, the one who recently had a fight with the CEO of Baidu."

"It's him! I was wondering who was so rich."

"..."

When people talk about Chen Guiliang now, if anyone doesn't know him, they'll explain it as "the one who argued with the CEO of Baidu."

His fame has indeed soared.

One audience member, who was very familiar with Guo Degang, called him directly: "Old Guo, the person who sent you that big flower basket was Chen Guiliang... He's a big boss, worth billions, and he was arguing with the CEO of Baidu the other day..."

"Huh? You didn't know? Holy crap, you signed an exclusive online contract with Tudou.com. Tudou.com was invested in by Chen Guiliang... Yeah, come on, say a few something nice..."

"You can also take the opportunity to satirize and mock Baidu, and make Mr. Chen happy... You don't know what happened? Let me tell you, Li Yanhong was talking nonsense during his speech, and he even said that Chen Guiliang's business has no future... Yes, that's what he said. Don't be afraid of offending Baidu, it's because Li Yanhong didn't come to listen to your stand-up comedy..."

(End of this chapter)