Chapter 809: Unexpected Entry
Just as we were talking excitedly, Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu arrived.
When he arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Ma Dudu looked outside the courtyard in surprise, and looked around for a long time before stepping in.
When they got inside and saw the entire courtyard that had been renovated and restored to its original state, Ma Dudu was so surprised that his eyes almost popped out.
He knew the origin of this courtyard. After all, Ma Dudu's main job was an editor at the "Youth Literature" Publishing House, and Song Yuanchao's courtyard was originally the location of a newspaper. The publishing house and the newspaper belonged to the same system, so Ma Dudu certainly knew this place.
However, I heard that the newspaper sold this courtyard several years ago, but I don’t know to whom it was sold. Today, Ma Dudu came along and found that this was the courtyard where the newspaper was originally located. After entering the door and seeing the renovated appearance inside, Ma Dudu was even more surprised.
Ma Dudu is not only a cultured person, but also an antique lover. He has in-depth research on antiques and ancient buildings.
Ma Dudu once saw what Song Yuanchao's courtyard looked like originally, but now the whole courtyard is completely different from what he remembered. Some structural changes caused by historical reasons have been completely restored, and the restoration workmanship and materials are very sophisticated, which is simply not something ordinary people can do.
More importantly, the newspaper originally only occupied most of the courtyard, but now Song Yuanchao's courtyard not only owns the part that the newspaper originally owned, but also another part that originally belonged to the overall structure of the courtyard, and then renovated it as a whole.
A large courtyard with four entrances, especially one renovated to its current state, can be said to be unique in the entire Yanjing City.
In Ma Dudu's impression, perhaps only protected buildings like the Lama Temple and Prince Gong's Mansion would be like this, but now this is just an ordinary residential building. It is really a huge undertaking to spend such a huge price and use such professional means to repair it.
What Ma Dudu saw next astonished him even more. As he walked along, he discovered that not only was the courtyard repaired perfectly, but even the exhibits inside were very exquisite.
What caught his eye were sets of exquisite Ming and Qing furniture and furnishings, which made him envious. When Xiao Qiao, who came to pick them up, stepped into the front hall, he was instantly attracted by a painting hanging there.
He was stunned at first, then raised his hand to rub his eyes, wondering if he was dazzled. But soon he found that he was not dazzled. The painting hanging in the front hall was the famous work that he recognized at first sight. If it was his own home, he would have carefully collected such a large and exquisite work. He would only take it out carefully when necessary, put on gloves, gently unfold it, and slowly appreciate it...
But now, such a fine piece is hung in the front hall, which makes Ma Dudu feel frightened. Although it is not an antique, it is also a modern fine piece. What if it is accidentally damaged? Wouldn't it be a waste of good things?
Just as he was thinking this, Ma Dudu's attention was suddenly attracted by the two large vases beside him, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
“This…this is…?” Ma Dudu almost exclaimed.
"What are you doing? Why are you making such a fuss?" Wang Shuo couldn't help but nudge Ma Dudu with his elbow and asked softly.
Ma Dudu lowered his voice and said a few words to Wang Shuo, who was immediately surprised and asked, "Did you see it right?"
"Did I see it wrong? How is that possible! They are all things with wide doors open. If I could have made a mistake, I would just dig out my eyeballs and let you step on them." Ma Dudu vowed.
"Fuck! So awesome?" Wang Shuo didn't know much about this, but he and Ma Dudu were old friends, so of course he knew Ma Dudu's level in this area. And Ma Dudu was so sure about it, which made Wang Shuo surprised.
"Let's go, let's talk inside." Ma Dudu pulled Wang Shuo's sleeve and pointed forward. Wang Shuo glanced at the front hall and nodded. The two of them walked around the front hall and went straight to the middle hall.
"Damn you, you're so late. Why are you so late?" As soon as Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu arrived, the soldier couldn't help but complain.
"Today, Dudu and I are like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. We are dazzled by the sight." Wang Shuo said with a smile, "This courtyard is amazing. We were dazzled all the way after entering the courtyard. It can be said to be unique in Beijing. By the way, is this courtyard your friend's?"
"It belongs to my brother Song. The yard is pretty nice, isn't it? Fortunately, Brother Song bought it early. He spent 21,000 yuan on it back then. The later renovations cost even more money. He specially invited professional teachers from the Department of Architecture of Beijing University to do it. He invested a huge amount of money." The soldier said with a smile.
"Twenty-one thousand? It's totally worth it!" This thought flashed through the minds of Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu at the same time. Now, this yard can't be bought even if you multiply it several times, let alone twenty-one thousand. What's more important is that there is nowhere to find such a four-story yard even if you want to!
Hearing the noise, Luo Yang and Song Yuanchao walked out of the house towards them.
"Come, let me introduce you. This is my buddy and my boss, Brother Luo Yangyang, and this is Brother Song. This yard belongs to Brother Song." The soldier introduced them to Wang Shuo and the others with a smile, and also introduced Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu.
Luo Yang hurriedly stepped forward to shake hands with them and greeted them politely. Song Yuanchao looked at Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu and smiled as he spoke of his long-admired words. As for Chen Xiaoer, there was no need to introduce him. He knew everyone, and Chen Xiaoer, Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu were also acquaintances.
Wang Shuo was not tall, had a round face and looked a little chubby, and dressed very casually. Ma Dudu looked similar to Song Yuanchao in his impression, dressed neatly, but looked much younger than he remembered.
"Brother, how much did you spend on this yard?" Wang Shuo suddenly asked this question when shaking hands with Song Yuanchao, which made Song Yuanchao stunned.
Song Yuanchao thought for a moment and said frankly, "I spent 21,000 yuan to buy this courtyard, but the cost of renovation was not small. I invested tens of thousands of yuan in total, so the total cost is close to 100,000 yuan. But that was several years ago. If I do it now, I will have to pay several times more. What do you think? Are you interested in getting one?"
"I'm not that rich. Maybe I could have gotten by a few years ago, but not now. If you don't believe me, ask Ma Dudu. Two years ago, I was so poor that I almost had to pawn my pants."
Everyone was stunned and looked at Ma Dudu, who smiled bitterly and nodded.
"That's not right. I heard your new book is selling well. How come you don't have money?"
“That all happened later. If I hadn’t been so poor that I couldn’t even afford to eat, would I have been able to write a book?” Wang Shuo had an expression that showed disdain for writing, as if writing a book was something helpless.
Seeing everyone's surprise, Ma Dudu on the side told everyone with a smile that Wang Shuo was not just saying this casually, he really wrote because he had no other choice.
As early as a few years ago, Wang Shuo was devoted to business, and his small business was thriving. He opened a roast duck restaurant in partnership with others, resold televisions, and even dabbled in clothing.
When talking about clothing, Wang Shuo was very proud. He asked everyone if they knew that "cultural shirts" were popular in Beijing several years ago. They were just ordinary old men's shirts with a few big words printed on the chest. The most famous one was "I'm annoyed, don't bother me!"
In fact, this thing was first invented by Wang Shuo, and he made a lot of money by making T-shirts from it.
"Why haven't I heard of this from you?" The soldier couldn't help but ask, "You actually did this? I remember that T-shirts were very popular for a while."
"Why bring up something that happened a long time ago?" Wang Shuo waved his hand nonchalantly, as if the matter was not worth mentioning, but there was a hint of pride in his expression.
"What happened next?" Luo Yang asked with interest. Wasn't he dealing in clothing in Dashilar at the time? When T-shirts became popular, many people even sold them in Dashilar. However, Luo Yang and his team had no interest in them. After all, they had already made a large-scale clothing business at that time and were the largest wholesalers in Yanjing. They didn't care about these small-scale things.
But then again, the fact that Wang Shuo could make something out of an ordinary old man's shirt shows that he has a good head for business. So why didn't he continue with it?
With a long sigh, Wang Shuo told Luo Yang that everything was going well at first, and he even made nearly 6,000 yuan by selling T-shirts. But later, he was reported for speculation and was "invited" to the relevant departments. Not only were all his goods confiscated, but he was also fined a large sum of money. Fortunately, he was not sentenced.
As a result, after working hard for several years, we were back to the time before liberation overnight.
Wang Shuo was a man who was good at making friends and was used to spending money lavishly. Although he had made a lot of money from business before, he didn't have much left. This time, not only did he lose his goods, but he was also fined such a large sum of money. Even if he had to pay out all his money, it would not be enough.
At that time, Wang Shuo had a job with a monthly salary of 36 yuan. Because he really could not afford the fine, the relevant departments took his actual situation into consideration and made a personalized operation, deducting the remaining fine from his salary.
That is to say, apart from the 6 yuan per month for living expenses, the remaining 30 yuan was all used to pay the fine, and he had to pay it until the fine was paid. How could Wang Shuo tolerate such an operation? Only 6 yuan a month? What can you do with this little money? It's not even enough for smoking and drinking, how can you survive? Wang Shuo made up his mind and simply quit his job. If he didn't even want a job, the fine would naturally be ignored.
But without a job and no income, one has to survive, right? And he had just gotten married and had a wife at home. There was really no other way. Wang Shuo thought that if he continued to do business now, he would have no capital, and if something went wrong before, he might be targeted by someone. If he continued to do business, he might not be able to get out after being imprisoned.
After thinking about it, Wang Shuo suddenly remembered that he had written an article a long time ago and published it for royalties. People who read the article praised him for his talent in this area. Since he couldn't do business now, it would be good to be a writer and earn some royalties. In this way, there was one less businessman Wang Shuo in the world, and one more writer Wang Shuo.
After listening to Wang Shuo's experience of how he became a writer, everyone looked at each other in surprise, thinking that this plot was even more bizarre than the novel.
But the facts were before them, and Ma Dudu's proof made them believe it. Seeing Wang Shuo still lamenting that he had not been able to become a businessman, but had become a writer by accident, they suddenly burst into laughter.
