Volume 3 Summer Rain Chapter 0312: A Pear Blossom Overshadows a Begonia
"Nan Yi, it's you, little brat. Why did you think of coming to see me, your grandpa, today after not showing up for several years?"
Old Kan’s full name is Kan Hongzhen. Nan Yi guessed that this name was changed later. Before, he was called Xiao Fuzi, Xiao Shunzi or something like that to suit his identity.
Before liberation, he was an apprentice in an antique shop. After the trust store started business, he was lucky enough to become a clerk in the store. He was responsible for evaluating prices in the purchasing department and was considered to be an expert in the field.
"Old Kan, stop taking advantage of me."
"Why, I'm not old enough to be your grandfather?"
"You're just a jerk." Nan Yi nodded at Kan Hongzhen and said, "Do you plan to work here until you retire?"
"I'm already over 50, and I'm not far from retirement. Why not work until I retire? Tell me, why are you here today? You're not thinking of going back to your old job, are you? That's impossible. Now I can work openly. You don't need me anymore."
"Don't make me sound so heartless that I can't come to you to reminisce about the past. You said that the wind has changed, and what happened between us in the past is no longer a big deal. So, I came to see you."
Kan Hongzhen smiled and said, "I knew you were a reliable guy, otherwise I wouldn't have cooperated with you in the first place."
Nan Yi really wanted to say "shit". In the antique circulation process, Kan Hongzhen's job was to help with identification so that Nan Yi would know what price to ask the buyer. The other job was to turn a blind eye when issuing the order.
To entrust a consignment, the trust store must register and issue an invoice, the seller's information must also be recorded, and the grain book must be produced. In the past few years, the grain book could verify a person's identity better than the household registration book.
The purpose of registering the seller's information is to prevent the goods from being stolen. If there is really a problem with the goods, the police station can easily catch the person based on the food certificate.
What Kan Hongzhen was going to do was not very risky. He did not sell the antiques to the state-owned antique shops, but sold them to Nan Yi at the door. They had to hide the extra money themselves for fear of leaking the news, so they dared not play any tricks. Therefore, the possibility of being accused of receiving stolen goods was very small.
But the share is not small, and it can be said that he is guaranteed to make a profit. In addition, the person he is cooperating with is such a reliable person as Nan Yi, so Kan Hongzhen can be said to have picked up a big piece of fat meat for free.
"Come on, you got a great bargain. So, you won't bury the money you got in the ground, right?"
"How could I do something that only a nouveau riche would do? Look, I have two sons. Two years ago, I borrowed money from all my relatives, friends, and neighbors to buy two courtyard houses, one for each son.
Now I have to pay back my salary every month, and I can only enjoy meat once a year during the Chinese New Year." Kan Hongzhen's face was full of cunning when he spoke.
It's good to borrow money from everyone. Borrowing money makes a big fuss, while borrowing from the left hand to the right hand will not be noticeable. Others will only say that Kan Hongzhen is popular and has wide connections.
"Inner city?"
"Why not buy somewhere else? No matter how the world changes, the houses in the old city will definitely maintain their value. When the Japanese invaded, the houses in the outer city were not necessarily sold out, but the houses in the old city have not dropped much in value."
"Wise." Nan Yi gave a thumbs up and said sincerely.
If Kan Hongzhen's son was not a rebellious son and not so ambitious as to sell his house to start a business, his grandchildren would surely live a happy life.
Kan Hongzhen can be said to be a man who protects three generations and is worthy of his ancestors.
"You came at the right time today. You are interested in antique watches, right? I just collected a few. Take a look and take the ones you like."
"Haha, you use the writing so easily." Nan Yi chuckled and followed Old Kan to his workbench.
Kan Hongzhen opened the drawer, took out a piece of red velvet, put it on the table and opened it, revealing small pieces of things wrapped in red velvet. From the appearance, one could tell that they were definitely watches.
Kan Hongzhen first opened a red velvet cloth and showed a watch inside. Nan Yi picked it up and looked at it, then sneered, "This is a special watch made by Seagull for the Air Force, number D304. It's a good watch, but it's only 20 years old. Can it be considered an antique?"
"It's only twenty bucks, isn't it a good watch?"
"Okay, it's a good watch indeed." Nan Yi changed his attitude when he heard the price. With such a good price, how could it be a bad product? "Can I take it directly?"
"You can't take it. Why should I show it to you? Reform and opening up have changed the market economy. It's the same for our trust store. Everything is based on efficiency. We can sell it without putting it in the sales department. Everyone is happy."
"Okay, then I'll give you a good opening today."
Nan Yi continued to look at the watch in his hand, and even put it close to his ear to listen to the sound of the movement.
Then, Kan Hongzhen took out another watch without a strap, but with two pieces of thick leather protruding from the sides of the dial to serve as a handshake, "Do you know it?"
"Don't test me. I know a lot about watches. At least I know this one. It's a wallet watch made by Tavannes for Hermès. I don't know which year it was made."
"It's from 1928." Kan Hongzhen said, and took out another notebook, opened it, and used tweezers to pick out a piece of paper that looked like an invoice receipt. "I don't know English either, but I know a few dates. Take a look for yourself."
Nan Yi leaned over to take a look and immediately complained, "What English? This is French. It's a wallet receipt issued by the Hermès store on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Great stuff. With this receipt, the value of this watch has skyrocketed. How much is it?"
"fifteen."
"The watch is broken?" Nan Yi asked in surprise.
He thought that this watch shouldn't be sold so cheaply.
"There's something wrong with the movement. You need to find someone to fix it."
"No, I won't repair it. This is a lady's watch. I have no use for it. I'll keep it and exchange it with someone else later."
Unless you can find replacement parts of the same era and model, the value of the watch may drop sharply after it is repaired, because the historical heritage has been lost.
Kan Hongzhen then took out a few watches like he was presenting treasures. Nan Yi picked out three of them, a 1919 Cartier Tank watch, a 1908 Audemars Piguet large complication pocket watch, and a 1920 Waltham Dépollier military watch.
As the saying goes, poor people play with cars, rich people play with watches. In his previous life, Nan Yi was also a wealthy man, and antique watches were also his hobby, but he looked at them more than he bought them.
The cheaper antique watches cost tens of thousands of US dollars, while the more expensive ones can easily cost millions. With his nine-zero RMB, he could hardly buy many of them.
He can only buy a few cheap ones to satisfy his craving , and the rest are just opportunities for him to look at and touch. If you ask him to spend millions of dollars to buy a watch, he really won't be willing to do so.
Playing with the watch in his hand, Nan Yi asked Kan Hongzhen, "The person who came to sell the watch should not be the original owner, right?"
"How could they be the original owners? They were all the ruffians who smashed and robbed everywhere back then. They don't know the value of things. If they get the things, they will ruin them. Do you like antiques now? If you do, you can go find them. I guess they still have a lot of good things."
"Forget it. It would be a waste if it fell into my hands. Apart from watches, I don't like other antiques. Old Kan, if you like it, just keep it for yourself."
"Where can I get so much money? I've already spent most of it on buying a house, and there's not much left."
Nan Yi wrapped up the watch and put it in his pocket. "If you really want to, I can pay you. We are an old relationship. I won't mention the old rule that the shopkeeper takes 15%. I will just give you 20%."
"Okay, what are the rules?"
"Let's talk about the charter another day. You should first figure out what you want to do, how to do it, and how much money you want me to invest." Nan Yi said, taking out his wallet from his pocket and counting out a few foreign exchange certificates. "I'll give you the foreign exchange certificates so that you can explain yourself better."
"Open and bright." Kan Hongzhen gave a thumbs up.
"Let me put it this way. I'll go to the sales department to see if there's anything good to buy. I'll come see you again in a few days, and we'll find a place to have a few drinks."
"Okay, I'll wait for your letter then."
There is also an unspoken rule in trust stores - old is not as good as new.
This means that old goods cannot be sold cheaper than new goods. With this unspoken rule, it is easy to find bargains here, and thus it has given rise to some people who make a living by picking up bargains here.
There are trust stores in Xidan, Caishikou, Tianqiao, Xisi, Dongsi, Beixinqiao and Xinjiekou. Many people get up early in the morning and go to the black market first. At six or seven o'clock, the black market is closed, so they go to have breakfast and kill time. When the trust stores open at eight o'clock, they go to visit each trust store one by one.
No need, and it is impossible to make gains every day. This is also considered an antique business. The key is to close the business for three years and make a living for three years after you open it.
When Nan Yi and the school beauty walked into the sales department of the trust store, his hands and head began to get busy. Sometimes he nodded at people, and sometimes he had to bow to others.
The circle is actually very small. Those who are currently making a living by picking up leftovers were actually not idle in the past two years, and they are actually familiar with each other.
In the past, even if we met, we would pretend not to know each other and everyone would hide it from each other. Now it doesn’t matter. Not to mention that Nan Yi has already withdrawn, but now no one cares, so we can do it openly.
After walking around the store for a while, Nan Yi's eyes were fixed on a phonograph. The item was well maintained. It was a Victory Dog Tag E-type hand-cranked large-horn phonograph from the first batch at the beginning of the century.
Nan Yi had no expertise in phonographs, but his grandmother Fang Mengyin had one exactly the same. She had said that when the dollar was at its strongest, this machine sold for nearly a thousand dollars.
Let me put it this way, Lu Xun bought No. 11, Nei Badaowan, Xizhimen, which was a mansion with 32 rooms. This mansion is not considered a mansion by today's standards, but it was extremely luxurious back then, and can be directly compared to the Tangchen Yipin which was just launched in the early 21st century.
For this house, he spent only 3,725 dollars, and that was the year he bought it. The purchasing power of dollars has declined.
A comparison leads to a conclusion that this phonograph was really not something that ordinary people could afford back then.
Nan Yi was looking at it, and a middle-aged man next to him was also looking at it, and he seemed to be tempted. Nan Yi saw that it was not a good idea, so he quickly cupped his hands and said, "Sir, I like this item, I like it, I will use it for myself."
After hearing Nan Yi's words, the middle-aged man's face darkened. He paused, bowed, and walked away.
This is what is called "I respect you one foot, you have to respect me ten feet next time." If Nan Yi meets this middle-aged man again next time, Nan Yi will have to give in unconditionally, no matter how much Nan Yi wants the object they both like.
Of course you don't have to give it to him, but you have to give compensation. See what the middle-aged man wants, satisfy him, and make him nod and give the thing to you. Otherwise, Nan Yi will be breaking the rules.
If you break this rule in an industry, then forget about staying in this industry, as your peers will unite to squeeze you out.
I saw fierce bidding for good things, and people passing knives under the table, but that was later. Nowadays, there are many good things to see, and everyone is more humble and accommodating.
Nan Yi wanted to call the waiter over to ask about the price, but then he thought, well, this is all in China. Thinking of this, he quickly walked over to the waiter and asked, "Comrade, how much is the phonograph?"
"Forty-five."
"Okay, I'll buy it then."
Nan Yi hurried to the cashier to pay and get the ticket. After getting the ticket, he asked the school beauty to take the ticket out first.
Put the things away first, to avoid any bloody incident.
Nan Yi has already seen two foreigners coming in at the door of the trust store. If the foreigners take a fancy to his phonograph, Nan Yi will have to overturn the table to save it.
Nan Yi continued walking around and saw another pair of official hat chairs.
As the name suggests, the official hat chair is named after the hat worn by ancient officials. From the side view of the official hat chair, the armrests are similar to the front of the hat, and the back of the chair is similar to the back of the hat.
In terms of line treatment, the seat, legs and crossbars are basically straight, and from a functional perspective, the backrest is slightly curved to change the rigidity into flexibility. The official hat chair is one of the representative works of Ming-style furniture and is the best among chairs. It can be divided into the southern official hat chair and the four-head official hat chair.
Nan Yi stood in front of a pair of chairs and looked them over several times before confirming that this pair of chairs should be the early Qing Dynasty Huanghuali Southern Official Hat Chairs inlaid with burl wood and Ruyi cloud patterns, made in Suzhou, and not too expensive.
I looked at the sign next to it: Official Hat Chair, ￥50.00.
Nan Yi calculated that if he went to the ghost market or to rummage through an old house, once he started moving, the cost of gas plus the food and necessities for the school beauty and the others, finding a pair of such chairs might cost more than fifty yuan.
It’s not expensive, so you can get it. And since there’s a receipt, the source is clear and you can sell it for a higher price in the future.
Nowadays, except for people in the antique business, ordinary people don’t value old items at all. What they pursue are the three major items: color TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. It is not uncommon to see Yuan blue and white porcelain pickle jars and Chenghua Doucai chicken-shaped cup cat food bowls.
Just think about it, if this kind of thing had not really happened, how could those who planted the mines later deceive people?
Especially after that decade, some people were implemented into policies and some antiques were returned, but the knowledgeable family members had already left, leaving behind unworthy descendants who sold the gold as dog shit;
Many valuable items were sold for a small amount of money, and then other owners picked them up at a bargain price. After a few years, they became rich by picking up the bargain items.
Why are there some rules in the antique business that are accepted by insiders but difficult for outsiders to understand?
It's very simple. People in the antique business are bound to be involved in at least one of the following: cheating, deceiving, kidnapping, stealing, and tomb robbing. Some even have all seven. It is understandable that they package themselves with culture and rules in order to whitewash themselves and to raise their status.
After all, it is also a business. Unlike other businesses where you have to respectfully welcome others to come back next time, in the antique business, if someone sells you a fake, you can still spit on it and call you an idiot.
Don't even think about getting a refund. That's called being blind and paying tuition. You bought a fake product only because you are a fool. People cheated you, that's called wisdom.
Nan Yi has an idea to find a group of counterfeiters, no, it should be said that they are masters of imitating antiques, in a couple of years, to first destroy the antique business, and then slowly cultivate the market again.
Let's keep this idea in mind for now and wait until we find a good partner.
Nan Yi paid for the chair first, and then looked at other things. It was strange that some had price tags but some did not. He didn’t see a price tag on the phonograph just now.
"I remember there were price tags in the past. Was it to facilitate the collection of foreign exchange coupons?" Nan Yi muttered to himself and was soon attracted by a stack of vinyl records.
He walked over and flipped through the collection. They were all records from the Republic of China period, including those by Yao Li, Bai Guang, Wu Yingyin, Bai Hong, Gong Qiuxia, Zhou Xuan, and Li Xianglan. He missed all the others and only focused on Zhou Xuan's.
His grandmother Fang Mengyin liked Zhou Xuan, and Nan Yi himself liked her too. And from the perspective of appreciation, only Zhou Xuan's records were more valuable. After all, Zhou Xuan is no longer with us, and the others are all birthday celebrants.
After a while of picking, Nan Yi picked out two albums by Zhou Xuan. Then when he saw a record, he stopped, took out the record, looked at the two hand-shaped patterns on the record, and then looked at the thickness of the record.
That’s right, this is the “bone plate” from the Soviet revisionists in the 1950s.
Nan Yi looked at the paper cover of the record again. It should be a random cover, not the original one, so he couldn't figure out what song was on the bone disc.
However, the most likely album to use bone discs is Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock".
In the 1950s, pop music lovers in the Soviet Union tried every means to get the latest rock music. Some fanatical fans invented the technology of using waste X-ray films to copy vinyl records. From then on, "bone discs" became popular throughout the Soviet Union as a special cultural symbol. In its short life, it recorded the hardships and joys of a generation of young people.
Nan Yi guessed that this bone disc must have been left behind by the Soviet revisionist experts back then. It is impossible for people who went to study in the Soviet revisionist countries at that time to bring back such a bone disc, as it would not pass the customs inspection.
Even for Soviet revisionist experts, it was not easy to bring them here, but I didn’t expect that there were rock fans among them.
I heard that this bone disc would be broken after being listened to two or three times. I don’t know how many times it has been listened to. Nan Yi picked up the bone disc and looked at the degree of wear and tear through the light.
It's badly worn, probably broken.
But it doesn't matter. There shouldn't be many of these things left in the world. They can all be considered Soviet revisionist antiques. It won't be a bad idea to sell them in the future or to show off.
Nan Yi put the bone disc and Zhou Xuan's two records aside and continued to search through the pile of records.
At this time, a middle-aged man and a girl of about sixteen or seventeen walked over intimately, and the girl's hand reached directly for the record that Nan Yi had placed aside.
"Sorry, this is the one I picked." Nan Yi quickly reminded.
The girl said, "Comrade, please give it to me. I like Zhou Xuan very much."
Nan Yi looked at the girl, then at the man beside her. The girl just looked familiar to him; as for the man, he recognized him at a glance.
Luo Xun, an actor from Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong, is the type who doesn't need makeup to play villains. Nan Yi has seen many Hong Kong films in which he has participated.
So, the girl next to her is Le Yun, who would rather not play Wang Xifeng and go to Xiangkeng to pursue her career?
"Sorry, I like it too."
Luo Xuan glanced at the price tag on the side and said to Nan Yi in a very polite manner, "Sir, please give these two tickets to this lady. I will pay for as many tickets as you want."
"Thank you for your kindness, but I really like it too."
When Le Yun heard Nan Yi say this, he pulled Luo Xun's hand with a pleading look on his face.
Luo Xun was like an old tree blooming. He was provoked by the pitiful look of Le Yun, who had not yet started. He had to be domineering for once, so he shouted loudly: "Waiter, waiter."
He doesn't even need to reveal his identity. Just by speaking Cantonese, everyone knows he is a Hong Kong coward.
Nan Yi could guess the direction of events that would follow with his toes. It was really fucked up that he had to encounter such a bloody thing even when shopping in a trust store.
The Hong Kong cowards in 1983 were more difficult to deal with than the white people.
Without waiting for the clerk to come over, Nan Yi immediately admitted his mistake and said, "Here you go, here you go."
"Thank you." Le Yun said.
Luo Xun gave him a look that said, "You better know your place."
Nan Yi smiled bitterly in his heart and continued to search through the pile of records, hoping to find another one of Zhou Xuan's.
After the couple left, the school beauty took the initiative to move closer to Nan Yi.
"Shaw Brothers, Luo Wen, find his wife and tell her that her husband has found a concubine in the mainland."
"that's all?"
"That's it for now, we'll talk about the rest later."
Nan Yi would not retaliate too harshly since they only took away his two records. Otherwise, there would be countless accidents that could be arranged, whether it was the wire breaking, the prop gun shooting real bullets, or the car explosion scene really killing people.
"clear."
Nan Yi searched for a while, but didn't find any more Zhou Xuan's records, so he had to give up. He paid for the bone plate first, and then continued searching, finding a few small items.
As soon as he walked out of the trust store, a middle-aged man with a wretched look approached Nan Yi and said, "Comrade, do you have cloth coupons? I'll buy them for a high price."
"You are sick, right? We are cracking down on it. Besides, go to the market to collect cloth coupons. Have you ever seen a man holding any of the coupons?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I just did it. Thank you." The ticket scalper didn't even mention the crackdown. He just said thank you and turned away.
Looking at the people who were reselling tickets, Nan Yi wondered, the cloth coupons haven't been announced to be cancelled yet, have these people already heard about it?
Nan Yi did see some news about cloth coupons in the "Mouthpiece Newspaper", but no rumor had been published. Were these ticket scalpers gambling, or was there someone providing the information?
In 1981, many cotton textile manufacturers stopped accepting cloth coupons for sales promotion due to product backlogs. At that time, the sale of cloth coupons was popular for a while, but it died down two years later. It seems that the sale of cloth coupons is starting to become popular again.
Once the cloth coupons are cancelled, the cloth coupons in your hand will become waste, but no one will exchange them with you for any compensation. These ticket dealers have channels to exchange them for large amounts of cloth. They buy cloth coupons at a low price, exchange them for cloth with some money, and then sell them at a high price. They make a lot of money this way.
But not everyone can earn this kind of money. Without huge power in the Second Light Industry Bureau, you can’t make it at all.
