Chapter 55 Packing Qi Baishi
Since his classmates asked him to sign last time, Liu Hongmin has practiced his handwriting and now he has some skills. He wrote his name on the title page in a flourish and returned the book to Manager Zhang with satisfaction.
It was also the first time for Manager Zhang to see artistic calligraphy, and he tried hard to suppress the twitching of his mouth.
Soon, the staff member pushed the door and walked in.
"Manager, it's ready. There are 162 books in total, totaling 21540 yuan."
Manager Zhang looked at Liu Hongmin, Liu Hongmin looked at Zou Shifang, Zou Shifang put the suitcase on the table, opened it, and took out a stack of big unity, "This is 10,000 yuan."
Then he took out a stack of foreign exchange certificates and said, "This is 11,000."
Finally, he picked up a stack of foreign exchange coupons, counted out 540 yuan, and placed it on the table.
"cough!"
Manager Zhang didn't expect Liu Hongmin to bring so much money to buy things. Moreover, judging by the thickness of the box, there were at least tens of thousands of foreign exchange certificates.
These days are not as safe as later times. If people find out, it will be dangerous. With so much money, it is worth it for many ruthless people to take action.
Liu Hongmin took out another 10,000 foreign exchange certificates from the box, "This is the deposit we just agreed on."
Manager Zhang immediately said to the staff, "Please pack up the books for Mr. Liu, and we will find a car to take them back later."
The staff nodded stupidly and walked out of the door without recovering from the shock of the money.
Manager Zhang counted the money and then issued a receipt to Liu Hongmin.
Liu Hongmin looked at the money in the box and said to Zou Shifang, "Wait here. Brother Ma and I will go outside to take a look and buy some things."
Zou Shifang nodded and sat on the chair holding the box, as if the money in it was his own.
Although Liu Hongmin said yesterday that he had 80,000 foreign exchange certificates, Ma Weidu was still dazzled when the money was placed in front of him. He came to his senses only after he followed Liu Hongmin out of the door.
"Hongmin, is this how you got the money?"
Liu Hongmin spread his hands, "How else can I get it?"
In this era, there were no debit cards, no POS machines, and no smartphones. If you wanted to pay, you had to use cash. Foreign exchange certificates were different from RMB. They were not currency and could not be stored in a bank account. After he exchanged them, he opened a safe on the spot and kept them in it. If he had known that he would come to Rongbaozhai to buy things, he would have exchanged them for RMB directly, and then he could have directly transferred the money to the bank.
Several staff members were packing ancient books and making a list.
Liu Hongmin and Ma Weidu strolled around Rongbaozhai. The antiques in Rongbaozhai were clearly marked with prices, either a few hundred or a few thousand. Although there were more than 60,000 foreign exchange certificates left, they could not buy many of these antiques.
The two soon came to the calligraphy and painting area. Some of the calligraphy and paintings were unfolded and hung on the wall, while others were rolled up and placed on the antique display shelf.
"Is this a painting by Qi Baishi? It's only over 300 yuan?"
Ma Weidu took a look and said, "It's by Qi Baishi."
"More than 300 is already a lot. Qi Baishi is a modern painter. Compared with the previous ones, his reputation is not as great."
Liu Hongmin thought about it and realized that Qi Baishi's paintings were very valuable in later generations, and they were sold for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions at auctions.
"Ask them how many paintings by Qi Baishi they have."
Ma Weidu was stunned for a moment, then turned around and asked the staff member just now: "Old Huang, how many Qi Baishi paintings do you have?" When the staff member named Huang heard this, he was stunned for a moment, then looked at the two of them in disbelief, "You don't want to pack up Qi Baishi's paintings as well, do you?"
He really guessed it right. This was exactly what Liu Hongmin was thinking.
There are indeed quite a few paintings by Qi Baishi in Rongbaozhai's inventory, but there are not many in the store, only thirty or forty, totaling more than 20,000.
Ma Weidu looked at the paintings and said, "Old Huang, you didn't show us the best Qi Baishi painting?"
Huang, a staff member, said with a smile: "Those are worth thousands, how can they be displayed outside?"
When Liu Hongmin heard this, he immediately said, "Go get them quickly, and let me see what good stuff they are."
"Okay, wait for me for a moment!"
Huang, a staff member, first wrote down the names of the paintings and sent them to Manager Zhang for invoice. Then he asked two people to go to the warehouse. After a long time, they brought back a big box. When they opened it, they found that it was full of Qi Baishi's words.
"Look, this is 'A Pity of Silence', a book of flowers, birds, and insects. This one costs two thousand yuan."
"This is Heroic Independence. It costs 1,500 yuan."
"This is a landscape album. It costs 1,800 yuan."
"This is Twelve Landscape Screens, three thousand yuan!"
Ma Weidu took them and looked at them one by one, then said to Liu Hongmin: "These are all good things. They are the most artistically valuable parts of Qi Baishi's paintings."
Liu Hongmin was very excited. He didn't know anything else, but he had seen "Twelve Landscape Screens" on a short video, and it was said that it was sold for several hundred million yuan.
"Wrap them all up, wrap them all up!"
"Okay, you're good!" Huang, a staff member, immediately counted all the paintings in the box, "Including the previous ones, the total is 59,000 yuan."
Liu Hongmin asked Ma Weidu to look after the box, and then he and Huang, a staff member, went to the manager's office. Manager Zhang looked at the extra notes and felt numb. He now felt that even if Liu Hongmin bought the entire Rongbaozhai, he would not be surprised.
This was the first time he had seen such a wealthy domestic customer. Even if you count foreign customers, it was still rare.
Liu Hongmin and Zou Shifang counted out the money, and Manager Zhang had also issued all the bills. Huang, a staff member, took the bills and loaded the stuff into the truck. Because there were too many things, they hired a truck.
After Manager Zhang counted the money, the three of them led the truck to Shichahai and moved all the things into the yard. It was already dark.
Liu Hongmin paid for the car and sent the people from Rongbaozhai away. Then he took Zou Shifang and Ma Weidu to move all the things into the basement.
Ma Weidu looked at the huge basement and said with emotion: "How much stuff can be stored here!"
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "So, your task is very difficult. You must fill these two basements for me."
After he said that, Ma Weidu suddenly felt a lot of pressure!
After finishing the work, the three of them went to a nearby restaurant for a bite, and then stayed overnight in the courtyard. When Liu Hongmin woke up in the morning, he felt a bit pungent in his nose, which was because the formaldehyde was not completely removed.
I got up and opened the windows and doors. Zou Shifang and Ma Weidu also got up. Zou Shifang went to buy breakfast, and after eating, he went back to Beijing to call for help.
School will start in a few days, and many people have already returned to school. I happened to have nothing to do these days, so I called them over to help sort out the ancient books. For Ge Chaoguang and others, this is a rare internship opportunity.
(End of this chapter)
