money trouble

Chapter 204 The Symbol of Nobility
According to Rosalind, among the auction houses, even the auctions held by the top auction houses in the world still have a lot of secret operations.For example, the most common "chandelier asking price".

"Chandelier bidding" is a typical trick in art auctions. The auctioneer pretends to see someone bidding in the auction room at the beginning of the bidding, but in fact, the auctioneer is not referring to anyone raising his hand, he is just pointing to the ceiling on the chandelier.

The auction house believes that this method of asking prices is harmless, and some auctioneers explained that "calling prices for chandeliers" can avoid exposure of the guaranteed reserve price, thereby protecting the interests of sellers.The auctioneer believes that if there is no such means, the bidding may have to start from the reserve price, because that is the lowest price the seller can accept, so that everyone knows where the price is.

As for the props to drive up the price, they can be found everywhere, and there are countless tricks in it.

"Okay, let's do as you say."

Wu Qian thought that since he had hired bodyguards, he naturally had to listen to professional guidance and arrangements. Even the head of state often listened to the bodyguards, and Rosalind knew far more about auctions than he did. If you behave irrationally, you are the one who loses money. Although you don't care about money, it is also very bad to lose money foolishly.

Seeing that Wu Qian did not insist on taking part in the shooting, several bodyguards were immediately relieved.

"In the past few days, Sotheby's auction house has been previewing the auction items. Boss, would you like to go over and check the authenticity of the cultural relics?" Rosalind asked.

Appreciation, preheating, or pre-appraisal can be carried out during the preview process. If it is confirmed that it is a counterfeit after the auction, it will be more troublesome to defend its rights.Although Sotheby's has a great reputation, it is difficult to guarantee that the appraisers will not miss it.

Moreover, in recent years, there have been some very bad customs, mainly in the cultural relics of the Celestial Dynasty. The auction house found that some people who made imitations were very skilled, and those who made imitations thought that foreign people were easy to deceive, and the prices were relatively high. Selling it to the auction house, but I didn't know that I still cheated my own people in the end!

Wu Qian smiled and said: "The porcelain, jade, calligraphy and paintings encouraged me to look at them, but I was blinded. I'd better find a professional to help me look."

Wu Qian can accept spending money, or even spending a little more, but he can't accept buying fake ones.Thinking of this, Wu Qian raised his wrist and glanced at the time. It was 6:[-] in London time, and it was already early morning on the Tianchao side.

"I can't help it, I can only trouble General Manager Yao." Wu Qian smiled awkwardly, and then dialed Yao Xinlu's number.

Beijing time, at 2:[-] in the morning, Yao Xinlu naturally sleeps soundly. These days, she is busy with the acquisition of video sites, and she is too mentally labored during the day. She sleeps very well at night, but she has more dreams.

The princess room was dark and gloomy, except for a small swan night light next to the bedside table.

I don't know what dream Yao Xinlu had again, the corners of her mouth curled up, it should be a sweet dream, suddenly, a bell rang on the bedside table, Yao Xinlu's eyes suddenly opened.

"Wu Qian!" Yao Xinlu whispered, and quickly picked up the phone to check, it was indeed Wu Qian's call.Although Wu Qian's call disturbed her sweet dreams, she didn't have the energy to get up and answered the call quickly.

"Hey, Wu...Wu Qian, is that you?" Yao Xinlu tried hard to wake up her brain.

8000 kilometers away, Wu Qian felt a little apologetic when he heard Yao Xinlu's drowsy voice. It was a bit too much to wake her up at 2 o'clock in the morning.

"General Manager Yao, I disturbed your sleep. There is something urgent and there is no way to delay it. Can you concentrate and listen to me now?" Wu Qian asked, he was afraid that Yao Xinlu would be half asleep and half awake, so he finally ignored his words.

Yao Xinlu shook her head and said, "Yes, you can tell me, and I will listen."

"It's like this. There is an auction here in London in two days. I plan to take some porcelain, jade, calligraphy and paintings, but I can't find a suitable appraiser here. Please help me contact some people in this field from China, as soon as possible Arrange for them to come here as quickly as possible. There is still a day and a half left for the preview, and the auction will be held in the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, and the time should be able to catch up."

There is a saying in collecting antique calligraphy and paintings that "the latest to get started, the earliest to go out", which means that when you have a successful career and money, you can buy a car, a house, and jewelry. As you grow older, you accumulate wealth and improve your taste. , I finally thought of playing with the collection of antique calligraphy and paintings, this is the so-called latest entry.

The earliest thing to say about going out is that whenever there is a little economic crisis, antique calligraphy and paintings and other items are also the first batch of assets to be liquidated.Gold in troubled times and antiques in prosperous times have always been like this.

Yao Xinlu's father had a hobby of collecting. She didn't expect Wu Qian, who was two years younger than herself, to fall in love with this industry. She was very surprised. Wu Qian's mental age is not too calm and old-fashioned.

Naturally, she would not speak out what was in her mind. Yao Xinlu thought about the problems Wu Qian was facing now, and asked, "Wu Qian, the works of art you want to bid for are ancient Chinese porcelain, jade and celebrity calligraphy and paintings, right?"

"Well, yes, you must have a senior appraiser, and don't look for those experts who pretend to be mysterious." Wu Qian said.Those who are capable are making a fortune silently, but those with half a bucket of water keep shaking and watching TV everywhere, fearing that others will not know his ability.

"Okay, I will make arrangements and send the appraiser team to London as soon as possible. If there is any progress, I will let you know immediately." Yao Xinlu has already got out of bed, and she feels that she can't fall asleep again.

"Okay, I'll wait for your call. I'm in a hurry this time, let's increase the fee by 30%, that's all. I'm disturbing you to sleep, I'll bring you a gift back to you." After finishing speaking, Wu Qian hung up the phone.

Yao Xinlu held the phone to calm down, and said softly: "Wu Qian, do you know what gift I want?" After speaking, Yao Xinlu stopped thinking about these things, got up and took a shower to wake up.

After finishing the arrangement, Wu Qian had a comfortable dinner, and then went to the spa of Corinthia Hotel for a spa. The spa of Corinthia Hotel is known as the best spa in Europe, and it is only for hotel suites and above. customers are open.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, which is 7 o'clock in Beijing time, Wu Qian received a call from Yao Xinlu, and had arranged for a team of nine appraisers to set off. There were three people in each field of calligraphy and painting, jade and porcelain, all of whom were experienced appraisers in the industry.

The greatest credit for being able to find the appraiser so quickly is Yao Xinlu's father. After all, he is also a collector and has contact with people in this field. He has some connections, otherwise it would be impossible to contact the three fields in such a short period of time. senior appraiser.

Some of these appraisers are serving the top domestic auction houses, some are folk masters, and some are... collectors who have failed in business.In short, these people's skills in appraising cultural relics from the Celestial Dynasty will not be inferior to Sotheby's internal appraisers.

After the matter is settled, the appraiser team will arrive in London after calculating a correct time according to the time, and Wu Qian has a lot of time to make arrangements.

"Okay, the matter of cultural relics identification is settled, and the rest is to look at the things I really like." Wu Qian took the auction catalog back to the room from the hotel reception, and lay on the bed to read it comfortably.

The four bodyguards, Rosalind and Wu Qian lived together in the royal attic suite, after all, there were three rooms, and the other three bodyguards arranged their own accommodation, all distributed in the Corinthia Hotel.

Wu Qian flipped through the auction catalog with great interest. What was unusual was that this time he was not looking at the antique car auction column, but real estate.

Wu Qian is not very interested in domestic real estate, and commercial housing in recent years is not very interesting, but he has a very strong interest in manors and castles near London.

Just kidding, what kind of houses are the Chinese buildings on the same level as the British castle, not to mention how many are left, the problem is that you can't buy it even if you have money.

There are many ancient castles and manors on the British land, many of which are world-famous. Having a country manor or castle covering a huge area is definitely a symbol of status and wealth.

In the early years, the British aristocracy had a traditional concept. The aristocracy always regarded owning a manor in the countryside as a symbol of their status.Especially those ancient castles, palaces and villas with historical heritage are excellent signs of their wealth and taste.The "mansion" is built in London, but the "home" must be in the country.

The ancient castles and manors are not only full of various stories in the long history, but also become the filming places of many classic film and television dramas in modern times.

Bamburgh Castle, which stands on the protruding basalt rocks by the coast, is the filming location of "Harry Potter", "Elizabeth", "Black Jazz" and other dramas.

The 400-year-old Hatfield Palace is the filming location of "Shakespeare in Love", "Batman", "Sherlock Holmes" and other dramas.In addition, Highclere Castle in "Downton Abbey" is even more famous.

Annick Castle is the holy place in the hearts of Harry fans - the main location of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is located in Annick in the northeast of England. It is a medieval style castle. The "Quidditch" competition in China was held on the front level of the castle.

Legend has it that Glamis Castle is the weirdest castle in Scotland. Shakespeare, the great writer, was inspired by the ghost legend here and wrote one of his famous four tragedies, "Macbeth".This French and Scottish-style building was built in 1372, and there is a large landscaped garden outside the castle.

Although the castles and manors auctioned by Sotheby's this time may not necessarily be the filming locations of a certain drama, they are also of great importance. Some occupy a huge area, some have beautiful scenery, and some are of great historical significance.

Not only that, the supporting facilities of castles and manors are extremely rich, such as swimming pools and tennis courts, helipads, wine cellars, cigar rooms, billiard rooms, etc. Needless to say, almost every manor and castle has them.

There are also horse farms built next to some manors, and British thoroughbred horses can be raised in the stables, and the wide grasslands and horse tracks can gallop freely.There is even a nine-hole golf course within the grounds of an old castle.

The shooting level of Sotheby's is also top-notch. The villas, manors or castles are photographed beautifully. Under the special filter, they are full of the luxurious and heavy sense of historical accumulation, which makes people feel the authenticity without knowing it. British nobility.

This charm is difficult to imitate through imitation, it needs hundreds of years of slow accumulation, and it can never be achieved overnight.

"Such a large piece of land, and the estimated price is so low? Buy, buy, buy!" Wu Qian lay on the soft bed, flipping through the auction catalog, muttering words, and his eyes sparkled.

The estimated value of the 125-acre Gardner Manor by the Thames River is only 1000 million pounds. 125 acres is 50.5 square meters. Wu Qian also has a certain concept of this range in his mind because he bought a few pieces of land in the capital. .

Wu Qian rolled over on the bed, found the mobile phone and called Rosalind, asking her to come up. Although it is a suite, the bedroom is a little far away from the bedroom.

Rosalind has not slept yet, and is doing fitness exercises in the room. Her fitness habits are somewhat similar to Jason Statham. She is good at using all the surrounding environment for fitness, not limited to the gym.

After receiving the notice from the BOSS, Rosalind felt a little uneasy. Wu Qian looked at her eyes a little bit wrong today, but Rosalind couldn't ask why.It's not surprising that some kind of special relationship and relationship develops between bodyguards and employers, especially personal bodyguards, but isn't this progress too fast?

Rosalind had a feeling of "attendant, come to my room". She wiped off her sweat with a towel, changed her clothes, stood in front of the mirror and smiled, secretly encouraging herself.

Wu Qian has never seen Rosalind's smile before, otherwise he would be amazed, because Rosalind and Gal Gadot are six points alike if they are not smiling, but if they are grinning, they are almost the same Eighty percent alike.

Two minutes later, Rosalind went up the spiral staircase to the floor where Wu Qian was.

"Come on, Rosalind, tell me, if I want to buy some real estate in England, is there any difficulty?" Wu Qian took Rosalind's hand and sat on the sofa, and was ready Two glasses of red wine.

According to Wu Qian's thinking, British castles are unique and irreproducible. There may be many troubles and constraints in purchasing such an important real estate. He knows that the purchase of commercial housing is restricted in the Celestial Dynasty.

Looking at Wu Qian with dark brown eyes, Rosalind felt a little funny in her heart, did she drag herself into the room at night to ask this?

"BOSS, as long as you have money, there is no difficulty in buying real estate. There are two main types of real estate in the UK: leasehold property and freehold property. The leasehold property period ranges from 125 to 999 years, and most of them are apartments.

The vast majority of manors and castles are freehold properties, and no additional taxes and fees will be levied on overseas buyers.Recently, there seems to be a draft that will charge a stamp duty of 1%-3% for buyers who do not live in the UK. It is not known whether it will be implemented. "

"However, many castles in the UK are historical buildings. The local government will have many restrictions on their reconstruction, and later maintenance will also cost a lot of money. If they fail to meet the commitment requirements, they will face fines. The appearance of the castle is usually not good enough. If there is any change, only interior decoration can be done, and the decoration requirements are equally demanding, and even every nail must be applied for construction.”

Rosalind told Wu Qian a lot. If you buy a historic manor or castle, the purchase price is usually only a small part, and the repair and maintenance costs are the big ones.

One of the most failed cases is that Wentworth Woodhouse Castle, the largest private residence in the UK, is a national first-class listed building in the UK, with a frontage of 182 meters, nearly twice the size of Buckingham Palace.After the news of the public sale was released, it was purchased by a company in Hongkong for 7000 million Hong Kong dollars.

At that time, the company in Hongkong thought they had gotten a big deal, but because the castle had been in disrepair for a long time, it had to invest a huge amount of money to restore it to use. When the repair cost of 1.5 million pounds fell on the company, the board of directors was directly confused.

The big bargain suddenly turned into a hot potato. In the end, the company in Hong Kong had no choice but to sell the castle to a British trust organization at a low price. After the price reduction and various transaction taxes, it was a miserable loss.

"Although the castle looks very beautiful and dreamy, if it is not for the extremely strong economic strength, I would not recommend buying a castle." Rosalind suggested sincerely.

Wu Qian thought about it after listening to a series of deeds, he smiled and said: "What I want is the original taste, and I think the manors and castles auctioned by Sotheby's this time have been repaired. It was completed, or there were people living in it a few years ago, and there seems to be no problem with the functional facilities, so you can go and see it in advance.”

Rosalind didn't go out of her way to learn about the auction information of the castle and the manor. She took the auction catalog from Wu Qian and looked at it carefully, saying: "Sotheby's autumn auction this time is very grand, it may be similar to these auctions. It has something to do with the poor economy this year, otherwise such a good manor and castle would not be put up for auction.

Boss, if you have an idea, you can shoot a manor or castle for fun. The real estate in this auction is indeed very good.Fortunately, there are many real estate auctions this time, otherwise the competition may be fierce. "

Wu Qian took out his mobile phone and looked at it. There were nearly 50 billion Ruanmei coins in his account. Although it was not too much, according to Sotheby's valuation, he should still be able to make a difference.

"Rosalind, according to what you said, British real estate basically enjoys permanent land rights, so this should be considered a reliable investment, right?" Wu Qian asked.

Rosalind nodded lightly, then shook her head slightly, and said, "Boss, I remember I read a piece of information that in the past ten years or so, there have been quite a few Chinese people investing in manors and castles in England. There are all of them. If you are buying with an investment mentality, I advise you to be cautious, and there are many aspects to pay attention to.”

When Wu Qian saw that Rosalind was going to educate him about relevant British regulations and taxes, etc., he quickly stopped her and said, "Okay, my main consideration is not investment, but living by myself. Come on, let me circle around. Let's Find time to take a look at these manors and castles, and if the description is true, it will be included in the bidding list."

Wu Qian took out a pen from his bag, and said with great interest that although it was almost midnight, he was not sleepy at all.Of course I am not sleepy anymore, I have money in my pocket, and I have found something good that I like, so no one will be sleepy if I change it.

In the end, Wu Qian circled four properties out of more than 10 properties, two manors and two castles.

"Yawn. You can accompany me to look at these real estates tomorrow morning. In the afternoon, let Ball and David accompany the appraisers to Sotheby's to screen out porcelain, jade, calligraphy and paintings, and then let them sort them out. Give me a list." Wu Qian said.

While talking, Wu Qian and Rosalind stood up together, Wu Qian looked at Rosalind who was close at hand, smiled, and said: "Rosalind, do you know that you and a female movie star Some resemblance?"

Rosalind was slightly taken aback when she heard Wu Qian's words, and said, "Boss, you are talking about Gal Gadot, right?"

"Yes, Gal Gadot is a female star I like very much. With your appearance by my side, I'm afraid there will be 'dangerous' in the future, haha." After finishing speaking, Wu Qian walked towards the bedroom, as if there was no The meaning of inviting Rosalind.

Rosalind looked at Wu Qian's back inexplicably, and her confusion all day was finally explained.

"Dangerous? Dangerous?" Rosalind didn't think the "dangerous" Wu Qian said was "dangerous". She shrugged and went downstairs from the spiral staircase, took a shower and went to bed.

The next day, after breakfast, Wu Qian set off in a car, accompanied by Cooks and Rosalind. David and Ball were instructed by Wu Qian to prepare a vehicle to receive the team of appraisers who rushed over from China.

The shooting team set off earlier than Wu Qian. A large group of people brought various equipment and took two buses to the Silverstone Circuit in the north of London. The shooting task was very heavy, and it took about 3-5 days in total.

Everyone in the team was full of ambitions, and after learning that Silverstone needed 20 pounds a day, they were even more motivated to score 12 points. With such a high booking fee, if you don't come up with exciting clips, what's the point of shame?

Wu Qian’s first stop this morning is the 60-acre manor next to the Thames River located 125 kilometers southwest of London. This is a place Wu Qian likes very much. Judging from the auction catalog, the scenery is beautiful. It is beautiful, whether it is sunrise or sunset, it is as beautiful as a sentence described in a poem.

But Wu Qian was not very relieved. After being poisoned by the phrase "the real thing prevails" for many years, he still believed in the result of seeing it with his own eyes.

Sitting in the back row of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Wu Qian asked Rosalind next to him: "Rosalind, do you know anything about the copyright transaction of film and television works? During my trip to the UK, I There is a video website under the company, and I plan to import some episodes from the BBC and ITV, how to deal with the copyright?"

"Boss, I haven't had any specific contact with your company's situation, so I can't give detailed suggestions. According to what you said, just go to the door and talk to the person in charge of the relevant department. Capital is king in the world of capital, and nothing is money. Impossible." Rosalind said.

Wu Qian knew it well. He and Yuan Bingqing had already discussed in the domestic side. Money should be given where the money should be paid, and what should be cut should be cut. Got through.

"You contact a few relevant lawyers, and in the afternoon, ask the heads of ITV and the relevant departments of the BBC to discuss this matter." Wu Qian ordered, hurry up and finish this official business, and the rest is a relaxing and pleasant leisure time .

PS: Some book friends thought that I changed the subscription fee privately... Dude, the fee is 1000 points for 5 words. If there are more words, the subscription will naturally be expensive.

　Thanks to the book friend Pillow Breeze for the 100 reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)