Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 235 Looking for a Birthday Gift
These days, Xiangguo Pang Ji is a little worried. The emperor's 40th birthday will be in one month. Although the emperor advocates simplicity and opposes extravagance and waste, the emperor did not cancel the birthday celebration.

The age of 40 is a watershed in one's life. Naturally, it should be celebrated in a simple and grand way, but how to organize the celebration is a matter for Taichang Temple and the Ministry of Rites, so Pang Ji doesn't need to worry too much.

But what kind of birthday gift should be given to the emperor is what upsets him.

First of all, birthday gifts should not be extravagant, but they should not be too ordinary. The emperor has made it clear a few years ago that he does not accept luxury items such as calligraphy, paintings and antiques of celebrities for his birthday gifts.

The emperor loved porcelain the most, but porcelain was not a rare thing in the Song Dynasty. There were countless official kiln porcelain in the palace. Even the emperor gave official kiln porcelain as gifts to ministers, and then took porcelain as birthday gifts. Isn’t it a joke?

"Grandfather, the emperor loves Tian Huangshi recently, can we consider it from this?" Pang Gongsun reminded him in a low voice.

Although Pang Gongsun failed in the child science, he got the shade official of his grandfather and has been registered by the Ministry of Officials as a scholar of the ninth rank. Years to get a job.

The grandson's words immediately reminded Pang Ji, why didn't he think of Tian Huangshi?
He acted quickly, and bought [-] mu of land along the Shoushan River before the government controlled the Tianhuangshi vein. He also had his own mine, but mining had not yet started.

Pang Ji walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and it was indeed a good gift to give a top-quality Tianhuang stone, which could not only satisfy the emperor's preferences, but also not violate the emperor's various regulations.

It's just that his mine hasn't produced any output yet, so he's afraid that time will run out.

Pang Gongsun understood his grandfather's worries very well, so he suggested: "Grandfather can go to Fan's Kistler Shop to discuss it. They should have good things in their hands, and they will give grandfather face."

Pang Ji nodded, this is indeed a good way.

． ． ． ． ． ． ． ．
The Shipotian Kistler Museum has officially opened half a month ago. Unlike other shops, its products are basically not for ordinary people. The museum doubled.

For example, the price of a high-quality Taihu stone in Pingjiang Mansion is between [-] guan and [-] guan, but in the capital, the cheapest is [-] guan, and its acquisition cost generally does not exceed ten guan. Ten times the profit.

But the tax is very high, the three-point tax rate, that is, three percent.

The Song Dynasty stipulated that the business tax rate was two points, and the residential business tax rate was three points.

Therefore, when Taihu Stone enters the capital, it will first be taxed two cents, but if it is sold in its own shop, then when it is sold, it can offset the tax paid when it fell into the city.

However, it is still necessary to pay at least six guan taxes for the sale of a piece of Taihu stone.

Because the profit is too high, as long as one stone can be sold every day in the strange stone museum business, the profit is already very rich.

Of course, customers need to accumulate slowly, and word of mouth also needs to be passed on to each other. This is a tormenting process. Generally, don’t expect to make much money in the first three years. It is already very good to maintain no loss.

However, the business of "Shi Po Tian Qi Shi Museum" is very high, mainly because Tian Huangshi sells quite well.

In this process, the store also suffered a big loss due to inexperience.

On the morning of the first day of opening, Kistler Hall sold 500 yuan of Tian Huangshi, with an average price of [-] yuan, but found something wrong in the afternoon, and immediately stopped selling.

The Tianhuangshi they sold was actually snapped up by other shops. They sold the Tianhuangshi and sold them in other shops for a hundred guan each in the afternoon.

Only then did Fan Tiege realize that he had greatly underestimated the value of Tian Huangshi and lowered the price of Tian Huangshi too low.

However, Mingren was more clever. The Tianhuang stones he took out on the first day were not the best frozen stone Tianhuang, but ordinary Tianhuang, which had more impurities and could only be regarded as the top grade.

That night, Fan Tiege adjusted the price. He only took out ten Tianhuang stones at a time. The price of ordinary Tianhuang was [-] guan, and that of frozen stone Tianhuang was [-] guan.

Once the price of Tianhuangshi was raised, the sales volume dropped sharply, and they only sold three pieces of Tianhuangshi the next day.

In the afternoon, Fan Tiege was registering account books behind the counter, while Mingren was sitting on the stairs bored, business was average today, they sold a frozen stone Tianhuang and a fine Taihu stone for [-] guan.

"Mingren, go to Fuzhou! I'm enough here. I'm not sure if Mingli is there alone. After you go to Fuzhou, you will be in charge of Shoushan Stone."

Ming Ren also wanted to go out for a walk, so he smiled and said, "I'm in charge of Tian Huangshi, and the second child is in charge of Shoushan Stone."

"You brothers can discuss this on your own. I don't care. Anyway, the two of you happen to be in charge of one piece."

"Forget it, I'm still in charge of Shoushan Stone. Tian Huangshi is no longer interesting. I think Shoushan Stone is more challenging. I prefer to do things with expectations."

"You can do whatever you like. The Fuzhou money shop still has [-] guan in cash. You can spend [-] guan in money to buy mines, but the money is not allowed to be spent indiscriminately. You must buy good steatite mines."

"Dad, don't worry! When will I suffer from doing things?"

Fan Tiege thinks about it, it's true, their two sons are extremely shrewd, they are both the kind of powerful characters who don't cast bait when they don't see big fish.

Especially for this opening, if it wasn't for Ming Ren's shrewdness, insisting on suppressing the good products and selling the middle and high-end products first, they would really suffer a big loss.

"Okay! You leave early tomorrow morning, go to Jiangdu and take a sea boat to the south."

Just as he was talking, two scribes, one old and one young, walked into the shop.

Fan Tiege recognized the old man at a glance. It was Xiangguo Pangji, who inscribed the store for himself, and even came to support him on the first day of opening.

Fan Tiege quickly stepped forward to salute, "It turns out that Mr. Pang is here, welcome! Welcome!"

Pang Ji laughed and said, "Master Fan, I have something to ask for your help today."

"Pang Xianggong is too polite. As long as the small shop can do it, we will do our best. Pang Xianggong, please sit here!"

Fan Tiege invited Pang Ji to sit down at the guest table, and asked the waiter to serve tea, while Pang Gongsun stood behind his grandfather

"How's the business during this time?" Pang Ji looked at the store and asked with concern.

"Not bad, better than I expected!"

In front of Pang Ji, Fan Tiege did not joke about telling lies, but told the truth.

"Calculate the time, it's time for Fanning to come back!"

"He said he would stay home for ten days, plus the travel time, he should come back in these two days."

Pang Ji nodded and smiled again: "I want to buy a top-quality Tianhuangshi statue to celebrate someone's birthday. Is there any in the store?"

Fan Tiege hurriedly said: "It just so happened that today I took out a nice statue, which is very suitable for birthday celebrations. Would you like to see Mr. Pang?"

"Okay, I'd like to take a look."

Fan Tiege was about to ask his son Mingren to take the things down, but Pang Ji stood up and said, "Why not, I'll go up and have a look!"

"Mr. Pang, please!"

When Pang Ji went up to the second floor, he found that the shelf decoration was different from before. In the past, the shelves on the three sides of the wall were densely filled with Tianhuang stones, but now all of them have been removed. There is only an elegant and classic antique shelf in the middle. Only ten Tianhuang stones are placed.

Pang Ji laughed, "Is rare things more valuable?"

Fan Tiege smiled wryly, "At first I had no experience, so I placed 500 yuan and sold it cheaply, but it was sold out by the surrounding shops all of a sudden, and they sold it at a high price in their own shops, so they also had Tian Huangshi. This is my fault." Big mistake."

"It's a big mistake!"

Pang Ji smiled and comforted him and said: "It can only be said that a temporary mistake is not a big problem. You can't care about overnight gains and losses in business. Besides, although other shops took advantage of it for a while, they played a role in promoting Tianhuangshi on the other hand. , They help you promote Tian Huangshi, isn't it a good thing?"

Pang Ji's comfort made Fan Tiege feel a lot more comfortable. He took down a statue of a birthday star carved with Tianhuang stone from the top of the antique shelf, and said with a smile: "This is also carved by Zhu Zhe, and it is carved with a rare large piece of Tianhuang stone. It’s the best way to celebrate your birthday.”

Pang Ji took Tian Huangshi and looked at it. The texture of the stone is very delicate and moist. It is Tianhuang, a frozen stone, which is a rare treasure. The carving is also exquisite and lifelike.

only. ． ． ． ．The birthday statue is a bit vulgar. If the emperor is 60 years old, it will be fine, but the emperor is only 40 years old, so it is not appropriate to give this statue.

However, Pang Ji took a fancy to the stone quality of this statue, such a fine Tianhuang stone treasure, how could he not keep it in his pocket?

Pang Ji shook his head and said to Fan Tiege: "I might as well tell you the truth about the shopkeeper. It's the emperor's birthday. He loves Tian Huangshi very much, so I want to use Tian Huangshi as a gift. Are there any landscape or Buddha sculptures?"

Fan Tiege suddenly realized that it was to celebrate the emperor's birthday. He thought for a while and said, "On the first day, there was a statue of Guanyin, which was bought by King Ruyang. There seems to be one for landscape paintings. Pang Xianggong, wait a moment."

Fan Tiege went to look for a landscape sculpture in the inner box. At this moment, Pang Gongsun whispered to his grandfather, "This birthday statue is a very good thing. Why didn't grandfather keep it?"

Pang Ji nodded, "I want this statue, let's talk about it later!"

At this time, Fan Tiege came carefully holding a wooden box. Pang Ji quickly took it, and carefully opened the lid. Inside was a slightly flat Tianhuang stone, the same frozen stone treasure, carved on a smooth surface. A landscape painting.

Pang Ji blurted out, "This is Yan Su's "Mountain Dwelling Picture"."

Fan Tiege nodded with a smile, "Indeed, this is also Zhu Zhe's sculpture, and this is the only landscape painting at present."

Pang Ji couldn't help but marvel at Zhu Zhe's superb carving level, the lines are simple and smooth, both the hut and the mountain are very simple, and every extra knife work makes the whole carving full of charm.

The more Pang Ji looked at it, the more he liked it, and he was even a little reluctant to give it to the emperor.

"How much is this Tianhuangshi?" Pang Ji asked with a smile.

"If Mr. Pang wants to buy it, it will cost three hundred coins!" Fan Tiege hesitated and whispered.

"Then you might as well just send it to me, what are you doing for the money?"

Pang Ji was a little dissatisfied and said, "Or does the shopkeeper think that I, Pang Ji, are too poor to afford Tian Huangshi?"

Fan Tiege suddenly realized that he had said something wrong, and he quickly said: "We ask for [-] guan, and we can make a proper counter-offer."

"It's almost there!"

Pang Ji looked at the statue of the birthday star next to him, "Where is the statue of the birthday star?"

"That statue is relatively large, it is made of rare stone, and the asking price is [-] guan!"

Pang Ji said with a smile: "Then three thousand coins! I want these two statues."

Fan Tiege wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Let Mr. Pang spend the money!"

Pang Ji shook his head and said, "I took advantage of it. After ten years, I won't be able to buy these two statues for [-] pieces."

Fan Tiege was stunned, "Will it increase tenfold?"

Pang Ji smiled, "I would like to say something disrespectful. The big shopkeeper has no problem selling Taihu stones, but there is still something lacking in Tianhuang stones. You don't know the real value of Tianhuang stones. Ask Fan about the pricing later. Ning, he is the one who understands Tian Huangshi thoroughly."

Pang Ji and his grandson left with two Tian Huangshi, Fan Tiege was still in a daze, after a while, he sighed and said, "Mingren, did I really make a big mistake?"

Ming Ren smiled and said: "Now that Tian Huangshi has just been launched, few people really understand its value, and Dad doesn't have to blame himself, if you don't sell Tian Huangshi, everyone will never understand.

But Pang Xianggong is right, we are indeed selling too cheaply, and my father listened to the child's words, put away all the treasures of Dongshi Tianhuang and did not sell them, and only sold ordinary Tianhuang stones. After a few years, the ordinary Tianhuang stones were sold for thousands of pieces , Our Dongshitian Huangshi can really make a lot of money. "

Fan Tiege heaved a long sigh, "You are smarter than Daddy, you are right, this time Daddy listened to you, only sell middle and top grades, rare ones will not be sold, and the stone statue carved by Zhu Zhe will not be sold for the time being."

(End of this chapter)