Riding the wind of rebirth

"Second brother, do you know any news?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"How could I not know what my love rival is doing?" Li Laoer said proudly.

"Why is she involved with her love rival again?" Zhou Zhi was puzzled: "Sister Wanqiu is already a mother, and she still has suitors?"

"As for his former suitor, even though he didn't admit it, I always felt that he had feelings for Wanqiu." Li Laoer nodded confidently: "You know him too, Tony Huang."

"Hey!" Zhou Zhi couldn't help but get angry: "How dare you make such a joke? You scared me so much!"

Tony Huang is a friend that Lin Wanqiu met while studying abroad. He is very knowledgeable about international laws and regulations related to artworks. The two had some interactions at the time. While working at a major foreign auction house, Lin Wanqiu recommended Tony Huang to her employer. Later, she stepped out to help her father run Hanhai, and also hired Tony Huang as a legal advisor.

Zhou Zhi and Tony Wong met when they were pursuing the recovery of the Dragon and Phoenix Heavenly King statues. Starting in Hong Kong Island, Tony Wong conspired with Zhou Zhi to build momentum and force the other party to leave Hong Kong Island. They filed a lawsuit in the United States and finally succeeded in recovering the money. Tony Wong made great efforts as the litigation lawyer in this case.

Li Laoer has been pursuing Lin Wanqiu since middle school. He was a little reserved at first, but when he heard that Lin Wanqiu was studying abroad and was close to a law student, he suddenly became a little anxious. Although he finally got the beauty, he always listed Tony Huang as his imaginary enemy.

However, Zhou Zhi felt that Tony Huang was quite wronged, because Zhou Zhi discovered during his contact with Tony Huang that the boy's orientation might have some problems. Liang Pingyi, who was sent by the Cultural Relics Bureau to handle the matter, was a tough middle-aged handsome man, a bit like the later star Zhang Hanyu. Zhou Zhi discovered that Tony Huang's eyes were often fixed on Liang Pingyi, especially after he took a few people to choose suits before appearing in court.

Maybe he is not interested in women at all, and his relationship with Sister Wanqiu is just that of close friends.

However, Zhou Zhi was too lazy to tell Li Laoer these things. It was not a bad thing to make him feel threatened, as it would make him focus more on his family.

"After meeting Wanqiu, I will tell you what I know." Li Laoer also started to act mysterious.

"..."

"Elbow is here? Oh, this must be Mai Xiaomiao, right?" When Lin Wanqiu arrived at Hanhai, she was appraising a new batch of auction items. Her slightly plump figure after giving birth and the gold-rimmed glasses on her nose made her look more gentle and intellectual.

"Sister Wanqiu, long time no see, what are you doing?"

"It's just right that you're here, helping with the work." Lin Wanqiu pointed at the goods in front of her and said, "This batch is from overseas collections, commissioned for auction, let's see how it goes."

"I heard there's a new way to play now?" Zhou Zhi asked, "Is it related to tariffs?"

"Yes, there's a saying in mainland China." Lin Wanqiu didn't care and even glanced at Zhou Zhi: "Every policy has its countermeasures. Not everyone is as stupid as you."

When Mai Xiaomiao arrived here, he felt the same as Zhou Zhi did when he arrived at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He felt impressive without knowing why. He was a little unhappy when he heard Lin Wanqiu say that Zhou Zhi was stupid: "Elbow is very smart."

"I was joking with Elbow." Lin Wanqiu smiled and pulled Mai Xiaomiao to her side to look at her: "It's different now, isn't it? Someone is willing to protect him just because he said so. The reason I said he was stupid was that he actually brought all the cultural relics he found overseas into the country. Not only did he pay very high tariffs, but many of them couldn't be taken out. The loss of income was at least more than 50%." Zhou Zhi waved his hand indifferently: "Money can't buy my happiness."

"What are you talking about?" Li Laoer found that his wife and Zhou Zhi were communicating extremely smoothly, and he couldn't understand the content, so he became a little nervous.

"We are discussing the issue of tariffs." Lin Wanqiu rolled her eyes at Li Laoer. "With the opening of the domestic art auction market, many artworks can enter the Chinese market. The newly revised law also allows overseas antiques to enter the domestic market and become private collections."

"Although the government now stipulates that antiques over 100 years old are exempt from customs duties, 17 percent of the landed price is still levied as value-added tax."

"So now there is a preservation business. These cultural relics and artworks can be stored in the customs bonded area. Although they enter the country, they are not considered to have passed through customs and arrived at the port, so they do not have to pay the 17% tax."

"Then why are these things here again?" Mai Xiaomiao was a little confused.

Lin Wanqiu smiled and gave the opportunity to Zhou Zhi: "Let Elbow tell you."

"These things were escorted here by the customs. They are only for the parties participating in the auction to see the real appearance of the items. After the exhibition, they will be escorted back to the customs area." Elbow explained: "These will not affect the auction."

"But these cultural relics will eventually be returned to China." Mai Xiaomiao was even more confused: "There are some cultural relics covered with wax in Suihuaxuan. You said that Sister Wanqiu helped you take pictures of them overseas."

"Most people won't do what Elbow did." Lin Wanqiu said with a smile, "Because most of the guests who participate in the auction don't value the cultural relics themselves, but the wealth appreciation potential attached to the cultural relics."

“So they don’t need to bring the auctioned items through customs at all. Instead, they can entrust the auction house to store them in a bonded warehouse and auction them off when it is convenient to sell them.”

"There are actually many benefits to doing this. First of all, you don't have to pay 17% value-added tax." Lin Wanqiu said: "Some collections are worth tens of millions, and 17% tax is several million, which is not a small amount."

"In addition, some collections are important cultural relics. Once they enter China, they will be subject to Chinese law. If you want to take them out of the country in the future, you will encounter various legal obstacles. If they are placed in the bonded area, the cultural relics will not be considered as entering the country and can be transported to other places for trading at any time."

"So these cultural relics can't actually be considered as having returned to China." Mai Xiaomiao pointed to the cultural relics in the mobile storage box that were still waiting for Lin Wanqiu to identify them and said, "Only those like the ones in Suihuaxuan can be considered as having entered China. Right, Sister Wanqiu?"

"Yes! That's why I laughed at him for being stupid." Lin Wanqiu said, "You have to pay 17% tax upon entering the country, and it will be troublesome if you want to trade abroad in the future. In addition, there is still a price difference between the domestic market and the overseas market. Although the price difference is decreasing with the development of the market, there is still at least a difference of more than 50% at present."

"That is to say, if Elbow keeps a collection worth a million yuan in a bonded warehouse, it will not affect his future sale." Lin Wanqiu said, "But if Elbow wants to put it in Suihuaxuan or Demiantang, he will first have to pay a value-added tax of 170,000 yuan, and then he can only trade it in the domestic market. The collection originally worth a million yuan has become worth only 500,000 yuan."

"Yeah, it's pretty silly." Mai Xiaomiao blinked and took Zhou Zhi's arm: "But I like this kind of elbow better!" (End of this chapter)