Life 1984

Su Wan'er was standing next to Li Yunhai.

What she hates most is people like the man in Tang suits, who are self-righteous, have some money, and when they see a beautiful woman they think they can get her by spending money.

The man in the Tang suit stroked his chin and looked at Su Wan'er. He was attracted by her beautiful appearance and said with a chuckle, "You are the painter. Your name is Su something, Wan'er, right? What a nice name! You are as beautiful as you are. If you agree to have dinner with me, I will buy all your paintings!"

Su Wan'er pursed her lips and said nothing.

Chen Meilin rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "Really? You want to buy them all? If you really buy them all, not to mention her accompanying you for dinner, I can also accompany you for dinner!"

Su Wan'er pulled Chen Meilin's hand and said, "Ms. Chen, don't make random promises. I can't possibly have dinner with him!"

The man in the Tang suit was so happy that he burst into laughter and said, "Great, that's great! Little girl, you are also very beautiful! Tell me, how many dollars does a painting here cost?"

Chen Meilin smiled proudly and said, "You heard it clearly! One hundred thousand dollars for a painting!"

"What?" The man in the Tang suit dropped his jaw in shock. He thought he had misheard and kept blinking his eyes. He asked back, "Say it again? How much is one?"

Chen Meilin stretched out her palms, gestured, and said, "One hundred thousand dollars! One painting! Do you understand?"

The man in the Tang suit almost lost his balance and said in a lost voice, "One hundred thousand dollars per painting? Almost one million RMB per painting?"

Chen Meilin nodded as if it was a matter of course: "That's right! We don't have that many here. Adding up the big and small ones, there are only about 260 paintings! The total is 2600 million US dollars, less than 3 million RMB, which is not too expensive!"

The man in the Tang suit cursed in Chinese and then angrily said, "You are selling a painting so expensively? Why don't you just go and rob it?"

Chen Meilin snorted coldly: "We make a living with our skills and earn money with our craftsmanship, why should we rob? Sir, are you paying by credit card? Or cash?"

The man in Tang suit was already dumbfounded!

Three hundred million RMB!
Even if he had it, he couldn't use it to buy a bunch of paintings!
"You're kidding!" The man in the Tang suit sneered, "With three hundred million, how many girls can I pick up? Do you think I'm a sucker?"

Chen Meilin said with disdain: "My brother is right, he just underestimated you. You can't afford it! You can't even afford a painting! Come out and show off, be careful of being struck by lightning!"

The man in the Tang suit's face turned liver red. He said sorry for disturbing you and said goodbye, then ran away in shame.

Su Wan'er smiled and said, "Ms. Chen is really amazing! She just offered a high price and scared him away. A true gentleman talks, not fights!"

Chen Meilin said, "I'm not asking for a high price, but a real price! My brother said that the cheapest of these paintings will be sold for $100,000 each, and the finest ones will be kept for even higher prices!"

Su Wan'er laughed and said, "How can my paintings be worth so much money? I would wake up laughing in my dreams."

Li Yunhai said: "Of course it's not worth it now, but after our hype and operation, it will be worth it."

Of course Su Wan'er thought he was joking.

She knows her own limitations and thinks it's great if her paintings can be sold for tens of thousands of yuan each.

There are many people in the world who can draw, and quite a few of them are good at drawing.

Why would consumers spend so much money to buy her paintings?
She is an artist and certainly doesn't know the secrets of commercial hype.

There are so many people painting abstract paintings, why are Picasso's paintings so valuable?

In the afternoon, Li Juan came.

Li Juan was invited by Li Yunhai.

She is also a well-known entrepreneur in Suzhou.

Sanjiang Company's products sell very well both at home and abroad, and its sales in China are increasing rapidly.

After visiting the exhibition, Li Juan bought two works without hesitation.

She bid 50,000 RMB for each work.

Even if you want to hype it up, you should increase the price slowly instead of selling it at $10 from the beginning.

According to the rules of the exhibition, the paintings will not be taken away once they are purchased, but will continue to be exhibited until the end of the exhibition.

The buyer pays a small deposit first, and then settles the payment to get the painting.

Of course, Li Juan was just a proxy when she bought the painting.

She was the person hired by Li Yunhai to hype up the prices of his paintings.

The opening price of Su Waner's painting exhibition was 50,000 yuan per painting.

And Li Juan bought two "sketches".

In the creation of Chinese paintings, there are generally two types of works: one is a large-scale masterpiece with careful conception, many images and complex structure, which is usually called a large work; the other is an impromptu work with very concise images and brushwork but distinct meaning and expression, which is generally called a small piece.

The most common small pieces are fans, scrolls, and album leaves.

A small painting is only about one square foot.

By this calculation, the price of Su Waner's works reached 5 yuan per square foot!
So, when Li Juan offered 100,000 yuan to buy the two sketches, Su Wan'er was shocked beyond words!

My own paintings are actually so valuable?
At this price, a four-foot painting, which is eight square feet, can't be sold for 40?
And a six-foot painting, which has sixteen square feet, can be sold for 80?
What Li Yunhai said, that a work can be sold for 10 US dollars, is actually possible!

Su Wan'er said to Li Juan: "Your price is really too high!"

Li Juan glanced at Li Yunhai and said with a smile, "This is the first time I've heard of a seller complaining that the buyer's offer is too high!"

Li Yunhai smiled slightly and said to Su Wan'er, "Don't you know her? She is Li Juan, the boss of your Gusu Sanjiang Company! She has plenty of money! As long as she likes something, she will buy it without hesitation! If she says your painting is worth the money, then it must be worth it! Cheap things are not worthy of President Li's status!"

Li Juan rolled her eyes at him and said, "Yes, love is priceless."

On that day, only these two paintings by Li Juan were sold.

The next day, television stations and newspapers in Jiangsu Province reported the incident.

A large headline read: "The work of Su Wan'er, a beautiful painter of the Wu School in our province, was sold at a sky-high price of 50,000 yuan per square foot! It set a new record for the transaction of traditional Chinese paintings in our province."

Among living Chinese painters, the price of Su Waner's works has reached a new high!
This gimmick is extremely attractive!
The words "beautiful painter" also attracted more people to the exhibition.

On the second day of the exhibition, more people came.

In addition, the presence of big star Gong Li at the exhibition attracted many fans to sign in and check in.

On this day, another mysterious guest came.

The moment Chen Meilin saw her, she almost screamed out loud!
"Mommy! Why is my mommy here?" Chen Meilin asked excitedly, holding Li Yunhai's hand.

Li Yunhai smiled and said, "Sister Guo heard that we were holding an art exhibition and was very interested, so she came to take a look. Today she is a customer and we are the sellers!"

Chen Meilin said "oh".

Guo Wanhua finished her visit elegantly and took a liking to two works of art.

When asking about the price, Chen Meilin said with a grin, "Fifty thousand dollars per square foot!"

Guo Wanhua paid the deposit without hesitation.

How could Su Wan'er know that this was another person hired by Li Yunhai?

She couldn't believe that she had sold two more of her paintings, and the prices were still so high!
Why are there so many rich people in this world?
It turns out she just didn't know!

Guo Wanhua bought the painting, smiled at Li Yunhai, and left gracefully.

In the afternoon, another rich man came to buy paintings.

The people who came this time were Liu Jie and Liang Wei.

Of course, they were still Li Yunhai's hired accomplices.

Li Yunhai wants to raise the price of his paintings through these transaction volumes.

People come to buy every day.

The trading volume is increasing every day!
This creates the illusion that the painting is very popular.

Li Yunhai called all his people over to show his support.

These people are wealthy businessmen with some influence in society. They have the ability to buy these paintings.

Even if someone questions the hype, there is no real evidence.

No one has stipulated that friends can’t buy each other’s paintings, right?

Moreover, the trend of hype has been prevalent for a long time, and this is nothing surprising.

Su Wan'er didn't know that these people were Li Yunhai's friends.

Her pretty face was flushed with excitement!
It’s unimaginable!
After being packaged by Li Yunhai and holding an art exhibition, her works were actually sold at such a high price!

She attributed all this to Li Yunhai's operation.

But she still found it a little unbelievable!
Can my paintings really be sold for so much money?

The sales of the exhibition that day were once again reported in the local news.

The sensation this time was even greater than yesterday's. Even CCTV's art program and national newspapers reported on it.

After the hype in the national media, domestic collectors and wealthy people also became interested.

After seeing the report, they would all wonder: What kind of beautiful painter is this? What kind of painting is worth so much money?
Even if it's just to watch the fun!
As a result, people from all over the country came to Jinling.

Su Wan'er boosted local tourism, hotel and catering consumption through an art exhibition.

This was an unexpected gain.

On the third day of the exhibition, the number of visitors suddenly increased!
It was Sunday again, and the office workers in Jinling City had long been brainwashed by the news and could not wait to come to the exhibition.

With the addition of people flying in from all over the country, the exhibition hall was packed.

In art exhibitions, there are few people who buy but many people who look at the works.

If one person out of a hundred buys it, it would be a blessing!
Li Yunhai’s hype these days has not been in vain.

He successfully stimulated the enthusiasm of collectors and wealthy people.

More than 30 works priced at yuan per foot were sold on the same day!

All the works sold today were purchased by real customers.

The best-selling items are sketches.

Works that are one or two square feet are particularly popular.

Most people, after coming all the way here, cannot return empty-handed, so they buy a small work as a collection.

These people can spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy paintings, which shows that they are financially well-off.

Many people think that such a good work must have room for appreciation. Maybe in a few years, this Chinese painting can be sold at a high price of hundreds of thousands.

The mid-1990s was a period of recovery for my country's antique industry.

After a long period of silence, antique markets across the country have finally ushered in new vitality.

There is a popular collecting trend in China.

Antiques, calligraphy and paintings naturally became the first choice.

Many works of famous modern and contemporary artists were also hyped during this period.

If a painter has skills and a certain reputation, is a good painter and has a certain output, he or she has the basic elements for hype.

As long as capital is involved, it is easy to drive up the price of a painter's work.

Li Yunhai's first attempt at hype was an immediate success!

He was just bored and did it casually, but he didn't expect it to be successful!

For him, the little money he earned was not much.

But who would complain about having too much money?

He also hyped up the woman he loved and made her the highest-paid female painter in the country!
The painting exhibition in Jinling closed successfully.

Next, Su Waner’s painting exhibition will tour major cities across the country.

Li Yunhai continued to hype up the popularity, releasing related news in various places and announcing the tour schedule for major cities.

The next stop is of course in Beijin!
The exhibition was promoted and gained a certain degree of fame, so Li Yunhai no longer needed to follow.

Even Su Wan'er doesn't have to keep running to the art exhibition.

Chen Meilin organized a professional team to handle this matter.

After the exhibition ended that day, Li Yunhai invited Guo Wanhua, Li Juan, Liu Jie, Liang Wei and others, as well as the protagonist Su Wan'er, to have dinner together.

Su Wan'er was very surprised and asked in a low voice: "Mr. Li, do you know them all?"

Li Yunhai laughed loudly and then introduced everyone to her.

Only then did Su Wan'er realize that these wealthy people were all Li Yunhai's friends!
She blushed slightly and said, "I knew my paintings were worthless, you are the one hyping them up!"

Li Yunhai said: "In the past two days, I did ask my friends to help. But, what was sold today was not! So I say, you are popular! You have become famous!"

Su Wan'er's face was already flushed before she spilled the drink. She said, "Thank you, Mr. Li! I know it's all your credit. I've already sold these paintings to you. No matter how much money we make, it's all yours."

Li Yunhai said, "Okay, we won't settle these accounts. If you have new works in the future, the price will definitely be higher. At that time, I will buy them at a high price. Let's make a deal first. I will be in charge of your works. You can't sell them to anyone else, not even one."

Su Wan'er smiled and said, "You can help me sell it at such a high price, what should I worry about? Of course I'll leave it to you."

Li Yunhai laughed.

After dinner, everyone went to KTV to sing.

Su Wan'er seldom goes to entertainment venues.

But today the situation is special, so she came along to join in the fun.

Guo Wanhua sat next to her daughter and chatted with her.

Li Yunhai, Liu Jie, Liang Wei and others chatted about everything under the sun.

Liu Jie laughed and said, "Yun Hai is still amazing! He can make hundreds of millions just by hyping up a painter's work! This amount of money is enough for us to earn for several lifetimes!"

Liang Wei also sighed: "Smart people are like this, they can make money by doing anything. So now I am not jealous of him at all, he is just so amazing! He didn't succeed by luck! How can we be jealous?"

Liu Jie climbed onto Li Yunhai's shoulders and said with a grin, "Brother, do you like that girl?"

Li Yunhai poked him with his elbow: "What nonsense are you talking about? What girl?"

Liu Jie said: "It's that female painter!"

Li Yunhai smiled slightly: "He has very high standards!"

Liu Jie said: "As an artist, it's understandable that you have high expectations. But I believe in you. You should be able to win her over tonight, right? Look, the way she looks at you is clearly full of spring!"

Li Yunhai looked towards Su Wan'er.

Su Wan'er was also looking at him.

The two men looked at each other and smiled.

Su Wan'er lowered her head shyly.

Liu Jie asked: "How is it? Is there a play?"

Li Yunhai thought, tonight? Definitely not! I want to accompany Sister Guo! (End of this chapter)