20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 728: Just Business
It was warm in early April, with light clouds and a gentle breeze.

That afternoon, Hai Xinnian came to see the shopkeeper Yu from "Guangutang" and said that Jiang Lianheng had a few small gadgets in his hands and wanted to ask the shopkeeper Yu to come over and help take a look.

Shopkeeper Yu did not dare to be negligent. After explaining the business at the counter, he immediately followed Hai Xinnian and headed straight to Xiaoxiguan.

At this time of year, the sky above Fengtian City was filled with willow catkins, fluttering in all directions and in a disorderly manner, making one dizzy to look at.

The two of them walked hurriedly, and in just a cup of tea, they arrived at the head office building of Zongheng Insurance Company.

When Shopkeeper Yu entered the room, he saw that he was not the only antique dealer invited. Shopkeeper Chen from Chongguzhai and Boss Guo from Baohualou were also present.

The office is filled with all kinds of second-hand antiques, from paintings and calligraphy to porcelain and jade carvings, bottles and jars, it's like an exhibition.

At this moment, Shopkeeper Chen was admiring several ink paintings at the table, while Boss Guo was using the light from the window to carefully identify the quality of a piece of jade.

The two were so engrossed in watching that they didn't notice the sound of the door opening.

Shopkeeper Yu was also a little confused. He turned his head and saw Jiang Lianheng sitting on the armrest sofa with a strange man in his early thirties next to him.

This man had a face as white as jade and had the temperament of a scholar. He was wearing a black suit, holding a cigar in his mouth, and sitting with his legs crossed. A walking stick was leaning beside him. His hair was combed back and shiny, like a mirror. A fly could not stand up if it landed on it. His whole body, from inside to outside, exuded a sense of foreign style. I don't know where this young man came from.

"Oh, Shopkeeper Yu is here?"

Jiang Lianheng heard the noise and waved at him: "Come, come, let me introduce you, this is Master Xu from Zhejiang Province."

Shopkeeper Yu stepped forward and gave his name with a smile on his face.

Young Master Xu bowed slightly, shook hands with him, and introduced himself in a thick Jiangzuo accent: "Xu Haibo, just call me A-bo."

Jiang Lianheng took over the conversation, pointing at the pieces of porcelain on the table, and said, "Manager Yu, Master Xu came to Fengtian this time mainly to sell some antiques. He asked a friend to introduce him to me. You are an expert in porcelain, so please help me take a look at those items and see how they are."

Shopkeeper Yu nodded and said with a smile: "Boss, you are too polite. It's just a small matter, so why bother? I have to thank you for trusting me and giving me this opportunity to broaden my horizons!"

"Okay, go and have a look first. I'll stay here and chat with Master Xu for a while."

"Okay, okay, Master Xu, then I'll go over and take a look first?"

"Please!"

Xu Haibo raised his hand with a calm expression, as if he was quite confident about the quality of those antiques.

When Shopkeeper Yu saw this, he didn't think much about it and immediately turned around and walked towards the table.

There is an old saying: There is a sequence in learning, and everyone has their own specialization.

Although Manager Yu's antique shop collects everything, his greatest ability is in identifying porcelain.

He walked slowly to the table, greeted Manager Chen and Boss Guo first, then bent down and looked at the pieces of porcelain one by one.

To identify porcelain, one must pay attention to "observing its momentum from a distance and capturing its essence from close up".

In other words, this thing must be handled by someone, otherwise it is easy to make a mistake, because not only the year and mark, but even the weight of the porcelain is an important identification criterion.

From a distance, the porcelain pieces on the table seem to have no problem with their specifications and shapes, so the next thing to consider is the craftsmanship.

Manager Yu was wealthy and was in this line of business, so he was naturally not timid. He immediately picked up a pen holder on the table and examined it carefully.

Unexpectedly, after he finished looking at the first piece of porcelain, he didn't dare to touch the second one easily. Every move he made was cautious, and he could only express his amazement and exchange a few words with the other two shop owners from time to time.

On the other side, when Jiang Lianheng heard that Xu Haibo had studied abroad, he asked, "Which country did Master Xu study abroad?"

"England."

"Oh, that's a great place. How many years have you been back?"

"It's been a long time since I came back." Xu Haibo recalled for a moment, seeming to be quite emotional, "Almost, almost thirteen years."

"It's been a long time." Jiang Lianheng nodded, then asked, "However, since Master Xu is from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, why did he go all the way to live in Tianjin?"

Xu Haibo smiled and said, "I studied abroad before. After I returned to China, my father used some connections to help me find a job in the British Concession, so I moved around in the north. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to come to Fengtian and meet Boss Jiang through Mr. Ye's introduction!"

The man was quite good at talking, and Jiang Lianheng was quite pleased with his speech. However, he also became more and more curious about his background.

"It seems that your father is also an important person. He can use his connections in the British Concession. He must be more than an ordinary businessman, right?"

"Oh, to be honest, my father used to work in——"

Before Xu Haibo finished speaking, he saw Shopkeeper Yu walking towards him. He then asked with a smile, "Shopkeeper Yu, how are the things? Are they pleasing to the eye?"

"Of course, of course. Thanks to Master Xu, I have broadened my horizons today."

Shopkeeper Yu responded with a bow, then turned to look at Jiang Lianheng, "Boss, there is nothing wrong with those porcelains. They are all top-notch, or even the best of the best!"

"Really?" Jiang Lianheng was a little surprised.

Shopkeeper Yu seldom speaks with certainty, but today he made a straightforward assertion.

"Don't worry, Boss. I can't be wrong. If I can still make mistakes with those few things, then my twenty years of work will be in vain... In addition, can I ask Master Xu a few questions?"

Jiang Lianheng nodded, motioning for him to sit down and talk.

Shopkeeper Yu took a seat in response. When he looked at Xu Haibo again, there was a little more respect in his eyes. He got straight to the point and asked:

"From what I see, Master Xu should be a descendant of an official, right?"

"good."

"He must be a high-ranking official?"

Xu Haibo smiled and waved his hand: "Not that old. My ancestors were governors in the local area, and my father worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his early years."

"No wonder!" Shopkeeper Yu flattered, "I've heard of many famous families in Jiangzuo for a long time. It's a pleasure to meet them today!"

As he said that, he suddenly turned around and explained to Jiang Lianheng: "Boss, these pieces of porcelain from Young Master Xu are probably good things that came from the palace!"

Jiang Lianheng was immediately interested when he heard this, and asked, "Master Xu, so these things you brought were all awarded to your family by the emperor back then?"

Xu Haibo smiled in a cryptic way, waved his hand and said, "Well, Boss Jiang, how should I explain this to you?"

After thinking for a moment, he said, "You should know that the abdicated emperor of the Qing Dynasty has moved from the capital to the Japanese concession in Tianjin this year, right?" Jiang Lianheng was stunned: "Did he give you these things?"

Xu Haibo didn't comment, looking around and talking about something else, but said: "It's hard to say, it's really hard to say, but I can guarantee that these things all came from Zhang Garden, they are definitely not fakes. When the abdicated emperor escaped from the palace, he took more than 80 boxes of antique calligraphy and paintings. These things I have are just the tip of the iceberg, a drop in the bucket."

Jiang Lianheng and Shopkeeper Yu looked at each other, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Master Xu, may I ask you a question, are you a bannerman?"

"No, what's wrong? Is Boss Jiang a bannerman?"

"No, me neither."

"So you ask this... is there any explanation?"

"Well, Master Xu, don't worry, I was just asking around, I thought you could see the Emperor!"

Xu Haibo listened and said thoughtfully: "It is true that I can't see the abdicated emperor, but there are a few old people in Zhang Garden, and I have some friendship with them. If Boss Jiang is interested in these things, I also know a little bit."

"What you said, aren't you considered one of the old guard?" Jiang Lianheng asked.

Xu Haibo laughed dumbly, took two puffs of his cigar, and said, "Boss Jiang, if you had said this to me more than ten years ago, I might have argued with you, but now... it doesn't matter. I have no objection to whatever you want to do."

"Your ancestors have been officials for generations, so this isn't considered a relic of the past?"

"In a broad sense, you can say that, but my family has had Jinshi since the Wanli period. If people like me are considered the descendants of the Qing Dynasty, there must be tens of millions of such people in the world."

"That's true. If there really were so many people, the Qing Dynasty would have been restored long ago."

"No, if they succeed in restoring their country, where will I go to do business?"

When Jiang Lianheng heard this, he immediately understood that Xu Haibo had treated this as a business deal and was setting up a trap to cheat the Qing royal family.

He had heard a long time ago that ever since the abdicated emperor moved to the Japanese Concession, he had been fantasizing about restoring the Qing Dynasty all day long. Because he was so eager, people gradually began to cater to his wishes and went to Zhang Garden one after another to ask to see the abdicated emperor. There were all kinds of people, from warlords to politicians, from celebrities to wealthy businessmen.

When these "loyal ministers" met the emperor, without exception, all claimed that they could help the Qing Dynasty restore its empire.

Some say that you can lead troops to defend the king, some say that you can win over foreigners, and some say that you can influence public opinion, but the ultimate goal is the same - to get money!
That's not a small amount of money, but tens of thousands of dollars.

However, the abdicated emperor had no money, so he had to give them the antiques, calligraphy and paintings in the palace as rewards, and let them go around outside the Great Wall to secretly prepare for the cause of restoring the country.

Usually, after these "loyal ministers and good generals" got the money, they would never return and would never be heard from again.

There were occasional exceptions, and a few of them would come back unexpectedly, all of whom vowed that they were 70% sure of restoring the nation, but that they urgently needed a sum of money, and they begged Your Majesty to open the treasury again to avoid losing the big picture for the small, and causing failure at the critical moment, which would cause the Qing emperor and his ministers to regret for the rest of their lives.

Over and over again, these same old sayings were repeated all the time, which made the abdicated emperor fall into being deceived time and time again.

Over time, the practice of abdicated emperors selling antiques to raise funds gradually evolved into a certain specific industry, so that everyone wanted to go to Zhang Garden and move some things out.

Although Jiang Lianheng was not sure whether Xu Haibo could reach into Zhang Garden, he was sure that Xu Haibo knew the rumors and trends in Zhang Garden better than most people.

Xu Haibo was not shy about this, and even shook his head and laughed, "Boss Jiang, if I were really an old man, it would be very convenient. If I had the chance to meet the abdicated emperor in person, I would have emptied all the things in Zhang Garden long ago. Without these antiques and paintings, who would be willing to care about the little emperor?"

"It seems that all the good things in the emperor's hands have been taken away by you guys."

"Well, who made him want to daydream like that?"

"So, Master Xu also believes that it is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to be restored?"

"No hope. The Qing dynasty has run out of luck. Even if there is another emperor in the future, it will not be the Aisin-Gioro family's turn."

Jiang Lianheng nodded, and then asked, "So, who is Young Master Xu running errands for now?"

Xu Haibo waved his hand and said, "I am not in a position to say more about this close official in Zhang Garden."

"Okay, I won't make it difficult for you. So you came to me today to ask me to help you open your shop?"

"No, no, I came to visit Boss Jiang just to ask for safety. After all, I brought so many things with me, and I want to ask Boss Jiang to take care of them. I don't know if you like these antiques, calligraphy and paintings."

"It's OK," Jiang Lianheng said with a forced smile, "It's mainly because I don't know much about these things."

Xu Haibo said, "It's good that you are interested. If Boss Jiang likes something, just pick one and I'll give it to you. We can become friends!"

Jiang Lianheng smiled even more and quickly declined, "I'm afraid this isn't appropriate, is it?"

"That's perfect!" Xu Haibo insisted, "Boss Jiang, I always feel that antiques and calligraphy and paintings shouldn't belong to whoever pays the most. Antiques and antiques should be collected by people who understand them. Now that good things have come into your hands, it can't be called a gift, but rather a return to the original owner!"

Jiang Lianheng is beautiful.

Shopkeeper Yu was getting anxious as he listened to this, and thought to himself, I know a lot about porcelain!

Unfortunately, this advantage did not fall on him.

Xu Haibo's intention to make friends was fake. In fact, he was really worried about the antiques being stolen. Rather than letting the thieves get an advantage, he decided to give one to the Jiang family so that everything would be safe and sound.

Of course Jiang Lianheng couldn't take it for free. If he accepted it, he would have to guarantee the safety of Xu Haibo's people and property in Fengtian.

Mutual benefit, just business.

Everyone is aware of this, but in the final analysis, Xu Haibo still needs Jiang Lianheng's help.

After all, only with the protection of the Jiang family could his antiques avoid being "bumped into" or damaged.

As they were talking, they saw Manager Chen and Boss Guo walking towards them.

"Boss, I've already seen those calligraphy and paintings and jades. They are indeed rare. Today is really an eye-opener!"

Xu Haibo was naturally not surprised.

In fact, he had no knowledge of antiques, but he came from a wealthy family and was the descendant of an official, so his home was filled with all kinds of antiques since he was a child.

Xu Haibo was influenced so much that he could tell the authenticity and quality of certain antiques by intuition alone.

This is often the case in the antique business.

People have been seeing authentic things since childhood and have become accustomed to them. When they suddenly see a fishy piece of merchandise, they can tell it is fake at a glance. Although they may not be able to explain why, they can feel that it is a bit awkward just from the visual perception, which is far more real than the knowledge in books.

Jiang Lianheng didn't have the ability, but he couldn't help pretending to be cultured, so he stood up and said, "Well, I'll go take a look too!"

(End of this chapter)