Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 243: Next time we meet, we'll be millionaires
What the young man took out from his bag was an exquisite snuff bottle, small in size and rich in colors.

If you look closely, you will see that the oval-shaped tobacco pipe is painted with enamel to depict a beautiful scene. There are trees and rocks in the near distance, and then there are houses hidden among the undulating mountains, and in the distance are distant mountains and river views.

The painting is full, but it does not feel crowded. Instead, it gives people a feeling of clear sound in the empty valley and pine wind in the dense forest. The scenery is progressive, and the method of flatness and distance should be used.

The trees on the left and right sides are mainly drawn with dotted leaves, supplemented by outlined leaves, using the virtual to bring out the real. The outlines of the trees are in various shapes and forms, lush and green, covering the mountains, with a strong sense of three-dimensionality.

In terms of the use of colors, juice green, three blues and ink blue are mixed but the layers are clearly distinct. This painting must have been created by a famous artist.

Lin Chaoyang turned the snuff bottle over again. The bottom of the snuff bottle was covered with white glaze, and the signature was in blue regular script, with the words "Made in the Qianlong Period" written on it.

Snuff was originally a tobacco product, which is made by baking, removing the stems, powdering, fermenting and adding spices to the tobacco, and is taken by sniffing.

It was introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, and later the court craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty gradually refined the containers. Because it can refresh the mind and has a small and exquisite shape, it has been loved by emperors of all dynasties, and has been passed down and has remained popular.

In the late Qing Dynasty, snuff bottles with inner painting appeared. That is, figures, landscapes, flowers and birds and other patterns were painted on the frosted inner wall of the container. The manufacturing technology reached its peak and was praised as "a pocket-sized handicraft that combines the achievements of multiple techniques from various countries."

What Lin Chaoyang is holding in his hand is an imperial snuff bottle. It is finely crafted, elegantly colored, and has vivid scenes. It should also be a fine piece of enamel snuff bottles made in the palace.

In later times, it would definitely be worth a few million.

Lin Chaoyang looked at her for a long time, and the young man couldn't help asking, "What do you think?"

"It's a nice item, how much do you plan to sell it for?"

Lin Chaoyang said happily.

"This is a snuff bottle from the Qianlong period. It came from the palace. My family has always kept it as an heirloom..."

The young man talked around for a long time. How could Lin Chaoyang not see what he was thinking? He interrupted him and said, "Just tell me how much money?"

"One hundred yuan..." the young man said the price and added, "I want foreign exchange certificates."

Lin Chaoyang was a prophet ahead of his time and never deliberately devalued things when buying antiques.

No matter whether he drills holes or gives a high price, he won't suffer any loss, so why exploit these poor people?

But his magnanimity was based on the context of the times, and he would never be taken advantage of.

"It's a bit high. If you go to an antique shop, they will only give you 30 or 40 yuan for your snuff bottle, and that's in RMB."

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, the young man wanted to bargain again, but an old comrade in his fifties pushed him aside.

"Comrade, look at this. This is our family's heirloom..."

The two temperaments of simplicity and cunning are mixed in the genes of Chinese farmers, and they will show different temperaments according to the situation.

The purpose of bringing up the word "heirloom" is simply to bargain, but the prerequisite is that the item has to be good.

The old comrade brought a blue and white bowl with the inscription "Tongzhi Year" on the bottom. It looked quite good for its age, but unfortunately it was from a folk kiln, not a famous one. The workmanship was crude, and there was even a chip on the rim of the bowl.

"Uncle, I don't like this bowl. I want you to go to the store and take a look."

Lin Chaoyang said it politely, but everyone present understood what he meant. However, the old comrade found it hard to accept. "This is something from the Tongzhi period. It's a hundred years old."

Lin Chaoyang smiled without saying anything. The old comrade muttered a few words and was unwillingly pushed away by the young man.

"Fifty yuan. Give me fifty foreign exchange coupons and take it." The young man said.

"Thirty dollars."

Lin Chaoyang said something, and seeing the hesitation on the young man's face, he said: "The price I give you is definitely higher than the price offered by the antique shop, and I give you foreign exchange coupons. If you are not in a hurry, you can wait a while. When the purchase point opens, you can go in and ask, and then we can talk."

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, the eyes of the people around him looked at Lin Chaoyang with a much softer look.

Apart from anything else, their attitude is indeed kind.

While the young man was hesitating, Lin Chaoyang took a look at the things the other two brought. He liked the pale green glaze embossed Fuqing vase with continuous rolled mouth and dragon ears brought by one of them.

The bottle was from the Jiaqing period and was in very good condition. He offered it 60 yuan.

After looking at the things of several people, Lin Chaoyang repeated what he had just said.

Several people looked delighted. When buying something, one should compare prices from three stores; when selling something, one should also compare prices from three stores. Everyone felt more at ease after hearing what Lin Chaoyang said.

Lin Chaoyang hid on the side of the road and waited for the purchasing point to open. Several people rushed in, and after a while someone came out of the purchasing point.

The four people just now brought a total of five things. Two of them were antiques with collection value that Lin Chaoyang liked, two were common items that were a bit old, and one was a fake from the Republic of China period.

After coming out of the cultural relics purchasing point, the two people who had just been offered bids happily ran to Lin Chaoyang and completed the transaction with him.

"Brother, you are a kind person. I will come to you when I need to sell things in the future." The young man said with a smile after counting the money.

Lin Chaoyang was happy to hear this, as the young man's family was quite wealthy.

"Okay, come here when you need something next time. I'll come here every week or so."

"to make."

While the two were talking, Lin Chaoyang caught a glimpse of a buyer at the purchasing point walking out the door and looking in their direction.

Just now these people went to the store and let people look at the things but didn't sell them. The buyer was knowledgeable and naturally understood what was going on.

Seeing this, Lin Chaoyang said no more and rode away on his bike.

Although he was not engaged in speculation, he was still a bit unkind to challenge people in front of the purchasing point of the state-owned cultural relics store.

If they are really angry and call the voting office, he will definitely be humiliated. The right thing to do is to collect his things and run away.

After returning home with the things, Lin Chaoyang carefully placed them in the study. Tao Yushu complained, "There is almost no place to put these things at home."

Lin Chaoyang said, "Don't worry. When my parents come, I'll move these things to the courtyard. Isn't there anyone there now?"

No one has lived in the Mianhua Hutong courtyard since it was renovated. Du Feng used to go there every now and then, but recently he started a business and hasn't seen him for almost a month. There are only some antique furniture in the courtyard now. Those things are large in size and the preservation conditions are not that precious, so there is no need to worry about them.

"Do you think your parents are here to keep watch for you?" Tao Yushu said unhappily, and then added: "Should I write to them again to urge them? Winter is almost here, and there is no movement from them."

"Okay, I'll write a letter."

After saying this, Lin Chaoyang wrote a letter to his parents. Tao Yushu was preparing lunch. He put a stamp on the letter and was about to put it in the mailbox at the gate of the courtyard when the intercom at home suddenly rang.

Less than two minutes after answering the phone, Du Feng appeared at the door.

He was wearing a floral shirt, flared pants, pointed leather shoes, and frog-eye glasses. If it weren't for his explosive hairdo, the Du Feng in front of Lin Chaoyang could almost be called a textbook-level trendsetter in the 1980s.

"Hey! Who is this?" Lin Chaoyang asked in an exaggerated tone.

Du Feng took off his sunglasses and replied proudly: "Brother-in-law, I'm Du Feng!"

"What a shame!" Tao Yushu rolled his eyes when he saw Du Feng like this, and then cursed: "Look how cocky you are, I thought it was Sister Hua who turned into a spirit and escaped."

Faced with his sister's belittlement, Du Feng was not angry. He walked in with a grin and took out two pairs of sunglasses.

"You came all the way here just to bring us this thing?" Lin Chaoyang teased.

"Hey, how can that be possible!"

As Du Feng spoke, he took out five hundred yuan and handed it to Tao Yushu.

"Sister, this is the money I borrowed from you. You said you don't want interest."

Tao Yushu snorted and put the money away. Du Feng then took out two Marlboro cigarettes from his pocket and said, "Brother-in-law!"

Then he reached in again and took out a plastic hairpin, the surface of which was covered with pink plastic beads.

"Sister, this is for you."

Nowadays, lesbians don’t have any decent headwear. They basically use black steel hairpins and rubber bands to fix their hair. Some girls who love beauty will use colorful silk ropes and hair flowers to dress up, but Tao Yushu is already past that age.

The hairpin that Du Feng took out seemed a bit cheap and even tacky from the perspective of later generations, but from today's aesthetic point of view, the style is extremely exquisite and rare.

After getting the pink hairpin, Tao Yushu's attitude finally softened, and she deeply practiced the principle of her sisters to be soft-hearted.

"It seems like you've made a lot of money recently?" Lin Chaoyang asked Du Feng with a smile.

Listening to his words, Du Feng showed an irrepressible smugness on his face, "Not bad, not bad."

It has been almost a month since Du Feng last came to our house for a drink, and on the third day after drinking, he went to Shenzhen.

It takes at least a week to go back and forth from Yanjing to Shenzhen. Needless to say, during this time, Du Feng was naturally busy selling the sunglasses he imported from Shenzhen.

When talking about his experiences during this period, Du Feng's face was full of excitement and he talked incessantly.

"Brother-in-law, if you hadn't been to Shenzhen, you wouldn't have known what reform and opening up meant. Here, to open a small restaurant, you have to run around and beg for favors. If you sell something, people would accuse you of speculation.

Over there, all you can see are new construction sites. The streets are full of people like me who go to buy goods and do business. Foreign businessmen invest millions of dollars.

The parallel-imported goods from Hong Kong are so cheap that when they come to us, they are at least five or eight times more expensive, and even ten or twenty times more is not a big deal. It's just like picking up money...

I spent a long time haggling with the boss about this batch of sunglasses, and we couldn't get the price down to three dollars. I chatted with the locals, and they said the cost of this thing was only a few cents.

Later I told the boss that I would order 1,000 pairs next time, and only then did he agree to give me 2.50 per pair.

Hey, guess how much I'm selling for?"

Du Feng said this and asked Lin Chaoyang with a mysterious look on his face.

"Eighteen yuan." Lin Chaoyang said.

Du Feng immediately gave a thumbs up, as if he had heard something profound, "Great, brother-in-law!"

"Stop flattering me." Tao Yushu said impatiently.

The price of frog-eye glasses is no secret on the street, so it is not surprising that Lin Chaoyang knows it. Du Feng's attitude is that of a typical flatterer.

Then, Du Feng talked about some things about his sales.

He imported 240 pairs of frog-eye glasses from Shenzhen. In more than half a month, he sold nearly 200 pairs, nearly half of which were sold to his comrades in the army. The remaining 40 pairs should be sold out in the next two days.

The purchase price was 3720 yuan and the selling price was yuan. Du Feng made a net profit of yuan.

However, according to him, he also asked two friends to help sell the goods on his behalf, and he had to give those two people more than 500 yuan.

"After deducting my food, lodging and travel expenses to Shenzhen, I made nearly three thousand yuan on this trip," Du Feng said proudly.

According to Du Feng's salary in the army, this money is almost equivalent to his income for eight or nine years without eating or drinking.

Tao Yushu couldn't help showing a surprised expression on his face, "You guys are making money too easily, right?"

Du Feng couldn't help but laugh, "I also think it's easier to make money now. Except for the days of buying goods, I was a little tired. When selling things, I didn't have to worry at all. Everyone was rushing to buy."

"When there is a shortage of commodity supply and supply is less than demand, this effect will naturally occur," said Lin Chaoyang.

"Brother-in-law is right."

"What's next? What are you going to do next?" Tao Yushu asked.

"Of course." Du Feng was full of energy and confidence. "I'll go to Shenzhen in a few days when most of these sunglasses are sold out. I'll buy 1000 pairs this time. Sister, next time you see me, I'll be a millionaire!"

"You're so crazy!" Tao Yushu rolled his eyes at Du Feng.

Lin Chaoyang looked at his brother-in-law's smug look and smiled without saying a word.

(End of this chapter)