"What? Around!" Hearing Zheng Dagang's words, the middle-aged man looked at the receipt in his hand in disbelief, but it did clearly read the words "Crafts, around the year" on it.
"Boy, you...you are cheating on me!" The middle-aged man's face became very ugly. He looked carefully at the receipt in his hand and could see that there was a shallow horizontal mark on the four, plus the "four"
"The two strokes in the middle of the character are a bit too bold. If you don't look carefully, you will clearly see that it is a Western character.
"Brother, this is your fault."
Now that he was justified, Zheng Dagang's words became less pleasant and his voice became louder, "In our business, the most important thing is one's eyesight. You didn't see it at the time, but now you're asking for help. It's a bit of a bad rule."
, if you continue to make trouble, you won't gain anything."
"Brother Gang, Xiaofan, what's going on?"
Su Xiaofan's stall was surrounded by four or five strong men, which had already attracted the attention of the stall owners nearby. As soon as Zheng Dagang raised his voice, several people came over. They were doing business in the antique market, and they met those who were not willing to look at the purchase.
It is common to find counterfeit goods to look for debt, which requires the help of everyone. In the blink of an eye, the four or five people were surrounded in the middle.
"Okay, brother, I admit my mistake." The middle-aged man looked around and said, "I made a mistake. I can't blame others. It's my fault for what happened today. You think I've never been here."
As he spoke, the middle-aged man raised his hand and led a few people around him to squeeze out. The people who gathered around saw that the matter was resolved, so they did not make it difficult for them. After a while, the few people disappeared into the bustling antique street.
among the crowd.
"Brothers, thank you." Seeing those people leaving, Su Xiaofan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly raised his hands to the surrounding people.
"Hey, what's the big deal? I've made a mistake, but I still have the nerve to take the blame."
"That's right, Xiaofan, if you need anything, just shout and the brothers will come over right away."
The crowd around them laughed and chatted for a while and dispersed one after another. After all, everyone had stalls to look at. Although the goods were not expensive, it would not be annoying if someone took them away.
"Xiaofan, it's true that you broke the rules in this matter." After the crowd dispersed, Zheng Dagang grabbed Su Xiaofan and whispered: "It's okay for you to sell a piece of bronze for a thousand yuan, but
Sold for 8,000, this is a bit of a brutal killing, I don’t blame those people for coming here to pay for it.”
The sales in the Antique City, especially those on the street stalls, are basically about selling small trinkets. Anyone who sells three to five hundred yuan a day is considered a good business. Su Xiaofan sells eight thousand for a fake product, which can sometimes be as good as one from other stalls.
The monthly turnover has already been reached. To use professional words, this wool roll is a bit harsh.
What's more, Zheng Dagang saw it clearly just now. When Su Xiaofan was writing the receipt, he was also moved. Although the horizontal print of the one character above the four characters was shallow, you could still tell it if you look closely, so Zheng Dagang said that Su Xiaofan broke the rules.
"Brother Gang, actually that thing is quite complicated to make. It's not too much to charge him eight thousand." Su Xiaofan smiled bitterly and said: "The bronze I made is an imitation of a hoopoe. It is a combined object. There are many other items on the market.
It's rare. At the time, I thought he was knowledgeable and knew that this thing was difficult to make, but who would have thought that he really thought it was a genuine product."
"Hoopoe? What is that?" Hearing Su Xiaofan's words, Zheng Dagang was stunned for a moment. He didn't know much about bronzes, and he had never heard of such an unusual name.
"That thing is a kind of hair accessory for ancient women. I saw it from my grandfather's bronze rubbing book." Su Xiaofan explained to Zheng Dagang.
The so-called hoopoe actually consists of three parts, two clips and a connecting rod. The shape is somewhat similar to the current barbell. The "Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Bei Jing" records that "the Queen Mother of the West has a ladder and a hoopoe staff". In Jiaxiang, Shandong
In the Han Dynasty portraits of Wu's Temple, we can see the engraved "Jade Sheng" pattern, with two symmetrical Shengs connected by a "staff" and a round hole in the center, which can be worn across the hair. The Queen Mother of the West in the stone portrait wears such a "Sheng Sheng"
”.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the Queen Mother of the West was highly respected by the ruling class, so the "Sheng" she wore on her head was also welcomed by the ancients. People began to wear different styles of "Hoopoe". As the "Hoopoe" became more and more popular,
There are various hoopoe made of different materials, such as bronze hoopoe, amber hoopoe, jade hoopoe, etc. In addition to the admiration for the Queen Mother of the West, the popularity of the "hoopoe" is also due to its practicality.
However, with the change of dynasties, people's requirements for accessories are getting higher and higher. When hairpins that are more convenient to wear appear, the "hoopoe", which is troublesome to wear, gradually disappears from the stage of history, because it is composed of several parts.
, are often incomplete when unearthed, so even many archaeologists or cultural relic experts do not recognize the hoopoe.
"It took me a whole month to make this object. Brother Gang, do you think it's expensive to sell it for eight thousand?" Su Xiaofan felt a little depressed at the moment. He took some tricks and made the thing old, but
Isn’t this the case with all bronzes? If they are not aged and have no sense of age, who would spend money to buy them?
"According to what you said, eight thousand is really not expensive."
Zheng Dagang has been in the antique market for so many years and is a knowledgeable person. He nodded, looked in the direction where those people left, and said: "But Xiaofan, these people don't look like good friends. Today
Don't take the stall home, I'll find a place for you to put it, so be careful when you go home and don't let them follow you."
The antique market is a mixed bag of dragons and snakes. Zheng Dagang knows that there are many ruthless people who come to Luochuan to do antique business, especially those who fight against each other. Many of them have lives on their hands. Su Xiaofan can smell those people.
Zheng Dagang could naturally tell from the smell that these people were most likely going to the ground to eat the food of their ancestors.
"I know, Brother Gang, I will be careful." Su Xiaofan smiled bitterly. He has been practicing stalls in this antique market for two years. He used to sell exquisitely crafted bronze crafts. This is the only one that is old.
Something happened to the object. It seems that grandpa's advice is reasonable. This person cannot make a fortune.
However, Su Xiaofan had no choice. His mother passed away when he was seven years old. Because his father did not want to inherit the family's craft of making bronzes, he had a quarrel with his grandfather and ran out to become a sailor.
In the past ten years, Su Xiaofan, brother and sister, have only seen their father a handful of times. Although his grandfather passed away when Su Xiaofan was in the first year of high school, fortunately, his father, who had already worked as a captain of an ocean-going ship at sea, had a decent income, but these
The year did not lack enough food and clothing for the brother and sister.
Su Xiaofan was quite unlucky. He had a car accident the year before last when he was a senior in high school, and it was caused by him crossing the road. He suffered multiple fractures on his body. He had to recuperate for half a year, which delayed his college entrance examination.
Originally, with Su Xiaofan's grades, there was no problem in repeating one year to get into college. But it happened that his father didn't come back that year for unknown reasons, and the car accident wiped out all the savings his father had given him. Because his younger sister also wanted to go to high school, Su Xiaofan simply didn't.
I resumed my studies and relied on the skills of making bronze ware I had learned from my grandfather. I rented a house and set up a stall in an antique market not far from my sister's school.
With his cute face, lively talk, and good English, Su Xiaofan's business has always been very good. Just by fooling foreigners who travel, he can make a net profit of thousands in a month.
So when his father came home last year, he wanted him to re-study and take the college entrance examination, but Su Xiaofan rejected him. Su Xiaofan, who had lived with his sister and grandfather since childhood, and his father actually had the same temper. It was useless for anyone to say something that he was sure of.
It stands to reason that if he continues to work step by step like this, after a few more years of work, Su Xiaofan will be able to rent a stall in the antique city. He will not be rich or wealthy, but he will definitely have no worries about eating and drinking. However, accidents will always happen in life.
My sister Su Xiaoxiao, who is now in her third year of high school, went home some time ago and told Su Xiaofan that there was a national-level research institute in Yanjing, and when they went to their school for the special recruitment exam, Su Xiaoxiao actually passed the exam.
According to Su Xiaoxiao, if you are admitted to this institute, you will start as a master's student. You can follow national experts and professors to conduct research on scientific research projects. After graduation, you can stay and work in the institute, but the tuition is also very expensive.
It costs 100,000 yuan a year.
When he first heard Su Xiaoxiao's words, Su Xiaofan's first reaction was that the school had encountered a scammer. First of all, the institute was an employer, not a school. It only recruited people from universities, and it was neither possible nor qualified to issue diplomas.
Secondly, studying at a domestic university is not so expensive. Even at the best university in China, the tuition fee is only 10,000 yuan a year. The tuition fee for this graduate school is ten times that of the University of Washington.
Su Xiaofan, who has been working in the antique market for several years and has witnessed many scams, naturally did not believe it. As a parent, he went to the school to consult and found that the enrollment was actually real. The institute was listed in Yan
It is under the name of Beijing University, and it is a special admission. You do not need to take the college entrance examination. You have to register at Yenching University during the summer.
Su Xiaofan, who was cautious, called the admissions office of Yenching University again. After some consultation, he found out that this institute was newly opened this year and the research topic was unknown, because although the institute was under the name of Yenching University,
, but it is affiliated to the National Academy of Natural Sciences, and the fee standards are also formulated there. Yenching University has no say, but the admissions are indeed real, and Su Xiaofan is not the only one calling for consultation recently.
Su Xiaofan, who got the conclusive news, was naturally very happy. Although his sister's academic performance was good, there was still a certain gap between her and a top university like the University of Washington. Now that she had the opportunity to study there, Su Xiaofan was naturally willing to support her at all costs.
Now he took inventory of his belongings. Su Xiaofan was a little dumbfounded by this calculation.
Su Xiaofan has made some money by practicing the stall in the past two years, but excluding the rent, food and clothing, and the pocket money for his sister, Su Xiaofan only has more than 20,000 yuan on hand, even if he adds the 50,000 yuan that his father gave him during the Spring Festival last year.
, and the total amount is less than 80,000 yuan, which is still more than 20,000 yuan short of 100,000 yuan.
Seeing that his sister was about to report to Yanjing in more than a month, Su Xiaofan became a little anxious when he couldn't contact his father who was floating in an unknown ocean for a while. Only then did the middle-aged man show up at the stall that day.
When I asked him if he had any old items, he took off his old bronze "hoopoe".
