Qi Tian stared at the shoes silently for a long time...
I thought that if these shoes really cost nearly 10,000 yuan, the old man would definitely not be able to afford the compensation. It would be better to discuss with this fat man and let him pay less, which would also reduce the burden on the elderly.
But thinking back, it seems unrealistic.
Even if the man gets a 10% discount, it's still nearly a thousand yuan. The old man doesn't look like a rich man, so this is really difficult for him.
"What's your name?" Before Qi Tian could react, Gu Chen had already started taking notes.
"Meng Yang." the man said.
"Please report your ID number..."
After completing the basic procedures, Gu Chen also asked politely: "Now that the matter has happened, how do you want to solve it?"
"This..." The man suddenly hesitated.
"Let me tell you clearly, the old man may not be able to afford so much money." Gu Chen also told the truth and said: "Besides, sneakers were just a tool bought to wear and used to show off, but now they have become
It’s a tool for hype, I think it’s a bit unreasonable.”
"This kind of price may be valuable in your circle, but it only exists in your circle of shoe speculators."
"And the part of the hype price that has been driven up must be squeezed out here. Also, your pair of shoes has been worn, and judging from the wear and tear of the shoe pattern, it will definitely be worn for more than two days. Logically speaking, it must be discounted.
"
Seeing Gu Chen's serious words, the man was stunned for a long time, and suddenly smiled: "I am easy to talk to, and it is rare to meet an expert who knows shoes in Jiangnan City, so..."
The man also gave a shocking idea, saying: "Let this old man apologize to me and pay me a dollar, and then the matter will be settled like this. Do you think that's okay?"
"You only want one dollar?" Qi Tian was also shocked.
Basketball shoes cost more than 10,000 yuan. This guy was aggrieved just now, but now he only wants one yuan in compensation?
Isn’t this attitude contrast too quick?
And many onlookers around them all started talking enthusiastically, as if this was too dramatic, right?
"These sky-high-priced shoes are useless at first glance, and they also affect their appearance when worn. However, paying only one yuan is indeed a conscientious price."
"Oh my god, basketball shoes are so expensive these days. Next time I see someone wearing basketball shoes, I have to stay away from him."
"I used to think that only students wore basketball shoes, but now I feel that as long as they wear basketball shoes, they are all wealthy people, right?"
"This old man is lucky. He only has to pay one dollar for scratching a pair of basketball shoes. If Officer Gu didn't know shoes, who knows how much money this fat man would have had to blackmail him just now."
"The main reason is that the old man just now thought this guy was blackmailing, and the two of them argued for a long time. I guess the man was also very angry, so he called the police."
There are people with different opinions at the scene, but one thing is undeniable. Without Gu Chen, who knows shoes, Meng Yang would definitely not give up.
"Old man." Gu Chen called him.
"Alas!" The old man heard the sound and stepped forward.
"Do you have one dollar?" Gu Chen asked.
"Yes... yes." The old man took something out of his pocket, held a white oilcloth bag in his hand, opened it, and handed a one-yuan coin to Gu Chen.
"Take it." Gu Chen handed the coin to Meng Yang.
"Haha, in fact, with this dollar, I just want to teach the old man a lesson, so that he won't say that I am blackmailing or something. Am I not that bad?" Meng Yang looked down at his pair of worn shoes and said, "I'm really not that bad, pity me.
This pair of shoes."
"Let's all disperse, don't crowd around here." Seeing that the matter was resolved, Qi Tian quickly dispersed everyone, and then together with Gu Chen, he lifted up the old man's overturned three-wheeled bicycle and asked the old man to go home early.
Gu Chen walked up to Meng Yang, smiled and said: "Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Your shoes are indeed expensive, but the quantity is a bit large. If they are undefeated x air jordan 4 or jordan ser, I'm afraid I
We can’t save this old man.”
"Do you even know Jordan Ser?" Meng Yang was so excited when Gu Chen said this: "Let me tell you, the most expensive pair of shoes I have ever bought is Jordan Ser. There are only 4 pairs in the world.
."
Qi Tian on the side was also shocked: "Limited to 4 pairs? Are you crazy? This is the same as a limited edition sports car. It must be fake."
"Senior Brother Qi." Gu Chen also smiled and explained: "Meng Yang is right. There are indeed only 4 pairs of Jordan Ser shoes in the world. The issue price at that time was about... around 200,000. You can buy it.
This pair of shoes is equivalent to a sacred object in sneakers, it’s rare to find but hard to find.”
"Officer Gu really knows the goods." Meng Yang chatted with Gu Chen very well, and couldn't help but smile and said: "I bought it for about 220,000 at that time. Later, a rich second generation wanted to buy this pair of shoes.
, he offered me a price that I couldn’t refuse, 600,000 yuan.”
"Oh my God." Qi Tian was stunned and said, "Is this rich second generation crazy? He paid 600,000 for a pair of shoes? With this money, he can buy a nice luxury car."
Qitian has always been a person who lives his life, and today's police situation has completely subverted some of his perceptions.
In other words, vision.
You can wear a pair of shoes for a few years at most before throwing them away, but ten years is enough to drive a luxury car.
I feel like only now can I understand what Gu Chen just said, what is a shoe speculator?
I thought to myself, isn't this the same as speculating in real estate? It's more profitable than speculating in stocks. It's not so much speculating on shoes as it is collecting cultural relics.
But does this thing have collectible value? No matter how Qi Tian looks at it, it doesn’t seem like it does.
"What happened next? Did you sell those shoes?" Gu Chen was also curious and asked.
"Of course." After talking about this, Meng Yang was quite proud and said: "In the end, I asked him to add another 50,000 yuan and sold it to him for 650,000 yuan, making a net profit of 430,000 yuan."
"Crazy." Qi Tian was completely confused by this kind of shoe industry culture, and said blankly: "Then your industry is quite profitable. The pick-up guys are all rich second generations like this."
"Not really." Meng Yang lit up a cigarette, took a deep breath and said, "As Officer Gu said just now, sneakers were originally a tool bought to be worn and used to show off, and now they have become
A tool for speculation, everyone speculates on shoes, and everyone sells shoes."
"Are you and should you be a senior seller?" Gu Chen asked.
"It can be understood that way." The man took a deep breath of cigarette very proudly and said: "The son of a big star in Europe came to me to buy shoes. I said I would not sell them to you because the price you gave me was too low."
"In the past few years, doing this business was equivalent to picking up money. Just like that pair of Jordan Ser, the most expensive pair of shoes I sold was... 650,000 yuan, which is almost like buying an antique plate. Small businesses are called
When it comes to cutting leeks, it’s the big businesses that really make money, so the golden age of sneakers has passed.”
"In Jiangnan City, there seems to be a shop that specializes in sneaker consignment. I remember it was on Fuqian Street." Gu Chen had the impression that he once noticed a special shop when passing by on Fuqian Road.
"That's what I opened." Meng Yang said with a smile: "To be honest, it's just a facade, but I have managed a total inventory of 250,000 to 300,000 pairs of sneakers. The industry's evaluation of me: There is nothing I can't buy.
The sneakers arrived.”
"So that's it." Looking at Meng Yang driving a sports car, Gu Chen could understand how this guy made money.
This kind of sneaker manager has to worry about which pair to wear among five to six hundred pairs of shoes every day, and handles tens of thousands of pairs of sneakers.
Selling sneakers is actually no different from selling tickets at the door of a concert.
Do you think people use him? They do use him, but do they scold him? They do scold him.
When Gu Chen was a child, he heard that a certain type of sneakers in Jiangbei was on sale and 4,000 people lined up to grab a pair.
At that time, as long as you bought shoes, you could sell them standing at the door.
Shoe speculators earn 200 from 1,400, which is equivalent to an increase of more than 10%.
It's an exaggeration for a stock to rise by one board...
Just two months ago, Gu Chen heard that the barbs sold with an original price of 1,299 yuan were sold for up to 15,000 yuan.
So this is a super profitable industry.
Gu Chen just didn't expect that a big shot in the shoe speculator circle would actually live in Jiangnan City, so he was curious and asked a few more questions.
"No wonder you disdain over 10,000 pairs of shoes and ask for one dollar. I guess the first thing you do when you get up every day is thinking about how to choose a pair to wear today among hundreds of pairs of shoes, right?"
"Haha, Officer Gu really understands me." Meng Yang was also very impressed.
For shoe speculators, the most troublesome thing every day is how to choose a pair of shoes to wear today from hundreds of pairs of shoes.
Just like many fashion bloggers, wearing different clothes every day is a technical job.
"Officer Gu, to be honest, starting five or six years ago, it was difficult to buy shoes at the counters, so I bought them at a higher price. Starting six years ago, I started selling sneakers full-time."
"In the past few years, it was like picking up money. There were no shoes that couldn't be sold. If you could buy a pair of Jordan shoes by drawing lots, you couldn't sell them without adding 200 yuan."
"But as far as I know, shoe speculators were first born in the United States. Mr. Meng should have spent time in the United States?" Gu Chen asked.
"That's necessary." Meng Yang threw away his cigarette and said with a smile: "I started liking sneakers 11 years ago, and I really started selling them 8 years ago."
"At that time, there were not many Chinese selling sneakers in the secondary market in the United States. The profit margin at that time was at least 30%, and could even reach 100%."
As Meng Yang spoke, Gu Chen also wrote the police report and handed it to Meng Yang for his signature.
After writing his name, Meng Yang added: "Officer Gu, do you know Nike's air yeezy?"
"Gu Chen hesitated for a moment, and used his professional-level memory to recall what he had seen in a basketball magazine, and immediately said: "The price in the United States at that time should be around 1,000 to 1,500 U.S. dollars. It might be possible to get it back home.
Sold for $2,000 to $3,000."
He lowered his head and looked at the shoes on Meng Yang's feet, and then said, "They are about the same price range as yours."
"That's right." Meng Yang handed the order to Gu Chen and said with a wry smile: "But four years ago, the market changed somewhat, the sneaker industry began to mature, and a large number of people began to sell sneakers."
Shaking his head, Meng Yang was even a little desperate: "Then the prices here in the United States also began to rise. In this year, platforms like goat stockx stadium goods you just mentioned appeared in large numbers. So for individual and retail merchants like us,
In other words, there is basically no profit margin at all, so I have given up."
"So are you losing or making money now?" Gu Chen smiled and asked him.
"Well...it all depends on the previous capital accumulation, otherwise I would have been crushed to death by these inventories."
"Just like the undefeated x air jordan 4 you just mentioned, there were only 72 pairs on sale that year."
"I bought a pair of shoes for RMB 30,000 to RMB 40,000 and sold them for RMB 90,000. I made 72 pairs of these shoes around the world. To me, they are like collectibles, just like buying an antique plate."
"But in this market now, this may not exist anymore, because it is a trendy derivative, but it is sold frequently and intensively."
"In the early days, when these sneaker brands speculated on culture, they might have sent out one pair a month, then two pairs a month, and now two or three pairs a week. It used to be 980 yuan for a pair of shoes, and then it went up to 1,250 yuan, and now it goes up to
1,400 yuan, isn’t it just cutting leeks?”
"Then you can't make a guaranteed profit without losing any money?" Qi Tian couldn't help but said.
Meng Yang pointed at Qi Tian, shook his finger, and said with a smile: "Those who say that shoe speculation is guaranteed to make money without losing money are all laymen. Four years ago, 9 out of 10 people made money. Two years ago, half of them
make money."
"In just the past two years, shoe speculation has become a very risky industry, because it is difficult to buy a pair of shoes at the original price. If you buy it at the market price, you can only see whether it goes down or up, just like buying a stock.
, it’s really a bit of a gamble.”
"Now, when speculating on shoes, 7 out of 10 people lose money. Only big businesses can make money, while small businesses just call it cutting leeks."
When Meng Yang said this, he was actually venting his dissatisfaction to Gu Chen and Qi Tian.
It can be seen that Meng Yang was brilliant in the past, but now he relies solely on primitive accumulation to survive.
"I think the sneaker market is still not formalized enough." Gu Chen walked up to Meng Yang and said with a smile: "A platform is doing the work of speculating shoes in the entire industry. You sell and speculate, do transactions and do appraisals.
In the end, there will definitely be a division of labor, but forget about shoe speculation and just treat it as a collecting hobby, which is also a niche culture in itself."
"Officer Gu is right. We are buying shoes now just for a hobby." Meng Yang looked down at his pair of shoes and said, "I feel a little distressed just for these shoes, but fortunately I still have two pairs at home.
The same shoes in other colors, otherwise I won’t give up no matter what today.”
"Okay, that old man is wrong, but you are tolerant and can be regarded as a man." Qi Tian, who knew that Meng Yang had suffered a loss, couldn't help but praise him a few times.
After the two groups finished handling the case at the scene, they left separately.
Return to the Haitang Police Station office.
Qitian's entire body became silent.
He graduated from the police academy and was once a basketball player in the school. The most expensive pair of sneakers he ever wore cost more than 400 yuan.
Although this is incomparable with the moisture of shoe speculators, it also subverts my own three views of existence.
Nowadays, once something is "speculated", its price will definitely skyrocket.
Just like real estate, stocks, Bitcoin, blockchain, etc. before.
All of them are leeks harvested from small households, but there are still people coming and going in a steady stream.
However, seeing that the shoe speculation business was losing money as a whole, Qi Tian felt relieved.
He was afraid that one day he would really not be able to even wear sneakers...
Gu Chen had already gone to the nearby data room to organize files.
At Haitang Police Station, this is the fastest and best way for Gu Chen to understand his work.
However, there is a lot of freedom at Haitang Police Station. Qi Tian will not mind as long as Gu Chen asks. Qi Tian will do whatever he wants.
Lao Tan passed behind Qi Tian with some curiosity and patted his shoulder: "Great Sage, how is the performance of the new Gu Chen?"
"Old Tan, are you questioning Gu Chen's ability?" Qi Tian couldn't help but ask him curiously.
"No." Officer Tan waved his hand and said, "What do I mean? Gu Chen is the signature police officer transferred from Furong Branch. I think the superiors must have deliberately arranged this in order to silence other people.
"
"Huh?" Qi Tian couldn't help but be stunned: "How to say?"
"Great Sage, think about it, if I were the leader, would I want to keep Gu Chen by my side? Right?"
"That's right." Qi Tian did not deny this, but suddenly said: "According to you, you asked Gu Chen to work at Haitang Police Station to monitor our work?"
"Sweat!" Officer Tan didn't know how to explain it, so he could only say calmly: "This possibility is not ruled out. Gu Chen represents the Furong Branch, and where is the Furong Branch?"
"Where?" Qi Tian asked blankly.
"It is the place that manages our Haitang Police Station." Officer Tan also squinted his eyes and said: "Our Haitang Police Station was not under the jurisdiction of Furong Branch before, but now it is under the jurisdiction of Furong Branch. Do the leaders of Furong Branch have any confidence in the working ability of our police station?
Questioning, don’t you think so?”
"Huh?" Qi Tian said blankly, as if his brain had suddenly opened up: "Listening to what you said, it seems like that's really what happened?"
Officer Tan quickly walked to the door, glanced at the corridor a few times, then immediately closed the door and returned to Qi Tian, saying: "I'm telling you, Lao Qi, I discovered that Gu Chen doesn't even rest at night. You
Guess what happened last night?"
Qitian's head shrank back: "How could I know what happened last night?"
"Didn't I work the night shift last night? When I passed by the office building of Haitang Police Station and was in the information room, guess what? This guy was still checking information. It was already two o'clock in the morning."
"Let me think about it, Gu Chen slept on the sofa in the office when he was on night duty. This was recognized by the high office, so everyone on the night duty was ordered to be on duty, and the phone line should not be unplugged."
"But when I woke up and was about to buy breakfast, Gu Chen was still in the reference room, and it was already 5:30 in the morning."
"In other words, Gu Chen didn't sleep last night? And he can still come to work full of energy today?" Qi Tian was also shocked by this information.
It feels incredible.
"Isn't that just like this?" Officer Tan also complained repeatedly. After being bored for a long time, he went to Qi Tian to explain the matter and said: "This is the first time I have encountered such a high-spirited guy in all my years as a police officer!"
