Qi Hu gave Xue Chen a brief introduction to the man in a suit next to him, who was none other than Manager Shao Liangshao, the manager of this mahogany furniture store.
"Guys, please rest assured that all the mahogany furniture in our store are made in Beijing and are well-made, and the wood used is all aged and mature." Shao Liang said with certainty.
"What, what Beijing work?" Qi Hu asked Xue Chen.
Before Xue Chen could speak, Zhang Qiao explained simply: "Jingzuo is a school of mahogany furniture production. In addition to Jingzuo, there are Suzuo, Dongzuo and Guangzuo. Jingzuo can be considered more orthodox.
, relatively good.”
"Sister Qiao is right." Xue Chen nodded in agreement and said.
"Ha, it seems that I am the only one who is uneducated. Well, then I won't interrupt. You two can choose. I will just swipe my card to pay." Qi Hu said with a hearty smile.
Zhang Qiaoze said quickly: "I only know a little bit about it, but I still have to trouble Brother Xue to control the eyes."
At Shao Liang's invitation, the three of them walked into the interior of the furniture store.
This mahogany furniture store is really not small, nearly 400 square meters in size. The rent alone is not a small sum. You can see mahogany furniture everywhere in the store, including antique and slightly modern furniture.
It is also very complete, including wardrobes, tables, chairs, sofa cover combinations, etc. It is very complete.
Shao Liang asked Qi Hu and Zhang Qiao what furniture they needed.
Qi Hu looked at Zhang Qiao, who thought about it and said: "I plan to buy a Duobao Pavilion, a wardrobe, a sofa and seat combination, and two Fushou chairs. As for the wood, well, I don't have many requirements.
Big, you need to take a look before deciding.”
Shao Liang smiled: "Madam, you have come to the right place. Everything you need is available in our store."
Xue Chen followed Shao Liang, Qi Hu, and Zhang Qiao to a mahogany wardrobe.
"Look, you three, this wardrobe is one of our boutiques. The wood used is red rosewood. Look at the engraved patterns in the middle. They are all hand-carved by masters with more than 20 years of experience...
..." Manager Shao Liang praised this wardrobe without any concealment.
Qi Hu's eyes darkened and he didn't understand at all. This time she came to meet Zhang Qiao's needs. Although Zhang Qiao liked mahogany furniture quite a lot, she mainly thought it was classy and her understanding was limited to superficial knowledge, so she looked at Xue Qiao with her eyes.
Ask for opinions in the morning.
Xue Chen approached the wardrobe, reached out and touched it, looked at it again, thought for a while before turning around and said: "Manager Shao, you just said that this wardrobe is made of red rosewood? It's all handmade, and it's not
Use an iron nail and completely rely on mortise and tenon to fix it?"
"Ah, yes, not bad." Shao Liang nodded vigorously.
Xue Chen smiled slightly: "Manager Shao, let me ask you, even red rosewood is divided into different types according to the place of origin. If you are closer, it is produced in China, Myanmar, Thailand, and other countries. If you are further away, it is produced in these countries.
He said that rosewood is also found in Africa and South America. The price is naturally different due to different origins. I think you should make it clear where this rosewood comes from?"
Xue Chen's tone was neither urgent nor slow, while the smile on manager Shao Liang's face gradually became less natural.
After a moment of silence, the manager Shao Liang smiled apologetically and said, "I was negligent. The rosewood used in this wardrobe is from Myanmar."
"Myanmar?" When Xue Chen heard the answer, he reached out and touched the surface of the wardrobe with a half-smile, then opened the wardrobe and knocked, "If I remember correctly, the rosewood from Southeast Asia is better, because the wood is relatively thicker.
It’s delicate, the texture is more flexible and the hardness is higher. The front of this wardrobe should indeed be made of wood from the Burmese area, but the two sides and the inside don’t look like it to me.”
"Manager Shao, I think this wardrobe is more like two or three kinds of rosewood wood spliced together, not just one kind of Southeast Asian rosewood."
Hearing that Xue Chen touched and took a look, he figured out the rough origin of the rosewood wood used in the wardrobe. Shao Liang's eyes jumped and he looked at Xue Chen for the first time. He was a little surprised. He didn't expect this person in front of him.
How could a young man with an ordinary appearance have such high eyesight?!
But Shao Liang has been in the mahogany furniture business for nearly ten years and has plenty of experience. Seeing that Xue Chen didn't seem to be easy to fool, he saw through some tricks and said hurriedly:
"This gentleman has really good eyesight. Indeed, this wardrobe is not all made of rosewood produced locally. The front part is from Southeast Asia, and other parts are made from Africa. There is a reason for this. I think
This is also easy to understand. Let’s just say that if this wardrobe is placed at home, even if guests come, they can only see the outside but not the inside, right? This is done to reasonably save costs and allow customers to get the maximum benefit.”
"Oh, that's right. That's really well-intentioned." Xue Chen nodded noncommittally, his tone still calm as usual, and he was not unhappy because of Shao Liang's deliberate concealment.
After he closed the wardrobe, he ran his fingers over the patterns engraved on the surface of the wardrobe and touched each pattern.
"Manager Shao, I think the carvings on the wardrobe are not necessarily handmade. I think they were placed on the car window, drilled with a machine drill, and then slightly processed by hand." Xue Chen looked at Shao Liang.
.
Shao Liang also understood that the person in front of him was an expert. He was not a common customer. He was rich but easy to fool. He was a knowledgeable owner, so he did not rush to refute, but asked why he thought so.
.
Xue Chen did not answer in a hurry, but said to Qi Hu who was standing aside: "Brother Qi, you should know that there is a very common technique for counterfeiting porcelain, and that is decals. The flowers on the surface of porcelain are all made from the same mold.
They are exactly the same, very dull.”
"Of course I know that." Qi Hu said matter-of-factly. Nowadays, he is not like Wu Xia Amon when it comes to antiques. As long as the imitation is not particularly clever, he can see some problems.
Xue Chen nodded, turned around, and said to Shao Liang: "The carvings on this wardrobe are just like the decals on porcelain. Let's not talk about those illusory words that have no artistic flavor, no spirit, and look dull. Shao
Manager, please reach out and touch here and here to see what you can touch..."
Following Xue Chen's instructions, Shao Liang stretched out his hand and touched two places. After applying it, his face had some unsightly changes.
"Manager Shao, you can feel it. These two places have basically the same pattern. What's more coincidental is that they both have a small bulge slightly diagonally upward. I think this should be a flaw when the lathe comes out. If it is hand-carved
Yes, a master can never make the same mistake twice in the same place, right?"
Shao Liang saw that Xue Chen pointed out the problem of the wardrobe carving again. His face was a little tense and sweat was almost forming on his forehead. He had never seen such a difficult guest. If he hadn't noticed that these few really
They were ordinary customers, and I almost thought they were pretending to be hired by other stores, deliberately looking for trouble.
"The carver... this... I think the manufacturer may have deliberately concealed this matter!" Shao Liang said somewhat uncomfortably.
Xue Chen smiled with clear eyes: "Manager Shao, be careful. The manufacturer is hiding more than just the carving. You also said that it didn't use a single iron nail and relied entirely on mortise and tenon joints.
I was also very skeptical, so I said that there were some cracks in the mortise and tenon joints where the wardrobe was opened. If no external force was used to fix it, it might have cracked before the guests got it. I thought, the only way to do it was to seal it inside.
Fix it with a steel nail..."
"As for the smaller issues, I won't go into details. For example, the wood used in some inconspicuous parts is made up of small pieces of material glued together..."
Manager Shao Liang looked as if he was paralyzed, and his expression was extremely awkward.
Qi Hu was stunned for a while, and Zhang Qiao was secretly speechless. If she were to look at these problems, she would not be able to see any of them. The main reason is that these problems are really not something that ordinary people can see.
It requires a very high level of vision,
"This..." Shao Liang didn't know what to say at all. He was really holding his breath and wanted to drive the person away, but of course he wouldn't do that.
Xue Chen's understanding of mahogany is not particularly deep. The problems he sees are deeper than ordinary people, but if he is a professional mahogany furniture dealer, he will definitely be able to look more carefully and find more problems.
Come.
Seeing the uncomfortable look on manager Shao Liang's face, Xue Chen smiled kindly and said: "Manager Shao, I want to have a few words with my two friends alone."
"Oh, okay." Shao Liang immediately walked away, thinking in his heart, these guys should leave quickly. Isn't it enough if I don't do your business? When he saw Xue Chen, he said this as if he was nagging.
Most of the problems with the wardrobe were revealed to him, and he almost cried in embarrassment.
Now he no longer wants to do business with these three people, he just wants to send these three people away as soon as possible.
After Shao Liang walked away, Qi Hu frowned: "I didn't expect such an inconspicuous wardrobe to have so many problems. Brother Xue, let me go to another one and have a look."
Zhang Qiao also has this plan.
"Brother Qi, there is a saying that the world is as dark as crows. There are many furniture problems in this store. Are you sure the one next door is better? I don't think so." Xue Chen shook his head and said in deep thought,
"Brother Qi, my knowledge of mahogany furniture is limited. I have visited some Tibetan friends' homes and heard that they all made reservations, and some even provided the wood themselves."
"I understand this, but the scheduled production is too slow. It will take at least half a year." Qi Hu said.
"In this case, there are only two ways, either buy these ready-made furniture stores and try to select better quality ones from them, or try to buy complete sets made by others in the market.
I can help you inquire about mahogany furniture, Brother Qi, what do you think?" Xue Chen asked.
Qi Hu thought about it and asked Zhang Qiao: "What do you think?"
"Then listen to Xue Chen and wait a little longer to see if you can buy better quality ones from others." Zhang Qiao nodded. (To be continued)