Mr. Cheng looked at it for a long time and then put the sign back on the table: "I'm blind, so I didn't see it. It looks a bit old, but I can't say it's old."
Zhou Zichen had no choice but to put the sign away: "It doesn't matter, there is one more thing I want to discuss with Mr. Cheng today."
Mr. Cheng poured tea again: "But tell me!"
Zhou Zichen lightly tapped the table three times: "Mr. Cheng, it's like this. I'm short of money these days, and I would like to trouble you to find a channel for me. I may have sold a lot of antiques these days, and I will lose money by selling them directly to the store.
You know it, and I won’t let your help go in vain. You’ll get a lot of money for drawing fiber, so if you open a shop, you can also buy goods.”
Fiber drawing is actually an intermediary fee. Generally speaking, the intermediary fee is usually 3% paid by the seller and 2% paid by the buyer.
But don’t underestimate this five percent. Generally, Zhou Zichen would not ask Mr. Cheng to take action for something worth three to five thousand, ten thousand or twenty thousand. It would be more than one hundred thousand at least, and it would not be less for something worth one million.
If it's one million, you can draw five thousand, and if it's one million, you can draw fifty thousand. Mr. Cheng doesn't have to do anything in between. He just makes an introduction to both parties. Mr. Cheng doesn't have to worry about whether it's successful or not.
Buying goods actually means selling on behalf of others. Zhou Zichen sets a price, and Zhou Zichen doesn't care how much Mr. Cheng sells.
Generally speaking, if Mr. Cheng works alone, even if he doesn't make money, it will still be beneficial to Mr. Cheng. In the antique business, if there are more genuine products in the store, there will naturally be more "old players" coming.
Mr. Cheng pondered for a moment and said: "Xiao Zhou, since you are short of money, and if I were to do it alone, I would also be short of people. I am trustworthy in your eyes. If you are willing to condescend, come and sit in my shop and collect the money."
Goods, we can be 'goodies', how about that?"
Huohuo is actually two people investing in collecting antiques together, and the profit from selling them is 50/50.
In fact, Zhou Zichen takes advantage of doing this. Zhou Zichen doesn't need to take care of the store. There is a certain amount of people in the store, which is equivalent to providing a platform for Zhou Zichen. He only needs to sit in the store and wait for people to come to the door.
That's fine, there's no need for Zhou Zichen to search all over the world for it.
However, Mr. Cheng also took a fancy to Zhou Zichen's eyesight. In the past few days, he picked things up one after another. Zhou Zichen also made a fortune at the stone betting market at the end of the antique street. Mr. Cheng also heard that the antique street is so big.
of.
Zhou Zichen seemed to be unable to find any reason to refuse: "I don't dare to condescend. I am really grateful that Mr. Cheng is willing to take me in."
Mr. Cheng said with a smile: "Xiao Zhou, you are too polite. In your eyes, I took advantage of you by condescending to come to my place. I will call my boy and ask him to deliver the ingredients."
, I’ll go check out the store I’ve listed later, it’s been renovated, and I’ve already said hello to the owner, so I can open it on a good day.”
Mr. Cheng called Xiao Li to say hello and took Zhou Zichen to see the store he owned.
The location of Cheng Laopan's store is quite good. It is in a location with a relatively concentrated flow of people. The store is medium in size and the decoration is exquisite and elegant. Zhou Zichen can't fault it at all.
After a while, Mr. Cheng's son Cheng Ye came with tableware and ingredients.
Cheng Ye has a bold temperament, but he is a little afraid of Mr. Cheng. As soon as Mr. Cheng opens his mouth, he immediately stops talking.
The hot pot was quickly set up, and naturally the topic of ‘cooking’ came up.
Cheng Ye quit as soon as he heard this. It was because of his straightforward temper that he immediately jumped up: "Dad, I don't agree with this. Brother Zhou is a nice person, I admit it, but friends are friends and business is business."
Mr. Cheng put down his chopsticks: "Then tell me why you don't agree. I agree with the second half of what you said. Friends belong to friends, business belongs to friends, and the accounts must be kept clear."
Seeing that his father had no intention of getting angry, Cheng Ye relaxed and said, "Brother Zhou, I have no intention of targeting you. I'm just talking about business. Don't mind."
Zhou Zichen knew that, from a superficial point of view, he did take advantage of Mr. Cheng's plan. If he received enough genuine products, then Mr. Cheng took advantage. This mainly depends on personal discernment.
"It doesn't matter. If you have any problems, Brother Cheng, you can tell us. If you can solve it, solve it. If you can't solve it, then business is no longer a friendship!"
Zhou Zichen was so generous, which made Cheng Ye feel a little embarrassed, but he still said: "Brother Zhou is still young. He was placed in another shop, that is, an apprentice. When he comes to our shop to work directly as a master, he is still a boy. This is
It’s not good.”
"Not to mention anything else, receiving goods is different from selling goods. When selling, you know whether the goods in your store are good or bad, and you can get a low price."
"The goods received include porcelain, jade, wood, calligraphy and painting, ornamental stones, coins, purple sand, and even stamps, valuable modern souvenirs, books and newspapers, etc. These things, not to mention Brother Zhou, even I can't guarantee.
Watch them all."
"These things have different sub-categories, and there are many, such as porcelain. From the Eastern Han Dynasty onwards, there were so many dynasties, celadon, white porcelain, blue and white porcelain, etc., there are so many types."
"As for coins, there are so many dynasties and emperors that ordinary people in China can't recognize them all. How to divide coins? Not only does it have to determine which dynasty is valuable, but also distinguish the authenticity."
"Calligraphy and painting are more complicated. There are so many famous people, ranging from one thousand to eight hundred, and there are very few calligraphy and paintings that can be truly preserved."
"Anyway, I think no matter how smart Brother Zhou is, it's still a little hard to say that he's a master of collecting goods."
Zhou Zichen really hadn't considered this before. When Cheng Ye said this, he suddenly realized that in the antique industry, relying only on his own pair of mutated eyes was still not enough. Professional knowledge was equally important.
Mr. Cheng nodded slightly: "You are right. If you don't pay attention to these things, you may miss it. But I believe in Xiao Zhou. If you don't believe it, you can try it with him. After this store opens, it will be us anyway."
There are three people in charge of receiving goods, so why not give it a try now to sharpen your arrogance."
Mr. Cheng's words really made Cheng Ye a little unconvinced, because Mr. Cheng's words were obviously optimistic about Zhou Zichen.
Although Cheng Ye is older than Zhou Zichen, he has a sense of arrogance in his heart. In terms of antiques, he has the true inheritance of Mr. Cheng. In front of outsiders, Mr. Cheng doesn't talk about it, but when others talk about Cheng Ye's accomplishments in antiques, Cheng Ye
I am still very proud.
"Then Bibi, Brother Zhou, do you have any objections?"
Zhou Zichen also knew that if he wanted to fight with Mr. Cheng, he would definitely have to convince Cheng Zichen, otherwise even if he was suppressed by Mr. Cheng, Cheng Zichen would be in a panic.
"Okay, let me give it a try. I may not be Brother Cheng's match."
Everyone didn't eat anymore. Cheng Lao went to the warehouse and took out a box of antiques and laid them out: "There are ten pieces in total here, some of which are fakes and some of which are genuine. As for the number, it depends on your eyesight. Who can tell?"
The more accurate you are, the more you win."
These ten items include porcelain, calligraphy and painting, jade, ornamental stones and newspapers, etc.
This test method is still very difficult. The first one prevents Zhou Zichen and others from using the elimination method, because Zhou Zichen and others don't know how many of the items are genuine and how many are fake.
Cheng Ye and Zhou Zichen looked down one by one.
Cheng Ye held a magnifying glass and observed carefully.
The first piece is the calligraphy and painting that Zhou Zichen is most good at. Judging from the painting style, this is Li Keran's cow herding picture.
Li Keran's paintings are of high value and he is good at landscapes and figures, but his most powerful painting is cattle.
Zhou Zichen opened his eyesight. These days, Zhou Zichen has read a lot of works by modern calligraphy and painting masters, and he happened to have seen Li Keran's works.
I quickly compared Li Keran's paintings in my mind with the paintings in front of me, and found that more than 90% of them were similar. Don't underestimate these 90%. Even if you paint the same painting yourself, it would be impossible.
They are 100% the same, but the brushes used in these two paintings are still a little different.
Zhou Zichen quickly came to the conclusion that this was a fake, but a very high-level fake.
Zhou Zichen continued to look at the second piece.
Cheng Ye just started reading the first one. When he saw that Zhou Zichen had finished reading it, he couldn't believe it. He didn't know whether Zhou Zichen deliberately put pressure on himself and stopped reading after a few glances, or whether Zhou Zichen was not sure.
Because it is difficult to distinguish fake paintings from fakes, one can imagine how difficult it would be for a person to identify hundreds of painters' notes.
"Cheng Ye, pay attention!" Mr. Cheng reminded Cheng Ye from the side.
Cheng Ye woke up and stopped paying attention to Zhou Zichen, focusing on himself.
The second item is an ornamental stone.
What is an ornamental stone? It is actually a stone, but a strange or special stone.
Maybe ordinary people just feel happy when they see these stones, but some rich people will travel thousands of miles to move these stones home, find something, and decorate them.
Therefore, as long as the ornamental stone is good and authentic, it will have a certain market value.
But one thing about stone appreciation is that it must be authentic and carved by nature, not hand-carved. If it is hand-carved or made, it is a handicraft.
Zhou Zichen had never really learned about ornamental stones before. If he didn't understand, he would ask. He raised his head and looked at Mr. Cheng: "Mr. Cheng, how do you judge the authenticity and value of this ornamental stone?"
Mr. Cheng was slightly startled, then smiled and said: "Stone appreciation is a rather special category. It does not look at the age, and it does not have a fixed value. As long as it has not been artificially modified, it is not artificial, and it is real. As for the price, it is not good either.
Certainly."
"Okay, got it!"
Since you only need to identify whether it has been artificially modified or not, it is very simple.
This stone is very smooth overall, but there are two colors on it, one light yellow and one white. The two colors intersect to form a very ornamental pattern.
Zhou Zichen turned on his eyesight and discovered that the stone was really old, at least thousands of years old. However, there was a layer of obvious polished marks on the outside. The areas that had not been polished looked slippery.
On the first floor, there are occasionally some potholes, which are very irregular.
As for the polished areas, there are very regular stripes.
The second one was also judged to be a fake.
The next few items are all antiques, porcelain, jade, etc., and they are not difficult for Zhou Zichen.
The eighth item is a newspaper.
The earliest newspapers in China were in the late Qing Dynasty, which is not a long time ago. Zhou Zichen once thought that these things did not have much collection value, but now it seems that he was completely wrong.