Chapter 48: Strolling Around (Part 2)

  Shijiazhuang is the provincial capital of Hebei Province, and it is the political, economic, cultural, transportation, scientific, financial and information center of the province. It is a region with relatively early human civilization development and extremely rich cultural heritage.

  The White Buddha oral culture, Zhongshan national culture and Xishi business culture all originated in Shijiazhuang, creating a civilization that has attracted worldwide attention. Due to its convenient transportation and rich natural resources, it has also become a pearl of the North China Plain.

  An ancient city with a rich history and culture, the antique market has always been very good, especially in recent years, Chinese art has been hot in the international investment market, which has also led to the domestic antique market booming.

  In Shishi City's Bai Fo Street, Hong Qi Street and other places, several antique markets have been set up one after another. Every weekend, people can be seen using magnifying glasses and small flashlights to search for treasures.

  "Feng Ge, this place is full of old men, what are we doing here?"

  As he walked through the antique market on Bai Fo Street, Li Tianyuan was getting a bit impatient. Earlier, he had seen a decent jade carving of a Pixiu and wanted to hold it in his hand to take a closer look, but the stall owner had eyed him like a thief, making Li Tianyuan feel uncomfortable all over.

  However, Li Tianyuan was not wrong either. CCTV's antique appraisal program had not been released yet, and the craze of national treasure hunting had not formed at that time. The prosperity of the antique market was only within those specific circles.

  Nowadays, people who collect antiques are mostly middle-aged or retired elderly with some economic foundation. The three young men, Qin Feng and the others, wandering around here, are indeed quite eye-catching.

  "Li Lao Da, you just don't understand, the game here is about being sharp-eyed. If you can pick up a bargain, who knows, one item might make you earn eight or nine thousand."

  When people have money, they should pursue quality. Even before Xie Xuan's father went bankrupt, he wanted to play with high-end art, but he didn't spend less on antiques. Although most of what he bought were fakes, Xie Xuan did understand some of the inner workings.

  "Go ahead and brag, but didn't the boss buy fewer things afterwards? And weren't they all later identified as fakes?"

  Li Tianyu raised an eyebrow, Xie Xuan mentioned this, he actually remembered that once Xie Dazhi asked him to pick up a certain appraisal master and bring him home, where they treated him with good tea and wine.

  But when the master left, Xie Dazhi's face turned black. He had bought a whole house full of things, but not one of them was real. In anger, Xie Dazhi smashed everything in the house to pieces.

  "Farzi, Xiao Pang is right, this thing is all about eyesight..."

  Looking at Li Tianyuan's tall and sturdy figure standing beside him, Qin Feng indeed felt a bit dazzling. He opened his mouth and said: "Farzi, if you don't like to stroll around, go wait for us by the entrance!"

  "Go, Wind Brother, I'll wait for you at the exit!"

  When Li Tianyuan heard Qin Feng's words, he was delighted and ran to the entrance of the antique city market, lit a cigarette and started smoking there. Watching the beautiful women on the street here is more comfortable than accompanying Qin Feng to stroll around.

  After Li Tianyuan left, Qin Feng's stroll became more and more meticulous, almost stopping at every stall, from jade to bronze coins, and chatting with the bosses for half a day.

  Although he looked young, Qin Feng picked up each item and could talk about it with great expertise. Those old collectors were often left speechless by Qin Feng's words, and before long, his neck and hands were filled with all sorts of antique trinkets.

  "Feng Ge, you still like wearing these things? But... but aren't these things all fake?"

  Looking at the ivory-carved bead chain on Qin Feng's neck and the small leaf sandalwood wrist chain, Xie Xuan's face turned very strange. He was somewhat puzzled as to why Qin Feng would spend money buying these things after saying they were all fake.

  Although these things are not expensive, adding up to only thirty or fifty yuan, Xie Xuan knew that after giving them five hundred yuan, Qin Feng was left with only six or seven hundred yuan in his pocket.

  "It's fake, but it's well-made. If you don't hold it in your hand and examine it closely, you can't tell at a glance."

  Qin Feng heard the words and smiled, saying casually: "Xiao Pang, what kind of antique business does Nie's family mainly do? Is it calligraphy and painting, jade stone, or ceramic bronze ware?"

  "I heard it's about jade stones? I once heard Li Lao Da mention that they bought some sort of jade mine in Xinjiang."

  Xie Xuan entered the prison when Nie Yuandong had already been released. He also heard some things about the Nie family from Li Tianyuan later, but he didn't understand them very well.

  "Playing with jade?" Qin Feng nodded, but didn't say anything. However, as he strolled around the various stalls, his attention was clearly focused on the different jade items.

  The vendors on Antique Street are generally divided into two types. One type is the street vendors, who can start business by simply laying out a newspaper stand, with very low costs, only needing to pay a daily market management fee of five yuan.

  This kind of vendor often displays ancient coins or jade pendants on their stall, most of which are covered with dirt and look like they have been around for some years.

  The second type of seller's input cost is much higher because they are store-style operations, and every month they have to pay the market for water, electricity, and rent.

  These shops are categorized very finely, with some specializing in calligraphy and painting, others in jade stones. The items on display appear exceptionally exquisite under the projection of light.

  Of course, the prices of items in the store are also astonishing. A small trinket that looks no different from those outside is sold at a price hundreds or even thousands of times higher than those on street stalls.

  After walking around the street stalls, Qin Feng started to visit those antique shops. However, the attitude of the antique shop owners was much worse than that of the street stall owners. As soon as they saw two young people, they didn't even bother to acknowledge them and just continued doing their own thing.

  After coming out of an antique shop, Xie Xuan said somewhat unhappily: "Feng Ge, can they make money doing business like this?"

  Doing business is about welcoming customers, those shops were open, but the bosses completely treated them as air. Xie Xuan still had some young master temperament in his bones and couldn't bear it suddenly.

  "Xiao Pang, in this line of business, it's often the case that you don't make a profit for three years, but when you do, you can live off it for three years. Moreover, all shop owners will accumulate some old customers or collector friends; relying solely on retail sales is not profitable at all."

  Looking at Xie Xuan's indignant expression, Qin Feng couldn't help but laugh and said: "Or... you go find Yuanzi, I'll take a stroll around for a bit before leaving."

  What made Qin Feng somewhat surprised was that Xie Xuan actually shook his head and said, "No, Brother Feng, I'll accompany you, follow you to gain knowledge."

  "It's actually more suitable for Li Tianyuan to eat this kind of food."

  When he saw Xie Xuan, he suddenly calmed down. Qin Feng couldn't help but nod in his heart. The six words "look more, speak less, remember" have always been the golden words of the antique industry.

  In the pre-liberation era, this industry could also be considered as one of the "eight gates" because no matter which antique shop or pawnshop, they all had a "thousand" character.

  The counterfeit antique dealer always wants to sell things by confusing the genuine with the fake, and the store naturally does not want to receive fake goods either.

  In this process, all sorts of strange stories have occurred, and of course, the old deceivers from Qianmen are also stirring up trouble, and some shops were even opened by people from Qianmen.

  Unlike traditional businesses, running an antique shop is not about having funds, connections or supply channels, but rather about having a good eye, because whether buying or selling, once you've made a mistake, the loss can be huge.

  Before liberation, no matter the size of the antique shop, there would be a big shopkeeper whose status was higher than that of the owner, and many even held some shares in the shop.

  There are apprentices with the boss, but at that time, the apprentices can only watch and not ask questions. They are not accepted as disciples, and the boss will not teach them anything. If they want to learn a skill, they can only observe more during their free time.

  Xie Xuan's personality may be a bit eccentric, but his eyesight is far better than Li Tianyuan's. At the very least, in the haggling just now, Xie Xuan spoke in fluent Shicheng dialect and actually helped Qin Feng save some money.

  Seeing Xie Xuan's performance, Qin Feng did move a few points to bring him into the industry, because according to his master's words, in chaotic times it's gold, and in prosperous times it's antiques, this line of work will have great prospects in the future!

  The current Qin Feng is no longer the Qin Feng who was content with just opening a waste collection station, that would be too unfair to what he has learned in his heart.

  Qin Feng has read Three Kingdoms many times, but the one he dislikes the most is Zhuge Liang. That guy was simply worn out to death. Now Qin Feng is thinking of building his own team.

  With this in mind, Qin Feng's words also increased, and some of the doorways of the antique industry were intentionally or unintentionally instilled into Xie Xuan.