Chapter 71: The Eccentric Shop Owner

  Back to the hotel, Zhao Haifeng and Du Dan counted together. Since the three of them didn't have a specific destination, they decided to follow Zhao Mengzhi on his trip. With familiar people leading the way, many things would be more convenient. More importantly, it saved money on food and lodging, which was a huge expense for Qu Wen.

  After playing in Guiyang for a day, on the third afternoon, three people took a plane to Chengdu. At the airport, Zhao Mengzhi had already arranged for a special car to wait outside.

  "Hello Mr. Qu, I'm Luo Yong, sent by Director Zhao to pick up the three of you. Because Director Zhao has an important meeting this morning, he can't come himself. However, he arranged for me to book three luxurious suites at the Home Garden International Hotel and asked me to bring you to his place for dinner tonight. I don't know if Mr. Qu would like to go to the hotel first or take a stroll around the city first."

  A man named Luo Yong, about the same age as Qu Wen, was dressed in a suit and tie, looking refined and courteous. Knowing that Qu Wen and his party were honored guests of Zhao Mengzhi, he spoke with some restraint.

  Wenwen looked at the time and it was just past 12:00. Since she had just eaten on the plane, her stomach wasn't hungry.

  "First take our luggage to the hotel, then take us to the largest antique market in the city for a stroll."

  Luo Yong's driving skills were excellent, and he navigated the congested roads of Chengdu in his Audi A6 with ease. Before long, he had delivered the three to their hotel. After they had settled their luggage, Luo Yong drove them again to the largest antique market in downtown Chengdu, Songxian Bridge Antique Market.

  Anyone who collects knows that, apart from BJ and SH, the antique market in Chengdu is the largest in China. This is because Chengdu itself has more than 300,000 collectors, plus outsiders coming to dig for treasures, which creates a strong collecting atmosphere here.

  The Xian Bridge Antique Market is located in the Chengdu Huanhua Cultural Scenic Area, adjacent to the Sichuan Provincial Museum. Since its opening in 1998, it has rapidly expanded into a large-scale market. In addition to regular shops, there are hundreds of booths and thousands of stalls, attracting cultural relic vendors from all over the country, including Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces, selling various antiques, paintings, jewelry, and rare stones, making it a dazzling sight.

  Although there are many stalls in the entire market, the vast majority are modern handicrafts and strange stones, folk customs, if they are old items, most of them are from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and it is very difficult to find any further back.

  Luo Yong seems to be very familiar with the environment here, introducing it while walking, and soon lets Qu Wen and others understand the layout of this place.

  After walking for a long time, Zhao Haifeng felt a bit tired and stopped to ask Luo Yong: "I didn't expect it to be so big inside, isn't there anywhere that sells better things?"

  "Some are generally in shops along the street, but the things inside aren't cheap. If Mr. Zhao wants to buy directly, I can introduce a few stores to you."

  Zhai Haifeng just casually said that, if he really went to the antique shop to buy something, it wouldn't be called treasure hunting anymore. The things inside, regardless of whether they are genuine or not, are often sold at sky-high prices. Something that is actually worth 200 yuan might be priced at 20,000 or even 50,000 yuan. That's why there's the saying "three years without opening, opening for three years". Therefore, experienced collectors rarely enter this type of store.

  "Never mind, let's just wander around, with good luck from the curved script, who knows when we'll run into a treasure."

  Zhao Haifeng had just finished speaking when he heard a voice coming from behind him.

  "Are you here to dig up treasure? My store has many good things, would you like to take a look?"

  "Oh, what's good stuff?"

  Qu Wen stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at the person who was talking to them. The person wasn't very old, with a simple and rough appearance, their hair dyed a golden yellow color, wearing a specially altered denim suit, giving off a strong "ancient rogue" vibe from the movies, which clashed greatly with the deep cultural atmosphere of the antique market.

  In the antique market, all sorts of people gathered, and with his appearance, even if he wasn't a swindler, others would still think so. Qu Wen looked him up and down, and couldn't help but laugh, indeed, there were all kinds of people in this antique market.

  "There are many good things, copper Buddha statues, porcelain, calligraphy and painting, thangkas, whatever you want is available."

  Listening to him, it seems like a scam. If I were alone, I would absolutely not dare follow him randomly. What if we arrived at a remote place and suddenly several people surrounded us? Losing money is a small matter, but getting hurt or killed would be too much of a loss.

  However, today there were four people on Qu Wen's side, all of whom were young and strong men. After thinking for a moment, he said: "Alright, you lead the way then."

  To be honest, the other party's store is indeed a bit biased. After walking for a while through seven twists and eight turns, it was at the end of a very quiet alley in the antique city. If no one had led the way, who would have known that there was an antique shop here?

  "Your place is really remote, aren't you afraid others can't find it?" Qu Wen looked around and saw that except for his own store, all the others were selling stone carving crafts. The originally narrow alley was lined with no less than twenty stone lions, making it seem even narrower.

  "What can I do? The rent up front is too expensive. If we don't open for three months, then I won't have the money to pay the store rent."

  When they heard the other party's words, Qu Wen and his three companions were stunned for a while. They had never heard of an antique shop owner complaining that the rent was too expensive. In this line of work, you have to aim big and set up shop in places with high foot traffic, unless you're already very famous or have a fixed customer base as an old store.

  To be honest, many people in the antique business don't make a profit. Without a fixed customer base, they just open their doors and wait for customers to come in. If prices are too high, others won't dare buy; if you have the ability, you'll fear being cheated. If prices are too low, others will think it's not high-end enough - it's all a difficult situation. If you really don't make any sales for three years, then sell everything and start over after three years, what's the point of waiting another three years?

  Qu Wen was amused by the other's words and took out a Great Wall cigarette from his pocket and handed one over.

  "May I also ask your surname."

  Young man took the cigarette, looked at it and handed it back: "Great China, good smoke! However, you haven't bought anything yet. I'll just take one of your cigarettes, but I really feel guilty about it. Later if you really like something, let's haggle over the price, I won't be embarrassed to speak up. My name is Liang Shuang, no need for formalities."

  If Liang Shuang's problem was just his attire, I didn't expect his thinking ability to be so uniquely refined.

  Qu Wen took back the cigarette and didn't dare to hand it over again, so he smiled helplessly: "Since you've come, take a look first. There are quite a few things here, can you introduce a few that we can appreciate?"

  Liang Shuang heard a loud shout: "Alright, you all sit down first, I'll just get some good things from the store." After finishing speaking, he walked into the counter and rummaged for half a day before taking out a box.

  "Look at these, they are all rare Ming dynasty copper Buddhas that are hard to come by in the market. As for how good they are, I won't say anything, you can see for yourselves, and we'll discuss the price after you've taken a good look."

  This remark left Qu Wen stunned for a while, as he had never seen an antique shop owner let customers browse without making any comments. Even if you don't want to exaggerate, you should at least say something nice. Running an antique shop like Liang Shuang is just weird.

  Three rivers are not easy to come by, and the barbarians can't have a miserable ending, right? The editor said that if three rivers don't reach a certain number of collections, they will be strongly promoted no more. This has dealt a heavy blow to the barbarians, but updates must still be guaranteed.

  So I sincerely ask all brothers and sisters, those who haven't collected it yet, please click on it.