Chapter 944: To get into the cultural relic store, being a follower is worth it!

When Li Long returned to the hostel, Li Jianguo and the others had already come back.

Li Juan and Li Qiang both had flushed little faces, not knowing if it was from the cold or excitement; Li Long guessed it was likely the latter. The adults were talking, and the two little ones were also whispering about something.

At this moment, everyone was in Gu Xiaoxia's room. Li Long heard the commotion and went in. Li Jianguo said to him:

"When we came back, we passed by that post and telecommunications office Gu Xiao Yu mentioned. We've already called the production team and the purchasing station to report that we're safe."

"That's good," Li Long said. "I've finished my business here too." He took the property deed for Shao Li Cheng's courtyard out of the file bag and handed it to his elder brother: "Big Brother, look, this is the property deed. The courtyard we looked at is now under your name. When Juan and Qiangqiang come to Yanjing for school in the future, they can live in this courtyard."

"That will still require some renovation and buying some furniture," Li Jianguo took the property deed, his eyes also shining. "Just an empty courtyard won't do."

"That's simple. Tomorrow we'll go to the consignment store. There are furniture and such that others are selling. We'll buy some, load up a truck, and bring them back to put inside."

"Aren't we buying new ones?" Gu Xiaoxia was a bit surprised. "There should be new ones at the furniture factory, right?"

"No," Li Long shook his head. "We won't be living here often; we might not even come twice a year. If we buy new furniture and someone climbs the wall to pry the lock and breaks it, it wouldn't be worth it. We'll just buy second-hand ones to furnish the rooms first. When Juan and Qiangqiang really get admitted here and need to live here long-term, then we'll buy new ones."

"Right, right, right, that's more appropriate," Li Jianguo also nodded. "Mm, let's do that."

"We will definitely be able to get admitted here!" Li Qiang heard the adults' conversation and suddenly said loudly, "We want to go to the best university!"

Hearing this, the few adults looked at each other, then looked at the firm expressions of the siblings, and all laughed.

Just for these two sentences, this trip was not in vain.

"How is the courtyard you looked at?" Li Jianguo let Li Long put the property deed back into the file bag and asked.

Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiao Yu both wanted to hear.

"A two-courtyard compound, tidied up quite well, clean, and the layout is not bad. I'm also thinking of getting some second-hand furniture to put in. There's another one that's a single-courtyard, smaller than yours, a bit messy, and needs tidying up. I'm thinking of coming over when spring starts next year, and at that time, I'll find a renovation team to renovate all three courtyards. We'll talk after they're done."

Right now it's deep winter, so even if one wanted to do it properly, nothing much could be accomplished.

"I really didn't expect it," Gu Xiao Yu sighed. "The house my colleague bought for marriage was the kind I wanted, with one inner and one outer room, and it took a whole week just to finish the paperwork... Yours is really fast."

"Money makes the mare go," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "It's easy to get things done with money."

There were many people here, so he didn't mention giving Li Long the money for the courtyard. Li Jianguo also knew this courtyard was bought with US dollars; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so smooth, and it wouldn't have been possible to get the paperwork done.

This matter, just keep it in mind.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Li Qiang returned to the room next door to prepare for rest. Li Juan had been out all day, and after washing up, she fell asleep early. Gu Xiao Yu only then whispered to Gu Xiaoxia:

"Brother-in-law and his elder brother have such a good relationship..."

"Yeah," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile. "I didn't pay attention when I was little, but looking back now, just like what our dad said, Big Brother really raised Mingming's dad like his own son. At that time, the fine grain in their family was only eaten by Juan, Qiangqiang, and Mingming's dad. Think about it, he wasn't very sensible at that time and even snatched food from Juan and Qiangqiang.

If it were someone else, wouldn't they have given him a beating? A ten-year-old snatching from three or four-year-olds? But Big Brother didn't; Big Brother just thought about trying to exchange for as much fine grain as possible.

At that time, our group of older kids envied Mingming's dad for eating well and even scolded him behind his back for being insensible. But I ate well at home back then. Our dad was a university graduate and knew a lot. Although he wasn't the best at work in the production team, he could do other things and earned a lot of work points, and the grain distributed to the family wasn't little..."

Gu Xiao Yu didn't grow up in the countryside, so she didn't understand these things, but she wanted to listen. This whole night, half the night was the two sisters chatting, mainly Gu Xiaoxia talking and Gu Xiao Yu listening.

Gu Xiao Yu also understood why Li Long wouldn't mind at all about setting up a courtyard for his elder brother's family, and didn't mention money at all. The key was that Gu Xiaoxia didn't care about this either—this, in her view, was truly a divine family relationship.

In this family, if even one person were calculating, it would be chaotic.

But thinking about it, it's normal. If someone really jumped out to find trouble, this family wouldn't have been formed.

When eating breakfast the next day, Gu Xiao Yu felt differently looking at the two brothers. This kind of brotherly relationship, she had really only heard of it before and hadn't seen it. Gu Bo Yuan had mentioned it before, but it wasn't verified. Now that it was verified, Gu Xiao Yu felt it was very novel.

"Today let's go to the consignment store to look for second-hand furniture," Li Long said to Li Jianguo. "Let's furnish your courtyard first. Mine are easier to handle; the snow inside hasn't even been cleared, so there's no rush for a while."

Coming here this time, the big things were mostly done, and what followed were trivial matters.

Li Jianguo certainly had no objections. When Gu Xiao Yu heard they were going to the consignment store, she said: "I know where there is one nearby. I'll take you there in a while."

"Then the house you want to buy..." Li Long hesitated a bit.

"It's fine, I'll stay in the dormitory first. Now the dormitory is just me, it's just inconvenient for eating and living. I have high requirements for living, so it can't be rushed; I have to look slowly."

What Gu Xiao Yu wanted to find was the kind with one inner and one outer room, where she could both live and cook for herself. If it came with a toilet with a flush toilet, that would be even better. She didn't want it to be too big; if it were too big, living alone would be too empty. It also couldn't be like the current dormitory, where she could only sleep and had to set up a stove in the corridor to cook.

And it couldn't be too far from the school; otherwise, it would be inconvenient for work.

It would be best if the nearby environment was good, not chaotic, so that sometimes when she came home late from work, there would be a guarantee of safety.

There were many requirements, which is why she needed to look slowly.

After eating and returning to the hostel, they tidied up and prepared to leave. When they left the hostel, Shao Li Cheng appeared again and disrupted their plans.

"You mean you found a foreign student and asked him to take us in?"

Li Long was a bit surprised; this Shao Li Cheng was quite enthusiastic, and his efficiency was quite high.

"Yes, that classmate of mine is here to study abroad and is going back this year," Shao Li Cheng said. "I asked him for help, but it requires some compensation. I'm thinking, the two of us will follow him in. Whatever you take a fancy to, discuss it directly with him, then buy it in his name, and you can take it away then."

"Then what about the compensation?" Li Long asked.

"A basic compensation of fifty US dollars, and a commission of one dollar for every item bought, how about that? He is responsible for providing the Foreign Exchange Certificates. After buying the things, you just give him the US dollars, how about that?"

"That won't do. You tell him, I'll pay one hundred US dollars directly. This money is enough for him to squander for a while here." Li Long naturally wasn't willing. He thought there were many things in the cultural relic store, and he wanted to buy many things. If he bought several hundred items, the money he paid Tom alone would be very high, which would be a big loss.

Li Long didn't intend to buy little. Since he was going, he thought he would buy as much as possible. After all, the things in the cultural relic store were at least guaranteed in quality.

"That's fine too, I think he should agree," Shao Li Cheng said. "Let's go discuss it with him."

Since Shao Li Cheng had come over, Li Long didn't go to the consignment store. Gu Xiao Yu took Li Jianguo and the others there. Mingming and Haohao were also quite excited; they hadn't had enough fun yesterday. After all, this place was different from Northern Xinjiang, and the two brothers were really quite active at this time.

Shao Li Cheng's classmate was named Tom. He wasn't the blond handsome guy one imagined, but a thirty-year-old white man with an obvious bulbous nose, graying hair, and a somewhat dispirited spirit.

Li Long and Shao Li Cheng waited outside a foreign-related hotel for this Tom. This place wasn't far from the cultural relic store. Shao Li Cheng explained to Li Long that this Tom hadn't returned to school yesterday and had stayed at this hotel because of something, which happened to be convenient for action.

After waiting for a full half hour, Tom finally came out. Beside him was a girl. That girl was initially snuggling up to Tom, but only moved a little further away after seeing Li Long and the others. When they reached the hotel entrance, the girl whispered two sentences to Tom and then left.

The girl was very delicate in appearance and looked dressed like a lady. In later generations, someone would generally label such a girl as pure.

"Hey Tom, you're too much! We agreed on ten o'clock, and now it's already ten-thirty!" Shao Li Cheng should have had a good relationship with Tom, so he scolded him as soon as they met. This Tom chuckled and pointed to the girl who was walking away and said:

"No way, Tang was too enthusiastic. She wanted me to help solve the matter of going abroad, but what could I do? I almost didn't handle your matter well..."

"Don't show off to me!" Shao Li Cheng was a bit unhappy. Although this matter seemed almost public now, it involved some dignity issues, so he didn't want to hear it, nor did he want to ask. "My matter wasn't solved; that was smashed out with money...

Alright, alright, come, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Li who bought my courtyard."

Li Long didn't expect this Tom's Mandarin to be so standard. If one closed their eyes, it would be almost impossible to think this was a foreigner.

"Hello, Tom," Li Long reached out and shook his hand. "I'm going to trouble you this time."

"No trouble, no trouble, as long as there is money," Tom rubbed his fingers and smiled. "Then shall we go now? I can't wait for you to buy more goods."

The implication was very clear: as long as Li Long chose more goods, the commission he got would be more.

"No, no, no, Tom, Li has a suggestion. He will give you a commission of one hundred US dollars directly. As for how many things to buy, that's his business and has nothing to do with you. He will give you the US dollars equivalent to the Foreign Exchange Certificates you spend, how about that?"

"Of course, no problem." Tom felt it was quite cost-effective. He didn't think Li Long could buy more than fifty items, so wasn't this just sending him money?

"Then let's go." Li Long didn't want to wait any longer. This Tom was obviously quite savvy, but he didn't want to get close to a foreigner who had just had intimate contact with a Chinese girl and then belittled her. That would just be taking what each needed directly.

There were several people outside the cultural relic store. Seeing Li Long and the others coming, they immediately gathered around. Shao Li Cheng spoke with some impatience:

"No need to mention it, we are buying things for our own use."

These people then dispersed, looking quite well-behaved.

"These people are thinking that we will buy some things from the cultural relic store, and they will collect them at a higher price. But these people don't have foreign exchange, and there are scammers, so their credibility is not high."

Li Long nodded, understanding that these people's thoughts were similar to his own. The things in the cultural relic store were all authentic items that had been appraised. At this time, the country was short of foreign exchange, so to earn foreign exchange, the things here were only sold to foreigners and could only be bought with Foreign Exchange Certificates.

Although it was only the eighties now, this collection industry had existed since ancient times. The country was developing peacefully, so this industry was flourishing. Now some people would go to the countryside to "scrape the ground," and some would stare at the ready-made ones here, which was very normal.

After entering the store and verifying their identities, the people in the store didn't have any opinions about Tom bringing two "followers." Anyway, as long as you paid, it didn't matter who paid; at this time, it really wasn't managed that strictly.

The things were really cheap.

A large official kiln bowl from the Jiaqing period was two yuan! Even if it were earlier, it was only a few yuan or over ten yuan.

Things later than that, including some from the Republic of China, weren't qualified to be displayed here.

Of course, things like gold and silver were more expensive, with some costing tens or hundreds.

There were also some calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, which were also a few yuan each, piled up a lot.

Obviously, the painting style here in China wasn't very popular with foreigners yet; after all, it wasn't the same school.

Li Long was like a mouse entering a rice jar, his eyes shining. Those porcelains and jades would rise to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or hundreds of thousands in the future, but these paintings were different.

Some paintings were more valuable than those courtyard houses!

The problem was that the price of these paintings right now was really low!

"Can we buy all of these?" Li Long's voice was a bit trembling with excitement.

"Green, take it easy," Shao Li Cheng saw Li Long's expression and felt something was wrong, so he hurriedly shouted his code name to remind him. "These paintings aren't worth money. Outside, they are ten-plus yuan per foot, and one piece is only thirty or fifty yuan."

Shao Li Cheng was talking about RMB, and the calligraphy and paintings displayed here all had seals and inscriptions. Paintings by later famous artists like Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, Wang Xuetao, Wang Binhong, and Li Keran were all there.

The calligraphy and paintings of these people were marked with a price of a few to over ten yuan in Foreign Exchange Certificates here. According to Shao Li Cheng, it was extremely worthless—it would be cheaper to find the real people outside to buy them.

Li Long didn't think so. He said directly to Tom:

"You ask how many of these calligraphy and paintings there are, I want them all!"

He still had over ten thousand US dollars on hand, so he thought buying several hundred pieces should be no problem.

He vaguely remembered that a collector in later generations spent 200,000 yuan to buy 9,000 paintings by such famous artists in a cultural relic store, which showed that these paintings couldn't be sold in the cultural relic store at all at that time.

And later generations valued these paintings at 40 billion!

This was much more profitable than saving anything else—of course, it was said that the descendants of some famous painters in later generations took the seals and stamped them directly on some paintings. Can you say whether those paintings are real or not?

Li Long naturally didn't intend to keep the paintings for so long. He thought if he could buy them, he would take these paintings and wait until around the 2010s in the 21st century to gradually sell them off and recover the funds.

Tom went to ask the people in the cultural relic store about this matter.

"There are fifty-nine pieces displayed here," the person in the cultural relic store was very clear about this. "There are quite a few in the warehouse. If you want them all, we can give you a package price."

These paintings had been displayed here for so long that they were almost ignored, and the people in the store were also anxious. If someone bought them all at once, they would also be very happy.

"How many can there be?" Li Long asked beside Tom.

"Let me check." The staff member was a woman in her thirties, who said quite politely, and then checked the account book. After checking, she said: "There are 1,107 pieces in total, including those in the warehouse. If you buy them with Foreign Exchange Certificates, let me see the total price... it's over 7,800 yuan."

"I don't have that many Foreign Exchange Certificates!" Tom waved his hand subconsciously when he heard this. "Can't afford it!"

Li Long knew this guy had revealed his true colors, so he said: "Can I pay directly in US dollars?"

"Pay in US dollars?" The staff member was a bit surprised, hesitated, and said: "In principle, it's not allowed, but I'll ask the leader for instructions..."

"Can you give a discount? I'm buying so many things at once, you have to give a discount no matter what, right? After all, so many calligraphy and paintings are left here unsold, not to mention taking up space, storage is also a troublesome matter, right?"

Li Long's words surprised the staff member again. She smiled bitterly and said: "I really can't make the decision on this matter, I can only tell the leader."

This female comrade let another staff member take over here, and she hurried out from the back door, likely to report to the leader.

"Green, are you crazy? Over a thousand pieces, you want to buy them all? You should at least buy something valuable?" Shao Li Cheng was really considering for Li Long. "We can't just think of one thing and do it... that's also money."

Tom, however, had a look of regret: "Li, if I had known you were so rich, I wouldn't have agreed to the previous conditions. I admit I underestimated you; I didn't expect you to have such great courage... But I don't look favorably on your investment action this time. I think Shao is right; you need to consider it carefully."

Li Long smiled and didn't speak.

People came in one after another to buy things. One of them knew Tom, and the two chatted for a while in bird language, and then that person bought a set of exquisite porcelain tea sets and paid with Foreign Exchange Certificates. The staff member packed it carefully, and the person left with it.

Some people came by themselves, some came with family and friends, and some were like Li Long and the others, bringing domestic friends in. Just what Li Long saw, there were two groups of people bringing female companions, all young and beautiful girls.

Li Long and Shao Li Cheng both felt a bit awkward.

Soon, the female staff member from before came over, and following her was a man in his fifties.

"Manager Xu, these are the ones," the female staff member said. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 945 =====