Like the seven masters of "Seven Old Masters of Zisha", Master Jiang Rong lived to the new century and truly enjoyed a good life. Master Gu Jingzhou only lived to the 1990s, but at least he caught up with the beginning of China's prosperity, while Master Zhu Kexin, who died in 1986, did not even enjoy the good life brought by the reform and opening up for a few years...
These true masters had such a hard life that their works are only sold for over a hundred dollars a piece now. But there is no way around it. In the early 1980s, these masters' works were only 181 pieces, and even for this, many people still thought it was too expensive.
But Yang Jing is not a person of this era, and this price is too cheap for him. The most important thing is that although Yang Jing collects antiques, he is not a person without bottom line. Although people who collect antiques regard "picking up bargains" as the supreme behavior, the bottom line in Yang Jing's heart is - we can pick up bargains without limits for foreigners, but for these very respectable masters, we cannot have no bottom line.
You can say that Yang Jing is stupid, or that he is mentally retarded. He will be punished by heaven and earth for not picking up the leaks! But Yang Jing is unwilling to break his own bottom line in some things. This is his principle in life.
Grandpa had told Yang Jing more than once that in the antique business, one needs to be thick-skinned and black-hearted, but also follow one's heart. Because if you are not thick-skinned and black-hearted, you can't find bargains, but even if you find bargains, there must be a limit, that is, what bargains should be found and what bargains should not be found, and you should follow your heart. Yang Jing has always kept this teaching in the most important position in his heart.
What grandpa said is not only a standard in this industry. Yang Jing believes that this is also a principle that grandpa taught him on how to be a person.
Just like Huang Benchu, the Chinese fellow countryman he met in the Alfie Market in London when he just got the Holy Ring. If Huang Benchu had not lowered the price for him when he first sold him the inner-painted snuff bottle, and if he had not given him a brush washer for free, how could Yang Jing have pointed out to him that he had made a mistake in choosing the Yudian-marked Duan inkstone?
That is actually Yang Jing’s principle in life - if you are good to me, I will be good to you.
If Huang Benchu had treated Yang Jing badly at that time, and had treated him the same as he treated other people, without lowering the price on his own initiative and without giving him a brush washer for free, Yang Jing would not have bothered to point out the Duan inkstone to him, but would have just taken the bargain and left.
But that day, Yang Jing could really feel that Lao Huang really treated him as a fellow villager. How could he, Yang Jing, do such a shameless thing? Besides, he had just sold the three Picasso sketches and had no shortage of money, so he did that.
Similarly, in Yang Jing's eyes, the works of these masters are a kind of inheritance of Chinese civilization. This price is actually an insult to their works. Is the inheritance of Chinese purple clay culture not worth a mere hundred or eighty yuan?
So, Yang Jing's "nice guy syndrome" came back again, and he planned to give this true master a little compensation.
Yang Jing also knew that even if he bought all the pots that Master Zhu allowed him to buy for one million yuan a piece, he would definitely make a huge profit and have a great collection value. But now, let alone one million yuan, even if you offered Master Zhu ten thousand yuan a piece, would he dare to take it?
Even if Master Zhu accepted this price, do you really think that giving Master Zhu such a high price in this era is good for him? No, it is actually harming him!
In this era when the average monthly salary is only about 30 yuan, Yang Jing spent 10 million to buy ten purple clay teapots from Master Zhu. How do you want Master Zhu to deal with this money? In this era, 10 million is a huge sum of money that is enough to mobilize the national security department.
Master Zhu and his wife are so old, how can they withstand the torment of those people? Moreover, I came here with the identity of overseas Chinese. This identity may fool Master Zhu, but it will definitely not withstand the careful investigation of the relevant national departments!
Therefore, no matter from which perspective, it is absolutely not advisable to pay Master Zhu a high price.
But at the same time, if you buy a purple clay teapot at the price given by Master Zhu, it would be too unfair to the craftsmanship of this master.
So after Yang Jing finished speaking, he thought about it for a while and then said very seriously: "Master Zhu, the price you gave me is too low. It is simply an insult to your craftsmanship and even to the entire purple clay culture, so I absolutely cannot accept this price. Such exquisite purple clay pots should have a price that matches them. I think it is more appropriate to buy a pot at 3,000 yuan. What do you think, Master Zhu?"
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