With Lin Jianghao withdrawing from the competition for Fang Hougong, the outcome of this auction is no longer in doubt.
After the host announced three times that Mr. Leng had successfully won the auction, a chorus of boos erupted from the audience.
As everyone knows, Mr. Leng had previously made a mistake at a tea party, which Lin Jianghao then stumbled upon.
Everyone thought that today's competition between the two would be another bloody battle, but no one expected it to end so suddenly.
The moment the hammer fell, my heart finally settled down.
In today's auction, I successfully prevented the confrontation between Lin Jianghao and Mr. Leng, saving Mr. Leng a large sum of money without his knowledge. At the same time, I gained the favor of both Lin Jianghao and Mr. Leng, making me undoubtedly the biggest winner.
The moment the wine cup was served, I looked up towards the middle-aged man who had bribed me. He gave me a murderous glare and then stormed off.
In terms of monetary value, his Fanghou wine cup had already fetched a premium of about 15 million, which was a profit, but it was still far from what he had originally expected.
Without Lin Jianghao as their rival, the subsequent bidding process went much more smoothly.
The highlight of this tea party was a standing jade Guanyin statue from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which is nearly one meter tall.
Jadeite craftsmanship experienced unprecedented development during the Qing Dynasty, with two particularly important periods: the Qianlong era and the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi.
Among the jadeite pieces collected in the Qing court, the largest number were made during these two periods. In terms of jadeite carving techniques, the period from the Qianlong to the mid-Jiaqing reigns is considered the best. Emperor Qianlong's rectification of the "jade calamity" directly pushed Qing dynasty jade carving to its peak, which is one of the reasons for the popularity of jadeite in the mid-Qing dynasty.
Jadeite was a precious gemstone during the Qing Dynasty. Before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, it was monopolized by the imperial court, and jadeite artifacts were never seen in the common people. All jadeite artifacts seen from the mid-Qing Dynasty were of superior quality and exceptional craftsmanship.
According to my estimate, if the jade Guanyin statue on the stage could be auctioned off, its estimated value would start at 50 million.
Although Mr. Leng wasn't particularly interested in jade, he still decided to acquire this Guanyin statue to bring good luck and gave me free rein to choose any piece I wanted.
Perhaps those who attended the tea party today knew that there would be a major battle between Mr. Leng and Lin Jianghao, so they had no desire to compete for the last three collectibles.
In this way, I actually got a bargain. I successfully acquired the jade Guanyin by using a 50-pound Changhua chicken-blood stone mountain ornament and a 75-gram piece of green agarwood. If I calculate carefully, I probably made a profit of several million.
Of course, these prices are all estimates. If the other party can find a suitable seller, they may be able to sell it for a higher price than the jade Guanyin.
This tea party was full of twists and turns, but fortunately it ended successfully in the end.
Mr. Leng, as the biggest winner of this tea party, finally redeemed himself, and a faint smile remained on his face ever since he left the venue.
For the next period of time, I was invited by Mr. Leng to stay in Beijing, and I attended several tea parties with him. Through Mr. Leng's introduction, I met many friends and became quite well-known in Beijing's social circles.
As an ancient city with a rich history and culture, Beijing has a strong atmosphere for antique exchange. Even the old men sunbathing at the entrance of the hutongs can chat with you about antique knowledge. By becoming a familiar face in the antique world of Beijing, I can finally say that I have completely entered this circle.
After staying in Beijing for half a month, I received a call from Su Gouzi's agent, who said that the procedures for the art investment company had been completed and I urgently needed to go back to sign.
The investment company matter was something Su Jialiang had taken the initiative to do for me, so I naturally didn't want to keep his people waiting. Therefore, I bid farewell to Mr. Leng and set off to return to Shenyang.
...
In an office building just across the street from the Shenyang Palace Museum, I looked at the already renovated office area and asked Meng Hui, the agent sent by Su Gouzi, with surprise: "As far as I know, you haven't been in Shenyang for very long, yet you've already booked an entire floor of office space and completed the renovations so quickly. This speed is quite unexpected!"
Meng Hui is a very capable young man. When he heard my question, he smiled and replied, "Mr. Duan, you're really joking. I'm not a god, how could I do so much in such a short time? This floor used to be a live streaming company, but the company went bankrupt and we just happened to take it over."
Currently, I've only progressed to the stage of renting the premises. As for the company's paperwork and other miscellaneous matters, I've entrusted them to a local accounting firm. They will handle all the details of the company according to my requirements, and the company's future cash flow will also go through this firm.
Although we're just a shell company, we need to pay extra attention to legal procedures and application processes. Conversely, the requirements for the premises aren't as strict, which is why I chose this place. However, I've renovated the general manager's office. Mr. Duan, let's go take a look."
I pointed to the monkey next to me: "Let him see. He's the general manager of this company. As long as he's satisfied, that's fine."
Although Monkey was the nominal general manager, he knew that I had brought him here to manage the business for me. He looked through the documents Meng Hui had submitted, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Mr. Meng, we are just a shell company, but the rent for this floor of office space you've rented is over 300,000 yuan a year. Isn't that a bit wasteful?"
Meng Hui explained clearly, “Our shell company only has no actual business, but the turnover is quite large. If we don’t rent a suitable place, we will not be able to pass the tax hurdle. Given your company’s revenue, the 360,000 yuan rent and 40,000 yuan management fee are just a drop in the bucket. We absolutely cannot lose big for small gains.”
I have just reviewed the report provided by Meng Hui and raised some points of concern: "Your report states that our annual cash income is approximately 40 million, but the actual amount received is only around 27 million. What is the reason for this?"
Meng Xianghui walked into the luxurious general manager's office, sat on the sofa and told me: "Taxes, labor, and the commission of the accounting firm all have costs. The biggest expense is taxes, and the accounting firm also takes more than four million yuan every year. These are all expenses that cannot be saved. In addition, the transportation costs of import and export trade are not a small amount either."
Hearing him say that made me even more curious: "Our company doesn't have any business, so why would we have import/export trade fees?"
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