Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 244

"this..."

Old He quickly said, "How about we just give you twenty yuan?"

He Yuzhu curled his lip. This old man He really dared to ask for so much. At that time, the most expensive paintings were by Qi Baishi, while Xu Beihong's were cheaper. As for Huang Binhong, his paintings were only one yuan per foot.

If it were priced according to Qi Baishi's standards, this painting wouldn't cost more than twenty yuan. If it were Xu Beihong's painting, it would only cost a little over ten yuan, at most fifteen yuan.

"You've already made back the matchmaker's gift; you're really good at business."

Old He chuckled: "Zhu Zi, I also intend to keep this as a family heirloom. It's only because of you that I would never sell this painting if it were anyone else."

Unlike Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong, who chose to stay on the mainland, Xu Beihong chose to go to Hong Kong Island, where he is currently enjoying a carefree and romantic life.

The number of paintings that remain is fixed, and if you want to acquire a painting, you can only buy it from other collectors.

Although the price is a bit high right now, it's still within He Yuzhu's budget. He would grit his teeth and buy it even if it cost 30 yuan, let alone 20 yuan.

If this painting is preserved for posterity, it will fetch tens of millions of dollars at auction.

"Alright, I'll take this painting."

He Yuzhu readily agreed, rolling up the galloping horse picture and handing over four purple and yellow five-yuan notes.

The legendary "Big Black Ten" denomination doesn't exist yet; the largest denomination is five yuan, with a design of national unity on it, printed by the Russian bear.

Many people may not know that there is a special denomination in the second set of RMB banknotes: the three-yuan banknote.

This is a very special one. It is dark green in color and features a picture of Longyuankou in Jinggang Mountain on the front. It was first issued in 1955 and was discontinued in 1964.

Old He received the money, happily put it away, and said, "If it were anyone else, I really wouldn't be planning to sell it."

He Yuzhu said, "Don't you still have a family heirloom?"

Old He made a lot of money running a tavern and also started collecting things like others. Besides this painting of galloping horses by Xu Beihong, he also has a painting of bamboo by Su Shi.

On the display shelf are a pair of Tang Dynasty tricolor horses, as well as some other bottles and jars, many of which are from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and some from the Tang and Song Dynasties.

The most valuable thing in the He family's possessions was the stone used to weigh down the pickled vegetables. In fact, it wasn't a stone at all, but a piece of Tianhuang stone.

As we all know, Tianhuang stone was quite expensive in the past. One tael of Tianhuang stone was worth ten taels of gold. Ordinary people couldn't even lift that stone. Even a hunchback would have to exert a lot of effort to barely lift it.

Unfortunately, these were all items that Old He was not selling. He Yuzhu knew that even if he asked for them, Old He would not be willing to part with them.

Old He chuckled and said, "Stop talking nonsense. I don't have any family heirlooms. It's all just bragging. To be honest, many of them are fakes. The ones I can display are genuine."

“Sir, that’s not fair of you. You can fool others, but you can’t fool me. I’m a certified antique appraiser.”

What could Old He say? He could only chuckle and deny that it was genuine.

He Yuzhu was too lazy to argue with him and took the galloping horse picture home.

The next morning, after having breakfast, He Yuzhu went to help out at Old He's house in the next courtyard.

The two families are now neighbors, so of course I had to come over for such a joyous occasion as a wedding. But I hadn't been working in my apron for long when the phone rang.

He Yongqiang answered the phone and then called out, "Brother Zhu, it's for you."

He Yuzhu wiped his hands on his apron and took the phone.

"Hey, who is it?"

"it's me."

Elena's voice came through the phone: "That shipment has been released. Do you have time today? We need to organize people to move it and hire vehicles. I can't handle it myself."

"You go there and talk to Wobo first, then I'll find a truck to come over."

"Wobo" doesn't refer to just one person, but rather to a group of people who make a living by doing manual labor.

After telling Old He, He Yuzhu left the tavern and walked quickly to a secluded corner instead of riding a bicycle.

He Yuzhu had an idea. He released one of the trucks he had stored away and drove it to the warehouse of the train freight station.

At that time, there were no sound regulations for importing goods. This batch of goods arrived more than a month ago, and it has only now been completed with the formalities.

If Elena hadn't been from Russia, who knows how much longer it would have taken.

There were few cars on the main road; most of the vehicles were bicycles, flatbed tricycles, rickshaws, and of course, donkeys, mules, and camels everywhere.

The most common animals were camels. In the rural areas north and west of the city, there has always been a tradition of raising camels. They are gentle in nature, can carry more loads than mules, and don't need to be fed when brought into the city, which is convenient.

Pedestrians disregard traffic rules, and there are few traffic lights on the road. Instead, traffic police in white uniforms stand on a round platform to direct traffic.

He Yuzhu drove the truck and secretly groaned. Although there were traffic police directing traffic, pedestrians treated the main road like their own living room, walking around at will and not obeying traffic rules at all.

They could only follow slowly behind the crowd, ignoring any attempts to honk their horns and going their own way.

It was a struggle to drive the car out of the city and into the warehouse of the train freight station, where all the goods had been detained for more than a month.

Elena was surprised to see He Yuzhu get out of the truck and asked, "You were able to borrow a truck?"

"That's no big deal, I can borrow a car!"

"You think you can borrow a car, Jingjing?"

"Of course, it's nothing." He Yuzhu said with some pride.

Although you can see many cars passing by on the street, only high-ranking leaders can ride in them.

Local leaders are lucky if they have a beat-up jeep; most of them drive sidecar motorcycles.

"I don't believe you. You've never borrowed a car before."

He Yuzhu drove his sidecar motorcycle out of the police station and took them sightseeing.

"What if I could lend it out?"

He Yuzhu didn't mention that he had one; it was already an incredible feat to be able to borrow one. If he had said that he owned a car, it would have shocked everyone.

I agree with everything you said.

Elena didn't believe he could borrow a car at all, and said very generously.

Knowing that He Yuzhu had some strange requirements, Elena, though from Russia, was still a young girl inexperienced in such matters and often couldn't let go.

Anyway, I know He Yuzhu’s strengths very well. Although he lives better than the average person, he is not good enough to have access to the upper class. In the end, he is just a relatively wealthy ordinary person.

He Yuzhu said happily, "I'll remember what you said today, and I'll go drive the car tonight."

"Of course I remember. Can you borrow a car?"

He Yuzhu stopped talking about the topic, opened the carriage, and called over the waiting Wobo to come and unload the goods.

Electronic products are quite expensive, and this shipment didn't even fill a single railcar. However, the trucks are quite small these days, and this one is less than three tons.

Chapter 182 Wasn't it all just to eat one more bite of meat?

The main problem is that the carriages are not long enough; even when fully loaded, they only hold three or four tons of cargo.

He Yuzhu and the others loaded the car, declined Elena's request to come along, and drove off by themselves.

The goods were collected and stored in the space halfway through the journey, which saved on unloading costs and made things more convenient.

He Yuzhu worked on the goods from morning until evening before finally taking them all away.

He paid Wobo his wages and then told Elena to get in the car.

After starting, she asked, "Is your shop ready yet?"

"It's all set up. We can put these radios on the shelves for sale tomorrow."

I was thinking of renting a new place to sell radios, watches, multimeters, and other goods, but then I had a conflict with Fan Jinyou.

He Yuzhu closed the braised meat shop on Qianmen Street, and all the braised meat suppliers went to Yandaixie Street to get their supplies. It was just a matter of the employees walking a few more steps.

Then they hired someone to renovate the shop and turn it into an electronics store.

I drove Elena to Qianmen Street, opened the door, and saw that the shop had been fitted with brand new shelves and counters, but there were no goods on them yet.

The two came in and inspected the goods, then went to the back warehouse. Elena was extremely satisfied with the warehouse full of goods.

Previously, he only wanted to use his own funds to purchase a batch of silk to sell in Moscow, which was beyond his control. First, Chen Xueru joined in, and then He Yuzhu joined in as well. After purchasing goods in the south, another woman joined in upon their return.

The scale of the cargo also exceeded her control, reaching two train cars. After the Andrei incident, she also became He Yuzhu's woman.

The large shipment of radios and other goods finally arrived in the capital and was ready to be put on the shelves for sale. After several months, it was time to make a fortune.

After checking the goods in the warehouse and confirming that there were no problems, Elena asked with a smile, "Where's the car you mentioned?"

"this way please."

Elena was led by He Yuzhu to the back door, and upon exiting, they saw a black sedan parked in the alley.

"My God, this is a ZIS-100 car."

Elena couldn't believe what she was seeing. She went up to check and found that it was indeed a car that was about 80% new. It seemed that it could only have been borrowed.

Elena threw herself into He Yuzhu's arms, gave him a sweet kiss, and said happily, "Zhuzi, you're amazing. Just like your name, you're irresistible and leave me wanting more."

"What nonsense are you spouting? You're just using idioms randomly."

He Yuzhu put his arm around her slender waist and asked with a smile, "Aren't you going to keep your promise to me today?"

"What is it?" Elena asked, feigning ignorance.

"Don't try to fool me. A real man keeps his word."