Happy Tycoon

When I went to Yanjing for the first time last year, I took a Chinese-American named Pete Wu with me. This Pete Wu is 35 years old this year, and his family is in Chinatown, New York City. He used to live in An old friend of mine works under him. This Pete Wu is a second-generation immigrant who speaks fluent Chinese, and he is quite proficient in antique art, so I found it through my friend. Pete Wu is now living in Yanjing, specially buying some antique artworks for you, and over the past year, he has really collected a lot of good things. When I went to Yanjing last time, The antique furniture, calligraphy and painting porcelain and some other things he bought have filled five large rooms, and the purchase of these things only cost less than five million dollars. He presides over there A job well done.”

Yang Jing asked, How is this person's humanity?

It's not a big problem. The most important thing is that there are relevant procedures for every transaction of Pete Wu, and I also arranged for three people to accompany him there. You can rest assured about the financial matters. Other things Maybe I’m not proficient, but I think I’m quite proficient in fund monitoring.”

Hearing these words, Yang Jing was relieved.

Originally, Yang Jing wanted to go back to Yanjing in the 1980s to buy those old objects by using the limited-level space-time travel skills, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was a bit unsafe, so he made such a plan.

If you go back to buy by yourself, although there is a reminder from the holy ring, you can try to avoid the occurrence of space-time paradox, but it is still not as fast and safe as letting foreigners buy.

The most important thing is that if I go back to the 1980s to buy old objects, I have to exchange a large amount of old national currency in the original time and space. And using foreigners to buy, there will be no such problems.

At that time, when China was short of foreign exchange, letting foreigners buy those old objects in Yanjing with US dollars, not only did not have the restrictions of the old version of the national currency, but also increased some foreign exchange reserves for the motherland. Why not do it?

After a certain time, you can send these foreigners back, and then you can quietly wait in the original time and space for a person in charge of the Dragon Fund to give you the Dragon Fund

Mike, in the past two years, you will continue to do what I entrusted to you. You can buy as much as you can. Funding is not a problem, as long as you can buy as many fine works of art as possible.

Hehe, Boss, I like this job very much, so you don't have to worry about it. After New Year's Day, I will resign from my current job and return to my hometown, Louisiana. At that time , I will have more time and freedom to serve you.

Well, I will trouble you a lot in the next few years. By the way, there is one more thing you need to pay attention to. Around 85, I will need Cesar and the others to make a deal for me again.

Another good investment project? Mike Aller asked in surprise.

Yang Jing nodded and said: It's hard to say now, I just have such a judgment, and the specific situation needs to be observed for a few more years.

Well, as long as you need it, you can directly call my home number. As he spoke, Mike Ale took out a business card of his own, wrote a series of numbers on the back of the card, and handed it to Yang Jing, This is my home phone number. If you need to find me, you can just call this number. If I'm not at home, my family members can still contact me.

Yang Jing took the business card and carefully put it in his wallet.

Mike, please contact that Pete Wu, and tell him that I may visit Yanjing soon, and tell him my name, um, it's that Michael Lynch's name, not my real name .”

Mike Aller made a don't worry expression, and said: I know what to do, don't worry, boss, except me and Cesar, outsiders will not know your real name.

At noon, Yang Jing and Mike Aller had a meal, and after discussing for a long time after the meal, Yang Jing said goodbye and went out, strolling along an alley to the distance.

Walking to a corner, after checking the surroundings to make sure there was no one around, Yang Jing decisively activated the limited-level space-time travel skill, and the next moment, he returned to the room of the hotel in Jinling.

Because of the speed of time, Yang Jing went to the Cayman Islands this time and stayed there for about ten hours, but in the original time and space, less than two hours had passed, and it was still late at night.

Mike Aller did a great job, somewhat beyond Yang Jing's expectations.

Originally, Yang Jing thought that during the time he was away, Mike Aller would have made some mistakes in some places, but he didn't expect that this steady old guy would do everything well and take into account all the things that should be considered.

The most important thing is that Yang Jing really did not expect the quantity and quality of the works of art he bought.

Originally, Yang Jing thought that it would be good for Mike Aller to be able to buy about five famous oil paintings a year. As a result, in less than two years, Mike Aller directly bought sixteen oil paintings, among which there were even There is no shortage of works by masters such as Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Simon Houet.

In particular, Picasso's Avignon Girl is a surprise among surprises.

When this painting finally becomes the collection of his own private museum, it will definitely cause quite a stir.

Just for this painting, Yang Jing has to give Mike Aller a thumbs up.

As for how the Yanjing operation is going, Yang Jing still needs to find some time to go back and see.

As for the situation where Mike Aller complained that the money could not be spent at all, Yang Jing was of course happy to see it.

In fact, in Western countries in the early 1980s, works of art worth tens of millions of dollars were very rare. Except for the unshakable treasures of town halls, most of the other works of art that could be auctioned were sold at dozens of dollars. The price of tens of millions or millions of dollars, artworks exceeding tens of millions of dollars were really rare in that era.

It was not until the 1990s that the number of works of art worth tens of millions of dollars gradually increased. One was that in the 1990s the dollar was not as valuable as it was in the 1980s. It has risen a lot.

In other words, those works of art that cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in later generations were actually not that expensive at all in the early 1980s. Therefore, this period is also a good period to acquire some fine European and American artworks.

Looking at his watch, he found that it was not one o'clock in the morning, and Yang Jing didn't feel sleepy at this time, so after thinking about it, he simply activated the limited-level space-time travel skill and directly arrived at Yanjing on January 5, 1982. .

Of course, Yang Jing put the location of his shuttle in Xiangshan Park. At five o'clock in the morning in winter, there are basically no people in Xiangshan Park.

After coming out of the park and waiting for a long time, Yang Jing took the first bus departing from Xiangshan to the urban area, and arrived at Deshengmen after another bus.

Deshengmen is not far from Houhai, and Yang Jing didn't bother to take a car any more, so he strolled along Gulou West Street to the north edge of Houhai.

The courtyard house bought by Mike Aller is not called Hai Siheyuan now, but after the renovation of this area in 2002, this courtyard house is called Hai Siheyuan because it is located in the Hai character area. .

In February 2002, after many years of preparation, the Yanjing Municipal Government finally promulgated the Protection Plan for 25 Historical and Cultural Protection Areas in the Old City of Yanjing. For the first time, 25 historical and cultural protection areas appeared in the Yangjing Second Ring Road. However, with the modernization of the city The process has accelerated, and more and more areas remain to be protected. By 2007, Yanjing had 40 historical and cultural protection areas mainly targeting traditional courtyard buildings. Outside these 40 protected areas, the courtyards, which are traditional buildings in Yanjing, are rapidly disappearing, and the total number of courtyards in the protected areas will hardly change due to regional restrictions. Especially as more and more people realize the preciousness of courtyard houses, the price of courtyard houses in Yanjing City is getting more and more expensive.

The courtyards along the northern edge of Houhai were the first batch of courtyards to be classified as historical and cultural protection areas. When they began to receive special protective renovations, the courtyards in this area were code-named according to the location of the heavenly stems and earthly branches. This courtyard house bought by a Russian oil tycoon in the previous life happened to be located in the hai character area.

Of course, the Hai Courtyard was bought by the Russian tycoon in 2007. After the purchase, the Russian tycoon began to do reconstruction work on the courtyard house. In the end, the entire Hai Courtyard was delivered to the owner. It will reach about 40 million U.S. dollars. Converted according to the exchange rate in 2007, that is nearly 300 million national currency.

The final price of this courtyard is so expensive, in addition to the unique geographical location, special architectural form, and huge area of ​​the courtyard itself, another important reason is the luxury of building materials.

When the courtyard was rebuilt at that time, there were as many as 24 wooden pillars supporting the main house in the courtyard, all of which were logs half a meter in diameter. The relevant taxes and transportation costs on the website, the price is as high as 25,000 yuan/cubic meter. And this is only the wood used for construction. Most of the other related materials are almost all top-level configurations imported from abroad. In addition to the huge basement, it is not surprising that the overall cost has become so high in the end. .

However, it was 2007 when the Russian tycoon bought the yard and rebuilt it, and it was 1981 when Yang Jing commissioned Mike Aller to buy the yard. There was a gap of 26 years between the two.

Don't underestimate these 26 years, it is the time difference of these 26 years that has changed the value of many things drastically.

For example, in 1981, a small courtyard house with an area of ​​about 140 square meters near Houhai could be bought for 2,000 yuan in national currency, but in 2007, the starting price for this courtyard house was 20 million yuan!

The courtyard that Mike Aller bought cost only 500,000 US dollars in 1981. Calculated according to the official exchange rate of 1 US dollar to 1.7 Chinese currency at that time, this superb courtyard house of more than 3,000 square meters was only around 80 Ten thousand national currency, even if calculated according to the exchange rate of 1 US dollar to 2.8 national currency in the internal trade settlement exchange rate, this yard is only 1.4 million national currency!