The prosperous era of courtyard houses

Chapter 61, Trust Store

After leaving the steel rolling mill, Li Weiguo didn't delay and rode directly to Beixinqiao.

Beixinqiao is not far from the Siheyuan, and it only takes about ten minutes by bicycle.

Li Weiguo had never been here before, so he found the trust store after asking several times.

A two-story building with a signboard of "Beixinqiao Trust Store" hanging on it.

Trust shops were called pawn shops in later generations. Before liberation, they were "pawn shops." Its shadow can be seen in later movies and TV dramas.

"Pawn shops" were a business that "exploited and oppressed" poor people in the old society. After liberation, pawn shops were stopped.

Later, trust stores were born, specializing in accepting commissions and selling second-hand items.

The trust store here in Beixinqiao is quite large, with two floors and two stores downstairs, each with an area of ​​more than 100 square meters. Li Weiguo rode his car to the door, parked it, and walked directly into the sales department.

When I walked in, I saw that there were quite a lot of people inside, about twenty or thirty people, all walking around, looking around and looking for what they wanted.

When you first enter, here is the sales department, which is mainly responsible for displaying and selling various second-hand goods. As for the acquisition department, it is in a store next to it, mainly responsible for acquisition and consignment.

In fact, "trust" means acquisition. After the clerk and the customer negotiate the price, the items are sold directly to the trust store. As for how much the store sells for, the customer has no right to interfere.

"Entrustment" means that the two parties negotiate the final sale price, and the store has no right to change it. Once the item is sold, the store charges a certain handling fee. If it is not sold, it can be redeemed intact.

In addition, there is an unwritten rule that ordinary customers can look for or purchase items in the sales department at will. However, if you do not have items to sell or entrust, you must not wander or stay in the purchasing department, let alone "go out". The purchasing department intercepts items that customers want to sell or consign.

If a stubborn person dares to talk nonsense in the acquisition department, if he is caught, he will at least be labeled as a speculator and then paraded through the streets drinking tea.

Looking at the various products in the sales department, Li Weiguo was not in a hurry to find someone, and wanted to see what was available first.

Walking into the counter, there are quite a few products on the glass counter.

Old furniture, porcelain, copperware, clothing, shoes and hats, bags, leather goods, clocks, musical instruments, daily tools, etc., all kinds of things that are used in daily life are basically available, and they are all used secondhand goods. Or defective products.

There are even bicycles, radios, sewing machines, televisions, gramophones, and vinyl records, and all of them are free of charge.

In this era of scarcity, even if you have money, you can't buy the things you need, so it has become normal to come to trust stores to buy used goods.

However, it is difficult to buy large and in-demand items like these. Most of them are pre-ordered. It doesn't matter if you ask, they are already sold.

Come on, I can't think of these big things for now, and he won't need them yet.

He bypassed the counter selling large items and the place where clothes, shoes and hats were bought and sold, and came to the counter selling watches.

He wanted to see if it was possible to buy a rare watch or something.

Through the glass of the counter, you can see dozens of watches of various brands, new and old, of various brands and colors.

There are domestic Shanghai brands and Seagull brands, as well as foreign Rolex, Omega, Tissot, Plum Blossom, Peacock, Roma, Inager, Gas Needle, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, etc.

It was similar to what Li Weiguo imagined. All the watches that could move had been bought.

The rest of them are all malfunctioning, and every one that can move can only be used as a decoration if you spend money to buy them back.

But Li Weiguo didn't care. When he saw a rare watch, he bought it and threw it into a static warehouse. He would look for it later to see if there was a skilled watch repairman for others to take a look at.

These fault meters are not worth much money. There are some in the tens, 20s, and even better ones in the 34s.

Nowadays, people are all about pragmatism. If you are good, you can sell whatever you want.

It broke down and was scrapped. The original price was one or two thousand, but now it is at that price.

Li Weiguo put his head against the glass of the counter and looked there, and suddenly found a watch that looked a little old, but very exquisite.

Li Weiguo used to like to pay attention to the collection and auction information of various famous watches around the world. He recognized the watch in front of him at a glance.

Pointing to the Patek Philippe, he said to the salesperson: "Comrade, please help me take that piece to look at."

The salesperson was a young man in his twenties with a pair of dead fish eyes. He was listlessly in a daze at the moment. When he heard Li Weiguo's words, he frowned and felt a little unhappy.

Li Weiguo also knew the virtues of these salesmen and didn't care about them. He took out the big front door from his pocket, handed one over, and said with a smile: "Brother, have a cigarette to wake up."

Dead Fish Eyes also came up, took the cigarette, his expression became much gentler, took out the key, opened the glass cabinet, took out the Patek Philippe and handed it over.

Dead Fish Eyes was kind-hearted, and reminded: "These foreign watches placed here are basically faulty watches, and the needles cannot move. And there are not many who can repair them. If you buy them back, they will probably be just for decoration."

Li Weiguo thanked him for the reminder. If you can't find it if you can repair watches, you will look for it slowly. But if you miss something, it will be gone. Take it first.

Picked up this watch and looked at it carefully.

This is Patek Philippe Ref. 2523 world time rose gold watch. It was produced in 1953 and sold through the Paris retailer Gobbi Market. The words PATEKPHILIPPEGENVE are written in the center of the dial.

In later generations, five Ref. 2523 rose gold watches were publicly auctioned, with prices exceeding one million and even tens of millions.

I don't know why this watch ended up here, but Li Weiguo didn't care about it and immediately said: "Comrade, how much does this watch cost?"

The dead fish eyes were quite honest. Seeing him hand over the cigarette, he reminded him: "Do you really want to buy it? It's only 70 yuan. It's still a bad one, but the needle can't go out."

"Thank you for reminding me." Li Weiguo said with a smile: "The elders in the family like this kind of thing, buy it back to make him happy."

Upon hearing this, Dead Fish Eyes said nothing more and put the watch on the counter: "Okay, you can make up your mind. Anyway, the lowest price is 70, and you won't be refunded if you buy it."

Li Weiguo didn't intend to regret buying it, so he just nodded, issued an invoice, paid the money, and pocketed the watch.

Put it in your pocket, and then with a thought, put the watch into the space static warehouse, and wait for the watch repair master to take care of it later.

After buying the watch, Li Weiguo was not in a hurry to leave as he hadn't finished reading the items yet.

Pa Na continued to look at it for a while, and this time he took a fancy to a pocket watch.

Li Weiguo pointed to the pocket watch and said, "Excuse me again, this one looks pretty good."

He glanced up at Li Weiguo with dead fish eyes, as if he were looking at a prodigal son: "Comrade, this is not cheap, it costs sixty-five."

Li Weiguo doesn't care about the price of the things he likes. He says, "The old man in the family only cares about these things. It's okay, this is the one."

It doesn't matter if you have dead eyes, since you are not paying for it yourself anyway. Seeing that Li Weiguo confirmed that he wanted it, he didn't say anything more and took out the pocket watch from the counter and handed it to him.

Li Weiguo took it and looked at it carefully to make sure it was correct.

Vacheron Constantin, 18K gold and enamel decoration, with ivory dial, made in 1922.

This pocket watch was sold for HK$2012 (approximately RMB 20) at Christie's Hong Kong 16 autumn auction.

It can be regarded as a good collectible. What I didn’t mention is that you just need to issue the invoice, pay the money, complete the procedures, put it in your pocket, and then send it into the space.

After buying two watches, Li Weiguo didn't plan to buy any more. Buying too many at once would be conspicuous, and he would also buy furniture soon.

He took a cigarette to himself and handed another one to Dead Fish Eyes: "By the way, brother, Tong Dahai, do you work here?"

Dead Fish Eyes took the cigarette with the fork in his ear, nodded when he heard this, turned around and pointed to the store next door: "It's in the purchasing department next door. He's on duty today. It's the one on the counter. You can see it when you go in."

"Okay, thanks."

After thanking the salesperson, Li Weiguo went out and walked around to the purchasing department next to him.