Return to Singapore 1995

"Haha, you're right, brother, I'm taking you to the ghost market!" Li Xiaofan laughed.

In fact, in the previous life, it was Lin Zhiyong who first brought Li Xiaofan to Haikou to visit the "ghost market".

The so-called Haikou ghost market is the Haikou East Lake Antique Market in the early morning.

At three o'clock in the morning of the next day, when it was still dark, Li Xiaofan and Lin Zhiyong came to the legendary market by the East Lake with flashlights.

The winding path leads to a secluded place, where the Zen room is deep in flowers and trees, and the bamboo forest shades the path leading to the depths. The flowers and trees in front and behind the Zen room are lush and colorful. This is a portrayal of the Haikou East Lake Antique Market.

In the dark night, through the secluded path with flower-lined avenues and towering strange rocks, the legendary Haikou East Lake Antique Market appeared in front of them. There is a feeling of mountains and rivers, and there is no way out, but there is another village after the dark willows and flowers.

At this time, a group of people holding old objects and rosewood have gathered by the lake. While there are not many people, they quickly choose a good location, light up with flashlights, and start setting up stalls.

For a while, the dark lakeside was dancing with dots of light, just like the legendary "ghost fire", just like a "ghost market"...

Unlike Beijing Panjiayuan Antique Market, Haikou Donghu Antique Market is a street market walking between folk characteristics and management blind spots. People have been guarding the lake since 1 a.m. in order to catch the early market and be the first to buy Taobao. Before dawn, everyone is setting up stalls and buying Taobao with flashlights, and the dots of light are like the legendary "ghost fire". Therefore, Donghu Antique Market is also called "Ghost Market" in the industry. It is very unique in domestic antique markets, with strong folk characteristics, attracting many foreign tourists to come to the market to buy Taobao.

In those days, not only Hainan, but also all over the country, the situation was similar. Some of the items traded in the antique market were of unknown origin, and some were prohibited from being bought and sold. However, there was a huge consumer demand and market among the people, so there was a "ghost market" for private transactions that avoided inspections by industrial and commercial departments. The "ghost market" has its own set of trading rules.

"Damn, it really looks like a ghost market!" Lin Zhiyong took a puff of cigarette and sighed.

As they talked, they came to the busiest Hainan Huanghuali trading area.

This is the largest Huanghuali wood distribution center in Hainan, and also the largest Huanghuali trading market in the country.

Li Xiaofan is very familiar with this place. In his previous life, after 2000, Lin Zhiyong gradually became addicted to collecting agarwood and Hainan Huanghuali. He was a frequent visitor here, spent a lot of money and paid a lot of tuition fees, but also made a lot of money.

However, in the Donghu market in 1995, the prices of Hainan Huanghuali and agarwood had not risen yet, so there were relatively few counterfeit and shoddy products, and Li Xiaofan's experience was enough to judge the authenticity.

After walking around the Donghu market, the two of them basically got a rough idea of ​​the market price of Huanghuali. Hainan Huanghuali wood is called Haihuang in the market, and the price ranges from 2 to 6 yuan per catty. The large Haihuang boards that can be used to make furniture are 8 to 15 yuan per catty. The yellower the Huanghuali produced in Vietnam is called in the market, the cheaper it is.

"These broken woods are so expensive! Brother Fan, why did you bring me to Haikou? Are you planning to buy these broken woods to take back?"

Along the way, Lin Zhiyong kept mumbling. He couldn't figure out what Li Xiaofan was up to. At the moment, he hadn't studied Haihuang wood that much.

"Ayong, if you have money, you can buy some now. In the future, woods like sea yellow and red sandalwood may be very expensive!"

"Impossible, how expensive can this wood be?"

"That's wrong. Sea yellow was once used as furniture material for the imperial palace. It takes hundreds of years to grow into usable wood. Now it is used up piece by piece. It is a non-renewable resource and very precious!"

In his previous life, Li Xiaofan had read some information and reports. After the reform and opening up, the country's doors were opened. Starting from the late 1990s, merchants and collectors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign countries who were foresighted, flocked to mainland China and plundered a large number of old-style furniture, especially precious furniture mainly made of sea yellow and red sandalwood. At that time, you could find satisfactory sea yellow furniture with only a few thousand or tens of thousands of RMB.

In his previous life, it was Lin Zhiyong who told him that from about 2002 to 2007, the price of sea yellow doubled several times every year. In 2007, when the price of large logs and boards was the highest, it was already more than 8,000 yuan per catty.

Before rebirth, authentic Hainan Huanghuali boards were already more than 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per catty. Large boards were no longer priced by catty, but were priced at tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands per piece.

If we calculate based on the current price of 10 yuan per catty for Hainan Huanghuali boards, after more than 20 years, even if it is 10,000 yuan per catty, it has increased by an astonishing 1,000 times!

Compared with Hainan Huanghuali, the housing price increase in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen is really a small witch compared to Hainan Huanghuali! The current housing price in Shanghai is about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan per square meter. Even if it rises to 200,000 yuan per square meter in the future, it will only be 100 times.

Li Xiaofan thought to himself that hoarding Hainan Huanghuali might be one of the most profitable means after rebirth.

Before rebirth, Li Xiaofan met a friend who was famous for collecting Hainan Huanghuali because he followed Lin Zhiyong to play Hainan Huanghuali and agarwood. A few years ago, the online article "Zhejiang University teacher spent 2 million to collect Hainan Huanghuali wood, and his net worth exceeded 100 million ten years later!" was about this friend, Mr. Wang from Zhejiang University. He spent nearly 2 million yuan in the two years from 2005 to 2007. Despite his wife's opposition, he sold his house and bought about 3 tons of Huanghuali wood. He quit his job as a university teacher. Later, this batch of Hainan Huanghuali wood was worth over 100 million yuan.

When Li Xiaofan was stopping by the lake to reminisce, Agui, a local who set up a stall selling sea yellow wood nearby, greeted them with a flashlight: "These two bosses, I saw that you have been in the market several times, so you didn't look at it. Favorite?"

"Well, they are all scraps. I didn't see any good sheets. It's a pity!"

"Boss, where did you come from?"

"We are from Donghai Province."

"Oh, the people of Donghai are all big bosses!"

Li Xiaofan smiled and said nothing.

"Then what kind of materials are you going to order?"

“The bigger the better!”

"There are good sheets, but the key is that they are not cheap. Have you brought enough money?"

“Money is not an issue, the key is to have good materials!”

Agui looked at Li Xiaofan several times again and seemed to feel that what Li Xiaofan said was sincere enough.

"Come, follow me!" Agui entrusted the stall to his friend next door and took Li Xiaofan and Lin Zhiyong into an alley not far away.

After opening the iron gate of one of the small courtyards and entering a large room on the first floor, Li Xiaofan's eyes lit up after turning on the light!

Lying on the ground were three sea-yellow logs that were more than two meters long and seemed to be 80 centimeters in diameter. There are two large boards on the side, about three meters long, one meter wide, and 20 centimeters thick. They are golden and moist with a hint of lavender, and the air is filled with the unique scent of sea yellow, which is pleasantly fragrant.

He squatted down, carefully shined the flashlight up and down on the wood, and then asked:

"How can I sell these pieces of wood?"