Chapter 98

"Brother Feng, nowadays there are fewer and fewer cultural people who play with the Four Treasures of the Study, and our business is really not doing well..."

Xie Xuan was quick-witted and had a flexible mind. After mixing in the antique street for more than three months, he had become close to the people around him. However, the longer he stayed on the antique street, the less he appreciated the current business.

It had been more than three months since the shop opened. Occasionally, some retired officials would come to buy items like writing brushes and rice paper. The biggest deal since the opening was a parent who spent 600 yuan on a set of writing tools for their eight-year-old child, hoping to nurture a future talent.

These items had very low profit margins, and they didn't have business every day. It was already good if they could make a sale every three to five days.

After three months, Xie Xuan calculated the accounts and found that they hadn't made a single cent. Including rent, utilities, labor costs, and management fees for the antique street, they had lost nearly 20,000 yuan.

This made Xie Xuan, who prided himself on his business acumen, very frustrated. He saw other shops on the antique street using all sorts of underhanded methods, making at least 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a month, and some even made over 100,000 yuan a month. That was truly a case of not doing business for three years but making enough to live for three years when they did.

Today, Xie Xuan brought his father to find Qin Feng, intending to propose some improvements and make a complete plan for the future development of Wenbaozhai.

Of course, the chubby Xie Xuan, who hadn't finished junior high school, couldn't come up with these ideas on his own. His father had taught him.

After explaining his thoughts to Qin Feng, Xie Xuan said, "Brother Feng, we still have some money, but we can't just sit and eat it away, right? In my opinion, if we continue like this, Wenbaozhai will have to close down..."

The initial 250,000 yuan they brought from Shishi, after deducting the costs of renovating the quadrangle and taking over Wenbaozhai, left about 50,000 to 60,000 yuan.

When Xie Xuan and Li Tianyuan left Jintian, Qin Feng gave them 20,000 yuan. These two weren't good at managing money, and they spent all 20,000 yuan in half a year.

After Xie Xuan returned to Jintian, Qin Feng gave him the remaining 30,000 yuan. In the past few months, they had spent about 20,000 yuan, so Xie Xuan was starting to get anxious.

"Qin Feng, are you out of money?"

If it weren't for his son's words, Xie Dazhi wouldn't have known that the antique shop was in such a state. He said, "Why don't I put some money in the shop for you to use?"

Xie Dazhi had turned a nearly bankrupt business into a thriving one in just two years. The new real estate projects he developed brought him substantial returns. Taking out a few hundred thousand yuan was no problem for him.

"Uncle Xie, we're not short of money for now. I have a plan..." Qin Feng shook his head, declining Xie Dazhi's offer.

He had "taken" two bundles of money from Yuan Bingqi's safe last year and hidden them before returning to the pharmaceutical factory. When he checked later, there were 60,000 yuan in total. Qin Feng didn't need to worry about money for the time being.

Qin Feng's slender and delicate fingers tapped on the back of the chair for a while before he looked up and said, "Xuanzi, what do you think about the shop?"

Qin Feng didn't like to do everything himself. As the saying goes, "Giving a man a fish will feed him for a day; teaching a man to fish will feed him for a lifetime." He let Xie Xuan and Li Tianyuan handle things to help them mature.

The antique street was a place where all sorts of people mixed, and every day was filled with deceit and trickery. It was one of the easiest places for people to grow, aside from prison.

In fact, Xie Xuan and Li Tianyuan had indeed matured a lot.

There was no need to mention Xie Xuan, but Li Tianyuan had even learned to smile at customers. The biggest deal, the 600-yuan "business," was made by him.

According to the parent's words, if one didn't study calligraphy well, they would end up like Li Tianyuan, standing behind a counter selling things. This made Li Tianyuan's face turn black with anger.

However, Li Tianyuan's heart wasn't cruel enough. If it were Xie Xuan, he would have sold a set of writing tools worth at least 2,000 yuan. Nowadays, besides women's money, children's money was the easiest to earn. What a rare opportunity!

"Brother Feng, I've thought about it. We should sell jade!"

Hearing Qin Feng's question, the chubby Xie Xuan's eyes lit up. "I've scouted the entire street. There are many shops selling jade, but none sell jadeite. With your skills, we can definitely make it a success!"

After mixing in the antique street for so long, Xie Xuan knew the value of jadeite, especially the kind Qin Feng could make, which was more expensive than gold. They wouldn't need to sell much; just one piece a year would ensure they lived comfortably.

"With my skills?"

Qin Feng smiled bitterly and lightly tapped Xie Xuan on the head, scolding him, "If it were really made with skills, you'd be waiting for the shop to be smashed. The stuff would fade in a few months and could harm the body. This business is too unethical and can't be done."

After learning from Zai Shi, Qin Feng wasn't completely against deceit and fraud. It was a skill, but he had his own principles: to make money without harming others.

If the fake jadeite was made well, it could last for two to three years without fading, but the radioactive substances inside could cause significant harm to the body.

"Brother Feng, what can we do then? We don't have the connections to sell calligraphy and paintings, and we can't do other things. Who knows where those things come from?"

Hearing Qin Feng's words, Xie Xuan's face turned gloomy. In theory, shops selling the Four Treasures of the Study should attract literati and scholars who are interested in calligraphy and paintings. Xue Nan's grandfather used to have the shop filled with famous works.

However, Xue Nan's grandfather was a well-known calligraphy expert. Asking for or buying famous works was easy for him.

But Qin Feng and the others were just kids with no fame or connections. Even graduates from art schools wouldn't be willing to display their works in their shop.

As for bronze artifacts and other collectibles, the shopkeepers were very secretive about their sources. No matter how Xie Xuan tried to pry, they wouldn't reveal anything, cutting off his hopes.

"Where do they come from?" Qin Feng glanced at Xie Xuan and said, "Xuanzi, you want to sell that stuff?"

"Of course, Brother Feng. You don't know, a few days ago, that old Ma Wuliu, the guy with a face full of freckles, somehow got a bronze candlestick from somewhere. He said it was from the Warring States period, and that thing actually sold for 80,000 yuan!"

Xie Xuan's face showed resentment. "It was all rusted and had no inscriptions. I think Ma Wuliu probably bought it for 50 yuan, but he sold it for 80,000 yuan without any haggling."

This kind of thing happened frequently on the antique street, but since they dealt with different items, Xie Xuan could only watch others make big money, and he couldn't help but feel envious.

Qin Feng shook his head and said, "Going to the countryside to find antiques requires a keen eye. Don't think everything in the countryside is genuine. Without a good eye, you'll lose more money than you make..."

In the 1980s, going to the countryside to collect antiques was a quick way to make money. People didn't care about old bowls and rusty iron, and they would sell them for a few cents.

But in recent years, with more disposable income, more people were interested in antiques, and prices naturally rose. It was almost impossible to find good deals in the countryside now.

Moreover, the old men and women who had been tricked a few times became smarter. They bought high-quality fakes and hid them at home. When antique collectors came, they would pretend to find them by chance, luring the collectors into traps and making them lose money.

Over time, except for some retired people who genuinely loved collecting, no one wanted to go to the countryside anymore. The antique dealers and the old men and women had a few rounds of trickery, and now the dealers sold fakes themselves.

Faking antiques was a well-known practice in the industry. The emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong of the Qing dynasty were the masters of faking, imitating many works from the Song and Ming dynasties.

Of course, in modern times, those fakes from the Qing dynasty had become valuable antiques. However, modern fakes didn't have the same value.

Xie Xuan wanted to do this but lacked the connections. The unscrupulous merchants on the antique street, who usually talked about everything over drinks, would become silent when it came to this topic.

Hearing Qin Feng reject his suggestions, Xie Xuan said in a pouting tone, "Brother Feng, if we can't do this or that, we might as well close the shop and save ourselves from losing more money."

"Xuanzi, don't be in a hurry. I need to review for the exams. After the college entrance exam, we'll go out and make some money!"

Qin Feng smiled. Since learning from Zai Shi, he had never worried about