Rebirth of the courtyard, the start is 80s

Chapter 683 Come, swipe my card!

Probably nearly two hours later.

Zhu Lincai was wearing a blue dress and came to the rest area with a rosy complexion accompanied by the female store manager.

After arriving at the rest area, Zhu Lin found Cao Zhiqiang, who had finished reading two magazines and was reading the third magazine.

"Hey, it's over?" Cao Zhiqiang put down the magazine and stood up with a smile, and asked Zhu Lin, whose face was red, "How do you feel?"

"Very good." Zhu Lin said happily.

“They tried on many outfits for me, a dozen pairs of shoes, and several styles of jewelry.

A little tired, but they are indeed beautiful.

Moreover, they took photos of each of my outfits and said they would let us pick up the photos later. "

"Really? So good?" Cao Zhiqiang pretended to be very surprised and said, "Why did you change so many clothes? And even take pictures of you?"

Zhu Lin smiled and said: "I am also very curious and asked Miss Meiko, who is the store manager.

She said she liked my figure and temperament very much and wanted me to try on the clothes here and become a model.

She also said that these photos of me trying on clothes were only for their internal reference and would not be released to the public or used for commercial purposes. As long as I agreed, they could reward me with several sets of clothes later.

I thought it was okay to be a model. Besides, they promised not to announce it to the public and not use it for commercial purposes. Plus they could give me a few sets of clothes, so I agreed.

So, there are a lot of clothes to try on, plus makeup and taking photos, so the time is delayed a bit, making you anxious, right? "

Cao Zhiqiang glanced at the female shopkeeper next to him inadvertently, then smiled and shook his head at Zhu Lin: "How could it be? I eat, drink, and read newspapers and magazines here, so I'm not bored at all.

But then again, don’t you speak Japanese?How do you communicate with them? "

Zhu Lin rolled his eyes at Cao Zhiqiang angrily: "Didn't I tell you that I can order in English and the store manager can also speak English, so we all communicate in English."

"Oh, yes, yes!" Cao Zhiqiang quickly patted his forehead, "Look at me, forget about this."

Immediately afterwards, Cao Zhiqiang asked Zhu Lin: "By the way, why did you come out wearing this? Didn't you change back into your own clothes?"

Zhu Lin smiled and said: "This is the last set of clothes I am wearing. I was going back to change clothes, but the store manager told me that this is the last series. It's best for me to wear it and show it to you. To avoid any regrets, I came here.”

Having said this, Zhu Lin stretched out his arms and turned around in a circle: "How is it? Does it look good?"

Cao Zhiqiang smiled and nodded quickly: "It looks good, it looks really good. You look good in anything you wear! Of course, you look especially good in this suit!"

Zhu Lin smiled and shook his head: "You are still a great poet, so you praise others like this?"

Cao Zhiqiang smiled and said: "Front praise can better show my sincerity. This is how to express one's heart directly. What do you think?"

Zhu Lin rolled his eyes again: "If I had known better, I wouldn't have worn it out to show you!"

Cao Zhiqiang smiled: "Okay, go back and change clothes quickly. We have to go shopping elsewhere. If we don't leave, it's time to have lunch."

Zhu Lin nodded: "Okay, wait a moment, I'll go change clothes right now."

Having said this, Zhu Lin left accompanied by a female salesperson.

However, the female shopkeeper did not follow him, but stayed with a smile.

The reason, of course, is the previously agreed relationship.

After Zhu Lin completely left the lounge, the female shopkeeper quickly closed the door of the lounge, then came to Cao Zhiqiang and bowed, then raised her head and said with a smile: "Sir, we have completed what you asked for. Next, you can look……"

"Give me the bill." Cao Zhiqiang said calmly.

The female shopkeeper quickly handed over the bill she had written long ago with a smile.

After Cao Zhiqiang took it over, he briefly looked at the previous category accounts, and finally turned to the bottom general ledger.

After looking at the amount on the general ledger, Cao Zhiqiang immediately frowned.

Seeing that Cao Zhiqiang frowned, the female shopkeeper said: "Sir, the price is a bit high, but we all clearly mark the prices, and we give you the most expensive products in the store.

Among them, just the sets of jewelry necklaces are of considerable value, not to mention the limited edition matching clothing.

We have already given you a preferential price for this price.

After all, we are here for luxury goods, which are different from ordinary clothing. "

Cao Zhiqiang raised his eyes and looked at the female shopkeeper, and said calmly: "You are overthinking. I frowned, not because the price is too high, but because the price is too low."

Speaking of this, Cao Zhiqiang put down the bill and said with dissatisfaction: "The total price is only 8600 million yen? Only 35 US dollars?
This price is not enough for me to buy a limited edition watch!
Please, you are Hermès, synonymous with expensive.

Are you going to give me these silly things when you're done?
I don't believe you only have this level of quality here.

Are you sure you gave my friend the most expensive stuff? "

Indeed, if 8600 million yen were converted into US dollars, it would now be equivalent to US$35.

In this era, US$35 is indeed a very high figure for ordinary people, but in fact it is just like that. Anyway, Cao Zhiqiang does not think this figure is too outrageous.

You know, this is Hermès.

In Cao Zhiqiang’s impression, why doesn’t Hermès’ limited-edition suit start at RMB 80 million?

As a result, it took me a long time to put together several sets of costumes and jewelry, but they were still the most expensive ones here, so it’s just this little money?
What about fooling the ghost?

As if seeing Cao Zhiqiang's dissatisfaction, the other party immediately smiled bitterly and said: "Sorry, sir, we have indeed given your female companion the most expensive style in our store.

Let's put it this way, our store currently has the most expensive items in stock, but we have listed all the styles that can match your female companion. That's really all.

Of course, if you don’t mind waiting, we can go to the main store to apply for a special order for you.

If it's a special custom-made model, the price can be whatever you want, even if it's millions of dollars, that's no problem.

In addition, there are only a few luxury watches worth 600 million yen in the world.

At least in Japan, I have never heard of any famous watch worth 600 million yen. "

Obviously, the female shopkeeper's last sentence was more or less ridiculing. She probably thought that Cao Zhiqiang couldn't afford it, but insisted on pretending to be a big-tailed wolf.

Cao Zhiqiang could naturally hear the other party's caution.

But what he was confused about was, was there really no watch worth $35 here?

Not so?

You know, in Cao Zhiqiang's previous life, there were many limited edition watches, such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, etc., and watches costing millions of dollars were everywhere.

But here, she said that there is no watch worth 35 US dollars in all of Japan?

If someone else said this, Cao Zhiqiang would think that the other person had little knowledge.

But this female shop owner, the manager of the Hermès store, absolutely cannot have this little knowledge.

Just kidding, if you want to be a store manager in a luxury store, you must know some essential luxury knowledge. Otherwise, the customers who come here to purchase are either rich or expensive. If I chat with you casually, you will show your shyness. That damages the brand image.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhiqiang did not immediately retort. Instead, he frowned, picked up the bill again, and looked at it carefully.

It doesn't matter when I look at it, I find that many of the jewelry inside are made of platinum and diamonds.

During this period, Henan's artificial diamonds had not yet flooded, the diamond myth had not been shattered, and diamonds were still very valuable.

Not to mention platinum.

Moreover, this is an exclusive series of jewelry of the Hermès brand, which carries a brand premium.

The price of these jewelry pieces alone is not low.

Not to mention those diamond-encrusted bags.

So why do these things add up to only $35?

Suddenly, Cao Zhiqiang slapped his forehead and suddenly came back to his senses.

Yes, he forgot about the time limit.

This is 1983, not 2023.A dollar at this time is worth so much.

If calculated based on purchasing power, or based on gold as an anchor, then 80 US dollar in the 1s is roughly equivalent to 2020 US dollars in 33, which is an increase of 33 times!
Even if it were added up to [-] times, it would still be a big deal.

Because of this calculation, US$35 at this time is equivalent to US$2020 million in 1050!
In other words, the items on the bill are equivalent to US$2020 million in 1000. This is definitely not a bargain.

No wonder, at this time in the United States, the term millionaire was still popular.

With 100 million US dollars at this time, he is indeed worthy of being called a rich man.

After all, 100 million now is equivalent to 3000 million later. Ordinary people will have no worries about food and drink throughout their lives.

Cao Zhiqiang should have thought of it earlier, after all, the situation in China at this time is similar.

At this time, the official exchange rate between RMB and U.S. dollars is about 2:1, and in China, the legend of households with [-] yuan has just begun to become popular.

In other words, if you can have [-] RMB in China at this time, you are considered a wealthy person. There is only one person in a million.

It's just that Cao Zhiqiang's money came too quickly and easily, and he had already surpassed the number of households worth ten thousand yuan and started to move towards the number of households worth ten million yuan.

This is just the money Cao Zhiqiang earned from singing and selling books based on his personal talent, not counting the money given by the state.

Also, the total box office of Cao Zhiqiang's movie "Love in the Rain" released in Japan was only 97.5 billion yen.

Compared to 600 million yen, it is only a little over 113 times.

The problem is, the box office of "Love in the Rain" was released for nearly two months, breaking the historical record of Japanese film and television, even beating the legendary movie "ET".

As for a box office as high as 97.5 billion yen, if the box office is divided into half according to the rationed box office, and then divided according to 15.00% of the rationed box office, the money that Cao Zhiqiang himself can finally get is only a pitiful 7.3125 million yen, which is only 304.68 million US dollars converted into US dollars. .

This amount is only 8.7 times the bill!
However, how much effort was put into "Love in the Rain" and how many black technology and past life techniques were used?
But the luxury clothing in this store, just a few sets of clothing in one store, easily sold one hundredth of the total box office of the highest-grossing movie in Japanese film history.

If we look at the share of revenue that I got from that movie, the sales of products in this Hermès store reached one-eighth of the share of revenue that I got from the previous movie!

No matter how you look at it, it can’t be considered less.

Seemingly noticing that Cao Zhiqiang was silent, the female store manager smiled slightly: "Sir, if you think the bill is too expensive and you really can't afford it, it doesn't matter, you just need to give us a hard-earned fee.

After all, there are so many of us taking care of your female companion, putting makeup on her, trying on her clothes, and hiring professional photographers to take photos, which is not cheap.

If you can really buy all these sets, then of course there will be no problem, our service will be considered free of charge.

But if you don’t buy it, you won’t be able to save on this service fee.

After all, some people’s expenses are beyond my ability to save.

For example, when it comes to photographers’ money, we must understand that they are not from our store. I hired them temporarily from a nearby photo studio. They are very professional and the fees are not low. "

Upon hearing what the other party said, Cao Zhiqiang came back to his senses and smiled at the other party: "What are you thinking about? Who said I won't buy it? I just think the price is too low. Since you think I'm pretending, Well, I want everything in this bill."

Having said this, Cao Zhiqiang put down the bill and stood up, then took out his credit card and said in Chinese: "Here, swipe my Di card!"

"Ah?" The female store manager was stunned. She obviously didn't understand what Cao Zhiqiang just said. She just felt that this sentence sounded a bit familiar. It seemed to be a Thai sentence?
Seeing the confused look on the other party's face, Cao Zhiqiang said in Japanese again: "I mean, come and swipe your card."

The female store manager then smiled and said, "Okay, please come over here."

Soon, the female shopkeeper brought Cao Zhiqiang to the front desk, and then swiped the money on the POS machine that looked like a cash register.

Soon, the screen on the wired POS machine flickered, and then the payment receipt began to print out.

This also proves one thing, that is, the card swiping was successful and Cao Zhiqiang really paid.

Seeing this, even though the female store manager was well-informed, she still subconsciously took a breath.

You know, even Hermès stores rarely have sales exceeding 8000 million yen at a time.

Anyway, this is the first time that the female store manager has met such a high-roller since she came to this store to take up the post.

Well, the era when Japanese people shopped everywhere and became luxurious everywhere was actually after 1985.

At that time, due to the sharp appreciation of the yen, the purchasing power of the yen became stronger, and the domestic real estate bubble boom and other reasons, many Japanese people became rich instantly, and then they began to wave Japanese yen banknotes and start various carnivals at home and abroad. Explosive buying.

But before that, the Japanese were still very conservative, and their savings rate had always been the highest in Asia, far exceeding that in the country.

Yes, in 1983, the Japanese had the highest savings rate in the world, but they were not really keen on consumption.

The reason is that Japan went through a period of hard times after the war, and everyone was accustomed to being thrifty.

Even if the economic situation improves later, it will be difficult for many people to change their consumption habits for a while.

It was not until 1985 that, due to various reasons, the Japanese began to change their consumption concepts and started the explosive buying model, but it was still incomparable with the advanced consumption model in Europe and the United States.

Therefore, even a classic luxury store like Hermès, a signature store here in Ginza, rarely had sales exceeding 1985 million yen at a time before 8000.

It can be said that just one order from Cao Zhiqiang is equivalent to the store's sales in the past half year.

This is not an exaggeration at all.

After all, the purchasing power of the Japanese yen in this era was still very strong, and the prices of luxury goods in this period were incomparable to those in the later period.

After the payment was completed, Cao Zhiqiang smiled slightly and said to the female store manager: "Miss Meiko, I have already paid the money. You must follow the plan later and don't expose the secret!"

Hearing what Cao Zhiqiang said, the female store manager named Miss Meiko quickly smiled and said: "Don't worry, I will package all the outfits your female companion has tried, and then reward them with models. , give it to her as a gift, and the price will be very low, ensuring that she will not know the truth, but..."

"But what?" Cao Zhiqiang asked.

The female store manager said: "However, I can hide it here, but if she finds out the true price of these goods from other channels after she goes back, I will not be responsible."

"Well, don't worry, you don't have to be responsible." Cao Zhiqiang chuckled, "Not to mention that she has no chance to know the true price of these clothes in a short time, even if she does know, it doesn't matter.

Anyway, as time goes by, she will try to accept it! "

The female store manager smiled slightly: "I see, I understand everything. But sir, can you take off your mask and let me see your face? I always feel that you look like someone."

Well, after coming in, Cao Zhiqiang has been wearing a mask and has never taken it off. No wonder the female store manager wants to come and take a look.

"Sorry, I refuse." Cao Zhiqiang shook his head.

Just kidding, he is a celebrity now. In Japan, many people know this face, so he must not take off his mask.

This is different from Zhu Lin.

Although Zhu Lin is also very famous for her on-screen image, after all, for the majority of Japanese people, she only has one movie and her influence is limited.

Although the quality of "Love in the Rain" itself is good, its biggest feature is that the famous singer "Qingquan in the Forest" is the male protagonist.

In other words, most people go to see it for the name of "Green Spring in the Forest". After all, after Cao Zhiqiang sang under the name of "Green Spring in the Forest", he rarely showed up and always created a sense of mystery.

If this kind of mysterious persona were placed on an ordinary singer, it would have been completely cool, but Cao Zhiqiang is different.

Since his debut, every song has been a hit, and it broke into the top ten of the Oricon weekly chart as soon as it came out. In the end, his own songs competed with his own songs, and he directly dominated the top ten.

Not only that, the sales of Cao Zhiqiang’s songs surpass those of all other Japanese singers.

For example, Seiko Matsuda, who is ranked 11th on the Oricon Weekly Chart, has a sales volume of her new song that is less than a fraction of the sales of Cho Chi-keung's No. 10 song.

In other words, although Cao Zhiqiang has not been in Japan for a long time and did not even show much publicity at the beginning, he just relied on his own strength to conquer all Japanese audiences and suddenly revived the lifeless Japanese music scene.

Yes, many commentators believe that it was the emergence of "Green Spring in the Forest" that brought the lifeless Japanese music scene back to the peak of the 60s, and even surpassed it.

Many people believe that "Qingquan in the Forest" is Japan's Michael Jackson.

Many people even believe that in the current Japanese music scene, no matter whether they are old or young, male or female, no one can compete with "Green Spring in the Forest".

So much so that the current situation is that as long as "Green Spring in the Forest" releases a new song, all other singers will shy away from releasing new songs at the same time.

This actually caused Cao Zhiqiang to lose his opponent as soon as he released a new song.

That's called being invincible and lonely as snow.

From this we can see how terrifying Cao Zhiqiang's popularity and reputation in Japan at this time are.

Let me ask, under such circumstances, how could Cao Zhiqiang dare to show his true face in normal times?

(End of this chapter)