Live Appreciation, Congratulations to Brother

Chapter 385 Prince and Princess

"Boss Li is quite professional in selling porcelain here." Zhang Yang said while looking at the text on the display.

"Professional?" Chen Yanguang scratched his head and followed Zhang Yang's line of sight. It took him a while to understand what Zhang Yang meant.

"You mean they named this thing professionally, right?"

"The question is, what is a military holding?"

"A kind of decorative porcelain." Zhang Yang replied.

"Nonsense, of course I know it's a decoration, otherwise it wouldn't be made like an elephant. The question is, what is it used for?"

"Decorate the room."

Chen Yanguang: "You..."

Zhang Yang saw Chen Yanguang's deflated expression, smiled happily, and then handed his phone to the other party.

"Okay, just to tease you, take a look at this picture first."

What Zhang Yang showed Chen Yanguang was a blue-glazed military weapon unearthed from a Tang tomb.

The shape is a bit like a wine flask without a handle.

But the usage of this thing is exactly the opposite of that of a hip flask.

"The Junzhi was originally a water bottle carried by ancient monks when they traveled around." Zhang Yang explained, "Did you see the hole on the top? It's very thin and is used for drinking water."

"Did you see the bulge on the neck of the pot? Does it look like a pacifier?"

"I feel a bit like a suona." Chen Yanguang looked at it and said.

"Okay, that's about right. Anyway, it's used to tie the rope to prevent the kettle from falling."

"The opening on the side is slightly wider than the drinking area on the top. It is used for pouring water." Zhang Yang pointed at the picture and said.

"Ah? Then when you drink water, won't the water leak out from this mouth?"

"You're stupid, why don't you just plug it with a plug?"

"Oh." Chen Yanguang suddenly realized, "Damn, why didn't you take the photo with the plug in it? Isn't this misleading?"

"You have to ask the person who excavated this Tang tomb." Zhang Yang shrugged.

"Later, ascetics all used copper kettles, and these porcelain military holders gradually evolved into decorations."

"Among these decorative porcelains, the elephant-shaped blue and white military holdings are the most popular. They have been sold at home and abroad since the Yuan Dynasty, so they have been found in many shipwrecks of the Ming and Qing Dynasties."

As soon as Zhang Yang finished speaking, the Middle Eastern buyer wearing a headscarf in front of him suddenly turned around and said to Zhang Yang in very poor Chinese:

"Thank you for your explanation and sharing with me valuable knowledge. Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome." Zhang Yang responded with a smile.

A Middle Eastern guy who can speak Chinese also comes to buy porcelain, maybe he is a Chinese fan.

"Damn it, this Lao Deng can actually understand Chinese?" Chen Yanguang and Zhang Yang looked at each other, unable to hide the surprise in their eyes.

"What is Lao Deng?" the Middle Eastern guy asked in confusion, "I have been learning Chinese for two years, and this is the first time I have heard of the word Lao Deng."

"Laodeng means old brother." Zhang Yang explained.

"I understand, thank you, two old men." The Middle Eastern guy pointed at Zhang Yang and Chen Yanguang.

"Yes, yes, that's what Lao Deng does." Chen Yanguang nodded excitedly.

After coming to the exhibition for so long, he finally found some fun.

He pestered the Middle Eastern guy to teach him Chinese.

Zhang Yang shook his head helplessly. It seemed that he could only bid for this Ming Dynasty Elephant Head Army by himself.

Referring to the market price, there was one piece at Sotheby's last year that was auctioned for 80,000 yuan.

Zhang Yang thought for a while and entered "8000" in the valuation column.

Something that cost hundreds of thousands just now was sold for 10,000. A 10% discount on this military weapon is not too much.

Five minutes later, it was time to reveal the answer.

Chen Yanguang didn't know where he ran, leaving Zhang Yang alone at the back of the crowd, waiting for the person in charge to announce the price.

As the half-hour countdown on the screen ended, the price of the military weapon also popped up - 20 million Indonesian rupiah.

Converted into RMB, it is 9200 yuan.

"Huh~"

Many people at the scene made sounds of regret.

Zhang Yang's bid was not bad, not much worse, and there was still hope.

Although the items are not expensive, Zhang Yang is still somewhat looking forward to it. This is an unavoidable mentality when participating in such an event.

"Now, I announce that the closest price is 20 million Indonesian rupiah!"

“Where is the bidder of 20 million rupiah?”

Everyone turned their heads and looked for the lucky stranger in the crowd.

The quote actually hit the mark, not a penny more, not a penny less. Everyone wanted to see who it was.

"Me, me, me."

A very familiar voice came from behind the crowd.

Chen Yanguang walked forward with his number plate held high, and the crowd moved aside as if welcoming a celebrity. When he finished registering, everyone applauded to see him off.

It was in the limelight for a while.

The question is, when did he make the offer?

Zhang Yang was pretty sure he had never seen Chen Yanguang go up and write the price.

His number plate is still displayed here.

Zhang Yang's eyes followed Chen Yanguang's figure as he walked out. At the corner outside the crowd, there were two white turbans, a man and a woman. They looked like a father and daughter, greeting him.

Oh, it turned out that he was using someone else's Middle Eastern guy's number plate to get the limelight.

The father and daughter and Chen Yanguang also saw Zhang Yang and pointed at him.

Soon, Chen Yanguang came over with a smile and pulled Zhang Yang over to chat.

Chen Yanguang told Zhang Yang while walking:

"Abdullah, a Saudi veteran, is a serious Saudi prince. He is really rich. The luxuries his daughter wears are more expensive than those used by Huihui."

"I can only say that it's a good thing that Huihui didn't come this time. Otherwise, if she had copied other princess's clothes, my brother's wallet would have suffered again."

Zhang Yang is not very interested in the oil tycoons in the Middle East.

This group of white turbans don't like to buy Chinese antiques, which means they don't support Zhang Yang's career.

I have nothing to say to people who don’t support my plans to make a fortune.

The valuable items they bought from the Saudi royal family were either famous paintings by European masters or rare jewelry.

Traditional Chinese antiques, whether they are calligraphy, painting or porcelain, are too difficult for them to understand.

"Why do they want me to go there?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Basha'il, that's the princess. Her father boasted in front of her about how knowledgeable you were. As a result, they said they wanted to invite you to their home in Indonesia."

"They invited me to be their guest? Don't, I don't understand the language."

"Who said that? You will know it once you have met the princess in person."

Chen Yanguang remained silent for half a minute.

As a result, this woman named Bashar Abdul really calmed Zhang Yang down when she spoke.

Standard Mandarin, even with a bit of Yanjing accent, which is called Dier Daoer.

"Are you an international student?" Zhang Yang asked.

"I'm not an international student, but my Chinese teacher is a professor from Yanjing Language University. I graduated from Princess Saudi Noura University in Riyadh in 2022..." "Then your Chinese is really top-notch." Zhang Yang admired sincerely.

The pronunciation of some words is even more standard than that of Chen Yanguang, and it has the beauty of a high school student reading aloud.

"Thank you!" Basha'il smiled happily, "You two are the first pure-blooded Chinese people I have met except for the Chinese teacher. I am honored to be recognized by you."

"It's pure blood, thank you." Zhang Yang corrected.

Anyway, the two father and daughter just wanted to invite Zhang Yang and Chen Yanguang to their home.

Middle East Lao Deng also said that he would like to invite Zhang Yang to see his collection.

Of course Zhang Yang’s attitude is to refuse. Luxury cars, yachts and jewelry are really nothing to look at, right?

But for some reason, Boss Li came over smelling the smell.

He greeted the father and daughter with a flattering smile on his face.

"Mr. Li, you came just in time. Help me persuade Mr. Zhang and Mr. Chen and tell them that we really just want to invite them to be our guests and have no other intentions."

"Okay, okay, I'll take care of this."

Boss Li took over the task and pulled Zhang Yang's sleeves.

"Mr. Zhang, can we take a step to talk?"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yang followed him to the side.

"Mr. Zhang, I know you bought a return ticket for tomorrow, but just do me a favor and change your ticket. How about visiting the prince's house tomorrow?"

"The air ticket is not the problem, the problem is that I really have no interest." Zhang Yang told Boss Li in a low voice, "The people there have too many rules, and they are tighter than at home. What are you doing there for?"

"Tell me earlier, Mr. Zhang, if you want to relax, you can choose whatever you want in Southeast Asia after you go to his house, and I'll pay for it!"

"So cruel? Boss Li, didn't you say you're not interested in money? Why, you're always pretty and want to be your consort?" Zhang Yang asked teasingly.

"I would like to, but I am a commoner and don't have the qualifications." Boss Li smiled, "Mr. Zhang, to be honest, this old prince has just started collecting porcelain and is a very potential buyer."

"I put a lot of effort into getting him interested. Why did the final price of the Elephant Head Army Holder just now happen to be 200 million dong? Because we set the price based on the quotation he wrote."

In order to convince Zhang Yang, Boss Li even revealed the inside story.

Everything he does is for one purpose - to drive up prices.

As long as someone in the Saudi royal family starts collecting porcelain, given the evil tendency of comparison within their family, it is estimated that the price of fine porcelain will soon start to rise.

European antique dealers will rush to buy goods.

Who makes this family the richest family in the world?

Aveiro, who is at the end of his career, can earn 200 million U.S. dollars. When it comes to driving up prices, the Rothschild family has to wait a little longer.

When Boss Li said this, the situation immediately improved.

He is for all collectors of Chinese antiques!

But Zhang Yang doesn't follow his example. In terms of painting, the overseas Chinese are still a bit weak.

He just rubbed his thumb and index finger at Boss Li.

The Chinese should all understand this meaning - it requires meaning.

The amount of money is not important, the main thing is sincerity.

"Okay." Boss Li gritted his teeth and nodded, "This time, as long as it's something traded with Middle Eastern guys, no matter how high or low it is, I'll give you 20% of the profit. How about that?"

"It's grand and a pleasure to work with!" Zhang Yang said with a smile.

……

Of course, Zhang Yang didn't get the 20% for nothing.

For the rest of the day of the exhibition, he basically acted as the old prince and princess's personal commentator.

Along the way, they tried their best to get the two sponsors interested in the exhibits.

At the same time, we should be friendly with Boss Li and try our best to take out food.

The more they buy, the more expensive they are, and the more Zhang Yang earns.

It’s similar to antique store sales.

And there are more important tasks tomorrow.

"Mr. Zhang, what is a tiger?"

Bashayel asked, pointing to a brown-glazed porcelain chamber pot from Yue kiln during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

"Huzi is...a tiger-like decoration. You know, the ancient Chinese people had a kind of totem worship of tigers."

"Look at the pattern on it. Does it look very much like a real tiger?"

"After filling it with liquid, it can be used to water flowers or placed in the bedroom as a decoration."

The old prince couldn't understand these complicated Chinese words, so he needed to be translated into their local language by Bashay in order to understand the mystery of this tiger's child.

After listening to the translation, the old prince nodded happily:

"I like tigers. I have two tigers at home."

"Buy this piece of tiger porcelain!"

When the father and daughter were communicating with Boss Li about the purchase, Chen Yanguang pulled Zhang Yang and asked him in a low voice:

"Is it appropriate to deceive others like this?"

"Isn't it a scam for Boss Li to sell him five thousand dollars for a tiger?"

"Is it only five thousand dollars?" Zhang Yang didn't notice the price before, and only saw the price after Chen Yanguang reminded him.

He said with regret, "It's over, let this white turban pick up the leak."

"Did you miss it? Unbelievable." Chen Yanguang looked at Zhang Yang in shock, "When we first came here to shop, you said this thing is worth up to 4,000 yuan, or RMB!"

"Can other people's money be the same as our money?" Zhang Yang asked confidently, "Does your family's money also come out of the ground?"

"I..." Chen Yanguang wanted to retort, but he was a little stuck for words and finally said, "Okay, okay, then who will be responsible for the increase in global oil prices caused by your play like this?"

"It's a mold." Zhang Yang curled his lips and responded.

Before the two of them finished chatting, the old prince became interested in the pair of porcelain next to Hu Zi.

He stood in front of the display window, looking at the porcelain inside, and made a "tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk" sound.

It was obvious that he liked it very much.

Boss Li quietly raised his eyebrows at Zhang Yang, indicating that it was his turn to take action.

The latter understood and hurriedly stepped forward and introduced him proactively:

"This is a pair of barns with green and white glaze from the Song Dynasty."

"Is it the kind I understand, a warehouse for grain?" Basha'il asked.

"Our barns in China are not like barns on foreign farms. They are not used to hold millet. They are too small."

After listening to Bashar's translation, the old prince became curious and asked, "Then what are they used for?"

"The person who holds the ashes." Chen Yanguang replied in a voice that only Zhang Yang could hear.

"It can be filled with candies, snacks or some jade and jewelry." Zhang Yang gave Chen Yanguang an elbow and replied with a smile, "In China, this kind of thing is usually a gift for couples when they get married."

"You should have noticed that the shapes of the two barns are different. One has a pointed top and is for the husband; the other has an eaves shape and is for the wife."

Bashar's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he said excitedly: "Dad, then I want to buy this pair for you and your mother!"

Zhang Yang felt something was wrong after hearing this.

But then I thought about it, now is the 21st century, and feudal superstition is not advisable.

This pair of green and white glazed barns is indeed suitable as a gift.

And seeing that it’s in such good condition, selling for $20 is really a bargain!

(End of this chapter)