Boss Chen said with a smile: "If this matter can be done well, it will be a great merit." ”

Meng Zitao smiled and waved his hand: "What a great merit, it's just a mess of food, if I can't make money, I won't do it, you say yes." ”

Xiao Zhao said with a smile: "As the old saying goes, the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit, and the hustle and bustle of the world is for profit, and we are not saints, so it is understandable to make some money." ”

"That's right. Meng Zitao said: "It's just, I think so, but it's not easy to do, especially the source of goods, which is a thing that makes me very distressed." ”

Boss Chen said: "This source of goods, it's not difficult to say. ”

Meng Zitao pretended to be in good spirits, and hurriedly said, "I still have to ask Boss Chen for advice." ”

"We'll talk about that later. ”

Boss Chen sold the guanzi: "Mr. Jiang, I think you should have just been in this industry for a short time, can you be busy?"

Of course, Meng Zitao understood the meaning of his words in his heart, but he said, "A person can't be busy, but when the time comes, just ask the family for someone to help." ”

Boss Chen laughed: "Hehe, Mr. Jiang, the business of antiques is not so easy, the nature of this industry determines that half of it depends on technology, the other half depends on capital, and even the technical factor is larger." ”

Meng Zitao nodded: "I understand what you said, what do you mean?"

Boss Chen said bluntly: "I mean, do you need a partner?"

Meng Zitao said "oh": "Partner, I really have some concerns about this. ”

"I wonder what concerns Mr. Jiang has?" asked Boss Chen.

Meng Zitao said: "This partnership is the most troublesome, and how many friendships between friends have been ruined because of the partnership, so I am a little resistant to this aspect." ”

Boss Chen took a sip of tea, which made him not so eager, and after half a sound, he spoke: "Mr. Jiang, I also said just now that antique trading has its particularity, and I believe that Mr. Jiang's appraisal level should be fine, but even if he is an old-timer who has been playing for decades, he doesn't dare to say that he will not be mistaken, and it is always good to have someone to help check it." Moreover, the partnership can also alleviate the financial pressure, even if there is a loss, there are people to share. ”

"In addition, the most important one is the source of porcelain I just mentioned, the reason why it is difficult to say is precisely because the other party has a requirement for shareholding. ”

Meng Zitao frowned when he heard this: "Why did you make this request? Is there a problem with the source of the goods?"

Boss Chen said: "This is required by the owner of the goods, as for the source there must be no problem, of course, this refers to the United States, I dare not make a guarantee in China." ”

Meng Zitao lowered his head, looked at the green tea leaves in the teacup in front of him, smelled the faint fragrance emanating from it, the slight aroma in the air, and pretended to be contemplative, in fact, he was very happy in his heart, he didn't expect Boss Chen to take the initiative to mention this matter, which was undoubtedly more convenient for his carving, the reason why he didn't directly agree at this moment was to not want Boss Chen to feel that his promise was too simple.

After a while, Meng Zitao asked, "If I agree to cooperate with him, will the supply be stable?"

Boss Chen smiled: "There are many uncertainties in this industry, which cannot be guaranteed, but he tries his best to ensure the stability of the supply of goods, after all, this is also related to the share he can earn." And I can assure you that it's much more stable than others. ”

"That's a lot of money, and I want to see what he's capable of. Meng Zitao said.

"Of course. ”

Boss Chen had an indifferent smile on his face, and then said, "But correspondingly, Mr. Jiang, shouldn't you also show your strength?"

"That's as it should be. ”

Meng Zitao handed over a business card, which said that he was the owner of an auction company, this auction company, of course, was not Meng Zitao's own, but the identity that the department took out in order to cooperate with his investigation, and this company existed, and its strength was also very strong.

Boss Chen took the business card, looked at it for a while, he looked up at Meng Zitao, "Mr. Jiang, I don't know how strong your auction company is in China, I don't seem to have heard of it." Of course, the strength is secondary, even if it is weaker, we can operate together, but it will take a certain amount of time and money. ”

Meng Zitao said: "My auction company is really not accessible to ordinary people, and the company's customers need a certain threshold to do it, just like the private club implements a membership system, which you can find out as long as you have a certain relationship." ”

"Well, it seems that Mr. Jiang is quite open in China. Boss Chen was very happy to learn of Meng Zitao's identity, Meng Zitao's high status would definitely help their plan, but it was not good if it was too high, because it was easy to attract the attention of others.

Meng Zitao smiled faintly: "It's nothing, mainly at home." Okay, let's talk about cooperation, since it's cooperation, then we have to open a new company, and the goods will be auctioned in the name of this company, and then the profits will be shared, that's what it means, right?"

Boss Chen nodded and said, "Yes, you must be responsible for transporting the goods to China, and you must buy the goods first." ”

Meng Zitao laughed: "You guys have done a good job, I want to do it." ”

"The point is that you don't have a supply, and he can provide you with a large amount of fine porcelain for the time being. Boss Chen smiled.

Meng Zitao thought for a while: "I have to bear the risk, even if there is a source of goods, I will suffer a loss, and with my status in China, why should I make this money?"

"It's your problem. Boss Chen said on the ground, as if he didn't care about this business.

At this time, Xiao Zhao said: "This is a big business, it can't be decided in a while, let's think about it first." ”

"Yes, it's almost the Spring Festival now, so it's okay to put it in advance and discuss it after the year. Boss Chen nodded in agreement.

"That's fine, but before I do that, I'll have to take a look at the man's strength. Meng Zitao said.

Boss Chen smiled on his face: "You can rest assured, the day after tomorrow, I will take you to see him, and then you will know that you will not lose money doing business with him." ”

"Well, I hope so. ”

Meng Zitao stretched out his hand and shook it with the other party, both of them had smiles on their faces, and they both had their own thoughts in their hearts.

Next, Meng Zitao swiped his card to pay, although there was a problem with one of the porcelain, but in the end, he didn't lose much.

Before leaving, Meng Zitao said: "If I go the day after tomorrow, I will bring someone with me, it should be okay, right?"

Boss Chen asked, "Who is it?"

"My bodyguard. Meng Zitao said.

Boss Chen was not surprised: "It's no problem, but you don't have to worry about safety." ”

"Don't get me wrong, the main thing is that my bodyguard has something to do and got on the next plane. Meng Zitao explained a sentence and then said goodbye and left.

After Meng Zitao left, Boss Chen picked up Meng Zitao's business card and looked at it, and then said to Xiao Zhao, "How did you meet him?"

Xiao Zhao told the situation of meeting Meng Zitao before: "There should be no problem with this person." ”

Boss Chen said: "It seems that there is no problem, but what should be investigated is still to be investigated, don't go wrong because of negligence." Besides, it's up to you to talk about the boss. ”

"Okay. ”

……

On the other side, Meng Zitao was in a very good mood, he didn't expect to take a key step so soon, it seems that finding the mastermind behind the scenes is just around the corner.

Because it was still early, Meng Zitao planned to visit the antique store to see the difference between it and San Francisco.

New York is a city of culture and art, and there is a saying here, "In New York, a brick falls from the sky, either to a banker or to an artist." "From the '50s, art flourished in New York. Over the past 50 years, even in times of recession, artists from all over the United States and around the world have been drawn to the city, making it a veritable art capital of the world.

People of all colors from all over the world come here to follow their artistic path, so there is also a business related to art, and of course, the antiques business is an old business.

Most of the antique businessmen in New York are Jews and Chinese, and the location of antique shops pays attention to old traditions, is more concentrated, opened in old areas, not easy to relocate, and often passes down to several generations, so it is possible to find the original old store with an old invoice from decades ago.

Meng Zitao did some homework before coming to New York, for example, Shu Ze, who is more familiar with New York, asked some famous old shops, as for Shu Huijie, although she is more familiar with New York than Shu Ze, it is a little difficult for her to introduce reliable antique stores.

Meng Zitao used his mobile phone to check where he was now, and it happened that an antique shop called Qingyuzhai was relatively close.

Qing Yuzhai, as you can know from the name, this shop is mainly jade, and Shu Ze told him that the things in this store are relatively good, but there is a problem, the things are relatively expensive, and the price is quite outrageous.

For example, the last time Shu Ze went to that store, he saw a piece of jade pendant from the Ming Dynasty, the carving is more exquisite, he liked it very much, so he asked the price, but he didn't expect the store to offer 200,000 yuan, and it was still US dollars, and such a jade pendant can be bought at a price of less than 200,000 RMB in China.

Of course, this is just an extreme example, maybe the store's judgment is wrong, and there are some cheap and beautiful things in it, but it takes an eye to find and a little luck.

Walking into the antique shop, first of all, the decoration here is indeed closer to the "upper floor" style, which will make people feel that the things here are not ordinary.

Secondly, there are very few people in the store, only a foreigner in his sixties and seventies, and a young man in his thirties admiring the products in the store.

In addition, there was only a young man in his twenties sitting behind the counter in the store, and when he saw Meng Zitao coming in, he just glanced at it and went back to his own business.

Meng Zitao looked at the jade on the counter and in the glass kitchen cabinet to himself, not to mention, they are indeed all high-quality jade, but the price marked on it also makes Meng Zitao staggered.

Meng Zitao shook his head secretly, and at this time, the foreign old man came to his side and asked, "Sir, are you from Huaxia?"

"Yes. Meng Zitao politely asked, "What is the matter?"

The old man said, "Oh, have you heard of the Blood Jade?"

"I've heard of it. ”

"Do you know how the blood jade is formed? Is it really made of corpse blood?"

Meng Zitao smiled slightly: "There is actually no recognized answer to this matter, some say that the formation of blood jade is related to the corpse, when a person is buried, as a jade jade, is forcibly stuffed into the population, if a person just died, the jade swallowed in one breath is stuffed in, it will fall into the throat with the gas, into the dense blood vessels, for a long time, the dead blood is stained, and the blood will go straight to the heart of the jade, and it will form a gorgeous blood jade." ”

But there are many people who oppose this statement, saying that the blood will coagulate and oxidize, so it will not enter the jade. ”

"yes, I don't think it's likely. ”

The old man nodded again and again, "Is there any other explanation?"

Meng Zitao said: "There is also a fake way to make blood jade, these people use the color of the beautiful jade to make ancient artifacts, implant in the legs of live sheep, sew with thread, take out after a few years, will show blood texture on the jade, just like the heirloom blood jade." In addition, there are dog jade and so on, the same reason, the difference is to kill the dog, and it will take longer. ”

When the old man heard this, he was shocked: "Oh my God, how can it be so cruel, that piece of jade over there can't be the sheep jade or dog jade you said?!"

Meng Zitao walked in the direction pointed by the old man and found that there was indeed a blood-red jade item in the counter.

This is a jade pendant, the vessel is flattened, using relief, openwork techniques to ponder the dragon in the shape of "S". The dragon's head has long apricot eyes, the lips and jaw are axe-shaped, and the tail is decorated with moire patterns. A phoenix is carved under the dragon's body, and the tail is gradually widened. The dragon body is carved in relief with moire, two-sided work, quite exquisite.

Through the observation of the jade pendant carver, Mencius can confirm that it should be a jade made during the Han Dynasty, and more importantly, this jade pendant is not a blood jade, but made of plateau blood jade.

On the snowy plateau, there is a kind of red jade, called the song of Gongjuema, commonly known as the plateau blood jade, because of its red color and name.

There are very few records of this kind of jade, and in the historical materials, only in the Tubo era, Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng when the gift list has its record and introduction, so it is quite rare, let alone handed down to the present.

Legend has it that Gong Juema is the goddess of Dangjak Yong Lake, she lives in the heart of Dang Jak Yong Lake in a boxy emerald palace, the four walls of the palace have different colors, red is the singing Gong Juema, that is, the meaning of the goddess of Dangjak Yong.

Meng Zitao was quite shocked in his heart, because he didn't expect to see this kind of jade here, which was only known by its name and not seen, and it was also a jade from the Han Dynasty, which could be completely passed down to the present, which was undoubtedly even more rare.

In addition, looking at the price of the jade pendant, you can know that the shopkeeper should not be sure what kind of jade it is, so the price is very low, only a few hundred dollars.

Meng Zitao still had something to hesitate, he must have taken it down directly, but before he could speak, a middle-aged man walked in, and then he asked the young man: "Less, why is my jasper cow missing?"

The young man was stunned, looked at the glass cabinet where the cow was placed, and sure enough, it was gone, and his face suddenly turned pale: "I...... I don't know what's going on, but I saw it just now. ”

"What's the matter with you, you can't even look at a store!"

The shopkeeper was furious, pointed at the guy and scolded angrily: "Say, a few people have been to the store just now." ”

"In addition to them, two others are gone. ”

The young man pointed to Mencius and said, "Ah, by the way, that old man also stood in front of the cabinet for a long time. ”

The old man knew some Chinese, and the shopkeeper could guess something just now, and when he saw the young man pointing at him, his brows furrowed, but he still asked Meng Zitao first: "Is this person suspecting me of stealing?"

"He said you stood in front of the glass case for a while. Meng Zitao replied truthfully,

"Oh my God, you're slandering!" the old man pointed at the man, also looking very angry.

"Didn't you just stand in front of the cabinet and look at it for a while?" asked the young man rhetorically.

The old man's face turned red with anger: "Yes, I did appreciate it there for a while, but this is not a reason for you to slander me for stealing things, I want to sue you for slander!"

The young man retorted: "You didn't steal it, why are you so excited, it's clearly a sign of a thief's weak heart, I want to search your body!"

"I'm angry, I'm angry, you slander me, and you have to ......"

Speaking of this, the old man's face suddenly felt a little wrong, and Meng Zitao knew at a glance that this was a precursor to a heart attack, and he didn't care about anything else, so he took measures directly, and clicked on the old man's acupuncture points, so that his emotions calmed down first, and then took massage and other techniques for treatment.

"Sir, please don't get excited, or a heart attack will kill you!" Meng Zitao said.

The old man nodded slightly: "Young man, thank you." ”

"You're welcome. ”

Meng Zitao immediately glared at the shopkeeper and his men: "Won't you call the police and investigate the surveillance video?

The shopkeeper hurriedly came up and apologized: "I'm really sorry, I'm also a little panicked, I'll go to the police now." ”

Meng Zitao sneered in his heart, the shopkeeper obviously deliberately did not stop it just now, and the reason was nothing more than a temptation or something.

After all, Meng Zitao is not an ordinary person, under his treatment, the old man's condition has improved greatly, and after a while, he can sit up again.

"Sir, do you want to take you to the hospital?" Meng Zitao asked.

The old man waved his hand: "No need, I feel better now, I didn't expect your medical skills to be so powerful." ”

"Thanks for the compliment. ”

Meng Zitao smiled: "If you feel uncomfortable in anything, please tell me, and I think you have a disease, it is best to go to the hospital for a check-up, this disease cannot be delayed." ”

The old man smiled and said, "Thank you for your advice, I will make an appointment with my doctor." ”

In the United States, medical treatment, laboratory examinations, and inpatient surgeries must be made in advance, although this saves the patient's time and ensures the order of the treatment, but it is troublesome to see a doctor in a hurry, and the old man has now been greatly improved after Meng Zitao's treatment, and there will be no problems for the time being.

Everyone waited for a while, and the police came, and the next thing was to understand the situation, retrieve the video, etc., and worked for a while to rule out the suspicion of the old man and Meng Zitao.

When the police investigated, the shopkeeper came over to apologize to the two and said that they could buy the jade in the store at a discounted price.

The old man was very angry at the attitude of the shopkeeper and his buddies, and although he forgave them, he didn't want this way of apologizing, and Meng Zitao had no such scruples and bought the piece of plateau blood jade pendant.

Walking out of the antique shop, in order to thank Meng Zitao for saving his life, the old man tried his best to invite Meng Zitao to his house as a guest.

The old man's home is not far away, it is a villa that has been around for decades, and there is no one else in the house except him and his wife, because he is lonely and comes into contact with jade, and then he will often go to the antique store to see if there is any jade he likes, and if the price is right, he will buy it.

Originally, the old man basically wouldn't go to Qingyuzhai, because the jade there was too expensive, and he happened to walk by today, so he went in to take a look, but he didn't expect to encounter this kind of thing.

When the old lady heard that Meng Zitao begged her husband, she was very enthusiastic: "Young man, do you want ice water or coffee?"

The old man's name was Bert, and he said, "The Chinese don't drink ice water, you go and boil a pot of boiling water, and I'll make him tea." ”

Meng Zitao waved his hand, indicating that he was not polite: "I'll just drink ice water." ”

Bert said, "Really, I've heard that your stomachs aren't used to drinking ice water. ”

Meng Zitao said, "That also varies from person to person, but I wonder why you like to drink ice water." ”

Bert laughed and told him what he had learned.

Americans' habit of drinking ice water, including adding ice to drinks, is not a long-standing tradition. More than 200 years ago, there was no artificial refrigeration equipment, and the ability of humans to change the temperature of the room was still very weak, so basically no one added ice to drinks in the winter.

The use of ice is basically only among the willful rich. They have their own ice house, which they take from the frozen lake in winter and put it in their own ice house, which can be used to make ice cream, take cold showers, and put it in drinks when the weather gets hot in the spring of the following year.

At that time, ice was a real luxury in late spring and early summer, because firstly, the climate had to allow the lake to freeze completely in winter, and secondly, in order to preserve ice without artificial refrigeration until the weather became hot, it was necessary to have a well-designed ice house, which was also unique to wealthy families.

So until the first years of the 19th century, Americans were accustomed to adding ice to their drinks, that is, a small group of people living in the north, and it was not a popular habit throughout the country. Ice, at that time, was a worthless solid water in the winter, and in the late spring, when the weather was hot, it was a luxury that only the wealthy families of the north could enjoy.

Bert said: "After this, there was a person who invented ice-making equipment and cultivated people's habit of ice, as for why everyone gets used to it, I think it has something to do with the fact that the use of ice in summer is the patent of rich people, and everyone aspires to be rich themselves, do you say?"