Emperor Ming's grandson

Chapter 42 Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and Corn Seeds
In a restaurant near the campus, Zhu Xiongying was looking up information on his mobile phone.

He basically knew nothing about antique trading before, but after some hard work, he gained a lot of knowledge.

Under the current regulations, antiques after the Ming Dynasty can basically circulate freely. Although antiques before the Ming Dynasty are subject to restrictions, they are not completely prohibited from buying and selling. However, their origin must be made clear at the auction, such as overseas. If the source can be clearly identified, it can be put up for auction if it is returned or passed down in the family. In other words, if the source cannot be proven, it will be recommended for collection. But if it is obviously illegally obtained, such as being obtained from a bucket, then you have to go in and step on it. sewing machine.

Zhu Xiongying breathed a sigh of relief. These paintings and calligraphy did not have seals or inscriptions after the early Ming Dynasty, so they were destined to be regarded as high imitations from the early Ming Dynasty. Ming Dynasty paintings were not prohibited from being auctioned, so it was convenient for him to sell them. .

As for the problem of calligraphy and painting existing for a long time, Zhu Xiongying has also understood it. At present, for calligraphy and painting antiques, because each painting is usually pasted several times or even more than a dozen times in the process of circulation, technical means cannot control the time spent in the process of being passed down. The carbon in the painting can be completely distinguished from the carbon in the original painting. In addition, part of it is destined to be damaged if sent for inspection. Therefore, in actual operation, carbon 14 is not used for dating of calligraphy and painting.

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages. These factors, such as the paintings after the Ming Dynasty and the lack of carbon 14 dating, not only facilitated Zhu Xiongying's sale, but also caused the sale price to be certainly not as high as he expected.

The current top price for a calligraphy work was set four years ago in 2010, when Wang Xizhi's "Peace Tie" was auctioned at an auction. This rare treasure was sold for a whopping 3.08 million, breaking the record. The highest transaction record for calligraphy works.

Therefore, Zhu Xiongying felt that even if the "Quick Snow and Clear Tie" in his hand came out and was sold as a replica of a painter from the early Ming Dynasty, it would definitely not be more than this price, and it might be much lower than this price.

But these are actually not problems. The most embarrassing problem is that there are thresholds for participating in the auction.

Zhu Xiongying roughly checked and found out that all large auction houses that can be named and have guaranteed security basically have a deposit/commission system, that is, a deposit of 10%-20% of the transaction price of the auction items is collected in advance. If If the auction item is not sold, the auction house will not charge any commission fees and will return the deposit to the original route. If the auction is successful, the deposit will be directly deducted as a commission, and the corresponding service fees will be deducted. It is the valuation fee, catalog fee, insurance premium, transportation fee, etc. Finally, after deducting the tax, the remaining money will go to the seller. Zhu Xiongying checked it. If it is calculated according to personal income tax, it seems that next year I still have to pay a huge amount of personal tax.

Zhu Xiongying, on the other hand, did not directly send "Quick Snow and Clear Tie" to the auction for the deposit required.

Zhu Xiongying thought to himself: "It seems that we can only sell some less valuable paintings first."

"What are you looking at? So serious."

Mu Jinyue's words interrupted Zhu Xiongying's thoughts. This time, he invited the other party to dinner to thank him for helping deliver the radio station last time. After all, the simple meals in the cafe were too sloppy.

Moreover, the last confession and hug under the street lamp also brought about a substantial breakthrough in the relationship between the two. Although Mu Jinyue seemed to be worried and did not tell Zhu Xiongying her answer, the relationship between the two has improved. The identity that was previously limited to "high school classmates" is different.

Mu Jinyue sat opposite him carrying a delicate small bag. Her dress was soft off-white, and she wore a thin belt around her waist to outline her waistline.

Zhu Xiongying put away his phone and looked at her and said, "It's nothing, I'm just looking at some paintings."

Mu Jinyue took off her bag and asked, "What painting? Landscape painting?"

"more or less."

"If you are interested, there is an auction next week that you can go to together. I have the tickets here, which were issued by my company."

Mu Jinyue took out two admission tickets, or invitations to be precise, from her bag and handed them to Zhu Xiongying. The faint fragrance of her body wafted up, making Zhu Xiongying feel relaxed and happy.

Zhu Xiongying was very moved when he looked at the invitation letter that did not include his personal name but in the name of his company, but he still said truthfully: "I really want to see something, but I want to take pictures when I go in."

"You don't have to take pictures of anything, just think of it as going out to play."

Generally speaking, there must be a threshold for entering an auction. These thresholds are not even measured in terms of "money", so few people will go in and come out without taking any photos, but Mu Jin Except for months.

If there is this opportunity, it would be a pity to miss it.

Moreover, strictly speaking, this was a date invitation sent by Mu Jinyue to him.

Zhu Xiongying nodded and asked: "Will there be a professional appraiser to evaluate the auction?"

"There must be some." Mu Jinyue paused, "If you have any family heirlooms that you want to auction, such as the Hongwu treasure banknotes from last time, you can take them for valuation and then put them up for auction. We will auction them when the time comes. Just make it clear on the slip that it's a person." "Okay, then let's go take a look together."

Zhu Xiongying made up his mind to sell the remaining Hongwu treasure notes first, and then collect enough deposits to auction some "ordinary calligraphy and paintings", and auction these calligraphy and paintings first.

In this case, whether you use the money to buy something immediately or pay a deposit for the two treasures at auction in the future, it is basically enough.

After finishing their meal, the two people, who were still "more than friends but not yet lovers," strolled down the street back to the university campus.

As night falls, the lanterns are turned on, and the shops on both sides of the street light up. Various light sources complement each other with the twinkling stars in the night sky.

If you don't take into account the big bag of aged seeds that Zhu Xiongying was holding in his hand just after he entered and came out of the farm seed shop on the roadside, it would still be quite romantic.

To be honest, the owner of the agricultural seed store didn't know why Zhu Xiongying bought expired seeds of potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes. Corn seeds were okay, but potatoes and sweet potato seeds, let alone expired, couldn't be sold. There were only a few people who bought them if they were normal and not expired. purchase.

This is because there are two ways of propagating potatoes, one is seed propagation, and the other is tuber propagation. Potato seeds are very small, only one-sixth of the size of sesame seeds, but most farmers do not like to use seeds to grow potatoes. It is propagated by tubers, and the potato flowers are pinched off so that the tubers can grow larger. The same is true for sweet potatoes.

However, since Zhu Xiongying is willing to pay for it, then there is no reason why the owner of the agricultural seed shop should not sell it. And Zhu Xiongying bought a bag full of expired seeds filled with a bunch of small plastic bags, adding up to a total of Only ten dollars was given.

And these seeds, which have been optimized for countless generations of reproduction and have eliminated crop toxicity, are worth a thousand dollars to the people of the Ming Dynasty.

However, considering that although the density of the seeds is not high, they have not expired for a long time, so although Zhu Xiongying thinks that there is a high probability that he can send it, whether it will succeed in the end, he still has to give it a try.

Arriving downstairs in the dormitory, Mu Jinyue came back to her senses and looked at Zhu Xiongying with a trace of hesitation in her eyes.

She seemed to have something to say, but didn't know how to say it.

Mu Jinyue bit her lip and said softly: "I actually already have the answer to what you asked me last time."

Before she finished speaking, a gust of breeze blew by, gently lifting her hair, which looked even more beautiful and charming under the street lights on campus, causing Zhu Xiongying to feel an inexplicable throbbing in her heart.

He looked at her, waiting for what would happen next.

However, at this moment, Zhu Xiongying's cell phone suddenly began to vibrate rapidly.

Zhu Xiongying turned on his phone and saw that the monitoring software had started to flash red.

——The mysterious vortex opens for the sixth time.

The interval between the sixth opening and the fifth opening is not long, unlike the gap between the fifth opening and the fourth opening, which is more than a month. Zhu Xiongying hasn't figured out the rules here yet, but There was no doubt that he had to act immediately, otherwise it would be too late.

However, taking a taxi from the university to the pier in the next city would take at least 40 minutes. Including the ferry and the time to get to the forest, the total time would take at least an hour. This means that in the Ming Dynasty, it may take a full six months. An hour. And the time for the fourth activation was less than an hour on his side, so even if Zhu Xiongying rushed over at full speed, it would be difficult to say whether the other party would be there when he arrived, and whether he would have time to talk or deliver things.

But Zhu Xiongying still decided to rush back. He looked at Mu Jinyue and said.

"Jinyue, I still have some things to deal with. You should go back to the dormitory first. Then we will go to the auction together. You will tell me then."

Mu Jinyue grasped the corners of the bag with her slender fingers, nodded and said, "Okay, then go ahead and do your work first."

After seeing off Mu Jinyue, Zhu Xiongying ran out of the campus, took a taxi and went straight to the dock in the next city.

(End of this chapter)