Chapter 257 The business is booming, and there is no money
"Okay! I won't say much else!
This is the peace sign I carved with my own hands. It’s a small gadget. You can play with it!” After Zhang Junping finished his lecture, he took out four jade pendants and gave them to the four people as meeting gifts.
These four peace cards are the regular 461 jade cards.
461 refers to 4cm wide, 6cm high and 1cm thick. This is the most common size of jade tablets and is also divided according to the golden ratio.
In addition, there are 58 cards and random cards.
461 is the most beautiful jade card and the most precious jade card.
Jade will inevitably have cracks, but the perfect 461 jade plaque is no less valuable than mutton-fat jade.
The safety sign carved by Zhang Junping has a relief on one side, with the words "safe and sound" engraved on it, and on the other side is a poem and painting. The painting is also a relief, showing a man in a raincoat walking forward in the wind and rain, and beside him
There is a saying: You can live your whole life under the mist and rain.
Under the four big characters "Peace and Sound", there are two small characters, Li Wenjuan's is Xian Yue, Xia Guoxiang's is Xian Yun, and the Huaizhi brothers' are Xian Jin and Xian Yu respectively.
These two little characters are the characters Zhang Junping gave them. Li Wenjuan’s character is taken from Chanjuan, which means thousands of miles apart. Chanjuan refers to the moon, and Xian is the character Zhang Junping chose from his own family. The character below him is Xiansheng.
Inherit the ancestral merits.
Zhang Junping was too lazy to think about his generation, so he simply took out the virtuous characters of his next generation.
The combination is quite good, except for Zhou Mingzhi, because he considered it to be consistent with the two brothers' Huai Zhi, so he chose the word Jin Yu.
As a result, Zhou Mingzhi's nickname became Xianyu.
Yu is right, but the wrong thing is that when the two words are combined, it is easy to be confused with salted fish.
However, Zhang Junping was too lazy to change again, hoping that this young apprentice would not really become a salty fish in the future.
After the gifts were given, the apprenticeship ceremony was over. After all, this was a new era and it was the late 1970s, so it was not suitable for a large-scale apprenticeship ceremony.
At noon, Zhang Junping entertained guests at Zhiweizhai.
Zhiweizhai is the restaurant opened by Zhang Junping outside Guang'anmen.
The plaque of the restaurant was naturally inscribed and carved by Zhang Junping himself.
It is better to see the skill than to write the words and let the craftsmen carve them.
"This restaurant is my family's property, and today you are the first guests of the restaurant." Zhang Junping said to everyone with a smile.
Li Wenjuan and Xia Guoxiang's parents were already stunned. Today's apprenticeship gave them too much shock.
First there was a courtyard with three entrances, and then there was such a big restaurant.
What kind of divine master has my daughter/son worshiped?
Originally, Li Wenjuan and Xia Guoxiang's parents were somewhat resistant to becoming apprentices. After all, it was a new era, and they were still following the old society's ways, and they felt a little disgusted.
However, I couldn't bear my daughter/son's plea, so I had to agree.
Now, they are somewhat lucky that their daughter/son is really good at finding such a powerful master.
Compared to them, Uncle Liu was even more shocked, with mixed feelings in his heart. Who would have thought that a young man who was usually very kind to everyone and smiled all day long could actually build such a big industry quietly.
Mrs. Zhou and Tian Shumei were relatively calm. After all, they had known Zhang Junping's abilities for a long time.
People who can make tens of thousands of dollars with just a casual explanation, will their wealth be small?
"Tong Fei, are you the one who mentioned the calligraphy on this plaque? It's very good. It shows your skill. Each stroke is penetrating into the wood. The calligraphy is well written and the carving was done by a famous artist." Standing outside the restaurant, Wu Xinping looked at the plaque and commented.
road.
"Master commended me, I made this plaque myself!" Zhang Junping said with a smile.
I couldn't help but curse in my heart, what kind of word is this!
In terms of cultural literacy, he is really in the same line as his master, Mr. Shiraishi. At that time, Qi Gong was because Mr. Shiraishi wrote random poems. He felt really embarrassed, so he gradually alienated and finally left the master and called himself a sect.
"Oh? You can also carve?" Wu Xinping asked in surprise.
"I know a little bit. I used to learn a little bit about music, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry and poetry, boxing, medical skills, jade carving, porcelain art, and wood art." Zhang Junping said modestly.
"I didn't expect you to be an all-rounder!" Wu Xinping was stunned for a moment before he spoke.
Wu Xinping comforted himself in his heart: This apprentice is good at everything, he just likes to brag, but his flaws do not hide his flaws.
"You can't be a generalist, you're just a mixed bag but not an expert." Zhang Junping didn't explain much and invited everyone into the restaurant.
After entering the restaurant, Zhang Junping smiled and said to everyone: "The restaurant has not officially opened to the public yet, so we are the only table today.
There are no waiters, so you four little guys can act as waiters!"
"I understand, Master!"
"Take good care of your junior brother!" Zhang Junping warned again.
"Don't worry, Master!" Li Wenjuan agreed with a smile.
After the apprenticeship was over, the next day came the seventh day of the first lunar month, the day to go to work.
Zhang Junping got up from his home early in the morning, washed up, and went out to buy breakfast.
I had breakfast with Qiu Wenyan before riding my bicycle out to work.
Art shops, commercial shops like this, are not supposed to have holidays.
This has always been the case in the past. Just like Xinhua Bookstore, there are always people on duty even during the Chinese New Year.
However, now the art shop is no longer under the jurisdiction of Xinhua Bookstore, but under the jurisdiction of the News Publishing House.
When I met Zhang Junping, a person who doesn't play by the rules, it was natural for me to take a vacation.
Not only did I have a holiday, I also took several more days off than others.
In addition, they were given so many benefits a year ago, which made them look good in front of their relatives and neighbors.
There is a saying that the Manchu and Qing aristocrats in the Forty-nine Cities often say: What makes you alive is your face.
The old BJ people were greatly influenced by the Manchu aristocrats. Many people have this concept: life is just a face.
In just one month, Zhang Junping has established a firm foothold in the painting store, and his prestige is second only to that of the old store manager Wu Xinping.
However, Wu Xinping is his master now, so it is almost as if he is telling the truth in the painting shop.
Zhang Junping received a warm welcome as soon as he arrived at the painting shop.
The ladies in the business office were so enthusiastic towards him.
Store manager Zhang shouted one by one.
"Sisters, it's your first day at work today, and we all have only one task.
That is to clean up the place and clean it well so that we can open for business." Zhang Junping said with a smile.
"Chief Lu went to buy the cleaning guy's business.
The painting shop was never closed before, there wasn't so much dust, and there weren't that many rags and mops." Chen Lijun reported with a smile.
"Well, not bad! Being proactive and proactive is worthy of praise." Zhang Junping said with a smile.
If you want to buy a few rags and mops, you have to wait for approval, so Zhang Junping doesn't have to do anything else.
When they got to the office on the second floor, Li Wenjuan and Xia Guoxiang had arrived early, cleaned Zhang Junping's office, and made Zhang Junping his favorite jasmine tea.
Zhang Junping sat down on his office chair and took a sip from his tea cup. It felt so good!
In the morning, after a meal, I have a cup of strong tea. The aroma of tea fills my mouth, and my whole body feels refreshed.
"Master, what are you doing today?"
"You go down first, help with the cleaning, and establish a good relationship with them.
There probably won't be anything important in the first month of the year, so you should focus more on your homework.
I give you one year to read all the books here.
It’s not just about reading the book, you need to understand the ideas in the book and have your own opinions.” Zhang Junping casually assigned homework to the two apprentices.
As for the other two apprentices, they are just practicing calligraphy for the time being. Each of them has a regular script copybook and lets Tian Shumei and Mrs. Zhou supervise the practice.
Furthermore, Mabu needs to lay the foundation from an early age.
Before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, nothing happened.
In addition to Zhang Junping's first day at work, he went to the art shop to report in, and then went to the Press and Publication Bureau to pay New Year's greetings to the leader.
Then he went to the Materials Bureau to pay New Year greetings to the former leaders.
The next day, I hid in the Dashilar courtyard and concentrated on making furniture.
He doesn't listen to what's going on outside the window and only concentrates on making furniture.
In fact, it's not that they really don't listen to what's going on outside the window. Li Wenjuan and Xia Guoxiang will come over every day and report to Zhang Junping what happened in the painting shop that day.
The seventh day of the lunar month was relatively quiet.
Since the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the painting shop has been bustling with activity.
People kept coming to visit Wu Xinping all day long, and the purpose was naturally for the world tour exhibition.
At the same time, people come to the art shop every day with a lot of calligraphy and painting works for sale.
At this time, the art shop's purchase price for celebrity calligraphy and paintings had been increased a hundred times in accordance with Zhang Junping's request.
The purchase price of calligraphy and painting that originally cost a few cents or a few dollars has turned into tens or hundreds of dollars.
This gave many artists who came to sell their paintings a little more peace of mind.
Although the price is not high, it is more or less worthy of their hard work.
After all, the domestic economic situation is like this. Well-known artists can sell a painting for one hundred to several hundred yuan, which is higher than their monthly salary.
This also made the painting shop's business boom for a while.
Just after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhang Junping had to go back to the painting shop.
According to Zhang Junping's request, during this period, the paintings in the painting shop will only be collected but not sold.
As a result, a problem arises: the painting shop does not have enough funds.
The start-up capital of 200,000 yuan given years ago has been spent.
If Zhang Junping hadn't bought a batch of paintings from an art shop years ago, he wouldn't have been able to survive even the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
You can imagine how many paintings were collected during this period.
There are thousands of works by well-known artists, and there are even more paintings by some young artists, thousands of them.
This is all the inventory accumulated by these people over the past few years.
In fact, this is normal. If it were Zhang Junping, Zhang Junping would do the same thing. Selling my paintings to your art shop only costs a few cents or a few yuan. As long as I have the opportunity to go abroad, these paintings can be sold immediately.
A hundred times or thousands of times the price.
Although there are few opportunities to go abroad in this era, they still exist.
Especially famous artists are often invited to go abroad for exchanges and participate in some international art events.
At this time, it is normal to carry more than ten or twenty works with you.
When I went out and sold my works, I got tens of thousands of dollars in foreign exchange.
Zhang Junping understands this very well.
He himself can't be selfless and sells his works to art shops at low prices. How can he be embarrassed to ask others?
Those well-known artists still sell a few works to art shops every year.
Zhang Junping has not sold any of his works to art shops.
The reason is also very good. In order to avoid suspicion, he is afraid that others will say that he is taking advantage of the public.
Zhang Junping rushed to the painting store, took the data on calligraphy and painting purchases in the recent period, and then rushed to the Press and Publication Bureau without stopping.
At this time, someone was reporting work in Director Cao's office.
Zhang Junping waited outside the door for more than half an hour before going in.
"Xiao Zhang, your painting shop has been very prosperous recently!" Cao Xiangqian said with a smile as soon as they met.
"The boss is laughing at me, it's just a small fight." Zhang Junping said modestly.
"Tell me, why did you come to see me?" Cao Xiangqian didn't say much else and directly asked Zhang Junping's purpose.
"Come to ask for help from the leader.
This week, the art shop received a total of 1,152 works by famous artists and 5,667 works by famous young artists.
This alone cost more than three hundred thousand.
There is no money in the account." Zhang Junping spread his hands and said with a look of shame.
"Haha! You little Zhang, you have no money, do you want to come to me?
Why did I hear that your painting shop only accepts but not sells them now?
How much money do you have to pay for this?" Cao Qianqian asked with a smile.
Because Zhang Junping is the son-in-law of the deputy mayor of the Standing Committee, Cao Xiangqian is quite concerned about the painting shop, so he naturally knows the current situation of the painting shop.
"Leader, it's not that we don't sell calligraphy and paintings. As you know, the city wants painting shops here just to exchange artworks for foreign exchange.
If we sell these works of art at a low price in China, it will be a bit of a waste of money.
I plan to hold a world tour exhibition of Chinese art after the city approves the plan, and sell all the works that our artists have worked hard to create abroad.
Think about it, there are more than 30,000 pieces of art in the art shop now, and if they are all shipped abroad, even if one piece is sold for only one hundred US dollars, it will be more than three million US dollars in foreign exchange.
If there are 100,000 pieces, that would be 10 million US dollars.
The foreign art market is huge. I asked foreign friends to do a survey and found that the annual art transaction volume can reach hundreds of billions of dollars.
Think about it, an investment of several million RMB can be exchanged for 10 million or more US dollars in foreign exchange.
Director, I personally feel that if I don’t do this kind of business, I will be sorry for the trust that the party and the country have placed in me!” Zhang Junping said righteously.
"Haha! What do you mean, if I don't approve several million in funds for you, I will be sorry for the trust that the party and the country have placed in me?" Cao Xiangqian laughed angrily.
If it weren't for the fact that this guy was the son-in-law of his immediate boss, Cao Xiangqian would have wanted to kick him out.
"Leader, you have misunderstood. You need to worry about so many things at the top and bottom of the Press and Publication Bureau.
Ten million US dollars in foreign exchange is a huge amount of income for our painting shop, but for you, it is just a negligible amount of money." Zhang Junping said with a smile.
"The Press and Publication Bureau doesn't run a bank. It's a few million dollars, just for what you said.
What is the annual financial budget of the entire Press and Publication Bureau?
I'll give you up to five hundred thousand, if you want it, if you don't... you can think of other ways." Cao Xiangqian said angrily.
The subtext is to tell Zhang Junping, if it’s only 500,000 yuan, go to your father-in-law.
"Um, leader! You misunderstood, I didn't want to ask you for money!"
"You don't want money? What do you want?" Cao Qianqian was stunned for a moment and asked with a smile.
“I want policies and authorization!
As long as you agree, I can contact the bank and apply for a loan!" Zhang Junping said his purpose.
The Press and Publication Bureau is an administrative institution and receives full financial support. How can we say that it can just casually grant millions of funds to a painting shop?
Therefore, Zhang Junping did not intend to directly ask Cao Xiangqian for money at the beginning.
"Get a loan from a bank? Can someone lend it to you?"
"Leader, the value of the works of those well-known artists is obvious to all. Many of them have held art exhibitions abroad. How much their works are worth abroad can be found out with a little research.
How could they disagree if I use those artworks as collateral for a loan?
If domestic banks refuse to lend me a loan, I will contact foreign banks for a loan." Zhang Junping said confidently.
"Okay, as long as you can convince the bank to lend you a loan, I can authorize you!" Cao Xiangqian nodded and said.
“Thank you for your leadership’s support!”
"Is there anything else?" Cao Qianqian asked with a smile.
The subtext of this sentence is: If you have something to say, talk about it; if nothing else, get out of here.
"Leader, we also want to apply for two magazines! One is called "BJ Painting Shop", one is to commemorate BJ Painting Shop, and the other is to promote the art of calligraphy and painting; the other is called "Chinese Traditional Art", the purpose is also for better publicity
Our traditional art.”
"Yes! I understand, you can write a report." Cao nodded forward and said happily.
Setting up a magazine for publicity was mentioned in the previous plan, so Cao Xiangqian readily approved it.
Mainly, he also received news that Zhang Junping's plan had been approved by the city government, and the municipal party committee had no objections. He could only go through it at the meeting and then approve it.
It’s not a big deal to publish two magazines in advance.
Running a magazine, which seems to be a difficult task to most people, is nothing to Cao Xiangqian.
Who asked the Press and Publication Bureau to be responsible for this?
After leaving the Press and Publication Bureau, Zhang Junping went to the BJ Branch of Bank of China.
Zhang Junping did not go to the business hall in front, but walked around and went to the office building in the back.
"Comrade, who are you looking for?" A young man wearing a gray tunic suit stopped Zhang Junping and asked.
"I'm looking for the leader of our bank! I have a large amount of foreign exchange business to handle." Zhang Junping said with a smile.
"To handle foreign exchange business, go to the front business hall."
"This is tens of millions of dollars in foreign exchange business." Zhang Junping said, taking out a check drawn in the car and giving it a look.
"Then you come with me! I am the president's correspondent, and I will take you to the leader." When the young man saw that the check was genuine, and then saw that Zhang Junping had an extraordinary bearing, he politely took Zhang Junping to the president.
office.
Tens of millions of dollars in foreign exchange is not a small amount.
Even in later generations, with tens of millions of dollars, you can talk directly to the president of a municipal branch.
In this era, you are fully qualified to talk to the president of the Capital Branch.
"Comrade, what is the last name of our president?"
"The president's surname is Liu! What a coincidence, I happened to be here to print a document.
Otherwise, it would be really difficult for you to meet the president." The young man said with a smile.
"I seem to have better luck." Zhang Junping said with a smile.
After a while, we arrived at the president's office.