Chapter 6 The piles of ancient furniture in Ming and Qing Dynasties
The most indispensable thing in the junkyard is all kinds of old furniture, and some of them are damaged furniture.
These damaged old furniture are placed in junkyards and are eventually either sold as firewood or given to employees as welfare. Most of them are piled up without anyone caring about them.
A piece of intact antique furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties is worth seven to eight to ten yuan if sent to a cultural relics store.
Anyway, how much profit will this idea create for the junkyard?
In the past, the junkyard also thought about hiring a carpenter to repair it and then put it in a cultural relic store to sell it at a high price.
But the problem is that ordinary carpenters cannot repair these ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
They can't afford to hire carpenters who know the ancient furniture of the Ming and Qing dynasties and can repair it.
Therefore, this proposal has been postponed indefinitely.
Wang Bin sincerely thanked his mother. She was so smart to have picked up a wild carpenter.
If I can open the Zhang Junping Secondhand Goods Station and repair the damaged ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to increase the station's income, this will be a real political achievement.
Especially now is the critical moment when competing for webmasters.
If anyone can significantly increase the income of the site, it cannot be said that he will win with one hit, but it can also increase the chance of winning greatly.
Now, no matter how big it is, even if there is even a slight chance of winning, we will put in 100% effort.
Wang Bin asked for leave yesterday and asked his mother to take him to Dashilan to find Zhang Junping.
As a result, Zhang Junping did not come because he was making a leisure chair for the old lady.
Wang Bin missed the opportunity.
Today, Wang Bin, who was unwilling to give up, came to Dashilan alone again to look for Zhang Junping.
All the hard work paid off and he finally found it.
Unfortunately, Wang Bin didn't know that Zhang Junping also valued going to the junkyard to repair furniture.
If it weren't for the purpose of boosting his worth, Zhang Junping would have thrown away the folding chair and followed Wang Bin to the junkyard.
What is money or not, does it matter?
important!
But compared with the opportunity to have close contact with numerous ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the opportunity to communicate across time and space with craftsmen from the Ming and Qing dynasties, nothing is important!
Of course, Zhang Junping is greedy. He wants the opportunity to have close contact with ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and he also wants money.
That’s why I decided to stretch Wang Bin on the grounds that the folding chairs were sold out.
As a result, he did not expect that folding chairs would be so popular.
However, no matter what, his goal of stretching Wang Bin was achieved.
"Master Zhang, thank you! If it weren't for you, I would be miserable today!" Wang Bin wiped the sweat from his forehead and thanked Zhang Junping.
"It's okay, it's okay! What happened to the repair of ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties that the elder brother just mentioned?" Zhang Junping took the initiative to bring up the matter of repairing the furniture.
"Master Xiao Zhang, I am the deputy director of the junk station. We have a lot of the wood you took away from my house the day before yesterday!
As long as you repair our furniture, I can decide on the wood and give it to you!
In addition, I can also give you a certain maintenance fee!" Wang Bin quickly introduced himself and stated the conditions he had thought of yesterday.
"Yeah!" Zhang Junping nodded and said nothing.
Even if Wang Bin didn't say to give precious wood, Zhang Junping would still go.
The temptation to repair ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties is greater than that of small-leaf red sandalwood or Hainan huanghuali.
As the saying goes, the most important thing for a craftsman is his craftsmanship, not his materials.
Good materials are just the icing on the cake.
"Master Zhang, you see, this folding chair is sold out. Should we go to the junkyard now?" Wang Bin looked at Zhang Junping with some anxiety.
I don’t know what Zhang Junping’s word ‘um’ means.
"If Master Zhang is dissatisfied with the maintenance fee, just mention it! We will try our best to satisfy you if we can!"
"Stationmaster Wang, should we go take a look at the furniture that needs to be repaired first? And then talk about the maintenance fees?" Zhang Junping said directly.
"Uh, okay! I'll take you to see it now!
We receive a lot of old furniture every day, some of which can be used directly as firewood, and some of which can be used after repair!
The purpose of our second-hand goods station is to turn waste into treasure, save resources, and contribute to the realization of the four modernizations!
If Master Zhang can repair those ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he can be considered as contributing to the four modernizations!" Wang Bin said with great joy.
"Okay, let's go now...please wait a moment!" Zhang Junping was about to leave now.
I turned around and saw a little boy standing on the roadside.
Looking at him eagerly.
Not only did Wang Bin fail to come yesterday, but he also missed the little boy's chance.
This made Zhang Junping feel somewhat guilty.
Zhang Junping waved to the little boy.
"Brother, are you here? I thought you weren't coming today!" The little boy saw Zhang Junping waving and ran over to talk to Zhang Junping.
"Big brother had something to do yesterday, so he didn't come!
It's me who broke the appointment!
In this way, as compensation, I will give you this little rabbit!" Zhang Junping smiled evilly and took out a wooden carved rabbit from his bag and handed it to the little boy.
This little boy is a bit like his nephew in his previous life. What he likes to do most is to tease his nephew.
The little boy looked at Zhang Junping aggrievedly.
He is a boy!
If boys want to play, they can play with guns. If they want little rabbits, those are things only girls play in movies.
"Okay! I won't tease you anymore!
I’ll give you this gun!” Looking at the little boy who was about to cry, Zhang Junping smiled and rubbed the little boy’s head, then changed the gift into a shell gun.
"Thank you, big brother!" the little boy smiled happily.
"You're welcome!" Zhang Junping rubbed the little boy's head again, then turned to Wang Bin and said: "Stationmaster Wang, let's go!"
You don't need to drive Route 11 to go to the second-hand goods station. Wang Bin has a bicycle.
Carrying Zhang Junping to the secondhand goods station.
·········
Looking at the mountains of old furniture, Zhang Junping opened his eyes wide in shock, opened his mouth, and was speechless for a moment.
It's so spectacular!
But this is too wasteful!
Ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, regarded as treasures by later generations, are piled together like garbage.
At first glance, eight screens, bookcases, cupboards, Arhat beds, canopy beds, and carved doors and windows were all piled together in a disorderly manner.
It’s simply a waste of natural resources!
If those historians saw this, they would definitely shout, this is a crime!
But this is the actual situation!
In this day and age, antiques are really worthless!
Zhang Junping once read a piece of information that said that in the 1980s, in a cultural relics store, antiques from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China were piled in piles in the warehouse.
The state does not allow its destruction, and no one wants it!
It can only be piled up where it will grow moldy.
"Master Zhang, these are old furniture collected from the station!
You are the expert, you have the final say on how to repair it!
About Master Zhang’s remuneration!
I have two plans here. One is that we calculate the salary on a daily basis and give you a salary of three yuan a day. In addition, we will give you a pound of food stamps and a tael of meat stamps!
The other one is paid on a piece-by-piece basis, and the repair fee for a piece of furniture is calculated as two yuan.
If Master Zhang has other ideas, you can put them forward and we can discuss them again!" Wang Bin was very polite to Zhang Junping and the conditions he offered were quite generous.
The junkyard is a state-run scrap collection depot.
However, as a commercial unit under the supply and marketing system, it is also a financially strong unit.
A salary of three yuan a day is ninety yuan a month. In this era, it is definitely a high salary.
To put it bluntly, the monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan in later generations is far less comfortable than the comfortable life of this era with a monthly salary of 90 yuan.
No matter what era you are in, people with real abilities will receive special respect.
If it was the predecessor of this body and encountered such good conditions, he would probably agree.
However, Zhang Junping was a master he had met before, so naturally he would not be dazzled by Wang Bin's generous conditions.
He wants more!
Of course, his craftsmanship is worth more!
“Webmaster Wang, the two conditions you gave are both good.
but.
I feel that no matter which condition it is, it is not fair to both parties!"
“Isn’t piece rate unfair too?”
“Webmaster Wang, piece rate wages are supposedly fair to both you and me, but you have overlooked one issue!
Furniture repair is not standardized production under factory mode!
Production under factory mode has a fixed standard!
With piecework like that, there is no problem!
But what about our furniture repairs?
For example, compared with a chair and a bed, or compared with a desk, the workload is naturally different!
Also, their degree of damage is different, so their workload is also different!
These are all issues that have to be considered!”
"Then what does Master Xiao Zhang mean?"
"Stationmaster Wang, I see it like this!
Today, let’s first classify the furniture!
I determine the repair price for each piece of furniture based on the classification.
Webmaster Wang feels that the price is acceptable and it is worth repairing, so we will repair it!
If it doesn’t feel right, forget it!
You can also choose which ones should be repaired and which ones should not be repaired based on the price!" Zhang Junping pondered for a moment and spoke out his plan.
Wang Bin thought about it and felt that Zhang Junping's plan was okay and fair, so he nodded, "No problem, just follow Master Zhang's wishes!"
After the price was agreed upon, Zhang Junping started working directly without any delay.
There is so much old furniture that Zhang Junping alone cannot finish it in two days.
Wang Bin very considerately sent two staff members to help.
Zhang Junping directed two staff members sent by stationmaster Wang to sort the messy furniture.
Of course, not all of the furniture is old furniture.
Even for ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the materials used cannot all be wood such as Hainan huanghuali, small-leaf rosewood, and golden nanmu.
These three kinds of wood are called the three tribute woods and have the title of royal wood.
In some periods, these three types of wood were simply monopolized by the royal family, sold and hoarded by the private sector, and were directly punished with the crime of exceeding the limit.
The crime of exceeding the limit was a major crime in ancient times, including confiscating a family and exterminating a clan.
Therefore, it is definitely a misunderstanding to equate ancient furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties with Hainan huanghuali, small-leaf rosewood, and golden nanmu.
Ancient furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was mostly made of wenge, beech, elm, walnut, cherry, and lower-level pine and cypress wood.