Chapter 82: What era is it now? We are still making seals in the traditional way

Lao Hu was indeed not lying. The passenger flow of Yanjiang Road may be more than 10,000 times that of Qingzhou Antique Market.

It's such an exaggeration.

It was 7 o'clock in the evening when Zhang Yang drove there, and there were no vacancies in the nearest parking lot.

"This place would be good for a live broadcast of the 200 yuan challenge to the antique street."

Zhang Yang commented sharply as he looked at the lights just coming on along the riverside road.

It’s a pity that this kind of live broadcast cannot bring recognition, otherwise he really wants to try it.

Old Hu stood in front of him, pointed to a small shop in the middle of the antique street and said:
"I asked, and they said they were going to sell the store, but they didn't say how much."

Zhang Yang looked in the direction that Lao Hu pointed.

"Lao Deng Seal Customization".

Although there is a gold-painted wooden sign hanging on the door, the name is so uninspiring and has no distinctive features at all.

Zhang Yang walked into the store and saw that the furnishings inside were as unremarkable as the signboard.

It's a bit like entering an old-fashioned Chinese medicine store.

The only difference is that the cabinet that once held medicine has been transformed into an antique shelf, with many jade seals placed on it.

The owner is probably about the same age as Lao Hu, around 40 or 50 years old.

Seeing Zhang Yang and the other person come in, he sat behind the counter and was too lazy to get up to greet them:
"I'm sorry, guys. Our store is moving soon. We don't accept custom orders. We only sell raw materials."

"You can take a look for yourselves. If you are interested, you can call me."

"Moving? Have you found someone to take over?" Zhang Yang asked.

"No one has taken over yet. Are you here to see the shop?"

"Yup!"

"Your store has a decent size, but the decoration is a bit old-fashioned. How much do you plan to sell it for?"

"Wait, who of you two has the final say?" the boss asked Zhang Yang and Lao Hu.

Judging from his age, Lao Hu looks a bit like Zhang Yang’s father; but judging from his attitude, he looks a bit like a lackey behind a rich man.

Lao Hu smiled and responded, "He has the final say, I'm just here to join in the fun."

"I see. Come over here and sit down, little boss."

The boss pointed to the stool in front of the counter and immediately started making tea.

Although the store is about to be sold, the boss is a college student from the 1990s, so his temperament must be kept to a minimum.

Zhang Yang followed the host's wishes and drank half a cup of tea before continuing to talk about the store's prices.

The boss's offer was very low; the entire store only cost 80.

He patted his chest and guaranteed that it would be impossible to find a lower price per square meter than his in the entire Yanjiang Road.

But behind this unit price, there is a heaven-defying requirement:
"I hope you can take over these blanks from me, boss."

"Or you can pay me for the raw materials first, and then sell them in the store. When they are all sold out, we can refund you the excess and make up for the shortfall."

"Oh my god, boss, this is a bit unreasonable, isn't this a bundled sale?"

Old Hu couldn't help but stand up and speak up for justice.

He was just analyzing with Zhang Yang that the total price of 80 was indeed very low.

Unexpectedly, he was stabbed in the back by the store owner right away.

"Don't be impatient, listen to me first." The boss pressed his hand, signaling Lao Hu to calm down: "I want to ask you first, little boss, what kind of business do you plan to start in the future?"

“The antique business.”

"Be more specific?"

"As long as the price is right, I'll do anything." Zhang Yang thought for a moment and replied.

"I see, that's the antique grocery store."

"If that's the case, you won't lose money if you buy this batch of raw materials from me, because if you run a grocery store, you will definitely be involved in stamps in the end."

"Besides, my name is quite famous. I will definitely have repeat customers in the future, and you can take over their business."

After listening to the boss's analysis, Zhang Yang nodded and replied:
"No problem, what's the price of these things?"

When he was imitating calligraphy, he unlocked seal carving, so he was no stranger to seal making.

As long as the price is not too high, I can take it over. Even if I can't sell it, I can keep it for myself to carve and use for imitation calligraphy and painting. "This needs to be calculated."

"The raw materials here are mainly white jade, Shoushan stone, Qingtian stone and Bahrain stone. The prices are not too high. The price of a single piece of raw material ranges from several hundred to thousands."

"So how many pieces are there in total?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Now there are... more than 170 pieces." The boss thought for a while and said.

"A little less."

"Little? Boss, do you know how long it will take to sell 170 seals?"

"Won't it be sold out in minutes?" Zhang Yang replied with a shrug.

It is indeed difficult to sell it directly, but can't you just engrave some words on it and sell it as an antique seal?
"Minutes? You're such a boaster, little boss. If you can sell all these blanks within three days, I'll take you as my godfather."

"Uh, boss, I'm not kidding you."

Zhang Yang didn't have time to talk nonsense, so he told his boss directly:
"Your 170-plus pieces of blanks, whether they are machine-carved or hand-carved, as long as you carve them all for me according to my requirements, I will take them all, how about that?"

When the boss heard this, he slapped his thigh and stood up:
"A gentleman's word?"

"Don't rush to play the idiom chain game." Zhang Yang waved his hand, motioning the boss to sit down and listen: "Listen to my request first and see if you can do it."

"Okay, you say."

"Do you know the Qianlong Appreciation Seal?"

"Of course I know. It's the [Treasure for Emperor Qianlong's Viewing]. I have engraved that one." The shop owner answered without hesitation.

"Okay, it seems you have experience. Then you can carve the Qianlong seal according to the shape of the blank."

"All of them? But isn't [Treasure for Emperor Qianlong's Viewing] a square seal?" the shop owner asked doubtfully.

"Yes, but aren't there also the Qianlong Emperor's Treasures, Leshan Hall, Sui'an Room, the Treasures of the Ten Perfect Old Man, Qianlong's Calligraphy, Sanxi Hall, the Ancient Xizi Emperor... and so on?"

Zhang Yang cited more than a dozen examples in a row.

In fact, it would be possible to ask him to draw all of Emperor Qianlong's more than one thousand kinds of appreciation seals.

But doing this will easily lead to you being caught and asked to participate in "The Brain", so I will just give a few examples.

After hearing this, the owner swallowed several times.

He asked Zhang Yang timidly:
"Little boss, what do you do?"

"It's a copy of calligraphy and painting, isn't that obvious?" Zhang Yang asked back.

"Obviously, obviously, but what you said is too professional. I don't know how to do it."

"It's okay. I'll send you the information when I get back. You can learn and carve as you go along."

"This way you can earn money and master a new skill at the same time, isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

After hearing what Zhang Yang said, the owner showed the confused expression that Shen Yiyi often had on his face.

He felt that what Zhang Yang said made a lot of sense.

But it felt weird, something was not right.

"Is there any other problem?" Zhang Yang asked the confused owner.

The latter shook his head: "No more."

"Okay, how about drafting a letter of intent first?"

"Okay, wait a minute, I'll be there soon."

The boss filled Zhang Yang's cup of tea and hurried into the inner room.

But he came back in less than half a minute, holding a rolled-up scroll in his hand.

"Boss, if you have time, can you help me look at this painting?"

"I sold this shop just to compensate for this painting."

"Compensation for the painting?"

Zhang Yang helped the boss unfold the scroll and found several large holes on it burned by cigarette butts.

"Brother, you really have to pay for this!"

　Thanks to book friends 0506, weimao123, and the first non-existent one for their rewards!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)