After a long day, Zhuang Rui felt even more exhausted than when he was outwitting Yu Zhenping in Zhengzhou.
"Kid, don't laugh at me, it'll be your turn to film this tomorrow..."
The hotel where Zhuang Rui was staying was not far from a port. Standing on the hotel balcony, he could clearly see the lights on the ships.
This time, Zhuang Rui and Qin Xuanbing took wedding photos, and they also let Peng Fei and his wife take photos together. Otherwise, Zhuang Rui's task would have been completed today. He would have waited until Peng Fei finished his photos tomorrow before returning to Beijing together.
"Shoot that thing..."
Peng Fei pursed his lips, and before he could finish his sentence, he saw his girlfriend, who had been clinging to him like a little bird, glare at him. He immediately lowered his body and continued, "We have to take a picture, we absolutely have to take a picture!"
Peng Fei's actions made everyone laugh.
Chapter 704 Museum Opening (Part 1)
People living near a newly built residential complex on the eastern Third Ring Road in Beijing are wondering why things are suddenly so lively today. Wasn't the groundbreaking ceremony for this complex already held?
And those tall buildings that haven't been topped out yet don't look like they're finished.
Curious people went over for a look and realized that it wasn't the completion of a building project, but rather the opening of a private museum next to the residential complex.
At the grand entrance of the museum, dozens of flower baskets were already placed, some bearing private names and others public ones, such as flower baskets bearing the names of cultural relics offices from various provinces.
In addition, flower baskets from certain travel agencies and museums also occupy a lot of space. If you look closely, you can even spot flower baskets in certain parts of the room.
However, this is quite normal in Beijing, and it doesn't scare the onlookers. Nowadays, there are people in the capital who specialize in this kind of thing. As long as you want, you can get flower baskets from anyone, and they will even acknowledge them. You have to admit that these people are incredibly resourceful.
Of course, Zhuang Rui didn't need these people to come and support him. With Ouyang Jun's influence, he wasn't worried about not being able to invite anyone.
Dozens of cars were parked in the parking lot on one side of the museum. They were all driven by guests who came to attend the museum's opening. Most of the early arrivals were young people who were chatting at the entrance.
Zhuang Rui has been back from Hainan for more than 10 days. During this time, he has been preparing for the opening of the museum, which has kept him extremely busy. He has basically not been able to stay at the courtyard house. When he is tired, he just makes do with sleeping on the sofa in the curator's office.
Jiang Hao was a man of his word. It's unclear how he negotiated with the local cultural relics department, but a week after the Yu family's major tomb raiding case was closed, he delivered the bronze tripod and bronze chime bells that Zhuang Rui wanted to Beijing.
Along with the artifacts, more than two hundred bronze pieces were also sent, which immediately kept Zhuang Rui busy. He hired several bronze appraisal experts from the capital at a high salary and worked several sleepless nights to complete the classification and description of these cultural relics.
Zhuang Rui also had to work on designing the display cases and setting up the bronze ware exhibition hall. Even with Huangfu Yun's help, it took Zhuang Rui several days to get any sleep.
Huangfu Yun was also busy during this time. Zhuang Rui forced him to eat and drink with Ouyang Jun everywhere, visiting all the travel agencies in the capital. He put in a lot of effort and finally managed to include the museum in the itineraries of major travel agencies.
You see, if Zhuang Rui doesn't follow Mr. Ma's membership system, he'll have to deal with these travel agencies; otherwise, the museum's monthly expenses alone would make him lose a fortune.
The museum's staffing is now basically complete. Zhuang Rui is naturally chosen as the director, and there are two executive deputy directors: one is Huangfu Yun, and the other is a researcher invited from the Palace Museum who has extensive experience in museum management.
Huangfuyun also poached more than a dozen recent graduates majoring in museum studies from Peking University, practically luring all the students graduating this year to come. He believed that under the leadership of that deputy curator, they would quickly mature.
With the addition of the security guards hired earlier, as well as more than a dozen young and beautiful female guides, Zhuang Rui now has dozens of employees. As a result, the museum's monthly expenses are quite substantial.
The salaries of dozens of people amount to hundreds of thousands of yuan per month. This does not include the cost of museum renovations and the maintenance of various cultural relics. If these are included, it would take more than a million yuan per month.
It's not that Zhuang Rui can't afford the money, but if it's entirely supported by private funds, it would be better to donate the museum to the state. Only when income and expenditure are balanced can private museums develop in the right direction.
Don't underestimate those travel agencies. Countless tourist attractions in Beijing rely on them for their livelihood. Although they get a commission for each group of people they bring in, it's still better than going home empty-handed and not making a penny, right?
Zhuang Rui's current pricing for travel agencies is as follows: 50 yuan for domestic adult tickets, free for children under 1.2 meters tall, 10 yuan for children under 1.5 meters tall, free for seniors over 60 years old, and half price for those with a discharge certificate or active duty military ID.
For foreigners, it's 100 yuan a ticket. It's not that Zhuang Rui is greedy; he's doing this to align with international standards.
Zhuang Rui had seen foreigners selling tickets this way when he was at the Guimet Museum in Paris a few months ago. A ticket for foreign tourists cost 10 euros, which is about 100 yuan.
The biggest attraction of Zhuang Rui's museum for foreigners is its Picasso art section. You can see that Picasso's portrait now occupies an entire wall outside the museum.
Zhuang Rui's understanding of this matter is that it's about opening a museum for Chinese people to make money from foreigners...
Following Huangfu Yun's suggestion, Zhuang Rui sent invitations not only to major museums in the capital, but also to three or four hundred private museums across the country. Since they were all private museums, they could exchange experiences.
Meanwhile, some well-known collectors and appraisal experts from various provinces across the country also received invitations from Zhuang Rui. This was an idea suggested by another deputy curator. These people have a high reputation in the collecting world, and if you get along well with them, you won't have to worry about no one coming to "exchange" your collections in the future.
"Brother Jin, you've arrived. Please come in and have a seat..."
Zhuang Rui looked even more like a groom today than on his engagement day. Of course, today he was wearing an old-fashioned long robe with a front opening, instead of the suit he wore at his engagement.
People who received invitations started arriving one after another from eight o'clock in the morning. By this time, Zhuang Rui no longer had time to sit inside and entertain the guests. Instead, he and Huangfu Yun went to the door to welcome the friends who had come to support them today.
"Brother, congratulations, congratulations! This is a congratulatory gift from my teacher and me..."
Fatty Jin handed a thick envelope to the person writing the congratulatory gift on the table behind Zhuang Rui, then stepped forward and hugged Zhuang Rui, whispering in his ear, "The teacher said he won't join in the fun, but he wants to come and see your collection this afternoon..."
The name of this museum was personally inscribed by the master. Zhuang Rui originally wanted the master to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony as a guest, but the old man was of a simple and unassuming nature and sent his young apprentice instead.
"I'm going to pick up the master this afternoon, Brother Jin. You should rest inside for now. We'll have a good drink together after the ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon..."
Zhuang Rui felt a little regretful. If a master like him, a titan in the world of antique collecting, could have appeared at the opening ceremony, his museum would have gained even more prestige.
"Brother Zhuang, you go ahead with your work, I'll go in by myself..."
Seeing that Zhuang Rui was covered in sweat, Fatty Jin had someone put down the flower basket and then went to chat with an old friend.
On a small scale, today's gathering is a meeting of Beijing's collecting community; on a larger scale, it's a grand event for the entire national collecting community.
Zhuang Rui spent a huge amount of money on this opening ceremony. All the out-of-province guests who received invitations and confirmed their attendance had their airfare and accommodation covered. Zhuang Rui spent several million yuan on this alone.
"Oh, Mr. Ma, please come in, please come in for tea. I reckon you'll be waiting a while..."
No sooner had we seen off Fatty Jin than the top collector in Beijing arrived, followed by several people carrying flower baskets. It's the trend now, and there are even companies that specialize in recycling them. Once the business is done, they just tear off the banners from the flower baskets and put them back in their shops to sell.
"Brother Zhuang, today is a grand gathering for our collecting community. I've been wanting to bring friends from all over the country together for a long time, but I haven't been able to do it. I didn't expect you to make it happen. This is just a small congratulatory gift, nothing more..."
Scholars have the most etiquette. In ancient times, they would send a travel gift for a long journey, and they would send a congratulatory gift for weddings, funerals, business openings, etc. Mr. Ma's congratulatory gift was also quite generous, a full 20,000 yuan.
"Mr. Ma, you've gone to so much trouble, I can't accept this..."
Zhuang Rui quickly exchanged a few polite words.
"Hey, Teacher Zhuang, we're here..."
While Zhuang Rui was exchanging pleasantries with Mr. Ma, a group of people carrying five or six flower baskets arrived at the museum entrance. The person at the front greeted Zhuang Rui loudly as soon as he saw him.
"Hey, it's Manager Zhang! Look, you've come all this way, no need to be so polite..."
Zhuang Rui took a look and saw that it was Manager Zhang Li from Zhengzhou Antique City, followed by Lao Qi and others. It seemed that all the prominent figures in Zhengzhou's antique industry had come.
"Look at what you're saying, how could we not come and support your museum opening?"
After Zhang Li directed the people to put down the flower basket, he walked up the steps of the museum, shook hands with Zhuang Rui, turned around and saw Mr. Ma, and was taken aback for a moment before saying, "You must be Teacher Ma?"
Upon seeing Mr. Ma nod, Manager Zhang couldn't help but get excited. This man was a leading figure in folk treasure appraisal, and he was still relatively young. Apart from the older generation of experts, he was one of the most outstanding.
Zhang Li's museum struggled to find renowned experts to oversee its appraisals. He came to the opening of Zhuang Rui Museum hoping to meet more experts. Unexpectedly, before even entering, he met a highly respected expert and immediately went up to chat with Mr. Ma.
"Monkey, please invite these gentlemen inside for some tea..."
Today, not only the monkey, but also Da Xiong and his wife Xiao Jing, as well as Manager Zhao, have come to help. The museum is opening, and "Xuanrui Zhai" will be closed for the day.
"This is really tiring..."
Zhuang Rui glanced at his watch; it was only 10 a.m., while the museum's opening ceremony was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Most people hadn't arrived yet, and he still had things to do.
Xiao Jing, who was keeping track of the congratulatory gifts behind Zhuang Rui, noticed that no guests had arrived yet and quietly said to Zhuang Rui, "Brother Zhuang, do you know how much money we received?"
Chapter 705 Museum Opening (Part 2)
"How much money did you receive?"
Zhuang Rui asked casually, "He's so busy right now, like a rabbit's father. How could he have time to check the money coming in?"
On the other hand, Zhuang Rui was prepared to lose money with this opening ceremony. More than 300 well-known collectors and experts from across the country were confirmed to attend, and with the red envelopes from various news media outlets, it would be impossible to make it less than five million.
"Brother Zhuang, we've collected a total of 1.38 million..."
Xiao Jing couldn't hide her excitement. Although she and Da Xiong's salaries were not low, they had never seen so much money before. The two cardboard boxes under her were already piled high with money.
"What? There are over a million?"
Zhuang Rui was also taken aback when he heard this. He felt that two or three hundred thousand was already a lot, but he did not expect that with only seventy or eighty people, the gift money was more than one million. If all the people came, he would probably make up for his five million expenses.
However, Zhuang Rui was a little puzzled. He had been standing here the whole time, and it seemed like there wasn't that much cash here.
"Yes, it's over a million, Brother Zhuang. These guys all gave us cash checks..."
Xiao Jing pointed to several names in the book. Zhuang Rui glanced at them and saw that the gift money for people like Bai Feng was 50,000, while the gift money for several people from Hong Kong, such as the Bai siblings and Mr. Zheng, was 200,000. This was in line with the national conditions in China. Otherwise, giving three to five million would not be much to them.
Zhuang Rui couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself. These were all favors. It seemed that he would have to find a housekeeper or assistant in the future to help him manage these miscellaneous matters.
Chinese people value face the most. If you forget someone else's wedding, funeral, or shop opening in the future, you will offend them terribly.
Thinking that he had received millions of yuan in wedding gifts in just two or three hours, Zhuang Rui was secretly astonished. He remembered that when he was a child, it was considered generous to give 5 or 10 yuan to a neighbor who got married. The time difference was only more than 10 years, but the amount of money given had increased thousands of times.
"Wu'er, do you want to go inside and rest for a while? I'll keep an eye on things for you."
Today is the opening day of Zhuang Rui's museum, and Ouyang Jun is considered one of the hosts. He was inside talking to some people, but he's not from the antique circle. Apart from chatting with Bai Feng, he didn't have much in common with the others, so he left after a while.
"No need, Fourth Brother. Just let them know when the leaders come over..."
Zhuang Rui was really exhausted. It was almost noon, and the sun was blazing down on him. Even his silk robe, which was warm in winter and cool in summer, was soaked with sweat and clung to his body.
"Which leader do you want me to receive?"
Ouyang Jun curled his lip and said dismissively, "Although I'm not involved in officialdom, there are very few people in Beijing who would come to the museum opening today and whom I would deign to greet."
"Alright, Fourth Brother, you can go cool off inside. I have to get back to work..."
When Zhuang Rui saw another group of people carrying five or six flower baskets approaching from a distance, he quickly went down the steps to greet them. Zhuang Rui didn't care about class distinctions; everyone who came was a guest, and they were all giving him face. He didn't show favoritism and basically greeted each person personally.
"Boss Zhuang, congratulations! You didn't post an invitation, so I've come uninvited..."
Zhuang Rui was familiar with this group of people. It turned out that they were led by Yang Bo, the young master from Beijing. Several of them had caused trouble at his jewelry store before, and they were all full of congratulations when they saw Zhuang Rui.
"Hehe, Young Master Yang, what are you saying? I was just worried you'd be too busy. Come on, guys, let's all go inside and have a seat..."
Zhuang Rui didn't have a good impression of these people, but he didn't have any ill feelings towards them either. In the past six months, this group of playboys from Beijing had helped a lot of jewelry stores' business, amounting to at least tens of millions.
"Mr. Zhuang, let me introduce you. This is my mother..."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Yang Bo did not move, but stepped aside, and a stylishly dressed middle-aged woman appeared in front of Zhuang Rui.
"Oh, it's Ms. Zhao. We're opening a small shop, and we're sorry to have bothered you..."
Zhuang Rui knew that the woman in front of him, who looked elegant and probably only in her thirties, was actually over fifty years old. More than ten years ago, she had developed a small restaurant into the current food and beverage group, and was a figure not to be underestimated.