Hearing Zhang Ma and Li Sao start praising him again, Zhuang Rui hurriedly led Bai Shi to the front yard. Whenever something happened, those two would always praise him endlessly, and his mother especially loved hearing it, which made Zhuang Rui feel very uncomfortable.
Half a month had passed since Tom last discussed the Hawker jet. Although they hadn't reached any conclusions that day, things took a turn for the better after Tom reported Zhuang Rui's request to headquarters the following day.
Because it is indeed difficult to sell aircraft ordered by others, and Zhuang Rui is the first to express interest in purchasing one, Raytheon, after consideration, will offer Zhuang Rui a discount of $2 million if he does not modify any part of the aircraft.
In this way, Zhuang Rui only needed to spend $10 million, which is less than 90 million RMB, to acquire this ready-made Hawker jet. After discussing it with Qin Xuanbing, Zhuang Rui signed a purchase contract with Tom.
Normally, the safety inspection of this aircraft would require not only inspection by the relevant U.S. authorities, but also the client's approval and signature in person. However, since Raytheon has a branch in Hong Kong, Zhuang Rui completely entrusted this matter to his father-in-law.
After all, Qin Haoran's family owns a private plane and a private pilot, so he is quite familiar with the operation. Moreover, Zhuang Rui knows nothing about aircraft performance, so it would be better to entrust the inspection to a professional. The signature can be done by his father-in-law.
During his time in Beijing, Zhuang Rui didn't do nothing. He found Ouyang Lei and, through persistent persuasion, managed to get a soon-to-retire pilot from him.
Of course, this was mainly due to the generous treatment offered by Zhuang Rui. After contacting the pilot who was about to retire, both parties were willing to cooperate. Ouyang Lei only played a role in introducing and helping him with his retirement procedures.
However, this act of undermining the country somehow reached the ears of Old Master Ouyang. Without saying a word, the old man stormed into Zhuang Rui's courtyard and nearly chased Zhuang Rui through two courtyards with his cane.
This exhausted Zhuang Rui quite a bit. It wasn't the dodging that was tiring, but rather the fact that he had to hold onto the white lion with all his might. Otherwise, if the guy got angry, it wouldn't recognize who Ouyang Gang was. Afterwards, Zhuang Rui shook his head, realizing that he had probably given the old man too much tonic, making him too hot-tempered.
Not only Zhuang Rui, but Ouyang Lei also got into trouble. Zhuang Rui originally wanted to poach the two of them and find another driver, but Ouyang Lei refused to help even if it meant death. He almost hit himself with his cane. Find another one? The old man will be storming into the Military Commission compound tomorrow.
Even though Zhuang Rui was prepared to pay with a tiger penis, Comrade Ouyang Lei remained steadfastly uncorrupted and righteously refused Zhuang Rui's offer. However, after leaving, Ouyang Lei used the excuse that he had already introduced Zhuang Rui to a pilot to take the tiger penis with him.
It's no wonder the old man was angry. You have to understand, it's not an easy thing for the military to train a pilot. It costs the military nearly 5 million to train a novice into a skilled fighter pilot.
Therefore, the air force has always been the most sought-after among all branches of the armed forces. The ranks of the pilots are generally much higher than those of the army and navy. In a flight squadron, you can't find a single private; they are all officers.
The country has spent so much effort cultivating this talent, and Zhuang Rui just poached him like that. Do you think the old man wouldn't be angry?
However, the pilot Zhuang Rui found was already over forty years old and was indeed planning to leave the military. He had been flying transport planes for the past few years, so he and Zhuang Rui hit it off and he left the military.
In the end, Zhuang Rui approached Ouyang Jun and poached a co-pilot from an airline with a salary twice that of civil aviation.
Zhuang Ruiqian has already spent a lot of money before even seeing the plane, but everything has been taken care of, including the conversion of the military pilot's certificate, since a civil aviation certificate is required to fly civil aviation.
A regular airline pilot's monthly salary plus allowances, depending on their monthly flight distance, is generally between 30,000 and 50,000 RMB, while a co-pilot's salary is between 7,000 and 20,000 RMB.
To recruit these two people, Zhuang Rui offered them monthly salaries of 80,000 and 50,000 yuan respectively. In addition, through that civil aviation pilot, he also recruited two experienced flight attendants, offering them monthly salaries of 20,000 yuan each.
Just maintaining this plane, not counting parking fees, fuel costs, and personal insurance, costs Zhuang Rui has to spend 160,000 RMB per month, which is 1.72 million RMB per year. Zhuang Rui now understands why so many people can afford to buy a private plane but can't afford to maintain it.
That's not all. What really hurt Zhuang Rui was that he rented the Capital Airport apron for three years at once, paying a full 15 million yuan. This was after Ouyang Jun got a discount from people in the civil aviation industry. Almost all of the 2 million US dollars saved from buying the plane was spent on this.
In addition, each time the plane is put into operation, there are also some miscellaneous fees that Zhuang Rui is unaware of. In short, if the plane wants to take off, the first thing to do is to pay for the runway. Moreover, Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei are the ones who handle all these troublesome matters from beginning to end.
After signing the contract with the pilot and flight attendant and paying all the required fees, Zhuang Rui wondered if he had lost his mind and if he had been having an intermittent neurotic episode, which led him to decide to buy a private jet. Of course, it was pointless to think about that now.
In fact, Zhuang Rui felt that the expense and trouble were due to the fact that he did not have a team. For large corporations that buy private jets, these trivial matters are not something the boss needs to worry about. The people below will naturally handle everything perfectly, and the boss only needs to take the plane and leave.
Zhuang Rui also deeply realized this problem. When he convened a meeting with the two pilots and two flight attendants, a total of four people, he clarified their work and responsibilities.
Besides doing his job, the co-pilot was also assigned all sorts of miscellaneous tasks, such as contacting the airport to arrange flights. He came from a civil aviation background, so he was expected to do more work. Otherwise, why would Zhuang Rui have paid him more than twice his usual salary?
During this time, besides doing these tedious tasks, Zhuang Rui also took some time to practice skydiving. The reason was simple: this guy was afraid of dying.
Although the military pilot could fly a civilian aircraft like a fighter jet, Zhuang Rui was still a little worried, so he trained with a flight squadron for a week.
With Peng Fei's assurance that there would be absolutely no problems, Zhuang Rui successfully completed his first jump during a training session. However, somewhat tragically, he was kicked off the platform, and Zhuang Rui still doesn't know who left the footprints on his backside. Of course, the prime suspect is still that kid Peng Fei. ...
After having lunch at the courtyard house, Zhuang Rui, along with Qin Xuanbing and Peng Fei, went to the Capital Airport to meet up with the pilots and flight attendants. Together, they boarded a flight to Hong Kong to receive the luxury private jet that Zhuang Rui both loved and hated, a symbol of his status.
"Hello, Mr. Zhuang, hello, Mrs. Zhuang..."
Upon arriving at the airport, the group was already waiting in the departure lounge. Two flight attendants, being very perceptive, came up to greet Zhuang Rui and Qin Xuanbing and took the small suitcase from Qin Xuanbing's hand.
The two pilots stood up and nodded to Zhuang Rui. Apart from the one who had retired from the military and knew a little about his background, Zhuang Rui was incredibly mysterious to the others. They only knew that he was the assistant general manager of a large company.
Of course, the group didn't really believe this identity. These days, when you go out to do business and hand out business cards, they're usually either general manager or chairman of the board. But both domestically and internationally, you haven't seen many chairmen or general managers who own private jets.
Some time ago, Zhuang Rui asked Ouyang Si Shao to make a business card for him as the assistant general manager of a real estate company for the sake of convenience. Ouyang Jun was very pleased at the time, thinking that his younger brother finally knew how to do something for his family. Although the general manager was a professional manager with a team under him, Zhuang Rui's attitude was commendable.
Who knew that just one day later, Ouyang Jun was so angry that he almost pointed at Zhuang Rui and cursed him like a shrew, because this kid was not only using the company's name to do things, but also dragging him, the chairman who was several levels above him, along to run around doing things related to his broken-down plane.
This was like treating a steamed bun as if it were nothing, which made Ouyang Jun very unhappy. He took the opportunity to extort two tiger whips from Zhuang Rui, which made him feel a little better.
Chapter 621 Reception (2)
"Sigh, I really don't know if it's worth it..."
Even after the plane took off, Zhuang Rui was still agonizing over this issue. He had spent nearly 100 million RMB in total, but he still hadn't seen a glimpse of a private jet.
As Zhuang Rui closed his eyes and pondered in his mind, he was unaware that his behavior added a touch of mystery to the eyes of the flight attendants and the two pilots. The boss was indeed the boss; he was thinking about problems even while on the plane.
Only Qin Xuanbing could more or less guess what her husband was thinking. However, she used to only care about taking the plane from home and never thought about so many things. Now that it was her turn to buy it, she was shocked by the expenses.
Now Qin Xuanbing understands why her family's private jet is rarely used. It turns out it was bought just to show off. Apart from a few top tycoons in Hong Kong, many people probably share the same idea as the Qin family.
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, the Qin family sent two cars to pick them up. One car took the airport staff and Peng Fei to the hotel, while the other car took Zhuang Rui and Qin Xuanbing to the Qin family villa. Now that Zhuang Rui and Qin Xuanbing were engaged, he was already the Qin family's prospective son-in-law, so it was appropriate for him to stay at their home.
"Zhuang Rui, the annual International Jewelry Fair is in a few days. The organizers have sent us an invitation, and I'd like you and Bing'er to represent Qin's Jewelry at the fair..."
After dinner, Zhuang Rui and the others sat in the living room chatting. Qin Haoran's words made Zhuang Rui feel very awkward. How could he represent the Qin family? "Uncle Qin... Dad, this matter... is it not appropriate for Xuanbing and me to go?"
Although Zhuang Rui is quite thick-skinned now, he still calls Qin Haoran far less affectionately than he calls his mother-in-law. This is mainly because his father passed away early, so calling him "Dad" sounds a bit awkward.
"Why is it inappropriate? It's inappropriate for us to go..."
Seeing Zhuang Rui's puzzled expression, Qin Haoran smiled and continued, "Last year, your purple-eyed jade necklace won the gold medal at the International Jewelry Fair. However, according to tradition, the award ceremony for the jewelry that won the gold medal last year will be held the following year. Don't you think you, as the owner, should go?"
The reason for this regulation is that the organizers want to expand the influence of the expo, because the jewelry that wins the gold medal at each expo is often resold very quickly, and having the new owner of the jewelry receive the award will undoubtedly attract more attention.
"That necklace isn't mine anymore, it belongs to Xuanbing..."
Zhuang Rui muttered something under his breath, but he was still worried about letting Qin Xuanbing go alone, so he said, "Okay, let's go. What time exactly?"
Fang Yi said with a smile, "It's going to be held in London in a week. Your private jet will come in handy this time..."
The mother-in-law was quite pleased with what Zhuang Rui had just whispered. This son-in-law was very sensible; he knew that the jewelry worth over 100 million yuan belonged to his daughter. In case their relationship encountered any problems in the future, at least his daughter wouldn't suffer a great loss.
Fang Yi was unaware that in Zhuang Rui's heart, Qin Xuanbing already belonged to him. So what difference was there between Qin Xuanbing's things and his own?
"Yes, Xuanbing and I will go then. Mom, aren't you coming this time?"
Thinking that he could take his own private plane to England in a few days, Zhuang Rui felt a surge of excitement. He had never dared to dream of such a thing before.
"We won't be going, but someone from the company will be attending. They can arrange your schedules then..."
Qin's Jewelry also had several pieces participating in the expo, using the same red jadeite they gambled on in Myanmar. However, while red jadeite is rare, its quality wasn't top-tier. Therefore, Fang Yi and Qin Haoran weren't very optimistic about Qin's Jewelry's performance at the expo. ...
After chatting with Qin Haoran and his wife and Old Master Qin for a while, it was already 11 p.m. Zhuang Rui was taken to his room to rest by the Qin family's servants. Of course, he shared a room with Qin Xuanbing. The older generation wasn't so unconventional, otherwise Zhuang Rui would definitely have chosen to stay in a hotel.
"Zhuang Rui, who are you calling so late?"
After Qin Xuanbing finished showering, she saw Zhuang Rui making a phone call. They had already called Zhuang's mother when they got off the plane, so this call was probably not to his family.
"Shh..."
Zhuang Rui made a gesture, indicating that the call had been connected.
"Brother Huangfu, it's me, Zhuang Rui. Hope I haven't bothered you?"
Zhuang Rui just remembered that Huangfu Yun had mentioned the London Chinese Antiques Auction, which seemed to be taking place in the next few days. Since he was going, he naturally wanted to check it out, so Zhuang Rui called Huangfu Yun to confirm the time.
"Hey, Brother Zhuang, I just got up. Didn't disturb you. What brings you to call me? Are you trying to sell me that Dingguang Sword cheap?"
Huangfu Yun was not in London, but in Paris. Paris and Hong Kong are about seven or eight hours apart, so it was around six or seven in the morning. Huangfu Yun saw the blonde beauty sleeping next to him get up naked, reached out and pinched her breast, and couldn't help but secretly blame Zhuang Rui for not being able to exercise in the morning.
Huangfu Yun was quite an anomaly among Chinese students studying abroad. He was tall and handsome, which made him very attractive to girls. He was also a womanizer and had a history of romantic affairs in many cities. In his words, he wanted to "promote my country's prestige" and "make sure to take care of the descendants of the Eight-Nation Alliance."
This girl was someone Huangfuyun met yesterday at a bar in Paris. After a night of fun, they were planning to do some activities this morning, but Zhuang Rui's phone call ruined it.
Zhuang Rui, on the other end of the phone, was unaware that Huangfu Yun was secretly criticizing him. He laughed and said, "Brother Huangfu, you really want that sword? Well, let's have someone appraise its price. I'll sell it to you at 60% off. How about that? Isn't that a bargain?"
After Professor Meng recognized Zhuang Rui's sword as the "Dingguang Sword," it caused a great stir in the domestic archaeological academic community. During this period, Zhuang Rui took the sword to several academic seminars, and the "Dingguang Sword" was also identified as the "first sword of the Yin-Shang Dynasty" that has not been unearthed to date. As for the price of this sword, opinions vary, but one thing is certain: the "Dingguang Sword" will not be less than 200 million RMB.
Zhuang Rui didn't care whether the final value was 300 million or 500 million. He wasn't planning to sell it anyway, and besides, the state didn't allow the private sale of such bronze artifacts.
"60% off? Bro, that's not fair of you, calling to tease your older brother so early in the morning. Forget 60% off, even 10% off wouldn't be enough for me right now..."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Huangfu Yun was so depressed that he didn't even want to talk to the woman who was getting dressed next to him. Over the years, he had only saved up five or six million RMB. Even if the "Dingguang Sword" was discounted to one-tenth of its value, it would still cost 20 million RMB. He could only look at it with envy.
"Hehe, Brother Huangfu, don't even think about that sword anymore. It will be my family heirloom from now on..."
During this period, many people urged Zhuang Rui to donate the sword to the country, but Zhuang Rui refused. Why should he? It's my own thing, why should I give it to the country? I'm just an ordinary citizen, I don't have that kind of high awareness. I'll let my son play with it when I'm done playing with it. Whether my son donates it or not is none of Zhuang Rui's business.
Huangfu Yun waved to the blonde woman who was just leaving through the door and said into the phone, "Alright, stop showing off. What's up calling so early?"
"I just wanted to ask, what is the exact date of the London Chinese antiques auction you mentioned last time?"
Zhuang Rui vaguely heard a woman's voice and couldn't help but laugh. He realized he had really disturbed someone's good time.
"Five more days, but the auction location has changed. It's no longer in England, but in Paris. What, my friend, are you thinking of coming over?"
Huangfu Yun became interested after hearing Zhuang Rui's words. Although he was not an angry young man, he also hoped that these Chinese cultural relics lost abroad could return to their motherland. However, he was not financially able to afford them. If Zhuang Rui came, with his economic strength, he should be able to bid on more items.
Compared to London, Paris has a richer art scene, so two weeks ago, the internationally renowned auction house held this special auction of Chinese cultural relics in Paris, France, and will subsequently hold a series of auctions of precious cultural relics from various countries.
"In Paris?"
Zhuang Rui frowned upon hearing this. He was going to attend the London International Jewelry Fair in a week. He wondered if he would have enough time.
"Brother Huangfu, please wait a moment..."
Zhuang Rui turned to Qin Xuanbing and asked, "Xuanbing, how far is Paris from London? If we go to Paris first and then rush to London, will we make it in time?"
Zhuang Rui thought to himself, "How can the capitals of two countries be so close together?"
To be honest, Zhuang Rui's knowledge of world geography is really not that great. As soon as he said this, Huangfu Yun on the other end of the phone and Qin Xuanbing beside him both laughed.
Qin Xuanbing laughed as she said, "Zhuang Rui, Paris is only three or four hundred kilometers away from London. Even if we take a private plane, it will only take three or four hours by train. What are you worried about?"
Wow, a private jet? Dude, you even have one of those?
Upon hearing Qin Xuanbing's words, Huangfu Yun on the other end of the phone exclaimed in surprise, then continued, "Brother Zhuang, there are quite a few good items in this auction, some of which can't even be found in China. If you have enough funds, you'd better bring more..."
Chapter 622 Reception (3)
"Bring more funds?"
Zhuang Rui frowned upon hearing this. If it had been a few days ago, it would have been fine, but who knew that Raytheon Company would suddenly have an extra plane? After deducting the cost of purchasing the plane and paying for the airport lease, Zhuang Rui didn't have much money left.