I said ambiguously, "Tell me first, and I'll do my best to help if I can." Through several interactions, I knew this woman was a formidable character who could make people suffer without them even realizing it, so I was extra careful.
"Do you know why I sold you something worth 2 million for 200,000?" Chen Kejiao started beating around the bush again. There's not much to say about this; I definitely got a great deal. That's how I got my little villa. This makes me even more wary. When women complain about men or want even bigger benefits, they always say: "Think about how I treated you..."
Seeing that I was pretending to be clueless, Chen Kejiao simply continued talking to herself: "Firstly, because you know your stuff, and secondly, we wanted to express our sincerity to facilitate greater cooperation in the future. But now..."
I interjected, "Is this kind of even bigger opportunity for collaboration coming?"
Chen Kejiao nodded approvingly. I poured her a glass of water and gestured for her to continue. Chen Kejiao twirled the glass and said, "My father is an avid antique collector, and he's fortunate enough to own a large company, which gives him a lot of advantages. Almost all of his personal assets are used to acquire antiques, and the total value of these items is about four hundred million."
I gasped as she continued.
"Unfortunately, the company's performance has been declining since last year. At first, it was just a matter of some cash flow problems, but this year's earthquake has brought far more than just adding insult to injury; it has been devastating."
I couldn't help but ask, "Does your dad run an illegal coal mine?"
Chen Kejiao ignored my joke and slowly said, "My father is in real estate, in the Qingshui Jiayuan residential complex."
"Huh?" I exclaimed as if I'd been burned by a soldering iron. Qingshui Garden? Isn't that where I bought my villa?
Chen Kejiao said she could understand my overreaction, saying, "Manager Xiao, you can imagine how much the earthquake will impact the real estate market, right?"
I immediately waved my hand: "No, you sold me that bottle before the earthquake. Did you predict the earthquake and think of an opportunity for us to cooperate in advance?"
Chen Kejiao smiled slightly: "It seems Manager Xiao isn't stupid after all." What kind of talk is that? So, in her mind, I've always been a complete idiot. She said, "Actually, before the earthquake, I advised my father to sell some of his antiques, but that would be tantamount to taking his life. After my repeated persuasion, he reluctantly agreed to pawn them first, so he could redeem them later. So during that time, Assistant Chen and I went all over the city's pawnshops, and we selected those with the financial means and the knowledge to appreciate their value."
"Then why was Jihao ultimately chosen?"
“Jihao is the most professional, and more importantly, I can tell that Manager Xiao is an interesting person. You probably like antiques too, right?” As she spoke, a faint smile appeared in Chen Kejiao’s eyes.
I was so ashamed I wanted to die. I'll never forget the day I appeared before Chen Kejiao wearing Liu Bang's imperial robes. Actually, that's complete nonsense. Jihao has multiple branches in the city; if you want to do big business in the pawnshop industry, there's no other choice.
"Because of this earthquake, my father finally made up his mind to pawn his antiques to save the company. After all, collecting is just a hobby, and Qingshui Garden is his greatest pride in this life."
"How many items are you planning to sell?"
"All of them!" Chen Kejiao said resolutely.
I was so shocked I almost fell off my stool, and asked in a deep voice, "It's gotten to this point?"
Chen Kejiao said sadly, "To be honest, the Qingshui Jiayuan villa area, on which we had placed high hopes, has only sold one house so far..."
Only one unit was sold, and I was the one who bought it.
After all that, Qingshui Jiayuan gave me a bottle. I exchanged the bottle for money and bought another apartment from them. If I'd known, you should have just given me an apartment from the start! I would have saved a bottle—but why, with the same result, is the bottle gone? Is this the function of a market economy?
"So I desperately need money right now. The company looks good on the surface, but that's just keeping it afloat. If I don't get a huge sum of money to get through this period, it will collapse."
"...Isn't this a trade secret?" I asked cautiously.
“It used to be, but it won’t be anymore.” Chen Kejiao laughed self-deprecatingly.
"This is great news—uh, I mean our collaboration. I'll call our boss right now." The thought of dealing in a business worth hundreds of millions made me dizzy. Even at 5%, that's enough to last a lifetime. Actually, I've been so busy lately that I've almost forgotten I'm a heartless pawnshop manager.
Chen Kejiao said, "Wait, let me finish. I know you are business people too, and it's fine to have someone inspect the goods and lower the price, but I have one request."
"explain."
"The current period is ten years."
"What's the meaning?"
“It’s very simple. This means that my father’s antiques will be kept in your bank for exactly 10 years. If we redeem them early, we will pay the penalty fee as agreed.”
I reminded her, "Think it over. A 20% storage fee every year will double in 10 years. You'll need 1.2 billion to redeem something worth 400 million."
"You don't need to worry about that."
"What if you're unable to redeem the pawned item then?"
Chen Kejiao said in an unquestionable tone, "It's definitely possible."
I had a vague feeling that something was amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Luckily, I still had Boss Hao. Now my only worry was whether he could come up with that much money. Although Boss Hao was a big shot in the industry, he always claimed to be losing money. The old guys in the industry had secretly calculated that he made a net profit of 4 million in his worst year. Moreover, in the pawnshop business, even if you really lose money for several years in a row, as long as you get a good item, you'll be set for life. Boss Hao has been in this business for so many years, no one knows the depth of his abilities.
When Lao Hao heard it was me, he seemed somewhat warmer. After we chatted for a bit, I told him the whole story in detail. After I finished, there was no response for a long time. I thought Lao Hao was too happy to listen, but unexpectedly, without warning, he started cursing at me:
"Don't you use your brain when you do things? Let me ask you, why is there only a maximum term and no minimum in our line of work? It's simple. At the minimum, even if it only passes through our hands for a second, we still get a 20% storage fee, so we don't lose money. The maximum? 3 years. Because 3 years is the limit we can control. The longer the time, the more variables there are. What about currency devaluation, inflation, natural disasters, war... Can you guarantee that none of these things will happen in ten years?"
Seeing that my expression was getting worse, Chen Kejiao consciously walked out.
I immediately tried to appease him, saying, "Shopkeeper, please don't be angry. Besides, can't you just hope our country is doing well? Antiques appreciate in value, after all."
After calming himself down, Lao Hao said, "Okay, even if we've had ten years of peace and prosperity, I only have one question for you: In these ten years, what could you do with 400 million without making double the money? And as for appreciation, let's say an antique worth 400 million is worth 4 billion in ten years. Then the owner can just redeem it. In that case, wouldn't you have been holding onto it for free for the past ten years? You'd have to live in fear and worry, and if it got lost or damaged, you'd have to pay for it. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
There are still some sensible people in this world! That woman Chen Kejiao, she tricked me after all! I knew something was off; this woman was playing games with my timing. As I realized this, I felt a pang of sadness: it seems my brain should probably say goodbye to the pawnshop business.
There's a saying that even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. 400 million might not have meant much to the Chen family before, but now it's a lifeline. So Chen Kejiao, this nearly starved camel, said to us, the horse: "Let me bite you a few times, and when I get fat again in ten years, I'll spit out the flesh I've eaten to repay you." She never considered that the horse might not be able to take it.
Finally, Lao Hao summarized his statement with one sentence: "This deal is still possible if we can negotiate the price—the key is that I don't have that much money."
Damn it! If you don't have money, just say so. You lectured me for nothing. Why are people so inconsiderate these days?
When Chen Kejiao came in again and saw my pale face, she knew it was hopeless. I gripped the phone, unsure what to say. We stared at each other for a few seconds, more awkward than two people who hadn't spoken in six months. Out of boredom, I used a mind-reading technique on her, and all that appeared on my phone screen were a few scrolling words: "A lifetime of hard work, a lifetime of hard work..."
The woman didn't seem embarrassed at being caught trying to deceive me; she was just repeatedly chanting about her father.
I couldn't bring myself to say anything sarcastic to her anymore, so I could only say as if to comfort her, "No one wants to hold onto something with unlimited appreciation potential for someone else, so why don't you sell it?"
Chen Kejiao waved her hand in the air and said resolutely, "The word 'sell' is grayed out in my options bar!"