At the doorman's invitation, Li Li didn't stand on ceremony and sat down gracefully. "Eight! Then shoot Brother Zhou."
Zhou Tao quickly ladled out a bowl of porridge and handed it to Li Li, but Li Li took the bowl to Jin Xiumei and said, "Auntie, please have some!"
Li Li noticed that Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying both had porridge in front of them, but Jin Xiumei didn't, so she brought the porridge to her.
This small gesture stirred Jin Xiumei's heart, and she began to notice Li Li. She was pretty and charming, though not as stunningly beautiful as Fu Ying. She possessed a unique, demure beauty.
Jin Xiumei glanced at Zhou Tao again, and seeing her son pause for a moment before quickly serving Li Li another bowl of porridge, Jin Xiumei was taken aback by this scene. Then she wondered, could it be her younger son's girlfriend?
Once Jin Xiumei noticed, she immediately examined the two men even more carefully. The more she looked at them, the more similar they seemed, and she was overjoyed. It was truly a double blessing: her eldest son was getting married, and her younger son had a girlfriend. As an elderly person, all she wanted was for her children to settle down and have grandchildren. Rural people like Jin Xiumei and Zhou Cangsong had very traditional ideas, and this was their only thought as they got older. Besides, Zhou Xuan's age was not young. In the city, it wouldn't be considered late marriage, but in their rural village, over twenty-five was considered late marriage.
Now that winter is here, Zhou Xuan will be twenty-seven years old in the new year. How could Jin Xiumei not be anxious? In rural families, the marriage of their children is the biggest worry for parents, and of course, the biggest problem is money.
Now, money is no longer a problem for the Zhou family. They have a house, more money than they can spend, and even their daughter-in-law is with them. What Jin Xiumei and her husband think about day and night is to get their eldest son married as soon as possible. This idea is especially important to Jin Xiumei.
The eldest son, Zhou Xuan, is 26 and still unmarried, while the second son, Zhou Tao, is 24, which is considered late marriage age in the countryside. Their daughter, Zhou Ying, is 22. In rural areas, if a girl is over 22 or 23 and still unmarried, the parents become anxious. What to do? They haven't settled down with any of their children!
But now Jin Xiumei noticed that her second son's expression towards Li Li was somewhat unusual. How could she not see something amiss with her own son?
Jin Xiumei glanced at Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying, both of whom were smiling and didn't seem surprised at all. This annoyed Jin Xiumei. These guys all seemed to know what was going on, yet they were keeping it from her alone!
However annoyed they were, they couldn't show their dissatisfaction in front of Li Li. They had to wait until she left before punishing them!
"Xiao Li, eat slowly, don't choke."
"Jin Xiumei spoke casually, then abruptly changed the subject, asking, "Xiao Li, are you used to working at the shop? How many people are in your family? What do your parents do?" Li Li stopped eating her porridge—it's impolite to eat while answering someone's question—and replied, "I'm used to working at the shop, but Brother Zhou asked me to go to the jewelry company again yesterday. It's just my parents at home, the three of us. They run a small business, a fishing tackle shop!"
Li Li answered Jin Xiumei's questions clearly and directly, and she did not hide anything about her parents' work and income.
In typical wealthy families, the concept of "marrying someone of equal social standing" is taken very seriously when it comes to their children's marriages. Li Li and Zhou Tao seem to be quite compatible lately, but Li Li still has some concerns. In addition, Zhou Tao hasn't officially made things clear to her, and things haven't progressed to a mature stage, so she hasn't thought about it too much.
But Li Li still had these things on her mind. For example, Zhou Xuan seemed to be an extremely wealthy person. When she first started working at the antique shop, she had estimated that the Zhou family was richer than she had imagined. The antique shop looked to be worth at most a few million, but she was surprised after starting work there. Just a few days ago, the shop auctioned two items and made more than 200 million!
After working for so long, Li Li understood that the antique shop was basically invested in by Zhou Tao's brother, Zhou Xuan, and the shop's scale was close to 300 million yuan. Zhou Tao also had 10% of the shares, which was 30 million yuan of assets!
Then Zhou Xuan transferred her to the jewelry company. She was specifically transferred to do finance. After a day of understanding, she also had a comprehensive understanding of Zhou Xuan's plan and funds for investing in the jewelry company. The direct cash investment was 400 million yuan. On the other hand, the estimated value of the large amount of jadeite that the stone-cutting factory has extracted so far is more than the 400 million yuan cash investment. So how much is Zhou Xuan's wealth?
Based on the assets of this jewelry company alone, it is worth at least 900 million yuan. Excluding Xu Juncheng and Zhou Tao's 20% shares, Zhou Xuan alone owns 80%, which is more than 700 million yuan. Adding the 50% shares of the antique shop, Zhou Xuan owns almost 900 million yuan.
There was also other wealth revealed by Chuan Lu. Li Li was almost certain that Zhou Fu's wealth was over 100 million yuan. Such a wealthy family was beyond her imagination. As Zhou Xuan's younger brother, Zhou Tao directly held shares in the two companies, and the combined assets of the two companies already exceeded 100 million yuan!
She's dating a billionaire, will that end well?
This was Li Li's biggest worry. However, after knowing Zhou Tao for so long, Li Li had come to understand him somewhat. Although Zhou Tao possessed astonishing wealth, he didn't have the typical traits of a rich person; he was purely a simple countryman, a trait Li Li liked. But just because Zhou Tao had this personality didn't mean his parents did. Li Li hesitated, and Zhou Tao's timid nature prevented him from expressing his feelings, so she didn't clarify things either.
But she never expected that Zhou Xuan's family didn't even have the mentality of nouveau riche. Her parents were just like they were in the countryside, with no expectations of their own family's future. They only cared about whether the girl was willing to marry into the family and never thought about having high standards.
The eldest daughter-in-law, Fu Ying, brought great joy to Jin Xiumei and Zhou Cangsong, the elderly couple. In their hearts, Fu Ying was more than a match for their son. Jin Xiumei also liked Li Li, and it would be a blessing for Zhou Tao if he could marry her.
When Li Li answered her question, Jin Xiumei was even happier to learn that Li Li's family was just an ordinary one. It was better for the girl's family to be ordinary; besides, Li Li was indeed a lovely young woman, and she was very likable.
After serving Li Li some porridge, Zhou Tao served himself a bowl and slurped it down. Once he finished, he stopped and said to Zhou Xuan, "Brother, the company name has been changed to Zhou's Jewelry. President Xu is really quick! The craftsmen he brought back have been secretly placed in a stone-cutting factory in the suburbs. I estimate that within a month, a batch of new designs will be on the market. President Xu has also already ordered a batch of jewelry from overseas. The new jewelry company will be open for business within a week!"
Zhou Xuan waved his hand and said, "We shouldn't talk about business over dinner. The reason I asked you to go with Xiaoli is to help President Xu run the new company well. You don't know much about it, so learn and do more to gain more experience. The company is our own, and you can only stand on your own two feet if you have the ability. I won't say anything else!"
"Brother, I know!" Zhou Tao stopped talking and continued drinking his porridge.
Zhou Xuan knew his younger brother's character well; he was down-to-earth and hardworking. Because he wasn't highly educated, he wasn't ambitious either. Even though he suddenly acquired a large sum of money, he didn't become arrogant, which reassured Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Tao and Li Li came to see Zhou Xuan. Seeing that he was in good spirits and didn't seem to be sick, they were relieved.
After dinner, in the living room, Aunt Liu brought out a fruit platter. Zhou Xuan took a pear and took a bite when the phone rang.
Fu Ying answered the phone, and after hanging up, she walked over to Zhou Xuan and said, "It was your brother Hong who called you. He said a friend of his has an event, something about appraisal, and he wants you to go with him. He'll wait for you at home!"
"Oh, then I'll go right away!" Zhou Xuan said, standing up. Fu Ying, however, bit her lip, looking somewhat unhappy.
Jin Xiumei understood Fu Ying's thoughts. If Zhou Xuan went to Wei Haihong's place, he might run into Wei Xiaoqing, which would naturally make Fu Ying unhappy!
Zhou Xuan didn't notice Fu Ying's expression. He changed his sneakers and said, "I'm going to Hong Ge's place. You guys have fun at home. Zhou Tao, if you have time, why don't you go shopping with Xiao Li?"
"Son!" Jin Xiumei, with her sharp eyes, spoke up before Fu Yingsheng could get even angrier: "Son, let Yingying go with you. She's been taking care of you these past few days and she's been very tired. Take her out for a walk and let her relax!"
Zhou Xuan was taken aback. He glanced at Fu Ying and then realized the problem. He gave an embarrassed smile and shrugged, saying, "Alright, let's go together then."
Fu Ying cheered up and took Zhou Xuan's arm as soon as they left the villa. The two didn't drive, but instead hailed a taxi outside Hongcheng Square. When they arrived at Wei Haihong's place, Wei Haihong had already prepared a car and was waiting. It seemed that the old man wasn't home. If he were, he would definitely be outside to greet Zhou Xuan when he knew she was coming.
Wei Haihong prepared a dark black Mercedes-Benz, which was quite ordinary to him, just like an average person would drive a Santana.
Wei Haihong smiled and helped Fu Ying and Zhou Xuan into the car. He then sat in the passenger seat and told the driver to start the car before turning around and saying, "Brother, I didn't even invite you to come to my house. I didn't call you today for anything important. It's just an event for amateur collectors, with some experts present. It's like an amateur appraisal event or something. Although it's an amateur event, there are quite a few good items. There are many hidden talents among the people. Besides, this is Beijing, one of the most prestigious places for collectors!"
Volume 1, Chapter 233: Folk Treasure Appraisal (2)
Erhai Hongzhi was a collector who spared no expense. However, due to the delays caused by the affairs of Jingbi County, he had not allowed Zhou Xuan to see his collection. The idea of going to such a place today was brought up on the spur of the moment, and Zhou Xuan gladly accepted.
Firstly, Zhou Xuan made his fortune in antiques. Although it was due to his ice-qi ability, it's undeniable that his ability has a unique advantage in dealing with antiques, jade, and other precious stones. Therefore, Zhou Xuan naturally developed an inseparable affinity for antiques, and his interest immediately blossomed when the topic came up, a stark contrast to his previous complete ignorance. That's a completely different story now.
At least for now, no one who knows him would consider Zhou Xuan a novice. Having experienced so much, and with his ice-based abilities, coupled with his nightly study before bed, his knowledge of antiques has greatly increased. He's almost reached the level of a near-expert. And if he adds his special ability to appraise antiques, he could be considered the best in the world, unmatched by anyone.
Wei Haihong wasn't surprised or bothered by Fu Ying's constant presence with Zhou Xuan, since it wasn't for any shady private activities or debauchery, so it didn't bother him.
Fu Ying was in a good mood when she saw that she did not see Wei Xiaoqing here, and it was not the situation she had imagined or worried about.
Currently, there are quite a few treasure appraisal events in Beijing. The most popular and largest-scale one is the treasure appraisal program hosted by CCTV, which has four experts and has even traveled to various parts of the country to hold local treasure appraisal events, and it's very popular.
The place Wei Haihong brought Zhou Xuan to wasn't an officially organized event, but rather a gathering of private collectors. Many of these collectors were newcomers, lacking real knowledge of antiques. They were simply interested, intrigued by their mystique, and hoping to make a fortune. They scoured everywhere for antiques, but since they didn't understand them, they didn't know which institutions could truly authenticate them, such as antique shops and pawnshops. Frankly, they didn't really trust these places, because these shops were all in it for the money; it wouldn't be surprising if they called your priceless treasure worthless junk.
This event was actually a networking activity organized online by a group of collectors. Initially, participants were connected, and everyone brought their collections together. The organizers then invited experts to provide free appraisals. Those interested in selling could do so, and those willing to buy could purchase. The event quickly became popular, initially held every six months, then every three months, and now every two months.