A Wizard's Survival Guide to the 20th Century

Soon, a building with a marble facade appeared in front of Levi. One corner of the quadrilateral building is cut into a bevel, and its door opens here. It is a beautiful walnut door with no other signs.

Levi walked over and knocked lightly on the door.

Not long after, there was a noise and a clicking sound from behind the door.

Then, someone seemed to come to the back of the door.

"Who is it?"

The voice was dull, with a Baroque Republic accent.

"Hello, I was introduced by Mr. Davidson. I am buying some rare things at high prices, and I heard that you are the best collector around here."

The voice behind the door hesitated for a moment, then came out again.

"I want to ask, are you from St. Francis?"

"No, Siris." Levi said.

"Are you a friend of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association?"

Li Wei frowned. This guy asked in such detail. Is he only doing business with acquaintances?

No, what he cares about is whether I have anything to do with the intricate forces of St. Francis. Think about it, what does a collector fear most about his beloved collection?

The answer is strong buying and strong selling.

"Not really a friend, I'm just a foreigner who passed by here by chance." Levi said in a gentle voice.

After hearing these words, the person behind the door seemed to relax a little. The door locks clicked one after another. It seemed that there were many locks of different models on this door.

With a "squeak", the door was pushed open from behind, and a thin man wearing an extremely loose suit stuck his head out. His face was so thin that the bones could be seen, and he had messy blond hair.

"Haha, please come in." The collector smiled, "But I still need to think about the business again, but if you want to visit my collection, I fully welcome it."

Levi took off his hat, nodded, and walked into the building.

Unlike what Levi thought, the building had neat wooden patterned floors and the light from the chandelier was gentle.

The first thing I saw was the stairs at the door and a small bar next to the stairs. Various wine bottles were displayed in an emotional manner behind the bar. There was also a pair of sofas and coffee tables to sit on, all neatly arranged.

No wonder he locked the door, the alcohol alone was enough for Prohibition agents to seize a dozen times.

Levi shook his head and smiled.

"This is such a surprise to me. I thought you were a crazy collector of slovenly things."

Hearing this, the Collector smiled a little proudly.

"I just don't care much about my image. I have always taken good care of this museum."

"No matter how I look, as long as I can see it neat and clean, I can feel happy."

Levi smiled and said: "I can understand this feeling. I also used to like to collect some things, put them in exquisite glass display cabinets, and wipe the dust on them from time to time."

"Oh?" The collector was stunned, and then his expression showed obvious affection.

"What kind of precious things do you collect?"

"Most of the small sculptures are female figures, and there are also some monsters like dragons, or the protagonists of opera stories." Li Wei laughed.

"Oh... this is really a rare interest." The collector nodded as if meeting a like-minded person, thinking of exquisite objects made of materials such as marble, bronze or ceramics.

"Sit down first, be casual, and I'll pour you a glass of wine... Do you mind?"

Although most people don't take Prohibition seriously, there are still quite a few non-drinkers.

Levi shook his head.

The collector walked to the glass sliding door cabinet behind the bar. After pulling it open, he held his chin and thought carefully.

Immediately, he took out a brown flat wine bottle, then took out two glasses, took out some ice cubes from the ice bucket and put them in.

Finally, he carefully poured a cup for each of them and walked over with the cup in hand.

The glass was placed in front of Levi and made a gentle sound. The ice cubes inside were suspended in the golden brown wine, shaking slightly.

Li Wei picked it up, and the wine exuded a faint sweetness. It was smooth in the mouth and had a mellow and sweet taste. It was definitely a good wine.

"How is it?" the collector asked expectantly.

"It has the aroma of honey, caramel and vanilla, as well as a touch of oak. It's very mellow." Levi put down the cup, thought for a moment, and joked casually.

Anyway, the descriptions of Western wines are basically the same.

The collector nodded approvingly: "1913 Kentucky Fried Chicken Bourbon, one of my collections."

"That's it. Thank you for your generosity." Levi nodded with a smile and stretched out his right hand.

"Levi."

"Pierre Dupont." Pierre shook hands with him, and the relationship between the two people instantly became much closer.

"Excuse me, are you not from Phoenix?" After putting down the wine glass, Levi asked as he watched Pierre continue to pour wine for the two of them.

"Yes, I am a Baroque. As for why I came to the United States, you also know, because of the world war."

Pierre said with a wry smile.

The World War that had just ended for two years had a profound impact on Xizhou, especially on the Baroque. Thousands of Baroques fled to the Hamptons, Genoa, and Phoenix. After all, no one wanted to be sent to the Main and Walden to be a filler baby.

Levi couldn't help but think of Charlie's cheap dad. A considerable part of the latter's tragic fate was caused by the world war.

"I can understand that a collector like you shouldn't die in the stinky water of the trenches." Levi smiled and raised his glass, touching it with Pierre.

"What do you collect?"

Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming familiar, Levi began to get straight to the point.

“There’s everything, as long as it’s something I like and it’s rare enough,” the collector said, adding dejectedly, “And I can still afford it.”

"It seems that your financial situation is not very optimistic." Levi smiled.

He likes people whose financial situation is not optimistic.

"Yes, you also know that I am a collector, and most of my energy is spent on taking care of these... collections."

Pierre pointed: "So I don't have time to do too much work. I used my savings to invest in a canned food company and I can get income every year. But unfortunately, they were affected by the fire. , recently declared bankruptcy.”

Levi suddenly thought of something: "Tangras canned food?"

Pierre looked up in surprise: "Yes, do you have a friend who also works there?"

"Haha, that's about it." Levi was in an inexplicably better mood and smiled, "You continue."

"Oh." Pierre didn't pay attention and continued, "So I plan to sell a small part of the collection and collect the money to do commercial collections to maintain this private museum... I just bought some at a low price and they may appreciate in value later. collection, waiting for their prices to rise before selling them at high prices.”

Is this approach equivalent to stock trading or stone betting? Levi secretly remembered it in his heart, and then listened to Pierre's next words.