Break out of the courtyard

Chapter 594 New Year's Eve

What is the biggest difference between poor people and rich people?

It's not about money, it's about face!

When Yi Zhonghai, Qin Huairu, Sha Zhu and their gang saw Zhang Heping's family, they all turned their backs and pretended not to know the Zhang family.

On the other hand, among the three siblings of the Lou family, Lou Xiao'e's two elder brothers had never met Zhang Heping before, but they ran to the Capital Hotel happily holding four long wooden boxes.

"Xiao'e, Axiao, order whatever you want to eat!" Lou Wenru said generously with his back to the three tables of people at the Zhang family's side.

Lou Xiao'e seemed to have just discovered the Zhang family and asked in surprise, "Uncle Zhang, Aunt Ma, Heping, you are eating here too!"

Zhang Heping looked at Lou Xiao'e with a forced smile. This woman had just peeked into the restaurant from the door, and after a while she came in with her son, followed by two other men, pretending to meet them by chance.

Zhang Bing turned his head and looked at Lou Xiao'e and the other three people. He found that Lou Xiao'e only brought her second son He Xiao out. He didn't want to pay much attention to her and just snorted.

"Lou Xiao'e, why are you eating here? Is your restaurant in front of you closed?" Ma Xiuzhen asked honestly.

The main reason is that she has too many doubts recently. Last night she learned that her son had borrowed hundreds of billions of loans. Although Xu Jiefeng, Zhang Heping and Zhang Pandi explained it, she still can't let it go.

In addition, this afternoon, although she went to the Houhai Sub-district Office to discuss the demolition and reconstruction of courtyards 6, 7 and 8, her son Zhang Heping told Director Qi that they wanted courtyards 4 and 5 next door, then mentioned the shops along the street, and finally changed it to courtyards 9 and 10.

With so many doubts lingering in her mind, she didn't think too much about what she said.

Even though Lou Xiao'e had become very thick-skinned after doing business for many years, she was still stunned by Ma Xiuzhen's question.

"Aunt Ma, look at what you said. We just came out to change our taste today. Lou's Restaurant is still open." Lou Xiao'e replied and pulled out a chair and sat at the empty table next to Zhang's.

Seeing that Zhang Heping did not respond, Lou Xiao'e looked at her second brother Lou Wenjun with a smile, ready to implement the second plan.

Lou Wenjun, who was sitting facing the Zhang family, opened a long wooden box, took out a scroll of painting and unfolded it. He said to his eldest brother Lou Wenru with great interest, "Brother, this painting of Tang Yin's ladies is absolutely authentic."

"Look at this poem. The peony garden is in full bloom again in spring. Time is worth a ton of gold. When the dawn comes, people don't understand why they can't let go of their love for the flowers. The poem was written by Tang Yin, and the signature and seal are also by Tang Yin!"

Lou Wenru, who was sitting with his back to the Zhang family, responded: "It's hard to say whether it's true or not. We have to ask a great collector to see it to know."

After Lou Wenru finished speaking, he looked at Lou Xiaoe.

Lou Xiao'e turned to look at Zhang Heping's table and said with a smile, "Heping, do you know anything about Tang Yin's paintings? My brother received four Tang Yin paintings of ladies today. Can you help me check whether they are real or not?"

When Zhang Heping heard this, he immediately understood the purpose of these people's visit. They probably wanted to sell the four paintings to him.

I just don't know whether it was the private collection of the Lou family, or whether they were influenced by the movie "Ghost Blows Out the Light" and dug it out from somewhere.

Zhang Heping looked up at the painting held by Lou Xiaoe's second brother and said disdainfully, "The handwriting is so ugly, you can tell it's fake at a glance."

"Fake?" Lou Wenjun put down the scroll unwillingly and started to check it himself.

Lou Xiao'e, who had successfully received a response from Zhang Heping, hurriedly opened another long wooden box, picked up a scroll, came to Zhang Heping and unfolded it, and asked expectantly: "Heping, can you help me take another look at this one? Is it real?"

Zhang Heping glanced at the nine red seals on the painting and nodded, "This one looks a bit like the original."

"Let me see!" The father-in-law Tang Ming took out his glasses and put them on, then stood up and walked towards the painting of the lady held by Lou Xiao'e.

Tang Ming touched the paper, picked up the scroll and looked at the lines on it carefully, took off his glasses, shook his head and said, "This is a replica from the Republic of China period. My father bought this kind of fake back then."

After saying this, Tang Ming sat back with a slightly disappointed look on his face.

Lou Xiao'e put away the scroll awkwardly. Lou Wenjun put down the painting he had just rolled up and took out another painting of a lady.

"Old sir, could you please help us check if this painting of a lady is real?" Lou Wenjun asked anxiously.

Tang Ming just took a look and shook his head, saying, "This painting of a lady is similar to the previous two. They are both imitations from the Republic of China period."

Zhang Heping was laughing on the side. This member of the Lou family was also a talented person. He discovered that his father-in-law Tang Ming was knowledgeable about Tang Yin's paintings of ladies. He also heard that Tang Ming's father had bought a fake, so he made Tang Ming his main target.

Lou Wenru opened the last long wooden box, walked over with an unwilling look on his face, unfolded the scroll, and said, "Old sir, we have another painting of a lady, please take a look!"

Tang Ming saw so many marks left by his predecessors on the painting. He put on his glasses again and looked at it. He shook his head and said, "Tang Yin won the first place in the Suzhou Prefecture Examination at the age of 16, and the first place in the Nanzhili County Examination at the age of 28. The following year, he went to Beijing to participate in the joint examination and won the first place."

"Do you know which year Tang Yin won the top prize in high school?" Tang Ming took off his glasses, asked with some disappointment, then sat back in his chair.

Lou Wenru answered the question irrelevantly and said, "Old sir, to be honest! This painting of a lady was bought by my father for two thousand dollars. At that time, he asked many experts to authenticate it. This painting is definitely authentic."

Zhang Heping smiled and said, "Dad, the words written by Qianlong on the painting and the words written by Chen Hongshou on the left should be real."

"Oh?" Tang Ming put on his glasses again, stood up and took a closer look.

Zhang Heping told the interested family members nearby: "Tang Yin participated in the imperial examination at the age of 29 and won the title of Jieyuan. That year was the th year of Hongzhi. It was also in this year that Tang Yin was involved in the imperial examination fraud case. After he was released from prison, he was demoted to a minor official and devoted himself to painting."

"The date on this painting is the Bingzi year of the Zhengde reign, which means that Tang Yin was 46 years old when he painted it."

"The problem lies in the two characters 'Jie Yuan' in the signature. That is Tang Yin's biggest pain! Think about the signatures of the first three copies. Isn't there the word 'Jie Yuan'?"

"Haha!" Tang Ming took off his glasses, shook his head and laughed, "It seems that this painting is worth two thousand dollars. After all, even Emperor Qianlong was deceived."

Zhang Heping didn't look at the expressions of the three Lou siblings. He smiled at his family and said, "Many antique calligraphy and paintings were taken into the coffin for burial. I think those things of the dead are dirty, so I haven't bought any antique calligraphy and paintings for my family until now."

"Our train station has been very strict on the sale of cultural relics recently!" Chang Sheng, the brother-in-law of the police train attendant, looked at the scroll that Lou Wenru was putting away and said seriously, "For paintings like those in their hands, we will specifically inquire about their origins and check the relevant purchase receipts. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to take them on the train."

The eldest sister Zhang Zhaodi said at the next table: "I heard that it was because a tomb-robbing movie called Ghost Blows Out the Light was released in Hong Kong Island, which attracted many Hong Kong businessmen and foreigners to come to our country to collect cultural relics!"

"Hehe!" Chen Shuting laughed and said, "We invested in that movie. Heping provided the script. It was mainly to advertise Heping brand cars and to help attract tourists from the mainland."

"If you hadn't mentioned the Heping brand car, I would have almost forgotten it!" Zhang Pandi, the second sister, looked at Zhang Heping, "Brother, can your car only run 120 kilometers on a single charge? Is there any car that can run farther? 120 kilometers is too short. We can only drive it in the city and don't dare to drive it on business trips."

"There will be some in the future!" Zhang Heping said with a smile, "As I recall, your company's orders are scheduled until next year. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I know!" Nephew Zhang Yi interrupted, "Because my mother was assigned a car."

Zhang Heping understood that his second sister Zhang Pandi was so anxious for her own car. "The current 1.0 model is only made for foreigners to see. The short range is to better enter the foreign market to avoid foreign oil car companies collectively boycotting our cars."

"What you mean is..." Zhang Pandi wanted to say something, but Chen Shuting beside her held her thigh down.

Chen Shuting leaned close to Zhang Pandi's ear and whispered something, then looked at the three siblings of the Lou family who returned to their seats in embarrassment.

The three brothers and sisters of the Lou family were really good at scheming. They first used three fake paintings to pave the way, and finally took out a painting of a lady that they thought was a real painting, and found Tang Ming as a potential buyer. Unfortunately, Tang Ming valued Tang Yin's paintings, not Qianlong's authentic works.

And Zhang Heping just said that he had never bought antique calligraphy or paintings for his home because he thought they were dirty!

These words seemed to be a refusal of the three Lou siblings' attempt to sell him antique paintings and calligraphy, but in fact they were indicating that he would not accept burial objects.

It is said that before the Carrian case happened, Mr. Chen, the man behind the Carrian Group, had collected a lot of antiques and stored them on the top floor of the Golden Gate Building in Central.

After the Jianing case broke out, some Hong Kong businessmen spread the rumor that the antiques purchased by Mr. Chen were all funerary objects and had ruined the feng shui of their group.

After this rumor came out, many Hong Kong businessmen sold their private collections of antique calligraphy and paintings and instead collected gold, jade and other items.

……

It took Zhang Heping and others two days to get a reply from Director Qi of Houhai Sub-district Office, saying that courtyards 9 and 10 could be moved, but those residents might have to wait until after the New Year to move out.

The Chinese New Year is only five days away. This is understandable. The New Year holiday coupled with snowy weather is indeed not suitable for moving.

As for how Director Qi changed the room, that’s quite simple.

When the courtyard houses were first nationalized, homeowners could only keep houses based on the number of family members. The extra houses were confiscated and then rented out by street offices, units, and factories.

Therefore, in addition to the confiscated houses, the deeds of some private properties are still in the hands of the homeowners.

The people in the street office knew which homeowners had the house deeds and which courtyard was not harmonious. They only needed to exchange Ma Xiuzhen's house deed with the homeowner who wanted to move out of the courtyard, and then use the Houhai Street house that Ma Xiuzhen had exchanged for to exchange for the houses in courtyards No. 9 and No. 10 on the north bank of Houhai.

However, if this change is made, it will be difficult for those homeowners to get back the courtyard houses that previously belonged to them!

Zhang Heping remembers that in a few years the property rights of the capital's courtyard houses will be returned to the original owners, or distributed to existing tenants.

In order to ensure a smooth house change, Zhang Heping went to the Friendship Store to buy some New Year goods and sent them to the Houhai Street Office, regardless of whether they distributed them themselves or took them to the public relations office for a house change.

When Zhang Heping came back from the street office, he found Director Wang waiting in the main room, talking to Ma Xiuzhen.

"You bastard, you left those experts, students, and their families in Hong Kong Island, and you came back to celebrate the New Year!" Director Wang complained, "What if something goes wrong?"

Zhang Heping sat down at the dinner table, grabbed a handful of melon seeds, and said with a smile, "Don't worry! They will be accompanied by security personnel when they travel, and you have informed the Hong Kong police. Unless those people disobey the instructions and run around, you can't blame me."

"Besides, you came back to celebrate the New Year!"

"Humph!" Director Wang said dissatisfiedly, "I came back only after confirming their schedule during the Spring Festival. You just opened your mouth and threw the matter out!"

"Hehe!" Zhang Heping laughed nonchalantly, "After all, you are my superior!"

"I'm not going to argue with you any more!" Director Wang said sternly, "I heard from Xiuzhen that you guys want to tear down this yard and rebuild it. What does Lao Qi say?"

"He wants me to help the factories in Houhai Street earn foreign exchange. I plan to use the name of Tingmei Trading to order some hospital gowns, bed sheets, uniforms and the like from them." Zhang Heping thought, "It's a pity that their jade sources are not stable, otherwise we can cooperate for a long time to export handicrafts."

Director Wang frowned and said, "He's going to retire in a few years. He may not be able to get a promotion if we do this!"

"I gave him an idea to turn the two banks west of Yinding Bridge into street-side shops and create a commercial street for individual businesses to cater to the reform and opening-up policy." Zhang Heping shook his head. "Unfortunately, Lao Qi was worried that the policy would be tightened in the future, so he didn't agree with my suggestion."

Director Wang thought for a moment and said, "His worries are not without reason. Jichun, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Fuzhou and Xiamen, and Hainan have all had problems. It is reasonable to slow down a bit."

"Also, he may want to wait until your house is rebuilt. If your street-front shop is successful, he may then rebuild the street-front shop, which will be much smoother."

"Let him do whatever he wants!" Zhang Heping said indifferently, "He's the most anxious one anyway!"

The two chatted for a while, and then Director Wang Sumei explained the purpose of her visit and asked Zhang Heping to attend a meeting!

...

Early in the morning of February 2, Director Wang's driver Xiao Zhou delivered a stack of Spring Festival Gala tickets, and then drove the Santana that had been repaired many times to take Zhang Heping to attend the automobile production planning meeting.

This year's Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve will be held at the Workers' Stadium in the capital.

The venue is very large and there are many people going to watch the show. However, the Zhang family has not been able to get tickets before, so in the end they have to rely on Director Wang and others for help.

Without Zhang Heping around, Chen Shuting finally knew how Tang Xin and the others had lived in the capital.

Go ice skating in Beihai Park in the morning, go shopping in the afternoon, and eat some roadside snacks that don’t look too dirty.

The reason why Zhang Heping was called to the automobile production planning meeting was mainly because of the order problem of the Heping Automobile Factory.

"The order from Heping Automobile Factory!" After Zhang Heping understood what the host meant, he looked at the leaders of the meeting and said:

"We can cancel the order contract because no deposit was paid when the contract was signed, which is not in compliance with the rules of the Heping Automobile Factory. Because of this, no one in the sales department of the Heping Automobile Factory received their year-end bonus last year!"

As Zhang Heping finished speaking, everyone at the meeting breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since Zhang Heping said that automobile production lines could be provided to domestic automobile factories first, provinces such as Guangxi, Guangdong and Hebei all wanted automobile production lines.

As a result, these provinces wanted to cancel the car orders previously placed with the Heping Automobile Factory and leave them to the car companies in their respective provinces to digest.

"Mr. Zhang, we are not canceling all orders, we are just reducing the order volume by two-thirds." A middle-aged man in a black suit said with a smile, "After all, your delivery time is a bit long. For example, the official cars in our Guangxi Province are already scheduled until February of the year after next."

"No!" Zhang Heping waved his hand. "I just said that the contract can be cancelled! If you want to re-sign the contract, please prepare the deposit and confirm the payment time for the balance. We are small business owners and do not sell on credit!"

When the participants heard that they could not buy on credit, many of them gave up the idea of ​​renegotiating the contract.

An old man in a gray Mao suit asked, "Mr. Zhang, if we don't cancel the contract, can we postpone the payment of the relevant car price?"

Zhang Heping said calmly: "This question is like asking the workers of the Heping Automobile Factory, if we don't pay you, would you still be willing to continue working?"

Wang Sumei sat aside without saying a word. She now gradually understood why Zhang Heping wanted to sell the automobile production line. He wanted to lose domestic automobile orders!

Considering the triangular debt problem of mainland factories, it is no wonder that Zhang Heping does not want to wade into the muddy waters of the mainland.

After the automobile production planning meeting, Zhang Heping was pulled to attend a meeting related to aerospace and aviation.

What Zhang Heping never expected was that after the mainland cooperated with Magnesium to manufacture aircraft, it actually wanted to cut the aviation research projects!

……