Chapter 802 Huahetong

Chapter 802 Huahetong

"Teacher, some things in the business world are hard to say. Zhu Tong is a technician, and his business philosophy conflicts with mine in many ways..." Chen Yifeng explained awkwardly.

"I don't know who you are. At that time, you had no money to buy brushes and tools, so you always came up with some tricks to get them from your classmates. According to you, it was an 'exchange', but I saw that the students' reactions in private were all dissatisfied, which meant that you were playing tricks and taking advantage of others..."

"I……"

Chen Yifeng's face turned red, and his mouth, which used to have a lot of tongue, now sounded like a mute.

Chen Xi, who was eavesdropping downstairs, secretly gave the old man a thumbs up. Anyone who has dealt with Chen Yifeng said that he likes to take advantage.

However, Chen Yifeng himself did not think there was a problem. He felt that this was "mutual benefit" and "equal exchange". In fact, others had suffered a loss and were too lazy to argue with him.

"Okay, I came here today to remind you and to talk to you about the auction. Someone told me that a platform has appeared on the Internet, where many paintings and calligraphy by "famous artists" are displayed, and they are sold at sky-high prices. I have never heard of any of those so-called famous artists, and I have seen their paintings and calligraphy, and they are all mediocre works. Some auctioneers were cheated after buying them, and they started to say that people from our Calligraphers Association colluded with unscrupulous businessmen to cheat ordinary people of their money. I wanted to ask if it was you who did it. Since I came here, I found that the works here are similar to those on the platform, and they are all by unknown painters..." The old man waved his hand and got down to business.

"Teacher, I won't do such a thing. I already have a suspect in mind as the boss of this platform, and that's Yang..." Seeing this, Chen Yifeng patted his chest and explained.

The old man was stunned when he heard this. It was ridiculous that a person selling melon seeds and egg yolk pies could participate in antique auction.

Although the old man is a very decent person, all artists have a bad habit, which is that they feel they are elegant.

Chen Xi below also frowned. Considering Yang Dan's lavish spending at the Magic City auction, he seemed to have guessed something.

"You have to remember that writing well does not mean you are a good person..."

"Yes, that's what the teacher said."

The old man continued to educate Chen Yifeng, and the latter could only nod helplessly.

The more Chen Xi listened, the more he wanted to laugh.

Chen Yifeng has always advocated a point of view, that is, a person is like his handwriting. He thinks that if a person's handwriting is good, then everything is good, so the first hurdle in the company's recruitment is to compare handwriting.

Now his point of view has been corrected. Although he is not convinced, it is difficult for him to refute it.

The two chatted for a while and then went downstairs.

As Chen Yifeng was walking and talking with the old man, he suddenly saw a familiar figure standing on the wall next to him and immediately shouted, "Why are you here?"

"Hey, isn't this my dear old dad? I just passed by here and saw that the decoration of this gallery is quite tasteful. When I thought about the fact that I learned to paint when I was a child, I was inspired to come in and take a look."

"Don't give me that. Don't think I don't know why you are here." Chen Yifeng walked up to Chen Xi and whispered.

"You know it, but you're still asking? It's obvious that you don't know." Chen Xi smiled frivolously.

"This must be your son with Chen Caiyue. I've seen him before. When you were a child, your father brought you to my place to learn painting, but you didn't like it. You said that painters can't even support themselves, haha." The old man looked at Chen Yifeng, then at Chen Xi, and jokingly recalled the past.

When Chen Xi was young, he was taken to various teachers by Chen Yifeng, where he either learned painting, calligraphy, or musical instruments. Chen Yifeng's idea was to train him to be an all-round talent, but Chen Xi was not very interested in these things before. When he was young, he wanted to be a detective, but in the end he found that being a detective or a painter did not seem very realistic.

As for painting, Chen Xi feels that it does not make money at all nowadays. It can only be said that only a few masters can make money. 99% of painters do not live well when they are alive. Only after they die will their paintings be valuable.

"Grandpa, you're joking. I was still young and ignorant at that time." Chen Xi touched his head awkwardly.

"It's nothing. What you said at that time was right. But the situation of painters is different now. Life is much better than before. Times are changing, and painters have also changed their original patterns." The old man waved his hand with a smile.

"Oh?" Chen Xi didn't quite understand this and looked at the other party with some suspicion.

"Hmph, you always look down on painters. I'll have a dinner party soon and take you to see the world. Teacher, you can come too..." Chen Yifeng looked at his son with a cold face, then changed into a smiling face and asked the old man.

The old man, who originally didn't want to stay here, looked at Chen Xi, thought about it, and nodded in agreement.

See the world?

It’s not like they haven’t seen the Painters Bureau before, so what’s so good about those old men in the factory who only know how to flatter and cheat people every day?

The old man’s surname is Han, his name is Han Wentong, and he is good at landscape painting.

Chen Xi remembered that Chen Yifeng should have first learned oil painting, and this old man Han should be one of the people he learned from.

After chatting with Han Wentong, I learned that this person was actually from Jiangsu Province, and later settled in Jianghuai Province. He is a relatively famous painter in the two provinces.

"You do have a talent for painting, but it's a pity that you are not interested in this area, otherwise your artistic attainments would be very high..." Han Wentong stroked his beard, thinking it was a pity that the other party did not learn to paint.

Chen Xi had heard others say this more than once since he was a child. He shrugged indifferently: "Haha, I think I am more talented in martial arts than painting."

If there is one aspect that Chen Xi is most confident about, it is his fighting ability.

Holding a pen?

He felt more comfortable with a gun.

Soon it was night and the three of them walked into a private room in a restaurant.

The place was already full of people at this time. When they saw Chen Yifeng coming, they all greeted him warmly.

After a brief greeting, Chen Xi learned that the person organizing today's party was the president of the Guangdong Artists Association - Xu Kesong.

He was not very interested in these people, but he found their titles interesting.

Most of these presidents have many titles. One person is the president of the Artists Association, and also the dean of a certain institute, consultant of a certain painting society, librarian of a certain historical and literary research institute, deputy director of the XX calligraphy and painting studio, visiting professor of the Academy of Fine Arts, member of the XX Academy of Painting of China, member of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of the XX Art Foundation, etc.

It probably takes a lot of effort to introduce yourself to someone you don’t know every time you have a meal.

This reminded him of a line in "King of Gamblers 2000".

Mr. Xing asked the person who was hosting the game, "May I ask... who are you?"

The other party replied: "Humph! Listen carefully! I am the Honorary President of the International Gambling Association, Chairman of the Asian Gambling Association Charity Foundation, Honorary Gambling Ambassador of the Macao Region for three terms, Lifetime Honorary Advisor of the Royal Casinos in Vietnam and Cambodia, Chairman of the Underground Gambling Referee Committee, and..."

Not to mention others, his father Chen Yifeng also has a lot of titles.

"Big brother's son is really a handsome man..." Xu Kesong praised Chen Xi.

Why did he call Chen Yifeng "big brother"? It was because Chen Yifeng liked to have younger brothers.

He not only collected people in Jianghuai Province, but also in other provinces. Moreover, these people came from all walks of life. Even the leaders of some departments called him "Big Brother".

Chen Xi has been accustomed to these things since he was a child. In his opinion, they are just taking advantage of each other.

So in response to Xu Kesong's compliment, he just responded politely.

The topic at the dinner naturally revolved around calligraphy and painting, but as Chen Xi listened, he began to have a great change in his opinion of this industry.

Currently, artists have begun to merge with business, or to be more precise, have begun to adopt the Internet model.

Currently, calligraphers and painters are not just teaching in schools and getting paid. They have begun to cooperate with galleries, art fairs, offline teaching institutions, etc., and have also started to develop online tutorials, joint products, corporate customization, and public art government projects. They have even begun to get involved in the fan economy and art finance of social platforms.

This co-branded product is similar to Heytea's "Ink Cup" series, as well as LV's painted luggage.

Enterprise customization is the design of calligraphy background walls in conference rooms and inscriptions for brand activities. At first glance, it doesn't seem to make much money, but the design fee is as high as nearly 100 million. Chen Xi knows a little about this. The design fee for the theme word of a certain cat's Double 11 that Feng Yun designed was as high as 80.

Public art and government projects are even more profitable. Participating in municipal bidding, such as the art installations for the Wulin Asian Games venues, requires a budget of 300 million yuan. Designing cultural creations for museums can earn you 15% of sales.

Chen Xi had always believed that the only way to make money was to sell the paintings in the gallery, but at the dinner party he unexpectedly heard that he could also make money by renting them out.

The paintings for rent are not famous ones, but some modern and contemporary works. The price is not very high, but it is not low either, ranging from 5000 to 30000 yuan per piece.

Then there is the fan economy on social platforms. In his previous life, Chen Zhou opened a chain of calligraphy classes and earned about one million yuan a year. Although the money was not much, his performance in bringing goods was still good.

Chen Zhou went to Qinhuai and stayed there for a few years, learning how to engrave seals. He made a lot of money by selling engraved seals through live broadcasts on platforms such as Tik Tok.

The purchase price of that small stone was only tens or hundreds of dollars, but after he carved it, the direct price became thousands or tens of thousands.

Although today's artists' income has increased a lot compared to before, in Chen Xi's eyes it is still meager.

Everyone is greedy. Several people from an Artists Association of Guangdong Province at the dinner table were not satisfied with their current income.

One of the middle-aged uncles said: "Now is the era of traffic. It is not important whether the painting is good or not. What is important is to be famous."

"Yeah, it's the same with the products on e-commerce platforms. Even if they're tattered, they can still sell well if you put them at the top of the list for recommendation," another person echoed.

"If we do this, won't the entire art world be polluted?" Han Wentong sneered.

He does not object to artists making money in line with the times, but they must not lose the creative spirit of a painter when making money.

"Mr. Han, times have changed. Painters like us must first consider the issue of food and clothing. This is not just a matter of our own food and shelter, but also family situations. The cost of living is so high now, and children's food, shelter, schooling, and tutoring are all essential. It doesn't matter when we get older, but we can't let our future generations suffer." The person who spoke first retorted.

In fact, this problem is not only encountered by painters, but also by people in all walks of life.

Chen Xi still remembers an Indian film called "Dangal", in which there was a wrestler who gave up his dream because of family reasons.

"You can make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year running a calligraphy class, and with other income, you have already surpassed the wages of most ordinary people, and you are fully capable of supporting your family." Although Han Wentong is old, he is not so easy to deceive. "Well, we won't do it, but others will." The man lowered his head a little embarrassedly.

What he said is true. Everyone has a competitive spirit. You may give up the opportunity to make a lot of money for a while, but when you see your colleagues around you making a lot of money, you can't help but feel itchy.

This is the same as the situation of Internet companies lending money. When a company sees others making a lot of money, it can't help but follow suit. As for high interest rates and violent debt collection, just ignore them all.

"You mean the very popular auction platform on the Internet right now. That's why I came here today." Han Wentong took a sip of tea.

"Mr. Han, do you know?"

"What's there to not know? It's not like I don't have a cell phone, old man." Han Wentong rolled his eyes.

"Although this auction platform is very popular at present, it also has many problems. Everyone has seen the auction items on it, and I also know the artists of some of the works. Their calligraphy and paintings have been sold at sky-high prices, which makes many artists itching to try their luck. But don't you feel confused? Isn't the price completely inconsistent with the level of the work? Mr. Han came here today to discuss this issue with me..." At this time, Chen Yifeng spoke.

"We don't understand business matters as well as President Chen, but if we just sell paintings to them, it's not illegal. Everyone can make money and increase their fame, so why not do it?" Someone expressed his own opinion.

"Yes, what President Chen just said may involve some kind of pig-killing scam. We don't quite understand it. Let me give you an example. It's like selling kitchen knives. Some people use them to cook, and some people use them to kill people. What the client does with the painting doesn't seem to have much to do with us." After one person finished speaking, someone else spoke up immediately.

This person didn't speak too directly because of Chen Yifeng's consideration.

What they were actually thinking in their hearts was, you, Chen Yifeng, are a businessman, you say this because you have money, do you want to stop others from getting rich?

"Yeah, I think you're worrying too much, brother." Xu Kesong smiled awkwardly.

Seeing this, Chen Yifeng didn't know what to say, so he could only pick up the tea on the table and take a sip.

"Chen Xi, what do you think about this?" Han Wentong turned his gaze to the young man who was concentrating on eating next to him.

Chen Yifeng glanced at his son and shook his head slightly.

I shouldn't have brought him here. He only knows how to eat and doesn't know how to communicate with others. His social skills are really poor.

"Me? I think if there really are any illegal or criminal activities on this platform, the relevant departments will definitely intervene to investigate the sources of these calligraphy and paintings and antiques. Everyone here is either a dean or a president. How embarrassing it would be if the law enforcement authorities came to visit you or invited you for tea. Moreover, when such a large amount of funds runs into problems, the victims will definitely seek help from the media, and the case will usually be reported in the news after it is solved. You don't want to become famous this way, do you..." Chen Xi put down the chopsticks in his hand.

The people who had just spoken felt a chill down their spines when they heard this.

They do want to be famous, but they don't want to be laughed at.

Artists care most about their fame and face. If something goes wrong, wouldn't it be more painful than killing them?

"Well, everyone has heard it. Sometimes we should not be blinded by money, especially those of us who are engaged in art." Han Wentong coughed lightly.

"According to my investigation during this period, this platform does have many problems. As a painter, I feel that this platform is a time bomb for calligraphers and painters. However, it is still somewhat difficult to bring it down in one go, because the evidence at hand is insufficient. It can also be said that this platform has not collapsed yet, so the relevant departments cannot forcibly intervene based on my guess alone." Chen Yifeng spoke again.

Han Wentong looked at Chen Xi, who blinked and said nothing.

The meal turned into a discussion. Only after the meeting ended did Han Wentong ask, "You know how to solve this, right?"

At this time, Chen Yifeng also came over. He looked at his son and said, "I should have known not to bring you here. You just know how to eat."

"Ha, then what else can I do? Should I flatter those people and make them happy?" Chen Xi raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, let's listen to your son's opinion." Han Wentong interrupted their argument.

"I think that being able to build such a large platform means that there are people behind it. Since there is no complete evidence now and the platform has not had any problems, let others find evidence..." Looking at the two people who looked confused, Chen Xi explained, "There is competition everywhere. If you want to bring down Yang Dingtian, you might as well bring down the people behind him."

"The person behind him, how would I know who is behind him?" Chen Yifeng was speechless.

"This is not difficult. Just think about where Yang Dingtian's lair is?" Chen Xi said in a low voice.

Hearing this, Chen Yifeng immediately understood.

Many departments in Qilin City are staffed by members of the Yang family in important positions, and one or two things can be traced back layer by layer.

After sending Han Wentong away, Chen Yifeng's face changed again: "Why did you come to Yuezhou? Do you want to investigate how much assets I have? Let me tell you, when we divorced, I gave all the money I should give to your mother. You live with her now, and you come here to make trouble. Was it her instigation? I knew that she would be a little jealous of my happy family now. Don't be influenced by women's words all day long. Whoever treats me well in the future, I will give him more..."

"You think too much. I'm here to discuss something with the Xu family." Chen Xi felt as if countless mosquitoes were flying into his ears.

"Talk about something? Talk about what?"

"What else could it be? My marriage!"

"You didn't listen to what I asked your mother to tell you last time, right? Don't hang out with that girl Xu Yun every day. That woman has a bad reputation outside. Look at all the nonsense people say on the Internet. You've ruined Huade's reputation." Chen Yifeng got angry when he thought about this.

Because of the enthusiastic faces of Prince Huade and Miss Heng, he has been asked a lot of questions recently.

"Haha, what good reputation does Huade still have now? The quality of the equipment is getting worse and worse, you should pay more attention. You have already let the wolf into the house. The people in Zhang Xuan's family are like mice, they only know how to steal things when they get into the house."

"Hmph, I know you don't like her..." Chen Yifeng snorted coldly. He looked at the time and it was getting late. He still had to go to HK to discuss something tomorrow.

The father and son greeted each other casually and went back to their hotels.

Oh, I can understand those ancient emperors in TV dramas. They were all bewitched by the pillow talk...

Chen Xi sighed in his heart while lying in bed at night.

In the next few days, the Xu family took Chen Xi to high-end places every day.

Looking at Boss Xu's drunken and extravagant life, Chen Xi was speechless.

This is simply a case of living life to the fullest!
No need to worry about paying back the money.

Maybe the Xu family themselves know what will happen in the future, so they want to enjoy themselves as much as they can now.

A few months passed in a flash, and Chen Xi's rural projects officially started construction.

This project was similar to its predecessor, with little early publicity on the Internet. It was mainly released through the Supply and Marketing Times of the supply and marketing cooperatives. After all, the target audience of the project was in rural areas.

"Huahetong, helping agriculture, rural areas and farmers!"

“Rural logistics, safe water, and scientific agriculture will be popularized in major towns and villages across the country in the next few years.”

"The Huahetong project has officially started, and rural revitalization across the country has entered the fast lane. Led by the National Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, and co-participated by Huaxing Group, Aba Aba Group and other companies, the Huahetong Rural Revitalization Project was launched today in the first batch of pilot counties in Hebei Province."

"To open up the last mile of rural logistics, it is understood that the first phase of the project will invest more than 48 billion yuan, focusing on building a three-level logistics network covering towns and villages across the country. By integrating the existing supply and marketing cooperative network resources and combining e-commerce platforms, a 2025-hour delivery circle from county towns to villages will be created. The project leader said that by 90, more than % of administrative villages will be directly accessible to logistics."

"In response to the problem of rural drinking water safety, the project will adopt a government-enterprise cooperation model to build thousands of standardized water supply stations in water-scarce areas such as Northwest and North China within two years. The first batch of 100 pilot water supply stations has started construction and is expected to be put into use early next year."

"In order to implement the rural revitalization strategy and deepen the rural cultural benefit project, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Project Office of the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives jointly implemented the Digital Village Cultural Benefit Project. The relevant matters are hereby notified as follows:

12. Benefiting the people From now on, towns and administrative villages across the country will gradually carry out free replacement of digital satellite set-top boxes. The new equipment uses my country's independently developed rural-specific satellite transmission system, which can be provided to rural users. new free satellite channels (including professional channels such as agricultural technology, culture and entertainment) are added. The on-demand area of ​​rural classrooms (agricultural technology training, policy interpretation and other practical content) is opened. The high-definition signal reception capability is upgraded to achieve full coverage of emergency broadcasting.

The three words "Huahetong" were now all over the national supply and marketing times.

Most rural people are no strangers to this project, because the village committees had already promoted it before it was published in newspapers.

Although this news brought hope to the rural people, the young people did not think much of it. They still felt that farming was not profitable and it was better to go to the city to work as bricklayers.

At this time, Wushang was in an office of a rural supply and marketing cooperative.

A young man was sitting with his legs crossed, reading a newspaper and drinking tea.

"Hey, Lu Tengyang. Look at the newspapers these days, they are all full of this stuff. I think it's the capitalists who come to the countryside to make money. They said before that they would support agriculture, rural areas and farmers, but there has been no improvement after so many years. A few years ago, some vegetable selling platform came to the countryside to collect vegetables. It was thought that the rural people would have a better life in the future. As a result, the quantity of vegetables sold increased, but the price was much lower. It seems that it is not much more than selling directly in towns. I don't think Huahetong has good intentions..." A tall and thin man next to him put down the newspaper and said.

Lv Tengyang was arranged by his father to work in the supply and marketing cooperative. He didn't want to work there, but he didn't care about these things at all. He spat out the tea leaves in his mouth and replied, "Who cares? I'll do whatever the boss says. I'll just get by anyway."

Working in the supply and marketing cooperative is very boring. Apart from dealing with some documents issued by the superiors every day, the rest of the time is very idle.

Lu Tengyang's family grows cotton. His father wanted his son to take over, so he let him come here to gain some experience and develop relationships with his leaders.

However, this guy worked in the supply and marketing cooperative during the day, and went to the music restaurant in which he had invested to drink at night, which caused him to feel drowsy during the day.

"You are so indifferent. Don't you want to do something to achieve something and get a promotion? I had forgotten that your family owns a mine and you have a car to go to get off work." The colleague said with envy.

Lu Tengyang was speechless. He originally drove a supercar, but was afraid of being too high-profile at work, so he bought a Japanese car. But his colleagues still said that he had a mine at home.

No one in the supply and marketing cooperative knew about his family's situation except the leaders, and Lu Tengyang did not reveal it himself.

"Buzz." At this time, the cell phone on the table rang.

He picked it up, looked at it, then stood up and walked out.

"Hello, Chen Xi. Why did you think of calling me? What? You set up Huahetong? A factory? What kind of factory?"

A few minutes later, Lu Tengyang hung up the phone.

He looked at the message just sent on WeChat with a puzzled look on his face, and then immediately called his father. (End of this chapter)