Chapter 43 The Purpose of Siheyuan

On the way back, Zhu Lin sat in the back seat and seemed to want to say something but stopped himself several times.

But in the end, he still asked: "Changhe, are you really going to live in that courtyard in the future?"

"No, unless we sell the house to me and I remodel it."

Li Changhe shook his head and said.

Nowadays, if you live in a courtyard house instead of a building, you are really crazy.

After all, the living experience in a general courtyard house is not very good. Even though Old Zhang has made a lot of renovations, there is still a gap between it and Li Changhe's expectations.

Originally, Li Changhe planned to buy a courtyard house and then spend a lot of money to renovate it, installing everything like the kitchen, sewers, toilet, heating, etc. to increase the comfort conditions.

He even plans to reserve space for a garage while he can make changes now.

But he didn't expect that buying and selling is not allowed now, so he would not be stupid enough to go there just to live in a courtyard house.

"Then I see you like it very much and you really want to buy it?"

Judging from Li Changhe's previous attitude, Zhu Lin seemed to really want to buy it, and he was trying every means to trap the old man.

"His courtyard is truly one of the finest courtyards in the world. It's worth buying it."

There are some things Li Changhe cannot say now. He cannot say that a yard like this will be worth hundreds of millions in the future!

"Besides, it would be nice for us to rent a yard like this and use it as a playground."

"Look, there's a well in the yard. I'll buy some watermelons tomorrow and throw them into the well. Then we can have some chilled watermelons."

"Another thing is, if I don't move out of my home in the future, I have to find a place for my brother-in-law to live."

"He is used to living in the countryside. If he comes here, it won't work. Just let them live in the courtyard house."

"Anyway, my sister probably has a dormitory every day!"

Li Changhe made up a random excuse and explained to Zhu Lin.

After hearing this, Zhu Lin was speechless.

"You said before that you would let them live at home!"

"Don't you know you can't buy a house? If we had our own house, I would definitely be happy to help them live upstairs."

"But we haven't bought it yet!"

"I am doing my best to create better living conditions for them."

Li Changhe said with a smile.

He had nothing to be embarrassed about, as he had already tried his best to help the older sister out of family ties.

"Well, you are right anyway."

Zhu Lin didn't know what to say. Li Changhe always had a point.

Li Changhe smiled in front and said nothing more.

In fact, he had other plans, but it was not appropriate to tell Zhu Lin now.

Apart from anything else, Li Changhe became interested when he saw the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall in that room just now.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, who didn’t collect antique calligraphy and paintings?

People like Li Chengru and Ma Weidu in later generations made billions of dollars just by collecting antiques.

If worst comes to worst, there is still Han Chunming from the Zhengyang Sect, who is a living example.

Li Changhe doesn't know much about antiques, and he doesn't necessarily have the time to study how to identify them or collect junk. After all, that line of work requires real effort and research.

But this did not prevent Li Changhe from investing in advance. Antiques are difficult to identify these days, but there are many modern calligraphy and paintings.

Some of the great artists like Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, and Li Keran are still alive, and their paintings are very cheap.

Li Changhe wrote these in his previous life. If I remember correctly, the current price of Qi Baishi's paintings should be around seven or eight yuan per foot. Xu Beihong's are a little more expensive, and I forgot about Li Keran's.

He just remembered that Li Keran had seven or eight paintings of "Red Mountains All Over" that sold for hundreds of millions of yuan. Nowadays, it is entirely possible to buy one in advance.

He doesn't know how to appraise antiques, but the paintings of modern and contemporary painters do not need to be appraised at all. They are sold to the public in state-owned calligraphy and painting shops in Beijing. They are genuine authentic works and are cheap.

Now that I’m not buying a house, there’s no point in keeping the money I have, so I might as well buy some calligraphy and paintings in advance.

After another two years, when he had saved some money, Li Changhe remembered that the Ministry of Foreign Trade had sold nearly 10,000 pieces of calligraphy and paintings by Qi Baishi and Zhang Daqian. How much did they sell for in total?

HK$200,000

If he could just snatch this business, his net worth would be tens of billions. Li Changhe did not consider those top-notch items that were auctioned for hundreds of millions of yuan, after all, he could probably guess the tricks of the auction.

These high-priced calligraphy and paintings are often not really worth the money, but because they have other uses.

His goal is simple, even if one deck is worth 18 million in the future, it will be enough.

If I become richer in the future, I will just set up a private museum and do something high-end. That's what a true Beijinger should do.

But you have to find a place to buy these things. There is no hope of relying on the small two-bedroom apartment upstairs.

And if I bring it home every day, I might have to deal with my parents' questions.

So Li Changhe took the opportunity to rent the courtyard house. The courtyard was elegant and quiet, and it was next to the Friendship Hotel, so it was relatively safe.

You can throw calligraphy and paintings, antiques, and 80 edition monkey stamps in there. It will be a perfect warehouse.

More importantly, there is Old Zhang guarding the door.

An old man without children, he is so old that he probably has let go of everything.

He has a yard like this and it's his own home. Isn't he the best and most suitable doorman?

Wait a few years, when private transactions are reopened, and then I will discuss with Old Zhang and buy the house.

Whether it stays in your hands or is demolished in the future, you won’t lose out!
But plans were just plans, and Li Changhe couldn't tell these words to anyone else, including Zhu Lin.

He can't say that antiques and calligraphy and paintings will be valuable in the future.

As I said, even now that the slogan of reform and opening up has not been put forward, the vast majority of people still hold old ideas and believe that antique calligraphy and paintings are old remnants and should not be touched.

On the way back, Li Changhe saw an aunt selling soda on the roadside, so he stopped to buy some popsicles and soda, and the two of them took them home.

Eat something cool on a hot day to cool down.

After returning to the family compound, Zhu Lin did not follow Li Changhe to his home, but returned to his own home.

I stayed at Li Changhe's house until the evening yesterday, so I must go home early today to give my mother some face.

As for Li Changhe, after returning home, Li Lishan and Shen Yuxiu had already returned.

"You went out with Linlin again?"

Seeing Li Changhe coming in, Shen Yuxiu said with a smile.

"Well, I went for a walk."

Li Changhe didn't say that he rented a house. There was nothing to report about this.

On the contrary, Shen Yuxiu looked at Li Changhe, hesitated for a moment and said: "Changhe, why don't you buy another bicycle."

"Buying a bicycle?"

"why?"

Li Changhe was a little surprised. Why did his mother ask him to buy a bicycle for no reason?
"Mom, I saw that Linlin's bike is a ladies' bike after all, and it wouldn't look good if you two kept riding that bike, right?"

Shen Yuxiu said tactfully.

Li Changhe smiled and said, "You must have heard some rumors."

Well, these days, riding a woman’s bicycle every day is like a man driving his girlfriend’s car every day in the future. It is indeed a bit unreasonable.

"That's fine, just buy it. We have the money, but we don't have a bicycle ticket. Do you and my dad have any?"

"There is a quota for this quarter in logistics. I am eligible to apply for it. I will apply for it when the time comes, and you can buy it!"

These days, material quotas in colleges and universities are easier and simpler than in factories.

Because university professors and the like have high salaries, many of them have already bought their bicycles.

Of course, another reason is that there are still few teachers and many people have not returned yet.

"Okay, I'll buy the tickets when they become available."

Li Changhe agreed immediately. He just wanted to buy a bicycle, and he would really need to ride it when he went to school.

In fact, Li Changhe wanted to buy a motorcycle, but unfortunately motorcycles are still military products and civilians are not allowed to buy them.

As for private cars, let alone ordinary people, even general enterprises are not allowed to buy them. They can only wait for state allocation when they reach a certain level.

At this point, Li Changhe missed the days when he could drive whenever he went out in his later life.

His three-pointed star!
(End of this chapter)