Chapter 196: Then Let’s Have a Special Session

Chen Dongsheng, who appeared to be in his thirties, spoke like a businessman but had a scholarly air about him. There was quite a gap between him and the prominent figure that Li Xian later came to know. Although Li Xian hadn't met him before, he had heard of Chen Dongsheng's reputation.

Li Xian remembered that Chen Dongsheng used to be in the insurance industry. How did he end up running an auction house now? Regardless of his current occupation, such a industry bigwig was someone Li Xian had to take seriously. After politely accepting his business card, he led him into the house.

Chen Dongsheng and his party of four took their seats in the main hall of the residence and instinctively began to survey the room. Li Xian noticed that their eyes lit up when they saw the old furniture.

At this moment, Su Ya brought in tea. After thanking Su Ya, Chen Dongsheng took the tea cup, set it aside without drinking, and looked around.

Li Xian chuckled, "Mr. Chen, where are you from?"

"Oh, Tianmen, Hubei," Chen Dongsheng replied courteously.

Li Xian nodded and praised, "Chuchang Lingyi, on the banks of the Tianjin River, a good place."

After giving a polite compliment about Chen Dongsheng's hometown, Li Xian smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, in the Northeast we're straightforward. When we offer tea, it's genuinely just tea. So, just so you know, if I drink the tea later, it's not an indication that we're done. Don't let me finish the tea and look up to find you've all disappeared."

Although Chen Dongsheng and his party were dressed in suits and looked more energetic than Li Xian in his shorts and white tank top, the weather outside was already around 25-26 degrees Celsius. After a long journey to the rural area of Bangye, their shirts were soaked with sweat. They were eagerly waiting for the tea Su Ya brought, but out of courtesy, they hadn't touched it. Hearing Li Xian's straightforward talk, they were relieved and drank the tea with a smile.

After finishing the tea, Chen Dongsheng surveyed the room with a smile, but Li Xian noticed that his gaze kept returning to the old furniture.

He picked up the tea cup and asked, "Mr. Chen, are you interested in antique furniture?"

"Oh!" Chen Dongsheng quickly retracted his gaze and smiled, "No, no. It's just that now I'm in the auction business, and I habitually pay extra attention to old items. Mr. Li, your furniture… isn't it all made of rosewood?"

Pfft!

Li Xian sprayed tea out of his mouth like a whale.

Your furniture is rosewood! Your whole family is rosewood!

What I have here is mahogany and huanghuali!

Is this the level of expertise required to run an auction house? No wonder he switched to insurance!

Seeing Chen Dongsheng's mistake, Li Xian waved his hand to show he was fine, coughed, and then asked with a hint of amusement, "Mr. Chen, do you not understand antiques?"

Chen Dongsheng's face flushed. He sighed and admitted, "I'm ashamed to say, Mr. Li… even though I'm in the auction business, I really don't know much about antiques."

Upon hearing this, Li Xian became interested. Instead of asking about Chen Dongsheng's intentions or departure time, he inquired how he came to start an auction house.

Chen Dongsheng explained that he had previously worked as the deputy editor of *Management World* magazine under the State Council Development Research Center. When the magazine was planning a large enterprise evaluation to select China's top 500 enterprises, he compared China's top 500 with the global top 500. He found that:

In the global top 500, the United States had 140 companies, Japan had 110, and the UK, France, and Germany had 56, 57, and 58 respectively. That made over 420 companies. Excluding China's number, this data led him to believe that the strength of a country's economy is directly proportional to the number of multinational companies it has. If a country wants to be considered the most excellent, it should also have many multinational companies.

Li Xian clapped his hands. "That's exactly right!"

He felt that this perspective resonated with him.

He pushed the nearly toppled tea cup aside and nodded. "In fact, if you look at the past 300 years of Western history, it is essentially a history of wealth creation."

"Mr. Li, you're absolutely right!" Chen Dongsheng said enthusiastically. "According to your perspective, the history of wealth creation is essentially a history of corporate innovation, and the soul of corporate innovation is the entrepreneur."

"But, you see, in the past, China only knew of great politicians, literary figures, and military strategists but not great entrepreneurs. A complete, mature society must also include great entrepreneurs. Since that time, I've wanted to do something. Later, I and a few classmates thought about what to do. I realized that despite China's five thousand years of civilization, we still don't have an auction house like Sotheby's or Christie's. The domestic auction scene is almost non-existent, so…"

He laughed, a bit embarrassed. "I'm really ignorant about antiques. If I made any mistakes earlier, Mr. Li, please don't take offense."

Understanding the context, Li Xian shook his head with a smile and then asked about Chen Dongsheng's purpose.

It turned out that Chen Dongsheng's Jia De Auction House had been in operation since early last year. However, due to the sensitivity of auctioning cultural relics and the difficulties in obtaining permits from the Cultural Relics Bureau, it took him nine months to establish the company.

Now, three months after its founding in June, Jia De had not yet held a single auction.

Chen Dongsheng had raised around 20 million yuan through connections and investors when he left his job. Although he had sufficient funds, he was anxious because he hadn't secured any business.

Desperate, he thought of starting with modern art pieces since cultural relics were not allowed. He happened to learn about Bangye's reproduction of the lost black pottery and decided to come and check it out.

Hearing this, Li Xian nodded deeply.

Support for emerging bigshots is essential!

He thought for a moment and quickly came up with a plan. He then asked Su Ma to prepare a meal and took Chen Dongsheng and his team to the association.

In recent days, Xu Mao had hired some top students from the Ice City Academy of Fine Arts. Although these students didn't know how to make pottery, they were excellent in design.

Li Xian's idea was to divide the black pottery into two categories: one for preservation, maintaining the traditional, simple style and techniques as a cultural symbol; the other for revitalization, giving the ancient black pottery commercial value and using it as a high-end accessory for Bangye's premium liquor to enhance the brand's cultural depth and prestige.

The two-pronged approach.

With the association gaining some social attention recently, there were already results. The designers from the art academy and the old craftsmen, like Yang Shuzhen, had produced several batches of finished products, with both traditional and modern designs.

The finished products displayed on the shelves in the association's workshop were not in the best environment but were genuinely exquisite.

Especially the modern designs of the peacock feather black pottery made by the art academy designers were so stunning that it was hard to look away.

Chen Dongsheng was immediately impressed upon seeing them.

After leaving the association, Chen Dongsheng invited Li Xian to prepare some pottery pieces for the auction.

To his surprise, Li Xian was even more direct. "Why prepare? Mr. Chen, since we've met, it's fate. Since you're eager to hold an auction, why don't you organize a special session for me? How about it?"