Chapter 242 Green Field Manor
"The price I offered was already fair," argued Old George.
"At least $70000! The dashboard and delicate parts inside are all intact."
"50000 US dollars! I have collected it and I have to sell it. I can't let me lose money," said Old George.
"Will you at least give me $68000?"
"There is absolutely no such possibility!!"
The two argued endlessly, and finally old George was the better one. They both took a step back, and the old customer sold the private jet to George Pawn Shop for $65000.
Zhang Ailun watched them bargaining with great interest.
The old customer also took the money and receipt with an unhappy look on his face, complaining, "You really made a fortune this time! Black-hearted George!"
Old George was cheerful and not affected at all, "Give my regards to your wife."
"I will, you black-hearted Texan." The guest cursed, unable to understand why the most inconspicuous person in school turned out to be the best among them.
Between robbing and stealing, Old George chose to open a pawn shop to rob money in a civilized way. You can make money with a conscience, but you can make more without a conscience.
Old George shrugged his shoulders and didn't care. Look at you, you're getting anxious.
The customers in the queue in front of him had all completed their transactions. Finally, it was Zhang Allen's turn to sell his items. Old George was delighted and said cheerfully, "Customer, do you have anything good to sell to me? As long as it's not an Indian scalp or some other weird thing, I will do my best to buy it."
"Really? You've definitely never seen what I'm going to sell." Zhang Ailun laughed.
Old George immediately had a bad feeling, "I don't accept human tissue."
"Look how scared you are! This is the diamond and gold ball mask worn by Elizabeth Taylor. How much can you offer for it?" Zhang Ailun was amused and took out the golden diamond and gold mask.
"Elizabeth Taylor? Oh! It's so beautiful!"
Old George was immediately interested when he heard it. His eyes lit up. He took the mask and examined it carefully. He praised, "It's really a good thing. Even the workmanship is of masterful craftsmanship. Elizabeth Taylor's fame in the last century was second only to Marilyn Monroe! At the auction, someone consigned a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe and sold it for a whopping $100 million!"
He sighed, "This kind of collection is very valuable. Many wealthy people would be willing to collect it. Generally speaking, it is a fine collection that will appear at auctions! It's just a pity that Elizabeth Taylor would only wear it at private balls and never wore it in public or in front of the media, so this collection is not very famous."
After thinking about it, he gave his price, "I can offer $30."
"It's too little. I want $75," Zhang Ailun said unhappily.
"How much? $75?"
Old George was stunned for a moment, put on a mask of pain, and waved his hands to refuse. "Dude, I don't have that much money to buy this thing. You can see that my pawn shop is only this big. If you are not short of money, maybe you can try to consign it to an auction house? You only need to pay a 5% handling fee to sell it at a high price, and you can also enjoy the tax-free policy."
An old customer next to him also became interested. Looking at the diamond and gold mask, he suggested, "There will be an auction held in Los Angeles in the next two days. If you trust Old George, you can consign this thing to him. He has connections in this area and will help you solve it. The lowest you need to pay is a 2% handling fee to the auction house!"
"Is that so?" Zhang Ailun looked at Old George in surprise.
Old George nodded. "I'm about to consign an item from my store to the auction house. If you trust me, you can leave the mask with me, and I'll take your item with me. If the auction is successful, you just need to give me a small share of the profits. It won't be much, just to 1% as a handling fee."
"What are you going to auction? Is it this private jet?" Zhang Ailun asked puzzledly.
Old George chuckled and said, "It's a diamond ring from a powerful family in Europe in the 18th century. It has a history of several hundred years. My partners and I bought it from an antique collector. Almost all the funds in my store were used to invest in that thing. Otherwise, I could have eaten this mask."
"Ok. I can consign this thing to you. Do I need to sign a contract?" Zhang Ailun thought about it for a while and agreed. Anyway, he didn't need money urgently, so it was a good choice to sell it at a higher price in the auction house.
"Of course, if we don't sign a contract, neither of us will feel at ease. If your things are stored with me, if they are damaged or something unexpected happens, I will definitely compensate you! If the collection fails to sell, I will return it to you intact and will not ask you for any management fees or consignment fees. Please follow me!" Old George happily took Zhang Ailun into the house and came to the small dark room.
This was Zhang Allen's first time in the pawn shop, where he could see many collectibles, fossils, snuff bottles, watches, porcelain, and the gold and empty wine bottles he sold to Old George last time were also placed here.
There is a wide range of items on sale, from collections worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to small items worth thousands or hundreds of dollars.
It is obvious that the price of gold has risen recently. With hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold in hand, old George has made a fortune and is reluctant to sell it.
It’s no wonder that some black men on the street would come here to buy things for free. The risk is not as great as robbing a bank, and the profit is higher than that of convenience stores and light luxury stores.
Old George opened the password box, took out a contract, filled in the text, and gave it to Zhang Ailun for review.
Zhang Ailun checked it and found it was just a consignment contract, which listed the consignment management fee and handling fee, as well as the dividends after the successful auction, including triple compensation if the items were lost or damaged.
There was no problem, and I happily filled in my name.
"Is your diamond ring also stored here?" Zhang Ailun asked.
Old George smiled and said, "Of course, do you want to take a look? I guarantee you will be amazed!"
Zhang Ailun nodded in agreement.
Old George entered the password and unlocked the safe with his fingerprint. He took out a jewelry box and opened it to reveal a pink diamond ring weighing about 17 carats.
Damn, this thing is quite interesting. It looks like a very expensive diamond ring!
The quality and brilliance are second only to the blue diamonds seen on the private island of great collector Madison.
Is old George going to go all in on it?
Zhang Allen was amazed and asked, "This thing is worth at least 500 million US dollars, right?"
Old George laughed and said, "It's too little. $500 million won't buy it. If it's consigned to an auction house, it can be sold for at least $1200 million!"
Sure enough, poverty limits my horizons.
This thing is pink, tender and watery and really pretty.
Zhang Ailun admired old George's other collections again. After a rough calculation, he found that the things displayed here alone were worth two million US dollars.
Not to mention that Old George has several branches and real estate assets.
This old guy's entire fortune is at least 20 to 30 million US dollars! If he sells out all his collections, he can achieve financial freedom.
Although the chief leader is now a multi-millionaire, it is obvious that he is still not as rich as others who have accumulated wealth for decades. After signing the consignment contract and saying hello to Old George, Zhang Ailun also turned around and left the pawn shop, driving the Wrangler to visit Green Town.
He took out his cell phone and contacted Old Carl, telling him in advance that he had taken a fancy to the land in the town where he settled.
Carl: You're here to buy some land? Is it the abandoned ranch that the Dills are selling? What are you going to do with it? Raise cattle?
Zhang Ailun: I am of great use. Didn’t you buy a piece of land in the town?
Carl: That's right. But I bought land that can be used for grazing and living. I bought dozens of cattle and sheep for retirement. The land that the Deer family consigned has not been taken care of for many years. If you buy that land, you will need to spend a lot of money to develop it later. I don't have that much time, and 6,000 acres of land is too big to take care of.
Zhang Ailun: Why is he so eager to sell the land? Is there something wrong at home?
Old Carl: That's right. Dill's son has always been rebellious and disobedient. He likes to hang out outside. He seems to have offended someone online and is harassed by some street thugs every day. They can't stand it anymore and are ready to move away.
Carl: Someone has contacted Deere, but he is only willing to pay less than one million dollars to buy the land. Others who are willing to pay a high price have been harassed to varying degrees, resulting in the land being unsaleable in a short period of time. If you want to buy this land, I can notify Deere. If you can withstand the pressure and solve these problems, you may be able to enjoy a preferential price.
Zhang Ailun: OK. I'm just about to go over and take a look.
He contacted the owner of the manor again, raised the idea of purchasing the land, and asked if he had time to meet.
Manor owner: I have time now. You can call me directly after you get here.
Zhang Ailun sent another message to Xige, asking him to bring his men on a long journey with him.
After agreeing on a meeting place, he drove over to pick him up. Soon, he saw Xige at the intersection, standing on the roadside drinking coffee with several Beggars' Sect disciples.
Zhang Ailun stopped the car on the side of the road, greeted the other party, and unlocked the car door.
The other party immediately came over with a smile and took the Beggar Gang brothers into the car.
Sig sat in the passenger seat, fastened his seat belt, and asked, "Boss, what errand do you want me to do?"
"It's nothing big. I just want to go to the countryside to look at a piece of land for a manor ranch. By the way, I want to help the other party solve some troubles and buy the land at a favorable low price."
Zhang Ailun gave a brief explanation, started the car, searched the map navigation, and drove out of the city to the countryside in the suburbs.
Xige was a little surprised. "You want to buy land? How much area? 500 acres?"
I also searched for land prices in California. "The commercial land near the city or in the city is expensive. If it is in the remote suburbs or the countryside, it is basically worthless. One square meter only costs 2-3 dollars, or even less than one dollar. But subsequent development also costs a lot of money, and land and property taxes have to be paid every year. If there are mineral resources or oil resources underground, it is easier to deal with."
Zhang Ailun smiled and said, "It's an abandoned ranch. The seller had some problems in his life, so he wants to sell the abandoned ranch. The land area is about 400 hectares, 6000 acres. The selling price is about 200 million US dollars!"
"So expensive!?" Sig gasped.
"So we need to discuss the price with him again," said Zhang Ailun.
This price is actually very cheap. It is only in the sparsely populated western region. If it were in any other place in other countries, every inch of land would be worth a lot of money.
"The land in the countryside is worthless. It costs two million dollars to buy it. How high will the development cost be? Boss, what are you going to do with that land? Are you going to engage in animal husbandry? It will take at least five or six years to get your money back after spending so much money." Sig didn't quite understand.
"The price is right and the area is large. If we can dig up oil or other minerals from that land, wouldn't we make a lot of money?" Zhang Ailun replied, "Even if we don't have any of those, there are still a lot of trees there that can be harvested and sold after two years of growth. It doesn't cost much to raise sheep and cattle either."
"..." Sig was speechless.
It took dozens of minutes to drive to Green Town. According to the navigation route, we arrived at a wasteland. There were trees everywhere. At first glance, it was full of desolate atmosphere. There was just a simple sign and fence to indicate that it was private land. There were also dilapidated cow sheds and independent villas.
A modern version of Beecher's Wish. But the area is much larger. After all, this is 3 acres of land, stretching from the east end of the town to the west end, with no end in sight. The water and grass alone can feed cows.
After visiting it, I became more and more satisfied with this piece of land.
Zhang Ailun took out his cell phone and contacted the seller.
The owner of the manor ranch received the call and rushed over quickly, driving a four-wheel convertible off-road vehicle that looked more like a tractor from the outside.
"Hey! Are you guys the ones who want to see the land?" The owner of the manor, who was slightly fat, with gray hair, wearing a cowboy hat and a vest, greeted them. There was also an old woman next to the seat, who should be his wife.
"Yes, we do want to visit this land. Are you Mr. Dill?" Zhang Allen said.
"Yes. I'm Dill." Dill, the owner of the manor, nodded and looked at the license plate of the Wrangler they were driving. He was surprised and said, "Are you from Los Angeles? Old Carl has told me that you took over that guy's recycling station in the city. Your business should be pretty good. Why do you suddenly want to develop in the countryside?"
"I just think your land is pretty good and want to buy it to do some other business. We also have a general understanding of the situation. I heard that your son got into trouble? These people came to harass you and tried to lower the price, causing you to be unable to sell your land?" Zhang Ailun said.
The couple frowned when they mentioned this and sighed, "Forget it. Those hooligans come to harass us every day. They leave dead rams in the pasture, graffiti evil numbers like 666, blood-stained crosses, and witches' voodoo doll curses. Someone was ready to buy the entire piece of land for $230 million, but they ruined the deal. Now almost no one in the local area is willing to buy this land, and we plan to lower the price again."
What? It's actually 666's voodoo curse? I have to believe it.
Zhang Ailun was stunned. He thought it was some kind of harassment, but it turned out to be a mental attack.
After all, there are still quite a lot of people here who believe in God and Satan, and basically all of them are religious. If you throw this dirty water on them, it would be like digging out an old corpse from the Qing Dynasty in your yard, a female ghost in red hanging in the house, grinding her teeth in the middle of the night, a mirror facing your bed, and someone calling you to get up in the middle of the night to play rock-paper-scissors.
I have to say this method is really cruel.
The chief leader put on a mask of pain and tried to suppress a smile.
"Why not just call 911?" Seeger asked.
"The police helped us at first, but there was nothing we could do. They just stopped for a while and started harassing us again after a few days."
Dill said helplessly, "My grandfather used this manor for animal husbandry and wine production. There was an underground wine cellar in the log cabin and an air-raid shelter beside the lake on the ranch. At its best, the land area was 12000 acres, with more than cattle and more than cowboys to help take care of it. But due to the increase in taxes caused by land reform and malicious competition, cattle and sheep were infected with Brucella and died on a large scale. We had no choice but to withdraw from the industry competition."
"After my grandfather passed away, my father was left alone. He had no skills and could only live off the land and sell off the family business. When it came to my son and I, we also sold off some of the land. During this time, I also planted corn and grapes, but they didn't make money either. We lost a lot of money, and our economy became even worse."
"I thought about selling the ranch a long time ago. But there was no other way. The land price in the countryside was too low. An acre of land only cost a few hundred dollars, which was unacceptable to me. In addition, I was maliciously harassed by someone who only wanted to buy the land for a million dollars or even less, so I couldn't sell it. I don't know why they did this!"
Dill had no choice but to speak out the sad tears of the owner of the manor ranch.
It is true that you can make money by relying solely on animal husbandry, but you also have to consider natural disasters and man-made calamities. Without strength and ambition, it is impossible to support such a large family business.
The area has shrunk from 12000 acres to 6000 acres. The good land with abundant grass and water for planting has basically been sold, leaving only the not-so-good land and woods. It looks barren, and the price is even lower.
The landlord's family doesn't have any food left.
(End of this chapter)
