Chapter 3 Mechanical Watches

  "Boss, do you have mechanical watches? Not those automatic ones."

  Simar has been turning around in the wholesale market in the city, and has seen more than a dozen wholesale stores without seeing a suitable watch.

  I came back from 1915 and searched online to find that watches weren't invented until 1918, so this should have some market.

  After a brief rest, Sima began to prepare for the newly discovered wealth path. However, upon arriving at the wholesale market, he found that mechanical watches were not in demand and it was also difficult to find one that suited his taste.

  "Mechanical watch? What era is this now that someone wears that kind of watch."

  The busy shop owner didn't even turn around and said it in one breath. But judging from the tone, I also find it quite strange that someone would come to this wholesale market to buy mechanical watches.

  "Damn! Buying a watch is so difficult."

  Simmer looked at the time, it was almost 4 pm, and in two hours he would have to go to work. However, until now, he still hadn't bought a suitable watch. Thinking about it, a watch worth over $10 could be exchanged for RMB, which is thousands of yuan. This is a profit of several thousand percent.

  "Boss, do you have mechanical watches?"

  Si Ma looked at this storefront with various quartz watches and other electronic clocks, almost losing confidence. Holding onto the last thread of hope, Si Ma asked the store owner

  "Haha, you've come to the right place. Don't mention anything else, just talking about watches, this entire wholesale market doesn't have a more complete selection than mine. More than half of the watches sold in this night market are from my stock. What do you think of these few?"

  The boss took out several watches while talking.

  "Hmm! Let me take a look."

  To be honest, I don't know the pros and cons of these watches. Looking at the several mechanical watches brought by the boss, I first ruled out a few fake gold-plated counterfeit famous watches. Those things are just imitations and can't sell for much money in places where gold and silver watches are everywhere.

  Benefiting from China's current chaotic market, most of these watches are either counterfeit or unknown miscellaneous brands. They mostly rely on OEM shells with no brand indication, making them perfectly suitable.

  "How much is this watch?"

  Simar selected a few stainless steel watches after some selection, two of which were leather strap watches.

  "This stainless steel table that looks shiny should be able to sell for a good price." Sima thought to himself.

  "Haha! Good eyes, little brother. These are all stainless steel cased ones, they're all old factory goods. This one's 75, this one's at least 90, and this one's 120..."

  The shop owner pointed at several watches in Sima's selection and said

  "Boss, I'm buying a lot, can you give me a discount?"

  Simma calculated that with the money in his pocket, at this price difference, he could buy about 30 watches. If he took them over and sold one for 20 yuan, he would make a profit of several tens of thousands of yuan.

  "This is already wholesale price, otherwise I can give you a 10% discount, what do you think?"

  The boss of the store estimated and said so.

  "Alright! It's settled at this price."

  After calculating the considerable profit he would make, Sima obviously didn't haggle with the shop owner over the price. He quickly bought about 40 watches at the quoted price.

  Watching the boss wrap up his watch and hastily throwing it into the saddle bag of his own 750 motorcycle.

  Wow! These are all money! A 400 RMB watch, it should be able to sell for at least a few hundred dollars! I'm going to get rich!

  On the way to the company's warehouse, it's been a rare half year since I first filled up my 750 scooter with gas, and tonight I have to rely on it for transportation.

  After earning money, I won't have to worry about gas money when riding this bike anymore. I can delete the information of selling the 750 bike on Taobao, and good days are slowly coming, spring has arrived.

  Things that have never been seen before always arouse people's curiosity, when a motorcycle appeared for the first time in Kung Village since ancient times at the market on the edge of Kung Village.

  Everyone in the market of Gekou Village was shocked by this buzzing iron thing, although it is only a few dozen miles away from Zhangjiakou along the Beijing-Suiyuan Railway.

  It's normal that people in Gongjiazhuang haven't seen it because it's a rare motorcycle even in Europe and America. People are very curious about this thing, which doesn't look like a train that runs on coal or a horse-drawn carriage with horses pulling in front.

  For a moment, all the business people and ordinary people in Kongjiazhuang village stared at this roaring three-wheeled thing, and the person sitting on it naturally attracted the attention of most people.

  He wore a black leather jacket. On his feet were leather boots, on his head was a black helmet "made of plastic M36", and he also wore goggles over his eyes "windshield". When this strange object stopped in front of the door of "Gaoji Pawnshop" under everyone's gaze.

  Simar spat out the dust and regretted not bringing a scarf to cover his face, having been so absorbed in his get-rich dreams that he forgot about the dust kicked up by riding a motorcycle on this dirt road.

  He patted the black leather jacket that had turned a bit yellowish and only then did he see the tall boss who had helped him last time standing in front of the store, sizing him up.

  "Ah! It's him!"

  Although his face was covered with dust and dirt, Ma Liu still recognized at a glance that the man riding this strange creature was the outsider he had cheated last time.

  Looking at the strange object this person has, Ma Liu starts to regret it. It seems that this person is probably a young master from a wealthy family in the city, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get his hands on such an item.

  "Thank you again, Mr. Gao, for your help last time,"

  "This time I've prepared some fresh seasonal fruits for you, Elder, please accept them with a smile."

  Simma took out a fruit basket containing bananas, grapes and other fruits from the edge of Zuo's basket and said to Gao Lao, who was standing in front of the store and had helped him last time.

  "Please, please. Come and boil some hot water, let's talk in the back hall."

  Gao Chuanliang waited until he clearly saw the young man, who looked like he had just crawled out of the ground and was covered in dirt from head to toe, climbing down from that strange object. It was then that he realized it was the young master of the wealthy family he had helped last time.

  Although delighted with his visit, what's more, the entire Kong family is now watching from afar this young man and his strange object.

  When he took over the fruit in his hand, he glanced at it and found that the yellow fruit was unrecognizable, while the few bunches of grapes also surprised Gao Chuanliang greatly. Grapes are also a common fruit outside China.

  But at this time, the grape tree may have just sprouted leaves. I couldn't help but feel that this young master had managed to make the grapes in March 1915 (late March on the lunar calendar) taste wonderful. It seemed that he had put a lot of thought into preparing this "small gift", and indeed, it was worthy of his wealthy family background.

  Because the hot water needs to be boiled, it takes a while for the shop assistant to bring over a basin of hot water for washing face. When Sima is washing his face, he notices that there is a new towel hanging on the edge of the basin, which seems to have been specially prepared by Old Gao.

  He wiped his face and then went into the back hall with Old Gao. One was grateful, the other deliberately fawned, but for a while the two chatted happily together.

  "The young master can see through the old man's plan, so the old man has to call the young master 'noble nephew'."

  "It should be so, it should be so."

  "Please, Uncle Shi, accept this humble gift."

  Simaz took out a beautifully packaged watch from his pocket and presented it with both hands.

  "This... how can this be good, this gift is too heavy."

  Gao Chuanliang was greatly excited as soon as he saw the watch, although he had never seen such a new-style watch before. However, when his eldest son got married, the bride's dowry included a pocket watch that cost several hundred silver dollars from a foreign goods store in Zhangjiakou.

  This watch must cost at least 200 yuan, thinking that it's something that costs hundreds of yuan as soon as it comes out. Gao Chuanliang couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at the way wealthy families treat people and things. No wonder there's a saying in Dream of the Red Chamber about Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, this is probably the difference between small and large households.

  "This... is how it should be."

  Although he was very fond of the watch in his heart, Gao Chuanliang still insisted on declining, lest he leave a greedy impression on the young master in front of him.

  At the same time, Gao Chuanliang secretly admired his own vision in his heart. Last time, he generously spent money to help someone, and although he had some regrets afterwards, it proved that his vision was very good now. Ten dollars could make him connect with such a big family, which was worth it.

  "Uncle, I hope you'll accept this humble gift. Nephew has another request to make."

  When I saw that the fire was almost ready, I started walking according to the original plan.

  "Oh, I don't know what's going on with Da Shao."

  Gao Chuanliang couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he heard this, wondering what kind of trouble this young master would bring to himself.

  "I don't know if Mr. Shi is willing to act as an agent for Zhang Wei's watch business."

  Simma took a sip of tea and said quietly.

  "Ah!"

  Gao Chuanliang couldn't believe his ears and didn't dare to believe what he had just heard. The young master in front of him actually wanted him to do this kind of foreign watch business. This...this!

  Waiting for an answer always makes one anxious, although the tone of this sentence seems very calm, but in fact Sima's heart has been extremely tense at this time, and his inner self is almost begging every known god for blessings.

  Heaven knows that Sima only knew the boss of the pawnshop in front of him at this time and space in 1915, if it was a piece-by-piece sale, six hours would be enough for that day.

  Then how could this watch be sold in a small village like Kong Family Village. Although I know that going east along the railway for less than forty miles is Zhangjiakou, but once I get to Zhangjiakou, who would I sell it to?

  "Should or shouldn't he? It's clear that Sima Dazhuang wants to use the foreign goods business to bring wealth and prosperity to himself, now that Xingjia is doing business in Zhangjiakou. Xingbang can almost hold his own, let him go open a shop in Shanxi!"

  Gao Chuanliang was surprised to find that wealth and luxury were so close to him, although he didn't know how much this foreign watch cost, but Gao Chuanliang knew that it must be very expensive and only rich people could afford it.

  "If the old boss thinks it's risky, these 43 watches can be consigned to you first. Payment upon sale"

  Simar saw that Old Gao was still hesitant and thus threw out his bottom line.

  "Ah! Oh no! This! This!"

  Gao Chuanliang was once again knocked down by Sima's conditions. At this time, Gao Chuanliang had already been convinced that the young master was clearly trying to bestow wealth and nobility upon himself. Although he still had some doubts in his heart, as soon as he thought about the great wealth and nobility of the future, he almost held his breath and agreed to Sima's "request".

  After both parties found a guarantor and signed the contract, regardless of whether it was Gao Chuanliang or Sima, they both let out a deep breath. For Gao Chuanliang, he firmly believed that he had picked up a fortune with just ten dollars.

  For Sima, Sima just found a shortcut to get rich, and the price was not fixed when signing the contract. Gao Changle sold at market price with a 40% profit margin.

  When Gao Chuanliang saw this, he almost didn't believe his eyes, but in his heart, he was a little frightened. The young master in front of him could actually be so carefree to such an extent. Either he had something to rely on or there was something wrong with his brain, although Gao Chuanliang firmly believed that the young master in front of him was absolutely the former.