Chapter 43: Wrong Edition Gengshen Monkey

After a while, the staff brought back a big bag full of stamps.

Opening the bag, he began to calculate the price of the stamps.

“There are 172 editions of zodiac stamps, each edition costs yuan, the total is…”

He picked up the abacus and fiddled with it. “One thousand one hundred and eighty cents.”

“The remaining commemorative stamps, the 8-cent ones, are all sold… 3247 pieces, 243 yuan. The 16-cent ones are pieces, yuan. The -cent ones are pieces, yuan. The total is… yuan.”

After finishing the bill, he also said: “I know you want to collect stamps, so I picked a wrong version of the monkey stamp for you.”

“Really?” Liu Hongmin was extremely surprised.

Like misprinted coins, misprinted stamps have a higher collection value. In the new century, if a monkey stamp costs 100 yuan, then a misprinted monkey stamp costs at least 1,000 yuan.

“Here, this is the version.”

“Thank you so much!” Liu Hongmin directly pointed out 140 Great Unity bills, “No need to change the rest of the money.”

Then he counted out ten more Great Unity stamps and said, “Please help me keep an eye out for any misprinted Monkey stamps, and then help me get some more Monkey stamps.”

“A hundred copies aren’t enough for your collection?”

“How can I collect them all?” Liu Hongmin said with a smile, “I often write letters to Hong Kong!”

“Then buy some high-value stamps. Just a few will be enough. Otherwise, the postman will have to count the stamps, which is very troublesome.”

“Say it again, say it again!”

Liu Hongmin evaded the question and left with the bag.

Upon seeing this, the staff member couldn’t help but wonder: Could it be that the Monkey Stamps really have great collection value?
Looking at the more than ten Great Unity cards in his hand, he immediately picked up the phone and called the General Administration.

“This is the Beijing University Post Office. Do you still have the latest Monkey Stamps? Get me a few dozen more. Not that many? How many are there? Keep them all for me, I’ll come get them right away.”

Thirty years later, he sold ten editions of monkey stamps for nine million yuan, and bought a house within the Fourth Ring Road for his grandson, leaving him with a lot of money for his retirement.

Liu Hongmin didn’t know that his purchase of the monkey stamps actually changed a person’s destiny.

He was completely immersed in the joy of the wrong version of the monkey stamp. After a long time of happiness, Liu Hongmin felt that he should keep these stamps properly. If they were not properly preserved, they would be useless even if they were valuable in the future.

He bought some desiccant, sandwiched it between stamps, then wrapped it in three layers of plastic cloth, then taped it with plastic tape, and temporarily placed it on his bed, covered with bedding.

Then he rode his bicycle around the capital, buying several sets of monkey stamps at every post office he visited. Over the next few days, he bought more than 30 sets.

The number of Monkey stamps issued in the Gengshen Year was very small, and they were distributed in major cities and rural areas, and people also used them to write letters. Liu Hongmin was able to buy these, which was considered to be an advantage.

But it was enough. As far as Liu Hongmin knew, the highest price of a regular monkey stamp was 10,000 yuan per sheet, and a whole sheet was nearly 1 million yuan. A wrong version of the monkey stamp could be sold for 30,000 yuan per sheet, and a whole sheet – I had never heard of a whole sheet of wrong version monkey stamps.

In Liu Hongmin’s mind, there is a TV series called “Monkey Stamps”. That TV series exaggerated the price of a single misprinted monkey stamp to one million.

Although artistic processing accounts for the majority, it is enough to illustrate the status of Monkey Stamps in the philatelic world.

The whole set of wrong monkey stamps in Liu Hongmin’s hand will definitely cause a stir in the stamp market in the future. Of course, that is a matter for the future.

Now he just wants to know when the renovation of his courtyard house will be completed.

Soon, Zou Shifang arrived. He had asked someone to find a construction team, and they would start digging the basement in a few days.

Siheyuan cannot expand upwards, but downwards is no problem. Liu Hongmin’s Siheyuan has three courtyards, which can be used to build a large basement, even an underground parking lot.

Zou Shifang was more concerned about Liu Hongmin’s novel, “When will “The Great Song Dynasty Chief Justice” be published?”

“March and April issues.”

The Song Dynasty Chief Justice has more than 500,000 words. If it is published in one issue, there is no need to publish other works. Generally, long novels are published in two issues of Beijing Literature and Art.

Zou Shifang calculated the time and said, “It’s only a few days left.”

He had read the manuscript of “The Great Song Dynasty Chief Justice” and knew what the story was about. Compared with Shao Bao, “The Great Song Dynasty Chief Justice” was much weaker in reasoning, but it was much better in professionalism and officialdom struggle.

In particular, the villain Diao Guangdou has a meticulous mind and extraordinary wisdom. He is also a master at solving cases, but his intentions are not right, and he was discovered by Song Ci twice.

He is not a good official, but he has his own logic. In his logic, I handle unjust, false and wrong cases, but I don’t target my colleagues. You, Song Ci, should do your job well and we should not interfere with each other. You, Song Ci, have provoked me, so don’t blame me for destroying you!
Although it is a heresy, the self-consistent logic makes Diao Guangdou flesh and blood, more real, and more vigilant.

Because such officials are very likely around us. It’s just that we don’t realize that they may look friendly on the surface, but they are not good officials in their hearts.

This is what good and evil look like in the eyes of normal people. If those selfish people see it, it will be a completely different scene.

Song Ci is a straightforward person who doesn’t care about the feelings of his colleagues and tells everyone everything. If such a person becomes an official, we will suffer.

Someone who thinks this way may not necessarily be Diao Guangdou, but he is definitely not a good person.

Therefore, we only need to focus on some civil servants with straightforward tempers, as they are the mirror that reveals the evil in the officialdom. If he encounters difficulties in his workplace, it means that there must be people like Diao Guangdou in this workplace.

Therefore, from the perspective of connotation, “The Great Song Dynasty Chief Justice” surpasses Shao Bao by several dimensions. Coupled with Liu Hongmin’s advantage in ancient Chinese, the dialogues in “The Great Song Dynasty Chief Justice” are closer to those of the ancients, giving people a more realistic feeling.

Liu Hongmin didn’t care too much. Compared with 400,000 Hong Kong dollars, “The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty” could no longer give him any surprises.

“Old Zou, you know a lot of people, can you help me contact an expert in antiques?”

Zou Shifang was stunned for a moment, “You want to buy antiques?”

Liu Hongmin nodded, “Shao Bao made some money from the ceasefire in Hong Kong, and wanted to follow the trend.”

“How much did you earn?” Old Zou reminded: “Antiques and collectibles are bottomless pits. Be careful not to empty your family’s wealth.”

Liu Hongmin spread his hands, “It’s not much, just 500,000 Hong Kong dollars.”

“How much?” Zou Shifang shouted, “Five hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars, did you go to rob?”

Liu Hongmin talked about the TV adaptation rights and royalties, and Zou Shifang immediately quieted down. He looked at Liu Hongmin with jealous eyes, “You guy, no wonder you are so generous to let me work for you! It turns out you make so much money.”

(End of this chapter)