War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 381
From the first day of the new year to the fifth day of the new year, relying on his inadvertent stupidity and funny jokes, and driven by the videos sent by himself and other peers in the village, Jima successfully shaped him into this The happiest flower of Chinese New Year.

Fortunately, Jima, who has always been a bit of an idol, finally calmed down a lot after Gorman called to remind him. Not only did he stop messing around in the next few days, he even kept drinking to a certain extent so that he never really let himself go. drunk.

On the morning of the sixth day, Wei Ran and Sui Sui took Ji Ma to bid farewell to their parents and grandparents, and took the high-speed train to the capital for a few days of fun.

But in the past few days, the content of the videos taken by Ji Ma, except that Wei Ran and Sui Sui got caught by Wei Ran and Sui Sui every now and then without knowing it, the rest have become more and more serious.Most of the time, he observes Wei Ran and Sui Sui with the eyes of a Russian, or more precisely, an Inta who is far away from Moscow, and talks about him in the video By the way, guess how his father will react when he sees it.

In the blink of an eye, it was the evening of the tenth day of the first lunar month. Ji Ma, who had become popular on China's short video platform, arrived at the airport on the second day of Valentine's Day under the leadership of Wei Ran and Sui Sui, ready to meet Alek Professor Sai and Zhou Shujin took the flight to Finland together to continue the suspended filming work.

However, before the three of them waited for the professor and Zhou Shujin at the airport, Chen Guangling called first.

"Happy New Year, Teacher Chen." After Wei Ran answered the phone, he greeted politely, and subconsciously turned on the recording function by the way.

"Happy New Year to you too." After a short greeting, Chen Guangling took the initiative to say, "Wei Ran, I don't know if it's convenient for you these two days. I want to bring an old gentleman to meet you."

"Old sir?" Wei Ran made a rough guess after a little thought, "Luo Xiang's master? Did he succeed in apprenticeship?"

"Success!" Chen Guangling said beamingly, "But it's not his master who wants to see you, but an elder of his master."

"Mr. Chen, did the other party tell me the purpose of meeting me?" Wei Ran asked after a little thought.

"He said he wanted to talk to you about that bed of secluded springs"

Seemingly worried about Wei Ran's misunderstanding, Chen Guangling chased after him and said, "Or if it's convenient for you now, I'll give him the phone and let that old gentleman talk to you?"

"Okay, you can give him the phone," Wei Ran said cheerfully.

After a while, an old voice rang from the other end of the phone, "Hi Mr. Wei, my name is Tao, you can call me Lao Tao."

"Mr. Tao, I don't know what you want from me?" Wei Ran simply found a rest chair and sat down, while waiting for the old Mr. Tao's explanation.

"Mr. Wei, I don't know if you intend to part with the Guqin Youquan?" Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone asked straight to the point.

"Not for sale" Wei Ran replied simply, he promised to give the piano to Suisui before the Chinese New Year, and now that he is not short of money, naturally he will not sell it.

"I'm willing to spend 2 million, I don't know."

"Not for sale" Wei Ran continued to say simply.

"What about five hundred and five million?" Old Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone gritted his teeth and offered an unexpectedly high price with a hint of pleading.

"Mr. Tao, I just don't want to sell it, and it has nothing to do with the price."

Wei Ran paused at this point, and then asked suspiciously, "And as far as I know, that bed of Youquan seems to be far from worth that much money."

"My father sold that violin, and I just want to redeem him." On the other end of the phone, Mr. Tao gave an explanation that he couldn't distinguish between true and false.

Hearing this, Wei Ran suddenly asked a question that shouldn't be asked, "Who did your father sell it to?"

Mr. Tao was silent for a moment, and explained frankly, "It was sold to a British missionary, but that was all in the 30s."

"Why don't you tell me the story of that bed piano in detail? I'm a little curious about how it ended up in a foreign country." Wei Ran asked straightforwardly. He and Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone had never met and had no friendship. On the other hand, it is a good thing if the other party is willing to say something, and if he is unwilling to say it, he will not lose anything.

Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone sighed and explained, "It was around the Laba Festival in 34. I got diphtheria. At that time, my father sold the quiet spring bed that he supported his family to save me. live me.

Later, when my father saved enough money and wanted to find the missionary to buy the piano back, the man had already left Beiping at that time. I thought I would never see that bed of quiet spring again in this life, but I didn’t expect it.”

"Although I'm sorry, that bed of Youquan still can't be sold." Wei Ran shook his head towards the sympathetic Sui Sui while speaking.

"Don't sell it. If you don't sell it, don't sell it, alas!"

Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone seemed to have expected this result, and asked after sighing again, "Mr. Wei, I wonder if I can buy the contents of this Youquanqin bed?"

"What?" Wei Ran asked knowingly, it was the last time to check how much water was in the other party's words.

Mr. Tao also seemed to have guessed what Wei Ran was thinking, and he simply replied, "There is the Guangling Sanjian handwritten by my father in there, and there is also a ball of waste paper that I stuffed in with my own hands, Mr. Wei, you wouldn't have put"

"No, I still have the handwriting book and the balls of waste paper stuffed in it at that time."

Wei Ran gave an answer in a flat tone that made the other party feel relieved. He was not lying. Those things were not only kept, but also stored in the piano case with Guqin Youquan, but Wei Ran was in the piano case. A layer of cushioning sponge was placed inside and the edge was sealed with double-sided tape, so it was covered.

And the reason why he kept these things was because he thought that when he wanted to sell that guqin someday, he might be able to use those things to tell a good story and sell them at a good price. However, he doesn't plan to sell the piano now. Yes, but this good story was delivered to the door on its own initiative.

"I stuffed those waste paper balls in." Mr. Tao's bitter tone was full of regrets and memories.

Wei Ran took a sip of the coffee that Jima bought not far away, and asked slowly, "Mr. Tao, if you can answer some of my questions, what is the handbook left by your father and what you stuffed in at that time?" I can give you all the paper balls that I went to."

"What question?" Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone asked expectantly.

"When I discovered that bed of secluded spring, its name was well disguised, and a lot of things were stuffed in the belly of the piano as I just said." Wei Ran paused here, then turned to Asked suspiciously, "But wouldn't it be impossible to sell at a high price?"

"My father was worried that if he sold it at a high price, he wouldn't be able to get it back."

Mr. Tao answered Wei Ran's doubts with a simple sentence, and then took the initiative to say, "According to my father, the Englishman just regarded the quiet spring bed as an decoration hanging in the room. Originally, I was very sure of redeeming it. But I didn’t expect that when my father saved enough money, the Englishman would leave Peiping. From then until Jianguo, my father was always looking for this quiet spring, looking for it. The English missionary."

"Mr. Tao is old this year?" Wei Ran suddenly asked a digression politely.

Mr. Tao on the other end of the phone was also obviously stunned by the former's jumpy question, and then he replied, "Ninety to eight."

Hearing this, Wei Ran first confirmed that the phone was still recording the call, and then said, "Mr. Tao, please give the phone to Mr. Chen."

"Okay then." Mr. Tao sighed, and handed the phone to Chen Guangling who had been standing beside him in disappointment.

"Wei Ran," Chen Guangling said apologetically, "I'm sorry, neither did I."

"It's okay." Wei Ranhun replied indifferently. When the other party borrowed the violin, he already had a premonition that such a thing would come out.

Before Chen Guangling could open his mouth, Wei Ran continued, "Mr. Chen, the Youquan bed and the matching box are definitely not for sale, but you can give it to the other party as Mr. Tao mentioned just now."

"Really?!" Mr. Tao's surprised voice came from the other end of the phone, obviously hearing what Wei Ran was saying.

Quan assumed that he didn't hear Mr. Tao's words, so Wei Ran paused and continued, "Mr. Chen, are you listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening." Chen Guangling quickly responded, and at the same time smiled apologetically at Mr. Tao who was standing aside.

"In this way, please tear off the layer of cushioning sponge in the piano case, and the subtraction book and those paper balls are placed inside. These things can be given to Mr. Tao for a thought, but the guqin and the piano case I won't sell it."

"OK! OK!"

Chen Guangling on the other end of the phone quickly agreed, and at the same time hinted at helping Wei Ran, "This time, I, Old Chen, owe you a favor. When I return to the capital tomorrow, I will give the Guqin to you personally with Luo Xiang." You send the family home to make amends."

"Mr. Chen, you are welcome. We are out of town these few days. I can pick it up from your musical instrument store in a few days. You don't have to go all the way." After Wei Ran finished speaking, after the other party gave a response Immediately hung up the phone.

"Why didn't you sell the Guqin to that old man?" Sui Sui asked in confusion until this time, "He is too pitiful, is this Qin a relic of his father?"

"If he is as old as Chen Guangling, he will be sold if he sells it." Wei Ran put away his phone and said rationally, "But you heard it just now, the old man is already 98."

"It has something to do with age?" Sui Sui became more and more puzzled, she didn't have to sell the piano, she just felt sorry for Mr. Tao.

"Of course it does"

Wei Ran picked up his coffee and took a sip. In order to take care of Jima who was sitting on the other side with a blank face, he simply asked in Russian, "How many years do you think this 98-year-old man can live?"

"Uh..." Sui Sui and Ji Ma looked at each other, there was no way to answer this question.

"Let's calculate that he can live for 10 years."

Wei Ran asked and answered by himself and continued to speak in Russian, "Even if this old man won't sell the Youquan he bought in the past 10 years, you can guarantee that his children and grandchildren will be safe when he drives west of Hehe." Will he sell this violin? After all, the old man asked for 500 million yuan. Or take a step back, can you guarantee that his children and grandchildren will not sell this violin to foreigners like old man Tao's father?"

"What's wrong with the foreigner?" Ji Ma muttered dissatisfiedly while listening to the excitement.

Sui Sui, who never regarded herself as a foreigner, scratched the back of her head, "Is that why you didn't sell to the other party?"

Wei Ran smiled, "It's almost half of the reason. I don't want to wrong the piano, so I can only wrong the old gentleman. Besides, I didn't give him the handwritten handwritten score of his father. It's him."

"What about the other half of the reason?" Sui Sui asked with great interest.

Wei Ran glanced at the time on the phone and continued, "Since the other party is the elder of Chen Luoxiang's new master, even if he is not a master, at least there is a high possibility that he is a professional who can play the piano. opinion?"

"No problem." Sui Sui and Jima replied in unison, and the latter even answered in Russian, "Butchers only become friends with butchers."

Wei Ran smiled, turned his head and said to Sui Sui who was sitting on the other side, "Although I am not as professional as you butcher fat sheep, at least your father taught me four or five years ago that if you want to make money, you have to sell things." To a layman. At the same time, if an expert wants to buy something at a high price, then it is best not to sell it to him. Instead, after making a clear inquiry, double the price that the expert offers to find a layman to sell it to.”

"At least my dad was right about that."

Sui Sui, an inspirational professional butcher of fat sheep, nodded in agreement, "But if it were my mother, she would change the last sentence to 'double the price offered by the experts, and then find a group of amateurs to come and bid.'"

"What if it was you?" Jima couldn't help asking.

Sui Sui showed a harmless and cute smile, but what came out of her mouth was "Ask a few more experts before the price doubles, and pick the double with the highest price as the starting price. In addition, before selling it to laymen, publicize it first." What kind of insiders are interested in what's being sold."

Wei Ran and Ji Ma looked at each other dully, and the former couldn't help sighing, "You killed this sheep, there is not even a shred of meat left on the bones."

(End of this chapter)