A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

It is still very simple to engrave in China, but after Zhang Yuanji learned about Li Yu's idea, he immediately said: "I recently heard that Wang Yiting, the general agent of Nissin Company, invited Xiling Seal Society to visit Shanghai. Mr. Wu Changshuo came with several apprentices. Yes. With the reputation of Brother Shucai, Xiling Seal Society will never refuse your request."

Wu Changshuo is now basically the leader in domestic calligraphy, painting, and seal cutting circles, and a big figure in the literary world of the late Qing Dynasty.

Li Yu said: "That's such an honor."

Li Yu really wanted to see them, not for any reason, but mainly because he had robbed their territory.

Originally, according to history, Wang Yiting, Wu Changshuo and others would establish a calligraphy and painting association in Shanghai Yuyuan two or three years later to protect traditional Chinese paintings.

Now that the territory is occupied by Li Yu, he can only find another place.

Zhang Yuanji and Li Yu came to the concession and found Wang Yiting, the general agent of Nissin Company.

This Nissin company is not the Nissin that sold instant noodles in later generations, but is engaged in the flour industry. To be precise, its full name is "Nissin Milling".

The founder of Nissin Milling, Shoda Seichiro, is somewhat famous. He was the grandfather of Empress Michiko, who later became Emperor Akihito.

Wang Yiting, the general agent of Nissin Company, was considered a business celebrity in Shanghai and also joined the Tongmenghui.Wang Yiting made many donations to the revolution, and the amounts were very large. Later, when Japan occupied Shanghai, he never bowed to the Japanese. He was a very courageous entrepreneur.

The two met Wang Yiting in the Nissin Company's office.

Wang Yiting praised Li Yu's achievements very much and was busy making tea for Li Yu himself.

Li Yu stood up and said, "Sir, there is no need to be so polite."

"What are you talking about? The Imperial Master is a big shot for us Chinese people!" Wang Yiting poured a cup of Longjing for Li Yu, "Try it quickly. This is just brought from Hangzhou."

Li Yu just lacked a middleman to help sell goods to Japan, so it was a good choice to let Wang Yiting coordinate the management of the trading company with the Mitsui Consortium.

He often interacts with Japanese people, knows how to do business, speaks good Japanese, and doesn’t have to worry about his character.

So Li Yu said: "I have some products in China that need to be exported to Japan."

"Sold to Japan?" Wang Yiting became interested, "What is it?"

"A fast-moving consumer product called instant noodles, as well as MSG, enamel, etc." Li Yu said.

"Instant noodles? MSG?" Wang Yiting was stunned, "How come I haven't heard of it?"

Li Yu explained it to him for a long time, and Wang Yiting finally understood it roughly. He stroked his beard and said, "There is such a magical thing."

Li Yu said: "In the future, I will also build a factory in Shanghai to facilitate sales to Liangjiang, Southeast and Huguang regions. Regarding production, I have previously reached cooperation with Zhang Yiyun, the boss of Shanghai Sauce Industry."

After all, Shanghai is close to the Yangtze River, has strong water transportation and convenient transportation, making it a more suitable place to open a factory.

Wang Yiting asked: "You are so well prepared, so Japan's Mitsui Chamber of Commerce also agrees?"

Li Yu nodded: "I signed a contract with them in Japan."

"This is easy!" Wang Yiting said enthusiastically, "Although I am the general agent of a Japanese company, if I can continue to help Mr. Dishi make Japanese money, that would be really comfortable!"

There are many people who have Li Yu's ideas.

"If we cooperate sincerely, it will not be difficult to dump the entire country of Japan, and by then the money will continue to flow back." Li Yu said.

Wang Yiting became even more excited, "I will do my best to help Emperor Shi's factory!"

The two continued to talk about engraving seals, and Wang Yiting asked: "With your status as the emperor's master, you don't even have a seal with you!"

Li Yu could only say casually: "I'm used to signing."

Wang Yiting said regretfully: "It would have been better if Mr. Emperor had come a day earlier. Mr. Wu Changshuo just took a ship back to Hangzhou this morning."

"Leaving?!" Zhang Yuanji also wanted to take this opportunity to meet this literary leader.

Wang Yiting said: "But one of Mr. Wu's disciples has not left yet. It will take a few days for him to return to Changsha by ferry."

Li Yu didn't choose at all: "Famous teachers give birth to great disciples, and Mr. Wu's disciples cannot be inferior, otherwise I can't wait any longer."

Wang Yiting said to a follower beside him: "Go and call Mr. Baishi."

"Baishi?" Li Yu's ears pricked up, "Qi Baishi?"

Wang Yiting asked in surprise: "Does the Emperor know him?"

Can you not recognize it!
However, although Qi Baishi is now 40 years old, he is still not famous. He is only slightly famous in the seal cutting circle in Changsha area.

Li Yu said: "I have been to the Lianghu area before and heard about it. If I can get Mr. Baishi to engrave it, it would be a good choice for me."

"This is best. I'm afraid that Mr. Emperor Shi will be dissatisfied," Wang Yiting said. "In fact, Mr. Baishi's seal is very good. Fan Zengxiang, the leader of the Lianghu poetry circle, wrote a rung specifically for him."

The so-called "runge" refers to the fees clearly marked by literati when selling their works or craftsmanship. "Runge" refers to the price list.

As early as the Ming Dynasty, Tang Bohu, one of the "Four Families of Wu Clan", wrote, "When you have time, write about the green hills and sell them, and don't make money to do evil in the world." This is essentially a kind of Runge expression.

(It is said that Guo Degang often said this sentence when listening to cross talk, and I thought he coined it at the time.)
Literary people, in terms of high emotional intelligence, are called emphasizing on reputation; in terms of low emotional intelligence, they are actually poor.

As a typical literati art, calligraphy, painting and sealing would be no different from street "showing" if they were sold directly, which would be an insult to the dignity of literati.

Therefore, in order to buy and sell calligraphy and painting without losing dignity, literati gave it an elegant name: "Run Ge" (sometimes called Run Rule, Run Yue or Bi Dan).

This is the realm of Chinese people creating words.If you are not a cultured person, such as the beggar under the bridge, how can he understand if you say "runge" to him.

The vocabulary I mentioned earlier that comes from Japan, such as "first night right" and "debut novel", have a much different artistic conception.

But it still looks very Japanese...

In addition to polishing the style, polishing the pen is the same.In later generations, when people asked people to write calligraphy, they had to pay money, that is, writing fees.

Of course, there are many details, so I won’t go into details. It’s enough to know the basics.

After a while, the entourage brought the middle-aged Qi Baishi to the hall.

In Li Yu's impression, whenever Qi Baishi is mentioned, he is always called Old Man Baishi. Most of the photos show him in his old age. It was too late for him to become famous.

The middle-aged Qi Baishi is still a bit unrecognizable.

Wang Yiting said to him: "Mr. Baishi, it's a good thing that you didn't leave. It's also a good thing that you didn't leave. Mr. Li Yu, the imperial master and scientific giant at that time, wanted to engrave several seals. I asked you by name, Mr. Baishi."

"Oh?" Qi Baishi couldn't help but look at Li Yu, who was wearing a tall and straight custom-made suit. It was by no means cheap, "How can he be so famous at such a young age?!"

Li Yu smiled and said: "Luck, luck."

Qi Baishi said: "Although you are famous all over the world, the price must be negotiated in advance."

After Qi Baishi finished speaking, he took out a rune sheet from his sleeve, which read:

"Commonly used name seals are three gold for each word. Shi Guang uses a Han ruler as a measure. The stone is large and the stone is two points. The word is like a grain of millet, and each word is ten gold. Fan Zengxiang."

This is the formula Fan Zengxiang wrote to Qi Baishi in 1902.

Qi Baishi was not well-known at that time, and it was only because of Fan Zengxiang's endorsement that he gradually gained sales.

In the next ten years, Qi Baishi almost always used this style.

The price is not cheap, one word costs three silver coins.

And the smaller the characters, the more expensive they are. "A character is as big as a millet grain, and each character costs ten gold coins." That is to say, if a character is the size of a grain of rice, one character costs ten silver coins.

Seals are definitely considered a luxury item in China at this time. Whether they have a seal or not can tell whether they are rich. The material of the seal alone cannot be afforded by ordinary people.

"I like people who are cheerful and don't hide things," Li Yu said. "I want to engrave more seals, including personal seals, book collection seals, letter seals, name seals, and font size seals. Let's do it. Seven Bafangyin."

Qi Baishi thought about it and realized that it was a big deal, but it would take at least half a month to carve the Qibafang seal, so he would have to stay in Shanghai for an extra half month, which completely disrupted his schedule.

Li Yu saw his hesitation: "Don't worry, sir, you can live in Yu Garden, and your food, clothing, housing and transportation will be reimbursed. You can also read Song Dynasty books in your spare time."

"Song version of the book?" Qi Baishi was a little moved, "Okay, I will take the job, but the money must be paid first. Even if it is a Bafang seal, a seal will have four characters for the time being, and 96 silver yuan will be paid first."

Li Yu naturally knew Qi Baishi's temper. He was famous for being "deductible", so he must get money first and then work.

Later, he became famous all over the world, and there were so many people asking for his paintings that he hung a special banner in his home in Beijing: "Selling paintings regardless of friendship, a gentleman is shameful, please pay according to the rules."

As for why he is so "depressed", it should be because he was born in poverty and lived too hard in the first half of his life.

Li Yu took out 100 silver dollars. Unexpectedly, Qi Baishi returned four dollars: "That's the amount. If you need to add words, just add more money."

Li Yu felt happy, the old man was very interesting and principled.

Qi Baishi didn't say much. He took the money and went to work.

100 silver dollars seems like a lot, but after deducting the cost of materials and possible mistakes, it actually doesn't make much money.If you want to make a lot of money by selling prints, the price must at least double.

However, with Fan Zengxiang's style, at least Qi Baishi will not be too poor, but he will not live as handsomely as Wu Changshuo.

Qi Baishi moved into a room in Yu Garden. When Li Yu came back, he was wandering around, but after taking a few steps, he shook his head or sighed.

Li Yu asked curiously: "Mr. Baishi, what's wrong with you?"

Qi Baishi pointed to the layout of the pavilions and trees inside: "There is a huge difference in artistic conception. The places that should be covered are not covered, and the places that should be exposed are not exposed. After the tour, sometimes I felt depressed and sometimes short of breath. I must not be an expert. done.”

Li Yu said: "The construction was a little hasty, and many of the ponds and rockeries inside were made of temporary concrete, which naturally lacked the natural charm."

"Concrete? Something from foreigners?" Qi Baishi asked.

"Yes," Li Yu said, "It is a building material made of cement mixed with steel bars and sand and gravel."

"That shouldn't be so rigid!" Qi Baishi shook his head and said immediately, "But fortunately, the architectural style of the house is pretty good."

Well, as expected, art is poisonous to the eyes.

If there is a chance in the future, let the construction company adjust the layout of the garden.

Qi Baishi moved into a room arranged by Li Yu. After he bought the materials, he began to stay at home.

Li Yu found the Shanghai Concession, led wires over, and installed a wireless telegraph machine.

This kind of specialized power supply is expensive. We can only hope that more power users in Shanghai County Government will spread the price down in the future.

Yang Sisheng had considered this aspect in advance and reserved pipelines so that the wires would not be exposed and affect the appearance.