Almighty painter

Chapter 309 The World of Yesterday

From beginning to end, Chen Shenglin never mentioned anything about the incident behind the incident at the train station.

It seems like this is just a random thing.

Not worth mentioning.

The collector seemed to suddenly think of something before hanging up the phone.

He asked Gu Weijing a question in an interesting tone.

"Gu Weijing, have you seen my campaign sign? You are a painter. People say that literature and art can better reflect the customs and customs of a city than the propaganda slogans of politicians. Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet, artists are more important than social activities Home is more sensitive to the living environment. I’m curious, what do young people like you think?”

"How do you see what?"

"What do you think of our country and our city? From the perspective of a new generation of young people."

"Uncle Chen, this topic is too big."

Gu Weijing hesitated for a moment.

He did not dare to take the opportunity to boast and express himself in front of Boss Chen.

"To be honest, not only do I have no ability to talk about this topic, I also have no ability to represent the new generation of young people in Yangon. The people who can truly represent them are the vendors selling fruit on second-hand mobile phones in the streets and carrying foreign tourists at the port. The porter with the sliding pole and the guy selling balloons that I just passed by.”

on the one hand.

Compared to wealthy businessmen like Chen Shenglin, his family situation is like kneeling on the street begging for food.

On the other hand, Gu Weijing went to a private school and used the new Apple iPad Pro as a hand-drawing tablet. During the holidays, he and Miss Mona took pottery classes and went to the water park.

Even before I met Katsuko Sakai and had the profitable Internet name of Detective Cat, the social level I was exposed to daily was soared by the rocket.

Gu Weijing's life is still floating in the clouds.

to be honest.

All his joys and sorrows, all the troubles he faced.

Looking at the entire turbulent Myanmar, it is all petty bourgeoisie and pretentious with a literary youth temperament.

Miao Angwen, who was also attracted by Brother Hao, must have felt from the bottom of his heart that Gu Weijing was a pretentious and ignorant fool.

Compared with yourself.

Jasmine clutching his clothes beside him, and even the bitter struggle history of his grandfather Gu Tongxiang before he was 40 years old, are closer to the real life here.

"Then let's talk about what happened today. This kind of thing happens every moment in any corner of the city, in the old palace, the Shwedagon Pagoda, the port and the train station. This is the case in Yangon, and even more so in Yangon. Needless to say, there are other places where the level of chaos is even greater. What do you think about this kind of thing?"

Chen Shenglin asked.

"Hmm... It's like yesterday's world."

"Zweig?"

"No... Yangon is a city that is prosperous and old at the same time. Sometimes when you stroll through the bustling streets, you can see the all-encompassing side of the city. Sometimes, you feel so dull that it's hard to breathe, and the air is floating in the air. The smoke and dust from 200 years of yesterday’s world that have been suspended to this day are being sucked in bit by bit by your lungs.”

"Yesterday's world, this is an interesting statement." Chen Shenglin chewed on this phrase.

In the upper class of Europe, when the term "yesterday's world" is mentioned alone, it usually refers to the fifty years from the end of the 19th century to the outbreak of World War I.

Those were the romantic and beautiful golden years in the eyes of old European aristocrats and literary elites.The International Exhibition in the Crystal Palace was brilliantly lit, and the street lamps on the streets of Paris illuminated the city one by one.

It was a wonderful time of peace, harmony, and progress.

This kind of objective peace and progress was built on the bones of colonialism, but it was indeed the most glorious period of old Europe.

Hemingway called it a "movable feast." One of Zweig's most famous masterpieces, "The World of Yesterday," is a memory of the good times he spent in Vienna before the war broke out.

At this time, on the phone, the young man's yesterday's world was obviously completely different from the various beauties attached to this specific phrase in old Europe. It was also completely opposite to Zweig's nostalgia for the lost history.

"Here and in the yesterday's world in "Burmese Travels", many things have changed, while many things have stayed in the same place."

"Some things are physical, like the Good Luck Orphanage you see, the train station that runs to this day. Some things are mental, like the extortionist privileged police. The biggest difference is just from the English-speaking colonists. He became a native of the country." Gu Weijing hesitated: "And..."

"Go on, it's very exciting. Maybe I can add it to my campaign slogan. Let's declare war on the world of yesterday. It's a good political slogan that is both thought-provoking and contains the politics of Western colonial history. The metaphor is wonderful."

Chen Shenglin encouraged him with interest.

"Furthermore, actually when I saw them nodding and bowing to apologize, I felt bored and scary. Maybe that military policeman could hold his neck high and argue that he was just checking in accordance with the regulations, which would make me feel better. I I don’t know how you did it, I could even see the police officer’s hands shaking when he apologized to Miss Sakai.”

"I believe that if Kneeling down and kowtowing can make Sakai Katsuko treat today's incident as if it never happened, he will definitely do so."

"You're still scared when he's like this? It should be the police officer who feels scared. Most young people in your position will only feel excited. What's wrong with seeing corrupt police officers being punished? Really?" Chen Shenglin asked strangely.

If it were Gu Weijing last year.

He would most likely be like what Chen Shenglin said, and he would be very excited when he saw that one of his phone calls made the police officer become arrogant and frightened.

But he's seen a lot this year.

The vision is different, the pattern is different, the problem is considered from different angles, and the final attitude has also changed.

"Because from the beginning to the end, the law, good and evil, right and wrong, are meaningless in this kind of matter. Only the chain of interests plays a role behind. I'm thinking, if I just made a call to Brother Hao , I’m afraid it will have the same effect, and they might even be more scared.”

"Brother Hao? Is he the person I know? The new owner who bought Yangon's Diwang Xihe Club for US$14 million in 2? Do you still know him?"

Chen Shenglin interrupted Gu Weijing and asked.

"Do you know him too?" Gu Weijing's heart tightened.

"I'm not familiar with the different industries. But I have met. After all, I am a collector, and I am probably one of the richest collectors in Yangon. And this brother Hao has the richest art resources in this country. We It's strange if you don't know him." Chen Shenglin said easily and calmly.

"Someone once arranged to sell me a painting of Monet's Water Lilies. It was the 251th of the 87 "Water Lilies" painted by Monet, and the second largest among all "Water Lilies". The last time it appeared in history was It was bought by an anonymous buyer in Switzerland in 1986 for 460 million francs, and there has been no news since then. The normal market valuation now is about US$4000 million to US$7000 million."

"The price quoted to me at that time was only US$980 million, but it had to be paid in the payment method specified by the seller, in three installments in the name of company stock dividends or in cash, and the consideration time was only 36 hours. The seller was that Brother Hao."

"It's really the legendary "Water Lilies"."

Gu Weijing was amazed.

To this day, this kind of top-level art transaction worth tens of millions of dollars is still just a distant and vague concept to him.

Authentic Monet.

Some of the top art galleries in the Magic City of Eastern Xia and Beijing can borrow a piece for exhibition every few months.

But the whole of Southeast Asia.

Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia combined are only rumored to have a "Water Lily" and an "Elephant Trunk of Etretat" in the private collection of the Thai royal family with assets of tens of billions of dollars.

Brother Hao is actually powerful enough to get such a thing.

A collection of this magnitude can kill the entire Yangon National Gallery in an instant.

As long as there is an authentic masterpiece of sufficient weight in an art museum within a radius of [-] kilometers.

When Gu Weijing faced the systematic task of "copying famous Impressionists", he would not want to try his luck in the calligraphy and painting auction.

Who would have thought.

Probably in Yangon.

In the Xihe Guild Hall, which is less than half an hour away from their calligraphy and painting shop, in an unknown treasury storage box, there lies a legendary water lily quietly.

This thing has a great symbolic meaning in the art circle, just like the Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Slaying Sword.

As long as you don’t encounter supermodels like the Mona Lisa and “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”, they are national treasures that cannot be measured by money.

"Water Lilies" is one of the top and most prestigious collections in the eyes of collectors.

In years when the market is cold, some cheap Monets can be purchased for over a million dollars.

But after 2010, for a work as representative and culturally symbolic as "Water Lilies", the preservation cost usually has to be eight figures.

It is said that the length of the picture in Brother Hao's hand ranks second among the more than 200 "Water Lilies".

If you run into the right auction and the right buyer, not to mention US$7000 million, nine figures are possible.

"Dirty painting? Fake painting?"

He knew that Brother Hao might be one of the largest money launderers in Southeast Asia, or he might be the owner of the largest art counterfeiting group in the world.

There is a cold joke in the music industry that has been rumored for hundreds of years.

The total number of certified million-dollar Stradivarius violins in the world is 30% more than the total number of violins recorded by the master builder.

Put it in the art world.

I don’t know if the total number of Monet’s “Water Lilies” and “Sunflowers” ​​in the hands of collectors, both light and dark, legal and illegal, is more than the total number of works created by this Impressionist painter.

However, Monet is indeed the world's favorite master of forgery.Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci may be more famous and have a higher average price.

The problem is that.

There are only a few handed down works of these two painters, and almost every existing work has been passed down in an orderly manner.You imitate a "Mona Lisa" and tell your clients that the one hanging in the Louvre is fake, but the one in my hand is the real one.

Quite unconvincing.

Paintings like "Savior of the World" that have no accurate inheritance.

Even if it was bought by a Middle Eastern prince for US$5 million, the Louvre is still in a war of words with the academic community over whether it is the authentic work of Leonardo da Vinci.

Picasso is too close to the present, and it is difficult to imitate.

Monet is different.

This painter was famous, lived a long time, and best of all, he was very prolific, producing hundreds of paintings of the same subject.

Many dealers in counterfeit paintings rely on imitation Monets to make a living. As long as they deceive a wealthy man who wants to get a bargain, they can make money for several years.

"Of course there is something wrong with this kind of price, but I don't think it's a fake painting. Not only because he wouldn't dare to fool me on a tens-of-million-dollar collection unless he wanted to destroy the sign, but at the same time, I saw it with my own eyes After seeing that painting, the three appraisal experts I chartered from Europe and Japan and myself all tend to believe that the painting is authentic."

Chen Shenglin sighed.

"1000 million US dollars can buy such a top-notch collection. Although I chickened out at the last moment before the transaction was completed, looking back now, I am still very excited."

"You are a man of true integrity."

Gu Weijing praised from the bottom of his heart.

Only those who are truly knowledgeable can clearly realize how attractive top-notch works of art are to an art lover.

It is like a beautiful beauty. Even if her origin cannot be revealed to others, she can be happily carried back to the room and admired by herself under the lamp. It is still very beautiful and wonderful.

Brother Hao patted a Bentley car key to win over him, and he was able to control it.

If the other party were to take a picture of the original "Water Lilies", Gu Weijing might not be able to stick to his original intention, no matter in terms of wealth value or artistic value.

If this were not the case, the world-wide underground art black market, which deals in shady art, would not be so prosperous.

"I like to hear this, but don't think of me as too arrogant. In fact, I have already prepared the money, but the water in this picture is too deep. In a day and a half, I broke several banks and couldn't raise it. Brother Hao doesn’t accept 1000 million U.S. dollars in kyats. I don’t want my company to be involved in his money laundering business.”

"Besides, for 1000 million US dollars, I can buy an ordinary "Water Lily" at a regular auction house with a little more. Buying a black painting is almost tied to Brother Hao. If the capital chain is tight in the future, I want to sell it. I still have to use him as a middleman to convert the money into cash, which I don’t think is worth it.”

Chen Shenglin said with a smile: "Gu Weijing, you can paint with Cao Xuan and date Miss Sakai. I am not surprised at all that you will be targeted by Brother Hao."

"There are some things I shouldn't have said. However, since you call me Uncle Chen, I will remind you as an elder."

"Gu Weijing, if you want to make a fortune that lasted ten years, you can go to Brother Hao. I heard that he is never stingy with talented young people. But if you want to be a great painter in peace and stability for the rest of your life, It’s best not to have too much to do with Brother Hao.”

Chen Shenglin's tone was still gentle.

"Of course there is nothing wrong with young people wanting to make a fortune. But whether they can make a fortune for a lifetime is a matter of course."

"You are absolutely right. I have always rejected Brother Hao's solicitation." Gu Weijing hurriedly explained: "I mentioned this matter just to say. Whether you are a decent person, whether the matter is right or wrong, as long as You just make a phone call, and society will run according to your will. Whether it is Brother Hao or Uncle Chen, you all hold the same power. This is actually a scary thing. Your secretary did not even confirm whether I have Tell lies."

"...Of course, I don't mean to accuse you."

As Gu Weijing talked, he felt that his words sounded a bit ungrateful.

"No, people never need to apologize for their honesty. If you want to hear lies, I can hear [-] lies a day. Only the truth is rare. I am very happy that you can say this to me. This is It’s what I want to hear.”

Chen Shenglin chuckled twice and admired Gu Weijing's sincerity.

"But Gu Weijing, have you ever thought about it, if the world operates like this, what would you do? Fairness and justice are not the core of society. Fairy tale books teach children to be kind, but adults In a society, there is only profit.”

"What kind of society do you think is a good society? The United States? Vietnam next door to us has the bloodiest war memorial in the world. It contains millions of human remains that were blown up by US bombs, and oranges. There are photos of old ladies disabled by drugs and deformed babies. It is simply an encyclopedia of the tragedies of war. The most cruel drawing of the Hell Society in the world. And these bombs were all dropped in the name of justice."

"I have been to various cities and many countries over the years, and the biggest feeling I have is that police kill people, gangsters kill people, and senators also kill people."

Gu Weijing was silent.

"The life of an artist can be glorious and poetic, but that of a politician cannot. We are rooted in every aspect of this city. If Myanmar is an iron pot being boiled on a low fire, and you feel uncomfortable, you can jump out and change it. City life. And I can't, this is my home."

As Chen Shenglin was talking, he also realized that this topic was a bit heavy. He smiled: "Okay, this is a topic that only old men should talk about. Now, little friend Gu Weijing, the most important thing you should do is to be with Miss Sakai. Enjoy the sunshine and spring. By the way, remember to go to the polling station for me at the end of the year and cast a vote."

"Don't worry about Brother Hao. In terms of influence, I dare not say that he can compare with Brother Hao in Yangon, but it is not difficult for you to paint with peace of mind and prepare for the exhibition."

"Thank you, Uncle Chen, if I were still in Myanmar at that time, I would."
-
The train blew its whistle and drove slowly into the distance, leaving the city.

The dense and mottled jungle drifted slowly past the window, like a slide being dragged horizontally.

The journey to the botanical garden is not far. In a country like North America that lives on wheels, it may only be the distance from a suburban town to a Wal-Mart in the city center to buy daily necessities.

They are nearly two hours away by car.

After all, one cannot expect to run at the speed of modern trains on such an old railway that is older than Gu Tongxiang.

It can also operate at half-hour intervals, rain or shine.

It is already a small miracle.

I don’t know if it’s because a first-class ticket worth 1000 kyats is beyond the purchasing power of most ordinary people.

Or maybe the station master thought he was Chen Shenglin's nephew, and in order to please Gu Weijing, he specially emptied the carriage. They were the only people in the quiet carriage of this sun-drenched old house.

When getting in the car.

The staff also thoughtfully provided a Lily set meal - a plate of stir-fried beef slices with celery and lily surrounded by flies, plus a pot of instant coffee in a paint-peeling thermos pot full of small pits.

There is even a small dining car hanging on this old-fashioned train.

The Lily set meal is given to first-class passengers, while the corresponding rose set meal consisting of local rose brand biscuits is supplied to second- and third-class passengers.

Except for Uncle Alai, who is not a picky eater, none of the people present showed any interest in this plate of beef slices with questionable hygienic conditions.

Only Uncle Alai was sitting in the corner with a plate, chewing beef slices, drinking coffee, and reading the "Yangon Mirror" that came with the train with gusto.

"Meow."

Awang's round head came out of the pet carrier and waved his little paw to remind Gu Weijing.

Ah Wang is also very interested in the plate of fried beef.

The local cat raised in Old Man Wu's yard has always had a strong appetite due to this advantage.

It can eat hundreds of dollars of canned cat food.

Ah Wang can also eat fried beef with flies flying around.

She scratched the brown straps from her chest to her back with her paws. As a brave cat who longed for wind and freedom, the restrictive feeling of this strap made her feel uncomfortable.

"Let her out. There is no one in the carriage now. I brought a small can for Awang. According to my mother's experience in raising cats, you must feed the cat before taking it out to play. We are going to the botanical garden. Cai Feng, if it bites randomly and eats some poisonous berries, it will be terrible."

Sakai Katsuko gently scratched Awang's soft ears with her thumb and suggested softly.

"Yeah, let me hold her and make sure Awang doesn't get lost." Jasmine also turned her head from the front seat.

The little girl looked at the big cat Gu Weijing was carrying on his chest with her big black eyes.

This is the first time for little Jasmine to go out to play.

For many people in the Lucky Orphanage, "travel" has always been a very abstract concept.

People even need to spend money to travel far away to satisfy spiritual happiness. This fact in itself is a very puzzling thing.

The beautiful natural scenery and novel railway travel have now completely conquered this little lolita.

Her eyes were full of excitement, and she stretched out her little hand to grab Awang's fleshy claws: "I can play with the cat all day."

It's probably true that one thing brings down another thing.

The chubby tabby cat saw Jasmine's outstretched hand from the corner of his eye and immediately stopped making trouble.

It turned over, put its face into the pet backpack, and packed the ostrich.

Unfortunately, Gu Weijing had already loosened the chest strap and put Awang down from his body.

"Jasmine is so cute, you two should go play together."

"Meow meow."

Awang dislikes this guy for being unprincipled.

Jasmine is cute, but I’m not cute!
Huh, there are kids but no cats.

The civet cat gave its unprincipled owner a very humane look. As soon as it landed on the table in front of the chair, before Jasmine could catch it, it jumped into Sakai Katsuko's arms.

(End of this chapter)