Live Appreciation, Congratulations to Brother

Chapter 279 Which stage of works

"The most expensive one, of course, is the banner of this crazy Taoist."

The old man stopped the brush in his hand, placed it on the inkstone beside him, and pointed slowly.

Zhang Yang looked in the direction of the other person's finger.

This banner, which just came out of the factory last year, is the most expensive?
The poem written above is very famous: "Who will wake up first from the big dream? I will know it in my life."

This is a poem written by Luo Guanzhong for Zhuge Liang, which fits the character very well.

The quality of the calligraphy itself is good. The person who wrote this character has vigorous and powerful strokes, especially the strokes and strokes, which are like sharp swords. The level is high.

In other aspects, Zhang Yang could not see anything.

Anyway, it is definitely not the work of the idiot Taoist Huang Gongwang. Although he can draw "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", his calligraphy skills are definitely not low.

But where did he, a Yuan Dynasty man, steal Luo Guanzhong's poems from the Ming Dynasty?
"Boss, when the great idiot Taoist was alive, this poem had not been published yet, right?"

Zhang Yang held back his laughter and expressed his doubts tactfully.

He was a little interested in the calligraphy from the late Qing Dynasty on the stall, so he had a good conversation first and waited to see what the boss's attitude was.

"You actually know who this signature is?"

The old man looked at Zhang Yang, with an expression of interest on his face.

"Huang Gongwang's reputation is still very good." Zhang Yang replied lightly.

Usually when the old man at the stall is so shocked, the next step is to enter the "drama".

"Dad, this little boss really knows how to calligraphy and painting, how about he..."

The granddaughter came over to introduce Zhang Yang. In the middle of her words, the grandpa stood up from the horse and stretched out his hand to interrupt her.

What are these two people going to do?

Do you have to go to great lengths to put on a show for me before selling the goods?

Zhang Yang remained calm on the surface. He was too familiar with such encounters.

In the antiques circle, the older the sellers are, the more they like this kind of "storytelling" trick.

A calligraphy and painting, a Buddha statue, or even a rare copper coin would be too embarrassing to sell without a story behind it.

Sure enough, the expression on the old man's face changed, and a kind smile was replaced.

He happily walked up to Zhang Yang and asked him:

"Young man, how much do you know about the Crazy Taoist?"

"I don't know much, but it's more than enough to distinguish between true and false."

Zhang Yang didn't shy away from the other party's eyes. He was waiting for the old man's story.

Is the family in trouble this time?Or does his son owe gambling debts?
"What a loud tone." The old man nodded: "But when I was young, I was as arrogant as you, which is good. I like this character..."

Being liked by a bad old man is not something to be proud of.

Zhang Yang patiently listened to the other party's sales talk and waited quietly for the old man to take out something.

After wasting 2 minutes, what was supposed to come finally came.

The girl took out a large wooden box from a pile of cardboard boxes behind the stall.

There is no doubt that the good stuff is in this box.

Perhaps it was because Zhang Yang was not very interested in talking to his grandfather, so this time it was his granddaughter who introduced him:
"My grandfather studied under Mr. Qi Baishi for three years in the early years."

While she was talking, the old man showed the painting he just made with a brush on the small desk over there.

Although the painting of flowers and birds in fine brushwork has not yet been completed, the sparrow's body coordination should have something to do with it.

As for whether he is qualified to be Qi Baishi's apprentice, Zhang Yang can't tell.

The granddaughter opened the cabinet and began to introduce the baby's background:

"Although I haven't achieved much, I took advantage of the opportunity to be near the water tower and collected a few paintings by the old gentleman."

"This is the one with the highest market value."

"The family's condition is not good, and there has been no income in recent years. Grandpa wants to find someone who really understands painting to pass on his collection..."

inherited?

Zhang Yang caught a small detail.

If he is a grandson-in-law, he should be qualified to inherit it, right?But in that case, "inheritance" seems more appropriate.

He directly asked the stall owner and his grandson:
"Inheritance means, does it mean that as long as I understand painting and am sincere, Qi Baishi's paintings will be given to me for free?"

The two people on the other side were obviously stunned for a moment after hearing this.

However, in this case, they had a plan and quickly gave a reply:

"If you can establish a written document and promise to only collect it for yourself and not sell it to others, it is not impossible to pass it on to you for free."

The girl's words gave Zhang Yang a little hope.

Could it be said that... you can really make a big mistake by relying on your face?

Boss Lan from Xiangjiang said before that it would be a pity not to eat soft rice with Zhang Yang’s looks.

You should just hang out in the places where rich women often appear. Maybe you can pick up a leak and have a worry-free rest of your life.

It's a pity that this thought of picking up the leak only lasted for a second.

The next second, the old man's words disappointed Zhang Yang.

"It is true that paintings are passed down for free, but in order to preserve this masterpiece, we simply framed it and spent a lot of money. I hope you, little boss, can help bear some of it."

"You can also see our situation. If there is nothing we can do, we won't sell our possessions..."

The girl took the opportunity to show Zhang Yang how the painting was framed.

The simple decoration they talked about turned out to be using wrist-thick "sea yellow" wood as the vertical shaft. There were pure gold carved animal heads on both sides of the shaft, and silk cloth woven with gold thread was also used as the base.

If this was a simple frame, Zhang Yang couldn't imagine how complicated it would be for a moment.

Made entirely of pure gold?That thing should be called a metal tool.

The total cost of this simple mounting is 59998 yuan.

The old man said very generously that as long as Zhang Yang could tell what stage of Qi Baishi's work this painting was, he would get a 29999% discount and only charge him [-].

He said this as if the painting must be true.

As the girl slowly opened the painting in her hand, Zhang Yang finally saw the whole painting clearly.

A handkerchief-sized "Ink Shrimp Picture".

There is only one black shrimp in the whole picture, without even a signature.

The old man said that this was the work of his mentor who practiced penmanship. He secretly hid it and only recently saw it again.

A small painting with such a large area of ​​mounting looks very incongruous. It is equivalent to having a high-end computer desk for playing mobile games.

But if it were Qi Baishi's ink shrimp, it would be understandable. After all, his shrimps are sold individually, with an average price of 100 million.

"Can you tell what stage of Teacher Qi's work this is?"

The old man asked Zhang Yang cheerfully, with a very kind expression.

When Zhang Yang saw this expression, he had an inexplicable premonition:

It is estimated that no matter what he says, the other party will admit it.

Looking at the painting itself, this hunch was almost confirmed in advance.

The painting is an imitation made in recent years, and seems to be a "copy" of a certain shrimp in Qi Baishi's original painting.

In this case, there is no need to look at the framing. Even if it is all real gold and real wood, there will be nothing to frame it when Zhang Yang buys it back.

Since everything he said was right, Zhang Yang decided to express himself freely:
"If this is really the work of Teacher Qi, the only possibility is that he lived a second life." "Because I look at the paper and ink marks on this painting, it should be a work two or three years ago."

"It is normal for some powerful people to live a second life in order to successfully attain enlightenment."

"Uncle, am I right?"

Zhang Yang looked at his grandfather and grandson expectantly, waiting for their reply.

……

The old man didn't understand the words "living a second life".

But with the supplementary explanation of "two or three years ago", he immediately knew that Zhang Yang could tell the truth.

The old man glanced at his granddaughter and thought:

Nanny, what I want you to find are those idiots who seem to understand, but actually don’t understand anything.

Why did you find someone who really knows his stuff?

There is no explanation, not even a few sentences.

Because of the renovation of the old city of Shenghai over the years, the ghost market has almost disappeared. Lingshi Road finally has its own "one-third of an acre of land". If it is destroyed, it will be under the overpass again in the future. Spread out.

Now, all we can do is wait for this young man to walk away asking for trouble.

The grandfather didn't speak, and the granddaughter didn't know what to say, so the calligraphy and painting stall suddenly became quiet.

It is in sharp contrast to the bustling buyers and traders around.

Are you running out of words?

Zhang Yang shook his head in disdain. Compared with the previously trained sales staff of Hedong Group, these vendors were far worse.

Still want to cheat money like this?You must have thought that the money from the leek was too easy to deceive.

Zhang Yang didn't want to waste time. He pointed to the calligraphy couplet from the late Qing Dynasty and said:

"Actually, the only thing I'm interested in in your booth is the couplet."

The grandfather and grandson turned around and looked in the direction of Zhang Yang's finger.

It is a pair of couplets in running script, embedded in a glass frame.

It says "Tasting spring wine together is a sign of longevity, colorful clothes play on the desire to entertain relatives", which is obviously a couplet for celebrating birthdays.

On the left side of the second line of the couplet, there are two small seals printed with the words "Tong" and "Zhi" respectively.

If it was something else, the old man might just give it to Zhang Yang for free in order to send away the god of plague.

But this couplet is an exception.

This was consigned by someone else, and the baby's name was loud and clear.

There was no other way, so the old man had to change his face and said flatteringly:
"The little boss has such good vision. This is the treasure of our store."

"A birthday couplet written by Emperor Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty and presented to the Empress Dowager Cixi as a birthday gift."

"Look at the paper used here. It is the most precious gold-sprinkled paper (gold powder sprinkled on rice paper), which is enough to show the royal style."

"Really? How much do you plan to sell it for?" Zhang Yang asked.

"At least...one hundred thousand." The old man replied, and then added: "I didn't set the price myself. I also sold it for others."

"If you sincerely want it, I will subsidize you five thousand, and you can take the ninety-five thousand."

The meaning of this was that I wanted to sell it to Zhang Yang cheaply so that he would not publicize the fake Qi Baishi painting.

"If it was the handwriting of Emperor Tongzhi, I would have missed the one hundred thousand."

Zhang Yang's tone was unexpectedly soft, but then the topic changed:
"But I do have a question I would like to ask."

"Emperor Tongzhi ascended the throne at the age of 6, took charge at the age of 17, and died at the age of 19. At what stage did he write this couplet?"

"You are making things difficult for me."

There was an embarrassed look on the old man's face. Knowing that Zhang Yang was insinuating his behavior just now, he explained in a helpless tone:
"The origin of antiques has always been that if you believe it, there is it; if you don't believe it, there is none."

"Ninety thousand...is really my lowest price. I won't make any money at all."

"Really? But I think there is still room for price reduction." Zhang Yang said with a smile.

"I am different from these passing buyers. I was dragged to the stall by you on your own initiative. The nature is different."

When he said this, his eyes drifted far away.

The grandfather and grandson quickly turned their heads, and when they found that his eyes were on the patrolling security guard, their expressions immediately changed.

The old man spoke quickly and swore directly:
"Eighty thousand. As long as I earn a penny from you, I will be hit by a car when I go out!"

Do you want to be so ruthless?
Zhang Yang finally nodded and agreed to the price.

This is really a birthday couplet written by the 17-year-old Emperor Tongzhi to show his filial piety to the de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty in the year he came into power (1873).

Zhang Yang remembers clearly that there is a piece of "Shou" written by Emperor Tongzhi in the provincial blog.

It seems that the only thing this emperor has done with calligraphy and painting in his life is to wish the two queen mothers a birthday.

"Send it to this address by express delivery."

Zhang Yang tore off a piece of paper from the notebook he carried with him and wrote down the address of Hailin Museum.

……

After leaving this painting and calligraphy stall, Zhang Yang decided to wander around more on the third floor.

Brothers of Laojiumen, where are you?

He searched around the perimeter of the entire stall, but could not find a stall selling a large number of bronzes.

This is the first time Zhang Yang has encountered this situation.

He asked the patrolling security guard and was told that someone had sold fake bronzes and the amount of fraud was so large that the police were called in, causing a lot of chaos.

Therefore, market organizers are no longer allowed to set up special stalls for bronze wares, and can only sell them in scattered pieces secretly.

How to locate Laojiumen without a bronze stall?
Zhang Yang scratched his head a little, thinking that he might as well go to the second floor to look at modern porcelain.

When he turned around, the girl at the stall was looking at him from behind with a troubled expression.

"What's wrong? You can't understand the address I wrote?"

Zhang Yang subconsciously thought that there was something wrong with the location of the museum.

The girl shook her head and replied:

"Grandpa asked me to tell you that if you want to find real antiques, there is only one place on the entire third floor where you are most likely to find them - Fu Fatty Antique Shop."

Zhang Yang really wanted to laugh after hearing this.

Because isn’t this a disguised admission that all the goods sold at his stall are fake?

"Does Fatty Fu's antique shop have a grudge against your grandfather?" Zhang Yang asked speculatively.

This girl came to show me the way. It couldn't be because of a sudden discovery of conscience, right?
The most likely reason is that he wants to use himself to trick another antique shop selling fake goods.

Zhang Yang has a very clear understanding of this aspect of himself.

"No, Uncle Fu is a very nice person. My grandfather just wants you to take care of his business."

"Oh~" Zhang Yang responded meaningfully.

Whoever believes this is a fool.

But he really planned to visit Fatty Fu's antique store.

After being reminded by the girl, Zhang Yang noticed that on the entire third floor, only Fatty Fu's shop had an independent facade.

This shows that he is a related household!

The contact person had the best information. I happened to be shopping at an antique store and asked him indirectly, where is the most punishing thing in this ghost market?
(I was drunk yesterday, so I postponed the payment until tomorrow.)
(End of this chapter)