Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 91 Longxing fake painting case
In the middle of winter, another storm broke out in the city of Suzhou.

A strange case was exposed by the government. Wang Erchaofeng, a pawnbroker in Longxing, received a handsome young man. The young man's movements were very elegant, and his clothes were luxurious, but they were obviously half-worn, and he seemed to be from a poor family. A descendant of the old family.

Wang Erchaofeng secretly commented that this robe was out of date. Such narrow sleeves had long been out of fashion this year. His woman was the most particular about dressing. He could only smile bitterly.

The young man was holding a bundle in his hand and wandered in front of the high platform of the pawn shop for an hour. Seeing the sun setting in the west, Wang Erchaofeng became impatient and waved to him to bring the goods to the counter. If there was no goods, they were about to close.

The young man was a little frightened, so he opened the bag with shaking hands and presented a scroll of ink on silk.

Wang Erchaofeng removed the hemp paper wrapped on the silk book and took a closer look. He saw dripping ink, with an ancient aura that struck his eyebrows. There were high mountains and flat lakes in the scroll. A fishing boat floated in the current. On the high mountains in front, there were hanging springs and waterfalls. Going down the river, the trees at the foot of the mountain are lush, and the reeds of Xiaozhu are swaying in the lake. A poem is mentioned in the painting: "The shadows of clouds are connected to the river margin, the fishermen are surrounded by greenery, and if there is an appointment on the sandy beach, the fishing boats will return together." The inscription is "Lake Mr. Chuan asked me to be a fisherman and to be a Taoist priest of Meihua."

Wang Erchaofeng studied business at the age of 12 and developed a pair of poisonous eyes. In the previous Yuan Dynasty, Meihua Taoist was a generous scholar, good at fencing, and had wonderful calligraphy and painting. He was included in the Four Great Masters. Because he did not sell paintings, his works were circulated in an orderly manner on the market. Very few and very expensive.

This volume of "Pictures of Fishing Hidden" is undoubtedly a top-quality work with majestic pen and ink and far-reaching realm.

Da Chaofeng was not in the cabinet, so Wang Erchaofeng called a few guys who were good at calligraphy and painting to come and take a look at it. After seeing it, they all nodded slightly.

"Do you pawn this roll of rags alive or dead?" Wang Erchaofeng asked. All things pawned, in Xin'an pawnshop's jargon, are rags.

There is no need to redeem the money if it is dead, and it is just a turnover if it is alive. It is enough to pay some interest at the agreed date.

The young man murmured in a young voice: "I am dead and my family is too poor to redeem my debt. This is the "Picture of Fishing Hidden" by the former Meihua Taoist priest. I have kept it in my family for more than three generations."

Hearing that he was dead, Wang Erchaofeng looked very satisfied and asked, "Brother, please tell me the number."

The young man hesitated and said: "When our ancestors obtained it from Mr. Huchuan's descendants, they spent 2000 taels of silver. Now that my family is in urgent need of money, it cannot be less than 1000 taels of silver."

Wang Er Chaofeng suddenly changed his color and pretended to throw the scroll down from the high platform: "What a tattered hand scroll? It's worth 1000 taels of silver. Take it back."

The young man was so bluffed that he looked scared. He was about to reach out to pick it up, but after another thought, his face became gloomy and he said in a shaky voice: "Why do you do this to the emperor? The price can still be negotiated. In my opinion, sir." How much can you get out?”

Wang Erchaofeng took the opportunity to pull the scroll back to the counter and said: "You are quite sensible, but for a scroll of old and moth-eaten paintings, I give you 200 taels."

"200 taels." The young man took a breath of air and immediately wanted to snatch the scroll back: "I didn't do it right."

Wang Er glanced at Feng Chao's clerk, and then a big clerk came over with a smile and cupped his hands: "Brother, our Longxing's golden signboard is the first one in the south of the city, and the most innocent one." He then said to Wang Erchao: "Mr. Second, this guy is a gentleman and must come from a good family. I'm afraid he's in trouble now. If you raise the price, it's also a good relationship."

These words made the young man shed tears. If he is not a relative or an acquaintance, he is always an enthusiastic person who can say these words.

After some negotiation with the big man, the boy refused to give in any more when it came to 500 taels of silver.

500 taels is exactly the maximum limit for the second court in Longxing. If one more tael is more, it will be countersigned by the great court. With a deal of 500 taels, Wang Erchaofengle had to show his authority and determined to complete the deal.

Longxing was an old name in the south of the city. When Xin'an merchants were first established, they set many rules, which were strictly followed every ten days.

The pledges that the court officials put into the warehouse during these ten days must be drawn by reviewers according to their value. In most cases, all members participate.

The seventh day when Meihua Taoist's "Yu Yin Tu" was collected, it happened to be Xunhui. There were not many things collected in these days. Wang Erchaofeng first gave the scrolls of "Yu Yin Tu" to the reviewers for random inspection, and then he dismantled and wrapped them in The hemp paper outside the scroll gave me a bad premonition. When I unfolded the scroll, I was stunned. This volume of "Fishing Hidden Picture" was not the one pawned by the young man. Could it have been slipped by someone?
Da Chaofeng looked aside for a long time, and saw Er Chaofeng's hands shaking while holding the scroll. He knew something was wrong, so he stretched out his hand to grab the scroll. He only glanced at it briefly and knew something was wrong. The silk, ink color, and font were completely wrong. At a glance, he could tell that this was wrong. It's a poor imitation.

"What's going on?" Da Chaofeng said sharply.

Erchaofeng argued: "The one I took in that day was clearly not this one. If it was a very good imitation, I would have made a mistake and thought I was unlucky. But this scroll is so poor, how could I not see it?"

I also asked several of the clerks who had touched it that day, and they all said that the scroll they were looking at was not the current scroll, and that the one the young man pawned was indeed an authentic one.

The warehouse staff's income and storage are recorded and in compliance with the rules.

The treatment at Longxing is extremely generous, and all the employees are from Xin'an. If the reputation is ruined, there is no place to stand, and there is almost no possibility of self-stealing. However, if a famous painting is lying in the warehouse, it is impossible for it to fly away without any reason. Already?

A young clerk held his breath and stared, looking back and forth on the scroll, and suddenly noticed something unusual: "Mr. Da, the hemp paper used to wrap the scroll looks vaguely patterned."

Da Chao Feng took the scroll out of the warehouse and stood in the courtyard to take a closer look under the sun. Everyone followed and saw that the slightly yellowed hemp paper showed a faint vermilion pattern. Da Chao Feng smelled it and said, "It's cinnabar. "

Er Chao Feng was shocked and horrified, and asked, "Is it possible that what is drawn on the hemp paper is a Taoist talisman?"

Da Chaofeng looked at it again and again and said, "It does look a bit like the Taoist symbols painted during the ritual ceremony." He asked the young man to take the hemp paper to Donghengtou Shenxian Temple and ask the Taoist priest to take a look at the painting. What is it? Let’s continue the meeting now.

Not long after, the young man came back in a panic and said that the Taoist priest from Shenxian Temple said that the Taoist talismans faintly written on the hemp paper were very evil. Shenxian Temple is an authentic Taoist sect dedicated to Lu Zu and would not draw such talismans. The Taoist guessed that it was The side-door talismans are always nothing more than evil spells that seduce people's lives and steal their souls.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Several people who had seen the young man working on the "Picture of Fishing Hidden" were wondering whether they were all bewitched by the spell that day and mistook the poor forgery for the original.

Da Chaofeng said slowly: "In this case, Xiao Xiao used some tricks to plot against our Long Xingdang."

He thought for a long time, called Erchaofeng over, and said: "We at Xin'an Pawnshop have pawn rules. If the appraiser misjudges us, it is because we are not good at learning and accept punishment. If someone plots against us, we will not let it go." , I will report to the official later, do you think I can do it?"

These words are a slap in the face of Erchaofeng. If Erchaofeng has something in his heart, it's still too late to say it now. They are all fellow villagers of Xin'an. Everything is easy to discuss. If he reports it to the government, he can't help but become Longxing.

　Written in 20 words,
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(End of this chapter)