The literary era since 1979

Chapter 83 I went to the Forbidden City to buy calligraphy and paintings

December 3th, Nanluoguxiang.

Han Yuemin's home is located in a large courtyard in Dongmianhua Hutong, occupying a room of more than ten square meters. He and his mother depend on each other for survival.

Fangyan rode his bike and came to the door with ease.

Boiler workers basically work in three shifts, one shift during the day, one shift in the first half of the night, and another shift in the second half of the night, 24 hours a day. But today, Han Yuemin does not have to work the early shift.

"Iwako!"

Han Yuemin sat in front of the sewing machine, took the wool thread, dipped it in saliva, and then carefully threaded the thread end into the hole of the needle.

"Brother Han, how have you been lately?"

Looking at Zhang Fei embroidering, Fangyan grinned.

"Thank you too."

Han Yuemin knew that he was asking about Fang Hong's progress, and his face immediately became excited: "I have made an appointment with your sister and the others. Once The Shepherd is released, we will watch it together."

"Brother Han, you have made progress. You have learned to take the initiative."

Dialect gives a thumbs up.

"Hey, how come you have time to come?"

Han Yuemin pulled off the sleeves on his hands.

"Brother Han, I need your help with something. Can you accompany me to the Forbidden City?" Fang Yan said seriously.

"Where are you going?"

Han Yuemin was very curious.

“Buy a painting.”

Fangyan narrowed his eyes.

Nowadays, all his belongings add up to only more than 8000 yuan. Even if the basic royalties from the single volumes of "Dark War" and "The Horse Wrangler" are added, it does not exceed yuan.

Nowadays, no matter how cheap a courtyard house is and the location is good, a complete set is estimated to cost 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, which is unaffordable right now.

However, as long as I wait for the publication of the single volume of "The Great Qin Splitting", I will have enough money in my pocket, about 15,000 yuan.

Even if you spend only 1,800 yuan, the remaining money will still be more than enough to buy a courtyard house.

"Buy paintings? There are places to sell paintings in the Forbidden City!"

Han Yuemin was stunned.

"Of course, follow me."

Based on his experience from his previous life, Fangyan went to explore the way.

In the 70s, the Forbidden City was reopened to tourists.

In order to meet the needs of tourists, a special commercial retail outlet, the Forbidden City Store, has been set up to directly serve all tourists.

In 1978, the Foreign Guest Service Department was established. Initially, it only served foreign guests and overseas Chinese, selling paintings by modern and contemporary painters, and the income earned was used to subsidize the museum's expenses.

By the way, it also creates more foreign exchange for the country.

So, a "foreign currency exchange office" was set up nearby.

The things sold there are more numerous and better than those sold in the antique shops outside, for example, Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian...

This year, a new service department was established based on the Foreign Guest Service Department, merged with the Foreign Currency Exchange Office and the Forbidden City Store. The name "Foreign Guest Service Department" was still retained and it was finally opened to the general public, no longer just accepting foreign exchange coupons.

This is the situation that dialects are meant to explore.

The main camp is located in Yangxingzhai in the southwest corner of the Imperial Garden.

It is a two-story pavilion with a hip roof covered with yellow glazed tiles. The building faces west and east, with seven rooms on the front and three rooms on each side.

The room was furnished with hardwood inlaid tables and chairs, and the walls were covered with calligraphy and paintings. The layout was elegant and beautiful, and there were a wide variety of jewelry, emerald diamonds, study treasures, and antique jades. It had an antique atmosphere, but there were few people in the room.

Apart from the staff, it was deserted and no one was interested.

“I didn’t expect there was such a place in the Forbidden City.”

Han Yuemin came here for the first time and looked around.

The dialect was very familiar to him. He strode quickly, his eyes scanning the calligraphy and paintings such as "Night Banquet of Han Xizai" and "Spring Outing" one by one.

"Yanzi, you want to buy these?"

The room was full of ancient calligraphy and paintings, leaving Han Yuemin overwhelmed.

"Brother Han, these are all replicas."

The dialect doesn't take it seriously.

"replica?!"

Han Yuemin was stunned.

"Yes, they were all imitated by the masters in the Forbidden City."

Fangyan explained that most of the calligraphy and paintings, ivory carvings, dough figurines and other handicrafts here come from the restoration factory. Although the calligraphy and paintings are high-quality imitations, they are all copied stroke by stroke by skilled staff from the original works, and their artistic value is also very high.

“You know a lot.”

The staff came over immediately and asked, "Are you a regular customer?"

"I want to buy some works by modern and contemporary painters."

Fangyan smiled and nodded.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the collection of calligraphy and painting in China was in a downturn. After all, antiques are valuable in prosperous times, while gold is valuable in troubled times. In those days, the economic income of ordinary families was generally not high, so there was no spare money to spend on these collections, which led to many paintings by famous masters being ignored and sold at prices so low that they seemed to be free.

At that time, Wu Zuoren's paintings were only sold for 6 to 8 yuan per square foot, and one painting could be sold for about 60 yuan.

A painting by Qi Baishi costs only over 100 yuan.

However, the paintings of Li Keran, a disciple of Qi Baishi, were only sold for 8 yuan per square foot. Even the paintings of Huang Binhong, who was hailed as the master of landscape painting, were not wanted by anyone even at one yuan per square foot!
This is the case with Chinese painting and calligraphy as well. Calligraphy masters such as Cheng Zhongchen, Shen Peng, Fan Zeng, and Qi Gong also charge a few cents per foot.

"This is the work of Mr. Lu Yanshao. His landscape paintings are unique, especially his way of painting blocks and outlines of clouds, which is truly one of a kind." The staff introduced while carefully unfolding it.

When I asked the price in dialect, I was told 8 yuan per square foot.

This work will be able to sell for at least tens of millions in the future.

"Which one would you like to buy?"

Although the staff are full of enthusiasm, the service department's business is getting worse and worse. Not to mention foreign guests, even local tourists rarely visit.

“I want all of these.”

Fangyan pointed at the painting on the table and then at the wall.

"what?!"

The staff member was shocked and asked, “Are you kidding me?”

"Do you think I'm kidding?"

Fangyan reached into the canvas bag and took out bundles of big unity wrapped in newspapers, no more, no less, just 1000 yuan.

Han Yuemin widened his eyes and took a breath.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "Is this money enough?"

"Enough! Enough!"

The staff looked incredulous.

"Are there any others? For example, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Li Kuchan, Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, Bai Xueshi..."

He recited the dialect as if he knew it by heart.

"Yes! Yes!"

The staff are extremely excited, it’s time for a big job!
Although there was no such branch in Yangxingzhai, the Foreign Guest Service Department had two outlets, one in Jiangxuexuan in the Imperial Garden, and the other in Suichutang in the Qianlong Garden, so I urgently went to find out the contacts for him.

"Yanzi, why did you buy so many paintings?"

Han Yuemin lowered his voice.

“Collect and appreciate.”

Fang Yan looked at Xu Beihong's paintings and smiled with satisfaction.

"Then you bought too much. How much will it cost?"

Han Yuemin's eyes sparkled. "No wonder you asked me to accompany you. With so much money on you, you have to be careful of robbers."

"If you had so much money, how would you spend it?"

Fangyan patted his shoulder.

The purpose of calling my brother-in-law out this time, besides to be a bodyguard, was more importantly to plant a seed in his heart.

Nowadays, there are not many people who dare to take the initiative to smash their iron rice bowl. Most of them become self-employed in the beginning because they are forced to do so.

In his previous life, Han Yuemin felt that burning a boiler was hard, tiring and had no future, so he decided to quit his job and start his own business.

Now, we can't expect Han Yuemin to give up his iron rice bowl immediately, but at least he has to have the idea. When the time is right, the seeds in his heart will take root and sprout.

"I?"

Han Yuemin didn't think twice and said, "Of course I will go to the house exchange club first, buy a bigger house for my family, and then buy a 36-legged car, a Phoenix brand, and then take your sister away in style, hehe."

"Brother Han, your dream will have a chance to come true."

Fang Yan said: "By the way, you just mentioned the house exchange meeting, can you also help me find out if there is a complete courtyard house..."

"Yanzi, are you going to move to a new house?"

Han Yuemin was surprised and suspicious.

"It's not an exchange, it's a purchase."

"Ah! Buy?"

"Please help me find out first. There's no rush. Take your time."

Fangyan cast a meaningful look.

Then, he picked and chose among the calligraphy and paintings, and finally spent 1047 yuan to buy 15 pieces in total.

Compared with the inventory of the Foreign Guest Service Department, it is just a drop in the bucket. I heard from the staff that the inventory at the Forbidden City is considered small, and the inventory at the History Museum is more. There are at least 9000 pieces of calligraphy and paintings in stock!
Nine thousand pictures!

If he wasn't worried that Yang Xia and the others would think he was spending money lavishly, he would have bought more. Of course, the main reason was to save money to buy a complete courtyard house.

Faced with such a generous guest, the Foreign Guest Service Department decisively took on the task of transportation and sent the items to Nanluoguxiang.

PS: The actress who played Liu Xing’s grandmother in “Home with a Daughter” bought a courtyard house next to the Forbidden City for 1980 yuan in 2.6.

　It is said that a man named Xu Huachi spent more than 20 yuan to buy 9000 paintings from the History Museum.

　　Thanks to Tianxia Zongheng Youwo and 130102021052998 for the 100 Starting Coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)