surnamed Wang

The Mid-Autumn Festival has passed and the Double Ninth Festival has not yet arrived, but Liulichang, the largest antique street in Beijing, is booming.

Liulichang was originally the site of an imperial kiln. Back then, the Red Flower Society made a big fuss in the capital and spared no one who could smash it. Liulichang also suffered.

After the imperial court suppressed the Honghua Society, the Liulichang was merged with the Porcelain Kiln and placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry. The original site became a place for people to buy and sell antiques and jade.

There are nine schools of thought in Liulichang. Some things are genuine and some are fake. Buying and selling all depends on one's personal vision. Paying one hand and delivering the goods with the other hand, we are not responsible for anything left at the stall.Often a customer would take away a so-called orphan product, and the stall owner would bring out an identical one and put it on the back table.

Today, there are a lot of fake products in Liulichang, and the prices are sky-high. Many uninformed people come here and most likely have to pay tuition. Even experienced veterans will inevitably be wary and buy one or two fakes back home.

Liu Heng's father, for example, was very keen on shopping the street stalls here. He thought that with his sharp eyesight accumulated over many years of business, he could pick up the missing items. As a result, he paid tuition fees one after another, but rarely found real things. On the contrary, it would be more cost-effective to go directly to the auction house.

Going inside Liulichang, there is a whole row of antique stores. These stores are often expensive, and you can’t find any good stuff. The items are a mixture of genuine and fake, and the transactions are signed and stamped. They never write down the dynasty or generation of the items, only that they are decorative ornaments. , even if you buy a fake one, you will only be in trouble.

The dynasty has regulations that only allow things to be bought and sold within a thousand years. After that, you have to weigh the amount.

There are policies and countermeasures, but even if the laws are strict, they still can't stop some people from taking risks. Some shops that seem to be operating legally are secretly engaged in reselling cultural relics.

Those who are less courageous will buy some things from the Tang and Song Dynasties and sell them mostly to regular customers. Those who are more courageous will only get started with bronzes and dare to make them even in the palaces and mausoleums.

There is a shop at the east end of Liulichang called Jubao Pavilion. It is famously bold in the trade. The items in the store are ordinary. However, every once in a while, secret auctions are held, and the items auctioned are not real objects but photos. Whoever wants to take the chance? He went to fight to get it back the next day, which can be described as extremely arrogant.

The shopkeeper of Jubao Pavilion is called Xie Chen. He is a standard businessman. He wears a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, a white shirt and suit pants. He is not like the common philistine. With his meticulous slicked back hair, anyone who looks at him will regard him as a gentle scholar. .

Xie Chen usually has other business to take care of and is not often in the store. The person talking to Jubao Pavilion is an old man, nicknamed "Fifth Uncle". Even the boy who works does not know his full name, only his surname is Du.

……

On this day, a wealthy young man came to the store, wearing a designer suit, carrying a leather bag under his arm, with bulging bulges. He walked with each step, and those who didn't know thought he was hemiplegic.

The cleaning boy could see it was a fat sheep at a glance, so he came forward and said:
"Master, what do you want?"

"Do you have any decent calligraphy and painting here?"

"Look at the paintings on the wall. They are all the treasures of the store. Yan Zhenqing, Liu Zongyuan, and Guan Xuanzai have whatever they want."

Mr. Kuo stepped forward while coiling the skewers. He only glanced at it and said with disdain:

"Yeah, they're all fakes."

The guy didn’t deny it, he smiled and flattered:
"This man has good eyesight."

"That's right, my [-]-square-meter villa in the suburbs of Beijing is full of everyone's calligraphy. You don't need to look at it to smell it to know whether it is genuine or not."

The guy's eyes lit up and he said quickly:
"To tell you the truth, there are indeed good treasures in the store, but I don't care, I have to ask Uncle Wu for permission."

"Go, go, quickly. I'm going to have a date with a beautiful girl to watch a movie."

"Please wait."

The waiter quickly went to the back and said to an old man who was drinking tea:

"Uncle Five."

"Needless to say, I've heard it. Is this person reliable?"

"It doesn't look like a fake."

"Give him the third one from the left on the shelf."

"it is good."

The clerk returned to the front hall with the painting, "Sir, what do you think of this?"

There was a slight sound of unwinding from the other side of the wall. After a moment, Mr. Kuo's voice suddenly increased a few degrees:
"This is the good treasure you said, isn't it still a fake?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, I took it by mistake."

The waiter apologized, quickly returned to the back room, and whispered: "Uncle Wu, I can't fool you anymore."

"Useless things, look at me."

The old man stood up and walked to the shelf. After a moment of hesitation, he finally picked up an ordinary painting and went to the front hall.

"Little brother, I'm sorry, but I'm not sensible. I can vouch for my character on this painting. It's definitely authentic."

The old man opened the scroll and stared at Mr. Kuo for a moment. Unexpectedly, he found him on the spot and frowned:
"Old man, I'm not a girl, why are you staring at me?"

The old man smiled awkwardly and looked down at the scroll.

The painting is an ordinary meticulous painting of flowers and birds. It is indeed authentic, but it is not very old. It is about 200 years old. The author is a little-known painter.

The young man opposite him nodded pretendingly and said to the young waiter:

"You weren't very good at speaking just now. Can you please introduce me?"

The waiter's smile was a little stiff, "Uncle Wu is here, so I won't do anything."

"Just say what you are told." The old man said calmly.

"Okay, this painting was written by Tao Yi. He is well-known in the literary world. He has been devoted to landscapes all his life and has never entered an official career. Although the painting is not very popular in the collection world, it is more popular because of his clever brushwork. of."

Young Master Kuo showed contempt when he heard this and said:
"Do you know who the young master is, and why he has the nerve to bring out such rags? What I want is everyone with a resounding name, who can hang it at home with style. If you don't have me, you will go elsewhere. It's a waste of time."

The young man was about to walk out while he was talking. When the waiter saw this, he quickly stepped forward and stopped him, saying:

"At first glance, you look tall, rich and handsome. We are stingy."

As the waiter spoke, he turned back and winked at the old man. The latter sighed upon seeing this, cupped his hands and said:

"Brother, I'm so sorry. I'm going to get the treasure right now."

Not long after, the old man took out a few more scrolls, unfolded them all on the table with the waiter, and said:

"This is the treasure at the bottom of the box in our store. If I'm not satisfied yet, there's nothing we can do to help."

Young Master Kuo stepped forward, glanced over them one by one, and finally raised his head and said:

"The stuff is good, but it's a pity that it's either not old enough, or the author is not well-known, and it won't last more than 80 million."

The old man frowned when he heard this and looked directly at the young man. Just as he was about to speak, the waiter on the side took the lead and said:

"This won't work, and that won't work either. Are you here to cause trouble?"

"Why, why don't you let us talk about something bad?"

"Go and ask around Liulichang. Whose products can be better than mine? This is already the limit of what can be traded. Going any higher would be against the law!"

"Other people may not have it, but you definitely have it."

Kuo Shao pulled out a folding fan from nowhere, unfolded it and shook it with confidence. The man wanted to continue stabbing him, but was stopped by the old man next to him.

"Brother, who did you hear about this?"

"My uncle."

"May I ask who Uncle Ling is?"

"Hu Hai."

Kuo Shao smoothed his oily head and became even more proud, as if he had said a great name.

... (end of this chapter)