Riding the wind of rebirth

In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Lu have been regretting for many years that they did not sell the painting to Mr. Ma. If they could have gotten 150,000 yuan at that time, they could have easily renovated the courtyard and kept a large sum of money, and they could have lived a peaceful life as landlords.

As a result, he miscalculated one thing after another. When the painting was identified by experts as being indeed from the Qianlong period, he became more concerned, thinking that it must be very valuable. He believed that Ma Ye and his men were setting up a trap and wanted to get out of it so that they could sell it at a higher price.

As a result, no one was interested in the painting for more than ten years. The price that Mr. Ma offered at that time was the highest. The remaining buyers shook their heads again and again when they saw the condition of the painting. The price made the old couple stunned.

There was even a visitor who was so mean that when he heard Lao Lu say that someone had offered 150,000 yuan for this painting, he mocked him, "If you can sell this painting for more than 10,000 yuan, I will jump into the Haihe River in front of you!"

In fact, the price Zhouzhi offers now is the second highest price.

Although Zhou Zhi also said that if this thing was repaired, the value might increase to more than 500,000, but the premise was that it would cost more than 100,000 to repair it.

If Mr. and Mrs. Lu could come up with the hundreds of thousands of dollars, they wouldn't have to sit there and watch their ancestral home rot away.

"How about this." Old Lu decided to put aside his reputation as an intellectual teacher and said, "I won't raise the price. I'll keep the same price that Master Ma offered more than ten years ago, 150,000. I'll give it to you."

"We've already lost a lot of money with 150,000 yuan. Everyone knows how severe inflation has been in recent years!" Aunt Lu immediately followed up: "At least it's half off!"

"Elbow, the appraisal fee I gave you the day before yesterday is about this amount. If you want me to take it, just take it." Lin Wanqiu said to Zhou Zhi.

"Oh my god! Didn't the appraisal fee come from the Korean porcelain?" Zhou Zhi was dumbfounded: "You didn't give me any money!"

"I did ask for 150,000 yuan back then, but Mr. and Mrs. Lu refused to give in." Mr. Ma also advised, "I meant what I said. If Mr. Lu had agreed, you wouldn't have gotten the painting long ago."

"There is nothing we can do now. Given the state of the painting, I would have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to see it. It would cost at least 300,000 or 400,000 dollars." Master Ma said, "You are different. You can fix it yourself. The cost is much less than ours. Old Lu is not asking too much for this price."

Zhou Zhi was about to cry: "Don't count my labor. Let's just talk about the current state of this painting. It's not the work of a good painter. The market price is less than 100,000! How did it become 150,000?"

"How about I call the old man now?" Ma Ye was angry: "Just say you are indifferent to the historical materials of great value to the history of Chinese porcelain?"

"No, no, no..." Zhou Zhi waved his hands quickly: "How can this matter be related to the old man? Let's talk about it ourselves."

"How about this? It's not easy for you to come all the way from the capital." Old Lu thought for a while and said, "Let's give another ten thousand. It's not that we want to sell this painting, nor do I want that much. We need to renovate this old house, and the money is far from enough."

"If we can use this painting to fulfill our wishes, we would not mind taking it to the crematorium." Old Lu sighed, "After all, this is also the wish left by our ancestors."

"140,000 is indeed much higher than the market price..." Zhou Zhi said, "Oh, forget it. I'm born with a money-grubbing hand. The appraisal fee I just received yesterday slipped away again today. But Master Ma, let's make a deal first. I want you to say a few good words to the old man about the painting I got today. I can't get nothing, right?"

Master Ma smiled and said, "As long as you agree to take it, I will definitely praise you over there!"

"We have to wait a little longer." Zhou Zhi said, "We have only seen half of the painting. We have to continue to see it."

He turned the exposed half of the white sheet up to press down the already opened scroll, and then rolled up the sheet and the painting together. Zhou Zhi asked Aunt Lu to get another sheet to pad under the unopened part, and then unfolded the rest of the part. This part was read more quickly, because Zhou Zhi was actually mainly looking at the authenticity of the latter part. Since he had already decided to take it, he would leave the painting defects for later study.

Finally, he processed the other bed sheet in the same way as before, and then rolled it out into a large package, packed it together with the original box, and then Zhou Zhi said, "That's it, for the sake of Master Ma and Master Wang, I won't bargain any more. Let's sign the agreement first, and then go to the bank to transfer the check."

The old couple was overjoyed, but when they looked at the sky, they became worried: "Is the bank closed?"

"Yes, then we have to wait until tomorrow." Zhou Zhi said.

“No need,” Lin Wanqiu said with a naughty smile, “There is cash in the car, I can lend it to you first.”

"Ah, this..." Zhou Zhi was speechless. He looked at Master Ma, then at Lin Wanqiu: "You guys have all planned this, right?!"

After the agreement was signed, Lin Wanqiu really took out a box from the trunk of the car outside, asked Zhou Zhi to write a promissory note first, then opened the box and took out fourteen stacks of banknotes and gave them to him.

The old couple counted the money for a long time before they finally settled the payment and goods.

Seeing that there was still enough time to return to Beijing, Lao Ma said, "That's great. I have finally untied a knot in my heart that has been there for more than a decade. Don't worry, the painting will be safe in his hands. Even if something passed down to you by your ancestors is no longer in your hands, you will always hope that it can be passed down well, right?"

"Yes, yes..." Old Lu stood up and saw the guest off: "In fact, we are also upset to see this painting deteriorate. Today we are finally relieved."

When Zhou Zhi and the other two got in the car and left, Old Lu suddenly smiled happily: "Look, old lady, I told you that it was right to hold on a little longer, right?! We finally sold the painting at a good price!"

"If I had listened to the traffickers, I would have lost a lot!" Aunt Lu was still frightened: "Those people are really evil, and those who come from the capital are extravagant."

"In fact, the kid shouldn't be at a disadvantage." Old Lu pondered, "Master Ma is a big shot, and the old man he mentioned must be even more amazing. The kid's words mean that he can use this incident as a pretext to get close to the old man."

"We're even now, why do you still care about that?" Aunt Lu rolled her eyes at Old Lu. "Just now, when that kid asked for 70,000, I almost gave in. But you have a steady mind and can control them all."

"So don't argue with me anymore. Now that we have this money, let's fix up this yard and recruit a few tenants. Then we can live in peace in the future."

"I still say the same thing. If you had sold your painting earlier, we wouldn't have to sit in this shabby house for so many years!"

"Hey, why are you here again..."

In the jeep back to the capital, Zhou Zhi and the other two were also laughing wildly.

"Elbow can play well and cooperate well. Wanqiu, you are also a veteran actor!" Ma Ye said with a smile: "This play is so good that you can even play a role in "I Love My Family"!" (End of this chapter)