Hidden in the court

Chapter 161 The thing is old, but useless.

The next few days seemed to be peaceful.

The master also went to visit the governor and the chief clerk. No matter how he looked at it, the two people hiding in the dark in the warehouse last time did not look like these two people.

"Provincial Governor Wang, the night market in Qingzhou City is quite interesting. There are actually people who dare to sell beef."

Wang Xie's expression froze when he heard this, and then he said, "These are all dead cows, sick cows, or old cows that are too old and weak to farm reported from all over Qingzhou. We just make use of them."

Ji Mingshang didn't make things difficult for him, he just smiled and said nothing.

In the next few days, the Censorate, which had been inactive for a long time, began to operate under Hu Die's tough orders.

However, it was just a minor investigation of some corrupt practices. Considering the huge number of officials in Qingzhou, it was still a small amount, and the amount was not very large. Besides, there were some unhealthy practices.

It is not a big deal for the whole Qingzhou.

It was not until more than ten days later that Hu Die became the first to become unable to sit still.

"There are now more than 20 people in the entire Censorate who can be trusted. All of them want to investigate the Qingzhou temple incident and seek justice for their family. Let's go tonight and take action tonight."

"Okay, gather everyone together and let them rest first. I will go sell the paintings with Lao Zhao tonight, and then we will go to the warehouse."

Night, Wangchun Tower.

Wangchun Tower seemed a little different tonight. Zhao Yao and Ji Ji Mingshang smelled a faint familiar scent as soon as they arrived.

"Damn it, it's this thing again!"

I saw guests coming out of Wangchunlou one after another, and their mouths were not very clean.

"What's going on? Is there anyone booking the place today?"

Ji Mingshang asked.

But the madam came forward the first time she saw the two of them.

"The two gentlemen are here. We have an auction today. Do you want to include your paintings?"

"So the purpose of driving people away is to auction, so let's add it in."

Seeing Ji Mingshang say this, the madam also ordered someone to bring two evil ghost masks.

"If you have a treasure you like, please feel free to take a picture of it. We don't know each other, so it's better to wear a mask to prevent others from coveting it."

They both put on masks.

"Look at my two brothers, they are in such a bad condition, why don't you give them a private room?"

"What are you talking about, Master Ximen? That's natural."

The two of them sat down in a private room on the second floor.

Afterwards, the entrance of Wangchun Tower was filled with a crowd of people, talking and chatting, and the air was filled with the noise of various languages ​​and dialects.

People who came to participate in the auction came in gradually, and soon almost filled the entire first floor.

Today, Wangchun Tower is decorated exceptionally beautifully, with carved beams and painted buildings, and magnificent decorations. Exquisite silk fabrics are hung on the walls, and the air is filled with the unique scent of agarwood.

As soon as everyone was seated, a gong sounded, and the auctioneer with a good figure in cheongsam walked onto the stage with a gavel in hand and announced the start of the auction. Her voice was soft and clear, echoing throughout the hall and moving people's hearts.

“The first lot is a precious calligraphy piece called ‘Hanqie Tie’, written by the well-known master Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

This "Hanqie Tie" is also his extremely successful masterpiece. The contrast between dry and moist ink is obvious in this work, and there are changes everywhere, full of spirit and momentum. It shows that Wang Xizhi had reached the realm of "both the person and the book are old" at that time. It is a masterpiece worth learning and appreciating..."

Listening to the vivid descriptions above, Ji Mingshang seemed to be uninterested. If these things were true, then it would be a different story. But he knew that this place was a place of counterfeiting. What good things could you expect them to come up with?

"Old Zhao, do you think the things sold here are real?"

"Have."

This time, Zhao Yao gave him an unexpected answer.

"What? Which one is real? Let's take a look."

Zhao Yao stretched his neck and said, "Hey, this is it."

"this one?"

Ji Mingshang was a little surprised, but after thinking about it, it was reasonable to put the real thing first to arouse the buyers' emotions.

Just as he was about to raise his hand to make an offer for fun, he was stopped by Zhao Yao.

"What are you doing?"

"Although this thing is real, only half of it is real. There are fifty characters in total, and only the latter half, including the parts with the seal, are real. The first half is spliced ​​together."

Ji Mingshang looked carefully again and again but did not find anything unusual.

"No way, it's so far away. The fraud is so sophisticated, how did you know?"

"Feel……"

These two words really made him feel numb. "What do you mean by feeling?"

"The first half of the calligraphy feels very much like Wang Xizhi's, but it is a little timid and lacks some grandeur. Do you think Wang Xizhi would be afraid when writing? I'm afraid the first half is also in their hands. In order to sell it at a high price, they don't hesitate to split some calligraphy and paintings into two halves. The first half of this father and son's calligraphy is copied from the original."

Soon, this "Han Qie Tie" was successfully sold at a very high price.

"Our next lot is Zhang Xuan's "Palace Qixi Festival Begging for Skills" from the Tang Dynasty."

From the picture, we can get a glimpse of the beautiful appearance and plump figure of the begging lady.

"Zhang Xuan was once a court painter. His drawings, such as "A Nobleman's Night Tour", "The Palace Begging for Skills on the Qixi Festival", and "Looking at the Moon", all carefully depict the leisure and thoughts of the noblemen and the resentful women in the palace on white silk. The meaning is profound, far beyond the objects on the picture..."

"What about this painting? Can you tell whether it's real or fake?"

"This is completely fake, drawn by someone else entirely."

"How did you know that?"

"Zhang Xuan is good at painting ladies and babies. When he painted ladies, he especially liked to use red to smudge the ears, and when he painted babies, he could capture their childish appearance and lively spirit. In this painting, the smudge color is not heavy."

Ji Mingshang was somewhat reluctant, "Are you judging based on just this?"

Zhao Yao continued to explain, "Although the people in this painting have different expressions and movements, they look like a group of people put together. They only pay attention to the density relationship, just like a group photo. Most of the Tang Dynasty paintings of ladies are longer, especially in the category of court paintings. Most of them are not only rhythmic and full of changes in the overall layout, but also can cleverly guide the viewer's sight, so that the viewer's eyes naturally focus on the center of the picture, and at the same time can be arranged through the density of the picture and the slow and calm movement.

For example, "Night Banquet of Han Xizai", which was made during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, was greatly influenced by the painting style of the Tang Dynasty. One very important point about "Night Banquet of Han Xizai" is that it reflects the passage of time.

Now that you are looking at this thing, don’t you have that feeling?”

When Ji Mingshang looked at the painting, his feeling completely changed.

It really is as if a photographer put those people in the same frame.

"In addition, Zhang Xuan absorbed and developed the flow and power of Wu Daozi's lines. Through delicate brushstrokes and precise line control, his paintings of ladies have added the characteristics of subtlety and fineness while maintaining the vigor of traditional line drawing. But overall, they also pay attention to fluency and delicacy.

However, figure painting has been innovative in technique since the Ming Dynasty. The figure painting of the Ming Dynasty also focused on ladies, with smooth and graceful lines, but the folds of clothes are vigorous and fluttering. The clothes of the women in this painting lack the softness.

When looking at the signature, the degree of age is different from the picture.

In the course of our original history, this "Palace Qiqiao Picture" has long been lost. This painting may have been painted by an unknown painter in the Ming Dynasty, but it is definitely not the authentic work of Zhang Xuan in the Tang Dynasty."

Ji Mingshang was completely numb.

"Brother, we both traveled through time. Even though you have been here for more than 20 years, you don't have to understand this much, right?"

Zhao Yao smiled slightly, "We used to have a course called Art History."

The next item to be auctioned was another landscape painting. Ji Mingshang was too lazy to listen to the stories these people were making up.

But this painting has delicate brushstrokes and bright colors, depicting a landscape painting with beautiful mountains and rivers, shrouded in clouds and mist, and it seems that you can hear the sound of gurgling streams.

The composition of the painting is also very clever, to put it simply, it is a "treasure bowl". Regardless of its value, the meaning is also very good.

The eyes of everyone present were attracted by the painting, and they discussed the painting techniques and artistic conception.

The bidding began and the price kept rising until it was finally purchased by a wealthy businessman at a high price. He was smiling and seemed very satisfied with the painting.

The first three pieces are all calligraphy and paintings, probably because they are afraid that the audience will get aesthetic fatigue.

Next, rare antiques and gems appeared one after another, including a Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain vase, a string of crystal clear pearl necklaces, and a small jade pendant.

Each item sparked heated discussions and bidding in the audience. People rushed to bid and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

Among them, the jade pendant is particularly eye-catching. It is emerald green all over, with fine texture and exquisite patterns carved on it.

"It is said to be a part of the Heshi Bi. Nowadays, any piece of jade is said to be the Heshi Bi? I also said it was the imperial seal. Anyone who takes a picture of this kind of thing is a fool."

Ji Mingshang laughed when he heard the legend of the jade pendant.

Then he saw Zhao Yao calmly bidding the price.

"Not buddy?"

Fortunately, Zhao Yao only called out once, and when the price of the jade pendant became higher and higher, he didn't say anything else.

"Hey, Lao Zhao, this thing can't really be the Heshi Bi!"

"No, but the jade is indeed an old piece of jade. The thing is old, but it is of little use."

Somehow, in Ji Mingshang's eyes, Zhao Yao's expression seemed to change for a moment.

The bidding for the jade pendant was extremely fierce, and the price continued to soar. Everyone present was attracted by the bidding war, and their eyes were fixed on the auctioneer's gavel.

Just as the bidding was about to end, a mysterious figure appeared. He was dressed in black and wore a half-face mask, through which wrinkles on the lower half of his face could be vaguely seen. This person made an astonishing bid and successfully won the jade pendant.

"Let's move on to our next lot, the painting "Spring Mountain Companion" by Tang Yin, Tang Bohu of the Ming Dynasty."

"Has our stuff arrived?"

Ji Mingshang finally jumped up from the chair. He had no choice. He didn't know about other things. But he witnessed the painting process with his own eyes. He really wanted to see how much this fake painting could be sold for.

During the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty, Tang Yin was dismissed from his post as a minor official in Zhejiang due to a cheating case in the imperial examination. He then mistakenly defected to Prince Ning and had to pretend to be crazy and foolish to escape from the Ning Mansion. He realized that he had no chance of becoming an official. That’s when Tang Yin painted “Spring Mountain Companion”.

The whole painting is done in ink and wash, showing the scenery of the mountains in spring. In the painting, the mountains are covered with green trees, and the spring sunshine gives people a warm feeling. The painter painted the mountains beautiful and elegant, with soft texture and focus on ink rendering, which makes them more beautiful and charming. The whole painting has a naive and subtle interest. The painting uses the brush and ink of the Yuan Dynasty to describe the mountains and rivers, but it also has the style of Song Dynasty landscape painting..."

As the woman introduced the story, everyone's interest was piqued.

Although the Ming Dynasty was a little earlier, Tang Bohu was still very famous.

As expected, after more than ten days in the hands of a professional counterfeiting team, the painting completely changed its appearance. In addition, this is a work from the Ming Dynasty, and the time span is not long. As a landscape painting, there are not many things to consider. In general, there are very few flaws in this painting, and most of them are irreparable mistakes made by Zhao Yao and Luo Lin when they painted this painting.

Zhao Yao also couldn't help but sigh at the counterfeiting technology of Wangchunlou.

"Start bidding!"

"Ten thousand taels of silver!"

"Who is this?"

As soon as the bidding began, a loud shout came from the box upstairs, and the price was directly raised to 10,000 taels of silver.

The person bidding was naturally Ji Mingshang. Why?

"Listen to me, gentlemen. This is a masterpiece by the talented and romantic Tang Bohu, and it should be worthy of a romantic figure like me. If any of you want it, we will bid for it. If the price is higher, I will accept it. I am afraid that in Qingzhou... no one has the ability to do this."

This statement caused quite a stir among the audience. Some people sighed, some were convinced, and naturally some were dissatisfied.

"I would like to advise you guys again, things are very open..."

"Why are you so arrogant? I'll give you 13,000 taels!"

But Jimingshan yawned and managed to say, "Thirteen thousand... and one tael."

"You... I'll give you 14,000 taels!"

"I'll add one or two more."

……

Finally, the price of this thing was raised to 20,000 taels, and no one bid anymore. The main reason was that Wangchunlou had a bad reputation. If it was really an authentic work of Tang Bohu, this price would still be a little low. This person was also hoping for a lucky break. What if one of the paintings was also half an authentic one?

Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed. Don't even mention the Ming Dynasty for this painting. You can even say it's from tomorrow.

"Twenty thousand taels of silver, deal! The next lot is..."

The two sat in the private room and watched the show until the auction ended.

"Twenty thousand taels of silver, Wangchunlou takes 20%. That's four thousand taels. Twenty thousand minus four thousand is sixteen thousand taels. Hey, a small profit!"

"Are you short of money?"

Seeing him ask this, Ji Mingshang's mouth curled up.

"Why, you want to support me?"

But when he saw Zhao Yao's dead look on his face, he stopped in time.

"Actually, this is just like you like saving money. You are not short of money, but you just like saving money. I can not spend money, but I can't be without money."