The old appraiser in a black double-breasted jacket slowly raised his head, put down the magnifying glass in his hand, looked at Youliang through the thick glass glasses cunningly, and said: "The paintings of Castiglione Castiglione, a court painter who has experienced the three dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, are rare. At first sight, although this "Changrui Mountain Range Rover Picture" is imitated very realistically, it is a pity that it is still a fake and worthless."
Youconscience secretly thought, what the taxi driver said was true, this old guy really insisted that it was a fake, the one stolen from the Forbidden City could be fake? Only the devil would believe it.
"Are you really not going to accept it?" Youliang looked very disappointed.
"Actually, it's between the two. Fakes are generally not accepted, but the level of imitation of this painting is impressive, but the price is five or six thousand at most, it's up to you .” The old guy casually pushed the painting and said casually.
In fact, five or six thousand yuan Youliang was quite satisfied, but he couldn't help feeling angry when he saw his cheating appearance. He rolled up the scroll and said, "Since it's a fake, let's hang it at home." After saying that, he turned around and turned around. just go.
At this time, a voice came from behind: "Old Wang, what's the matter?"
"Oh, manager, this little brother wants to sell a painting imitating Castiglione," the old man hurriedly called to You Liang, and introduced, "This is our manager, and he has the final say."
"Little brother, let me have a look at the painting?" The fat manager was wearing a bright red double-breasted jacket with an amiable attitude.
Youliang unfolded the scroll again, wanting to see how the two of them acted.
"Well, this is imitated by modern people, but the skills are pretty good. Old Wang, since the little brother is selling the things at home, he must have encountered some difficulties. If I can help, I will help you. Add 2,000 yuan, so it will be 8,000 yuan." The manager said generously.
"You are the manager, of course you have the final say, but I still have to remind you that it is really not cheap to accept this painting for 8,000 yuan." The old guy was still singing the oboe.
Youliang sneered twice, rolled up the scroll again, turned around and left.
"Twenty thousand and one hundred thousand!" The manager's painful cry came from behind.
If I hadn't known in advance that this was a genuine product, I'm afraid they would have been fooled by them. No wonder Liu Shisan warned himself not to trust anyone in Jianghu.
"How? Am I right?" The taxi driver leaned against the car door with a cigarette in his mouth, looking at the painting scroll in Youliang's hand and said with a smile.
"Why are you still here?" Youliang asked in surprise.
"Take a break and smoke a cigarette," the driver said, "Come on, I'll take you to see Uncle Han."
The taxi drove into the densely packed alleys of the capital, and finally stopped in front of a beautiful courtyard house. There were two stone lions squatting on the left and right sides of the steps, like the front of the bank gate, but much smaller.
Before entering the yard, I heard a woman yelling and running hurriedly. A tall, white and fat woman in her mid-mature was holding a kitchen knife and was chasing a short, shirtless woman in big pants. An old man was running all over the yard.
"What kind of kungfu is you still learning at such an old age? You flirt with those unscrupulous old ladies. Don't you know that you are an old lady? You practice so much that you fart all night. I will let you practice ghost husband and see if you can win the old lady's hand." Is your kitchen knife?" That fat woman is really aggressive.
"Who's flirting? Besides, everyone practiced their farts in class and it smells good. Why does it smell bad as soon as they get home?" The old man kept arguing while running.
The driver was overjoyed when he saw it, and shouted loudly: "Uncle, Auntie, don't make trouble anymore, there are guests coming."
The fat woman was taken aback when she heard the words, her face turned slightly red and she went into the kitchen with a kitchen knife.
"Hmph, as the saying goes, 'Fat farts are not as fragrant as wild farts', it's not true at all." The old man muttered without showing weakness.
"Uncle, that's 'family flowers don't have the fragrance of wild flowers'." The driver laughed.
"Hey, the reason is the same." The old man replied.
You Liang looked at the old man, and saw that he was short in stature, with a head as big as a bucket, with a protruding forehead and glowing red face. He was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, with a pair of wise small eyes hiding behind the lenses, with soft and calm eyes.
"Sir, that's what I told you. Uncle Han, a famous folk appraiser in the capital, is definitely good at antique calligraphy and paintings, and he is also my uncle." The driver laughed.
"Hello ghost husband continued , I'm Uncle Han, may I ask your surname?" the old man asked solemnly, completely without the old urchin look just now.
"My name is Youliang."
"Little San said you have goods?" Uncle Han said, it turned out that the taxi driver's name was Xiao San.
Arara nodded, and pulled out the scroll from the rucksack.
"Come with me." Uncle Han led them into the west wing room. This room turned out to be his study room, and the bookshelves on the surrounding walls were already filled with various books, some of which fell on the ground.
"I'm sorry, I haven't had time to clean it up yet." Uncle Han said apologetically, pushing it aside with his feet.
On a glass-topped workbench, Uncle Han carefully unfolded the painting scroll, and then he was taken aback for a moment, his expression suddenly became serious, and he picked up the magnifying glass to observe carefully.
"That's right, this "Range Rover in Changrui Mountain" is indeed an authentic work by Castiglione, and it is a rare treasure." Uncle Han said to himself.
"Why do you know?" There are a lot of thoughts, so it's better to ask clearly.
"Let's not look at the inscription first, but we can see from the techniques in the paintings that Lang Shining came to China during the Kangxi period. He was a court painter in the Kangxi, Yong, and Qian dynasties. His Western painting techniques are very different from Chinese traditional painting techniques. The Qing Dynasty court Painters follow the principles of Guo Xiding, a man of the Song Dynasty, to paint, "In landscape painting, the mountains should be full of feet, the trees should be full of feet, the horses should be full of inches, and the figures should be full of tenths of an inch." Parallel lines must be exactly parallel. However, Castiglione believes that the concept of distance and near coordination in Chinese painting is completely wrong, and the perspective principle of geometry should be used to deal with space problems. In traditional Chinese painting, there is not one but several viewpoints on objects, and the angle of sight is not fixed, so the painter can express different viewpoints and angles on the landscape and garden in the same painting. This "Range Rover in Changrui Mountain" uses the principle of geometric perspective to deal with the far and near space. Look at the characters in the painting, the emperor is undoubtedly Qianlong. The mountain peak in the distance should be the main peak of Changrui Mountain. There is only one viewpoint, and the Chinese court painters in the Qing Dynasty would not deal with the spatial pattern in this way. "Uncle Han explained in detail.
"Then what if it's a copy?" Youliang still asked questions.
"Wait." Uncle Han carefully looked at the postscript with a magnifying glass, with a puzzled look on his face.
"What's the matter? Uncle." Xiao San hurriedly asked.
Uncle Han whispered the inscription on the painting: "Heaven is doomed in the dark, and the underworld is hard to be destined for the world. Hongli opened the ancient fingers today, and continued the Qing Dynasty for another five hundred years."
Youliang and Xiaosan silently looked at Uncle Han.
"That's right, this inscription and postscript was inscribed by Emperor Qianlong himself, and this seal is definitely true." Uncle Han's tone was affirmative.
"What if it's a copy?" Youliang asked persistently.
"Let me test it with an ultraviolet lamp." Uncle Han pressed the switch under the table, and a lavender light reflected from under the glass table.
Suddenly, Uncle Han's complexion changed drastically, his neck seemed to be pinched by an invisible hand, and he almost couldn't breathe with two clicks.
"Uncle, what's the matter with you?" Xiaosan anxiously supported Uncle Han, beating him on the back with his fists.
"It's okay, I'm just too shocked." Uncle Han said slowly.
"Shocked?" You Liang was puzzled.
"How much does Rongbaozhai give you?" Uncle Han asked.
"Eight thousand yuan."
Uncle Han was about to cry immediately when he heard the words: "It's too dark, this "Changrui Mountain Range Rover Picture" is more than ten million, it is simply a priceless treasure."
"Priceless treasure?" Youliang couldn't help being stunned.
"Look, this is not a simple landscape painting, but a map of a secret underground palace that has been lost for a long time." Uncle Han said tremblingly, pointing at the painting on the stage.
Youliang and Xiaosan fixed their eyes on the painting together.
Under the illumination of the fluorescent light, a map of the underground labyrinth passageway is faintly revealed on the screen, which seems to be full of traps.
"Look here is the signature of the person who drew this picture."
"who?"
"Style Ray."
This name is so strange, do you have a similar last name? You Liang looked at Uncle Han silently.
"'Style Lei' is the honorary name for the family of Lei, the chief architect of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years. From the first generation of Lei Fafa who went to Beijing alone in the Kangxi period, to the seventh generation of Lei Tingchang's death in the last years of Guangxu, There are seven generations of the Lei family who have designed and built palaces, mausoleums, gardens, government offices and temples for the Qing Dynasty royal family, and the world respectfully calls it "Xiang Lei", or nicknamed "Zang Lei". "Uncle Han explained.
"Well, I've heard of 'Style Thunder'. It is said that some projects are quite mysterious." Xiao San nodded and said, it seems that he also understands something.
"In the 1930s, some design documents signed by "Style Lei" suddenly appeared in Liulichang. They were really exquisite and the asking price was not high. All the secrets are extremely precious." Uncle Han swallowed and continued, "Including drawings of the Old Summer Palace, Chengde Mountain Resort, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and the Eastern and Western Tombs of the Qing Dynasty. A shocking secret that no descendant knows."
"What's the secret?" Xiaosan's throat was dry with tension, and Youliang listened attentively.
"If you want to tell this secret, there must be conditions." Uncle Han betrayed it at a critical moment.
"Tell me what the conditions are." Xiao San was rude to his uncle.
"Let your aunt cook a good meal, and you need to bring 10,000 yuan in cash." Uncle Han said triumphantly.
"Okay, I'll call my aunt." Xiaosan rushed out of the room excitedly.
After a while, the fat white woman stepped into the room cautiously, with a charming face, and asked softly: "His stupid uncle, he can just yell if he has anything to do, and let Xiao San run for a while."
"Where's the money?" Uncle Han stretched out his hand.
The fat woman's hand reluctantly protruded from under the apron, holding a stack of RMB in her palm, which looked exactly like a bundle of hundred yuan bills.
"Youliang, this is for you." Uncle Han stuffed the money into his hand.
"This is" You Liang was taken aback.
"Don't get me wrong, this is just the price of looking at "Changrui Mountain Range Rover Picture", not the money to buy your painting." Uncle Han laughed.
"You old bastard, at a glance, it costs 10,000 yuan. You think that Lei's family runs a bank." The fat woman was furious.
Ray family? There was a good news and my heart moved.