Painter

Chapter 31: Selling Paintings

Ping'an Square is located on the southeast side of the old imperial city, and it has an alias called "Half Ridge".

According to legend, Sun Kuyin, who was the most thoughtful poet in the previous dynasty, once stopped and meditated in the middle of the lane, when the horse-drawn carriage of Shangyue State was traveling, the coachman saw someone blocking the way and was about to reprimand him, but was stopped by Yue State.

The Duke of Yue retreated from the crowd and waited quietly on the street until Sun Kuyin came back to his senses. Half a day had passed. This incident became a good story, and Ping'an Square also got the nickname of Banri Square.

Perhaps because of this very literary name, many brush and ink studios and calligraphy and painting shops have been opened in Banrifang, making it the most elegant place in Xuandu City.But no matter how elegant it is, it will inevitably smell of copper. Calligraphy and painting merchants in Xuandu City gather here, doing speculative business of reselling.

Sao Qingniang carried the scriptures and picture scrolls, walked into Yabiju, and asked, "Shopkeeper, how do you collect the scriptures?"

The shopkeeper of Yabiju looked up and saw a beautiful and gentle woman. He looked at the stack of brand-new thread-sealed scriptures that Sao Qingniang had placed on the varnished fir counter, cleared his throat, and used his nails to pick up a Page of the scripture book, squinting his eyes and said: "Well, if you write well, you will get more rewards."

"Show me." Sao Qingniang smiled slightly, her gentle appearance made a young man who had just walked into the calligraphy and painting shop go crazy.

Seeing the foolish look of the young man, the shopkeeper secretly warned himself not to pay a high price just because of the woman's beauty, but his eyes lit up again when he saw the beautiful handwriting on the scripture book, and he was surprised: "Little lady, this is your handwriting." ?”

Sao Qingniang nodded and hummed.

The shopkeeper carefully flipped through several pages of scriptures, nodded in praise and said: "The writing is really like the person, beautiful and beautiful."

While flipping through the scriptures, he calculated the accounts, and finally said: "21 volumes of "The Sutra of Disaster Relief", I will give you one, two or three coins."

Sao Qingniang thanked the shopkeeper, and then asked: "Does the shopkeeper accept paintings?"

"Why don't you accept it? Is it this one?" The shopkeeper said as he unfolded the picture scroll, and when he saw the picture of cats playing with candles, he secretly praised it for its vividness, and then caught a glimpse of the phrase "The raccoon doesn't know the hardships of life, so he only uses the candlelight as a firefly." , glanced down, and saw "Xu Yingqiu Yin".

His thick black eyebrows are raised high, this painting is already top-notch in terms of craftsmanship, if there are Xu Yingqiu's inscription poems, it can sell for 30 taels, and if you like it, you can double it.But those who can make palm eyes in Banrifang, who have experienced many battles, have seen countless fakes, the shopkeeper looked at them carefully, pondered for a moment, and touched the white cat's pupils with his nails. This pair of blue-gold cat pupils The paint is applied a little thickly, and the nails touch it, and the paint is completely dry, but still a little soft.

The shopkeeper smiled, but he didn't point out that there was a tacit understanding between the calligraphy and painting dealer and the counterfeit craftsman, and the counterfeit painter sold the paintings here as fake paintings.And if the shopkeeper sells it again, the authenticity will have to be determined again.This poem inscribed by Xu Banque is not worth the price of an authentic work, but it can also be worth two taels of silver.

The shopkeeper deliberated, cleared his throat, "This painting..."

Just about to quote a price of four taels, someone beside him praised: "Okay, okay, the raccoon doesn't know how to make a living, and only uses candles as fireflies? As expected of Mr. Xu, there is a special taste in the elegance, which is unpredictable , the meaning is profound."

The young man who spoke was wearing a toe kerchief, a powdered face, a green robe with a round collar, and a jade bib at his waist. He was from a wealthy family at first glance.He was amazed by the cat play candle picture, and directly ignored the existence of him as the shopkeeper, and asked the beautiful little lady, "Little lady, is this painting for sale?"

Sao Qingniang looked at the shopkeeper, wondering: "It's for sale, but the shopkeeper has already..."

"The painting is still yours before the money is settled and the transaction is not completed." The young man smiled and said to the shopkeeper, "I will pay 20 taels for this painting, and I will add as much as the shopkeeper's."

The shopkeeper was taken aback, according to the rules of Banrifang, the young man had crossed the line, but he couldn't get angry, and said with a strange expression: "This gentleman... think about it again?"

The young man said without hesitation, "Whatever the shopkeeper's price is, just give me a confirmation letter."

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, coughed dryly, "Forget it, Mr. Lang is so courageous, I can't compete with you."

"Thank you, shopkeeper." The young man bowed his hands to the shopkeeper, unpacked and took out a roll of bank notes, and selected four five taels of denominations from among them.Sao Qingniang stretched out her hand, he froze for a moment, and handed the bank note to her.

"Little lady, one or two or three dollars." The shopkeeper weighed the scattered silver taels, and lifted the copper handle so that Sao Qingniang could see the scale clearly.

Sao Qingniang opened the purse and asked him to pour the silver into it, and smiled at the young man, "Thank you." Then she turned and left.

The young man looked at her back obsessively, and couldn't help but followed her two steps.Remembering that he didn't take the picture scroll on the counter, he hurriedly turned to get it, and then turned around, the woman had already walked out the door.He walked to the door with a hey sound, looked around, but there was no trace of her.

……

Outside the half-day square, Sao Qingniang fiddled with her purse, the bank note plus the silver tael was 21 taels, she said to herself: "Young man came back, and he hasn't cleaned up the dust yet, so it's a table of two taels... um. "

Sao Qingniang looked at the restaurant not far away and walked into the crowd.

(End of this chapter)