The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 16

The shopkeeper slowly unfolded the painting of the little fat man, gasped as if he had a toothache, and said with a sneer, "My lord, is this a picture of a red phoenix facing the sun?"

"The shopkeeper really has good eyesight. The next painting is Danfeng Chaoyang. Please ask the shopkeeper to make a price." The little fat man's chubby face was full of excitement, his eyes were full of expectation, and he seemed to have regained a little confidence.

The shopkeeper couldn't help crying and laughing, and was about to tactfully refuse the little fat man's request, when he suddenly saw the old man behind the little fat man winking, and secretly shaking the two silver ingots in his hand, he couldn't help but change his heart, and immediately put on a warm smile and said: "Young master, although the painting is a little weak, it is full of aura. Look at how round the red sun is, shining brightly, shining all over the earth. Look at this Only... Feng, ahem, is full of aura, especially those eyes, sharp and domineering, making people shudder, rare and rare!"

Jia Huan almost laughed out loud, the sun drawn by the little fat man is indeed very round and big, but the phoenix is ​​really not flattering, crooked melon splits dates, saying that the chicken insults the chicken, the shopkeeper is too unscrupulous, but it seems right to describe it as shuddering.

The little fat man's chubby face was blushing, obviously a little embarrassed by the compliment, he cupped his hands and said: "The shopkeeper's praise is ridiculous, please make a price."

The shopkeeper nodded, and said in a thoughtful manner: "I think this picture of Danyang Chaoyang should be worth..."

The shopkeeper didn't continue, just glanced at the old man behind the little fat man, and the old man secretly stuck out a finger.Seeing this, the shopkeeper immediately continued: "It should be worth ten taels of silver."

"It's only ten taels, no matter, this...my lord, I'm selling you the first painting, give me the money!" The little fat man seemed to be too satisfied with the price, with a look of reluctance on his face.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes secretly, thinking, ten taels of silver is still too little, and the pictures of ladies of Tang Baihu, a famous artist in the former dynasty, only sold for 50 taels, and a penny for your rags is too much.

"Sir, wait a moment, I will weigh the silver for you right now." The shopkeeper used the excuse of looking for a scale, and passed by the old man behind the little fat man, and took the opportunity to take the two ingots of silver from the old man's hand, which was 15 taels by visual estimation.

Jia Huan saw everything in his eyes, and couldn't help but secretly lamented that the money ability is useful no matter what era it is.

The old man obviously knew that Jia Huan had seen it, but he was very calm. He just nodded kindly to Jia Huan, and Jia Huan smiled back.

At this time, the shopkeeper had already weighed ten taels of silver and handed it to the little fat man. The little fat man thanked him and took it, happily put it in his pocket at his waist, and then he was not in a hurry to leave, and began to admire the folding fan on the shelf with great interest, while the old man followed behind with a smile on his face.

The shopkeeper also went back behind the counter happily, and casually threw the "Water Chicken Looking at the Sun Picture" worth ten taels of silver to the corner, hehe, just spend a little bit of saliva and earn five taels of silver for nothing, if such a good thing happens every day, it would be great!

The shopkeeper was thinking about it, when someone said: "Shopkeeper, there is also a painting for sale here, please give it to Zhang Zhangyan."

The shopkeeper looked up and found that it was Jia Huan. He couldn't help being overjoyed, and subconsciously glanced behind Jia Huan. Unfortunately, there was no old man behind Jia Huan, and he probably didn't have the kind of oil and water just now, so he said lazily: "My lord, take it out and have a look."

The Jia Huan in front of him was younger than the little fat man just now, and his clothes were plain, and the homemade cloth bag he was carrying was even more rustic, so the shopkeeper had no hope for Jia Huan's paintings.

Jia Huan took out a roll of drawing paper from the cloth bag and handed it to the shopkeeper. The latter slowly unfolded it and looked surprised. He blurted out, "What kind of painting is this? It's so strange."

Jia Huan's painting is a green donkey, which is the loud donkey that injured him in Jia's mansion. The predecessor of this body has a deep memory of this donkey, so Jia Huan drew it.The feature of the sketch is realism, but the donkey in the painting is fat and fat, the fur is shiny and shiny, and it is very airy, as if it is alive.

Jia Huan smiled and said, "This is called sketching, the way Westerners draw!"

The shopkeeper nodded and said, "So it's a Western painting. No wonder it's unheard of. Well, the lines are simple and the colors are monotonous. It's not bad to call it a sketch. This painting was drawn by you, young master?"

Although the shopkeeper doesn't know how to sketch, he can see that this painting is sophisticated and skillful, so he doesn't believe it was done by a seven or eight-year-old boy.

Jia Huan smiled slightly and said, "I have no comment. If the shopkeeper thinks this painting is still eye-catching, you might as well make a price."

At this time, the little fat man and the old man also walked over curiously, and looked at the painting in the shopkeeper's hand with their heads.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes, rolled up the painting and said, "Young master, although this painting is novel, it is too plain. I'm afraid it won't please the people of the time. Even if I buy it, it may be difficult to sell it. But..."

The shopkeeper changed the subject at the end: "I would like to test the waters. How about this, how many paintings of this kind do you have in your hand? I will accept them for ten cents apiece. If they are not sold, I will accept them. If they are easy to sell, I will raise the price for you next time, how about it?"

The little fat man burst out laughing, but he probably felt that he was being rude, so he quickly pretended to look around, but the little fat man couldn't hide his expression, thinking: "It's only ten cents a piece, not even one thousand copies of my picture of a phoenix and a rising sun, how pitiful!"

Jia Huan rolled his eyes secretly, ten cents a piece, what the hell are you collecting?This shopkeeper is too unkind.

Although Jia Huan didn't know the market price, as the saying goes, rare things are valuable, and he is still very confident in the level of his paintings. Even if he sells such a painting to an ordinary book gallery in later generations, it will be worth hundreds of yuan. According to the purchasing power of the Jin Dynasty, ten Wen is equivalent to ten yuan in later generations, which is too dark!
"Then I won't sell it anymore!" Without further ado, Jia Huan reached out to retrieve the painting from the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper instinctively withdrew his hand, but he was still a step too late. He could only watch helplessly as Jia Huan put the painting back into the cloth bag, then turned and left.

"Wait a minute, young master, the price can be negotiated again." The shopkeeper shouted unwillingly.

Jia Huan didn't turn her head back. As the saying goes, if you don't talk speculatively, there is nothing to talk about. This shopkeeper is too bad, and his character is not good, so let's find someone else.

Seeing Jia Huan leaving resolutely, the shopkeeper realized that this young man was not easy to fool. The price he gave was too low, which offended him.

Let's say that Jia Huan walked out of Baomoxuan, and was about to call Qian Huai to leave, but the old man and the young man chased him out just now, and the little fat man panted, "Wait a minute, brother."

Jia Huan couldn't help but stop, the little fat man's movements were not very flexible, and he almost fell when he went down the steps, but fortunately he stood firmly in the end, otherwise he would have been thrown into the mud on the spot.

"Young master, be careful, fall on your horse carefully!" Qian Huai said with a smile.

The little fat man straightened his clothes in embarrassment, cupped his hands and said: "My surname is Xu Mingwei, and the name is Wenchang. Dare I ask this young master Gao's name?"

A flash of surprise flashed across Jia Huan's eyes, and he gave the little fat man another look, Xu Wei Xu Wenchang?This is a master of calligraphers and painters from the Ming Dynasty, but there is no Ming Dynasty in this world of Red Mansions. Moreover, just based on the picture of Danfeng Chaoyang that the little fat man just painted that "shocked the world and wept ghosts and gods", Jia Huan dared to conclude that this was definitely not the famous Xu Wenchang in history, otherwise it would be too insulting.

"Under Jia Huan, there is no sign!" Jia Huan cupped his hands and saluted.

"Hehe, so it's Brother Jia, can you let me have a look at the painting just now?" The little fat man smiled, his eyes narrowed into two slits, and he was quite friendly.

Jia Huan smiled and said: "There is nothing you can do." After finishing speaking, he took out the "picture of calling a donkey" and handed it to the little fat man Xu Wei.

The little fat man thanked Jia Huan and took it, and slowly showed the picture of "Calling a Donkey". The quiet old man also came forward to watch it together. After a long time, he raised his head, looked at Jia Huan unexpectedly, and said, "Is this painting from the hand of the young master?"

The little fat man nodded and agreed, "Yes, did you draw this painting yourself?"

Seeing the disbelief on the little fat man's face, Qian Huai said unhappily: "It wasn't my son who drew it, could it be you who drew it?"

"Ahem, that's not what I mean. Brother Jia's painting is so vivid, it seems to be... a little bit better than the picture of Danfeng Chaoyang below."

Jia Huan couldn't help laughing, but it was very rare for the little fat man to admit that he was "a little bit" better than him in painting. He cupped his hands and said, "Brother Xu is absurd. In fact, this painting was painted by a brother of mine. In recent years, his family has suffered a lot and his pockets are shy, so he sold it for some money to spend. It's just that my brother is more introverted and feels that selling calligraphy and painting is demeaning, so he let me wait for work."

The little fat man had a sudden realization expression, and he patted his chest proudly and said, "I see, Brother Jia likes this painting very much, I bought it."

Jia Huan was secretly delighted, this little chubby brother just spent 15 taels of silver to "sell" his pioneering work, no doubt a proper local tyrant, and said: "Since Brother Xu likes it, please make a price."

The little fat man hesitated and asked, "Sell it for ten taels of silver?"

As soon as this remark came out, Qian Huai almost bit his tongue, and the old man trembled.

"How about 15 taels?" Seeing Jia Huan's silence, the little fat man blushed and added five taels of silver. He felt that Jia Huan's donkey painting was much more beautiful than his own phoenix.

Seeing the little fat man's awkward yet polite look, Jia Huan couldn't bear to kill him, coughed lightly and said, "15 taels is too much, let's...[-] taels, this painting is not as good as Brother Xu's painting of Danfeng Chaoyang."

The little fat man was both happy and ashamed when he heard the words, as if he had found a bosom friend in the mountains and rivers, he laughed and said: "Brother Jia is absurdly praised, I think our paintings are comparable, only ten taels of silver, if Brother Jia doesn't accept it, I won't buy it either."

"Uh...well then, ten taels is ten taels. Brother Xu speaks quickly, which is convincing."

Since the little local tyrant gave money generously, Jia Huan reluctantly did what he could, but he was disrespectful, but he was disrespectful!

(End of this chapter)