Chapter 34 first quarter

November 4th.On the second day after finishing the investigation and watching Saeko Dong leave for Sendai, Tsuda visited Kato's antique shop under Iwate Park.Tsuda felt that he already had an answer to the question of Sara, and didn't expect much from Kato's side.But after all, we made an agreement, and we can't leave it alone. After walking the streets of Morioka for a long time, Tsuda's heart flew back to Tokyo. "It's really early." Seeing that Tsuda had already arrived at the door before noon, Kato greeted him with a smile.I'm afraid he just opened a shop, and he still looks sleepy.

"Drunk too much last night. It was late when I returned to Morioka, and I had to go out to socialize. It was three o'clock in the middle of the night when I returned to the store." Kato mixed hot water into the small teapot, "Right, right, we have to let it go first. Take a look." Kato put the steaming teacup in front of Tsuda, turned around and entered the room at the back of the shop. Kato's storefront is spacious, twenty tatami mats in size, with five display cases neatly arranged, among which pots and swords are displayed.The surrounding walls are full of hanging scrolls and ukiyo-e, with almost no gaps.

"Akita's orchid painting trade is really active." Kato sat down in front of Tsuda with a thick stack of copies. "It's probably done by antique dealers in Yokote City." Tsuda looked at the copy Kato spread out in surprise.There are more than 30 copies, and five or six works are printed on each page. It seems to be copied from a photo album, and there are many works by Naotake that Tsuda has seen in the album. "Are these actually handled by that store?" "It should be. It is said that it covers the collection from the early Showa era to the recent collection. Even art museums ask for paintings from this store."

"Thanks to Mr. Kato for getting these materials." "It's a business partner after all, and the photocopies are all arranged by the little girl in the store. The transaction price is all erased, and I didn't contribute at all." There are thick lines drawn with marker pens at the bottom of many photos, which should be the price tag.Tsuda was a little apprehensive, and hurriedly said, "Didn't I cause you any trouble?" "You're welcome. I was taken care of in that store. When I said I wanted to learn orchid painting, the other party immediately agreed."

Kato looked calm. Suddenly, Tsuda stared and exclaimed. "What did you find?" "Well, they are two linked together, very similar to Chang Rong's work." "resemblance?" "The inscription is Tashiro Yunmeng." Tsuda took out a photocopy of the album from his satchel, and compared it with the copy of the photo album brought back by Kato, "Please see here." He selected two of them and handed them to Kato. "It's really similar." Kato repeatedly compared the copies, and muttered, "It must have been cut out from Changrong's work and Tashiro's name was added. Let me see, yes, it is indeed the same artist."

"Can you tell the difference?" "Look, isn't there a little bird on the pine branch? It's on the Changrong painting sign." "Well, indeed." "Look at my copy again. Well, there is only a little bit exposed, and I can't tell what it is. It should be the tail of a bird." There is indeed a small protrusion in the upper left, but that's where the picture ends. Kato asserted: "No one would compose the picture like this, it must have been cut - it was tampered with by Chang Rong." Tsuda was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "Do you know when this painting appeared?"

"God knows, maybe I can ask. In fact, I guessed that you would be interested." Kato triumphantly picked up the phone and dialed the number. (You don't know that Changrong is Saile, so you can be so calm!) Tsuda felt a little impatient. "Hello, thank you so much yesterday, I'm Kato—hey, TOEFL, I finally got something—by the way, about the photocopy of Lanhua yesterday—" Kato took the copy from Tsuda, "That's it, I don’t know the exact page number in the photo album, but on the upper left is a picture of Naotake’s play fish. Okay—I’m looking it up.” Kato covered the receiver and told Tsuda word by word, “Well, I’m sorry to trouble you, that’s right, That's the page. There are two works signed by Yunmeng on the bottom, can I find out the year of the transaction?"

Tsuda was extremely nervous. "The 12th and 3rd year of the Showa era, it was before the war...it's nothing, I have a customer here who is investigating Yunmeng." Kato grinned at Tsuda, "I happened to see these two paintings in the store, so we had a chat. Customer I want to know where the painting is now—no problem, I’ll give it to him.” He suddenly handed the microphone to Tsuda, “Let’s talk about it in detail.” You have to follow the line of Yunmeng——Gato reminded in a low voice. Tsuda picked up the microphone and repeated the same question. "Where did you ask? I don't know. They are all second-hand goods from my father's generation. The above picture of Naotake's play fish entered the art museum in the 12th year of Showa (1937). Where did it go after that?" It's clear when you move it."

"So, it's no longer in the art museum." "At least there will be records in the museum, and it is also a kind of publicity for the buyer's shop." The man laughed harshly.Hearing the voice, Tsuda judged that the person was about fifty years old. "At that time, military supplies drove the economy, and the business in this industry was also active. It is estimated that it was given at that time, and so on. I may not know what was written." The man was silent for a while, and there was a faint tearing sound from the other end of the phone. I only heard the man say: "Sure enough, it is twelve years, but there is no mention of the buyer."

Tsuda disappointed: "Is that so..." "My father likes to make some notes on the back of the photos, and I thought there might be clues. Both paintings belong to the same buyer, a deceased Taiguan man." really…… "Could it be that Yunmeng has something to do with Nagato Lu?" "Nagatoro?" "It's the small village next to Kakunodate. It seems that Nagatoro's landscape painting was brought to the store along with the two paintings. Dad seems to have confiscated it, but he left a note." Tsuda said he didn't know. "Yunmeng was born in Akita City. It's strange why he painted Nagatoro. Maybe he stopped there on the way to visit Naobu."

Tsuda dealt with the matter ambiguously. He didn't know Yunmeng himself, and he was afraid that revealing the truth would cause trouble for Kato.Tsuda winked, Kato immediately answered the phone, thanked him and hung up in one go. Tsuda explained to Kato that he was worried that being asked about Yunmeng would cause him to go through the gang. "That landscape painting is probably also Changrong's work." Tsuda thought so too. "It is estimated that he has relatives in Nagatolu. That place is not worth making a special trip to paint." "It should be. Since it is next to Kakunodate, it should be considered as Chang Rong's work." "It seems that there are quite a lot of things in Changrong on the market—the 12th year of the Showa era was still before the war, so maybe a lot of them were burned." Tsuda nodded in disappointment.

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