Chapter 2 love

On Xilongwang Street in Chengdu, Liulichang and Morning Market and Night Market in Beiping, and Chief Secretary Street in Jinan, we can often see two kinds of people.The first type is well-behaved, cautious, and no different from ordinary people; if they are a little different from ordinary people, they like to collect calligraphy and paintings, bronze wares, or seals.This hobby is as common as a love of flowers, dogs, or crickets.In terms of occupation, they may be civil servants or middle school teachers.Sometimes we also see lawyers or doctors searching for little treasures in their spare time.These people are generally a little knowledgeable.Their knowledge enables them to earn a living in a decent manner.Some of them earn more money, some earn less, but as soon as they have spare money in their hands, they spend it on things that please their hearts and add a little elegance.Sometimes, they would not hesitate to borrow a few dollars, or pawn two pieces of clothing, so that the favorite thing can be stamped with their own stamps, if it is an object that can be stamped with stamps.

This is not the case with the second type of person.They collect, but also sell.They may look elegant, but they are no different from businessmen in their hearts.Their collections are pretty much hoarding. The Mr. Zhuang Yiya we are going to introduce now belongs to the first type. Mr. Zhuang is a young gentleman from Jinan.He obtained the status of a gentleman by no means because of how much property he had, nor because his predecessors had served as high officials.He is just an ordinary college graduate, who sometimes works as a clerk and sometimes as a middle school teacher.However, he is enthusiastic about people and things. Whether in institutions or schools, he is always a person who is entrusted by others and works without complaint.He may not be able to do things beautifully, but he is willing to help his friends.The more things he does, the more experience he has.Everyone in the society is lazy, and often because of their own laziness, they regard other people's one point of experience as ten points.Therefore, Mr. Zhuang became an important person among relatives and friends, a regular customer in shops and restaurants, and a little gentleman in the local area.

On the whole, he's a good guy.On the whole, he was also a decent man.Medium build, round face, two very black and bright eyes, often looking at his chest and nose, as if afraid of being said that he is too sharp and exposed.His legs are short, but he walks very fast, and he seems to be very busy all day long.Sometimes, he wears a Chinese tunic suit; sometimes, he wears a coat; the material is not very good, but everything is very neat.There is always a badge hanging on the lapel. He is married and has no children.My wife lives in a village more than forty miles away from the city.Because he has a lot of things to do, he doesn't go to the countryside often, and when he returns home once in a while, his friends feel lonely. When he comes back, his importance has increased a lot.There are many, many things waiting for his short legs to run.

Although he walked very fast, his eyes were sharp, always looking at his chest or nose.A piece of old yellow paper or a broken fan on a second-hand stall by the road would make him stop from a long distance, slowly approach the stall, and then stand there as if by accident.He loves calligraphy and painting.First touch this casually, move that, then smile and ask the price.Finally, I picked up the old piece of paper or the fan, looked at it, shook my head, and put it down; after taking two steps, I turned around and asked the price, or just said the price: "This broken fan, give me fifty cents."

One piece, one piece two, he took back those treasures that were full of wormholes, black, and wrinkled like an old woman's face.At night, after locking the door of the house, he turned it over and over to admire it, then numbered it, stamped it with great care, and put it in a large nanmu box.This little bit of hard work will give him some pleasant fatigue, and make him lie on the bed with satisfaction, even the dream is a bit antique. He often went in to look at the antique shops on Chief Secretary Street, big and small.He can only feast his eyes on those complete, well-known works that cost thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars.After reading it, he smiled ashamedly, then wrapped it up respectfully, and returned it to others.He can only buy the "fragmented bamboo slips" worth three to five yuan, or the works of minor masters who have no market.Every time he entered these dazzling shops, he felt poor.He didn't have much ambition at first, but as soon as he entered the antique shop, he thought of how proud he would be if he made a fortune and bought the most expensive calligraphy and paintings home and stamped his own stamp on them!

"Take a look" is the customer, which is the business experience of northern merchants.Although Mr. Zhuang only "sees" the expensive ones and buys the cheap ones, the merchants did not treat him poorly because of this.They wanted him to come and see, so that they could do voluntary publicity for them.At the same time, they had cheap and not fake things, and they kept them specially for him.They know that "love" is something that grows, as long as he keeps buying small pieces, one day he will be willing to buy a big one. After coming and going, Mr. Zhuang became friends with several antique shops.Cigarettes and hot tea, needless to say, is a must every time I go; they sometimes invite him to drink old wine.He is no longer ashamed.Sure enough, he introduced business to them.Those who have money but really have nowhere to spend it finally think of buying a few calligraphy and paintings, or a few antiques, as the trademarks of the rich.They go to great lengths to find experts who will act as compradors on their behalf, lest they waste money.Naturally, they found Mr. Zhuang Yiya—a gentleman, willing to help, and understanding.

When doing this kind of voluntary comprador, Mr. Zhuang felt excited and satisfied.Open it, roll it up, and open it again; no matter how many times he looks at or touches a famous painting, every time it brings him joy and increases his eyesight and knowledge.After the deal was concluded, both the buyer and the seller treated him to wine.Eating wine is a trivial matter, but talking with everyone is a major issue, and he has gained a lot of knowledge from everyone.Besides, after several business transactions, his status has also increased a lot.He can boldly refuse the small items that the merchants specially reserved for him. "I don't have any spare money these two days," or "Let's talk about it in two days!" He expressed that if you can't give me anything, I will take whatever, and I have eyesight.In order to cope with this, the businessmen had another good idea and called him "an expert in collecting small Shandong famous artists".With Mr. Zhuang's financial resources, the title of collector will never be added to him.Now, he is actually called a collector, so he doesn't care about the irony in that title, and accepts it calmly.After having this title, Mr. Zhuang wanted to be an expert in a real way.He began to pay attention to small famous artists in Shandong Province, and made another box to store works from this road.Now, he is willing to spend ten or twenty yuan, or even thirty yuan, to buy a piece of calligraphy or painting, as long as it is the handwriting of a local sage that he does not have in his hand.He did not hesitate to borrow from his friends, or send his coat to a pawn shop; to be an expert one had to be bold.These works may not have artistic value in themselves. In the past, he might not even look at them, but now he has to pay ten or twenty yuan to buy them.Collection is collection, he can, even should, be separated from the value of art, and become a special, independent, addiction and joy.

In the past, there might only be a small flower or two or three characters on the torn paper paintings bought at three cents and two cents, which were complete and clearly visible.But it is indeed a beautiful flower, or a lovely word.He loved them so much that he would watch them again and again.He locked the door to see them, firstly to avoid disturbance from others, and secondly to avoid others laughing at him.Since he got the title of expert, not only did he no longer lock the door, but he deliberately let everyone know.Whenever he got a new little treasure, his house was full of people.His extremely black and bright eyeballs no longer looked at his nose, but turned around excitedly, two red clouds appeared on his cheeks.He was somewhat shy, but after coughing lightly once or twice, his courage was completely strengthened.He told them about the history, style, and stamps and inscriptions on the writing or painting of the little famous artist.He does not criticize the quality of the work, but waits for others to nod in praise.If everyone is silent after reading it, he will tell everyone again, implying that all old people must be good, and there are no inferior products under the masters—even the young ones.He talked a lot, and his heart beat fast, until everyone admitted that it was Zhang's masterpiece, then he rolled it up with a smile and put it down gently; his eyes went to look at his nose again.

His income has not changed significantly for several years.He doesn't seem to love money very much.If it wasn't for buying calligraphy and painting, he could never have considered the issue of money.He has the ability to teach or work, and he is quite sincere, and he has no bad habits. In his opinion, it is unnecessary to worry about livelihood. Since being called an expert, he feels that life has become more interesting and valuable. On the other hand, he hates himself for being incompetent, not being able to earn more money and buy better calligraphy and paintings.Even so, he was unwilling to change hands of calligraphy and paintings to make some money.Whether it's good or bad, it's his collection, and it may follow him into the coffin in the future, and it must not be sold.He is not a businessman.Sometimes, he would cruelly give a painting or a piece of writing to a friend, but he never sold it.At most, he thought, he'd have a side job to supplement his income.But he has too many things to do, and he has no time to go for a walk in the mountains and ditches, or go to Chief Secretary Street to feast his eyes.He needs to be free, because he has to look at everything for several hours at a stretch.

Since he couldn't open source, he had no choice but to save money.This is hard for his wife.He didn't like going home very much at first, and now he has reduced the number of times he goes back.In this way, every day when he is on vacation, he can go to the antique shop or sit in the house of a friend with the same good for the whole day; otherwise, he will open the box and look at all the collections carefully, and even forget to eat.At the same time, he saved travel expenses and change for the trip home.For the daily use of the family, he cut down cruelly.Although he also felt a little ashamed, but when he thought about it carefully, it was better to bully his wife than to do other wrong things.

In the spring of the July 7 Anti-Japanese War, friends congratulated Zhuang Yiya on her 40th birthday.He didn't seem to have thought about his age until his friends arrived, he seemed to realize that he was indeed forty years old.He is a person without lofty aspirations and unnecessary worries, but when the people celebrating the birthday dispersed, he couldn't help feeling a little bit.At the age of forty, he meditated alone, but what was there to boast about?After much deliberation, there is only one.Over the past few years, he has collected more than 100 calligraphy and paintings of small famous Shandong masters.This is indeed a little achievement.A few days ago, Yang Kechang—a so-called second-type collector in Jinan—brought two Japanese people to see his collection.At that time, he didn't feel any pride.On the contrary, he was a little embarrassed to take out those shabby paintings.However, when I think about it on my fortieth birthday, it does have a lot of meaning.It's not a waste of money for him to run errands.Even though those things are so dilapidated, but think about it, who in the whole country has a collection of more than a hundred small famous artists from Shandong?There is no second copy!Even the Japanese come to visit, heh, his little collection has given him an international reputation!He closed his eyes, carefully, thinking back and forth, trying to take this matter lightly, as something not worth laughing at.However, this is absolutely true, and the Japanese noticed that his collection was not fake at all.Even if you are too modest, the truth is always the truth.Thinking of this, he was ashamed, emotional, and helpless, and felt a little satisfied.It's not bad to become a collector without any other achievements in life, but to "play the right way".This life is finally not in vain.People die to leave a name, and geese leave their voices!He was also very tired from entertaining relatives and friends, but when he thought of this, he became excited again, and wanted to re-read the more than one hundred works.He couldn't bear to let go of any one of them, as if they were many times better than when they were first bought.Even those wormholes have another kind of beauty, and those dust have another kind of fragrance.Seeing the thirty-second picture, he hugged it and fell asleep. On the second day of his birthday, he made a new vow: I, Zhuang Yiya, have something really valuable! At the beginning of summer, a small antique dealer got a large landscape of Shixi, and Yang Kechang and Zhuang Yiya got the news one after another.Mr. Yang wants to make some money, and Mr. Zhuang wants to use a certain amount of money to buy it and make it a family heirloom.The landscape painting is very good, and the mounting work is also exquisite, but unfortunately, a piece of the stamp is missing in the lower left corner.The stamp is missing; the missing corner of the picture has been filled in by some meddling person, which is very bad.Mr. Yang is superstitious about stamps.There was no stamp, and the strokes made up were so obviously bad, so he concluded that the painting was fake.Although he also knew that it was a boutique.In addition to appreciation, of course he also has other functions.He wanted to buy it at the price of a fake painting, and then sell it to the Japanese.He knew that the painting was really good; moreover, even if it was a fake, the Japanese would pay a high price for it, because Shixi had a huge market in the East. Mr. Yang is an authority in identifying antiques in Jinan, and most people who are interested in antiques have no eyes, so the painting by Shixi has become everyone's happy thing. "Go and see the fake Stony Creek!" When they had nothing to do, they just went to make a little joke with the little antique dealer.There are many people who come to see it, but there are no bids—who is willing to pay for fake things? In the end, Mr. Yang, seeing that the time was ripe, offered a price—two hundred and fifty yuan, which would not be sold.He was very happy in his heart, because as soon as he changed hands, he could sell it for at least 800 yuan, earning 500 or 600 yuan! Mr. Zhuang also saw the painting.After running and watching it countless times, he concluded that it must be true.Every time he looked at it, his self-confidence increased by one point, and his decision to buy it became stronger.However, every time he looked at it, his sadness also increased a lot.He has no money. For several days, he was restless, tossing and turning, babbling to himself: "Collecting precious essence is not so expensive! Shixi! Shixi! Wouldn't having a piece of Shixi be better than these two boxes of old millet and rotten sesame seeds? Much better! This What are two boxes? Only one piece of Shixi can last! Even if I absolutely, absolutely never buy anything from now on, this piece of Shixi must be brought..." He wanted to borrow money, but he was embarrassed.When clothes?Nothing of value.What to do?What to do? When he heard that Mr. Yang had offered 250 yuan, he could no longer think about it, and could no longer sit down.In one breath, he ran to the small antique shop.His palms were sweating, and his heart was beating wildly. The more he tried to calm down, the more flustered he became, and he stuttered a little: "I, I, let me look at that fake stone brook again!" The picture opens.He couldn't see clearly.There seemed to be a hot fog covering the eyes.In fact, he didn't need to look any further, he could remember everything on the painting with his eyes closed. After a moment of stupefaction, he said in a low voice: "I'll give you five hundred! Pay tomorrow! How about it?" He held his breath and waited for an answer, like a prisoner waiting for the sentence of death.With great difficulty, he got the word "Okay" from the merchant.He was unconscious for a moment.Then he ran home crazily, snatched his wife's gold and silver jewellery, indiscriminately, and ran back quickly. He got that painting. However, he also had a feud with Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang, because he didn't get the money-making item, went everywhere to publicize how ridiculously fake Zhuang Yiya is, and bought a fake painting for 500 yuan.Almost all the collectors in Jinan took this incident as a good source of jokes after tea, which made Zhuang Yiya no longer dare to visit antique shops in broad daylight.However, he did not compromise. He neither wanted to underestimate the painting because of gossip, nor did he want to secretly resell the painting to restore his reputation. He still believed that he got a masterpiece at the lowest price. In June, a connoisseur surnamed Lu came down from Peking.Mr. Lu's reputation is international, as long as there is his stamp on calligraphy and paintings, even European and American collectors dare not shake their heads slightly.Zhuang Yiya showed the painting of Shixi to Mr. Lu, who stamped the painting without saying anything.When Zhuang Yiya was holding the painting and was about to leave, Mr. Lu asked casually: "I'll give you one thousand and two, will you give it to me?" Zhuang Yiya didn't dare to answer anything, just took the painting Hold me tighter. "It doesn't matter!" Mr. Lu said that he would never take favors from others.Zhuang Yiya was sorry, happy, confused and excited, and said goodbye. Yang Kechang looked at Zhuang Yiya in a low voice.He knew that his vision and reputation were far inferior to that of Mr. Lu.Since Mr. Lu said that the stone creek is real, if he himself says it is fake, he will destroy his own job.He wanted to explain to Zhuang Yiya that what he said before was just a joke among his friends, please don't take it seriously, Mr. Zhuang.Zhuang Yiya didn't see him! July 7th Anti-Japanese War.Jinan, like other places, is extremely excited.Like everyone else, Zhuang Yiya was greatly stimulated and was looking forward to the news of victory day and night. The news, however, was getting worse.Most disturbing was the confusion and crowding at the station.No one knew where to go, and everyone wanted to move; the station became a center of confusion and unrest.Mr. Zhuang watched his friends flee to Shanghai, Qingdao, and Nanshan in a hurry, and then fled back from various places.He was extremely disturbed, but he didn't dare to run away lightly, he was from Jinan, he was reluctant to part with his hometown.Besides, even if you want to escape, where should you go?How to survive after escaping?He decided to take a look and talk.Fortunately, he has no children yet, and when he has to run away, he and his wife will always come up with impromptu ideas. Cangzhou fell, Dezhou withdrew, enemy planes flew overhead, killed people at Luokou, and fired anti-aircraft guns on Qianfo Mountain.The news is messy, and the rumors are even messier than the news.Zhuang Yiya decided to go to the countryside to hide for a while.Not to mention anything else, he was afraid that the two boxes of paintings and Shixi would be destroyed by the bomb.With Shixi under his arm and a big burden on his back, the little master, he squeezed out of the city.Can't hire a car.Walked ten miles.I heard bandits ahead.He ran back quickly.After running back, he wandered around the house for ten minutes.He didn't worry about anything for himself; he didn't bother about his wife at all.Country people have a few acres of land, and the land will not be destroyed by artillery fire, so there is no need to worry about it.He was only worried that Shixi and those little famous people had no safe place to settle down.Alarm again.He hid those calligraphy and paintings under the table.There was the sound of bombing in the distance.He said in his heart: "Explode! Explode! If you die, I will teach these calligraphy and paintings to be buried!" The enemy has already crossed Dezhou, but the rumor of "protecting the border and the people" gave Zhuang Yiya a little hope.He was not entirely unpatriotic, and he would not listen to such shameful rumors.However, for the sake of what one loves, it seems that surrendering is not out of the question.Yang Kechang came to see him once and advised him to sell the stone creek, use it as travel expenses, and escape as soon as possible. "You can't compare with me," he advised Mr. Zhuang, "I am a pure collector, and the Orientals know it. You, you have been a civil servant, a teacher, and an intellectual, and when the Orientals come, they must kill your head! " "Decapitation?" Zhuang Yiya was stunned for a while. "Kill the head, kill the head, I can't let go of my Shixi!" After Yang Kechang left, Mr. Zhuang decided not to take his wife with him, but to escape with only Shixi and Shandong Xiaomingjia.But, I can't go.Enemy planes bombed trains every day.It doesn't matter to me, Shixi is more important than anything else.He had to wait a little longer. The enemy has arrived.He doesn't regret it very much.Every day, he held Shixi in his arms and waited for the Japanese, saying to himself: "Come on! Shixi and I will die together!" After waiting, Mr. Yang came again. Zhuang Yiya, who was originally the most calm person, lost her temper now.The panic and pain I have suffered these days should all be vented on Yang Kechang: "Why are you here again? The country is about to perish, do you still want to make money?" "Don't be angry," Yang Kechang said with a smile, "Listen I said slowly. You know that the Orientals are the most exquisite. They know all about what we keep in our hands. They know that you have Shixi. When their army arrives, so do the literati. Collecting antiques from house to house. You want a head, Hand over the painting. If you want to paint, you sacrifice your head!" "Okay! My head and my paintings are all my own! Please don't worry about me!" "You are such a tough guy!" "Whether it's hard or not, you don't need to praise it!" "Don't lose your temper, okay?" Mr. Yang laughed again. "Let me tell you, I'm not here to ask you to paint, I'm here to congratulate you!" "Congratulations? Why are you kidding me like this?" Mr. Yang's face was extremely serious: "Mr. Zhuang! The Orientals sent me here, please come out of the mountains and become the director of the Education Bureau!" "Huh?" Zhuang Yiya made this voice as if awakened from a dream.After staying for a while, "I can't work for the Japanese!" "I'm very busy, let's talk quickly." Mr. Yang's eyes pinned on Zhuang Yiya's face as if about to perform hypnotism. "If you are willing to agree to be the director, you can keep this unparalleled collection in the world. Not only do you keep it, but the Orientals will also give you many good things! If you refuse! They will confiscate your things and punish you—— Maybe there is a threat to your life! How about it?" For a long time, Mr. Zhuang was speechless. "How?" Mr. Yang urged. Mr. Zhuang lowered his head and said in a very low voice: "Let me think about it!" "Hurry up." "I'll answer you tomorrow!" "Respond now!" Mr. Yang looked at his watch, "Give me 'yes' or 'no' within five minutes!" After smoking one cigarette, Mr. Yang looked at his watch again. "how?" With tears in her eyes, Zhuang Yiya nodded to the two calligraphy and painting boxes. If you love anything, you will die on it.