Lost and Spy

Chapter 184 Dead Wood Strange Rock
"That's what happened in Peking."

Xie Songshan eloquently said: "At that time, there was a servant in Du's mansion. His daughter-in-law was a cook in Du's mansion. She was quite pretty. One night, Du Ge got drunk and woke up in the middle of the night. He wanted mint and lotus seed soup to sober up, the cook hurriedly made it and sent it to Mr. Du Ge.

As a result, Du Ge drank the mint and lotus seed soup all the time, and the alcohol was still there. Seeing the cook's heart fluttering, he raped her.These servants don't dare to speak up when they encounter this.Mr. Du Ge tasted the taste, and for several days in a row, he called the cook into his room every night under the pretext of having supper...

Come and go, the cook has it in her stomach.Born a big fat son.Elder Du Ge had already had a son, and he was not very happy when he saw it, and he thought about the cook and his man, don't use this as an excuse to ask yourself for money, just thinking about throwing them out.

But when his eldest wife heard about it, she was not happy, and said that it was all from the Du family. The cook and his man could leave, but the child had to stay.

Du Ge thought it was the same reason, so he kept the child, drove away the cook and the couple, and sent them three oceans..."

Meng Shaoyuan finally understood when he heard this: "This child is Du Zhenxian?"

"It's not him. Mr. Du Ge's eldest son is Du Zhenchun, and he likes him the most. It's just that Du Zhenchun is a playboy, and he can't do anything at his age. On the contrary, Du Zhenxian has a bit of business talent. The Du family depends on Let this son make money, or else..."

What's the matter?
Meng Shaoyuan shook his head again and again.

It's just a mess.

Also, there was a problem with that robbery.

The anti-unionists came to Xinjing to rob?

Not right.

Xinjing is the capital of the puppet Manchukuo, and the Japanese have ample military strength. How could the Anti-Unionists risk coming here just to rob a truckload of smuggled goods?
And know so clearly the route, time and location of the smuggled goods?

There is definitely a problem here.

Du Zhenxian smuggled in the past, relying on the asylum of the Japanese, this time he succeeded.As soon as Takeo Fujiguchi joined, the goods were robbed?
"This Du family is in chaos, it's not for us people to understand." Meng Shaoyuan asked casually: "By the way, boss Xie, the anti-unionists came to Xinjing to kill people, and the Japanese just let it go? "

"How could it be?" Xie Songshan quickly replied: "As soon as I heard that the anti-unionists were coming, Takeo Fujiguchi led people to chase them down, killed two anti-unionists, and the rest ran away with their goods. They are all still wanted."

Fart.

This makes no sense at all.

Killed two people?

The one with the cargo ran away instead?
Run away with a load of goods?
Isn't that talking nonsense?

Takeo Fujiguchi!

In all likelihood, this is because the chief was eating and drinking in the dark.

Even if Du Zhenxian thought it was wrong, he was a dumb man who ate Coptis chinensis, so he couldn't tell if he was suffering.

"Thank you boss, thank you boss."

Suddenly there was a low voice from outside.

"Come in."

A thin, white and clean man, about 60 years old, came in with a roll of something unknown in his hand.

Seeing an unfamiliar face, the man was taken aback.

"Don't worry, my own people." Xie Songshan said.

The man was relieved: "Thank you boss, I brought something out again."

The voice was high-pitched and very awkward to listen to.

"Let me introduce, this is Manager Zhu from Shanghai, one of my own. This is Eunuch Liu, from the palace."

Meng Shaoyuan suddenly realized.

Eunuch, no wonder you speak so strangely.

"Bring that table here."

Xie Songshan and Meng Shaoyuan got off the kang together.

The table moved over, and Eunuch Liu took out the roll in his hand from the cloth bag, carefully placed it on the table, and slowly unfolded it.

This is a painting.

There is a dead tree in the painting, and its twisted posture is like a twisted and struggling body, showing infinite vitality and majestic momentum.There is a strange rock at the foot of the tree. The shape of the stone is sharp and solid, but the stone is twisted like a vortex, with both square and circle.

Look at the signature again?

Good guy, Su Shi Su Dongpo!
"Thank you boss, let's see, how much is this painting worth?" Eunuch Liu asked flatteringly.

Xie Songshan hesitated: "It looks good, but...how about you come tomorrow, and I'll find someone to tell the truth from the fake."

Eunuch Liu was a little embarrassed: "Boss Xie, tomorrow I will serve the emperor and go to Fengtian for inspection."

"This one……"

Just as Xie Songshan was hesitating, Meng Shaoyuan said: "Boss Xie, you send the driver to the hotel where I live and ask my butler to come, he can tell the truth from the fake at a glance."

Xie Songshan did not neglect, and immediately gave orders.

Since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, those eunuchs, considering their own livelihood, stole national treasures and cultural relics from the Forbidden City one after another and sold them off wantonly.

It is precisely because of this that a large number of national treasures have flowed out.

When the emperor went to Manchuria, he had dismissed a large number of eunuchs and court ladies, but some of them still followed.

These eunuchs, when they arrived in Manchuria, were still dishonest, with dirty hands and feet, and would always try to steal something and sell it.

Those serious merchants, black market merchants, and Japanese are all their buyers.

Anyway, although the emperor left the Forbidden City, there are many treasures that have been quietly sent out over the years.

When I went to Manchuria, I took most of them with me, especially the calligraphy and paintings of celebrities, which were easy to carry.

This Eunuch Liu is in charge of the emperor's treasury, so it is most convenient to do it.

After waiting there for a while, Luo hurried in with a quick glance: "Manager Zhu, are you calling me?"

"Close the door." Meng Shaoyuan ordered: "Look at this painting."

"The map of dead trees and strange rocks?" Luo took one look at it, then exclaimed in a low voice, leaned closer, and observed carefully: "It's incredible, it's incredible, this is when Su Shi went to Shengquan Temple in Xiao County when he was the prefect of Xuzhou. An ink painting on paper. Su Shi's paintings were very famous at the time, and there was a scene of "dead wood, bamboo and stone, competing for sale". However, most of Su Shi's paintings are recorded, and there are very few authentic works handed down from generation to generation. National treasure! Value! Liancheng!"

Withered wood and strange rock map?
Meng Shaoyuan suddenly remembered that in his time, he saw a piece of news that a painting of Su Dongpo existed in the world. Could it be that the painting he saw at first sight was sold for a sky-high price of 4.6 million Hong Kong dollars, and it seemed to be called the painting of dead wood and strange rocks?
"Isn't it?" Xie Songshan frowned when he heard this: "During the Beiyang period, Bai Jianfu bought two rare works of Su Dongpo, the 'Painting of Dead Wood and Strange Rocks' and 'Painting of Bamboo and Stone in Xiaoxiang' from the antique shop in the Fengfenglou Building in Beiping. Treasures. Then he sold the 'Picture of Dead Wood and Strange Rocks' to the Japanese?"

"Do you think rare treasures like the picture of dead wood and strange rocks will appear in antique shops? Or can Bai Jianfu afford them?" Luo sneered.

It seems to be the case.

Meng Shaoyuan tried hard to remember there.

According to Christie’s auction house in my own era, during the period of the Beiyang government in the Republic of China, two paintings appeared in BJ Fengyulou at the same time, and were collected by Bai Jianfuhua, a great collector and secretary-general of warlord Wu Peifu, with a huge sum of money.

Afterwards, "The Picture of Dead Trees and Strange Rocks" was exiled to Japan, and there has been no news of it.

After it appeared, many people strongly questioned the authenticity of the painting.

Because so far, no one has been able to produce sufficient evidence to prove that this painting belongs to Su Shi himself. In the collection history of this painting, many periods are blank.

Where did this painting go during the blank period?Favorited by whom?Who is the witness?Wait, many questions are currently unsolved.

Saying the painting is genuine is just one side of Christie's story.

"I've seen the two pictures of Fengyulou, and I know what's going on." Luo didn't seem to say all the words at a glance:

"Those two paintings have their spirit but not their rhyme, so they are fakes!"

Meng Shaoyuan didn't know calligraphy and painting, but he always heard people say that when painting, one must draw with spirit.Vivid, that's what it means.But now listening to Luo's words, why is it the other way around?

Luo stared at the painting in front of him:

"When Su Shi created this work, he was implicated in the "Wutai Poetry Case" and was depressed politically. In order to express his depression, he created this painting.

The content of the picture is quite simple, with a few strokes outlining an old tree with dead branches and a strange rock, just like the suffocation of contradictions in his chest.

Watching scholars and people's paintings is like watching a horse in the sky, and take its spirit, that's what it means.You can see that the strange rocks and ancient trees in this painting are not based on pictorial shapes, nor are they fabricated out of thin air, but Su Shi used the familiar strange rocks and ancient trees together to express his unyielding heart more clearly at that time.

There are several sticks of scorched black bamboo painted on the back of the stone, giving people a sense of hope.The artistic conception of the whole picture is barren and gloomy; the circle of stones seems to condense the air of injustice.This feeling cannot be drawn by imitators! "

Meng Shaoyuan didn't understand either, so he just asked, "Can I buy it?"

"Genuine product, you can buy it." Luo answered very simply with a glance.

He looked at Eunuch Liu again: "Stolen from the palace?"

"Yes, yes." Eunuch Liu nodded again and again: "The emperor's rewards are getting less and less, we people can only think of ways. Otherwise, when we are old and weak and come out of the palace, what will we disabled people do? "

"You have stolen enough." Luo sneered and said, "How many treasures have been secretly sold to foreigners by you. The price is [-]!"

what?
Meng Shaoyuan was dumbfounded.

A priceless treasure, only fifty thousand?
"Just kidding, kidding." Eunuch Liu said repeatedly: "This is the authentic work of Su Shi, you said it yourself just now. Fifty thousand? It's not worth taking such a big risk for me!"

Seeing that he wanted to collect the paintings, Luo glanced at him and said, "Today you have to sell it, and you have to sell it if you don't sell it! If your emperor finds out about stealing things in the palace, don't let the emperor do it, just take it away. Just send it to the gendarmerie!"

"Aren't you being unreasonable, Ming Qiang!"

Eunuch Liu became anxious immediately.

Luo took a quick look and said calmly: "In the ninth year of Xuantong, the commander-in-chief was restored. Outside Liulichang, inside Qiru Lane!"

When Eunuch Liu heard this, his complexion changed drastically:

"You, who are you!"

"Liu Guizi, open your dog eyes and see clearly who I am, Grandpa!"

(Happy birthday to myself, tomorrow will be the outbreak day!)

(End of this chapter)