Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

"Oh? So, you stole this from a museum?"

He Lai asked curiously.

"How is that possible! Master, let me tell you the truth. These things were taken from an old eunuch in his seventies or eighties, so they can't be fake."

Ma Liu said anxiously.

“Ma Liu, this thing has been around for so long, how can you be sure it’s real just by hearing what an old eunuch said.

You just say these are true! It's a bit far-fetched! You should also know how many eunuchs can tell the truth.

You are also someone who experienced the Anti-Japanese War period. You know that before our liberation, during the Republic of China, there were too many fake antiques.

Those counterfeiters can make something that looks real just by looking at it a few times!

Craftsmen from our Liulichang, who can't make fakes? It is said that nine out of ten items from the Republic of China are fake, do you know that?

Look at your things again. You can see that they are all similar. There are seven or eight of the same kind. You say these are antiques. Do you believe it? Which antique is not unique? This is the only thing that is different. Look at these bowls. They are all exactly the same."

He Lai pointed at the small bowl in the box and spoke with detail.

In Han Chunming's words, most of these things are made by one person and are made to look like wholesalers, so how can they not be fake!

"This... this... is impossible. The old eunuch told me that these things were given to him by his godfather in the palace. They were all stolen from the palace."

Ma Liu is no longer very confident now, and he becomes a little skeptical when he looks at the identical bowls.

"Okay, we two laymen should stop studying it. I just think this porcelain vase is very delicately made. Even if it is not real, the counterfeiter must have put a lot of effort into it.

How much do you want to sell these for?"

He Lai took advantage of Ma Liu's doubt and immediately asked about the price.

"Well...well...fifty thousand...no...no...how about five thousand? Master!"

Ma Liu was also unsure.

"Five thousand is too high. You should have been to the ghost market on the city wall. I usually buy the things there at a lump sum price, about five dollars a piece. Of course, they are all small things!

Look, there are ten identical bowls like this one, and this one…this one also has ten…this one has four, this cup has eight, that one also has eight, and there are only a few bottles in pairs, and they look pretty good.”

He Lai said as he counted.

"Let's put it this way. These bowls are five yuan each, and the cups are five yuan each. These bottles are fifty yuan a pair, the most. I'll give this bottle five hundred. I just think this bottle is so beautiful. Even if it's fake, the counterfeiter must have spent a lot of effort on it. And those pairs of bottles are all in pairs. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother to bid.

You do the math, if you agree, I'll take it, if you don't agree, forget it."

After He Lai gave the price, he just looked at Ma Liu.

Ma Liu was also very conflicted. After all, this thing belonged to him alone. He got it secretly from an old eunuch. Even his boss didn't know about it, so he didn't dare to keep it for too long.

The old eunuch had already left the city and returned to the countryside to retire, and he couldn't find anyone.

After hearing He Lai's offer, Ma Liu began to calculate.

After all the calculations, it’s only a little over 1,100 yuan, which is a bit far from my price range!

"Sir, add a little more. I also spent a lot of money to get it. How about this, how about this, two thousand yuan, two thousand yuan, you can take it all, how about that?"

Ma Liu held up two fingers and pleaded.

Because He Lai was wearing a mask, Ma Liu couldn't see his expression clearly.

"Two thousand is a bit too much! How about this, I'll take a loss, fifteen hundred, and I'll give you a big yellow croaker! With the rest of the money, you can buy me some cigarettes and wine, how about that?"

He Lai said.

"Okay, okay, it's a deal, sir. These are all yours."

When Ma Liu heard that there was a big yellow croaker, he immediately agreed. He had his own channels to buy cigarettes and alcohol, and these things were worth about 2,000 yuan.

Seeing that Ma Liu agreed, He Lai took out a big yellow croaker and gave it to him, and also took the little notebook in which these things were recorded.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir!" Ma Liu took the yellow croaker and took a bite. After confirming that it was real, he immediately expressed his gratitude.

Seeing that Ma Liu agreed, He Lai put the "loving mother" in his hand back into the box, tied the two boxes again, and picked up the two boxes plus the cigarettes and alcohol with both hands.

"Okay, that's about it for today, I'll be leaving now."

He Lai said.

"Okay, okay, take care, sir." Ma Liu said with a smile.

After selling the items, I got a big yellow croaker. I only spent about three or four hundred yuan on the old eunuch, so it was still a very profitable deal.

Just like that, He Lai left with the things, quickly slipped into an alley, and entered the space.

Looking at this large vase with various glaze colors from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the more I look at it, the more I like it! He Lai took Ma Liu's small notebook and read the introduction.

A large vase with various glazes from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, 86.4 cm high, 27.4 cm in diameter and 33 cm in foot diameter.

The jar has a long neck, a long round belly, and a round foot with a tilted foot. There is a dragon handle on each side of the neck.

The body of the vessel is decorated with as many as 17 layers of glaze and color from top to bottom.

The overglaze decorative varieties used include gold, enamel, and pastel; the underglaze decorative varieties include blue and white; there is also doucai, which is a combination of overglaze and underglaze colors.

The glazes used include imitation Ge glaze, turquoise green glaze, kiln-changed glaze, powder green glaze, imperial blue glaze, imitation Ru glaze, imitation official glaze, and sauce glaze.

The theme decoration of various glazed large vases of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty is on the belly of the vases. It is auspicious patterns of blue glaze and gold-painted pink enamel. There are a total of 12 openings, of which 6 are realistic pictures, namely "Three Yangs Bring Good Luck", "Abundant Good Fortune", "Phoenix Facing the Sun", "Peace and Prosperity", "Fairy Mountain and Jade Pavilion" and "Ancient Nine Cauldrons".

The other six paintings are brocade background of "卍", bats, ruyi, panchi, ganoderma lucidum and flowers, which respectively represent "ten thousand", "blessing", "ruyi", "evil spirits away", "longevity" and "wealth".

The inside of the vase and the inner ring of the foot are covered with turquoise green glaze, and the center of the outer bottom is inscribed with six characters in blue and white seal script in three lines: "Made in the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty".

He read the introduction and compared them one by one. They are both there! They look very similar! Forget it, forget it. I don’t know which one it is. It is possible that two were really made at that time! Let’s put it aside. People in the future will know whether it is true or not.

Then I took inventory of the remaining items.

Ten sets of four-patterned palace bowls with a red background and beautiful landscapes!

Ten sets of four-patterned palace bowls with yellow background and foreign glaze!

Four sets of four-piece palace bowls with four-patterned landscape patterns on a blue background!

The foreign colored red ground adds the icing on the cake, four groups of landscapes, and eight yuan cups and plates!

The foreign-colored red ground adds the icing on the cake, four landscape crabapple-shaped cups and plates, eight points!

A pair of foreign-style palace poetry vases!

A pair of jade plum vases with foreign-style patterns and poems on figures!

A pair of jade plum vases with foreign-style chrysanthemum poems!

A pair of Western-style figure vases!

Why are they all foreign colors? Looking at the records above, it says that Qianlong liked this foreign color very much, so it must be a really good thing. After all, these are all imperial porcelains. As long as they are real, they are priceless!

These things are much better than what He Lai got in the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace.

After all, most of the things there are damaged to some extent, and only some small items are intact.

Of course, the gold and jade that He Lai obtained from the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace were the most important. For example, in the lake of the Old Summer Palace, He Lai discovered gold treasures, which were piles of gold, and there were many jades in the ruins, so he had no shortage of jade and gold.