Chapter 4: The Mysterious Painting Scroll Suddenly Heard That The Buyer Was @ One Tea One Seat One Chat One Day Added More

  I nodded in agreement, paid the fare, got off the car and walked a few steps south, then suddenly I was stunned.

  Beijing's Yue Tan, Shanghai's Luwan. China's two largest stamp markets. One of them is indeed famous for its reputation. This is the place where a 1980 "Gengshen Monkey" stamp with a face value of 8 cents was sold for 12,000 yuan per sheet; this is the place where a Mei Lanfang small sheet with a face value of 3 yuan was sold for 280,000 yuan per sheet; this is the place where a "National Scenic Spots" stamp with a face value of 8 cents, due to an error in printing, was sold for over 3.6 million yuan per sheet!

  1980 Monkey Coin

  Mei Lanfang's small palm

  The mountains and rivers of the whole country are red

  The world is full of unexpected twists and turns. My dad once told me a story about one of his friends who, around 1982, bought a new house but didn't have enough wallpaper, so he used a complete sheet of stamps featuring the Monkey (a sheet has 60 stamps) with the monkey's face facing the wall. Nowadays, the market price for this complete sheet of stamps is approximately RMB 1.5 million. However, his friend still lives in that old broken house from the 80s and probably faces a wall that could be worth nearly RMB 5 million every day, crying about it. Of course, if he could remove the stamps completely without damaging them, he could exchange them for a seaside villa in minutes.

  Wealth in the left hand, poverty in the right, it's hard to predict what will happen in life. It often takes just a thought to let opportunities slip away, leaving one to live with regret. This is perhaps why urban rebirth stories were once so popular - people would fantasize about past chances to get rich that they had carelessly overlooked.

  So Lugong Postal Town, on the surface calm as a clear pool, in reality hiding dragons and tigers, can make you rich overnight with just one blink of an eye, and then suddenly leave you penniless with just one turn of the hand, is a place that constantly creates miracles.

  Inside, the stalls are densely packed, with vendors enthusiastically smiling at customers who look like they're ready to splurge. The buyers' heads are spinning as they sweat profusely. Next door, numerous hotels of all kinds line the alleys, catering to out-of-town visitors who can't finish their shopping in one day. A single market is able to drive the hospitality industry - just imagine its scale.

  I took out my mobile phone and dialed Boss Qian's number.

  Boss Qian's name is Qiantu, and this name sounds auspicious as soon as you hear it. In today's money-worshipping society, the so-called prospects are actually all about making a fortune.

  Qian Tu told me the location of his store, but after squeezing into the crowd, I still wandered around for half a day before finding this unassuming store.

  I said hello to Uncle Qian, and he was very enthusiastic. He said Lin You is okay, your dad has called me before. Your dad is a straightforward person with good vision. When I met him in Beijing Yuetan years ago, he told me the secret of the white finned dolphin's small ticket, and I made a small fortune from it, which was my first pot of gold.

  Well, okay, let's popularize some relevant knowledge. What is called a "small booklet", is a special commemorative stamp issued by the postal system, which looks like a small horizontal book, beautifully bound, and the stamps inside are directly connected to the surrounding paper. Of course, these stamps will not be torn off for mailing, but only for collection.

  The secret of the Minke Whale stamp booklet lies in the "Five-Connected Picture" - a shocking secret carefully planned by the designer: although the stamps embedded inside are all the same, the paper patterns inside have five different types. According to a certain order, the five patterns can be combined into a complete pattern. This increases the difficulty of collection. With difficulty comes speculation. As a result, people who collect the Five-Connected Picture desperately bid high prices to buy them, driving up the price of the Minke Whale stamp booklet to the sky.

  Thanks to my dad's guidance, I embarked on the path of wealth and naturally received more favor from this benevolent master, allowing me into the store and treating me with good tea.

  I made it clear. Qian Tu narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, patted his thigh and said: "Good eyesight! How could I not have thought of that? Hmm, now the sheep coin is 15 yuan each, how many does your dad want?"

  "Just one piece."

  "A complete one? Unopened? That'll be more expensive, it comes out to 17 yuan each, total of 34,000. How about that? If you want it, I can go ask around the market. If they have stock, I'll exchange one for you."

  I cup my hands in thanks to Qian Tu. This move was taught by my dad. In the market of stamps and coins, various portraits, albums, and many antique jade articles from the Cultural Revolution period are also sold, naturally with a retro flavor. This gesture of cupping one's hands can quickly make you blend into this circle.

  From ancient times to the present, people have always used various specific languages and actions to divide classes, strata and circles.

  I followed the money trail and found an ATM machine packed with people. The buttons on this machine were already blurry, I don't know how much money had been spat out of its mouth and flowed into the market.

  I used two cards and withdrew 40,000 yuan, I didn't even dare to raise my head, and slipped out of the crowd.

  It's actually quite laughable. 400,000 yuan is a big number for me, but in this market, even P can't shake out one. The daily turnover of funds in this postal currency card market is estimated to be tens or even hundreds of millions.

  When handing over the money to Qian Tu, I was a bit worried. If this guy took the money and didn't do anything, could we get the money back with just a receipt? But this is the market's habit. That's why there is such a high level of trust between buyers and sellers, and the speed of capital turnover is astonishingly fast, saving a lot of transaction costs.

  After finishing the formalities, I chatted with Qian Tu for a while. His store mainly deals with stamps and commemorative coins, but as someone who is very interested in ancient paintings, I said that I would go take a look at other stores, stood up and bid farewell.

  Qian Tu pulled me over and said he'd take me for a spin. He found a friend to watch the store, then dragged me into an antique painting shop that he was familiar with.

  The shop owner's name was Cao Bin. He first exchanged a few pleasantries with Qian Tu, who introduced me to him, and I addressed him as Uncle Cao since he seemed older. After the small talk, I carefully examined each of the paintings on the wall. Of course, most of them were fakes. Meanwhile, Cao Bin began to unroll a very wide scroll. Judging from its width, it seemed to be a masterpiece by Zhang Hongtu, and my curiosity was piqued. I asked Cao Bin to open it up for me to take a look.

  This is an ancient painting that looks very much like "Along the River During Qingming Festival", without a name, without a signature, with only one seal.

  Cao Bin told me that this is an ancient anonymous work called "Map of Wu Prefecture".

  I nodded and looked carefully, the painting was indeed of the ancient Wu County, with pavilions and buildings, rivers and roads crisscrossing, merchants coming and going, rubbing shoulders and bumping into each other, a scene of prosperity. From the ink color and paper color, it seemed to be an antique. But looking closely at the seal, I knew it was not an ancient work, but a fake.

  "How much?" I asked abruptly.

  Cao Bin looked at me and then at Qian Tu, awkwardly saying: "500,000."

  I gasped in shock. 50 million for this fake? Can't Cao Bin tell it's a forgery? What a joke!

  Qian Tu laughed on one side, he had been to Panjiayuan and Yuetan, and was also a knowledgeable person. He said, "Cao Ge, this painting is worth 500,000? Is anyone going to buy it?"

  Cao Bin smiled wryly and said that this price was not something he had randomly come up with. Previously, someone had offered 100,000 yuan, and he had planned to sell it to them. However, the person had never managed to scrape together enough money, probably because they were also poor. This morning, a foolish-looking person came in, took one look at the painting, and asked about the price. Cao Bin thought to himself that 100,000 yuan would be very satisfying, but this guy's way of speaking didn't seem like that of someone who understood art, so he jokingly said 400,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, the man made a phone call to his boss, explained the situation with the painting, and then hung up the phone and asked Cao Bin if someone had offered that price before. Cao Bin replied that they had, and the man said that his boss would add an additional 100,000 yuan, and would come to pick it up tomorrow with cash in hand.

  I carefully examined this painting that looks like a map, and found its brushwork to be extremely vivid, with a style similar to that of Gu Kaizhi from the Eastern Jin dynasty, especially reminiscent of his famous "Nymph of the Luo River". Gu Kaizhi's brushwork is meticulous and refined, powerful and continuous, like a silkworm spinning silk, rich in rhythm. This painting captures its spirit, I really like it.

  Since it's a fake, it shouldn't be much different from the real thing. Moreover, the existence of fakes means that the real thing is very valuable. As I listened to Cao Bin speak, I took out my phone and snapped a full-size photo, as well as several detailed shots.

  Qian Tu burst out laughing after hearing Cao Bin's words, patted Cao Bin on the shoulder and said: "Old brother, you've got a foolish master, congratulations! I like this boss, what's his name? Next time if he or his younger brother comes to my store, I'll also rip them off."

  "Who's this fool?" Cao Bin scratched his head, rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a business card, reading out three words: "Chen Ziqi."

  As soon as these three words came out, I was struck by thunder and stunned on the spot.