Volume 5: The Age of Storms Chapter 0613 Lou Xiaoyuan and Jia Yizhen
"Well, I'll use Su Xiu's writing to practice my writing. When my theoretical level improves, I'll write about the issues of maintaining and increasing the value of my country's rural labor force." Nan Yi nodded.
"Did you get it wrong? How do you go from big to small?"
"No, I am not a Soviet revisionist. When writing about Soviet revisionist economics, I can be bold and imaginative. At most, my paper will be rejected. But when writing about China, I cannot do that. I must be cautious and have a basis for my arguments. I cannot write nonsense."
"Oh, I won't cry when my neighbor's child dies, but I will mourn for three months when my own dog dies." After saying that, Liu Zhen finished chewing her popsicle and stared at the half piece left in Nan Yi's hand.
"Is that polite of you to say that?" Nan Yi glared at Liu Zhen and said.
Liu Zhen snatched the popsicle from Nan Yi's hand and said, "That's what I mean. Do you want me to shout "Long live the great unity of the people of the observable universe?"
"Pay attention to the harmony of cosmic diplomacy and remove the word observable." Nan Yi took the popsicle back from Liu Zhen and stuffed it into his mouth. "It's so cold and sweet, so refreshing, hiss... my tongue is frozen."
Looking at the half popsicle that disappeared, Liu Zhen rolled her eyes at Nan Yi and said, "Dexing, give me your son. I'll hold him for a while."
Liu Zhen took Nan Wuwei from Nan Yi and adjusted his posture to hold him tightly. "We have started discussing the issue of car allocation in our bank. I wonder if my level can match it."
"What car?"
"What other cars can I buy? Santana, Su, 212."
"It's really luxurious, one car costs hundreds of thousands of US dollars. With this money, you can buy Ferrelli and Porsche sports cars. Foxwagen probably never thought that he would get such a big bargain." Nan Yi said mockingly.
[Note: Ferrari = Ferrari, Porsche = Porsche, Volkswagen = Volkswagen. In the 1980s, these brands were all transliterated. The names were changed later for the sake of easier memory. Some were changed by themselves, and some were changed to learn from Xiangquan. For example, Bayer was changed to BMW based on Xiangquan, and Mercedes-Benz was originally called Moshe Tais Benz.]
"Are you jealous?"
"A little bit. How can I not be jealous when the profit of a car is over 150,000? How much does a Passat B2 sell for abroad ?"
Liu Zhen asked: "Why compare it with Passat?"
"The Santana in China is actually the Passat B2, just a car model with a different name."
"oh."
"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Let's go to Beijing University and look at the tapes and posters. Can I hold the child?"
If he went on any further, Nan Yi would be unable to help but complain. It would not help at all with reality and he was too lazy to complain.
"No, wait until I'm tired."
…
When Nan Yi and his companion were taking a walk, they met at Lou Xiaoyuan's home in Nanluoguxiang, where they were talking.
Lou Xiaoyuan picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea and said, "Old Jia, what do you think about this matter?"
Jia Yizhen, or Lao Jia as Lou Xiaoyuan calls him, is a top genius in antique counterfeiting. His ancestral home is Jinling, his original hometown is Tiangang, and his current hometown is Beijing.
The famous seal engraver Chen Julai, who passed away last year, wrote a memoir entitled "Miscellaneous Memories of Anchi People", in which he wrote about three top counterfeiters in the Republic of China: Tang Linze, Zhou Longchang, and Zheng Qiyu.
Jia Yizhen once worked and learned under Tang Linze. After following him for a few years, he studied with Jiang Yanting, a master of purple clay antique imitations, for a period of time. Later, he studied under Ma Laowu and Hu Minggu, two top painting mounting masters of the Suzhou School, for several years and mastered the superb skills of mounting and removing paintings.
In the 1940s, Jia Yizhen returned to Tiangang when he was thirty years old. He passed his father's assessment and took over the name "Jia Fang".
Tang Linze has an irreconcilable rival, Zhang Congyu. One of them is an appraisal master with sharp eyes who is dedicated to exposing forgeries, and the other is the best counterfeiter in modern times. Little do they know that they are actually close friends.
Zhang Congyu was born into the richest family and collector's family in Jiangnan. He lost his father at the age of four and lived with his grandfather Zhang Shiming. He started to learn to read at the age of five. Under the guidance and influence of his grandfather, his calligraphy and painting skills laid a solid foundation.
When Zhang Congyu was 14 years old, his grandfather also passed away, leaving him a huge inheritance. With so much money and no one to take care of it, he naturally fell into depravity for a while. Fortunately, Zhang Congyu only ate and drank, and did not get involved in prostitution or gambling.
As the richest man in Jiangnan, he is not bad compared with the rest of the country. Eating and drinking a little is just a drop in the bucket for the Zhang family's wealth. After three years of eating and drinking, Zhang Congyu has only eaten up a small part of the Zhang family's wealth.
On his 17th birthday, he looked at the rankings of his ancestors and felt that he could no longer muddle along. He had to cheer up and strive. So after a few days, he rushed to Shanghai with a huge amount of money, ready to establish the Zhang family's brand, which is what later generations called starting a business.
Zhang Shiming was smart throughout his life, but he made only one mistake: before he died, he forgot to tell his grandson not to start a business.
Zhang Congyu wandered around Shanghai Beach for quite some time, but had no idea what to do. Later, he had no choice but to continue the Zhang family's old business of dealing in antiques.
At this moment, antique dealers in Shanghai sang a song of "Good Days". A young and ignorant man with a huge amount of money has come, so how can he not have a good year?
After paying a lot of tuition fees, Zhang Congyu learned his lesson and made many friends in the industry, including several counterfeiting masters such as Tang Linze. He studied hard and invested all his thoughts and financial resources in purchasing and collecting calligraphy and paintings from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, and proudly became one of the first-class collectors.
At the age of 20, he was hired as an appraisal committee member of the Palace Museum. Since then, this handsome young man has emerged as a unique figure in the field of calligraphy and painting collection. Zheng Zhenduo edited "A Collection of Famous Paintings from the Tang and Song Dynasties in Yunhuizhai" for his collection. Nearly 50 years after it was published, no one has questioned whether it is a fake, and it has become a well-known collection across the country.
However, Zhang Congyu became arrogant after he achieved success at a young age. He was so arrogant that he even forgot the famous warning about not profiting from other trades and invested all his property in gambling. Needless to say, he eventually lost all his property and money.
Having squandered all his family property, he naturally could not afford to support servants, so Zhang Congyu dismissed all of them, including Lou Xiaoyuan, who had always been very caring and attentive to him.
When Zhang Congyu and Tang Linze were having tea or going on an outing in Shanghai, one would bring Lou Xiaoyuan and the other would bring Jia Yizhen. Zhang Congyu and Tang Linze became friends, and Lou Xiaoyuan and Jia Yizhen naturally became close friends. Later, their children became in-laws, and Jia Yizhen's son Jia Xiuran married Lou Xiaoyuan's daughter Lou Zhizhen.
Jia Yizhen twirled the rosary beads with his thumb and said, "Do you know that boy named Nan Yi?"
"Yes, I told you before that I know a guy who is sly but steady. I'm talking about him. I like this guy very much and I've thought about letting him inherit my legacy.
What a pity, this guy is a slippery creature, and he slipped away before I could test him." Lou Xiaoyuan said with a nostalgic smile on his face.
"What happened next?" Jia Yizheng asked.
"I asked someone to find out his background and found out that this kid has a grandmother named Fang Mengyin ."
"The eldest daughter of the Fang family in Shanghai?"
"right."
"So, we are the descendants of an old friend." Jia Yizhen sighed, "Miss Fang helped me back then. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been able to get out of Sanxin Company unscathed. What does Nan Yi do for a living?"
Lou Xiaoyuan said: "Become a powerful manager in a joint venture company."
"Where's Miss Fang?"
"A centipede will never fall. The Fang family in Shanghai is a thing of the past, but they should have some hidden assets overseas. Fang Mengyin went to Xiangkeng a few years ago and built a huge Fang Group."
"Old Lou, since he's the descendant of an old friend and someone you liked in the beginning, I think we should just forget about it."
"Old Jia, I told you that I like Nan Yi very much, so how could I want to cheat him? But he specifically asked for the Yongle Encyclopedia, and I don't know what he wants to do with it. According to his intelligence, he shouldn't believe the claim of the original copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia."
Lou Xiaoyuan couldn't figure out what the problem was.
I have to say that the 512 task force found the right person to ask Nan Yi for help. If it were someone else, Lou Xiaoyuan would have thought in the right direction a long time ago.
"Does Nan Yi know anything about this?"
Lou Xiaoyuan said, "He knows a little bit about the rules, but he doesn't have good eyesight. But he's smart. If he doesn't understand something, he'll ask someone who does. Two years ago, this guy was hiding behind the scenes and buying up a lot of antiques. Do you know who he asked to do it?"
"who?"
"Ke Jianzhen."
"Scholar Ke's son?" Jia Yizheng said in surprise.
"Yes, that's him."
"Then how do you know that the person behind him is Nan Yi? I remember that Ke Shusheng's family was very wealthy, and Ke Jianzhen was not a playboy either. He should have some wealth hidden, right?"
"When a goose flies by, it leaves its voice behind; when a person passes by, he leaves his name behind. If it were someone else, they might not know it, but I, who know Nan Yi well, could not hide it. At that time, the person who bought antiques in the capital was a man named Li Furong, the great-grandson of Li Lianying, who had a good eye.
Behind Li Furong was a boy nicknamed Men San'er, who used to hang out with Nan Yi.
In addition, Ke Jianzhen in Shanghai was also purchasing antiques. I asked someone to find out and it was easy to find out that Ke Jianzhen's daughter and Nan Yi were sent to the same production team. In 1977, they escaped from the ditch and drowned. Nan Yi paid for and buried her body.
Old Jia, you haven't had much contact with Ke Jianzhen, so you may not know his character. He is a bit dull. He may hide the family property, but he certainly won't hide much.
Plus, he is the only one in the Ke family, and he has no connections overseas. Purchasing antiques from state-owned antique shops requires foreign exchange, and he has no place to get foreign exchange, so I am sure that Nan Yi is standing behind him."
When Jia Yizhen heard Li Xiangrong's name, his thoughts moved. He was very familiar with this name. His elder brother had asked him to take good care of him before leaving.
Li Xiangrong learned the palm and eye skills from Jia Yizheng's elder brother "Jia Yizheng No. 2".
"Jia Yizhen" is not a name, but an alias used by the Jia family when going out. As long as the level of forgery meets the assessment requirements of the Jia family, one can go out under the name of Jia Yizhen.
This is the secret of the Jia family. Even to Lou Xiaoyuan, his old friend and relative, Jia Yizheng has never revealed even a single piece of information.
Jia Yizhen continued to turn the rosary beads and said calmly, "So the purpose of Nan Yi's purchase of antiques is to hoard them?"
"That should be the case. I have tried to test him before. He is not interested in antiques, but he is somewhat interested in historical allusions. I don't believe he bought antiques for collection." Lou Xiaoyuan said, and suddenly wondered, "Why did this guy buy the Yongle Encyclopedia?"
…
"Hey, catch the ball, smash it, any ball can be returned, come on, see it..."
"Volleyball player, Nan Yi, who sang the original version of this song?" Liu Zhen said, pointing to the tape recorder on the tape stand.
"Mitsuko Horie."
Nan Yi picked up a cassette of "Fire of Youth" and saw the singer's name Cai Miaotian on it. He said that he had never heard of this person in his previous life. He put it down and picked up another one of "Ice and Fire". He was more familiar with this one. The two songs "Genghis Khan" and "Passionate Desert" in the album were both well-known to him.
Look at the singer's name, Zhang Die, it doesn't sound familiar, I seem to have never heard of it.
Nan Yi put down the tape and said to Liu Zhen, "Is there anything you want to buy?"
"No, they're all disco, which I don't like. Last time I saw "Japanese Doll" on sale, why can't I see it this time?" Liu Zhen muttered.
"Next time we meet, I'll keep an eye out for you. If you can't buy it, have someone send it to you from Xiangkeng." Nan Yi leaned close to Liu Zhen's ear and said, "Let's go over and take a look at the poster."
Nan Yi and the other person came to another stall, which mainly sold celebrity posters. The first poster that caught their eye was of the Queen of the Kingdom of Women. After taking a quick look, Nan Yi looked away and concentrated on taking care of the children, allowing Liu Zhen to pick a few.
In the bedroom of the old house, half of one wall is covered with posters of various celebrities, both male and female, all of whom are actors and singers that Liu Zhen likes. Except for Ken Takakura who has remained on the wall for almost three years, the others are basically replaced every six months.
It’s not that Liu Zhen gets bored easily, but because Nan Yi only gave her half a wall to post pictures on, and she couldn’t go beyond that. She could only make a decision with great hesitation every time, posting her favorite pictures on the wall, and put the others away, taking them out and flipping through them when she had time.
Suddenly, the person next to him started smoking. Nan Yi had no choice but to carry his son aside, escape from the smoke, and watch Liu Zhen who was picking things there from afar.
"Liu Zhen, what a coincidence, why are you here?"
As soon as Nan Yi left, Ren Xia and Zheng Ming appeared next to Liu Zhen, each holding a child. The three of them quickly started chatting, and Ren Xia and Zheng Ming ignored the smoke beside them.
At this time, people have no taboos about smoking and drinking in front of children. It is common to see fathers smoking while holding their children, and grandfathers using chopsticks to dip some white wine and give it to their grandchildren.
Others may do this, but Nan Yi will not. His main consideration is not the child’s health, but the right to choose.
Before they grow up, Nan Yi doesn't want his children to be exposed to tobacco and alcohol too much, and doesn't want them to be forced to like the taste of tobacco and alcohol, and to protect their right to possibly hate tobacco and alcohol; after they grow up, they can smoke if they want to smoke and drink if they want to drink, as long as they know how to control themselves.
After all, "bad habits" make people feel relaxed and happy, as long as individuals can accept and bear the serious consequences that bad habits may cause.
