Bai Shan changed his jade crown and clothes and went out for a walk. After being poured a few glasses of wine, Man Bao gave him a wink, and he immediately found an excuse to run away.
The two returned to the main courtyard. Daji was standing by the door holding a long gift box in his hand. When he saw them approaching, he bowed slightly and said, "Master, Madam, this is the gift sent by General Qibi."
He finally dug it out from a pile of gift boxes.
Bai Shan opened the door and said, "Bring it in quickly."
The two opened the gift box and found a scroll inside.
Bai Shan and Zhou Man were both stunned. They didn't expect it to be a painting.
Man Bao smiled and said: "What kind of painting can General Qibi give? And let Kong Jijiu look so ugly."
Bai Shan was startled, it couldn't be some messy paintings, right?
He took it out, untied the rope, and pulled the scroll open. He pulled it open by a third, his eyes widened slightly, and the movements of his hands could not help but slow down, and the speed also slowed down.
Man Bao also saw it, and with his heart beating fast, he walked around from the other side of the table to Bai Shan, stretched out his hand to hold one side of the scroll, and the couple slowly unfolded the scroll.
Seeing the familiar person on the scroll, the two of them held their breath in their chests. After a while, they exhaled, "It's a picture of the sage Lao Tzu."
Bai Shan dazedly touched the brush strokes with his fingertips and asked in disbelief, "Is this...really?"
Man Bao couldn't believe it, swallowed his saliva and said: "Really, otherwise General Qibi wouldn't be so confident in giving it to us?"
Bai Shan traced the strokes on the painting bit by bit. Man Bao immediately put away the things on the table with Daji and asked him to unfold the painting and place it on the table.
The two of them bent over and looked at it together, and the more they looked at it, the more they were amazed, "It seems to be real."
Bai Erlang blocked Bai Shan's drink, and he didn't come even though everyone was almost drunk. He got angry and just saw an opening, grabbed Yin You and ran away, and together they went to the backyard to look for someone.
He came straight to the main courtyard. Seeing that the doors and windows of the study room were open, he went straight there and said, "The house is full of guests. You won't be reading at this time, right?"
As soon as he stepped in, he saw two people bending over and looking at the things on the table. They waved their hands without raising their heads and said, "Don't make any noise."
Bai Erlang and Yin You stepped forward to take a look curiously.
The two of them were not ignorant. When Bai Erlang saw that it was a pretty good painting, he looked at the inscription, "Hey, Zhong Yao's painting of the sage Lao Tzu? Is it a copy?"
Yin You hesitated and said: "It seems true."
Bai Erlang blinked, "Who gave it to you so willingly? How much does it cost to buy it for real?"
Bai Shan straightened up. He had been bending for too long and felt a little sore for a moment. He rubbed his waist and sighed, "This is a gift from General Qibi."
Bai Erlang: "Oh, no wonder he doesn't feel distressed. Then it's fake, right? Can General Qibi buy the real picture?"
Bai Shan's eyes sparkled, "What if Kong Jijiu gives him a reference?"
Bai Erlang stopped talking.
Bai Shan made room for Yin You, "Look."
Yin You looked at it carefully and then nodded and said, "It looks very much like the original, not a fake."
Man Bao also straightened up, smacked his lower back and said, "Isn't that right? You can tell me if you ask Kong Jijiu for advice?"
Bai Shan immediately rolled up the painting and put it in a box and gave it to Daji to hold. He took Manbao and went out, "Let's go find Kong Jijiu."
At the banquet, Bai Shan naturally couldn't embarrass General Qibi, so he thought of a way to pull Kong Jijiu behind. He had thought about it. If it was true, he would invite everyone to share the feast. If it was false, he would know it.
Just fine.
I guess General Qibi really bought it.
Kong Jijiu was pulled into the study by Bai Shan and Zhou Man. As soon as the box was opened, he knew what they wanted him to see. So when the scroll was opened again, he sighed and asked: "Is it from General Qibi?"
?”
"yes."
Kong Jijiu looked at the painting again. When he looked at it again, he couldn't help but be amazed and admired. He said: "This is a real painting."
Bai Shan's eyes widened and he was surprised when he looked at the painting, "How did General Qibi buy such a painting?"
Man Bao was also very happy, "A painting like this can be passed down from family to family, why doesn't General Qibi keep it for himself?"
Kong Jijiu said calmly: "Maybe because he is stupid and rich."
Everyone:......
Bai Shan and others couldn't help but look at Kong Jijiu, "Since the Jijiu can be recognized as genuine, and obviously they saw it with General Qibi, why don't you buy the Jijijiu?"
The sword should be given to the hero, and the beautiful pictures should also be given to those who know how to appreciate him. Only then will it be worth the money.
This kind of picture was given to Bai Shan, otherwise the pearl would be covered in dust if it fell into the hands of General Qibi.
Kong Jijiu said angrily: "Because I'm poor!"
Kong Jijiu may not be really poor, but General Qibi is really rich, especially after the Eastern Campaign, he got a lot of trophies, and he can get a lot of gold and silver by just exchanging some luxury goods.
This picture of the sage Laozi suddenly appeared in the capital three months ago and was in the hands of a wealthy businessman.
Kong Jijiu followed people and looked back and forth several times before he was convinced that it was genuine, while others were still hesitant. Some people thought it was genuine, while others thought it was fake.
The wealthy businessman insisted that it was true. He bought it from a scholar named Sima. It was said that it came from the former royal family Sima, so he kept insisting on the price and refused to lower it at all.
Although Kong Jijiu was the Prince's teacher and the Imperial Academy Jijiu, he was really poor compared with officials of the same rank.
However, he has no shortage of things like food and clothing, but if he wants to buy luxuries like calligraphy and painting, he can only rely on his salary and job income, which can be the same at most in a year.
As it happened, the asking price for this painting of the sage Laozi was much higher than his annual income, so he had no money.
But the painting was not sold, so he still followed people to look at it many times, and at the same time he was collecting money to buy it.
Just at this time, General Ashina returned from Liaodong.
Kong Jijiu and General Ashina were good friends. Although General Ashina rarely withheld spoils of war, the emperor would still reward him with many things every time he went to war.
Especially when he handed over the spoils of war, imagine that if everyone went to war together, the others would get 30%, 30% would be given to the emperor, and 10% would be handed over to the treasury; while General Ashina would give 10% to the treasury.
The remaining 90% of the soldiers below will be handed over to the emperor and the treasury.
Of course the emperor would feel sorry for him, so he would reward him in large quantities. General Ashina would keep some of the rewards and give the rest to his soldiers.
But even if it's just a part, it's much more than Kong Jijiu's annual income.
So he went to take General Ashina to see the paintings, thinking that if he liked to spend money to buy them, he could often go to General Ashina to see them in the future. If Ashina didn't like them in the future, he would have enough money.
With the money, maybe I can buy it from Ashina.
As it happened, General Qibi was also there. As soon as he heard that he was going to see a painting, he immediately followed.
After arriving at the place, I just took one look at the painting and kept asking, "Is this painting beautiful?"
Kong Jijiu was too lazy to deal with such a rough man.
General Ashina, who was also a military commander, explained in a low voice: "The picture of the sage Lao Tzu was painted by Zhong Yao, not for the painting itself. Just because it was painted by Zhong Yao, its value is not low."
The uneducated General Qibi asked, "Who is Zhong Yao?"