There was thunder and lightning outside the window, and soon heavy rain poured down.
Cui Huifu quickly went to close the window of the study room. When she came back, she saw the calligraphy that Zhou Hexuan had just finished. She smiled and praised: "Mr. Zhou's progress is really fast. He has practiced both regular script and running script very well. Especially in running script, he is already quite famous.
Style.”
"Miss Cui is joking. As for my calligraphy skills, I can only say that I can barely see people, and I am still far from being a famous person." Zhou Hexuan smiled at himself, put the pen and walked behind the window, looking at the storm outside and standing with his hands behind his hands.
Zhou Hexuan has practiced hard in regular script, running script, cursive script, and official script. Among them, regular script takes the most time. But the most touching thing is running script. Zhou Hexuan practiced it very well. He first imitated Yan Zhenqing, then imitated Wang Xizhi, and now he has achieved some success.
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Cui Huifu said that Zhou Hexuan's running calligraphy is quite famous, and it is not all flattering. Because after Zhou Hexuan mastered the basic calligraphy skills, he did not stick to the form when writing calligraphy. His brushstrokes were wild and subtle, and they were beautiful and muscular.
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Judging from the details of calligraphy, perhaps Zhou Hexuan is not as good as those who have practiced calligraphy since childhood, and there are inevitably some technical flaws, but overall he has a unique and agile charm.
Of course, this is only limited to running script. Zhou Hexuan's other calligraphy is still very poor, equivalent to the average level of imperial examination candidates in the old days.
Cui Huifu came to Zhou Hexuan and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou likes to watch the rain?"
Zhou Hexuan sighed: "It's not raining here, it's falling with knives, stabbing thousands of people to death!"
Cui Huifu expressed sincere admiration: "It turns out that Mr. Zhou cares about all the people in the world."
From the beginning of July, heavy rains began to fall in the south. Floods occurred frequently in the Jianghuai area. From Sichuan to Jiangsu, the whole country became a swamp. The Yangtze River, Jinsha River, Tuojiang River, Minjiang River, Fujiang River, Wujiang River, Hanjiang River, Huaihe River, Qiantang River, and Minjiang River
, the Pearl River and the Grand Canal all overflowed, displacing tens of millions of people.
The floods in the south have not ended yet, they have started again in the north.
The middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were completely flooded, and the Northeast was not spared. The Liaohe River, Yalu River, Songhua River, and Nenjiang River were hit by disasters one after another. More than 20 provinces were affected.
In the words of a reporter from "Shenbao", it is true that "the water in the Yangtze River has not receded, the water in the Yellow River has increased again, the disaster in Hankou has not subsided, and the disaster in Luoyang has occurred again."
The destructive power of such a huge nationwide disaster far exceeds last year's Central Plains War. Because the flood comes during the summer harvest season, it will inevitably cause tens of millions of people to be displaced, without rice to survive, and local governments will have no tax revenue.
Bring up the law.
According to some statistics, the direct death toll from this flood reached 140,000, others said it was 400,000, and even more said it was 4 million!
Zhou Hexuan saw a photo from the "Declaration", which was taken by American pilot Lin Bai flying a plane. A certain county in Jiangsu has turned into a vast sea. In a watery country, only scattered tree crowns and roofs can be seen, and other things
All were submerged underwater.
The people have no food, the government has no money, famine is everywhere, and diseases are everywhere. How can we still have the confidence to fight the Japanese?
This heavy rainstorm in Tianjin lasted for two days. The entire sky was shrouded in dark clouds, like a punishment sent by the gods and Buddhas. Zhou Hexuan truly understood what it means to be like the wind and rain.
After the rain stopped, the sun shone brightly, and it seemed as if it had returned to the world again.
Zhou Hexuan stood on the balcony on the second floor, looking at the flooded banks of the Haihe River, and exhaled: "Tianjin is also flooded."
Cui Huifu said respectfully: "Thanks also to Mr. Zhou. Fortunately, you persuaded the foreigners to dredge the river and build the Haihe River water conservancy improvement project. Otherwise, given the poor condition of the Haihe River over the years, this heavy rain is likely to submerge half of Tianjin."
After hearing this, a smile suddenly appeared on Zhou Hexuan's face.
Yes, although he cannot change the general trend of the world, he can change the people and things around him. At least the flood situation in Tianjin has been alleviated a lot because of him.
Due to continuous heavy rains, four women, Zhang Leyi, Wan Rong, Meng Xiaodong and Liao Yaquan, were playing mahjong at the moment. Seeing that the weather had cleared up, they all walked to the garden to enjoy the rare clear blue sky.
Zhou Hexuan went downstairs out of boredom. Instead of disturbing the ladies, he called Sun Yongzhen and said, "Come for a walk with me. My whole body is going moldy!"
"Come on, let's drive!" Sun Yongzhen said excitedly. He had already been exhausted.
Zhou Hexuan laughed and scolded: "If you drive a car like this, the streets might be flooded."
Some streets in Tianjin were indeed flooded, but the water was not deep and there were even many rickshaw drivers wading through the water.
For the poor people, the disasters caused by the floods are not limited to water damage, but also delay their working hours. If the heavy rains continue for a few more days, rickshaw drivers throughout Tianjin will be hungry, because even if they are not working to pull rickshaws, they will You also have to pay the vehicle dealer fees on time and according to the amount.
Rich people like Zhou Hexuan are much more comfortable and can even travel with bodyguards. They sit in a rickshaw and walk among the stagnant water, which makes shopping more interesting than usual.
Chinese people are still very resilient. Even if they encounter natural disasters, they still live optimistically and tenaciously.
Vendors have already begun to set up stalls in the water, and some idle men and children regard the water-filled streets as fishing grounds, catching fish on the streets with laughter and laughter.
Gradually, we reached the higher streets, and finally we no longer saw traces of floods. The streets were cleaner after the heavy rain, but occasionally we could see some alluvial debris.
Zhou Hexuan took Sun Yongzhen out of the car and walked, strolling slowly for two streets, and unknowingly arrived at Quanyechang in the French Concession.
This is the second tallest building in Tianjin, a large business district integrating commerce and entertainment, and one of the top ten shopping malls in the country at this time.
Perhaps because the heavy rain had just stopped, the business in Quanyechang was a bit deserted, and there were only a few customers in sight.
Zhou Hexuan wandered all the way and came to the counter of an antique store. The store owner said enthusiastically: "Sir, what kind of antiques do you like?"
"Just take a look," Zhou Hexuan said, "Do you have any good calligraphy and painting works here?"
"What a surprise for you," the store owner mysteriously invited Zhou Hexuan to the innermost corner, took out a scroll and said, "The rare thing I just found is Wang Xizhi's authentic "Han Qie Tie"!"
Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Do you think I am the one who was taken advantage of? Return Wang Xizhi's original work."
The shop owner patted his chest and said, "Really, I will never lie to you. If you don't believe me, just see for yourself."
Zhou Hexuan did not reach out to pick it up, but asked the shop owner to open the scroll by himself. Although his own calligraphy was still lacking, his appreciation ability had long been developed. When he saw "Han Qie Tie", his eyes lit up and he pretended to be calm: "This should be a copy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties."
When the shop owner heard this, he immediately smiled and said: "Oh, it turns out you are an expert."
"No, no," Zhou Hexuan shook his head again, "There is a seal left on it from the Tang Dynasty. It is either a copy of the Tang Dynasty hook or a modern imitation."
The shop owner spared no effort to promote it: "Of course it is a treasure from the Tang Dynasty, how could it be a modern forgery?"
Zhou Hexuan said disparagingly: "If it is really a treasure of the Tang Dynasty, it is qualified to be put in the Palace Museum, but will it be sold in a shabby shop like yours? I think this imitation is of a good enough level. It's okay to take it back and play with it. Please give me a price."
Bar."
"Looking at what you said, can an antique shop as big as mine still sell fakes?" The shop owner put away the scroll and said, "If you are sincere about buying, don't talk so much nonsense."
Zhou Hexuan laughed and said: "If it were replaced by 'Da Luotian', I would still believe it. This is Quanye Field, and it would be difficult for it to be even remotely genuine."
During the Republic of China, the antique trading was very crazy. There were antique trading places in all major cities, with Peking, Tianjin and Shanghai being the most popular. The original antique shops in Tianjin were concentrated on Guayi Street, Guodian Street, Beimenli, and Dongma Road.
Generation after generation, with the arrival of warlords and politicians, and the upstarts of the Republic of China, that is, literati, Tianjin's antique market has become more and more prosperous. The most famous one is the "Daluotian" in the Japanese Concession.
There are not only treasures in Daluotian, but also exquisite products brought from the imperial palace. The old and young leftovers from the former Qing Dynasty made a living by selling cultural relics.
As for the Quanye Market in the French Concession, hehe, most of them are fakes designed to deceive foreigners.
Everyone knows that foreigners like Chinese cultural relics, and most of them have poor appreciation skills. If not, who would we cheat them?
For example, there is a man named Yue Bin in Peiping. He bought 7 Northern Wei stone Buddha heads from Shanxi in the late Qing Dynasty. They have still not sold out 20 years after selling them. It’s not that business is bad, there are many foreigners buying Buddha heads, so Yue Bin hired craftsmen.
All kinds of replicas and imitations, people have already made a fortune from this stuff.
Haha, most of these Buddha heads were sold to Western archaeologists. The foreigners bought them back and conducted serious research on them, and wrote many papers with international influence.
Zhou Hexuan glanced at the profiteer in front of him and said impatiently: "If I want to sell it for a price, I'm just asking if it looks good."
"Oh, it depends on what you said," the store owner said reluctantly, "It's 1,000 yuan, and my purchase price is 800 yuan!"
"100 yuan, you can sell it or not!" Zhou Hexuan said angrily.
The store owner said sadly: "800 yuan, I'll sell it to you at the original price... Wait, don't leave, the real price is 500 yuan... 300 yuan, no more!"
Zhou Hexuan took out three silver notes, carefully put the scroll away, and left Quanye Field happily.
Sun Yongzhen asked in confusion: "Sir, you know clearly that it is a fake, why do you still buy it?"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "If we look at Wang Xizhi's original works, they are of course fakes. But fakes from the Tang Dynasty are still the best among the best today. Believe it or not, if I take it out and give it a shout, someone will snatch it up to 10,000 yuan."
Want it."
Sun Yongzhen slapped his head: "It turns out that boss is the fool!"
The Tang Dynasty hook copy of Wang Xizhi's "Han Qie Tie" is a treasure in any museum.
Zhou Hexuan went home humming a little tune, carefully collected the "Han Qie Tie", and went out to find Yuan Kewen the next day, preparing to talk about fundraising for disaster relief.
As a result, as soon as I walked to Yuan's house, I heard cries and cries coming from inside. Second Young Master Yuan is dead!
Moreover, he was so poor that his family rummaged through his belongings and only found 20 yuan in his pen holder...
On the day of Yuan Kewen's funeral, all the prostitutes (harmony) in the city went out en masse. There were thousands of people in the funeral procession, and more than a thousand prostitutes (harmony) voluntarily tied up white-headed ropes and came to mourn at the grave.
