Zhao Ran officially launched a special sale of calligraphy and painting works at the 15th summer auction of Jinbo Auction House three days later.
He didn't have enough time to plan this painting and calligraphy sale, and if compared to later generations, the quality was obviously much worse. But in this world, this innovative way of selling paintings and calligraphy is enough to attract countless art lovers.
The second half of Jinbo Auction House's auction was dedicated to calligraphy and painting works, which brought together sixteen works from the Ming Dynasty, Xia Kingdom, Tubo and some small countries in the Western Regions.
At Zhao Ran's insistence, Princess Rou'an shyly took out two paintings to participate in the auction. Her identity lies there - the niece who is very popular with Empress Dowager Liang, and her painting skills are indeed superb, so the transaction price is actually the same as that of her peers.
The two famous Xixia painters in this auction were equal, and they sold 230 taels and 310 taels respectively, making them one of the famous painters of the Xia Dynasty.
In the entire auction, the most eye-catching thing is an authentic work by "Mountain Guest", a calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty who has emerged in recent years. The work is a banner, five feet long and two feet wide, and is written in regular script of "Poetry of the Peach Blossom Immortal"
, it is said that it was done by a drunken mountain guest.
"In Peach Blossom Temple in Taohuawu, there are peach blossom fairies under Peach Blossom Temple. Peach Blossom Fairies plant peach trees and pick peach blossoms to sell for wine money..."
The poems are straightforward and simple, and even use a lot of spoken language, but the words are smooth and the artistic conception is fresh. The meaning of wildness and dispersion hidden in it is really a bit of the true meaning of a drunken immortal in it.
Therefore, as soon as the book was released, the bidding price reached new highs. The bidding started from two hundred taels, and the rich and powerful from all walks of life competed to buy it. It soared to 1,800 taels before it was finally won by Princess Rou'an.
In good conscience, Zhao Ran really did not arrange for the gunman to pay the price this time, so Liang Xingxia was very surprised and said that he did not understand or understand Cheng Dong's business experience.
In fact, the reason is very simple. Zhao Ran has self-esteem and wants to be ashamed. He really wants to see what price his calligraphy works can be sold for, so he cannot do what he did in later generations, who would find many people to raise the price of his works.
Shameful thing.
What makes Zhao Ran happy is that the transaction price was not deliberately high by Princess Rou'an, but was achieved through fierce bidding - after shouting out one thousand taels, there were still five bidders raising their placards as evidenced by this.
The culture and education of the Xia Kingdom was far weaker than that of the Ming Dynasty, and the number and wealth of art pursuers and enthusiasts were far less than that of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after the market price of this auction is reported to the Ming Dynasty, there should be an increase, and it is estimated to reach two thousand
More than five hundred taels.
Such a price has actually pushed Zhao Ran to the top level of calligraphy and painting art, equivalent to the master of the national master.
After the auction, Princess Rou'an held an exhibition of Shanjianke's calligraphy works at the Jinbo Club, which once again pushed Zhao Ran's calligraphy reputation to a new peak.
Princess Rou'an came forward to invite, and Gao Dayanei personally ran the errands. This kind of hosting lineup made it impossible for most of the invitees to refuse. Therefore, at the exhibition, hundreds of the most powerful and wealthy people at the top of Xingqing Mansion, literati, and famous calligraphers and painters gathered together
Xiang grand event.
What caught Zhao Ran off guard was that two eminent monks from Gaotai Temple and Jietan Temple who had entered the Arhat realm were coming to the exhibition. These two were known as "elegant monks" who loved calligraphy and painting.
He is well-known in the industry and has many contacts with Princess Rou'an.
After Zhao Ran found out, he quickly found an excuse and stayed away. He really didn't dare to show his face. The "Cheng'an" mask he was wearing on his face would reveal his secret immediately if he was above the monk level and used his magic power to watch.
.
At the exhibition, a wealthy businessman from Yinzhou wanted to buy these nine calligraphy works in a package, with an investment of 10,000 taels, but the princess of Rou'an firmly refused. According to the princess of Rou'an, the wealthy businessman had "bad intentions" and it was obvious that
I want to sell it to Ming Dynasty to earn a quick sum of money.
The asking price was so astonishing that Zhao Ran was so stunned that he almost wanted to bring this wealthy businessman over to discuss it in private: Brother, for 10,000 silver, let alone nine pieces of calligraphy, I will give you eighteen pieces, do you think it's okay?
Of course, this is just a distortion. In fact, Zhao Ran does not dare to sell like this. Things are rare and valuable. If he is so careless and sells eighteen works in one go, the selling price will immediately plummet, and the gain will not be worth the loss.
.
The night after Shanjianke's personal calligraphy exhibition was held, Zhao Ran quietly slipped back from the suburbs, but as soon as he entered the club, he was blocked by Liang Xingxia.
"Dong Cheng, I will wait for you here all day."
"Hey, Brother Liang, is there something urgent?"
Liang Xingxia rubbed his hands and said embarrassedly: "This matter shouldn't bother the Chengdong family, but I really have no choice. The Chengdong family still remembers that last month, when we were discussing something together, a practicing monk came to me.
?”
Zhao Ran thought for a while and said: "Remember, what? He is making things difficult for you? Don't worry, Third Brother Liang, even if he is a spiritual practitioner, we are not afraid. Now, not everyone in the Jinbo Society can blackmail you."
Liang Xingxia said: "This monk is not blackmailing at all. He is here to seek advice. When the Snow Lotus was being hyped, this monk used the temple's famine relief money to speculate on Snow Lotus..."
When Zhao Ran heard this, he couldn't help but became happy: "This monk doesn't eat well and practice Buddhism, but insists on speculating. This is what he deserves. This is the kind of person who is being treated! Why do you still want to come to our Jinbo Club and go back?"
We can’t be found either. Don’t worry about him!”
Liang Xingxia said with a bitter face: "This monk is not here to ask for money. He is here to ask me for ideas. He said that he must let me come up with an idea to help their temple survive this year's famine. Otherwise, the entire temple will be closed."
They will all starve to death."
Zhao Ran sneered: "Isn't this different? Brother Liang, just leave it alone. I still don't believe it. How can you really starve to death while practicing in a Buddhist temple?"
Liang Xingxia said: "This monk said that if there is no other way, he will hang himself on the city gate tower."
What bothers Zhao Ran the most is the various "noises" that threaten his own life and death, but he also knows that this kind of trouble is also the most powerful. In the final analysis, this wave of snow lotus hype was not even initiated by the Jinbo Group.
He is definitely one of the masterminds behind the scenes, and he plays the ruthless role of the Terminator cutting leeks. His hands are absolutely not clean.
Once this matter gets serious, for example, if this monk really fights to the death and dies on the city gate tower, it will be really disturbing. What could happen to force a monk who has entered the threshold of spiritual practice to hang himself?
Suicide? What role did the Jinbo Club play in this matter? Do the monks in other temples have any ideas? Will Tenryuin come forward?
He frowned and said to Liang Xingxia: "Which temple does this monk belong to? Let their temple come to pick him up. Tell them that if they don't take this monk away, we will go to Tianlongyuan to judge!"
Liang Xingxia sighed: "Chengdong family, I have been keeping an eye out these days and asked people to inquire around. This monk came from Tianmatai Temple at the southern foot of Helan Mountain. This Tianmatai Temple is indeed poor, and
Not even a little bit poor..."
At that moment, he told Zhao Ran the situation of Tianmatai Temple in detail.
Zhao Ranqi said: "Surely the world is so big and full of wonders? How can you be so poor? You just said that their abbot is an eminent monk in the Arhat realm. How did he get away with it? If he could just sell some elixirs, he wouldn't be so miserable.
.”
Liang Xingxia said: "It's so miserable. The money they used to speculate on Snow Lotus this time was the money they got from selling the elixirs, refining those elixirs, and pocketing the last bit of their temple's foundation."
Zhao Ran was angry and funny at the same time, but he just felt it was unbelievable.
I just heard Liang Xingxia say: "I have been thinking about this for a few days. I really want to push a temple with spiritual practice into a panic. It's really hard to deal with the mess behind it. Cheng Dongjia, do you think we should give up some money to come out?"
Is it just one thousand taels? Let’s accumulate virtue and do good deeds.”
Zhao Ran shook his head: "This is not how to do good things. The so-called promotion of favors and enmities, giving him money directly seems simple and easy, but there are endless troubles. When the time comes, our club will be relied on as a big customer, and the whole
There are more than 200 people in Tianmatai Temple, how do you support them?"
These words were so insightful that Liang Xingxia couldn't help but feel dissatisfied. He sighed secretly, thinking that based on these words, if someone becomes the boss, he should be the boss, and he should be the shopkeeper.
Liang Xingxia followed Zhao Ran in circles three times, and suddenly heard Zhao Ran say: "Brother Liang, go and find that monk. I'll ask you a few questions."
"Hey." Liang Xingxia hurriedly went out, while Zhao Ran returned to the study, pinching his temples and thinking.
This year is the first year that the little king changed his name to Zhenguan. In order to show the "prosperity" of Daxia and the "prosperity and peace" of Xingqing Mansion, the imperial edict specifically announced that there would be no curfew in Xingqing Mansion in the first year of Zhenguan, so Liang Xingxia did not
After a while, the monk was brought to Zhao Ran.
Aslan received the gift respectfully, sat down on half of his buttocks at an angle, and then moved the other half of his buttocks upright under Zhao Ran's friendly expression.
As soon as he saw the other party's sitting posture, Zhao Ran roughly understood the other party's situation. It was really not good. A dignified practitioner, a monk who had entered the monk realm, showed such an inferiority complex in front of a businessman. This
How many setbacks and blows do you have to go through to do it?
"This master..."
"Young monk should not be called your boss like that."
"What are you talking about? I heard that the master has entered spiritual practice. It is completely appropriate to call him master. Have you eaten, master?"
Aslan shook his head and nodded quickly: "I've used it, I've used it."
Zhao Ran pointed to the waiter next to Aslan: "Then let me, master, try some of the homemade pastries at our Jinbo Club." He saw this monk coming in early in the morning and his eyes had been glancing at the dessert plates for guests.
Aslan said "Hey", carefully picked up a piece of shortbread and stuffed it into his mouth, then another...and another...and quickly finished all the pastries on the plate.
Liang Xingxia asked another plate to be served, and Aslan continued to eat...
Zhao Ran waited until Liang Xingxia had finished eating before he said: "I invited Master here today because I want to understand the situation of Tianmatai Temple. I have never been able to think clearly about why your temple has such eminent monks and great virtues, but it is in such a state of decline?
Don’t other temples help? Doesn’t Tenryu-in care? Why build a temple in the desert in the first place?”