antique masters in modern times

Everyone has been busy from midnight to dawn.Ying Lao couldn't wait to write it down, so he dictated it directly, asked Yan You to record the Chinese version, and asked Murong Hui to translate it directly into English.Afterwards, I deliberated and revised with Yan You, and then checked the English version of the final draft.

Translation is originally a difficult task. Not only must it be both convincing and elegant, but it also requires time and effort to correct word by word.But Mr. Ying knew some English, and he was able to use all kinds of terms at his fingertips. With the help of Murong Hui, he finalized the manuscript before dawn.

The morning light was twilight, and everyone didn't care about rest, so they took the manuscripts copied by the family and split up.Mr. Ying went to school and used a fax machine to send the manuscript to the students who worked in the American newspaper; others sent the manuscript to the local newspaper and handed it over to the staff contacted in advance.

This employee is a friend of Zheng Guangtou. Although he is doing well in the newspaper office, he does not have the right to temporarily withdraw manuscripts.With the authority in his hands, it would take at least two days to publish it.

Time waits for no one. After discussing with several people, they decided to meet with the editor-in-chief to explain the situation and try to send the manuscript ahead of time.

Chen Boyi, who was accompanying him, wanted to emphasize to the newspaper staff the chaos in the domestic antique market, hoping to attract their attention and give priority to publishing manuscripts, but was stopped by Yanyou.

Under Chen Boyi's perplexed gaze, after introducing himself, Yan You only said that this manuscript is a different view of the professors in the department on the articles recently published by foreign colleagues. Now the English version has been sent to foreign newspapers and is expected to be released tomorrow can be published.It would be great if it could be published simultaneously in China.At the same time, it can also cause a news effect and increase the popularity of local newspapers.

At first, although the editor-in-chief was polite, he was not enthusiastic. He just listened casually and nodded occasionally.When he heard the last sentence, he sat up straight suddenly: "Are you sure you can publish it in foreign newspapers?"

"The editor in charge of the section happens to be a student of our professor, and we have already negotiated."

Murong Hui interjected: "Don't worry, America is a country with fierce competition, especially for major newspapers, they can't wait to have a hot spot to attract audiences 24 hours a day. This kind of overseas academic fight, as long as the publicity is good, it is not difficult to catch people's attention. .”

What he said made the editor-in-chief completely determined: "Okay, before tomorrow's newspaper is printed, I will immediately ask them to change the version. However, the calculation of the manuscript fee will be later, because according to the normal process—— "

"It's okay, the manuscript fee will come slowly." Yan You said quickly.

After the matter was finalized, several people could finally take a breather.But when he left, Chen Boyi quietly pulled the employee aside, took out a few newspaper clippings, and asked in a low voice, "Did anyone come to the editor-in-chief when these articles were published?"

"I didn't pay attention. However, on the second day after it was published, something was suddenly published in the agency. I was away for two days to run the news, but I heard from my colleagues that it was a post-holiday gift from the sponsor brought by the editor-in-chief." He said He pointed to the date on the clipping and said.

Chen Boyi's wife has worked in the institution all his life, so he doesn't know the way inside.Hearing the sound immediately, he thanked the employee, and then explained to the two juniors: "The so-called sponsorship is actually to distribute some of the benefits obtained to others, and everyone tacitly exposes this matter. It seems that , These manuscripts are not as simple as translation and reprinting, the editor-in-chief should have taken advantage of the contributors, so I will ask Lao Zheng to help check it."

The two people who don't understand the tricks of government agencies suddenly realized.

Not too many clues.Chen Boyi immediately went to find Baldy Zheng.Yan You wanted to check the company address on the business card with Murong Hui, but he stopped him: "You were yawning like two or three hours ago, I'll send you back to sleep right away, and I'll check this place for you. Don't worry, there are definitely enough people."

"How can I be so sleepy." Yan You retorted, but couldn't help but yawned again.

"Don't be brave. The professor said that you still have to be busy before this matter is over. Hurry up and get enough energy while there is nothing important. Otherwise, you will be in trouble if you get confused when you are going to do business."

Yan You was almost convinced by him, but he couldn't help being a little unconvinced: "How do you know that I will be confused when I'm sleepy?"

"I don't know anything about you. Let's go, have breakfast first, and then we will go home."

Saying that, Murong Hui simply took Yan You's hand and walked straight to the steamed stuffed bun shop nearby.

Yan You felt that his words had a lot of meaning, and wanted to study them carefully, but when he smelled the fragrance wafting in the wind, his body, which had been working at a high load for more than ten hours, suddenly became exhausted from numbness, but his stomach was still rumbling. Call.There was no other way, so I had to fill my stomach and prepare for a rest, and for a while I put the little doubts behind me.

He originally planned to sleep for an hour or two before getting up, but he didn't expect to sleep until the evening.He wanted to go to school to ask about the situation, but happened to meet Murong Hui who was returning home.

"No need to go, I just came back from the professor's house, and he has already fallen asleep."

Murong Hui has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and his physical stamina is far superior to that of ordinary people. After a sleepless night and a busy day, he is still full of energy: "Don't be too anxious, everyone will read the article tomorrow morning. How about the response? You have to wait another two days. I found some information about that company, but it was useless, so I asked them to dig deeper. However, there is a piece of news—hehe, I finally understand why the professor said that you are indispensable to deal with this matter.”

Yan You urged: "Don't be a fool, what's the matter?"

"Do you still remember Pei Xiuyuan? He called back last night to tell Mr. Ying that the appraisal result of the King's Order passed down on the Dragon Festival has come out. You are right, it is indeed an imitation, gorse flower The auction house has been hacked!"

While speaking, Murong Hui looked proud.

But Yan You was a little disappointed: "That's it?"

He is very confident in his own eyesight, and this result has long been expected.

"Of course not." Murong Hui said proudly, "Jiang is still hot. After Mr. Ying knew about it, he felt that there was something to do. After thinking about it for a day today, he finally agreed with Pei Xiuyuan to use this opportunity to keep it secret. In exchange, let the Plantagenet experts help us out. Then you have to call those ghosts and tell them how they found out that the Dragon Festival is a fake. Ha, the professor's trick is really good. .”

But after Yan You listened, he frowned slightly: "Help out? Just continue to fight the pen and ink lawsuit?"

He had an intuition that he could make better use of this matter, but he couldn't tell for a while.After thinking silently for a moment, a sudden flash of inspiration finally grasped the clue: "Professor Ying has already discussed with the Plantagenet Auction House?"

"Probably not yet. When he contacted Pei Xiuyuan, it was already late at night. However, the surname Pei said that he would negotiate with the auction house as soon as possible. After all, there should be news in three or four hours." -"

"Great, there's still time to stop Yinglao." Yanyou's eyes lit up, and he quickly put on his coat and prepared to go out.

Murong Hui temporarily supports.But Monk Zhanger couldn't figure it out: "Xiaoyan, why do you want to stop it? Isn't this a good thing?"

It was getting late, and Yan You was afraid that it would be too late to stop him, so he changed his slippers and said, "You will find out later."

"Well, it's up to you."

Murong Hui suppressed his curiosity and went to Ying's hometown with Yan You.

Just after falling asleep and being woken up again, Old Ying couldn't help feeling depressed.But after Yanyou finished talking about his visit, all the sleepy bugs disappeared.He wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed with a smile: "The waves behind the Yangtze River drive the waves ahead. If you were born a few decades earlier, my front waves might not have a foothold."

Those who like to read newspapers were surprised to find that a very legendary news was published on the main page of the day, and the writer was a professor.

The news said that when a student was appreciating the antique collection of an overseas Chinese rich man, he found a fake.After the student pointed it out, Fu Hao didn't believe his words, saying that this was a treasure sold by a well-known auction house in the industry, how could it be fake.But in order to convince the student, he still agreed to do another appraisal.

When the results of the appraisal came out, everyone was dumbfounded: the student actually won, and that antique was actually a fake!At this point, Fu Hao was completely convinced by the student, and even called overseas to express his thanks, thanking the student for recovering the loss of millions of pounds for him.

After the whole story, the writer first introduced the appraisal process of the auction house, and felt that under such strict supervision, mistakes could be made. I don’t know how realistic the imitation should be?

At the end, it lists the transaction volume and value of Huaxia antiques in foreign markets in recent years, indicating that behind the rising data year by year, there are many profiteers who have taken risks, buying low and selling high with fake ones.Remind the domestic antique lovers to be careful when buying, and it is best to ask experts to accompany them, so as to avoid unnecessary economic losses.

Afterwards, the writer seemed to be inadvertently swaying his pen, and then lamented that Chinese antiques can be sold at sky-high prices abroad.I also used a few antiques that were bought from Panjiayuan in China and appeared at the auction after a while, and compared their transaction prices.The disparity is so large that sometimes the difference is hundreds of times, which is really shocking.

At the end of the article, I didn’t draw any conclusions. I just asked meaningfully: As a collection of cultural and economic value, why do the prices of antiques vary so greatly in different countries and under different operating modes?Is someone secretly manipulating it?

Chinese people have always been good at associating, and they are never afraid to infer things with conspiracy theories.Soon, someone connected this article with the huge Chinese antiques low price theory a few days ago, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt something strange.

In just one morning, the phone number of the newspaper was ringing, and almost all the readers were asking, is that article a story or news?Someone even chased him to Peking University based on his signature, wanting to have a face-to-face chat with Mr. Ying.

But all this is just the beginning.

The next day, another article by Ying Lao was also published, with a special note that it was simultaneously published in foreign newspapers and periodicals.The article refuted one by one the manuscripts of the so-called foreign experts a few days ago, criticizing their wrong way of comparing art.The writing is so simple that even a layman can understand it, knowing that ancient Chinese painting and Western painting are two completely different styles, there is no distinction between the two, and those who compare them will only appear to be ignorant and ridiculous.

If it comes to academic things, ordinary people are not very interested, and can't remember much after reading it, but the list of Chinese treasures living overseas listed at the end of the article is impressive.

Everyone used to know that a lot of things belonging to the ancestors were plundered by robbers at the end of the Qingshun period, but most people can't tell the exact amount.

In addition, there are very few people going abroad at present, and the reception of foreign information is also limited. Therefore, I did not know until today that the famous museums in European and American countries, as well as Neon and other countries, almost have Chinese cultural relics!And the quantity counts in tens of thousands!They even set up a special exhibition room for Chinese cultural relics to display the stolen goods in a grand manner!

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts houses the "Pictures of Emperors of Past Dynasties" painted by Yan Liben, a painter of the Tang Dynasty who designed and built the Daming Palace. It also has ten exhibition rooms for Chinese cultural relics, including ceramics, bronzes, sculptures, and paintings.Pursuit to no avail.

The Louvre Museum has a total of more than 6000 pieces of Shang and Zhou bronzes and painted pottery from the primitive society, plus other Chinese cultural relics, totaling more than [-] pieces.Pursuit to no avail.

The Tokyo National Museum has a collection of more than [-] pieces including the famous painting "Fishing Alone on the Cold River", other antiques and archaeological documents.Pursuit to no avail.

The Neon Palace houses the Tang Dynasty Honghe Well Stele and Stele Pavilion.Pursuit to no avail.

……

This long list is shocking, and what is even more powerless is that the pursuit of the following sentences is fruitless.In desperation, the government had no choice but to ask the holders to protect them: "You can own them, but you must do your duty."

It can be felt between the lines that the author is trying to restrain his anger.After listing the data, he didn't say anything more. He just asked, since the value of Chinese antiques is not high, why is the country that issued such an argument reluctant to return the national treasure?

Once this article was published, it immediately set off an uproar!

A few days ago, how wrong the public's perception of the value of antiques was, how much sentiment rebounded.For a time, all walks of life were concerned about the whereabouts of the national treasure.Many capable people have spontaneously organized civil recovery associations, vowing to do their part for the lost treasures.

Even the official media was alarmed. Together with the Forbidden City, they are intensively preparing a documentary titled "Looking for the National Treasure" and preparing to broadcast it as quickly as possible.

The author of the article, Yinglao, became a man of the hour.Due to the constant stream of people visiting, the normal life was seriously affected, and the elderly did not even dare to go out.

In an interview with a newspaper, he admitted that the student who identified the counterfeit product was his student. He just wrote two articles out of emotion at the time, but he did not expect such a huge response.

Actually, Yinglao was telling the truth.When Yanyou proposed to use the incident of spotting fakes to stir up the attention of the topic, the most optimistic prediction was that more people would pay attention to this incident, and the evil wind fanned by the Zhong family would be suppressed.But I didn't expect that the public's reaction would be so strong.

Now, the price reduction of antiques is no longer a problem.The bosses who complained so much at the beginning cheered up again, and anyone who dared to lower the price would turn his face away and see off the guests: We don't welcome people who come to suppress Chinese antiques with fancy foreign devils!

Now that one of the problems has been solved, it's time to move on to the second goal: how to make those behind the manipulation of this matter pay the due price?

Ask the elders of the Jiuliu sects to act again, Murong Hui has already investigated the Zhong family thoroughly.But everyone can see that the Zhong family is just a dog at best, and the real trader is the American behind him.

Combining the incident of framing Yinglao last time and this incident, Yanyou feels that the Zhong family is probably behind a powerful organization.Otherwise, with just a few people, it is impossible to make such a careful and meticulous arrangement, and it is impossible to launch an attack with a single blow.

But the strange thing is, it is said that when Ying Lao counterattacked, the other party should respond.But five full days have passed since the article was published, and the Zhong family has been unusually quiet, not to mention fighting back, even the company in Forty-Nine City has temporarily closed down.

"Could they be scared? Think we haven't found them, and want to wait until the news passes before leaving the mountain." Murong Hui guessed.Naturally, he could not be more clear about what he has personally handled. The seniors of Jiuliu were very careful in their actions, and the Zhong family was unaware of being probed.

But the organization hiding behind the scenes was too cautious. Murong Hui searched and checked, and even hired people from the government through his connections, but he couldn't get any evidence of their illegal contacts with the United States.He also asked his uncle for help, but after investigation, he found that the several American companies that had dealt with the Zhong family were all innocent. At least on the surface, the business dealings with the Zhong family were only the most ordinary, and there was no way to catch them.

Nothing was found, which made Murong Hui feel ashamed.He said resolutely: "If you hit a snake, you won't die, but you will bite people. Give me two more days, and I will definitely grab their pigtails!"

"No, soldiers are expensive and fast. What's more, the common people are most concerned about the people's livelihood. This matter seems to be a huge one at present, but in the final analysis, it still belongs to the superstructure and has no resonance in the hearts of ordinary people. If it takes a long time, even if you find out who No one will be interested in those who are behind the scenes. As you said, hide for a while, and come out again after the limelight passes. This is against our original intention—to drive this scum out of the Chinese antique circle."

Recently, Yan You, who has just learned Ma Zhe, couldn't help but use a term, Jiaoying Lao nodded and admitted: "Xiao Yan is right. There are seven things to open the door, firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar tea, if it is related to these, Surely there is no need to worry about the attention of the people. But how many people collect antiques in the whole country? So, we still have to cut the mess quickly. In my opinion, the forces in the country of America can’t be found out. The dog of the Zhong family, who is helping others, will prevent them from stirring up trouble again."

What Ying Lao meant coincides with what Yan You said: "My opinion is the same as that of the professor. If you can't complete all your achievements in one battle, then let's cut off one arm first. According to the information Murong found, that organization opened a The company is controlled by the Zhong family. If something happens to the Zhong family, the reputation of the company will be discredited, and the organization behind the scenes will be powerless in what they want to do in the future."

Since Yinglao and Yanyou have both made their decision, the others will naturally not comment.Murong Hui rubbed his chin, wondering: "However, even if the Zhong family's manipulation of public opinion is revealed, at most they will be cast aside by the antique world. If they insist on not closing the company, we have nothing to do with him. What should we do? Using tricks in the Jianghu, let the gangsters come to their company to make troubles and splash paint every day, throwing dead dogs and rats from time to time?"

Murong Hui had only heard of these heretical ways in the rivers and lakes stories told by his grandfather.At that time, I just felt disgusted, but now that I think that I can vent my anger on the Zhong family for Xiaoyan, I can't help looking forward to it.

But before he could figure out how many dead mice he should throw away, Yan You ruthlessly suppressed this evil idea: "Those are heretical, I just want to use an upright method to make them have no power to fight back, just get out of here Out of China."

Hearing what he said, Elder Ying also became interested: "I have read all the materials Murong Hui brought, and I have to say that this organization is very smart, abides by laws and regulations in China, and pays every cent of the taxes that should be paid. , If there are any new policies, they will be dealt with immediately. Tell me, is there any way to let the officials seal them openly?"

"It's actually very simple. The evidence has already been sent to us."

Saying that, Yan You took out a receipt and put it on the tea table.

Zhong Gui felt that ever since he saw the blue-glazed golden swallow ear statue, his luck has been extremely bad.

Building momentum through public opinion, raising or suppressing the price of antiques is a method that has been planned and studied for several years and is sure to be foolproof.

The organization obtained more than a dozen pieces of Yuan blue and white flowers before, but they have not sold them for a long time. They just want to use this method to raise their value and earn higher profits.In order to achieve this goal, the organization was paving the way a year ago, and sent a doctor to study in countries other than China. After returning to China, he planned to publish a paper on only [-] yuan blue and white handed down in the world.

Zhong Gui secretly calculated the profits.He estimated that the money to organize the acquisition of Yuanqinghua would not be too much, hundreds of thousands of dollars would be the best.But as long as there is enough momentum, they can at least sell for millions of dollars a piece.Even reaching ten million is not impossible!

Although it has not been tested yet, when the experts in the organization came up with this plan, they carefully analyzed the buyer's psychology and did a reaction model deduction, with a very small error rate.Therefore, Zhong Gui believed that the profit he calculated would not be too different.

Compared with the unbelievably high profits, what is it to wait for a few years and spend a little manpower and material resources to build momentum?Even in ancient China, there were veterans who held back their treasures, and they waited for the right time before making a move.

Supervisors at Zhong Gui's level get a commission for the antiques they handle.Faced with the temptation of such a high profit, he naturally couldn't hold back.But he knew that the organization chose Yuan Qinghua as the first auction to verify the theory. He couldn't and didn't dare to distinguish from the organization, so he chose to lower the price.

Yuan Qinghua is raising the price for hype, so he will lower the price.Although it is impossible to earn tens of millions of money at once, but the accumulation of small amounts will add up. As long as the profit margin increases, he will be able to earn this amount sooner or later.

With a certain idea, he immediately contacted a few people with better relationships in the organization and asked them to post a message.And then, as expected, foreign monks will chant scriptures, and the words of foreign experts carry great weight in the hearts of the people.With only a small amount of money, he easily disturbed the prices of antiques in Huaxia.

But before he could laugh enough, a sudden change happened, and the public opinion reversed instantly.

He thought about sending someone to warn Elder Ying, but because he felt that he hadn't been exposed yet, he was afraid that if he acted rashly, it would make people suspect him.After all, he had just returned to China and was short of manpower. Without organizational support, he might not be able to do everything neatly.It's a small matter to be angry for a while, and if it affects the company's development, the organization will never let him off easily.

Furthermore, the name Yinglao is quite important in the antique circle.Thinking of the many rumors about him, Zhong Gui finally decided that this time Quan Dang suffered a dumb loss. Anyway, the future will be long, and it will not be too late to find opportunities for revenge in the future.

It's a pity that he had a good plan, but he never thought that he would be targeted long ago.

This morning, when he was thinking about when it would be appropriate to reopen the door, the accountant suddenly ran in in a panic, waving a newspaper: "Boss, boss, it's not good, our insurance policy was leaked by someone, and it was still in the newspaper." Already!"

Zhong Guiyi couldn't think of any problems that would be caused by the leakage of the insurance policy. He was about to reprimand him when the accountant said, "Not only the insurance policy, but also our running accounts have been leaked! Buying at a low price, but sending it at a high price, it is naturally strange for others to see it." , the newspapers are questioning this matter. They also found out that we had lowered prices as early as two or three months ago, and found that the foreign experts in the article were received by our company when they traveled to China in the past! In short, they contacted these clues Come together and insinuate that we have something to do with the campaign to lower prices!"