After Bai Shan changed into the jade crown and clothes, he went out for a walk, and after being given a few glasses of wine, Man Bao gave him a wink, so he immediately found an excuse and slipped away.
When the two returned to the main courtyard, Daji stood by the door holding a long gift box in his hand. When he saw them coming, he bowed slightly, "Young master, young madam, this is the gift from General Qibi."
He found it with great difficulty from a pile of gift boxes.
Bai Shan pushed open the door, "Hurry up and bring it in."
The two opened the gift box, and inside was a scroll.
Both Bai Shan and Zhou Man were taken aback, they didn't expect it to be a painting.
Man Bao smiled and said, "What painting can General Qibi give you? It also made Kong Jijiu look so ugly."
Bai Shan was taken aback. Could it be some messy paintings
He took it out and untied the rope, and pulled the scroll away. He pulled it away by a third, his eyes widened slightly, and the movements of his hands couldn't help but slow down, and the speed also slowed down.
Man Bao also saw it, and his heart beat violently. He walked around from the other side of the table to Bai Shan's side, reached out to hold one side of the scroll, and the husband and wife slowly unfolded the scroll.
Seeing the familiar person on the picture scroll, both of them held their breath in their chests, and it took a long time to exhale that breath, "It's a picture of the sage Lao Tzu."
Bai Shan touched the brush with his fingertips in a daze, and asked in disbelief, "Is this... for real?"
Man Bao couldn't believe it, he swallowed and said, "Really, otherwise General Qibi wouldn't give it to us so confidently?"
Bai Shan traced the strokes of the painting bit by bit, Man Bao and Daji immediately put away the things on the table, and asked him to unfold the painting and put it on the table.
The two bent down to look at it together, the more they looked at it, the more amazed they were, "It seems to be real."
Bai Erlang blocked the wine for Bai Shan, and he didn't come when everyone was so drunk, he was angry for a moment, so he just saw the gap and grabbed Yin or ran away, and they went to the backyard together to find someone.
He came straight to the main courtyard, and saw that the doors and windows of the study room were open, so he went straight there, "The room is full of guests, you don't think you are reading at this time, do you?"
As soon as he stepped in, he saw the two of them bent over looking at the things on the table, and waved without raising their heads: "Don't make noise."
Bai Erlang and Yin Or came forward to look curiously.
It's not that the two of them are ignorant. Bai Erlang saw that it was a pretty good painting, so he aimed at the place where the signature was signed, "Hey, Zhong Yao's picture of the sage Lao Tzu? Is it an imitation?"
Yin hesitated and said, "It seems to be true."
Bai Erlang blinked, "Who gave it to you, so willing, how much will it cost to buy the real one?"
Bai Shan straightened his waist, bent for too long, felt a little sore for a while, rubbed his waist, and sighed: "General Qibi sent it."
Bai Erlang: "Oh, it's no wonder he doesn't feel distressed, so it's fake, right? Can General Qibi buy the real picture?"
Bai Shan's eyes glowed, "Then what if Kong Jijiu gave him a reference?"
Bai Erlang stopped talking.
Bai Shan made room for Yin Or, "Look."
Yin Ju looked at it carefully, then nodded and said, "It's very similar to the original work, not an imitation."
Man Bao also straightened his waist, thumped his back and said, "Isn't it true that you can ask Kong Jijiu for advice?"
Bai Shan immediately put the scroll into a box and handed it to Daji, who took Man Bao and went out, "Let's go to Kong Jijiu."
At the banquet, Bai Shan naturally couldn't embarrass General Qibi, so he thought of a way to pull Kong Jijiu to the back, and he made up his mind, if it was true, he would invite everyone to reward it, if it was fake, his own people would know That's fine.
It is estimated that General Qibi bought it seriously.
Kong Jijiu was dragged into the study by Bai Shan and Zhou Man. As soon as he opened the box, he knew what they wanted him to see, so when he opened the picture scroll again, he sighed and asked, "Is it from General Qibi?" ?”
"yes."
Kong Jijiu looked at the painting again, and when he looked at it again, he still couldn't help being amazed and admiring. He said, "This is a real painting."
Bai Shan's eyes brightened, looking at the painting in surprise, "How did General Qibi buy such a painting?"
Man Bao was also very happy, "This kind of painting can be passed down to the family, why doesn't General Qibi keep it for himself?"
Kong Jijiu said calmly, "Because I'm stupid and rich."
Everyone: ...
Bai Shan and the others couldn't help but look at Kong Jijiu, "Since Jijiu can recognize that it's genuine, it's obvious that I watched it with General Qibi, why don't you buy Jijiu?"
A treasured sword is given to a hero, and a beautiful picture should also be given to someone who knows how to appreciate him. This is worth the money.
Such a picture must be given to Bai Shan, otherwise it would be a pearl dusted in the hands of General Qi Bi.
Kong Jijiu said angrily, "Because I'm poor!"
Kong Jijiu may not be really poor, but General Qibi is really rich, especially just after the Eastern Conquest, he got a lot of spoils, 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 it was in the hands of a wealthy businessman.
Kong Jijiu looked back and forth with the people several times before he was convinced that it was genuine, while others were still hesitating, some thought it was real, and some thought it was fake.
But the rich businessman insisted that it was true. He bought it from a scholar named Sima. I heard that it came from the Sima family of the former royal family, so he kept insisting on the price and refused to drop it at all.
Although Kong Jijiu is the prince's teacher and Guozijian's Jijiu, compared with officials of the same rank, he is really poor.
However, he does not lack such things as food and clothing, but to buy such luxuries as calligraphy and painting, he only depends on his salary and income from his job, which may be the same at most a year.
It so happened that the asking price for this picture of the sage Lao Tzu was much higher than his annual income, so he had no money.
But the painting was not sold, and he followed others to see it many times, and at the same time he was trying to collect money to buy it.
Just at this time, General Ashina returned from Liaodong.
Kong Jijiu and General Ashina are good friends. Although General Ashina hardly withholds spoils, the emperor still rewards him with a lot of things every time he goes to battle.
Especially when he handed in the spoils of war, just imagine, if everyone went to battle together, the others would get 30% and share 30%, 30% would go to the emperor, and 10% might be handed over to the treasury; The remaining 90% of the soldiers below were handed over to the emperor and the treasury.
Of course the emperor would feel sorry for him, so he would reward him with a large number of things, and General Ashina would keep some of the rewarded things, and give the rest to his soldiers.
But even if it is only a part, it is much more than Kong Jijiu's annual income.
So he went to take General Ashina to look at the paintings, thinking that if he likes to buy them with money, he can often go to General Ashina to look at them in the future. Money, maybe you can buy it from Ashina.
It turned out that General Chibi happened to be there too, and as soon as he heard that he was going to see a painting, he immediately followed.
After arriving at the place, I just looked at the painting and kept asking, "Is this painting beautiful?"
Kong Jijiu was too lazy to talk to such a rude person.
General Ashina, who was also a military commander, explained in a low voice: "The picture of the sage Lao Tzu was drawn by Zhong Yao, so it is not the painting itself. It is not low in value just because it was drawn by Zhong Yao."
The uneducated General Qi Bi asked, "Who is Zhong Yao?"