Back to 80: My Literary Life

Fang Minghua looked at other books: "Anna Karenina", and there was actually a "Memoirs of Manna"!

Damn it!

Little yellow book.

However, Fang Minghua did not take it out, but asked casually: "Wang Zi, do you like reading?"

"Yeah." The girl replied quickly.

"You also like writing novels?"

"I haven't written anything. I was admitted to the Department of Drama and Literature in Chinese Opera and failed to get into Uncle Fang. Do you think I can write a novel?" the girl asked.

Fang Minghua did not answer directly, but left the room and said to Wang Zi: "Come out and chat in the corridor."

Wang Zi followed him out, and the two stood in the corridor chatting.

"I am currently a temporary substitute teacher at Lu Xun College of Literature." Fang Minghua suddenly mentioned his own affairs.

"There is a female student in our class named Li Hongying. She is a few years older than you. Her experience is somewhat similar to yours. She has also been wandering around and traveled to many places."

The girl didn't understand what he was going to say, but she still listened quietly.

"But unlike you, she reads a lot of miscellaneous books, and she also tries to write poems and novels. She has published several of them now, so she came to Luyuan to study. I mean, you can also try Try it, the premise is to read more books.”

"Well, Uncle Fang, can you recommend some books to me?" Wang Zi said.

Fang Minghua pondered for a moment and then said: "I think it was written by Wang Anyi, who is also from Shanghai. There are also books by female writers such as Tie Nian and Zhang Jie. Of course, it is very good to insist on reading "Yanhe" every month. ”

Wang Zi laughed sheepishly after hearing this.

"Well, I'll buy it tomorrow!"

Looking at his watch, it was almost twelve o'clock, and Fang Minghua was preparing to leave.

"Uncle Fang, let me treat you to dinner." Wang Zi greeted warmly.

"No, you are busy with your business. Goodbye." Fang Minghua waved his hand and turned to leave.

After leaving Liuya Hutong, I realized that after talking to Wang Zi, I forgot to collect her rent!

Forget it, wait until next time.

Fang Minghua had a bowl of noodles with soybean paste at a small restaurant at the entrance of the alley. He was not in a hurry to go back to Luyuan, but wanted to go to Liulichang Cultural Street, which was not far from here anyway.

When we walked to Qianhai Beiyan Road, we stopped a yellow car and headed straight to our destination.

Liulichang Cultural Street.

Outside Hepingmen in Xicheng District, it was known as "Haiwang Village" in the Liao Dynasty. During the Qianlong period, it has become a distribution center for antiques, calligraphy and paintings, ancient books and inscriptions, and the Four Treasures of the Study. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it became more characteristic of a cultural street.

Fang Minghua didn't come here to buy furniture or antiques. He didn't know the goods and didn't want to put in the effort. The main purpose of coming here was to look at the paintings and calligraphy, especially the items for sale in Rongbaozhai.

The facade of Rongbaozhai in this era was far less large than that of later generations - half the street was hung with Rongbaozhai's signboard. But now there are only two facades. When Fang Minghua went in, there were not many people inside.

To be honest, it is still the 1980s, and collections are still far away from ordinary people.

Perhaps it was because of the hot weather, but a waiter in the store was dozing off, and he quickly greeted someone when he saw someone coming in.

"Comrade, what do you want to buy? Celebrity calligraphy and paintings? Or replicas? Or the Four Treasures of the Study?"

Rongbaozhai not only sells celebrity calligraphy and paintings, but also sells imitations. Rongbaozhai has a unique skill:

The woodblock watermarking technique is almost as good as the real thing.

It is said that there is a story circulating in Liulichang: In the 1950s, Hou Kai, the manager of Rongbaozhai, invited Qi Baishi to the store, hung two ink paintings of "Shrimp" in front of him, and asked him to identify which one was the original. Old Man Baishi looked at it for a long time, and finally shook his head and said: "This... I really can't see it." The wonder of the watermark on the Rongbaozhai woodblock print is evident.

Fang Minghua felt that this story was a bit exaggerated.

Can Qi Baishi see his own paintings?

Of course Fang Minghua didn't come here to buy imitations, so he said, "Please bring me the authentic works of the Republic of China painters Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Qi Beihong, and Li Kuchan that you have in your store."

To be honest, he didn't dare to talk nonsense about ancient paintings and other painters' paintings.

There are nearly 10,000 authentic works of theirs hidden in my home!

He would take it out every day and take a look at it every day when he had nothing to do, and with the careful guidance of Yan Bingchu, a big shot in the Xijing collection industry, he was quite sure whether the paintings of these people were genuine.

Unexpectedly, the other party said: "I'm sorry, I just received a notice from my superiors that the paintings by the painters during the Republic of China you mentioned are not for sale for the time being."

"Not for sale? Why?" Fang Minghua was a little surprised.

"I don't know, I just received the document notification a few days ago."

Although the name Rongbaozhai looks like a private store, after the liberation of the company, it is now a fully state-owned enterprise!

"Can we take a look?" Fang Minghua was a little unwilling to give up.

The guy was a little impatient, but he still went inside and took out two paintings.

The first picture is Qi Baishi’s painting of shrimp.

Qi Baishi painted too many shrimps in his life, so there were also many fakes. The light in the shop was a bit dark, so Fang Minghua simply borrowed a magnifying glass to take a closer look.

The guy looked at his posture.

Oops

He's not that old, but he seems to be an expert.

"Comrade, what do you do?" The clerk couldn't help but ask.

"Editor, I also write novels." Fang Minghua replied without raising his head.

The scholar's heart was moved.

These days, the word literati is often connected with the word poet. Many literati are master collectors, such as Lu Xun, Hu Shi and Shen Congwen. These masters of the Republic of China are master collectors. Lu Xun likes to collect ancient books, ancient coins, and Chinese prints.

Hu Shi is quite special. Besides collecting ancient books, he also likes to collect sparks, which are good matchboxes.

Shen Congwen only collected antiques, and was particularly interested in silk brocades.

There is also Xia Yan, the current chairman of the China Film Association, who is the first person to collect stamps in China. His family collects many paintings and calligraphy of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. He is close friends with Qi Baishi and also collects many paintings by Qi Baishi.

Of course, Xia Yan is a very low-key person. Only people in the collecting industry will know about it. The outside world only knows that he is a playwright and the chairman of the Film Association.

The boy was thinking wildly there. Fang Minghua looked at the painting carefully and found that it was a fake!

No way?

Fortunately, it is not for sale to the public for the time being, otherwise Rongbaozhai's sign will be destroyed if it is sold!

Could it be that the guy picked it up by mistake and mistook the imitation for the real thing?

It's very possible.

Thinking of this, Fang Minghua raised his head and said, "Comrade, did you take the wrong painting? This should be a replica from your store."

"How could it be?!" the clerk muttered, looked carefully, was shocked and apologized quickly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, comrade, I really took the wrong one." After saying that, he quickly put away the pile of paintings and hurriedly carried them back. .

As soon as the clerk arrived at the back of the store, a middle-aged man walked towards him. It was Cai Jinpeng, the second manager of Rongbaozhai, who had taken over from the first manager Hou Kai the year before.

"Xiao Zhang, what happened to you in such a panic?" Cai Jinpeng asked.

"There was a writer outside who wanted to see the paintings of Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian and others. I took the wrong copy and took it out." The clerk told the truth.

"So careless?!" Cai Jinpeng scolded in a low voice, and asked casually: "Did the other party discover it, or did you discover it?"

"The other party." The man whispered.

other side?

Cai Jinpeng suddenly became interested.

Although it is a replica, it is so fake that it looks like the real thing. To be honest, even an expert would not be able to spot it!