Merchant of the Underworld

Not long after I returned to the store, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

I knew without even looking that this must be Xu Er.

He is not in good health and is very timid. No matter what he does, he does it lightly.

Xu Er opened the door, his face was pale, and he shouted in a panic: "Shopkeeper Zhang Da, something happened!"

I slowly put down the tea cup and said calmly: "Don't be anxious, just sit down and talk slowly."

I knew something wasn't right without him having to say it.

But since it has already happened, there is no point in being anxious, and I am now the backbone of Antique Street. Once I show my anxious look, they will become even more panicked.

When Xu Er saw that I was so calm, he calmed down, pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Two boys in my shop all ended up in the hospital for no apparent reason, and both of them were injured from eating beef!"

"I understand. How are they two? Are they in danger?" I said softly while pouring him a cup of tea.

"That's not true. I sent two guys to take care of me. They called me back and said that there was no danger to my life. But the boss, there is something wrong with this! He Fu comes from a poor mountainous area. He usually can't bear to eat. He can't bear to eat. Drink, I was reluctant to spend a penny, and this time I spent a thousand yuan to buy hot pot and beef. Qin Mengmeng is also a very well-behaved child. Since coming to my place, he has been very careful in doing things, made rapid progress, and is very obedient and sensible. , I would never steal food in the warehouse, but this... this is too weird! I suspect, I suspect that I may have received something negative."

"Yeah." I nodded and pushed the tea cup in front of him: "Then what have you collected recently?"

"Business has been very good recently. I have collected a lot of things, but I can't figure out which item the problem is. This is a list of the items I have collected recently. Take a look..."

I took the list, glanced at it briefly and put it on the table.

In fact, it is useless not to look at the list.

Whether you are a good person or a bad person is not written on your face, and whether you are a bad person or not is naturally not revealed on your name.

Of course I wouldn't find anything just from the list. I glanced at it just to save his face.

"When collecting these items, which seller looks weird or is different from others?" I asked.

Xu Er thought about it carefully and said with some embarrassment: "Big shopkeeper, you also know that most of the people who come to sell things here are coming from shady ways and are a little sneaky compared to normal people. Although I did it After so many years, I have learned a lot about observing people’s emotions and understanding people’s hearts…”

This is true. Xu Er does have some skills in appraising calligraphy and paintings, but he is quite indifferent to the world of people, or in other words, his emotional intelligence is extremely low. Besides, what he said is right. Most of the people who come to sell things to us, whether they are yin objects or not, are not from the right way. Even if it is passed down from ancestors in my family or bought from somewhere else, I am afraid that others will know the details and do not want to say more.

It was really difficult for him to tell which seller was a bit weird and abnormal.

"Have all these things been resold?" I asked.

"Some are sold, some are not sold, you see." Xu Er pointed at the list: "Look, the ones with red lines underneath have been sold, and the others are still in the store."

"Besides the two of them, has anyone else handled these things?"

"No!" Xu Er nodded very definitely: "Except for the two of them, no one else can enter the warehouse, and they can only pass through their hands every time they take it. These items are all newly collected. Most of them haven’t shown up yet to see visitors.”

"Have you ever touched it?" I glanced at him.

Xu Er replied: "Some have been touched, some have not been touched, and I can tell at a glance that they are authentic, so I generally won't touch them. Shopkeeper Li Er told me that if you do this, you can pretend to accept it or not." , you can lower the price.”

I picked up the teacup, took a sip and said, "That means, I don't know whether you have touched this vagina or not?"

"That's right!" Xu Er nodded in fear.

He may be afraid that the evil thing will harm him again.

"Let's go then, take me to the warehouse and take a look." I ordered.

"Yes!" Xu Er had been waiting for my words for a long time and quickly stood up.

Shufangzhai's warehouse is not big, just in the side door of the backyard.

Because most of the main products are the four treasures of the study and the utensils of ancient scholars. So the entire warehouse was filled with a strong aroma of books.

I took a cursory glance and found nothing sinister, so I sat down at the small table by the door and said to him, "Take out all the things on the list and I'll see which one the problem is."

"Hey!" Xu Er agreed happily, took two steps forward, but seemed to remember something, suddenly stopped, rubbed his hands in embarrassment and said: "Big shopkeeper, this..."

He hesitated and still didn't say it, but I immediately understood what he meant.

Since it was probably a ghost thing, and it was on the few remaining items, he was afraid of offending a ghost spirit, so he didn't dare to take it.

Although I was somewhat angry, it was excusable after all.

No one wants to provoke such a ghost, especially a timid person like Xu Er. Maybe if I didn't come with him, he wouldn't even dare to enter the warehouse.

"Just point them out one by one." I stood up again and said considerately.

"Thank you so much, shopkeeper!" Although Xu Er's emotional intelligence is a little low, he is not stupid after all. He immediately heard what I said, bowed to me, and then walked to the shelf and said, "The volume in the middle is the longest. The scroll is the "Chaotic Scenery" by the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou."

I walked closer, picked up the scroll, and unfolded it. There were many things painted on the painting in a messy manner, such as bamboo, Buddha statues, swimming fish, plum blossoms...

It is pieced together in a mess, with no structure at all, and there is no distinction between near and far. The beauty of the white space is even a layman like me can see it at a glance. Judging from the structural layout alone, this painting is indeed not very good.

I asked a little strangely: "Is this really painted by the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou?"

"Yes! Xu Er nodded very definitely: "Everything in the painting was made by one person, and everyone left the scenery they are best at. But because the layout is chaotic, I temporarily named it "Chaotic Scenery Picture" 》. "

I glanced at it and said, "But there are far more than eight things on top?"

"The big shopkeeper doesn't know something." Xu Er explained to me: "The Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou are not really only eight people, but a general name for some people with similar painting styles in the early Qing Dynasty. Because at that time, the Suzhou and Hangzhou areas were prosperous Yangzhou has always been a gathering place for literati and poets, so it is called the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. The eight is not a real number, but a function word."

"People who didn't know what was going on in later generations also argued endlessly about who among the eight monsters. In fact, there were more than a dozen of them. Of course, the more famous ones are Zheng Banqiao, Huang Shen, Gao Xiang and others. You see, this The bamboo belongs to Zheng Banqiao, the stone belongs to Gao Xiang, and the plum blossom belongs to..."

When he talked about paintings, Xu Er seemed to be a different person, his eyes were shining and he talked endlessly.

I even forgot why I came here.

Originally, I wanted to save his face and let him finish, but when I saw this guy started talking about the differences between several people in their writing skills, and then discussed the painting styles at that time, he didn't stop at all. the meaning of. So I had to interrupt him and said, "Shopkeeper Xu, there's nothing wrong with this item. What's the next one?"

"Uh..." Xu Er was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses, pointed to the bamboo tube next to him and said: "This is a dark bamboo hollow pen holder from the late Ming Dynasty. It was made by Huang Yishan, a bamboo carving master at that time. It is very rare. A unique treasure! Master Huang’s exquisite carving and exquisite conception, look at this..."

I picked it up and looked at it. Before he could finish speaking, I put it back and said briefly: "Next one!"