Chapter 17: The painting of selling dog meat with a sheep's head
That's right, it's a piece of cake.
Lin Yuan almost wanted to curse. He had only been here three or four days, and he almost stepped on shit every time he went out on the street. It was really hard.
Even here, it is known as a free and civilized country! This kind of sanitary conditions is incomparable to those in third- and fourth-tier cities in China.
Not to mention Lin Yuan, even Henry, a native, was very disappointed with this city.
The city of San Francisco is surrounded by disgusting feces and garbage in some places. What’s even more shocking is that a lot of the feces comes not from dogs or other pets, but from people.
To this end, San Francisco has also launched a software that allows people to mark the locations of poop on a map.
This mark makes it impossible to see the map of San Francisco, which is completely surrounded by shit.
I always make fun of Ah San, but the United States is not much better. In addition to garbage, feces, etc., there are too many homeless people in the United States. They can be seen everywhere on the streets at night.
To make it simple, just lay out two newspapers as a cushion. If the conditions are better, build a tent.
The uncle and his wife cursed in low voices.
Apparently, they were disgusted too. Traveling here is a terrible experience.
Lin Yuan and the others walked around that thing, and at the next stall, everyone stopped staying and continued walking forward. In fact, Lin Yuan still pays attention to treasure hunting, and there are no good things in that stall.
Soon the uncle stopped first and fell in love with an ancient painting.
Lin Yuan stretched out his hand to the painting next to him.
The old uncle was puzzled: "What's so good about this?"
Something fake at first glance.
Because the painting shows a giraffe, but it has a picture of a unicorn written on it. In Chen Shiquan's opinion, how could this be a unicorn picture? He even felt that this painting was a prank and a bit insulting to the treasure hunter's intelligence.
Henry was also puzzled.
He knew a little about Chinese culture. The unicorn, like the dragon, was a mythical beast in ancient China.
As a mascot, Qilin was often used in various dynasties in ancient China. According to historical records, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built a Qilin Pavilion in Weiyang Palace with images of heroes.
In addition, Qilin is also often used in official court uniforms. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, the emblem of the first-rank official was Qilin.
Among the people, people generally believe that worshiping Qilin can lead to fertility and children. People often compare their children to Qilin, and they are called "Qilin'er" or "Lin'er". During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, people often called smart and cute boys "my family Qilin" and so on.
However, the painting is clearly a giraffe.
Is this still necessary?
Lin Yuan looked up at his old uncle and signaled him to negotiate the price.
"Are you sure?" This was the first time today that the old uncle doubted Lin Yuan's vision.
Lin Yuan nodded: "OK."
Chen Shiquan had no choice but to "fight" with the stall owner. Both sides got angry and almost started fighting.
The stall owner was a good person. He knew at a glance that Lin Yuan liked his painting, so he naturally refused to sell it at a low price and asked for 20,000 US dollars. Chen Shiquan himself was not optimistic about the painting and was unwilling to spend such unjust money.
"Forget it." Lin Yuan put down the unicorn picture and cooperated with his uncle.
This move greatly boosted Chen Shiquan's confidence, and his face lit up: "Let's go and have a look ahead."
The stall owner's expression changed.
He also knew that the painting was "selling a sheep's head to a dog's meat", and the title was seriously inconsistent with the content. Not to mention experts, novices and rookies probably wouldn’t even take a glance at it.
If Lin Yuan really left, this painting would be in his hands.
He quickly softened his attitude and said, "Don't leave! The price can be negotiated, ten thousand dollars is fine."
I cut them in half, is that enough sincerity?
However, Chen Shiquan ignored him. Are you kidding me? Do you also want to use "ten thousand" as the unit for street stall goods? It’s better to close the stall early and go back to sleep! There is everything in the dream. "Hey, hey! Optimization is easy to discuss! 5,000, 5,000 is enough?"
"50, love or not."
"No, brother, I can't bargain like you. 50 US dollars, should I drink the northwest wind? 2500 US dollars is really the lowest. Look at this picture, how good it is!"
It's okay not to mention the content of the painting. When it comes to this, Chen Shiquan feels that the 50 US dollars is not worth it.
"As long as it says a picture of a giraffe, I recognize it." The old uncle was furious.
The stall owner immediately shut up, knowing that the flaws in this painting were too much to complain about.
"Add more!"
At this time, the stall owner's cell phone rang, and the ringtone music was "We are all trying to live", which was very suitable for the current scene.
"Hey! Son...what? Not enough money? We need to save some money. It's not easy for dad to make some money by setting up a stall..."
Although Lin Yuan and the others didn't hear everything, they probably knew what was going on.
Chen Shiquan still relented, said nothing more, and gave the other party $2,500.
Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!
Even the uncle who was not sure about the painting asked how much it would cost. The stall asked for $5,000, but the uncle did not bargain and gave the money readily.
The stall owner was extremely grateful. It was probably because his son had just said something urgent on the phone, so he hurriedly cleaned up the stall and quickly disappeared under the eyes of Lin Yuan and the others.
The uncle smiled bitterly: "I haven't figured it out yet, forget it, just do something good!"
Old uncle: "Brother, your painting is better than the one my nephew picked."
Lin Yuan: "..."
He felt that he needed to explain.
"Uncle, you don't know something. In the Ming Dynasty, giraffes were regarded as unicorns."
Everyone knows about Zheng He's voyages to the West. It is said that one time Zheng He brought back a legendary beast-Qilin.
That’s right! It's a giraffe.
After Zheng He brought this "mythical beast" back to China, it immediately attracted onlookers.
At that time, many experts made inferences based on the appearance and appearance of the mythical beast, and finally believed that it was the legendary mythical beast Qilin.
Zhu Di was overjoyed and immediately asked the Hanlin Academy to paint for him.
Thus, the "Qilin Picture" was born.
According to one theory, a giraffe has antlers, tiger eyes, an elk's body, and a tail similar to that of a cow. Except for the lack of lion head and dragon scales, and the relatively long neck, it is quite consistent with the unicorn.
Hearing Lin Yuan's words, the old uncle and the others looked at each other.
Um? Is there such a thing?
Even the audience in the live broadcast room were surprised. They did not expect that giraffes would be mistaken for unicorns by people in the Ming Dynasty.
"It seems ridiculous to us now because we know it is a giraffe. If we had never seen a giraffe, we would probably make random guesses, right?" Lin Yuan said for the ancients.
"So, this is a painting from the Ming Dynasty?" the old uncle asked.
Lin Yuan pointed to the signature on the painting: "This is the signature of Lu Ji. Lu Ji was a court painter during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty."
Inscription, also known as signature, inscription, painting and inscription. It refers to writing the year and month, signing the name and alias, and stamping the seal on the calligraphy and painting works.
Some inscriptions also record the place of origin, age, reason for the painting, etc. If the work is a gift, the recipient's name, title, greetings, modest words, etc. must also be written. The content and format vary widely.
When the uncle saw Lin Yuan talking freely, he couldn't help but be convinced.
Please collect the new book!
(End of chapter)