Chapter 118: Who on earth took this gilded plate?
In the hotel room, Tang Zhixu sat in front of the coffee table, supporting his chin, looking at the dark screen of his mobile phone on the table.
He wondered how Tong Zhongyuan was doing with his Go lessons. If not, he could only go to the park and try his luck with the old man. To be honest, he had originally come here just for Qin Tiancai, but now that things had gotten to this point, he found it a bit interesting and he really wanted to know.
The phone screen suddenly lit up, and Sister Zhou's name popped up on it.
The corners of Tang Zhixu's mouth slowly rose, he stretched out his hand and swiped to answer the call.
"Sister, are you looking for me? What's going on?"
The next morning, Tong Zhongyuan sat on the Chinese-style sofa in Sister Zhou's house, looking at the several award certificates hanging on the wall.
Tang Zhixu was unfolding a painting. He looked at it for a while, then rolled it up and talked to the old curator Zhou beside him.
"I think you can keep this painting for a few more years. The market hasn't been very good in the past two years. People buy antiques in prosperous times, and hoard gold in troubled times. Of course, I'm not saying we're in a troubled time. I'm just saying that calligraphy and painting are about leisurely elegance, which is the exact opposite of the price of gold. You understand."
"Xiao Tang, it's a pity that we met too late." Director Zhou shook Tang Zhixu's hand warmly.
Tang Zhixu exchanged pleasantries with him, and when he saw that the atmosphere was about right, he got down to business. Director Zhou naturally knew why they were there, and since they had already invited him to his home, he had planned to have a chat.
"I heard you were looking for a cultural relic. Now if you ask me where a particular artifact went, I honestly can't remember. There were about ten artifacts back then, but I don't know if there were any records or the owners couldn't be found, so after the movement, they became ownerless. They've been in the museum ever since. Later, Director Zhang said, 'Whatever happens, we'll find the owner and return it if possible.' By then, I was no longer managing the collection, and that job was handed over to a new young man. He was quite capable, going to each of the previous donors and asking, and eventually he actually found the owner. So, these artifacts were actually returned in two batches. Those with clear provenance are registered on the return list. The ownerless ones in the latter batch have had their names blacked out. Young people are disorganized. They just paint over things as they're taken. If the item you're looking for is in the ownerless batch, it's going to be a bit difficult."
Tang Zhixu's smile remained unchanged as he exchanged glances with Tong Zhongyuan. While the old man's words were mostly true, a few points didn't make sense. Xu Ming had clearly donated the gilded plate, so how could it have become ownerless? He didn't know if he had forgotten or was trying to conceal it. He was the good guy in this situation, so it wasn't convenient for him to come forward. It all depended on how Tong Zhongyuan asked.
Tong Zhongyuan took out the information photo of the gilded plate and handed it over from the coffee table.
"Director Zhou, this is the artifact we're looking for. I saw it on the donation list. Do you remember it?"
Director Zhou looked at the photo while wearing his reading glasses. "I do have some impression of it. Is it on the ownerless list?"
"Yes. So I'd like to ask, do you still remember the person who claimed those ownerless cultural relics?"
Tang Zhixu lowered his head, a look of surprise on his face. Why didn't Tong Zhongyuan tell the old man Xu Ming's name? If he asked him that, how could the old man remember it? Even if he did remember it, he wouldn't tell the truth.
Sure enough, Director Zhou picked up the tea, took a sip, and shook his head.
"It's been so many years, how could I remember? Besides, I didn't do this myself. I only know that our Xi'an Museum has finally sent all the cultural relics back home."
Tong Zhongyuan took out his cell phone, flipped to a photocopied document, enlarged one of the frames, and placed it in front of Director Zhou.
"You just said that unclaimed cultural relics are found by visiting each donor's home. Does this name ring a bell with you? Was the gilded plate returned to him?"
Director Zhou picked up his phone and looked at it. His face suddenly changed, and he looked at Tong Zhongyuan in shock. Tang Zhixu was shocked. Judging from the old man's expression, this guy had guessed it right?!
Director Zhou hadn't expected Tong Zhongyuan to directly ask him if he was that person. It was a true or false question. It was black or white, and he wasn't prepared at all. He didn't deny it right away, and as time dragged on, he had no idea how to explain it.
Tong Zhongyuan looked serious and said sincerely, "Don't worry. Our visit has nothing to do with the Shanghai Museum. The gilded plate belonged to our ancestor in his early years. He has passed away, and his connection with the gilded plate has ended. In order to fulfill my mother's long-cherished wish to see the ancestral gilded plate, I asked my friends at the Shanghai Museum for help. This is a purely personal act, without any official background."
Tang Zhixu squinted at him. He really did speak without thinking. The key point was that his appearance and behavior made people completely unprepared.
The clock on the wall ticked away. Director Zhou was silent for a long moment, then sighed.
“Indeed, it was returned to him.”
Tang Zhixu walked out of the Zhou residence. Not far from the entrance was a street garden. Several old men were playing chess there. Tong Zhongyuan was on the phone, speaking in a standard British accent.
He hung up the phone and came over: "Go back to the hotel to get your luggage first, and then return to Shanghai in the afternoon."
Tang Zhixu looked back at him with his hands folded. "Tell me, why do you speculate that the gilded plate is in the Xibo Museum? What's the story behind that name? What are you up to?"
Tong Zhongyuan turned his head and smiled: "What about you? Mr. Zhou obviously doesn't understand painting. How could he know the value of your painting?"
In the SUV heading to Luoyang Airport, the car was finally no longer filled with monotonous music, but with the sound of conversation.
Tong Zhongyuan said, "Han Yehua was a well-known antique dealer back then, and the gilded plate was his claim to fame. Many people were eyeing it, so they went to the Han family's ancestral home to dig. If someone found the gilded plate, they might not send it to a famous museum, as that would be tantamount to confirming the crime of theft. To avoid disaster, they might also choose to discard it. The problem is that the gilded plate is quite large, so it would be difficult to throw it away without leaving a trace. If it was discovered, the crime would be even more serious. The Xibo Museum and Atongshan Museum were both established shortly after the liberation. They are small in scale, loosely managed, and inconspicuous, making them ideal targets for handing over cultural relics without attracting attention. So I wanted to try my luck."
Tang Zhixu said, "When I was chatting with Sister Zhou, she said that her father received some calligraphy and paintings when he was the deputy director of the museum. Since there are many children in the family, it is difficult to divide the calligraphy and paintings, so he wants to convert them into cash. In the past two years, he has contacted several auction houses to inquire about the market. They just went to China Guardian Auctions and were rejected. My painting was sold at China Guardian Auctions on Sunday, and I think they might pay attention to this autumn auction, so I'm going to give it a try."
"Congratulations." Tong Zhongyuan said without any emotion, without even asking the price.
Tang Zhixu rolled his eyes.
"What's going on with the name? Are you afraid I'll let it slip?"
"I don't want to make unfounded guesses. There are 52 donors on the return list. I searched each one and found five names online. All but one served as local officials in Henan Province. These four were at the top of the list. This means the order in which the Xibo returned artifacts wasn't based on importance, donation date, or artifact serial number, but rather on the donor's official rank or social status. Among these four, one named Zhuang Xiangyan was first, and the artifacts he donated were a few common Qing Dynasty coins of little value. So, I re-read the donation list, which is sorted by donation date, and his name was last. That was in 1978, after the campaign ended. At the time, he was deputy secretary of the Xiding Municipal Party Committee."
Tang Zhixu was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it for a while, he clapped his hands in approval.
"After the Cultural Revolution, he handed over worthless artifacts to the museum? He must have known that the country had a policy of returning involuntary donated artifacts, which gave the West China Museum a legitimate excuse to return the ownerless artifacts to him. Absolutely incredible! How could these people come up with this? They're talented people. You can't accuse him of taking bribes. After all, these artifacts were ownerless, with no proof or evidence. If he said they were his, then they were his. Absolutely incredible!"
"Although the gilded plate was donated by Xu Ming, his origins are shady. As long as the West China Museum says it's been returned to its original owner, they won't pursue the matter. I suspect the same is true for the other artifact registered as ownerless. However, these are just speculations, which is why we need to meet with Mr. Zhou to gauge his reaction. Even if he didn't handle the artifact, he should know something."
Tang Zhixu slowed down and drove towards the airport terminal. He had deliberately not mentioned Xu Ming as the original donor, hoping to catch him off guard. As expected, Old Man Zhou was dealt a heavy blow.
Tong Zhongyuan glanced at the information recorded on his phone and continued, "Zhuang Xiangyan was transferred to Shanghai in 2001 and should have retired there. There's no information about his post-retirement life online. I'll leave the rest of the matter to you."
With just these words, the rare peaceful atmosphere vanished. Tang Zhixu stepped on the accelerator and drove into the airport car rental parking lot. What did he mean by asking him for help? This was Qin Tian's business, not his. It wasn't his turn to ask for help. He had almost forgotten how annoying this guy was. He had a way of making people angry.
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