Yang Jing and Wang Jiazan had originally planned to contact the boss and his friends at noon and have a get-together, but when Cai Yi invited them to dinner, they couldn't refuse. If the elders invited them to dinner, it would be too disrespectful for the younger generation not to go.
Fortunately, the boss and his men couldn't get back to Yanjing at noon. There was another chain accident on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway. They had been stuck on the expressway for more than two hours. Judging from the situation, it would be a blessing if the road could be cleared before 1 pm.
So Yang Jing and Wang Jiazan decisively abandoned the eldest brother and the other three and followed Cai Yi to Donglaishun for mutton hotpot.
The Donglaishun that Cai Yi booked was the Donglaishun Hualong Street store, which was located on Nanheyan Street and was the closest Donglaishun to them.
Cai Yi and his colleagues are all experts from the museum. They went straight across the museum, then came out of Donghuamen, walked a short distance east along Dong'anmen Street and arrived at Nanheyan Street. They then walked south along Nanheyan Street and arrived at the hotel in a few minutes.
The whole journey is only four miles, and it can be reached in 20 minutes on foot.
It seems that this group of experts often eat here, otherwise the manager of this restaurant would not be so enthusiastic towards Cai Yi and his friends.
It’s no wonder. These experts are not short of money. They are particularly good at making money in their spare time outside of their main jobs. Even if they eat out every day, who can interfere?
He is neither greedy nor corrupt. All the money he earns is earned honestly and with his own ability. No one can find fault with him.
The lunch was quite delicious. These experts were not only good at identifying and restoring ancient porcelain, but they were also great at chatting. They talked about everything from all over the world, from ancient times to the present, as if there was nothing in the world that they didn't know.
Wang Jiazan could only pour wine in such occasions. Yang Jing was the main guest invited, and there was also Old Man Yang stabbing him behind his back, so these experts were quite polite to him.
Although Grandpa Yang and Yang Jing have no blood relationship, the more than 30-year friendship between Grandpa Yang and Yang Jing's grandfather is no joke. In particular, Yang Jing was often held in his arms by Grandpa Yang when he was a child. Therefore, the experts present have tacitly regarded Yang Jing as Grandpa Yang's closest relative.
Especially when Yang Jing talked about how his grandfather had personally written more than a dozen professional antique books before he fell ill, this group of experts were amazed.
These experts are all people who have published books, and they have published more than one or two books. They are definitely the best in the industry. Now, suddenly I heard that an old man in his 80s has written more than a dozen professional books in decades, and everyone is very impressed.
As top experts in the antique industry, they certainly understand the meaning of the phrase "Masters are among the people". For example, let's take the Qianlong blue and white five-bat-holding-Shouguan-ear vase today. The one who forged this vase, Wu Tianming, was an unknown master, but his craftsmanship was really impressive. Even Shi Shuqing, the old man, admired this antique master who was hidden among the people. This is enough to prove that there are really many unknown but highly skilled masters hidden among the Chinese people.
Yang Jing's grandfather was obviously such a master. At least before the old man fell ill, none of the experts present dared to say that they could surpass the old man.
Especially when Yang Jing talked about the painting "Birds Coming from a Dead Tree" that made his grandfather go blind and take medicine, these experts admired Yang Jing's grandfather even more.
Because of a hole he had in his eye and had to take medicine, he spent more than 20 years personally collecting samples and photos of thousands of different kinds of paper, and found out the characteristics and differences among them and compiled them into a book. This kind of persistence and perseverance alone is not something that ordinary people can do.
The only woman at the table, Professor Dong Jianli, even asked Yang Jing to take some time to bring the fake "Dead Tree and Birds" over so that she could find an old expert to take a look. Maybe he could tell which master had imitated the fake.
Professor Lu, the loudmouth, said something shocking: "Yang Zi, maybe the painting that impressed your grandfather was copied by Mr. Daqian. You should know that Mr. Daqian copied many paintings of Zhu Da. The fact that even Mr. Yang couldn't recognize the painting in your grandfather's hand shows that the painting was copied at a very high level, even higher than Zhu Da's. Anyway, if I think about it, apart from Mr. Daqian, I really can't think of anyone in China who can copy it at such a high level."
Professor Li Huibing also laughed and said, "Yang Zi, what Lao Lu said is very likely true. If your grandfather's painting is really a copy by Mr. Daqian, its value is higher than Zhu Da's original work."
Cai Yi laughed and said, "If it was really Mr. Daqian's imitation, wouldn't it be like the East is dark and the West is bright?"
Several people burst into laughter.
It's no wonder that after listening to what these people said, Yang Jing also became interested in his grandfather's painting.
"I'll use the ring to authenticate it when we get back! If the painting is really a copy by Mr. Daqian, its value is definitely not lower than Zhu Da's original, and may even be higher!"
Although there are many authentic works of Zhang Daqian left in the world, with different values, in general, the value of his paintings is higher than that of Bada Shanren. One of his paintings, Taoyuan, was sold at a price of 225 million yuan. In 2016, his imitation of Yuan Dynasty painting Ju Ran Qingfeng was sold at a price of 103 million yuan...
That was a replica of a painting. Even replicas of it could be sold for over 100 million yuan. I guess no one in the world could compare with Mr. Ba!
The meal lasted from around noon until around two in the afternoon. Several experts drank quite a bit, and Yang Jing was okay. But Wang Jiazan was the poor one, as he didn't drink a single sip of wine and only ate a belly full of food.
Wang Jiazan is a good brother. Seeing Yang Jing drinking, he naturally stopped drinking. Because he still had to drive in the afternoon, this task naturally fell on Wang Jiazan.
Several experts slowly walked back. For people in their positions, it didn't matter whether they had anything to do in the afternoon. This was not an administrative department, so the situation was relatively relaxed.
Wang Jiazan and Yang Jing said goodbye to Cai Yi, and Wang Jiazan drove Yang Jing's Wrangler directly home. The boss had called and said that the highway had been cleared and it was estimated that they would be able to get off the highway around 3 pm.
Wang Jiazan complained all the way, "I shouldn't have accompanied you out today. I saw you make eight million without making a sound, and you served a table of old men for dinner and drinks at noon. Don't you think I'm just putting myself in trouble? No, I won't drive tonight, and I won't serve you bastards! I want to drink!"
Yang Jing laughed loudly: "Okay! We'll do whatever you say tonight! All up to you!"
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