"Director, I'm their aunt, and the guy next to me is their brother. We're from Yanjia Village in Sanye Town."
"Villagers?" Zhuang Yan looked them up and down at their attire. If they hadn't said it, he really couldn't tell that they were from the countryside.
"Oh no! This might have backfired, right?" Chun Xiao was a little worried. "They're from the village. They just run a small business and their family is doing OK. The boy who wanted to study passed the exam last year, so I'm thinking of sending him to the county town for further studies."
"So you are a student. It's good to be enterprising." Zhuang Yan smiled, "But I set a rule long ago. The prerequisite for admission is that you have to have a painting that catches my eye. This rule cannot be broken." If he hadn't set a rule, he would have been outnumbered long ago.
"Painting?" Chunxiao and Shuwen exchanged glances. "What kind of painting?"
"There aren't many paintings that I like. Please go back. It's not too late to come back if you really find a good painting." He was about to leave.
"Director Zhuang, why don't you take a look at the students first and see if they meet your admission requirements. We will definitely try our best to find a painting. But if we find one, it will be useless if you are not satisfied with the student." What if the other party sees that Yan Qi and the others are promising talents and makes an exception to accept them, then what does it matter whether the painting is done or not?
Zhuang Yan looked at the two of them and stroked his beard. "Okay, then bring the person over here tomorrow and let me see him!"
“Thank you, Director!”
When the two came out of the Congwen Pavilion, they were a little confused. "Auntie, we don't know what kind of paintings the curator likes. How can we find them?"
She had heard that this scholar was fond of calligraphy and painting, but it was difficult to handle the situation now. "Let's start by asking around and ask who he interacts with and what his hobbies are. Maybe we can find out a thing or two."
It's hard to say about this painting, though. I've heard some famous paintings are priceless. "Go to Xiaoqi and the others later and ask for a day off. Bring them to see the curator tomorrow, and I'll go look for the painting."
The two returned to the car dealership. Everyone was there. Seeing their attire, Duo'er was the first to run over. "Wow, Auntie, you look so beautiful today. Did you go shopping for clothes and jewelry?" She then looked at Shuwen and said, "Brother, you look like a city squire."
"When our little sister and Shuwen are dressed like this, they are no less beautiful than the young ladies and young masters of wealthy families." Tian walked around them and asked, "Why are you dressed so formally today?"
"My aunt said she was afraid people would look down on her, so she dressed up and went over."
"So how did it go?"
Shu Wen lowered his head. "The director is quite kind, but there are rules in the museum. They say that you have to have a painting that can catch the director's eye."
Everyone was shocked. "Paintings, what kind of paintings? Can we buy one? How much does it cost?" Wang asked.
"I'm afraid it'll require a masterpiece by a famous artist." Chun Xiao smiled comfortingly at everyone, "Tomorrow, have Shuwen and the others take Xiaoqi and Wuzhong to meet the curator first. I'll ask about the painting first. There's always a way."
For fear of wasting time, Chunxiao asked Shuwen to go to the academy in the afternoon to inquire about the situation, while she took people to the county town to purchase the items on the list first, and also went to the art shop to inquire about the situation.
The problem now was that she knew nothing about the paintings of this era. Forget about authenticity, she even had to find out which masterpieces were the best. And she had to find something that caught her eye, which was absolutely impossible to find in ordinary art shops. It was truly difficult. If she had known earlier, she would have just ordered a few hundred taels of silver for admission. It would have been much easier.
She inquired for the whole afternoon and mingled with the scholars in the art shop and finally learned some basic information, but she was still at a loss.
The next day, she went to the art market she had inquired about, this time dressed simply, the same clothes she had worn when she arrived. She didn't want to be taken advantage of. Xiaohua didn't follow her today, but went with Tian and the others to help her go shopping.
The painting market was a bit like a modern commercial street, with paintings and calligraphy covering the entire street. It was quite crowded, and there were even stalls selling paintings and calligraphy. She visited several shops, observing the reactions of those buying paintings, and gradually learned which ones were good and which were fakes.
Suddenly, she saw many people entering and leaving a shop. She went over to take a look and, oh my god, her life was saved. There was an auction going on in the lobby. Isn't this like searching for something after searching everywhere, and finally finding it without any effort? The items being auctioned must be of good quality since they were so sought after by so many people. However, she was stopped by someone as soon as she arrived at the door.
"Miss, the entry fee is 2 taels of silver. You must know this rule."
"I haven't been here for a long time, I forgot about it." She took out two taels of silver from her pocket and went in. There were already many people sitting in the lobby, both old and young guests, but there were very few female guests.
The waiter quickly brought her a stool. The people in the front row were so enthusiastic that they seemed ready to snatch the painting away.
"I, I made the first offer, so this painting should be mine."
"It always goes to the highest bidder. It doesn't matter what comes first, what comes later. I'll offer 160 taels of silver."
"170 taels."
"A customer has offered 170 taels. Is there anyone who wants it?"
Although Chunxiao had just arrived and didn't understand the situation, she saw the fierce competition in front and thought that this must be a good painting. She stood up and said, "I'll offer 200 taels." Everyone turned around when they heard the voice behind them. Seeing that it was a stranger, they were curious for two seconds and turned their heads away again.
"I'll offer 210 taels."
"220 taels."
She wanted to continue bidding, but the noise in front of her drowned out her voice. By the time she reacted, the painting had already been sold for 250 taels.
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