After dinner, Lin Kucan and his son Lin Sanqi rode their bicycles to Wangzhima Hutong with two large bags tied to the back seat.
Wangzhima Hutong is not far to the east of the Chinese Medicine Hospital, and it takes ten minutes to get there by bike. Lin Kucan asked passers-by and then found a dilapidated hut.
Lin Kucan knocked on the door, and Lin Sanqi followed behind with two cloth bags on his back.
When the door opened, a thin old man was revealed. He was about 70 years old. Lin Sanqi could see clearly that the moment the door opened, the old man's face was very alert.
But soon, the old man narrowed his eyes and looked humble:
"Isn't this Doctor Lin? Why are you here? Oh, Dean Lin, you're here too."
Lin Kucan said with a smile: "Old Tang, excuse me for disturbing you. My youngest son has some personal matters that he wants to ask you for help. I hope I won't disturb your rest."
"No, please don't bother me. I can't wait to welcome you. Please come in."
Tang An dodged and bent over as if to invite him in. Lin Kucan smiled, nodded, and walked in. Lin Sanqi quickly followed.
After entering the house, under the dim light, Lin Sanqi discovered that the Tang family's house consisted of two rooms. The house was tidy and there didn't seem to be any valuables. The only special thing was that there were many wooden boxes stacked in the house.
Old Man Tang turned around and took out two tea bowls from the box. After cleaning them, he poured boiled water into them and served them:
"Doctor Lin, Dean Lin, I, an old man, don't have any tea to offer at home. I only have a bowl of boiled water. Please don't be offended, haha."
Lin Sanqi took the yellowish-brown tea bowl and found it interesting.
Because if it is modern tea set, it is often enamel cups with lids, and that style is used in every meeting.
If it is antique tea sets, Lin Sanqi has quite a few of them. They are generally blue and white porcelain, or directly solid color porcelain, but the tea bowl in his hand clearly has poems and seals on it, which is very rare.
Looking more closely, Lin Sanqi saw the seal that read: "Inscribed by the Emperor in the Small Spring of the Bingyin Year of the Qianlong Emperor"
"Hey, Lao Tang, your tea bowl is really special. Don't tell me it's just some ordinary stuff you bought from the supply and marketing cooperative."
Old Man Tang was stunned. "Oh, Dean Lin also likes this kind of old stuff?"
Lin Sanqi jokingly said, "I like it, I like it very much. This is a treasure of our country that has been there for thousands of years, and it is in the new society. If it were in the old society, it would have been worth a lot more."
Lin Kucan reminded him, "Talking about money is vulgar."
Lao Lin was afraid that this old man Tang was a hypocrite. What if he was showing off on purpose? If you said it was worthless or not, it would be unpleasant. Old Beijingers have bad tempers. They would dislike you and would not discuss anything with you.
Who knew that Old Man Tang would just laugh:
"It's better to talk about money. Doctor Lin and my junior brother Tan are from the same hometown and know my past. We sold these antiques back then for money. My junior brother was the same. He sold a lot of antiques to go to Hong Kong.
We don't have the noble character of Zhang Boju, a true gentleman who didn't like to talk about money. He was willing to spend a fortune on his beloved antiques and donated them after liberation without blinking an eye. I'm just an ordinary person, and it's normal for ordinary people to talk about money.
Lin Sanqi was a time traveler and didn't have much class consciousness, so he had no feelings towards Old Man Tang, so he smiled and said:
"I've heard of Mr. Zhang Boju. Someone joked that half of the antiques in the Forbidden City were donated by him. He must have real treasures in his hands. It's really enviable."
Lin Sanqi also knew that when Mr. Zhang fell ill in his later years and needed to be hospitalized, he was not even given a ward because of his low rank. In the end, he was assigned to an eight-person room, which he suffered a lot.
To be selfish, if Mr. Zhang still has some antiques and bric-a-brac on hand, he could just take any one out and sell it. Would it be so serious that he couldn't even stay in a better hospital ward?
So deep down, Lin Sanqi, like Tang An, is not a selfless person, and is destined not to become a gentleman.
Old Man Tang felt the same way, thinking he and Lin Sanqi were of the same kind, so he didn't hide it anymore:
"President Lin, the teacup in your hand is of great significance. It was specially made by Emperor Qianlong's imperial teahouse. Its official name is the 'Three Purities Tea Bowl.' You can see it has a complete poem of 22 lines and 110 characters written on it, personally by Emperor Qianlong.
There's a pricing rule in the antique world: anything connected to the palace is a treasure. If it was personally used by the emperor or empress, it's a rare treasure. This Sanqing tea bowl was used by Emperor Qianlong and is priceless.
Ahem, it was priceless back then, but in this new society, it's just an ordinary tea bowl. Now in the hands of an old man like me, it's like a pearl covered in dust. If Doctor Lin and Dean Lin hadn't come here today, I wouldn't have taken it out so easily."
Lin Kucan's character is well-known, which is a great honor, at least greater than that of Lin Sanqi, the dean.
Lin Sanqi was a little amazed when holding the tea bowl, thinking that if this bowl was sold at an auction decades later, it would probably be worth hundreds of millions.
This was truly an era where money could be picked up everywhere. No wonder Ma Weiduo was able to complete the original capital accumulation in the 1980s and then soar to success.
Lin Kucan put down the tea bowl and said with a smile:
"Lao Tang, I came here this time because I have a small favor to ask you. Qizi, take out the things."
Lin Sanqi quickly took out two bottles of Moutai from his backpack. Both were the "Golden Wheel" Moutai produced for export in 1957.
But what’s interesting is that one of the bottles is new, just bought from the Maotai Distillery, and was produced only 5 years ago.
The other bottle was purchased from the market at a high price in 2014 and is considered aged Moutai.
Lin Sanqi handed over two bottles of Moutai and said with a smile, "Master Tang, please take a look at these two bottles first."
Old Man Tang took the Moutai, put it on the table, held his eyes, looked left and right, and then his eyes, which had originally been calm, became confused.
"It's strange. These two bottles of Moutai were produced in the same year and have identical packaging. They're definitely from the same batch. How come this bottle looks so new while the other looks like it's about 50 years old?"
Lin Sanqi thought to himself, it seems that this old man really has a sharp eye. This is not a difference of more than 50 years.
"Tsk, this doesn't feel right. This bottle of old Moutai doesn't look like it was deliberately aged. It should have been aged naturally year after year. But it certainly can't have aged to this extent in just five years. Someone must have deliberately aged it.
Dean Lin, forgive my poor eyesight, but I really can't tell how this Moutai was made to look old. The method used is extraordinary, it's simply superb, with no flaws, much better than mine.
It's strange. When did such a talented person appear in China? With such advanced technology, why would he target an ordinary bottle of Moutai? I can't figure it out. I really can't figure it out.
These days, a bottle of Moutai costs 4 yuan, and an ordinary worker can buy seven or eight bottles with his salary. It is certainly not considered a precious wine.
So Old Man Tang had no doubt that the wine was fake because no one was counterfeiting it.
Lin Sanqi smiled and thought that it was because it was not artificially aged, but had been naturally weathered for more than 50 years, so naturally there was no trace of deliberate aging.
"Master Tang, these two bottles of Moutai are actually just samples. I have a large number of Moutai bottles on hand, and they all look like this..."
(Lin Sanqi nodded at the bottle of New Moutai)
“But now I want all Moutai to look like this.”
(Lin Sanqi tapped the old bottle of Moutai again)
"Master Tang, let's be frank. I know you are a very capable person. You were a big shot in the old city back then. It is said that there is no antique that you cannot make, especially calligraphy and porcelain.
You see, I want to make this Moutai look old. The outer paper packaging, the pottery and porcelain inside all need to be aged. But don't worry, I got this Moutai abroad, and I will definitely not cheat people in China."
Old Man Tang carefully compared the two bottles of Moutai again, then said with a smile:
"Dean Lin, since you've said that, I have nothing to hide. It just so happens that if you didn't come to me, I'd come to you and ask you for something. Don't worry, it's just the old packaging of Moutai liquor. I'll take care of it."
Lin Kushen and Lin Sanqi were a little surprised, wondering what this old man wanted from them?
But when it comes to helping each other, you help me and I help you, and we owe each other a favor, so we can do our best.
"President Lin, there are different ways to achieve aging. What are your specific requirements?"
Lin Sanqi thought for a moment:
"As for specific requirements, there are indeed two. I have millions of bottles of Moutai on hand, perhaps even tens of millions, so the aging method you give me should be able to handle a large number of bottles at once, rather than aging them one by one, which would be too large a project.
Another requirement is that I want to age some wines for 50 years, others for 60, 70, and so on. So it would be best if I could have several aging methods so I can age them in batches and present different vintages.”
Mr. Tang didn't even think about it. After hearing Lin Sanqi's request, he smiled slightly:
"President Lin, your request is actually the most basic one in the antique business. Don't worry, I have an exclusive secret recipe. When the time comes, you can find a sealed warehouse and place the Moutai you want to make old.
Then I will give you a kind of medicinal powder. You dissolve it in water and then use a stove to cook and smoke it, 24 hours a day, for three days and three nights. By then, whether it is the paper packaging or the ceramic bottle, everything will become like this."
(Old Man Tang points to the old bottle of Moutai on the table)
"And I can also mix the powder based on the age you want. I can make it as old as you want. I guarantee that even the people at the Moutai Distillery won't be able to recognize it after it's finished."
Lin Sanqi was delighted to hear this, thinking that although people say that the antique counterfeiting technology of decades later is very advanced, it is actually far less advanced than that of the counterfeiters in the Republic of China.
People are all greedy. Lin Sanqi rolled his eyes and came up with a new idea:
"Master Tang, can Moutai be aged? For example, could this year's new wine be made 20 years old?" (End of chapter)
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