Huadu is a window city for opening up to the outside world, and one of the few windows in the 1960s, as it has hosted the Canton Fair since 1957.
The Canton Fair is for foreign guests from all over the world.
Therefore, the decoration of the Huadu Cultural Relics Store is very luxurious. The floors are all wooden floors, which are waxed and shiny, adding a bit of luxury.
There are large cabinets and large glass windows, and exquisite antiques are displayed in the cabinets. When illuminated by bright light, it looks very high-end.
Southerners have long been aware of product packaging and know how to capture the psychology of consumers.
For example, the antique shops in Beijing are all made up of wooden shelves with antiques placed there haphazardly, making it look like the Yiwu small commodity market, which makes outsiders lose interest at first sight.
Manager Tao secretly despised Lin Sanqi's inexperienced look, but he still introduced him enthusiastically:
"The quantity and quality of antiques in our Huadu Antiques Store are no less than those in the capital. We even have our own unique advantage: we have many Western antiques left behind by foreigners."
Lin Sanqi's interest grew: "Take me to see it."
There are only a few types of traditional Chinese antiques. Lin Sanqi needs to ask a professional appraiser from the auction house to select which ones will be more valuable in 50 years. His task is to take all these antiques away.
Lin Sanqi was not afraid of a car accident because all the cultural relics in the cultural relics store were either destroyed in the storm or lost overseas in the original history.
Manager Tao brought Lin Sanqi to the "Foreign Cultural Relics Area"
The most common items on display in the cabinets are oil paintings and sculptures, as well as some antique guns and the like. The variety does not seem to be as rich as that of Chinese antiques.
Lin Sanqi looked at each one of them, but in fact he knew nothing and had no way of distinguishing the authenticity.
At this time, Minister Zhao was heard jokingly saying:
"Sanqi, come and see this oil painting. It looks like a child's graffiti. My granddaughter can draw it at this level."
Lin Sanqi walked over and took a look. The painting showed a man wearing a bamboo hat, carrying paints and a drawing board, walking along a country road. In the background was a large wheat field with rich yellow and green hues.
The whole painting looks very childish. The characters in the painting don't even have facial features, and it looks very sloppy.
However, the colors of the whole painting are very bright and visually impactful, making it obvious at first glance that it is not an ordinary piece.
Lin Sanqi touched his chin and felt a little uncertain, because he still had an impression of this painting.
Once when he was surfing the Internet, he came across a post titled "Ten Masterpieces of Art That Will Never Be Seen."
The content of this post is about ten oil paintings that have been destroyed or missing, each of which is priceless.
The oil painting in front of Lin Sanqi now seems to be one of them, "The Painter on His Way to Work". Legend has it that this painting was destroyed in a fire during World War II.
If this painting is really a work of Van Gogh, it would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Lin Sanqi thought, no matter whether it was true or not, he had to get it anyway. If it was really an authentic Van Gogh work, he would make a fortune.
Thinking of this, Lin Sanqi became more interested in the Western paintings in the Huadu Cultural Relics Store, and began to look at them carefully one by one.
Then I saw a painting covered with a piece of cloth, which looked mysterious.
Lin Sanqi asked in confusion, "Manager Tao, what's so special about this painting? Why is it covered up?"
In reality, Lin Sanqi was wondering if this was some kind of ghost painting. If the cloth cover was lifted, a foreign woman would appear at night, wandering around the antique shop and singing in the window at midnight.
If this is true, then he cannot accept this painting, because online novels are not allowed to write about ghosts and monsters, and animals cannot become spirits after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Manager Tao broke out in a cold sweat when he heard Lin Sanqi's words:
"Commissioner Lin, this painting is somewhat immoral. We can't easily display it. We only display it when foreign guests come to visit. Normally, even our staff are not allowed to look at it."
Lin Sanqi's eyes lit up again. It was good to be immoral. He just liked vulgar things.
Just think about it, Western oil paintings like to paint naked men and women the most. It's not just oil paintings, sculptures are the same too. This is their art.
But in the eyes of conservative Chinese people, it is fortunate that it was painted by a foreigner. If it was painted by a Chinese, believe it or not, he would be dragged out and shot three hundred times in minutes?
Even in 1979, when the new terminal of Capital Airport was completed, some murals were needed for decoration.
At that time, the famous painter Yuan Yunsheng was invited to join. After careful consideration, he decided to paint the "Water-Splashing Festival" to reflect the Dai people's pursuit and yearning for freedom and happiness.
Logically speaking, his idea was very good, but when he was creating it, he boldly painted three bathing women into his work.
A woman bathing must be completely naked...
Now, the storm caused by these three women taking a bath was simply unimaginable, and in the end even the top leader at the time came out.
Who would have thought that the biggest boss would be alarmed just for a painting?
Later, Boss Huo was also invited to invest in the mainland, but he was unsure, fearing that the situation would suddenly change and his investment would be wasted.
So according to his recollection: every time he arrived in BJ, he would first go to see if Yuan Yunsheng's "Water Splashing Festival" was still there. As long as it was still there, he would feel more at ease.
This happened in 1979, or in the 1980s. Now think about it, it's 1962, so the level of conservatism would be even higher.
While others didn't even dare to look at it, Lin Sanqi, as a time traveler, was very bold.
Are you kidding me? Which man doesn’t have hundreds of GB on his hard drive?
"Manager Tao, today we're looking at this painting from the perspective of artistic appreciation. Come on, we're gentlemen and we're honest. If we don't dare to look at it, it would seem like we have something to hide."
Manager Tao had naturally seen this oil painting many times, but always when no one was around.
"Okay, since Commissioner Lin wants to see it, then we'll take a look. But don't let anyone else know."
Lin Sanqi thought to himself, not only will I spread it, I'm also going to sell it for money.
When they heard that they could see foreign fruit paintings, the staff who were originally wandering around the display cabinets came over quietly. Even Minister Zhao and Director Yang pretended to be accompanying them, but their eyes were shining.
Manager Tao pulled the cloth aside, and everyone exclaimed, "Oh~~!"
The painting shows a man and a woman facing each other. As expected, they are not wearing any clothes, and their upper bodies are exposed, especially the girl's breasts, which are white and big.
But the lower body is cleverly covered with a silk scarf.
Even if Lin Sanqi has no artistic talent, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with this painting. This is a very typical Western painting method.
But the other mainland staff members were all drooling and staring in amazement, as if their souls had been melted into the painting.
Lin Sanqi took a glance and thought, if I give you a few copies of Playboy, will these people go crazy?
Of course, the most likely possibility is that he will be taken out and shot first...
There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people. What looks like a lustrous oil painting to others looks like green US dollars to Lin Sanqi.
Lin Sanqi took out his cell phone and took a picture of the oil painting.
Manager Tao was a little surprised and thought to himself, this camera is so strange. It is so thin. How to install the film?
Before anyone could ask, Lin Sanqi ran away to urinate:
"Everyone, wait a moment. I need to go to the restroom. Manager Tao, where is the restroom?"
A staff member came over and said, "Commissioner Lin, I'll take you there."
"Okay, thank you."
As soon as he entered the bathroom, Lin Sanqi quickly traveled back to 2014. At this time, his mobile phone had a signal, and Lin Sanqi quickly searched on Baidu.
"Haha, it really is this one."
The search results show that the name of this oil painting is "Spring" and the artist is the 18th-century French painter Antoine Watteau.
The painter created paintings depicting the four seasons at that time, including "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" and "Winter". Among these four paintings, only one, "Summer", has been preserved to this day.
"Autumn" and "Winter" were missing from the beginning.
"Spring" was discovered during World War II, but later disappeared mysteriously. It is estimated that it was brought to China by a wealthy Jewish refugee at that time.
Lin Sanqi didn't care about this kind of history. He wasn't even interested in traditional Chinese ink painting, let alone Western painting.
He only cares about money.
How much can it sell for?
Art is bullshit, money is king. (End of this chapter)
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