White cherry blossoms danced in the air, falling brilliantly and piling up on the ground—perhaps due to the passage of cold air, a rare sight indeed, a heavy snow fell on Haishan.
Duanmu Ci stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, pondering whether or not to go out today.
"My lord," Bu Tongxun said, opening the door behind her and entering, "there's an auction at Heyuan today, and one of the items is a calligraphy work by Su Dongpo, which I hear has never been seen before—shall we go?"
Duanmu Ci turned around, "Calligraphy copybook?"
Bu Tongxun stepped forward and handed over the sticker in her hand, "This is it—"
Duanmu Ci took it; it was a promotional poster from the auction house introducing the items for sale, interspersed with information about Su Shi's calligraphy. Duanmu Ci glanced at it briefly and saw that the poster read—
"My esteemed brother: Tonight, while drinking at Hezhuang, I owe you 1,318 cash, which I will repay tomorrow. If I am short of money, I will offer two volumes of poetry and prose as collateral! Words are no proof, so I write this IOU to commemorate it. — Su Zizhan."
The IOU even bears the joint signatures of Su Zhe, Huang Tingjian, and Foyin as guarantors.
What's even more terrifying is that the stamp on the calligraphy copybook isn't a seal, but a bright red thumbprint...
Unprecedented!
Bu Tongxun found it somewhat unbelievable and also a bit funny. "I never thought that the great poet Su Dongpo would owe someone money for drinks. Shouldn't a great poet like him be able to eat and drink for free everywhere? How come someone would ask him for money? And there are even three equally famous people who acted as guarantors. Are they joking?"
Duanmu Cixin thought to himself, "It really is a joke..."
Around April of the seventh year of the Yuan You era, he, along with Su Dongpo, Su Zhe, Huang Tingjian, and Foyin, gathered at the Hezhuang Winery in Junzhou for drinks. Su Shi said he would treat, but forgot to bring money, so Duanmu Ci paid for it. That was the end of it, but the heavily intoxicated Su Shi insisted on writing an IOU, even asking the winery owner for red clay to press his fingerprint on, causing everyone to burst into laughter. They all signed as guarantors, which is how this calligraphy scroll came to be.
Duanmu Ci carefully kept the IOU as a testament to their friendship. However, after Su Dongpo passed away, Duanmu Ci returned the IOU to Su's descendants, hoping it could be buried with Su Dongpo. But unexpectedly, a thousand years later, it appeared here, right in front of him. Truly, fate is unpredictable.
Bu Tongxun, who was behind him, did not notice Duanmu Ci's absent-mindedness. She asked, "This calligraphy is very special. Shall we go to Heyuan?" She knew that her boss liked antiques very much, and he would not miss such a good treasure.
Duanmu Ci smiled, "Of course I'll go, how could I not go? It's time—"
—It's time to return it to its rightful owner.
Bu Tongxun was puzzled.
...
...
Crane Garden was a private garden built by a retired official during the Ming Dynasty. After changing hands several times, it has become an elegant place for trading antiques and curios, similar in status to Liulichang in Beijing, but with a higher level of sophistication.
Because it has a high barrier to entry.
Liulichang in Beijing is located just outside Hepingmen. A string of old shops, such as Huaiyinshanfang, Yidege, and Lifushou Bizhai, are all on that road, and no one can go there without any obstruction.
But this Crane Garden is different; it has been a place that ordinary people could not come to since three hundred years ago.
In the past, this place was frequented by high-ranking officials and nobles who would gather to compose poetry and drink wine. Now, times have changed, but the rules remain the same. Those who are not of high enough status simply cannot enter the Crane Garden. Those who can enter are either powerful officials or wealthy merchants; there is no reason for them to get in easily.
Duanmu Ci is certainly wealthy enough, but the problem is that nobody in China knows him. How can he get in?
He shared his doubts with the woman beside him, and Bu Tongxun chuckled and said, "I've already called the old butler in Chicago and arranged his identity. Your current identity is R. Ci, the direct descendant of the Duanmu family, a prominent Chinese-American family. He has a noble status and is very interested in the historical artifacts and antiques of his homeland, so he wanted to come to Crane Garden to take a look—how about that excuse?"
"Excellent, thoughtful."
Duanmu Ci lowered his head and flipped through the catalog in his hand. The items in the catalog were truly a riot of colors: a Qing Dynasty Qianlong period ruby-red monk's cap teapot, a Song Dynasty Ru ware lotus-shaped warming bowl, a Qing Dynasty Yongzheng period blue-ground enamel dragon-patterned lantern vase... each one of them was of noble origin and extremely expensive. Below the pictures were Chinese and English texts for comparison, presumably to facilitate wealthy foreign buyers.
Duanmu Ci looked at the crowd outside the car window and recalled that he had also attended several auctions in Chicago.
Chicago doesn't have a permanent auction house, so auctions are usually held at the Chicago Civic Opera, which still retains its old-fashioned Chicago style. Duanmu Ci first visited in the 1950s; the opera house, with its Greek-style columns, was crowded with urban celebrities and fashionable women, and waiters loudly read out the names of their distinguished guests while looking at their name cards.
Duanmu Ci had purchased several pieces of porcelain there, and occasionally he would run into old acquaintances from decades ago. Whenever this happened, he would explain that he was the son of their old friend, and the old acquaintances would exclaim in amazement, saying things like, "You two look so alike."
As he was lost in thought, Bu Tongxun leaned over and reminded him, "Because sensitive antiques are often auctioned here, such as stolen artifacts, Heyuan's auctions are usually kept secret and not announced to the public. Only people in certain circles will get the news. You should be extra careful, sir. Guests who are not discreet will not receive a second invitation."
Duanmu Ci's head was also relieved of a doubt in his mind—that is, auction houses that can auction high-priced antiques such as Ru ware, enamelware and Su Shi calligraphy at large prices, even if they are not as good as Sotheby's and Christie's, are still close, so why have they been so unknown?
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