Chapter 16 I Have Someone I Like
Yan Ruyi arranged to meet He Zaixian and Li Guangyan at Yunxiang Teahouse.
He Zaixian and Li Guangyan stayed at Mingchun Hotel, which was not far from Yunxiang Teahouse. When Yan Ruyi arrived, the two had already booked a private room at Yunxiang Teahouse and were waiting for her.
Li Guangyan and He Zaixian are about the same age. It's estimated that he's been quite troubled by that painting lately, his forehead is furrowed in worry.
Without further ado, once the three met, he immediately took out the painting "Sparrows Playing with Persimmons" and unfolded it, saying, "Comrade Yan, this is the one."
This painting is a light ink wash painting, about 100 centimeters long and 50 centimeters wide. It depicts a persimmon tree with several bright red persimmons hanging on its gnarled branches. Three birds are depicted: one is about to take flight, one is standing on a branch chirping and looking around, and the other is about to peck at the fruit.
The entire painting is done entirely with ink wash, with a lot of blank space. Just looking at the painting, it is indeed a typical style of Song Dynasty ink wash painting.
Li Guangyan looked at Yan Ruyi anxiously.
Yan Ruyi shook her head, and Li Guangyan's heart sank.
Yan Ruyi hadn't returned yet, and he was getting anxious. Yesterday, he went to great lengths to ask a renowned collector of ancient paintings for help. After examining the painting, the collector said it was a forgery.
He wasn't giving up, and since Yan Ruyi happened to be back today, he brought it over again to have her take a look.
He had still held a sliver of hope, but Yan Ruyi's shake of the head shattered that last hope.
Yan Ruyi heard He Zaixian say on the phone that Li Guangyan had seen the painting "Sparrows Playing with Persimmons" at Yao Dehou's place before. At that time, he wanted to buy it from Yao Dehou, but Yao Dehou refused to sell it no matter what. About half a year later, Li Guangyan heard from someone in the circle that Yao Dehou was in urgent need of money and wanted to sell the painting "Sparrows Playing with Persimmons". He also said that many people in the circle were interested in the painting.
Li Guangyan was in the United States at the time. Fearing that the painting would be snatched away by someone else, he abandoned his business and rushed back from the United States, offering a high price to buy the painting.
Something just doesn't sound right.
However, Li Guangyan realized it himself without needing anyone to remind him.
This is probably a trap set by Yao Dehou and others, just waiting for him to take the bait.
He did indeed fall for it, spending a full 2,000 yuan to buy a fake.
Li Guangyan was so angry he almost had a heart attack on the spot.
Although Fan Songshi was not well-known, he genuinely liked his painting style and truly loved this painting. He bought it intending to collect it and pass it down to future generations, but little did he know that it turned out to be a fake.
Losing money is a small matter; what's a big deal is that Yao Dehou is treating him like a fool!
Yan Ruyi felt that the name Yao Dehou sounded somewhat familiar.
After thinking for a while, I remembered that Shen Zhimin had a distant cousin named Yao Dehou.
Yan Ruyi remembered Yao Dehou because Shen Zhimin highly praised this relative, saying that he was a private collector with many priceless collections at home.
He even said he'd take her to his house to see his collection of treasures sometime, but before that even happened, they broke up.
The names matched, and the numerous "collections" in the house also matched. Yao Dehou, who sold the fakes to Li Guangyan, was very likely Shen Zhimin's distant relative.
Shen Zhimin's father works at the city art museum. She had heard Shen Zhimin mention before that his father loved painting, especially flowers and birds...
Yan Ruyi immediately perked up and gave Li Guangyan a suggestion: "If this painting was indeed copied by someone hired by Yao Dehou, then the person who copied it should have a very strong foundation in art, and should have frequent contact with Yao Dehou."
Beijing is only so big. If we search according to these criteria and put in some effort, it shouldn't be too difficult to find this person.
He Zaixian agreed, “Xiao Yan is right. Yao Dehou has a bad reputation. He has cheated people with fakes many times. He doesn’t have the ability himself, so he must have to find someone to help him. These people should have a long-term cooperative relationship with him and should have a good personal relationship. As long as we find the person who forged the painting, we can follow this line to find out about Yao Dehou’s fake painting and fake sales.”
There are three principles in the antique trade: no returns, no guarantees of authenticity, and no price inquiries.
Once you pay, it's considered that the money and goods are settled. Even if you buy a fake, you can only accept your bad luck.
This is the rule in this circle, so no matter how angry Li Guangyan is, he can't go directly to Yao Dehou to settle accounts.
However, if someone sells counterfeit goods repeatedly, their reputation in this industry will be ruined.
Yao Dehou has a terrible reputation in the industry, but Li Guangyan is rarely in China, which is why he was fooled by him.
This was the first time in Li Guangyan's life that he had been made a fool of. He couldn't swallow this insult and couldn't sit still any longer. He immediately wanted to find someone to help him find the person who forged the painting. He even said fiercely, "Even if it means giving up business, I will find that person."
He was fooled, but he still paid Yan Ruyi the full 200 yuan he owed her.
"Comrade Yan, this is my thank-you fee. I hope to have the opportunity to learn from you again in the future."
Li Guangyan and He Zaixian thought the same thing: as long as they wanted to continue collecting, they had to maintain a good relationship with Yan Ruyi.
Just like this time, when he bought the painting from Yao Dehou, if he had asked Yan Ruyi to help him check it out beforehand, he wouldn't have been deceived.
If you want to build good relationships, spending money is the easiest way.
He's a businessman, so naturally he'll do whatever's simple and convenient.
He Zaixian and Li Guangyan left in a hurry without even taking a sip of tea.
The three of them left the teahouse together, said goodbye at the entrance, and went their separate ways.
This scene was witnessed by Shen Zhimin's mother, Wang Lanying, and Tang Yanna.
Shen Zhimin and Tang Yanna are dating right now.
Wang Lanying was very satisfied with Tang Yanna, her future daughter-in-law, and wanted to build a good relationship with her. Just then, Shen Zhimin's father made a small fortune, so on Sunday, she asked Shen Zhimin to invite Tang Yanna out. She then insisted on taking Tang Yanna to a department store, saying she wanted to buy her clothes as a gift.
The two spent half the afternoon browsing in the department store, returning empty-handed.
Wang Lanying disliked the clothes in the department store, so she browsed the entire clothing section but didn't buy a single item.
Wang Lanying complained that one style was bad and made her look old, or that one color didn't suit her. She spent half the afternoon shopping but still couldn't find one she liked.
The sales clerk kept rolling her eyes at them, and Tang Yanna couldn't take it anymore, so she made an excuse and left the department store with Wang Lanying.
On the bus, Wang Lanying was still complaining about the department store. "We're such a small place, the clothes they sell here aren't good. I heard that the clothes in Shanghai are nice. When you and Zhimin have some free time, I'll have Zhimin take you to Shanghai to buy some clothes. We can even buy our wedding supplies then. Our family isn't short of money."
Tang Yanna blushed when her future mother-in-law showed her such care, and said shyly, "It's still too early to get married."
Wang Lanying smiled kindly, "It's not too early. Zhimin told us yesterday that he wants to settle things between you two as soon as possible. When you go home, ask your parents for their opinions and see when our two families can formally meet to settle things between you two."
While talking to Tang Yanna, she felt that someone on the roadside looked familiar, so she nudged Tang Yanna and asked, "Do you think that's Yan Ruyi?"
Tang Yanna turned her head and saw, "It's her."
Wang Lanying asked in confusion, "Those two people look like foreigners in their clothes. Why is she hanging out with two foreigners?"
Tang Yanna was not keen to talk about Yan Ruyi with Wang Lanying, and said perfunctorily, "Perhaps it's about work."
"She's just a saleswoman at the counter, and it's Sunday today. What work could possibly come up to her? Is she thinking of going abroad? Old Song's daughter next door always wanted to go abroad, but she ended up marrying an overseas Chinese man who was older than her father and got her out of the country. Is Yan Ruyi thinking the same thing, wanting to marry a foreigner? Look at those two foreigners, either of them is old enough to be her father."
Tang Yanna thought it was impossible.
Although she disliked Yan Ruyi because of Shen Zhimin.
But let's put it another way. Based on her understanding of Yan Ruyi, it didn't seem like Yan Ruyi would just marry any old man in order to go abroad.
He hesitated before saying, "She doesn't seem like that kind of person."
Wang Lanying snorted, "That's because she hides it well. Most people can't see through her, but Zhimin saw right through her. Otherwise, Zhimin would have broken up with her. Our Shen family can't afford a daughter-in-law like that."
She even had the nerve to tell her two brothers to beat up Zhimin.
They even threatened Zhimin, preventing him from talking to them.
When she couldn't guess who hit her?
Her husband, Zhimin, is kind-hearted and has never offended anyone except for his breakup with Yan Ruyi.
If it wasn't Yan Ruyi's two brothers who beat him up, then who else could it be!
She broke up with Zhimin and then immediately started dating two elderly foreign men.
She seemed quite familiar with those two people; perhaps she had already gotten involved with them before breaking up with Zhimin.
You can know a person's face but not their heart!
Song Yiping returned to Beijing as dusk was falling. As soon as he entered the house, Dr. Fang made all the arrangements, saying, "Everything is arranged, we're just waiting for you to come back."
Song Yiping had long forgotten about the blind date and asked his mother, "What's settled?"
"A blind date... I knew you didn't take it seriously. We agreed before you went on your business trip that we'd meet the girl when you got back. We even set the time and place: 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Guangming Cinema. Dr. Liu's hospital is giving out movie tickets, and she got me two tickets together."
Fang Yuru took a movie ticket from the coffee table and handed it to Song Yiping, "You are seat 11 in row 8, and the girl is seat 12 in row 8."
Yuexiang Restaurant is right next to the movie theater, so you can eat there after the movie. After dinner, you can take a stroll in Yuehu Park with the girl, maybe go boating or something. By the time you come out of the park, it'll be almost dinner time. We've booked a private room at Siji Chun Restaurant; just tell the waiter your surname is Song, and they'll know. After dinner, if the girl isn't tired, you can take her for a walk and chat. If she's tired, you can take her home. It's up to you to decide what to do."
Yuexiang Restaurant and Sijichun Restaurant are both upscale establishments with pleasant environments, so dining here would be a respectable choice.
Fang Yuru spoke rapidly, one sentence after another, and Song Yiping couldn't even get a word in edgewise.
After saying that, Fang Yuru patted Song Yiping again, "Son, behave well tomorrow, be more perceptive, don't be like a blockhead, you can't even speak properly and you have no sense of propriety. Girls these days don't like people like that, they prefer someone who can talk and be eloquent."
Song Yiping: "...Why didn't you discuss it with me beforehand?"
Fang Yuru glared at him. "Did I ask you to discuss this beforehand so you could find another excuse to back out?"
"I have to go to work tomorrow."
"Don't try to fool me. You just got back from your business trip and you can take a day off tomorrow. I saw your brigade commander when I got off work, and I've already greeted him."
Song Yiping, "..."
He decided to be honest with his mother, "I have someone I like."
A note from the author:
----------------------
The people and paintings are fictionalized based on historical records; please do not attempt to verify them!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com