When Yi Anan entered the room, she saw the large table with brushes, a thermos and a basin of water laid out on it.
"This is..." Yi Anan asked curiously.
Old Mrs. Tao's eyes fell on the incense burner in Yi An'an's hand: "Where did you get this incense burner?"
Yi Anan quickly showed the incense burner to Old Lady Tao, "I bought it on Heilongjiang yesterday. Actually, I've seen this incense burner before, but I just had an impression of it. When you showed me the photo last night, I remembered it. I'm afraid it's not... I didn't dare to say more. I saw it yesterday and bought it for three yuan."
"How much did you say?" Old Mrs. Tao was stunned. "Three?"
"Yes, it costs more than a hundred. I'll bargain for three more." Yi Anan said.
Old Mrs. Tao hesitated for a moment and said, "You managed to get away with great difficulty yesterday, didn't you?"
This time, Yi An'an didn't need to answer, Lu Changfeng rushed to say: "No, I encountered two robbers yesterday and finally escaped."
Old Mrs. Tao nodded: "This price is just a bait. This thing will have to be returned sooner or later!"
Yi Anan was stunned for a moment: "Going back?"
"You've just started this business and don't know the rules. This looks like a big leak, but it's actually just waiting for people to be fooled and then find a way to pay it back, unless your background is strong enough!" said Old Lady Tao.
"Is this thing real?" Yi Anan asked.
"It's real, it's an incense burner from the Republic of China period. You see, there's a little dent underneath. I accidentally bumped into it some time ago. I didn't expect to see it again after a few days!" Old Mrs. Tao sighed. She was a little hesitant about dealing with the ancient painting, but now she has made up her mind.
"It seems that you and I are really destined to meet. I have been looking for this thing for several days but couldn't find it. You just took a look at it and found it back." Old Mrs. Tao was very relieved. "Although I don't know if I can keep it, I will be satisfied if you can let me take a look at it before I leave here!"
Yi Anan said: "Those people are arrogant, they can't just come to my house and rob!"
Old Mrs. Tao shook her head: "I advise you to return it. I'm afraid it will cause you more trouble."
When Lu Changfeng heard this, he said, "Yes, An An, it was so dangerous last night. I think this thing was used to set a trap. They will not give up if they lose this thing and their way of making money."
Yi Anan frowned. She didn't expect that she would encounter a trick of getting something for nothing on her first try.
"At least you won't lose the three pieces." Old Mrs. Tao said, "Just take it back, and he will definitely be willing to return the three pieces to you."
Yi Anan had no choice but to nod.
"By the way, let me show you something!" Old Mrs. Tao put the incense burner aside, got up and went to the bookshelf, took down a box, and opened it carefully.
Inside was an ancient painting. The scroll was relatively intact, but when the painting was opened, it was completely black.
"This is..." Yi An'an was stunned, "This painting is too dirty!"
"It needs to be restored because it's dirty!" said Old Mrs. Tao. "This is an ancient painting from the Ming Dynasty. It's a pity that it wasn't well preserved and now it's in this state. But then again, it's because it's so dirty that you can't see its original appearance. This painting can't be in my hands."
Yi Anan understood what Old Lady Tao meant.
"Can the dirt be repaired like this?" Yi An'an asked.
Old Mrs. Tao nodded, pointed at the thermos and basin and said, "Today I will show you what a miracle is!"
As Old Lady Tao spoke, she took a brush from the pen holder, dipped it in boiling water, and then dripped it onto the ancient painting, washing it non-stop.
Yi Anan was shocked. The painting was made of paper, and Old Lady Tao actually used boiling water to wash the painting core!
Lu Changfeng was very surprised and couldn't help but go over to look.
Although Mrs. Tao was over 100 years old, her hand holding the pen did not tremble at all. Her wrist was stiff, but her movements were gentle and she slowly rinsed the stain clean.
After changing several basins of water until the washed water became clear, Mrs. Tao took a soft absorbent towel and slowly soaked up the moisture on the painting.
After the water was almost absorbed, although the paper of the painting by Old Mrs. Tao was still old, at least the ink, seals and inscriptions were all brand new.
Lu Changfeng looked at the signature and was stunned for a moment: "I have seen the name of this master before at the site of Yancheng County."
Yi Anan took a closer look at the signature, which seemed to be the two words "英".
Yi Anan was a little surprised. Although she didn't know much about antiques, she remembered watching a TV auction once. A painting by Ying was once auctioned for more than 20 million. Looking at this painting again, it seemed that the style and theme of the painting at the auction were very similar.
"This is a section of the Song Dynasty's "Auspicious Picture" copied by Ying. The picture is divided into two sections, only one of which is left. Three sections were collected by a hero, and only this section is in circulation among the people." said Old Mrs. Tao.
Yi An'an was stunned. How could Old Lady Tao just take such a valuable painting so casually?
"I originally wanted to keep the true appearance of this painting hidden forever, but I was afraid that it would be ruined by being treated as waste. Since I agreed to be your master, I must teach you some real skills. I will use this painting to teach you the art of washing calligraphy and painting. Perhaps you will need it in the future." Old Mrs. Tao carefully explained the technique of washing flower cores, starting from the creative materials, the degree of stains, etc., using water temperature, water flow, decontamination effect, etc., combined with the situation of the work, and carefully explained.
Yi An'an became more and more excited as she listened. This was an area she had never explored before, but seeing with her own eyes the restoration of the dirty and unreadable painting, Yi An'an found it quite magical.
Old Mrs. Tao took two more ordinary paintings and asked Yi An'an to try them out. The effect was acceptable and Old Mrs. Tao was very satisfied.
Soon it was past 15 o'clock in the evening, and Mrs. Tao was obviously a little sleepy, so she asked Yi Anan to go back first.
"You'd better return this incense burner!" Old Mrs. Tao ordered.
Although Yi Anan was unwilling, she didn't want to make Old Lady Tao worry, so she nodded.
After arriving at the house, Lu Changfeng remained silent, as if he had something on his mind.
"What's wrong?" Yi Anan raised her eyes and asked.
Lu Changfeng smiled and said, "It's okay, maybe I'm just overthinking it!"
"What are you thinking about?" Yi Anan asked again, but Lu Changfeng refused to say anything and just quickly sent Yi Anan home.
The next evening, after class, Yi Anan went to return the incense burner.
Arriving at the ghost alley, Yi Anan looked at the incense burner, feeling very unwilling.
She clearly paid for the item, so why should she return it?
As Yi An'an was hesitating, she saw three people walking towards her from the other side of the alley. The one leading the group was the man who sold the incense burner to Yi An'an, and the other two were from Tianjie Dao.
When the three men saw Yi Anan, they were stunned, then turned around and ran away as if they had seen a ghost.
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