Li Xu: ...
Now it was Li Xu's turn to be silent.
"Well, to be honest, I don't know whose calligraphy and painting this is."
"Dong Qichang's." The man was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.
"Who?" Li Xu felt as if he didn't hear clearly, and asked again quickly.
"Dong Qichang."
Now Li Xu heard it clearly, "So it was him."
Boy, he had heard of that name before.
The man asked again with great interest, "Do you know him?"
Li Xu nodded excitedly, "I know."
"So how much do you know?"
Li Xu awkwardly extended a hand and gestured, "I know a little bit."
"Tell me about it."
Li Xu pondered for a moment, "Dong Qichang, a Ming Dynasty man."
After waiting for a long time and hearing nothing further, the man asked, "What's next?"
“There’s nothing more below…”
man:...
The two of them just stared at each other.
Li Xu felt that he could even see the contempt in the other person's eyes.
So he said angrily, "If you keep looking at me like that, I won't want this thing anymore."
Upon hearing this, the man became anxious and said, "No, this is a good thing passed down from my ancestors. If it weren't for the difficulty, I really wouldn't be willing to sell it."
Upon hearing this, Li Xu asked curiously, "Is this something passed down from your ancestors?"
"Um."
"Then your family should be quite rich?"
The man sighed, "What's the point of having money now? Even if you have a lot of money, you can't buy a grain of food."
"If you like this calligraphy and painting so much, why are you selling it?"
The man said helplessly, "My family is big and we used to be able to get by, but now the food ration has been reduced. I really have no choice but to try to exchange some things passed down from my ancestors for some food. Otherwise, it will be even harder to get food after a while."
Li Xu thought that this man was quite far-sighted.
Maybe I can exchange it for something now, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to exchange it for anything in the next two years.
Next year will be the most difficult year.
Although the disaster has passed in the next year, the damage is still not much worse before the crops are ripe...
And then in a few years, this thing might just turn to ashes...
Li Xu thought for a moment and asked, "How much food do you want to exchange?"
"50 jin of fine grain?"
Li Xu: ...
Seeing that Li Xu didn't say anything, the man became anxious again, "I really don't want much. If it were in the past, you wouldn't even think about buying this thing without a few hundred dollars."
Li Xu shook his head. "You said that was in the past. Now, forget about 50 kilograms of fine grains. Go out and ask. If someone is willing to pay 30 kilograms, I will give you 50 kilograms."
The man naturally knew that no one wanted this thing now. Just now at the black market, when others heard that they had to exchange it for food, they didn't even ask the price and just left.
He also knew that the price was unrealistic, but he still had a glimmer of hope: what if the deal went through?
Now that Li Xu had exposed him, he smiled awkwardly and said, "Then how much food do you want to exchange?"
"20 jin of fine grain."
After a while, the man gritted his teeth and said, "Deal."
Hearing this, Li Xu suppressed his excitement and said, "Okay, wait for me for a while, I'll go get some food."
Seeing the man nod, Li Xu immediately found an empty corner and took out 20 kilograms of rice.
Return to the original place.
The man was also very excited when he saw Li Xu holding the bag. When he was about to take the bag, Li Xu suddenly said,
"Don't be impatient. Open the painting and let me take a look."
Although he didn't know whether the painting was real or not, he could still afford 20 kilograms of food.
If it's true, then I'd make a fortune.
But you must always be on guard against others.
Li Xu was also afraid that the painting had been swapped and was different from what he had just seen, so he made this request.
The man didn't say anything and just took out the painting again.
Li Xu felt relieved only after he saw the seals he had just seen.
"Okay, put the painting away and let's trade."
When Li Xu held the wooden box in his hand.
The man first rummaged through the cloth bag with his hands, and when he saw that it was all rice, he seemed to be relieved.
Then he took out a cloth bag and a scale from his waist, and then took out a weight from his pocket.
This stunned Li Xu, "You've made really thorough preparations."
The man smiled and said, "It's better to be prepared than not. Now it comes in handy."
Then he poured the grain into the cloth bag he brought with him and weighed it again.
Then he nodded, "Yes, exactly 20 kilograms."
Although he was reluctant to part with this painting.
But things are dead after all, and are definitely not as important as living people.
Although I felt that 20 kilograms was a little too little just now.
But when I actually got it in my hands, the last bit of regret in my heart disappeared.
Seeing the transaction was completed, the man continued, "Dong Qichang, also known by his courtesy name Xuanzai, and pseudonyms Sibai and Xiangguang Jushi, you must remember this clearly.
The box that holds the painting is made of rosewood, which is insect-proof. I'm giving it to you as a gift, so please take good care of it."
Li Xu nodded, thinking that what he said just now about liking this painting must be true.
Not to mention anything else, this rosewood box alone is worth a lot of money, but he gave it to me so easily, just hoping that I could preserve the painting well.
"I've remembered it. Don't worry, I'll keep it safe."
The man seemed to laugh as well. "That's good. Now that the deal is done, I'll be leaving first."
Li Xu suddenly remembered something, "Hey, wait a minute."
The man stopped and turned around. "What else?"
Li Xu walked up to him and whispered, "If you still have some antiques or gold, silver, and jade at home that you want to exchange for food, come and find me."
The man was surprised and asked, "You still have food to trade? Where shall we meet then?"
This amount of food is definitely not enough for his family.
But he didn't expect that Li Xu could actually trade grain.
Li Xu thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the black market. We'll meet at the entrance the night after tomorrow. But don't bring too much stuff this time, or it might make people jealous."
There was no way. The two of them had only traded once, so it was naturally impossible for them to trust each other.
After much thought, I found that the black market is the most suitable place.
The man nodded. "Okay, see you the night after tomorrow. Is there anything else?"
Li Xu shook his head. "That's all. Let's go."
"Um."
Then the two of them went their separate ways.
Li Xu had traded for such a good thing, so naturally he was not in the mood to shop any further.
I took my things and went home.
When he was halfway there, he put the wooden box into the space.
Li Xu was very excited when he thought that he had actually exchanged for an antique this time.
Although he didn't know the market price of Dong Qichang's calligraphy and paintings, he would definitely make a huge profit by exchanging 20 kilograms of grain.
In other words, everyone is short of food now, otherwise he wouldn't have the chance to enjoy such a good thing.
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