In addition to the paintings of the Four Masters of Wumen, the page-long gift list also listed more than a dozen masterpieces by famous artists of the Song and Yuan dynasties, with a total of thirty paintings alone.
The craze for collecting Ming Dynasty calligraphy and paintings is in the ascendant. Although these great painters of the Wu School of Painting are not far apart, their paintings have been hyped up to very high prices. For example, Tang Yin's large landscape paintings cost thousands of taels of silver. Shen Zhou's works are similar. Qiu Ying and Wen Zhengming are slightly cheaper, but they still cost at least one or two thousand taels of silver.
Not to mention the works of famous artists from the Song and Yuan dynasties. The most precious one is Su Dongpo's painting "Dead Trees and Strange Rocks" with Mi Fu's cursive script inscription. It is a rare treasure in the world and a priceless treasure that cannot be bought with any money. If it weren't for Mr. Zhao's unique status in Jiangnan, this painting would never have come into his hands.
He knew that Zhang Juzheng had a very high taste for appreciation and was one of the most famous collectors in the Ming Dynasty. Ordinary famous paintings would not catch the eye of his idol, so he reluctantly gave them up.
There is no way. If you don’t sacrifice your child, you can’t catch the wolf; if you don’t sacrifice your treasure, you can’t find a wife.
It's a pity that compared with these predecessors, Xu Wei's paintings are now just rubbish. First, he is still alive, which is not conducive to hype. Second, there are many fakes of his paintings, and it is difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. Because many of them are copied by himself, they can't be sold at a high price. Otherwise, Mr. Zhao could save a lot of money.
In addition to paintings, there are dozens of original calligraphy works; dozens of pieces of Suzhou woven embroidery brocade; various jade articles; jewelry; and 200 kilograms of white sugar and white rock sugar in glass containers...
By the time Gu finished looking through the gift list, the clock on the table had already struck a full quarter of an hour.
She picked up the teacup and took a sip to calm herself down.
She was secretly shocked in her heart, because she always heard her husband say that Zhao Hao was the richest man in Ming Dynasty... at least one of the richest. She didn't feel anything at the time, but when she saw the gift list, she knew that her husband was right.
"You are such a fool," Gu closed the gift list and said calmly, "I dare not accept such a valuable gift. Even if I accept it, my master will return it to you."
Zhao Hao thought, this is just the beginning. The gift my godmother gave me when we first met must have been ten times more than this.
Only later did I find out that my godmother was just thinking of letting the meat rot in the pot, so that she wouldn't lose money anyway.
"These worldly possessions are not even as valuable as a strand of Xiaojing's hair." Young Master Zhao said sincerely, "This time, I came here to confess to you about my relationship with Xiaojing. Compared to what I want, this little gift is nothing. It can only be regarded as a token of my gratitude."
"Alas, you child..." Gu said with a sad face: "Since you already have a county lady, why can't you let our Xiaojing go?"
"Aunt, please listen to what I have to say." Zhao Hao lifted his robe, gritted his teeth, knelt in front of Gu and said, "Mingyue and Xiaojing and I have known each other for a thousand days. This is what we call love. By the time we realized it, it was already 'love that came from nowhere, but was deep and lasting. The living can die, and the dead can live again'. Mingyue and Xiaojing can't bear to be separated, so I came to your house and asked Mr. Zhang and Aunt to show mercy and marry Xiaojing to my nephew."
"I don't know where love comes from, it's ever-deepening. The living can die, and the dead can be reborn..." Gu repeated it quietly, and gradually became dazed.
~~
At this time, a new scholar who had just left Nanchang and was preparing to go to Beijing for the imperial examination suddenly burst into tears for no apparent reason.
His father was traveling with him on the same boat, also preparing to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination. Seeing his son crying again, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Son, why are you crying again?"
"I don't know either, I just want to cry..." Young Master Tang thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a clue, so he could only smile bitterly and said, "Maybe it's the sadness of separation."
"Then you are really sensitive." Lao Tang shook his head helplessly.
"Oh, Dad, I remembered a story that seems to be most appropriate to the poem 'What a Beautiful Day, What a Pity' that Mr. Zhao gave me." Tang Xianzu changed the subject somewhat embarrassedly.
"Oh, what storybook?" Tang Shangxian asked with interest.
"Du Liniang's Resurrection," Tang Xianzu said excitedly, "Look at the beginning, the part where Miss Du is wandering in the garden and thinking about love. Isn't it very appropriate?"
The Ming Dynasty's market culture was very developed, and vernacular novels were all the rage. There were both long novels like "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Jin Ping Mei", as well as short vernacular novels like "Du Shiniang's Fury and Sinking of the Treasure Box" and "White Snake Imprisoned in Leifeng Pagoda Forever".
Among them, "Du Liniang's Love for Beauty and Resurrection" is a very famous story. Tang Shangxian was no stranger to it. He knew that in the story, Du Liniang was the daughter of the prefect, born beautiful as a flower, smart and clever since childhood, read all books, knew all history, and was proficient in playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, and especially liked to mock the wind and sing the moon, and lament the passing of spring.
It was the middle of March, the season of spring, and the scenery was harmonious. The young lady took a maid named Chunxiang to the garden behind the mansion to enjoy the view. Walking into the garden, they saw artificial mountains and real water, green bamboo and exotic flowers. The green pond was surrounded by green willows; the green peaks were towering, and the peach blossoms were bright red on the side. Pairs of white butterflies flew through the flowers, and pairs of dragonflies skimmed the water. Purple swallows whispered on the beams, and yellow orioles were seen on the willows...
This young lady is a literary youth who has reached the age of spring. When she sees the spring scenery in the garden, she finds love everywhere and the little animals are in pairs.
The scene made her sad, thinking that she was already 28 years old and still had no partner. She could not help but bark twice, feeling unhappy, and hurried back to the incense pavilion, sitting alone and bored, feeling the spring scenery, and envying the good things that happened in the past, such as Guo Hua's chance encounter with Yueying, Zhang Sheng's encounter with Cui Shi, and the secret appointments between those beautiful women and talented men.
As a result, she created a scholar in her dream and fell in love with him. After waking up, although she knew it was all a dream, she still couldn't help missing the scholar. Gradually, this longing became a heart disease, and finally she died... This led to the story of her resurrection.
"It turns out that all the beautiful flowers are in full bloom, but now they are all left to the broken wells and dilapidated walls. How can we enjoy the beautiful scenery? In the morning, they fly up, and in the evening, they roll up, and the clouds and mists are in the green pavilion. Raindrops and wind, and the painted boats are in the mist. The people on the brocade screen think that this good time is worthless..."
Tang Shangxian thought for a moment, then sang it once while holding up a sign, and then he couldn't help but applaud and said, "How wonderful! It's really natural to let Du Liniang sing this passage of "Zha Luo Pao" while visiting the garden. It's like it was made for each other, it should be this way!"
"Yes, people say 'Articles are born naturally, and are created by a master's hand'. I didn't believe it at first, but now it seems that I have no choice but to believe it." Tang Xianzu nodded happily, expressing his feelings:
"Among all the women in the world, who are as affectionate as Du Liniang? She was so obsessed with the man in her dreams that she fell ill and could not get up. She even painted the scene in her dream with her own hands and then died. Moreover, three years after her death, she was resurrected because of the man in her dream. People like her are true lovers..."
As he spoke, he held onto the railing, his talent and emotions welled up as he said, "I don't know where love comes from, it's ever-lasting and deep. The living can die, and the dead can be reborn. Those who are alive but cannot die, and those who are dead and cannot be reborn, are not the ultimate in love. Why can't love in dreams be true? Isn't there a lot of people in the world who dream?"
After saying this, he couldn't help but burst into tears again.
This time, the father and son only thought that he was moved by Du Liniang and didn't think about anything else...
"What a wonderful line, 'I don't know where love comes from, but it goes on forever. The living can die, and the dead can live again. ...' My son's words are a kindred spirit for Du Liniang. I think the script of "Resurrection of the Soul" will live up to the saying 'What a beautiful day, what a beautiful scene!'"
Tang Shangxian, who still didn't know his son's famous quote and whose quote had been copied ahead of time by the man named Zhao, was still cheering.
"Yeah, I think so too." Tang Xianzu nodded, wiped his tears and said, "Otherwise I wouldn't be so sad."
~~
Dashamao Hutong, Beijing.
After she repeated the line 'I don't know where love comes from, but it's ever-lasting and deep. The living can die and the dead can live', Gu just stood there in a daze, not saying a word for a long time.
Mr. Zhao then realized that the sentence he copied from the inscription of Tang Xianzu's "The Peony Pavilion" had worked wonders!
He had Xiao Zhuzi as his insider, so he naturally knew that his daughter took after her mother. Gu was also proficient in everything from playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and liked to recite poems and compose couplets, like Du Liniang who mocked the wind and the moon.
Mr. Zhao knew very well that to deal with this kind of female intellectual, it was better to use a few sour words or poems to touch her and let her feel the emotions, than to say a thousand words. She would then convince herself and conquer herself.
Grasp this point, the rest is easy:
First of all, it is impossible that Gu has not read "Du Liniang's Return to the Soul" and "The West Chamber", and she knows that her daughter must have read them.
Then, when Gu knew that her daughter was in a free love relationship and fell in love with the same person as the young county lady, she could not help but reflect on what went wrong in her education. She would definitely think that her daughter had read too many romance novels and wanted to imitate those "unfaithful" ladies, pursuing love in a rebellious way, which was why she was seduced by the bad boy.
Zhao Hao is very sure about this, because no matter whether it is the Ming Dynasty or four hundred years later, parents all over the world are like this - when their children have problems, they always look for objective reasons and refuse to admit that it is their children's own problem.
So Mr. Zhao first used a generous gift to pave the way for Gu to reduce his dislike for him. After laying the groundwork, he threw out this sentence "Love comes from nowhere, but it is deep and lasting. The living can die, and the dead can live" as the key to open Gu's defense!
Because these four sentences are the best description of Du Liniang.
I don't know where the love comes from, but it is so deep and lasting - it means that she actually developed a deep love for her dream man.
The living can die, and the dead can be reborn - it means that she died because of missing her dream lover, and was reborn because her dream lover came true.
Zhao Hao believed that these four sentences were enough to make Gu think of Du Liniang, and then think of his own daughter. Then he would worry whether she would be like Du Liniang, who could not meet her lover, became sick with longing, and eventually died?
He firmly believed that Gu would have such concerns because Du Liniang and Zhang Xiaojing were so similar.