The "Li Kuanfu" that Zhou Xuan suddenly mentioned was no ordinary person. In the domestic carving world, there is a saying that Wang Zuguang is the king of the south and Qian Zhuan is the king of the north. Wang Zuguang and Qian Zhuan are the pillars of the folk carving world, but they all admit that they are inferior to Li Kuanfu. However, Li Kuanfu's carving skills are unparalleled, but he is an eccentric person who never associates with this circle. He is content with his own life and never shares his works with outsiders. Therefore, the general public does not know that he exists, and only a very few people in the industry know about him.
Li Kuanfu's favorite pastime is to imitate the works of famous artists from ancient and modern times. Because of his extraordinary skills, his imitations are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. However, he also has a unique characteristic: he leaves a small feature on the imitations to indicate that they are imitations.
Uncle Liu was an old hand in the antique world and knew about Li Kuanfu's affairs. So when he heard Zhou Xuan say this, he immediately became suspicious. After examining the rooster stone again, he found a flaw!
Wu Cheng examined the object under the magnifying glass for a long time, looking hesitant. After thinking for a moment, he handed it to Xu Wangcai: "Old Xu, take another look."
Xu Wangcai had already had it appraised in Yangzhou, and Liu Shu's words made him somewhat doubtful. He took the rooster stone and carefully examined the mark.
Xu Wangcai examined it for a long time but couldn't find any flaws. Whether it was the markings, the stone quality, or the color and appearance, it was undoubtedly Yang Xuan's work. He shook his head with a wry smile: "Old Liu, no matter how I look at it, I think it's genuine. Brother Chen, take another look!"
Chen Sanyan took it, examined its appearance and color under the light, and inspected the marks. Finally, he shook his head and said, "I also think it's genuine. Hehe, Uncle Liu, what do you think?"
Uncle Liu sighed again and said, "This piece is top-notch in terms of the age of the stone, its color, and the carving technique. The mark is also exactly the same as Yang Xuan's handwriting. At first, I was sure that this was Yang Xuan's masterpiece. But when this young man Zhou Xuan said 'Li Kuanfu, 2009,' I was surprised. Then, upon closer inspection of the mark, I found a slight flaw. It's just too coincidental. Even a top appraiser might fall into the trap. Look carefully at the mark, and look at the character '玉' (jade) in '玉璇' (jade Xuan)!"
Xu Wangcai, Chen Sanyan, and Wu Cheng all crowded together to examine the mark on the rooster stone again.
Yang Xuan, courtesy name Yu Xuan, lived during the Kangxi era. His sculpting skills were superb, and he was hailed as the patriarch of Shoushan stone carving. Most of his works bear the mark of the two characters "Yu Xuan".
With Uncle Liu's hint, the three of them finally noticed the unusual features in the characters of the mark.
Wu Cheng's face immediately turned white and ashen, and he was completely stunned.
Uncle Liu sighed, “I know Li Kuanfu. He’s arrogant and conceited, but he’s really skilled. His imitations all have one thing in common: although they can be mistaken for the real thing, the subtle details he makes are also a clear mark. This top-quality Shoushan Tianhuang rooster carving is flawless in terms of age, color, and carving technique. The only flaw is the ‘Yu Xuan’ mark left on it.”
Hearing Uncle Liu's fascinating story, Zhou Xuan moved closer to listen to him.
Uncle Liu was much kinder to Zhou Xuan at this point, nodded to him, and then said, "Actually, if you look closely, the dot in the character 'Yu' in the nameplate of 'Yu Xuan' is the flaw. I estimate that Li Kuanfu should have written the characters 'Wang Xuan'. Although there is only a slight difference between Wang Xuan and Yu Xuan, outsiders will naturally understand that this is a counterfeit. That dot is the key."
Uncle Liu sighed and shook his head: "That little detail is so subtle that no one would think of it, so it's not easy to notice. But if you get a hint, you can still see it. In terms of both brushwork and knife skills, it's far inferior to Li Kuanfu's. So I think someone must have added it."
Actually, even without Uncle Liu explaining it so clearly, Wu Cheng, Xu Wangcai, and Chen Sanyan all understood. They were all lucky ones in this line of work, and they would know immediately with just a slight mention.
Only Zhou Xuan didn't understand, but he didn't want to embarrass himself by speaking up again, so he just listened.
"The stone itself is worth around 700,000 yuan. With Li Kuanfu's carving skills, it should be worth around 1.5 million yuan. Old Wu bought it back for 3.6 million yuan, so the loss is about 2 million yuan!"
Wu Cheng stood there for a long while, then let out a long sigh and said, "I never expected that after a lifetime of success, I would be betrayed in my old age. Oh well!"
Feeling disheartened and dejected, I was filled with gloom.
Uncle Liu advised, "Old Wu, I don't need to tell you about the risks in our line of work. It's a matter of heaven and hell. You just made a mistake once. Actually, two million isn't fatal for you. Think positively and learn from it. You're never too old to learn. If it weren't for Brother Zhou Xuan today, we would all have been fooled."
Zhou Xuan was stunned. The rooster stone that Old Wu had bought for 3.6 million had suddenly lost 2 million in an instant. Was it real money or just paper? Or was it just a strange dream he had tonight?
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Volume One: The First Signs of Growth, Chapter Nine: The Strange Black Stone
Zhou Xuan felt utterly exhausted, Old Wu was listless, and none of them were interested in continuing the conversation. www.WenXueMi.coM
Ma Lao Er instructed Ma Tingting to bring up a large basin. The fragrant aroma immediately filled the room. Ma Lao Er then introduced the dish: "A large basin of pangolin stewed with ginseng and astragalus, plus astragalus, codonopsis, pork, yam, longan, safflower, and angelica. I won't go into the details of its nourishing effects!"
Zhou Xuan saw that there was only one big bowl and no other dishes served. This was 12,000 yuan? Damn, he had eaten a few pieces of pangolin meat. It was tender and tasted better than pork, but he would never spend 12,000 yuan on this meat again. 12,000 yuan was gone in one meal. He might as well save the money to find a wife.
The group became quieter, each lost in their own thoughts. Although the meal was expensive, it ended quickly. Old Xu and Old Wu were taken to a hotel in the city by a car arranged by Ma Lao Er.
Chen Sanyan, Uncle Liu, and Zhou Xuan were escorted back to Chongkou by Ma Tingting.
Zhou Xuan was surprised that Ma Tingting could drive; she was driving a red Hyundai Sonata, which was quite beautiful and stylish.
Chen Sanyan and Uncle Liu sat in the back, while Zhou Xuan, being younger, sat next to Ma Tingting. Seeing how skillfully Ma Tingting drove, he was somewhat envious and asked, "Miss Ma, does your second uncle even provide you with a car? That's quite a perk!"
Ma Tingting chuckled and said, "What benefits? Do you think this is a state-owned enterprise? I bought this car myself!"
"You bought it yourself? How much do you earn a month?" Zhou Xuan was surprised. How could a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl afford to buy a car? How much money would she have to earn a month to afford it? He remembered that the girls working in restaurants back home only earned a few hundred yuan a month.
"Me?" Ma Tingting said casually, "I make about five thousand yuan a month, but my second uncle likes to give me pocket money. Whenever there's a gathering, he'll give me tens of millions of yuan after he's done with his work, so I can earn about twenty or thirty thousand a month!"
Not only has this shabby restaurant not gone out of business, but Ma Lao Er is giving his niece 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a month. It's outrageous! He has to work 26 days a month and only makes less than 2,000 yuan. Compared to a little girl like that, he's worlds apart.
Zhou Xuan was quite envious and wanted to ask her if her second uncle was still hiring workers, but he was too embarrassed to ask.
Ma Tingting's next words completely shattered Zhou Xuan's meaning: "This is nothing compared to the money of you people who came to the gathering. Every one of you makes seventy or eighty thousand or even a hundred thousand in one go. If you're lucky, you can even make a million or a hundred thousand. I heard that you got a bargain tonight, Yuan Mei's manuscript, right?"
Zhou Xuan could only chuckle awkwardly without answering, wondering what kind of gathering this was. The place was so deserted, and the food was so expensive—did some sucker like Chen Sanyan really want to come and eat here?
It was almost 2 a.m. when they arrived at Chongkou. As soon as Chen Sanyan and Uncle Liu got out of the car, Zhou Xuan felt embarrassed to have Ma Tingting drive him home alone, so he quickly got out of the car as well.
Ma Tingting assumed the three of them were together, so she didn't ask if anyone else had gone elsewhere. She simply waved to Chen Sanyan and drove back by herself.
Chen Sanyan seemed to want to say something to Zhou Xuan, but couldn't seem to open his mouth. Zhou Xuan also seemed absent-minded, looking extremely sleepy.
Chen Sanyan stopped talking, took out a business card and handed it to Zhou Xuan, saying, "Little Zhou, with your abilities and knowledge, haha, I'm too embarrassed to ask you to dig. But if you have time, we can come out and chat and exchange ideas. I might stay here for another month and a half!"
Zhou Xuan was so tired that he just wanted to find a place to collapse. He ignored Chen Sanyan's words and just nodded twice.
Uncle Liu shook his head. He understood what Chen Sanyan meant, but Zhou Xuan clearly had no intention of changing jobs, so he didn't say anything more.
It's not far from Zhou Xuan's dormitory building at the seaside amusement park, about a seven or eight-minute walk. At this time of day, apart from the cars coming and going, there are very few people passing by.
If Zhou Xuan hadn't been holding that black leather bag containing 175,000 yuan, he would have been lying down on the roadside and taking a nap long ago. It's really strange; no matter how tired or exhausted he was before, he had never been so close to collapse as he is now.
After finally getting back to the dormitory building at the amusement park, Zhou Xuan found his roommates fast asleep, like dead pigs. Without even showering or rinsing his mouth, he took off his shoes, hugged his black leather bag tightly to his chest, covered himself with a blanket, and went to sleep.
I slept soundly until 11 a.m. the next day. My colleagues had already started work in the morning, but Zhou Xuan's shift was at 2 p.m.
Sitting on the bed in a daze for a while, I suddenly felt a jolt in my heart. I quickly lifted the blanket and saw the black leather bag lying safely in the middle of the bed. I breathed a sigh of relief. I opened the bag and saw that the money was still there. It was real, not a dream.