In the calligraphy and painting area of ​​the Chuzhou flea market, Shen Yu was eating the steamed dumplings in his hand while looking at the paper perpetual calendar hanging in front of the "Liu's Book Stall".

It's said to be a bookstall, but it's actually a miscellaneous stall.

On a huge red velvet cloth are placed hundreds of antiques such as ancient jade coins, scrolls and albums, ceramic seals, and antique beads.

In addition to Shen Yu, a potential buyer, there are also two or three tourists or collectors who occasionally stop and watch in front of the stall.

But they often shake their heads and disperse after taking a few glances, without any intention of squatting down to take a closer look.

The specific reason is also very simple. The antiques on the stall are new, broken, and broken, which are so-called fake at first glance, and they are not worth wasting time.

The stall owner, Lao Liu, is a somewhat balding middle-aged man. At this moment, he is listening attentively to the old-fashioned brick radio, which is playing the long storytelling "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties".

Shen Yu has heard of this episode a long time ago, and it is one of the more exciting scenes in the original work:

"Qin Qiong of Prince Yue met Li Jing, and Qi Guoyuan Lantern met to solve poetry riddles."

Because he was fascinated by what he heard, Lao Liu had no intention of soliciting business. When he heard that the scammer tricked Qi Guoyuan into eating Yuanxiao, not only did he refuse to pay, but he also took away the copper coins in the bowl as lottery prizes, he slapped his thigh with joy.

After Shen Yu stuffed the last bite of Xiao Long Bao into his mouth, he also smiled.

It’s not like he thought the characters in the storytelling were funny, the smile on Shen Yu’s face was for himself.

Because he felt that he might miss something today.

It’s still an unimaginably big leak!

The object that Shen Yu is interested in is a calligraphy and painting.

The painting was a vertical scroll, with colors on silk, and was thrown into a corner of the stall by Lao Liu as if it were a piece of junk.

At the beginning of the opened volume, you can see four lines of poems about paintings:

"Suyu Qingjidian, Chaoyang Lidi City."

"In the good years, people enjoy their work and sing songs on the ridge."

The calligraphy is round, powerful, and flowing freely. Even contemporary calligraphy masters will praise it when they see it: it is really vertical and horizontal and elegant, and it is a good calligraphy that is hard to exchange for a lot of money.

This poem is not unfamiliar to Shen Yu, and is even very familiar.

It comes from "A Feeling of Autumn" by Wang Anshi, a literary giant of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is also one of Wang Anshi's representative works of poetry.

The meaning is very auspicious: a prosperous year, people are happy, the country is peaceful and the people are safe.

But when this seemingly ordinary ancient poem appeared on a silk painting, it made Shen Yu's heart beat rapidly.

Without it, more than a hundred years after this poem was written, Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty inscribed this five-character quatrain on a famous painting handed down from generation to generation, which is a priceless treasure.

It is one of the four Southern Song Dynasty painters, Ma Yuan's "Ta Ge Tu".

The original painting of "Ta Ge Tu" is preserved in the Palace Museum. Naturally, the calligraphy and painting that appeared on Lao Liu's stall cannot be the original work. Shen Yu is still clear about this.

Moreover, this painting does not have the seal of "Royal Book of Treasures" and the small words "Given the King's Capital Promotion" on the original painting.

Only in the lower left corner of the poem is there a square seal of "White Stone Man".

To be precise, this painting is a facsimile.

Anyone who knows how to collect knows that calligraphy and painting are not necessarily valuable if they are authentic. The copies of some famous people are also very expensive, and they are not much different from the originals.

Today is a hot day, and Chuzhou has turned from the coolness after last night's heavy rain to extremely hot and muggy.

The shirt, already wet with sweat, stuck to Shen Yu's back. He felt a little uncomfortable before, but now he couldn't notice it.

"It's like a village with hidden flowers and bright flowers. There was no deal on the Qingtian stone seal just now. I didn't expect to encounter such a copy of an ancient painting at Laoliu's stall.

"Lao Liu knows everything about calligraphy and painting, porcelain, jade, miscellaneous items, and antique bracelets, but he is not good at anything.

"Every month I hear news about him leaking treasures. After the sale of this painting, I have to give him some benefits. After all, he takes good care of me."

At this time, the storytelling in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" entered a short commercial break. Lao Liu picked up the enamel jar and took a sip of water before turning his attention to Shen Yu.

Frankly speaking, Lao Liu has a very good impression of Shen Yu.

The young man in front of me is knowledgeable, polite, and has an impeccable family background.

His appearance is even more outstanding, with red lips and white teeth, a face like a crown of jade, a pair of eyes as clear as water, and the whole person exudes an aura of indescribable agility.

In addition to listening to storytelling, Lao Liu also likes to read martial arts novels.

This Xiao Shen is simply the perfect match for the male protagonist in martial arts novels. If he had a daughter, he would have to recruit him as his son-in-law.

"Gugu..."

Hearing his stomach growling, Lao Liu touched his belly and shouted to Shen Yu: "Xiao Shen, I still feel hungry after eating the buns you bought for me just now.

"This way, you show me the stalls, and I'll go outside the market to buy some food. I'll be back soon."

Shen Yu covered his ears and smiled bitterly: "Brother Liu, my hearing is fine, you don't have to shout so loud, go to hell, I will definitely take care of the stall for you.

"If I meet someone who wants to buy antiques, I'll sell them if I know the price. If I don't know the price, I'll hold them back and wait for you to come back as long as possible. Then you should feel relieved, right?"

"Smart, little Shen, your vision and experience are much higher than those of your peers. You are worthy of being a descendant of Mr. Shen. Okay, I'll go first."

After Lao Liu finished speaking, he took out a few coins from the wooden cash box and ran quickly outside the street. He had to hurry up and try to get back before the storytelling started.

Seeing Lao Liu's clumsy running posture, Shen Yu smiled and shook his head. This old man's appetite was really too big. Before he came here, he bought thirty yuan of xiaolongbao and gave most of it to him. That's all.

I feel hungry. I don’t have enough money to eat.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was exactly six o'clock in the morning.

The flea market has morning market hours from 3 to 6 a.m., which is a relatively busy time of the day. Many stall owners don’t even bother to have breakfast.

Once this time has passed, the flow of people in the morning will not increase until around eight o'clock, so there are very few people in the market now. It can be said that no one comes to buy antiques at all. Shen Yu simply turned around and looked at the paintings again.

Judging from the paper quality and poem of the painting in front of him, Shen Yu concluded that this painting was probably a copy of a master painter from the Ming Dynasty.

What gave Shen Yu confidence was not only the calligraphy at the beginning of the volume, but also the white seal of "White Stone Man".

The appearance of the three characters "Bai Shi Weng" in calligraphy and painting can easily remind people of Qi Baishi, the master of traditional Chinese painting.

But in fact, the owner of this seal is much more famous than Old Man Baishi.

Bai Shiweng was the founder of the Wumen School of Painting in the Ming Dynasty, the leader of the four Ming schools, and was known as the first painter of the Ming Dynasty. He was the late name of Shen Zhou and Shen Qinan.

Shen Zhou is famous in the history of painting, but modern people are not very familiar with him, and he is not even as famous as his three disciples.

The three disciples who studied painting and calligraphy with him are: Tang Yin (Tang Bohu), Wen Zhengming (Wen Zhengming), and Zhu Yunming (Zhu Zhishan).

These three people appeared frequently in various Ming Dynasty costume films and TV dramas as the Four Great Talents of Jiangnan, and can be said to be household names.

Shen Yu wiped his hands on his pants and took out a pure cotton white glove from his pocket. After putting it on, he unfolded a little drawing paper.

This time the seal of "White Stone Man" is clearer.

"That's right, everything from the brushwork to the size of the seal is the same as seen on other authentic works of Shen Zhou.

"Shen Yu, Shen Yu, I'm afraid you are really going to get rich this time!"

Shen Yu knew Shen Zhou very well.

He studied painting with his grandfather since he was a child, and copied many of Shen Zhou's masterpieces.

What's even more coincidental is that Shen Yu's surname is also called Shen Qinan, which can be said to have the same name as Shen Zhou.

Because Shen Yu was in poor health when he was a child, his grandfather changed his name to Yu.

Because I was still young at the time, the name Shen Yu naturally appeared on various documents later on, so few people knew "Shen Qinan".

Shen Zhou is truly the first person in Ming Dynasty painting.

The Wumen School of Painting he founded was inherited from the Song and Yuan Dynasties and inspired by the Ming and Qing dynasties. It drew on the strengths of many schools and gave an overview of the essence of dozens of landscape masters from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties.

In addition, Shen Zhou was loyal and filial, indifferent to fame and fortune, and his character was impeccable. Therefore, this old gentleman was an undisputed top star in the entire Ming Dynasty.

All the masters of calligraphy and painting in the Ming Dynasty, including Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming, Zhu Zhishan, Qiu Ying, Chen Chun, Xu Wei, Zhang Hong, Dong Qichang, Chen Hongshou, etc., were all ranked behind him.

To put it bluntly, Shen Zhou's paintings are worth money in the antique market, a lot of money, countless money.

Thinking of this, Shen Yu reached out to explore the ancient painting. He wanted to take this opportunity to open the painting and look at it carefully to see if it was written by Shen Zhou.

……

"Hello, can you move a moment? I want to see this painting."

Just when Shen Yu was about to unfold the painting, a pleasant female voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

Shen Yu turned his head when he heard the sound, and saw a beautiful woman wearing a light blue skirt standing one meter away from him. At this moment, she was staring at her with watery eyes and looking at him with a smile.

The woman is about 25 or 26 years old, with delicate facial features, picturesque eyebrows, and smooth black hair tied back in a ponytail, making her look particularly energetic.

A slight layer of light makeup was put on the face, making the originally fair complexion appear more delicate and smooth, like a piece of mutton-fat jade.

The decent skirt and black glossy high heels give her a fresh, refined and charming elegance.

Looking at the woman's expectant expression, Shen Yu asked in surprise: "Are you talking to me?"

The woman pointed at the copy of "Ta Ge Tu" with her slender fingers and repeated with a smile: "Yes, can you move a little bit? I want to see the painting in front of you, but you are blocking me, so I can't see it. ." After saying that, her beautiful eyes stared at Shen Yu, as if she wanted to get a satisfactory answer from Shen Yu's mouth.

It's a pity that she was disappointed. Shen Yu smiled and shook his head, and then uttered two words: "No!"

"Uh, what?" The woman pursed her lips and asked in surprise. Although she was still smiling, she was obviously a little embarrassed.
To be continued...