Ma Mingyu was just about to pour tea for everyone, but Zhang Wenyuan stopped him.
"You're welcome, Old Ma. Come and sit. Let me introduce to you. This is Master Shang Shaohua, my good friend for decades. This young man is the apprentice of Master Shang, who is today's buyer."
Regarding the identity of the visitor, Ma Mingyu seemed particularly polite because it was introduced by the great professor Zhang Wenyuan.
"Master Ma, can you take out your collection of vertical plaques and let us take a look?"
Song Wenjing directly pointed out the theme of today's visit. Since Lao Ma wants to take action, everyone should be more decisive.
Judging from Ma Mingyu's family situation, without the care of his children, he lives in a miserable life and cannot make ends meet. Coupled with his growing age, he wants to cash in the things in his hands. This is all human nature.
"Okay, since Xiao Song is so cheerful, I won't be polite anymore. Just wait a moment, I'll get it!"
After saying that, Ma Mingyu returned to his room. After a while, he struggled to bring out an object wrapped in a blanket.
Song Wenjing saw that the other party was struggling so much, so he quickly stepped forward to help, and at the same time, he also measured how much it weighed.
When Song Wenjing took over, he immediately felt his hands sink. This was obviously very heavy. I didn't know what kind of material it was made of.
Song Wenjing did not overstep his authority, but asked Ma Mingyu to unwrap the blanket himself.
Soon, the vertical plaque revealed its true appearance.
This vertical plaque is about 125 centimeters high, 65 centimeters wide, and about 6 centimeters thick. It has black characters on a gold background, and some of the original paint has peeled off. It has four large characters: Number One Scholar and No. 1. The handwriting is slightly abbreviated due to age factors.
Looks dim, but clearly visible.
The entire vertical plaque is made of rosewood. The most important thing is that it is a whole piece of wood, not spliced together.
Rosewood itself is a scarce resource and has a solid texture, making it the best material for making plaques. As for this vertical plaque, there is no trace of the mortise and tenon structure in the middle.
In other words, this vertical plaque is made of a log, and its value is even more precious.
Zhang Wenyuan has already conducted a screening for the four words "number one scholar and the first place", and he has a certain degree of certainty that they are the handwriting of Emperor Qianlong. As for wood, with Shang Shaohua, a master carver here today, there will of course be a clear
description.
Shang Shaohua stepped forward and touched it carefully, and even smelled it with his nose. In addition, he screened the writing and paint on the vertical plaque to a certain extent. Finally, he nodded to Song Wenjing, but did not say much.
One sentence.
Song Wenjing, who spent time with Shang Shaohua every day, still didn't understand what his master meant. In other words, he could conclude that this was a genuine vertical plaque given by Emperor Qianlong.
"Master Ma, I wonder how much you plan to pay for this vertical plaque?" Song Wenjing asked simply.
In terms of identification, he may not be as good as his master Shang Shaohua, but in terms of bargaining, several Shang Shaohuas combined are no match for Song Wenjing. Therefore, it will naturally be his turn to take action in the following matters.
Ma Mingyu obviously had some knowledge about the price. And he also knew the origin of the vertical plaque, so he directly gave birth to three fingers.
"Three hundred yuan? There's not much difference in price. I wonder if there's room for negotiation?" Song Wenjing said deliberately, even asking knowingly.
Ma Mingyu glanced at Song Wenjing with some contempt and said, "Xiao Song, please stop making fun of me, an old man. Three hundred yuan? You can't even buy the wood for this plaque, not to mention it's a gift from the emperor?"
Of course Song Wenjing knew that the other party's asking price was three thousand, he just said this deliberately to lower the other party's expectations.
"Master Ma, the price of three thousand yuan is a bit ridiculous. Come and take a look. First of all, part of the paint has peeled off, which makes this plaque discounted. In addition, if you look at the handwriting again, it is dull.
Maybe it will be invisible at some point. The most important point is, you said this was a gift from Emperor Qianlong, but you don’t have any proof, not even a signature. How can you prove it?"
When he said these words, Song Wenjing was already nitpicking. But he was a businessman, so of course he had to put forward his own opinions on the items he needed to buy. Otherwise, he would not be able to repay the price.
Ma Mingyu is not very good at antiques. This object was indeed seized when he ransacked his house. Later, he secretly asked someone to identify it and found out that it was a gift from Emperor Qianlong, so he has kept it to this day.
He also took a look at the issues mentioned by Song Wenjing, and found that it was indeed what Song Wenjing said. This made him a little worried about how much this thing was worth.
Similarly, Song Wenjing didn't know Ma Mingyu well. He just had some fish but no fish. He cast a net first and then talked about it. As for what kind of insights the other party had, we could discuss it with each other.
"Xiao Song, I didn't get this vertical plaque easily. Let's do this. I'll give in one more step. It's 2,600 yuan. What do you think?"
Hearing what Ma Mingyu said, Song Wenjing immediately felt confident. It seemed that this man didn't know much about antiques, so he had room for further negotiation.
"Master Ma, it's not that I don't think your bid is high. This object does have some flaws, and once there are flaws, the price will definitely be discounted. It's not just me, almost all players will.
in this way.
Let me give you an analogy. A piece of furniture is beautiful and practical, and you really like it. But its four feet are a little uneven. Although it can be used with something under its feet, this is a flaw. It does not mean that it can be used.
If it is used, he does not exist. Do you think what I said still makes sense?"
Song Wenjing gave some strong-armed examples and some secretly changed concepts. The ultimate goal was of course to counter-offer.
Business people are born like this.
Zhang Wenyuan and Shang Shaohua sat aside and watched without saying a word. But they felt a little emotional in their hearts: It turns out that there is no businessman or traitor.
"Then how much do you think it's worth?" Ma Mingyu was a little angry, and even his tone became a little different.
Song Wenjing did not answer immediately, but came to the vertical plaque again, stretched out his hand to touch it, shook his head, and said with some regret: "Well, I won't lie to you, I bid 1,800 yuan. This price is quite fair.
Well, how much money we ordinary workers get in one month is worth two and a half years’ salary, right?”
When I heard that Song Wenjing had directly cut the price to 1,800 yuan, the anger that had been extinguished over the years almost burst out.
"Are you kidding? If you are not sincere, please leave and don't waste everyone's time. I haven't sold the thing yet. I don't believe it can't be sold!"
Seeing the other party getting angry, Song Wenjing didn't take it seriously at all. Of course he knew that the price was unacceptable. Ma Mingyu obviously hoped to exchange the plaque for money to support himself in his old age. As a result, so much has been cut off. How can he not be angry?
strangeness.
"Master Ma, please calm down first. No matter whether we can make a deal or not, don't make yourself angry. You should know that the country does not allow the sale of cultural relics now. So, if you want to sell this thing, to be honest, it is indeed
There are some difficulties. That is to say, you are familiar with Professor Zhang, so I took the risk to come over. In any case, there is no justice in business."
Ma Mingyu certainly knows that the current policy does not allow the sale of cultural relics. He is a person who has made mistakes before, and is certainly more sensitive to these aspects than Song Wenjing. Otherwise, he would not have dared to take action until today.
Originally, he planned to wait, but his health became worse and worse. Even if he had some income from guarding the factory gate, he would still be unable to make ends meet. This made him want to sell the things in his hands as soon as possible, and at a high price.
sell.
"2,300 yuan, fixed price. If you still want to continue to bargain, then let's not talk and please come back." Ma Mingyu gritted his teeth and shouted out the final price.
Song Wenjing was of course willing to accept the price of 2,300 yuan. As long as it was within 2,500 yuan, he had no problem. Even his initial idea was that no matter how much it cost, as long as it was a treasure, he would get it. Now he can save 700 yuan.
, of course he was very happy.
However, it was not convenient to show it directly at this time. Instead, he pretended to be embarrassed but reluctant to give up, and finally agreed to Ma Mingyu's quotation.
"etc!"
When Song Wenjing was about to ask Ma Mingyu to wait while he went to the bank to withdraw money, he did not expect to be called back by Ma Mingyu again.
"I also have a painting at home, which belongs to Qiu Ying. I wonder if you are still interested in it?"
"Oh?" Song Wenjing paused, turned and looked back at the old man.
It's an unexpected surprise that Qiu Ying's paintings can still be found here.