The host and his wife stood in front of the door to greet the guests, the male host wore light gray trousers, a white shirt and a light gray vest, and the hostess wore a dark red cheongsam. "Hello and welcome." The host couple smiled and said in Chinese.

"Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart." Wuyang said in English.

Mengyu introduced: "This is Mr. and Mrs. Little Ike. Ike, this is Mr. Lai. ”

Wuyang knew that the nickname of the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe in World War II was Ike. Wuyang is not very good at judging the age of foreigners, but it is more accurate to look at women, and it should be around 50 years old.

"Mr. Ike, your house is beautiful, and so is your manor."

Little Ike smiled and said, "Thank you." This is the estate that my grandfather built after retiring from the army and buying land before running for president. The estate is huge, with a total area of 5,000 hectares, and the whole picture is not visible here. Prices were low at the time, and he used his pension to repay the loan. If it were now, $100 million wouldn't be able to buy it. ”

Wuyang said: "Your grandfather is a military strategist, strategist, and politician, and he has a very far-sighted vision. ”

"Mr. Li, thank you for your evaluation of grandpa, please come in."

Inside the floor-to-ceiling window on the right side of the house is the living room of the owner's house, about 100 square meters, which is filled with wooden sofas and coffee tables in a classical style.

"Mr. Ike, this is teak furniture, isn't it? It's beautiful. ”

"Yes. This was bought by General Stilwell in Burma and given to his grandfather in a set. Older than my age. ”

Wuyang said: "General Stilwell has made outstanding contributions to the anti-fascist struggle in Asia, and our country remembers him. ”

"General Stilwell's commanding skills are remarkable," Ike said. But the commander-in-chief of the Chinese theater of operations, Mr. Chiang. He was not given much real power. In the Asian and Pacific theaters. It was mainly General MacArthur and General Nimitz who played a role. Mr. Lai, your country is very beautiful, and your culture is vast and profound. ”

"Mr. Ike knows my country well?"

Mrs. Ike said, "Yes." Ike worked at the U.S. Embassy in China for 4 years, and I had the privilege of accompanying him for 4 years in your beautiful country. ”

Mrs. Ike spoke in Chinese, with a standard pronunciation and correct diction.

"Madam, your Chinese level is very high."

"I can speak and listen, but Ike is much worse than I read."

Ike smiled and said, "Don't mention it." I can't read those books. Mr. Lai, please drink coffee, time is precious, let's start as soon as possible. ”

Sliding doors are installed in the living room, and Ekra opens into it, inside is a wide staircase leading to the basement. Wuyang asked, "Mr. Ike, your family's cultural relics are stored in the basement?" ”

Ike smiled and said, "Don't look at the basement, it's waterproof, moisture-proof, and atomic bomb-proof." This was repaired by grandpa at the expense of the army. It's solid. ”

Sure enough, after the stairs bend. I saw a door like a bank vault, but there was no password, and the key was in the lockhole, and Ike turned the key and opened it. "Mr. Lai, the relics related to my grandfather have been collected in his museum, and most of the cultural relics collected here are oriental cultural relics obtained from Europe. My grandfather didn't tidy up, and my father also served in the army and rarely came to the estate. We also came here after retirement, but my main job is to cultivate the land. Of course, although I have worked in China, I still don't know much about Eastern civilization. If it weren't for the Chinese cultural relics craze in the world in the past two years, I wouldn't have thought of them. ”

After walking 10 meters, there was another iron door, and after Ike opened the third iron door, he saw the wooden frame in the warehouse. The basement is very large, and it is estimated that the entire basement of the house is poured with reinforced concrete, which should not be less than 500 square meters.

Ike said: "Mr. Li, this basement has 3 floors, and the cultural relics on the wooden shelves on the first floor are mainly calligraphy and paintings, as well as some folding fans and other paper things, which are more precious; The bottom layer, mainly porcelain and ironware, is now very expensive in China, only the middle layer, all books, we don't understand why my grandfather shipped those worthless books back from Europe. You go and see it first, if you think it's useful, you can move it all out, if it doesn't work, we'll clean it up too. ”

Wuyang asked: "So these calligraphy, paintings, and porcelain, your grandfather also shipped them back from Europe?" ”

"Yes. We all know that the Europeans have captured your capital, and of course, that includes the American army. Nazi Germany invaded most of Europe, looted the museums of royal families and states, and did not even spare private collections. Grandfather's army liberated Europe, and most of these things were captured by the Allies. My grandfather was a loyal man to the country, and those precious metals and European relics were handed over to the state. At that time, everyone didn't understand these things, but my grandfather had people in his hands and a car and boat, and he could only be regarded as making a great contribution to human civilization when he brought them back. ”

Wuyang thought that old Ike had never been to China, and it was not he who robbed Chinese cultural relics. If he didn't collect these things, he would probably be destroyed, at least not for himself. "Mr. Ike, I completely agree with you. Your grandfather did have the foresight of the political family, nor did he lack the wisdom of an artist. While others are busy collecting precious metals, he has set his sights on works of art, and even if these artistic treasures are preserved, you may be able to obtain a much higher profit than precious metals. ”

Ike smiled, "Mr. Li, you are very honest. These cultural relics used to be worthless, and we have waited for so many years of collecting them to wait for the price of Chinese cultural relics to rise. If it was 50 years ago, all these cultural relics would definitely not be as good as a painting by a famous European artist. There are gloves here, you can put on and look at the artifacts, and it's better to look at the books first. ”

Wuyang took the gloves and smiled at Ike and said, "Mr. Ike, you can rest, I'll finish reading it soon, and I'll go upstairs to negotiate with you." ”

"Good. The lights are on below, so go ahead. If you want to smoke, go upstairs. ”

The afternoon sun went down to the second floor, and the wooden shelves were full of books. There are some loose books wrapped in blue books, and the covers of the books are also blue. Pick up a copy. When I saw how many volumes of the Yongle Dictionary were written on the cover. I almost fainted with excitement. The Yongle Canon was compiled during the Yongle period. It is an encyclopedic collection of documents in China, with 60 volumes (table of contents) and 22,877 volumes of text, bound into 11,095 volumes, about 370 million words, bringing together seven or eight thousand kinds of books, and is a treasure house of ancient Chinese culture. Most of the Yongle version was destroyed by fire, and Akihito made a copy. But after Qianlong, there were only 9,000 copies left, and the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded the capital and was robbed a lot, and now there are only 800 copies left.

"Mengyu, come and count and see how many copies there are in the Yongle Canon."

Mengyu said: "Didn't Mr. Ike say just now, you can take these books, you are so excited, he must have seen it." Maybe you'll regret it. ”

Wuyang said, "Can I not be excited? I don't buy any other cultural relics, so I just buy these books and go back. It's a great event. ”

"Don't be stupid, people don't want money, you are still wronged."

"Mengyu, I won't be like this. Mr. Ike's grandfather must have spent a lot of manpower and material resources on transporting him from Europe, so how could I ask for it in vain? Besides, Mr. and Mrs. Ike have worked in our country for 4 years, can they not understand the preciousness of these things? Also, he didn't let us look at the cultural relics first, but let us read these books that don't cost money first, maybe it was a test of our integrity. So, I'm not going to ask for these books for nothing, and I have to give him a fair price. ”

"Okay, whatever you want, you're stupid anyway, I hope stupid people have stupid blessings. But these books have never been traded, do you know what is the right price? ”

"It's just a matter of conscience. I don't think I'm going to suffer a loss, and for Mr. Ike, it's a surprise anyway, so I shouldn't be too careful. What do you think, how about $100,000 per book? ”

"No, it's too high, just give 10,000."

"10,000 is too low, at least 50,000."

"Whatever you want, I will only help you count the number, it is your business to suffer or not, I don't want to care."

Two people stacked the bulk into a stack of 20 volumes, a total of 20 stacks, and a single 4 volumes, so that it was 444 volumes, and then ordered those that were packaged in book covers, which was a little difficult. The thickness of the books varies, some have a set of 6 books, and some have a set of 8 books, so I have to count the noon sun points, and Mengyu accumulates with the calculator on the mobile phone. But it's all on the wooden frame, so it's better.

After clicking for a while, Wuyang suddenly said, "No, these are not Yongle Grand Ceremony." ”

"Isn't it the Yongle Grand Canon?"

Wuyang picked up the book cover, which was printed with "Siku Quanshu". "It's also a baby, it's the "Four Libraries Quanshu"."

Mengyu doesn't understand the "Yongle Canon", but he can know a little about the "Siku Quanshu". "Wuyang, didn't "Siku Quanshu" stay in China? I read an article last time that said that there are 4 sets that have been handed down to this day. ”

"Yes, there are indeed 4 of them, but when the "Siku Quanshu" was completed, there were 7 of them. Wenyuan Pavilion, Wenjin Pavilion, Wenshuo Pavilion and Wenlan Pavilion are all there, but Wenzong Pavilion and Wenhui Pavilion and Wenyuan Pavilion are long gone, we don't know what version this is, and we must buy it back if we see it. ”

Mengyu said: "I was interrupted by you like this, and the points were in vain just now." ”

"It's okay, I'm sure Ike will have to reorder it in front of Mr. Ike."

"Then simply don't order it. Wuyang, I think this "Siku Quanshu" should be far less valuable than "Yongle Canon". ”

"Yes, there are 4 complete sets of "Siku Quanshu" in China, but the versions are different, and there is not much difference in content. Of course, if you can put together a complete set, that's a different story. ”

Mengyu smiled: "You can dream." Wuyang, there are many other books over there, shall we pick them up and buy them back that are useful? ”

"How can we have time to choose, and how can we have that level, this has to be selected and screened by professionals." Just buy it all back. Talk to Mr. Ike and ask him to get a discount. ”

"People said that you don't want money, you have to give, and now they are going to let people get discounts."

"One yard to one yard, as it should be. Let's go down and look at porcelain and ironware. ”

On the third floor, it was also very dry, and the porcelain did not grow mold, so why did the iron grow green rust? Looking at the real qi, there is an extremely rich purple qi on it, where are these things iron, they are obviously bronze. When I heard Ike talk about iron tools just now, I had a preconceived impression that I almost made a mistake. However, Ike thinks it's iron, and it's iron. There are more than 30 of these bronzes. All of them are small types. Most of the various types of their own museums already have. Only a few of them have inscriptions, which are more precious.

Looking at those porcelain, the purple gas is quite strong, and a few of them are old objects, most of which are from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

"Wuyang, how are these porcelains?"

"It's not too good, there are thousands of pieces, and the price is too high to give up."

"Yes. We have enough porcelain in our museum. Let's go to the first floor to see the calligraphy and painting. ”

Calligraphy and painting are all rolled into a painting scroll, Wuyang first scanned it with true qi, they are all old objects, but the purple air is different, which is also in line with the characteristics of calligraphy and painting collection, it must be something of different ages.

Both of them opened the painting scroll, Wuyang opened, Mengyu came to take a look, Mengyu opened, Wuyang also took a look. I've seen it. It's all good things, and Wuyang probably knows the famous calligraphers and painters in history. There were about 4 or 50 people, and I saw more than half of them here. If Mr. Ike knew that in China, the works of modern painters have been sold for millions of dollars, and the price of these works would probably be 5 million US dollars.

Look at those fans, screens, wood carvings, stone carvings, there are so many of them, all of them are high-quality products, if you buy them back, I'm afraid you will be emptied of your pockets here. I could only smile wryly and shake my head.

Back in the living room, the little Ike and his wife were not there, Wuyang was a little thirsty, and when he went to get the kettle to boil water, the Ike couple came in, and Mrs. Ike quickly picked up the kettle, "I'll go, how can I let the guests do it." Mr. Lai, sit down and talk to little Ike. ”

Ike smiled and said, "Mr. Li, are those books useful to you?" ”

"Most of them are good books and are definitely useful. But I can't ask for yours unless you agree to sell it to me. ”

Ike wasn't surprised at all, "Mr. Li, I know you're sincere, so I'm not pretentious." Those "Yongle Canon" and "Siku Quanshu" will be sold to you, other books, are not valuable, there are Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Russian, I can't understand, English has been selected by my father and me, the rest are what we don't think we need anymore, you built your own museum, it makes sense to display them as foreign ancient books, but I absolutely can't collect money. ”

Wuyang smiled and said, "You're too polite, but I have to pay, or you keep it." ”

Ike said: "Mr. Li, you are very stubborn, I can only give in, otherwise we will not be able to negotiate, and other cultural relics will not be able to trade." That's right, I'll make an offer, you can make a counteroffer, both parties agree, and then we will talk about other cultural relics. The Yongle Canon is worth a bit more, at $40,000 per volume, the Siku Quanshu is also good, $10,000 per volume, and other books and materials are worth $500 per volume and per copy. ”

Wuyang said, "Mr. Ike, the price is low." ”

"Mr. Li, don't you know, there are a few wooden shelves, wrapped in waterproof paper, most of them are just a piece of paper, or a few pamphlets of paper, only a few words are written, it is estimated that the total number is more than 20,000 pieces, you have to pay 10 million, you take it back, maybe it is waste paper, the price of books is not low, you suffer too much."

At this time, Mrs. Ike said: "Mr. Li, you are very sincere, we don't need to hide it from you, our basement is equipped with surveillance cameras, and we all know every move of you and Ms. Zhang." When dealing with honest people, we must also show sincerity. ”

Ike smiled and said, "Mr. Li, these monitoring devices are not aimed at you, they have been installed for 10 years, but they are only used today." ”

Wuyang said: "Mr. and Mrs. Ike are Chinese experts, and they must know that we have an ancient adage, you must not have the heart to harm others, and you must not have the heart to prevent people. It's normal to install monitoring equipment, I won't care, and besides, you guys are very frank, I thank you. ”

"Mr. Li, you're welcome. We will then negotiate a way to trade other artifacts. What do you think can be done? ”

Wuyang said: "I think so, because there are many cultural relics, and the inventory and pricing are not very fast, so we will not do it for the time being." I will go back and arrange for a few cultural relics experts to come over, count and appraise, and agree with you on a price that is acceptable to both parties, and pack and ship away after payment. Do you think that's okay? ”

Ike smiled and said, "Your approach would be the best, but I don't want to use it." Mr. Lai, as you must know, things here have become unavailable because of the rise in prices. If there is no reason for this, the income after tax from taking out the cultural relics for auction one by one will be much higher than that of our transactions. That's why we're going to take the simplest approach. ”

Wuyang smiled: "Do you want to unify pricing?" ”

"Yes, like books, they are priced by category. $500,000 each for calligraphy and painting, $50,000 for porcelain, $10,000 for iron, and $10,000 for folding fans, screens, wood carvings, stone carvings, etc. ”

Zhang Mengyu said: "Mr. Ike, Mr. Li is not interested in porcelain, so it can be counted. There are also those calligraphy and paintings, there are a few single pieces, the value is relatively high, but the average is 500,000 US dollars, which is a bit outrageous. ”

Ike said: "Mr. Li wants to open a museum, and these porcelain, calligraphy and paintings are things in the palace, and all of them are fine products, and they can't be bought with money." ”

Wuyang said: "It is true that calligraphy and painting are things in the palace, but porcelain is not necessarily. I build a museum, the price is right, I can buy a few more pieces as exhibits, if the price is too high, it is enough to buy two as treasures of the museum. The emperor is rich all over the world, and our financial resources cannot be compared with the emperor, and it is impossible to have all the fine products, which is just a fantasy. (To be continued......)

PS: Today is the weekend, and I can only upload two chapters, so I wish you all a happy weekend.