Since Hu Chuyuan has no idea of marrying a wife and having children for the time being, Mei Qizhao can't say anything more, so he can only let Hu Chuyuan leave.

After a long time, he still couldn't come back to his senses.

He thought, there seems to be a certain number in the dark, Zuo Zongtang met Hu Xueyan when he was fifty years old, since then, Zuo Zongtang has been on the rise, nothing goes well, he is also fifty years old this year, and he met Hu Chuyuan.

The most coincidental thing is that Zuo Zongtang was the governor of Zhejiang at that time, and so was he.

This kind of coincidence gave Mei Qizhao a very peculiar encouragement, so that he could see the light of hope after being weak for a long time.

He was full of energy and made people prepare for the trip to Ningbo.

On the other hand, when Hu Chuyuan returned home, he asked Wang Baotian to find a few good things at home that he could really get his hands on, and was so "frightened" by Mei Qizhao that he forgot to ask Mei Qizhao, I don't know what kind of good things Governor He and Wan Shangshu prefer the most.

He went to ask Yan Shizhang.

Listening to General Hu Chuyuan's general story, Yan Shizhang couldn't help but sneer a little, and said: "A dignified governor can't even take out tens of thousands of taels of things, and he has been a governor for three years in vain in our Qing Dynasty." It's not so much that he is incorruptible, not that he wants to climb up too much, and the result is counterproductive, he must know that our Qing Dynasty can't support Qing officials. An official who doesn't have the money to take care of the Jingshi, he deserves to be sent to such a position. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "It doesn't matter, I approve of him being so honest, Zuo Zongtang is not very honest, and he still does the middle hall." ”

Yan Shizhang said: "Lord Zhongtang was born at the right time, and Tao Shu and Lin Zexu are pushing to add fuel to the fire, in addition, you can say that he is cheap, but you can't say that he is clear." If Lord Zhongtang is turbid, you can't get to the end, don't take it lightly! ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently, and asked again: "Then tell me, what kind of gifts do you want to give to Wan Shangshu and Governor He?" ”

Yan Shizhang sighed: "Wan Qingquinoa is the master of calligraphy in the world, especially Dong Qichang's work. He is a veteran of the Four Dynasties, a scholar of the Ministry of Officials, and an emperor of the Two Dynasties, I dare not say much, as long as there is a piece of Dong Qichang's work sent over, even if Mei Qizhao is taken from the position of governor of Zhejiang, he can make up for the governor of a poor province, and there is a chance to continue to struggle. ”

After a pause, he said again: "He Jing...... His ancestral home is Xiangshan, and he intends to move in recent years, but there are many people in his family, and it costs a lot to buy a land and a house. You might as well buy him a mansion and thousands of acres of land in Hangzhou Mansion and sell them to him secretly at a low price, and don't be too expensive to spend hundreds of thousands of taels. As long as he secretly dials it, you can get hundreds of thousands of taels of profits. ”

Hu Chuyuan said with a smile: "It's easy to do, my family has a garden in the northeast of West Lake in Hangzhou Prefecture, which my father bought at a low price from a high-ranking official of the Taiping Army when the Hunan army invaded Hangzhou, and the cost was only 1,000 taels, and now if you want to get rid of it, the minimum is 100,000." In Hangzhou, the price of such a house has skyrocketed...... Of course, my family's Hu family compound is an exception. ”

Yan Shizhang said: "That's fine, He Jing is a well-known mess around, as long as he collects money, things will definitely be done for you." I'm not afraid that he won't accept it, the amount he has taken care of in Beijing over the years is not small, just waiting to make a few more windfalls in Fujian and Zhejiang. ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled, brought Wang Baotian over again, and asked him if there were any calligraphy works by Dong Qichang at home.

Wang Baotian thought for a while and said, "There is a copy of "Jinsha Post", which was repurchased by the master from the East at a high price, and it cost 60,000 foreign yen at that time. ”

Yan Shizhang was slightly happy, and said with a smile: "Then you can bring it over to me first to show me the truth!" ”

Wang Baotian was dissatisfied and said, "How can the national treasure repurchased at a high price be a fake? At that time, there were also Shen Siye and several treasure appreciation masters in the east of Hangzhou who went to the Oriental Kingdom with the master, all of whom said that they were genuine masterpieces! ”

Shen Siye is the fourth big shopkeeper of the Hu family, Shen Furong, responsible for running a pawnshop, in the early years in Hangzhou to open a Fu Bao Zhai antique shop, in Hangzhou antique industry is very famous, and later was blackmailed and bankrupt, by Hu Xueyan and invited to become the Hu family pawnshop shopkeeper.

The Hu family's purchase of antiques has always been in charge of Shen Furong, and he is the sole manager of the pawnshop business.

Wang Baotian was very unconvinced, he had never been convinced since Yan Shizhang, a poor scholar, entered the compound as a staff member.

This time it can be regarded as giving him a chance, so he hurriedly returned to Hu Xueyan's study, took out the calligraphy and painting that he had repurchased from the book, and unfolded it for Yan Shizhang to see.

Yan Shizhang himself is a rare Danqing master, for such a ink treasure, he knew that it was a treasure at a glance, and his expression was smiling, but he looked at it carefully for a few moments, and his smile gradually decreased.

After a full cup of tea, he said to Hu Chuyuan: "It's a pity, 60,000 foreign yuan bought a ghostwriting work." This may be Zhao Wendu's ghostwriting work, or it may be Shen Shichong's, which is considered a masterpiece among Dong Qichang's ghostwriting, and it can be sent alive, but it has to be made clear to Lao Shangshu. ”

"Impossible, right?"

Hu Chuyuan's heart was cold, and he asked, "How can it be fake, could it be that I deliberately deceived us?" ”

Yan Shizhang shook his head and said, "The Oriental people are at this level, they were deceived by our antique dealers first, and they sold it to us at a high price as genuine. The owner didn't know that Dong Qichang's calligraphy and painting became famous very early, and he was praised by the world as the first in the world when he was very young. Not to mention old owners and antique dealers, even those of us who study calligraphy are prone to make mistakes. The reason why I say that he is a ghostwriter is that Dong Qichang's signature is slightly inconsistent with the style of the entire line, or it may be genuine. ”

Hu Chuyuan asked: "Then who can tell whether it is a ghostwritten work or a genuine work?" ”

Yan Shizhang said: "There are only two people, one is Mao Changxi, and the other is Wan Qingqui Lao Shangshu, they are all people who imitate Dong Qichang's calligraphy, and they have studied the most. For Lao Shangshu, even if this "Jinsha Post" is a ghostwriting work, it is also a masterpiece of the best, and it may even be regarded as the pinnacle of Zhao Wendu. I will send it, as long as I say it just right, I can still keep Mei Qizhao's position as governor ....... ”

After a pause, as if in a reverie, he sighed again: "I used to study calligraphy with Lao Shangshu as my teacher in Beijing, and I occasionally exchanged letters in the past few years, so I happened to visit him. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought about it and was convinced that this was a shortcut, so he instructed Wang Baotian to get a silver ticket of 100,000 taels, and said to Yan Shizhang: "Since Mr. Yan is going to the capital, you might as well buy a better treasure for me in the capital and send it over." Mei Qizhao's affairs belong to Mei Qizhao, and I am afraid that there will be many things to take care of in the future! ”

Yan Shizhang was surprised, he wouldn't embezzle this silver, but he didn't understand how Hu Chuyuan could conclude this?

This one......!

Hu Chuyuan didn't conclude that he wouldn't be corrupt, but he didn't take the 100,000 taels of silver seriously, as long as the matter could be done, it didn't matter if Yan Shizhang deducted tens of thousands of taels from it.

After a little thought, Yan Shizhang said: "Thank you for the trust of the owner, I will definitely do this very beautifully." In Beijing, even if Dong Qichang's calligraphy works are genuine, the price is only 30,000 taels, which is already a sky-high price among the ancients' calligraphy and painting. ”

In the Qing Dynasty, the vast majority of ordinary people were fortunate to suffer less than 1,000 taels of silver in their lifetime.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou have high-quality tea fields and silk fields, and the local paddy fields also harvest grain in two seasons, one season of spring wheat and one season of summer rice, and the situation is better.

If silk farmers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are equivalent to normal families with a monthly income of 2,000 RMB, rural households in other regions are only equivalent to low-income families with a monthly income of less than 600 RMB, and such a subsistence allowance population accounts for about 80% of the entire late Qing society, that is, about 320 million people.

Although it shows that the calligraphy style of the Qing and Qing dynasties belongs to Dong Qichang's era, each of his authentic works can be fried to tens of thousands of taels at this stage in the late Qing Dynasty, and the price is still too high, which is not something that ordinary people can afford to buy and give.