To tell this story well, we need to take three steps!

This big story contains three small stories that take place in different times and places. In fact, they are not intrinsically related, but they are all related to ancient Chinese famous paintings, so they are displayed together to share with everyone.

It seems that the same cannot be said, and if it were not for the first thing, perhaps the rest of the stories would not have been possible.

Chinese painting is different from Western painting, one of the major characteristics of Chinese painting is freehand, not the pursuit of the false and the true, but only the pursuit of the unity of form and spirit, which determines that every stroke of Chinese painting is full of the painter's thoughts and moods. A blank space can be a blue sky, a water wave, a dense fog, or a blank space in the painter's heart.

I can't remember the exact time of the first story, but it was probably half a year after Zuo Daochang moved next door to me, and one day he came to my tea shop with a pale, gray-haired, and short-sized old man.

The two stood at the door, and did not come in. "Boss Liu, do you want to see the painting?"

Here's the thing, earlier I wanted to buy some Chinese paintings for the tea shop, in order to improve the environmental grade, but as we all know, the paintings in the shop can't be placed casually, which involves the problem of feng shui, so I asked Zuo Dao Chang to help me choose, thinking that feng shui itself is his old business, this kind of thing should be familiar with the road. But this strange man was so unreliable that I didn't hear from him for a long time, so much so that I forgot all about buying a painting.

Today he suddenly asked me to look at the painting, which really surprised me.

I followed these two people to Zuo Daochang's incense shop, to be honest, if it wasn't for him, I usually don't bother to come to this kind of ghost place at all, the smell of all kinds of incense is mixed with each other, making people dizzy.

"Little boss, it turns out that you want to buy paintings." The old man said to me with a grin. "Vision! Have an eye! ”

Only then did I notice that the little old man was carrying a large painting on his back, which looked like several scrolls tightly wrapped in vellum.

"Uncle, you take out your painting first and let me take a look, and then I decide whether to buy it or not." I say.

The little old man waved his hand. "You also underestimate my paintings, I never sell paintings, and my paintings are given to people who are destined."

"Send?" I was a little overwhelmed, did he come all the way to send me paintings? "It's really unbelievable."

"Little boss, Daoist Zuo has helped me a lot before, I have always owed him favors, and you are his friend, isn't it a trivial matter for me to give you a few paintings?" As he spoke, he took out a scroll from behind his back and handed it to me.

I took the scroll and quickly untied the outermost layer of brown paper and threw it on the ground.

"You! Little boss, what are you doing here! The painter exclaimed angrily, and hurriedly put away the brown paper and carefully rolled it up.

It's just a piece of brown paper, and I really can't understand how much fuss this picture is, so I quickly apologized. "Uncle, I'm sorry I threw it to the ground as soon as I was negligent, don't be afraid, it's okay, my tea shop has a lot of kraft paper like this."

"Kraft?" Painter exclaimed. "Little boss, you're so funny! This is a piece of paper that is more precious than gold. ”

Montmu? I shook my head, I hadn't heard of it at all.

Daoist Zuo hurriedly explained to me. "Mengmu is a strange wood from ancient times, it can keep people sane by its side, this kind of wood has been extinct in the world for many years, and it is a light to say that it is more precious than gold."

Although I can't fully understand the meaning of their words, the preciousness of them is self-evident.

"Little boss, those who don't know are not at fault, don't blame yourself, hurry up and open the painting to take a look."

I settled down and slowly spread out the scroll, which was a yellowed paper painting, and the traces of time were unmistakable.

It wasn't until I got a glimpse of the whole picture that I breathed a sigh of relief. "What kind of strange painting should I be, it turned out to be Fan Kuan's "Traveling in Streams and Mountains"."

I'm not shocked not because the painting isn't famous, but because it's really bad on the market. To this day, as far as I know, many students of the Academy of Fine Arts still take Fan Kuan as their own imitation object, and "Traveling in the Mountains and Streams" is a painting that many painters will copy, so how many fakes on the market are estimated to be uncountable.

"Hmmm! Good eyesight. The painter smiled smugly at me.

I don't know why he is proud, in fact, I know that it is "Traveling in the Mountains and Streams", I am a little disappointed, this painting is known to everyone, it is not my ideal choice, I want to choose the kind of masterpiece that is very important but little known, so as to render the teahouse does not ask about the world's purpose, everyone can name something that feels like the taste has changed.

But the old man brought something from thousands of miles away, and I still have to take a closer look at it out of politeness.

The whole painting is divided into three sections, the top layer is the blank void, the middle layer is the boulder peak, which is also the most important part of the whole painting, and the bottom layer is the mighty caravan. The painter's pen is strong and outstanding, the boulders, peaks, waterfalls, miscellaneous trees are vividly expressed, at a glance, as if you have been in the deep mountains, the cool breeze blows through the mountain barrier to the face, a burst of comfort, close your eyes can clearly hear the sound of waterfalls, bustling, mules and horses from far and near.

"That's a great drawing!" I sighed.

Look at the raindrops on the rocks, it is also imitation to be fake, "raindrops" is Fan Kuan's stunt, in order to show the material of the rocks, the center of the pen, through the long and short strokes of the stone, in conjunction with the dense dots to show the level of virtual reality. I haven't seen Fan Kuan's original handwritings, but the masterpiece of this copyist has been able to make me feel his perfect skills from the Fa.

The most crazy thing is yet to come.

"Traveling in the Mountains and Streams" has appeared in the field of vision of modern people for many years, but for a long time it has not been possible to determine the author, all experts have asserted that this is Fan Kuan's handwriting, but the name of the author can never be found, and all the assertions without the name of the author himself can only be regarded as speculation. It wasn't until 1958 that Li Lincan, director of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, found the hidden word Fan Kuan in a pair of weeds behind the trip, and saw the sunrise through the clouds.

"Suddenly, a ray of light came over, and behind that group of traveling figures, sandwiched between the trees, the name of Fan Kuan was impressive." This is how the curator portrayed it in his memoirs.

It was a moment when memories condensed into eternity.

Knowing this allusion, I glanced at the weeds in the painting, intentionally or unintentionally.

The word "Fan Kuan" appeared in front of my eyes like two flying geese, and these two words blended seamlessly with the pile of weeds, and if I didn't know it in advance, I wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"This!"

I was a little shocked! Generally, imitators just imitate the painting method, and it is difficult to imitate it like a small and hidden inscription.

"Little boss." Seeing my dumbfounded appearance, he couldn't help but tease. "Let me tell you what you're thinking, yes! That's right, this painting is Fan Kuan's real handiwork. ”

"Impossible!" I exclaimed. "As I know, the original works have always been stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei."

"Hey, hey, hey." The painter laughed wryly. "What a pity that such a good painting has been placed on that small island in Taiwan, why can't I steal it out of it?"