Ink Burns

Chapter 10: Bones Crossing the Bridge
The tavern is very grand, with ceremonies for all four seasons, wine cups flowing down the water, and a hall that flows downstream, surrounded by lush bamboo forests.

Walking around the bamboo, He Shanyue untied the coarse cloth cloak and handed it to the servant who was waiting beside him. He saw a long table made of Cangshan marble placed among the bamboos. Behind the table was a man wearing an indigo Confucian scarf and a long gown, his hair neatly tied up with a white jade hairpin. He held the bottom of the jade mortar with one hand and the delicate and translucent jade pestle with the other, pounding the ore slowly and steadily - it was malachite. There were also a dozen pieces of peacock ore of different sizes scattered on the long table, they were grass green and translucent, and under the candlelight they were as beautiful as the most dazzling color of peacock feathers.

"Fifth Master." He Shanyue nodded slightly in greeting.

Miss Wang Er rarely refrained from using foul language, but she kept her accent: "Fifth Master!"

Sichuan dialect sounds provocative, but in fact, Miss Wang Er hasn't been so respectful and timid in a long time.

The man raised his head, revealing a thin and narrow face. The fine lines at the corners of his eyes showed the traces of time. It was hard to tell whether there were three or four lines, but it was definitely not a dull gray face with smooth and tender skin.

The servant next to him bent over and handed him a silk handkerchief. The man wiped his hands, and the handkerchief was instantly stained with crystal powder of malachite.

A little dirty.

The man frowned slightly.

"What's the situation?" The man took out another handkerchief and extended his hand to invite the two to sit down.

Miss Wang Er didn't dare to do so, and waved her hands: "Old man, I'm not tired. I've eaten, so I'll stand for a while to help digest the food."

He Shanyue pulled aside a stool and sat down. "I entered the inner house today. The family was quite cunning. They tested the authenticity of several paintings and inquired about my background. They said they would give me an answer tomorrow at the earliest and the day after tomorrow at the latest."

The man said "Oh" and asked, "Where is Zhu Siming's painting? Have you seen it?"

He Shanyue shook his head: "Today I only saw Shen Huaizan's "Fishing at the Spring Creek Bridge" and Zhou Bingshan's "Autumn Harvest" which was imitated by "Crossing the Bridge Bone" back then. There are a few paintings hanging in the inner hall, but they are not valuable."

The man's surname was Sun, and he was from Zhenjiang. He had tried to paint seriously in the past, but he was never able to make a name for himself. He had been begging for a living among the "lower nine classes" all the way. He then decided to give up his pen and start a "Suzhou slice" business. He opened an antique shop called "Guoqiao Bone", but he sold dog meat under the guise of mutton, mixing real and fake items. No one knew his real name, and people usually called him Uncle Wu Sun vaguely.

"Guoqiaogu" is considered to be the leading antique shop in Shantang Street, Suzhou, and Uncle Sun Wu is the grandfather of this business who has the final say. He Shanyue was not wrong in saying that this business sounds highbrow, but in fact it is a mixed bag, and no one is nobler than anyone else. At that time, the late emperor was in power, and the mountains and rivers were flourishing. There was all kinds of rubbish in Shantang Street. The authentic works would become fakes when they came out of Shantang Street. Some inferior things would cheat other people's authentic paintings, cut out inscriptions and seals and put them on their own fake paintings, and put feathers on pheasants to pass them off as phoenixes, so that both paintings became fake.

It stinks just to say it.

After so many years of rolling around in the market, Sun Wuye has abandoned his serious painting brush and picked up a knife from Pingding Shantang Street. He has used it for many second-rate things and once said, "Making money is not shameful, but if anyone dares to joke about the original work, I will make you bleed!"

It is your ability to obtain the painting by trickery, but you are not allowed to destroy it, especially the precious historical relics.

Some people didn't believe it and did this wicked thing, destroying a Song Dynasty landscape painting. Uncle Sun Wu called seven or eight people and asked him, do you want the thumbs up or the second thumbs down?

The man didn't dare to go back.

Master Sun Wu cut off the man's right hand and threw it into his arms: "If you don't make a choice, then I'll give it all to you."

The other type of paintings were too shoddy, those that had no spirit or form, those that had only learned line drawing for two days and wanted to make money before they even became masters. After being bought by Sun Wuye at a price, they were set on fire in an open space on Shantang Street, burning to ashes.

"Others may look down on us fakers, but we should not look down on ourselves! Who can be sure that, thousands of years later, 'Suzhou films' will not have a place? Will they not be accepted by the mainstream?!" Shantang Street is indeed getting better.

When He Shanyue was rescued by Master Sun Wu, it was the time when the "bridge bones" were being removed and the meat was being added. He became a partner with Miss Wang Er from the beginning and did rough work for many years, doing all kinds of dirty, smelly, fragrant and expensive jobs. He could eat crab roe with hot tangerine peel and yellow wine, or drink sorghum wine with the dregs not cleaned out while sitting on a tattered bamboo stool.

There are about ten people hired as "bridge workers" in the village, but there are only four people who are regularly used in the village.

All four of them lived like the shop in that manor - the door front was made of varnished mahogany and inlaid with turquoise gems, giving it a luxurious and magnificent appearance, but the flesh inside was broken, rotten, good, and bad, with all sorts of things, which was extremely wonderful.

Master Sun Wu wiped his hands several times until there was no fluorescent powder between his fingers, then he said, "It shouldn't be like this. Everyone knows that Zhu Siming's "Autumn Trees After the Rain" was bought by their family. Looking at the appearance of the Cheng family, they can't be the ones who travel at night in brocade clothes, right?"

He Shanyue pursed her lips and said, "I guess it was painted in the Cheng family's banquet hall or study."

The Cheng family is certainly not the type to go out in the dark in fancy clothes. If they hold a free clinic without prescribing medicine or dispensing drugs, they will cause a big uproar in the city and make everyone know about it. And if they spend a lot of money to buy a painting, won’t they show off to everyone?
If you hang it in a busy lobby, you will be more likely to show off to your business partners.

Among the four great artists, although Zhu Siming is ranked last, he has always been elusive. It was just the little servant around him who moved around in the market. No one had ever seen his real face. He rarely produced paintings, at most four or five paintings a year. He would often enter a painting studio one moment and be taken home the next.

Authentic works are hard to find, so naturally imitations are also in high demand. Not long ago, his new painting "Autumn Trees After the Rain" briefly appeared in Songjiang Prefecture, and then there was news that the Cheng family, a medicinal herb merchant, bought it for a large sum of money.

Cheng family.

As soon as He Shanyue heard the name, he felt hatred and wished he could chew his flesh and temper his bones alive.

Master Sun Wu wanted the painting, and He Shanyue wanted the Cheng family to die, and the two hit it off immediately - even if there was no recruitment of the female teacher, He Shanyue would definitely find a way to enter the Cheng family by working as a maid, a concubine, a housemaid, or a candleholder.

However, suddenly, such a very suitable opportunity appeared in front of He Shanyue.

Master Sun Wu thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "Copy it as soon as possible." He paused and wanted to say something else.

He Shanyue lowered his eyes slightly and said calmly: "My dividend is only enough for me to copy, not to exchange for paintings."

As long as the imitation is authentic, who can tell which is real and which is fake? Although it is forbidden to destroy paintings, Sun Wuye does not reject the business of exchanging paintings - "Making money is not shameful. As long as there is enough money, you can have any painting."

Sun Wuye has made his fortune through all kinds of work. He has a clear price for everything he does. As long as you have enough money, he will do any job. He pays you and gets the goods at the same time. Customers don't have to worry about the authenticity of the goods.

Hearing He Shanyue say "no", Miss Wang Er raised her eyebrows uncontrollably.

Master Sun Wu said nothing, and turned to the servant: "Tell Lao Lu to get ready, and when Shanyue finishes copying, he will go and change the painting."

Miss Wang Er's eyebrows dropped steadily.

　I have been sorting out the outline today and have revised the character of Sun Wuye many times. This draft has been revised three times. The update I made yesterday will be posted around tomorrow afternoon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)