Chapter 26: A Good Man is Hard to Buy with a Thousand Pieces of Gold

  "This isn't too good, is it?"

  At Ren Lijuan's invitation, Zhou Mingluo could have refused without hesitation, after all, the two had no relationship, and at most, they were just acquaintances who nodded to each other. Moreover, the other party's invitation may not have been sincere, and he was not interested in that kind of birthday banquet. However, when Yang Dan asked him to go together three times, Zhou Mingluo hesitated.

  Not to mention the friendship of knowing each other for so many years, just now Yang Dan was willing to blindly trust him and listen to his words to persuade Ren Li Juan, this trust was enough to make him hesitate.

  At this moment, Zhou Ming's tone suddenly relaxed a lot.

  "I'm telling you, Mr. Zhou, if it's not too much trouble, let's go together. Such a rare opportunity, if we miss it, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives."

  At the moment when Zhou Ming's tone relaxed, Zhang Zhonglin, who was secretly gasping for air and almost vomiting blood, suddenly spoke up and sincerely advised him.

  Although he spoke in a gentle tone, as if sincerely advising Zhou Mingluo, the underlying message was not friendly at all. What's this nonsense about missing out and regretting for life? It's clear that he's saying Zhou Mingluo is already extremely lucky to be invited to attend the birthday banquet, and yet you're still trying to take advantage of the situation and act smart, which is really too much and utterly shameless.

  He really couldn't bear it, and his upbringing was very good. From head to toe, although he never looked at Zhou Mingluo with a straight eye, on the surface he was very humble and polite. But now that he saw himself making a big effort, that guy was nothing, but the treatment he got was completely different. How could he bear it?

  "Yes, Zhou Ming Luo, you go too, just to accompany me?" Yang Dan didn't quite understand the underlying meaning of Zhang Zhonglin's words and responded again, looking at him with a pair of expectant eyes.

  "Alright, go then."

  He couldn't continue to refuse anymore, or it would seem too inhumane. He could only lightly nod his head.

  Also with this sentence, Yang Dan's pretty face suddenly became radiant, "So it's settled then, Li Juan, we'll go together later."

  "En." Ren Lijuan smiled and nodded in agreement.

  But next moment Yang Dan suddenly said lightly, "Right, if we go to celebrate his birthday, shouldn't we also buy some gifts? What should we buy?"

  This sentence made Ren Lijuan laugh, and then shook her head and said, "You don't need to buy anything, just treat it as a normal dinner party. Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhou, you're the same, don't bring any gifts when the time comes, if people arrive with good intentions, that's enough, let's settle on this. I'll invite everyone for lunch at noon, not one person can be left behind. Now first send this chair back, how about it?"

  No one objected, and this "valuable" Huanghuali chair was then transported to a small company owned by Ren Lijuan herself for storage.

  Along the way, the four people were sitting in Zhang Zhonglin's car, a black Mercedes-Benz C200 Fashion Edition.

  "Li Juan, I've heard that Ren Lao's collection is renowned throughout our entire Xinkuang, although he doesn't have many pieces, each one is absolutely a masterpiece. For example, that zun-style vase from the Song Imperial Kiln, the story of how Ren Lao acquired it back then is still a beautiful tale in the antique circle..."

  While driving, Zhang Zhonglin kept talking and soon brought up Ren Zhongshan and his collection again, lavishly praising and admiring them.

  Xinquan Renzhongshan, this name is indeed very loud in the Xinquan antique circle. What made him famous was that one time he spent a lot of money to buy a Song Dynasty official kiln cong-shaped vase.

  Many people think of Qinghua porcelain when it comes to ceramics, because since the Yuan Dynasty, Qinghua porcelain has occupied the mainstream of the ceramic world. For three generations, from Yuan, Ming to Qing, Qinghua porcelain was the main stream, and now most of the ceramics that have been passed down to us are also Qinghua porcelain.

  But before Qinghua porcelain, ancient China's porcelain culture was just as colorful and varied. Among them, the most worth mentioning is Song porcelain.

  If Yuan Qinghua is a unified Jiangshan, Junlin Tianxia, Ming Qinghua is each leading the firelight to explode in the sky, then Song porcelain is a high mountain that stops at the top and excels for thousands of years.

  Whenever Song Dynasty porcelain is mentioned, the five famous official kilns of Ru, Guan, Ge, Jun and Ding must be brought up.

  Ru Kiln ranks first among the five famous kilns in China, followed by Guan Kiln, Ge Kiln, Jun Kiln and Ding Kiln.

  The achievements of the five great kilns in the Song Dynasty were pursued and imitated by emperors of all dynasties after the Song Dynasty, with almost every emperor having sought to emulate the fame of these five kilns. Among them, Yongzheng was the most notable, having extensively imitated Ru kiln porcelain, which is also considered the highest level of imitation in history.

  However, the Ru kiln porcelain that can be passed down to modern times is really rare and precious, almost every piece can be called a national treasure, Ru kiln porcelain has become a rare thing for personal collectors, even if it's a first-class collector in China, they may not get one in their lifetime.

  So for collectors who aspire to collect Song ceramics, being able to collect a piece of Ge kiln work that is second only to Ru kiln is already quite good. The zun-style vase bought by Ren Zhongshan is recognized worldwide as an official kiln ceramic.

  There are only four known examples of this type of vase from the Northern Song dynasty, one in Tokyo National Museum, one in the David Foundation in Britain, one in Taipei Palace Museum and the last one is this.

  In 2006, at the Beijing Hanhai Spring Auction, this zun-style vase was purchased by a collector for 16.5 million yuan. At that time, it was not Ren Weishan who bought the porcelain, but he later acquired it from the buyer in a private transaction for 30 million yuan, making it his collection. In fact, he sold it just three months after the auction.

  At first glance, Ren Zhongshan seemed to have suffered a great loss and was the biggest fool under heaven, but one sentence spoken by his opponent afterwards made countless people remember his name.

  "A thousand gold coins can't buy a good feeling in one's heart. I missed that auction, and had to pay double the price to get it later. You may think I'm foolish, but only I know that what I bought wasn't just this zun vase, but also my own happiness!"

  These are Ren Zhongshan's own words.

  A thousand pieces of gold cannot buy a good head, he bought not only this zun-style vase, but also his own happiness. Perhaps this vase is not worth 300 million, but how much does one's true happiness cost?

  After that sentence, Ren Zhongshan became famous in the Xinkuang antique circle.

  Whether or not you acknowledge this sentence, whether or not you acknowledge Ren Zhongshan as a person, but there is one thing you must admit, he is a very powerful and capable person.

  This matter is indeed a long-standing beautiful talk on Xinkai Antique Street. After Zhang Zhonglin mentioned it again, although Ren Lijuan didn't show any expression, Yang Dan listened with relish and even sighed many times, once again feeling the horror of the antique world. Previously, she was already shocked to see Ren Lijuan spend 6 million buying a broken chair, but she really couldn't imagine that Ren Lijuan's grandfather would be even more powerful, spending 300 million to buy a broken vase, which is simply unthinkable.

  Upon seeing this, Zhang Zhonglin became even more enthusiastic and began to explain in detail the five major kilns of Song Dynasty porcelain, as well as the conical bottle from the official kiln.

  This explanation, just like his previous explanation of that Huanghuali armchair, is full of a professional tone from start to finish.

  Yang Dan felt dizzy again after hearing it once more.

  "Heh heh, Mr. Zhou, do you think what I said is right or not?" It wasn't until then that Zhang Zhonglin suddenly changed the subject and looked at Zhou Mingluo sitting in the passenger seat, seeing Yang Dan, this outstanding beauty, being stunned by his words, seemingly unaware of her surroundings.

  Although he still asked in a gentle tone, the sarcasm and ridicule in it were more obvious than ever.

  If it weren't for what happened this morning, he would have no problem saying that. However, just now when buying the armchair, Zhou Ming appeared to be a complete amateur in their eyes. Now if he were to bring up such professional theories and then humble himself to ask for their advice, it would be utterly humiliating and nauseating.