Chapter Nineteenth: Old Mo (Part Two)

  "Two hundred!" The stall owner exclaimed: "Little brother, your sincerity is not enough, you have to add another zero at the back."

  "Two thousand!"

  This time it was Qu Wen's turn to exclaim, "Can this really be sold at such a price?" After some thought, he followed Fan Yongcheng's teachings and first cut the price by 20%, then quoted: "Four hundred."

  There's a deal to be made, and the owner of the antique shop truly wants to sell this old inkstone. The stall owner is also very happy but doesn't show it. This inkstone was bought for 400 yuan, so he can't possibly not make any profit. He quickly quoted a price: "1,800."

  Five hundred.

  "Eighteen hundred."

  "Six hundred."

  "Eighteen hundred."

  "Eight hundred, if you sell it I'll take it, if not I'm leaving!"

  After talking for half a day, your mouth isn't tired but the water costs money, don't believe me? Go to the street and buy a bottle of mineral water, it's at least one or two yuan. Qu Wen stood up with a determined look on his face and was about to leave.

  "Alright, eight hundred it is!"

  Qu Wen no longer yielded, and he also earned double the amount. The stall owner, Mali, quickly wrapped up the old inkstone, still pretending to be extremely reluctant as they exchanged money and goods.

  As for how much this ink is worth, Qu Wen really doesn't know, it's just that the ink has a spiritual energy condensed on it, and it can be considered as a nourishing product for one's skills. A few days ago, he earned tens of millions, spending a few hundred yuan didn't feel painful at all, after strolling around Panjiayuan for a while, he happily took the old ink back to Bao Guoqiang's home. As soon as he entered the door, he smelled the fragrance emitted by the dishes, and his stomach growled loudly.

  "Ah Wen you're back just in time, dinner is ready." Bao Guoqiang called out as soon as he saw Qu Wen from a distance.

  "Ah, here it comes!"

  Upon hearing that dinner was ready, Qu Wen was more enthusiastic than anyone else and hastily washed his hands to rush to the dining hall. Suddenly, he found that there was an additional beautiful young girl at the dinner table tonight, 16 or 17 years old, with silky smooth hair tied back behind her head, soft and slender eyebrows, eyes shining like stars and moons, and a lively and innocent demeanor that made people like her at first sight.

  "You must be Qu Wen's brother, I'm Bao Xiaolin." Bao Xiaolin seemed more at ease than Qu Wen and introduced herself without waiting for others to speak up.

  "Hello!" Bao Xiaolin's face didn't blush, but Qu Wen blushed first, habitually scratching his head. He felt that this year he easily encountered beautiful women. However, she called her own brother "ge ge", and he also called her father "ge ge", the relationship between them felt a bit confusing.

  Bao Guoqiang didn't mind these things, if Gu Quan really accepted Qu Wen as his apprentice, then Qu Wen would become his junior brother, and it was normal to call him "brother". Moreover, young people nowadays don't attach much importance to seniority, and each has their own social circle without any conflicts. On the contrary, when Qu Wen saw his beloved daughter blush, he was a bit surprised, but this kind of young man's character wouldn't be too bad.

  "Let's eat first, we can talk after we're full." Gu Quan picked up his chopsticks and in less than two minutes asked Qu Wen again, "Where did you go this afternoon?"

  I went to Panjiayuan and took a stroll around. Every day, I hear from Fan Shu that there are two major antique cities in Beijing, one is Liulichang and the other is Panjiayuan, so I had nothing better to do than go take a look. On my way back, I also bought some Fang Laoming ink sticks.

  "Old Mo!" Bao Guoqiang was quite famous in the antique shops of Beijing, and he knew how deep the waters were at Panjiayuan. He whispered that more than half of the Curved Script pieces had been slaughtered.

  "How much did you buy it for?"

  "Not expensive, 800 yuan."

  "Eight hundred!"

  Bao Guoqiang took a deep breath, old ink is not easy to preserve, the market price of early ink was around 300-500 yuan, by the mid-Qing period, good quality ancient ink was around 1,200-1,800 yuan, the higher the quality, the rarer and more valuable it became. Due to preservation issues, the quantity of existing ink is extremely limited, and prices are rising year by year. High-quality ink sets have even been auctioned off for as high as 4.5 million yuan. However, most of the ink sold at Panjiayuan flea market are modern imitations, not worth more than 80 yuan in value.

  "Let me take a look." Gu Quan put down his chopsticks, and he had a peculiar feeling about Qu Wen. This kid's gaze was different from ordinary people, suddenly giving you a surprise, stimulating you once in a while.

  "Alright." Since he was back and had food to eat, Qu Wen didn't go anywhere else. He just put the old inkstone he had just bought in his bag behind him, turned around and took it out.

  Gu Zhong took over the ink and carefully examined it for half a day, then looked at Qu Wen with an astonished gaze: "This ink of yours was really bought for 800 pieces?"

  "Yeah, the stall owner said it was a Hu Kaiwen brand item and wanted 2,000 for it. But this inkstone only has the character "Hu" on it, which can't fully represent that it's really a Hu Kaiwen brand. I told him the inkstone wasn't genuine, but seeing that the glaze on the inkstone was pretty good, it should be an old piece, so I gave 800 for it."

  Qu Wen knew this was an old object, otherwise it wouldn't have any spiritual energy. He was afraid that Gu Quan would ask how he could tell, so he mentioned Bao Cang again.

  "Guo Qiang, you take a look." Gu Quan didn't say anything else and handed the old inkstone to Bao Guo Qiang.

  Following Gu Quanzhong for many years, Bao Guoqiang deeply understood his master's personality. If it were fake, he would have put it aside long ago. Now that he handed it over to himself, it was likely that there was a problem with this side of the ink, and perhaps he had even discovered a major leak for Qu Wen. After taking it over and looking at it for a while, his expression gradually became more surprised than Gu Quanzhong's.

  "A Wen, your luck is too good!"

  Qu Wen only knew that this was Fang Lao Mo, but didn't know its value. Could it be that this ordinary-looking black ink could still produce flowers?

  "Qiang Ge, don't beat around the bush, just say it straight out. Whether I lose or gain is none of my concern, I just want to get to the bottom of this. Is this ink worth being so shocked about?"

  Bao Guoqiang glanced at Gu Quan, seeing that the old man hadn't spoken up, and turned his head back to Qu Wen: "China has had the Four Treasures of the Study since ancient times, namely brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. This ink is one of China's traditional Four Treasures. As early as the Southern Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period, there were famous ink makers such as Zu Min, Xi Tai, Xi Chao, and Xi Ding. During the Song Dynasty, there were Pan Zhangyu, Pu Dasong, Ye Maoshi, among others, with Pan Zhangyu's ink being praised as 'the divine product of ink'. In the Ming Dynasty, there was Huizhou ink, while Luo Xiaohua's tung oil ink, Cheng Junfang's lacquer ink, and Fang Yuru's precious medicinal ink were all rare treasures. More recently, there is the Hu Kaiwen brand ink, which differs from its predecessors in that it mainly uses medicinal ink, adding medicinal powder to create a rich, fragrant ink with a hint of herbal scent, having a calming effect on the mind and body. It's not easy for ink to be preserved well until now; the market price for early period ink is around 300-500 yuan. A good quality ancient ink from the Qing Dynasty costs around 1,500 yuan per piece, and the higher the quality, the more valuable it becomes. Due to its limited quantity, the price has been rising year by year, with a set of high-quality ink once selling for as much as 4.5 million yuan."

  Bao Guoqiang counted the family treasures and told the story of Mo culture, making Qu Wen both surprised and amazed. When he heard that a piece of ink could sell for 4.5 million, he almost jumped up.

  "Four hundred and fifty thousand, isn't it hard for this piece to be worth so much money?!"

  Bao Guoqiang chuckled and said, "This piece is certainly not worth that much, but selling it for a million or two shouldn't be a problem. If you don't lack this corner, selling it for twenty million is also possible."

  Several sentences in a row piqued Quwen's strong curiosity, and he asked urgently: "Qiang Ge, tell me, what's so special about this ink?"

  Bao Guoqiang nodded slightly.

  "Hu Kaiwen, originally named Hu Tianzhu, courtesy name Zhushen, was a famous Huizhou merchant and ink maker during the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty. He is known as the founder of 'Hu Kaiwen' ink and studied under Wang Qimao from Xiuning, Huizhou. The ink he produced was renowned for its medicinal properties, with various medicines added to it, making the written characters not only deep black but also capable of treating multiple diseases, earning him great acclaim. In his early days, Hu Kaiwen worked as an apprentice in Wang Qimao's ink shop and had personally made a significant amount of ink. However, at that time, he was just an apprentice and could not inscribe his full name on the ink blocks, mostly only engraving the character 'Hu'. This 'Hu' character is identical to the font used by Hu Kaiwen in his later self-created brand, with similar materials used for the ink blocks and a style that still inherited Wang Qimao's tradition while also possessing some unique characteristics of Hu Kaiwen. However, it had not yet reached the level of establishing its own distinct school. Therefore, I can confidently determine that this is an old ink block from Hu Kaiwen's early days."

  "Really!" Qu Wen never thought that a piece of ordinary-looking ink would have so much knowledge and be worth so much.

  Gu Zhong sat beside him, picked up his wine cup and took a small sip, saying lightly: "I don't know if it's your good luck or your unique insight, but you always manage to discover things that others can't. If you study hard, you'll eventually surpass Guo Qiang."

  Gu Quanzhen praised the lyrics of Qu Wen, but dragged Bao Guoqiang into it, making it clear that he was not saying his own talent was inferior to the other. However, this was said by Gu Quanzhen, and as a disciple, Bao Guoqiang couldn't refute him, so he could only pick up his wine cup: "Come on, let's all toast to Ah Wen for making a big splash!"