Chapter 66 Guan Tianlin’s Test (Part )
Liu Zhiye looked at Guan Tianlin with half belief and half doubt as he spoke passionately about the special relationship between the Guan family and the Wang family.

He always felt that this person was acting, but he had no evidence.

Guan Tianlin wanted to continue testing Liu Zhiye to see if he really didn’t pay attention to this matter.

“Chief Liu! I have an unsolicited request.”

“Can I ask what arrangements the factory has made for the Wang family? It’s been so long, there should be an explanation, right?”

Liu Zhiye said, I will act with you.

“Oh! Uncle Guan! It’s not that I don’t care about my comrades, it’s just that I’m really powerless. This matter is not my responsibility. If I rashly ask about it, I’m afraid I’ll suffer the consequences if I don’t handle it properly!”

Guan Tianlin finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Oh! Forget it!”

Then he pretended to be helpless and said:
“I just care about their family out of friendship, but I can’t put you in the middle of it. Just pretend I never mentioned it…”

At this moment, Aunt Sun came in carrying a teapot.

Perhaps he heard something, so he smiled and said, “Chief Liu! Please have some tea. This is the tea that just came down from Jiangsu Province. Please taste it~”

Liu Zhiye continued to pretend to be polite. He picked up the teacup and took a sip. He pretended to be very interested and said, “Hmm! Good tea! Copper wire strips, spiral-shaped, covered with hair, with floral and fruity flavors, fresh and refreshing.”

“Wow! Is this Dongting Lake Biluochun?”

“Uncle Guan! You are not simple! How can you buy such expensive tea?”

Guan Tianlin was a little surprised. He didn’t expect that this man surnamed Liu actually knew about this kind of tea.

This is not the kind of tea that ordinary people in Beijing can drink. One reason is that it is expensive, and the other is that people are not used to drinking it.

Although there are many kinds of tea in the Beijing tea market now, Beijing people prefer to drink jasmine tea made in cellars.

This is because the Beijing people have a special tea culture. They like to drink jasmine tea because of its strong aroma. It is a special drink in their lives. Some exquisite Beijing restaurants also serve jasmine tea.

The Guan family’s sudden change of behavior to drink such expensive tea seemed a bit too deliberate.

Guan Tianlin’s eyes flashed with dishonesty. He pretended to be indifferent, but the uneasiness and hesitation in his eyes made people feel that he was lying.

“Haha~ We don’t have much ability. We are just ordinary people. We are not like you, a cadre with good benefits and the ability to get some scarce resources.”

“Actually, I didn’t know this tea was so expensive, and I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad. This was given to me by the leader of Nandu when I was on a business trip there a while ago.”

“If you like it, I’ll give it to you. Anyway, what we drink is not as fragrant as jasmine tea.”

Liu Zhiye smiled and waved his hands, saying, “That won’t work. No merit, no reward.”

Aunt Sun at the side said, “Hey! What can a box of tea have?”

“Besides! You’ve already done us a big favor by buying these for our house and not treating them as old things that are no longer worth drinking.”

Liu Zhiye still insisted on not accepting it. He didn’t need these small things. It was impossible for him to take risks for such a small thing.

Who knows what this family is thinking.

At this moment, Guan Tianlin came in carrying a bunch of things, and said with the intention of showing off: “Chief Liu! Please take a look!”

“These are things passed down from my grandfather’s generation. They are very old…”

Liu Zhiye came closer and saw that the boy was putting boxes one after another on the kang.

Wow! There are so many things, including ceramics, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, purple clay teapots, Shoushan stones…

Guan Tianlin had completely let down his guard. He picked up a small bowl with a pink pattern and said proudly, “Here, Chief Liu, please take a look at this.”

Liu Zhiye took it in his hand slowly and took a look at it. He knew this bowl had been seen before and it was very famous in the collectors’ circle of later generations.

It is a Qianlong enameled yellow-ground bowl with rouge-red landscape patterns.

The outer wall of this bowl is covered with enameled yellow glaze, and the glaze color is delicate and evenly yellow, showing its luxury. The inside of the opening is painted with rouge red for landscapes and pavilions, and the foot is decorated with enamel-painted circular patterns. The painting is concise and the artistic conception is transcendent.

The shape of the vessel is elegant and rich, the glaze color is bright, the glaze surface is clean and lustrous, and the body is fine. The blue material “Made in the Qianlong Period” is inscribed on the foot.

It is a cultural relic that once broke the heart of Mr. Ma Weidu in later generations, and it is also related to the world-renowned collector Josep Eskenaz.

This is a story. According to Mr. Ma’s recollection, when the reform and opening up just started, he went on a business trip to Shanghai and visited a cultural relic shop.

He saw a bowl in the Friendship Store, which was priced at 3 RMB. This bowl was the Qing Dynasty Qianlong enamel yellow ground rouge red landscape bowl! Although the price was 3, but at that time, foreign exchange coupons were used, and the highest foreign exchange coupon was two yuan per yuan, so this bowl was worth 6 yuan!
Even though it was 3 yuan, it was still a price that ordinary people could not afford, because the popular slogan at that time was to strive to become a millionaire, and this bowl was equivalent to three millionaires.

Therefore, this bowl was also a sky-high price for Mr. Ma. For various reasons, Ma Weidu did not buy this bowl.

However, in 1987, when Ma Weidu walked into the store as usual, he focused his eyes on the window where the bowl was, but the bowl was gone!

But what hurt Ma Weidu was that the bowl was sold at a high price a year later. He went to Hong Kong and found that this enamel bowl appeared in the spring auction of Sotheby’s Hong Kong. In the end, it was sold for 720 million Hong Kong dollars, plus 792% of the gold, which is 850 million Hong Kong dollars. At that time, the Hong Kong dollar was more expensive than the RMB, and it was worth million!
The gap from 3 back then to 850 million was really a big stimulus to Mr. Ma!

If Mr. Ma had known that the price would increase almost 300 times in one year, he would have bought it back then, but he didn’t know it earlier.

What’s even more exciting is that 9 years later, this bowl was auctioned again at Sotheby’s and sold for HK$2147 million. The buyer was Josep Eskenazi!
In less than ten years, it almost tripled again! This made Mr. Ma regret it.

According to Mr. Ma’s estimation, if this bowl were to come back into the market, it would probably be worth 100 million!

To make a long story short, the beginning was a great thing that made Liu Zhiye very excited, and he was even more looking forward to the following antiques.

When Guan Tianlin saw his expression, he became even more proud. He took out one cultural relic after another and handed them to Liu Zhiye.

“This is a Yuan Dynasty blue-glazed plum vase with white dragon pattern!”

“Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind”

“Frosty Bridge over Wild Inn by Yuan Shangtong, Qing Dynasty”

“Visiting Ancient Sites in Fengjing”

“Blue-white jade cup with dragon pattern”

…………

Liu Zhiye looked at these 40 or 50 antique artworks and was overwhelmed. They were all exquisite and he wanted them all. He just didn’t know if he had enough money.

He thought it over again and again, and said, “Uncle Guan! I want all these things you have. Can you tell me the amount?”

Guan Tianlin said with joy: “That’s fine! Since you are so generous, Uncle Guan can’t let you down.”

“Then you give me this amount, and all these will be yours.”

As he said this, he stretched out one hand and made five fingers, meaning five.

“Uncle Guan, you mean 500 yuan?”

Guan Tianlin nodded.

Liu Zhiye hesitated, not because he thought it was too expensive. On the contrary, he thought it was too cheap.

These antique artworks are not the ordinary stuff you can find at a scrapyard. Although those are pretty good, they are nothing compared to these.

Each of these pieces is a fine product and is worth a lot of money in this era.

Guan Tianlin only charged him 500 yuan, even if it was 1500 yuan it would definitely not be expensive. With Guan Tianlin’s shrewdness, he would not be unaware of their value.

So what does he mean?
“Uncle Guan! This thing of yours is worth more than just this little money. You have to think about it carefully. We won’t regret it~”

Guan Tianlin said decisively: “No regrets!”

Liu Zhiye thought, well, if you dare to die, I will bury you.

So he pretended to take out a stack of big black tens.

“Deal then. Uncle Guan, here’s the money. Give me some…”

Guan Tianlin took the money, nodded briefly and said that there was no problem with the money. Only then did the two parties reach a deal.

Then it was getting late, and Liu Zhiye made the excuse that it was too late and wanted to go back to rest. He didn’t want to disturb the Guan family’s rest anymore, and was about to say goodbye and leave.

After Guan Tianlin put down the worry in his heart, he followed him enthusiastically and wanted to see him out.

Liu Zhiye, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around and said, “Uncle Guan! I heard from Brother Dapeng that his business is not over yet. If that’s the case, you still need a lot of money, right?”

Guan Tianlin was a little overjoyed when he heard this, and was speechless for a long time before he said, “It’s almost done. All the savings at home have been paid up.”

(End of this chapter)