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Beijing City Center!
On the asphalt road, Li Yi was speeding along in the cotton mill’s Jeep.
In the passenger seat beside him, Jiang Xue looked a little worried.
“Slow down a bit—you’re going too fast!”
Hearing Jiang Xue’s voice, Li Yi finally realized he was going a bit too fast.
It wasn’t really Li Yi’s fault, though. The main issue was that they were in the city, where anything over 50 mph felt exceptionally fast—and he’d only been going about 60 mph.
Seeing that Li Yi had slowed down, Jiang Xue asked curiously, “What’s got you so worked up?”
“Is it that obvious?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“Of course it’s obvious! If there hadn’t been a car blocking the way ahead, you would’ve made this car fly!”
Clearly, Jiang Xue was still quite upset about Li Yi driving so fast just a moment ago.
“Heh, I just thought of something—I didn’t do it on purpose!” Li Yi said.
“What’s got you so excited?”
“I’d heard before that the National Museum sells calligraphy and paintings by famous artists, but I completely forgot about it. Luckily, that old man reminded me!” Li Yi said.
“Is that all? You don’t even like calligraphy and paintings—what’s there to get so excited about?”
“Who says I don’t like them? I just hadn’t come across any masterpieces by the great masters before!”
Li Yi continued, “Besides, we used to live in the countryside and didn’t have access to these kinds of things. Even if I did like them, I wouldn’t have anywhere to display or store them!”
“So you’re planning to buy a few more?”
“Exactly!”
As he spoke, a mysterious smile spread across Li Yi’s face!
He did indeed plan to buy several more paintings, but what Jiang Xue could never have imagined was that this time, he intended to snap up all the famous calligraphy and paintings from the National Museum that were up for sale in one go—he was going to buy the entire lot!
But don’t get the wrong idea—Zhou Yang wasn’t planning to buy up the antique artifacts currently on display, but rather the calligraphy and paintings by modern artists, which is also part of the National Museum’s business operations.
That’s right—the National Museum does indeed sell calligraphy and paintings to the public. And, somewhat embarrassingly, despite being such an authoritative institution, the pieces it sells actually go unsold.
This story dates back three years, when the National Museum established a Department of Foreign Guest Services—as the name suggests, this department was specifically dedicated to serving foreign guests.
But an awkward situation arose: due to limited government funding, the budget for hosting foreign guests was capped at 3 yuan per person.
The problem is that the National Museum is the face of our country, and offering foreign guests a mere 3-yuan allowance is simply a bit of a “disgrace.”
After all, three yuan is practically nothing in Beijing these days; even the shabbiest guesthouse charges one yuan per night, and that doesn’t even cover food and drink.
Under these circumstances, some leader came up with a “brilliant idea”—selling paintings.
And so, these high-ranking officials—whose positions dictated their thinking—snapped their fingers and decided to select a few paintings by modern masters to sell, using the proceeds to supplement the budget.
They were quite the geniuses, after all—they knew these artists were ranked in tiers. Li Keran’s paintings went for 8 yuan each, while Wu Zuoren’s were sold for 5 yuan apiece. As for Liu Bingsen, renowned for his “Liu-style clerical script,” his paintings fared even worse: the better ones sold for 80 cents each, and the lesser ones for 60 cents.
Keep in mind that every single one of these artists would go on to become a household name a decade or two later—their works would be worthy of auction houses—yet here they were being sold for a song.
The most embarrassing part was that the Foreign Visitors Service Department had been selling them for a full two years, yet hardly any of the paintings had found buyers.
It makes sense, really. These days, everyone is scrambling just to make ends meet—who has the spare cash to buy paintings that are “all show and no substance”? It’s not like they’re antiques.
After all, no one knew whether these paintings would appreciate in value after being taken home, and even if they did, by how much?
And so, in 1981, the National Museum’s “Foreign Visitors Service Department” finally went out of business. With barely any of the 9,000 paintings in stock sold, and no use for them, they had no choice but to dispose of them.
The problem was that these were works by masters like Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, Guan Liang, and Li Keran—they couldn’t possibly be sold as junk. The 9,000 paintings would fetch at least several hundred thousand yuan, but who could come up with that much money all at once?
Ultimately, the National Museum approached Mr. Xu, a collector of masterpieces, offering him the entire collection of 9,000 paintings for just 200,000 yuan.
And so, the most jaw-dropping deal in the history of the National Museum was completed: 200,000 yuan for 9,000 paintings and calligraphy works by renowned artists.
Wow, that averages out to 22.22222 yuan per piece—a figure that seems to speak volumes.
Li Yi didn’t want to delve into the helplessness or other business logic behind this deal; he simply had his eye on this batch of paintings and wanted to snatch them up.
………
The National Museum is located southeast of the Imperial City, not far from Li Yi’s home.
Knowing his way around, Li Yi arrived at the place without any trouble.
After parking the car, Li Yi led Jiang Xue into the museum.
The museum before him looked quite different from the one in Li Yi’s memory—even the name had changed.
In his previous life, when Li Yi had visited, it was called the “National Museum,” but now it was the “Museum of Revolutionary History.”
However, Li Yi didn’t pay much attention to these details. Upon entering, he didn’t take Jiang Xue to tour the various exhibits; instead, he cut straight to the chase and told the staff that he wanted to buy a painting!
These days, organizations running side businesses didn’t have to do so on the sly. Upon hearing Li Yi’s request to buy a painting, the staff member immediately told him to walk straight down the corridor and follow the signs to the Foreign Visitors Service Department.
Following the staff member’s directions, Li Yi quickly found the so-called Foreign Visitors Service Department.
It must be said that, compared to the areas serving local visitors, this place exuded an air of high-end sophistication from top to bottom.
However, in Li Yi’s eyes, none of this decor had anything to do with sophistication—it could be summed up in one word: tacky!
As he pushed open the door, a woman in her twenties immediately came up to him and asked warmly, “May I ask if you’re from South Korea or Japan?”
“A Chinese national!”
“Hello, sir. May I ask if you’re here to…”
Before she could finish, Li Yi cut her off: “I heard you sell famous calligraphy and paintings here. We’re here to buy some!”
Hearing that Li Yi had come to buy calligraphy and paintings, the woman’s eyes lit up instantly, and she hurriedly asked, “Which famous artist’s works are you interested in? We have Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, Guan Liang, Li Keran…”
“I’d like to see them all!”
“Alright, please follow me!”
Led by this female staff member, Li Yi and Jiang Xue made their way to a hall at the very back of the Foreign Visitors Service Department.
The hall was essentially an exhibition space for calligraphy and paintings. The hundreds of square meters were filled with all kinds of works—even the ancient painting galleries in the museum outside didn’t have as many as this place.
Of course, the value of the two cannot be compared.
Compared to those ancient paintings that had been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years, most of the works in this hall were created by modern artists, and the vast majority of the artists were still alive.
There is an unspoken tradition in the art world: an artist’s works are generally not worth much while they are still alive.
Hmm… perhaps that’s why the price tags on these pieces are generally quite low!
“Do you have any works by Qi Baishi?”
“Yes, over here!”
Following the woman to the center of the exhibition hall, she pointed to a row of over a dozen paintings and said, “These are all works by Old Master Qi!”
Li Yi and Jiang Xue immediately began examining them closely, and soon both were captivated by a painting celebrating longevity.
The painting depicted three peaches of longevity, each accented with magenta, making them the undisputed “stars” of the composition. The entire piece was imbued with brushwork and texture, possessing both structure and depth, with variations in weight and shading. Even Li Yi, who knew little about art, fell in love with the painting at first glance.
More importantly, in Chinese culture, various natural elements—such as pine, cypress, cranes, rocks, peaches, and lingzhi mushrooms—are all regarded as symbols of longevity. Their inclusion in paintings has made them timeless themes in birthday celebration art.
Giving this painting to the old man as a birthday gift would certainly be anything but cliché.
With that in mind, Li Yi turned to the woman who had been accompanying him and asked, “How much is this painting?”
“Master Qi’s paintings are a bit pricey—100 yuan, non-negotiable. But if you’re buying in bulk, I can see if I can get you a better price!”
Li Yi scanned the gallery with his eyes, then made a startling remark: “Well, if I were to buy every single painting in here, how much would that cost?”
The moment those words left his mouth, both the female staff member and Jiang Xue, standing nearby, were stunned!