”You don’t know sh*t!” Xiao Changkun looked at her with contempt, then said to Ye Chen: “Right, good son-in-law, our calligraphy and painting association is going to hold an ancient calligraphy and painting exhibition in Jinling some time later, this calligraphy and painting exhibition is of high specifications, our city is also very supportive, when the time comes, it should be open to the whole country, making a big move! Maybe even CCTV will be invited to cover the whole event!”
Ye Chen asked curiously, “What a big deal? We’re not exactly the home of calligraphy and painting in Jinling, so isn’t it a bit reluctant to make such a big move?”
Xiao Changkun said, “It doesn’t matter if Jinling is not the home of calligraphy and painting, as long as Jinling can exhibit awesome works of calligraphy and painting, so we are now collecting famous works of calligraphy and painting from collectors all over Jinling. Although I am the second in command, I don’t have anything in hand. If not, I can borrow a few, and I’ll return them to you after the exhibition!”
Ye Chen asked curiously, “Dad, didn’t you ask Zhang Ermao when you went to the antique street today? Isn’t he quite knowledgeable?”
“Zhang Ermao?” Xiao Changkun bristled, “You don’t know, that kid is a big crook. A few years ago, he learned from some old man, pissing on fake paintings and calligraphy to make them old, and selling them to the Japanese and Koreans who came to collect antiques, and in the end, it all went to the embassy. I’m sure I’ll lose face all over the country.”
Ye Chen had never heard of such a thing and asked curiously, “What about Zhang Ermao’s story? What happened? How was it handled?”
Xiao Changkun said, “Zhang Ermao really has some skills, he planted a mine for those foreigners, sold them a batch of fake bronze artifacts, and received a large sum of money from them, and helped them get it abroad. A few Japanese and Koreans would not dare to go to jail in China, so it ended up being a non-issue.”
At this point, Xiao Changkun could not help but smack his lips and sigh: “Tsk, to say that this Zhang Ermao is really something.”
Ye Chen laughed, “Dad, you’ve never seen Zhang Ermao sell the Mona Lisa, if you had, you would have been amazed as well.”
Xiao Changkun asked curiously, “Zhang Ermao sells the Mona Lisa? What kind of stunt is that?”
Ye Chen laughed, “I also heard from hearsay that he had sold a pair of ink paintings of the Mona Lisa to a Frenchman before, and sold it for quite a lot of money.”
“There’s still such a thing?” Xiao Changkun said in amazement, “Has that foreigner’s brain been kicked by a donkey? Isn’t the Mona Lisa hanging in their Louvre?”
Ye Chen waved his hand, “The one hanging in the Louvre was copied by Leonardo da Vinci, the original work was by our Yuan Dynasty painter Zhao Mengfu (fǔ).”
“What the ……” Xiao Changkun was confused: “Good son-in-law, where are you going with this, how can Zhao Mengfu still have anything to do with the Mona Lisa? Besides, he and Leonardo da Vinci, the two brothers, are years apart, two hundred years should be there ……”
Xiao Churan on the side also couldn’t help but laugh, “Honey, you just don’t fool Dad ……”
Ye Chen harrumphed and said, “Dad, no more jokes with you, hurry up and eat!”
Xiao Changkun came back to his senses and said resentfully, “Good son-in-law, it doesn’t matter if you’re joking with dad, but don’t forget what dad just said.”
“Want the calligraphy and painting, right?” Ye Chen nodded and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll arrange it, how much do you want?”
Xiao Changkun thought for a moment and said, “Our chairman said he was prepared to take out five pairs of calligraphy and paintings, I’m the second in command, so I’ll take less than him, just four!”
Ye Chen nodded, “OK, I’ll take care of it.”