Chapter 8 – Selling the Painting
Yu Wen felt that he was at fault, so when Yutang questioned him, he couldn’t help but feel ashamed, and said in a small voice, “A Tang, although your mother still needs medicine, but now we do not have to go to the capital to seek treatment. So can’t you just treat this silver as the expenses for the trip? Besides, you can see how your uncle Lu treats our family. How can I only care about our family and neglect his wellbeing at this time?”
Yu Tang was extremely upset and retorted, “Is he in a life and death situation now? You mean, without these two hundred taels of silver, he will not survive?”
“There isn’t much of a difference.” Yu Wen said helplessly, “Your uncle Lu offended the Pei family and can’t stay in Lin’an. Next year, there will be another court entrance examination. If he can’t get a good recommendation, it will be hard for him to succeed academically.”
Yu Tang knew of this.
Officials who were currently serving were often willing to help candidiates from their province or hometown. If an examinee wants to enter the capital to take the exam, a local official will write a letter of recommendation to an official in the capital whom they know or are close with, asking them to help arrange accommodation or even give guidance on literary subjects, in order for them to achieve better results and rankings.
She laughed coldly. “If I remember correctly, Uncle Lu is still only a scholar candidate right? The Pei family wrote a letter of recommendation for him, but I’m afraid he can’t use it. Besides, the Pei family has always been generous in helping their neighbors. What has uncle Lu done that offended the Pei family so seriously? Why don’t father think about it carefully?”
Yu Wen obviously did not want to talk about it anymore, and said firmly, “He has decided to live in the capital, and may not come back again, so this is the last time I can help him. It’s also my way of repaying him for saving your mother’s life, so don’t pursue this matter.”
What else could Yu Tang say?
She said resentfully, “Where is the painting?”
After all, the painting is still an antique, and was worth some silver. In case their family can’t afford to pay for her mother’s medicine anymore, they can still pawn the painting.
Yu Wen appeasingly handed the painting scroll to Yu Tang.
Yu Tang unfurled the scroll on the desk, while muttering in a low voice: “Only you can be so gullible. Two hundred taels of silver… if he took it to the pawn store, at most, he can only get a hundred taels of silver ……”
She stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened.
This is not the “Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting” that she occasionally took out to look at in her previous life.
After her parents’ accident, this painting was left at home and forgotten. It was only when she got engaged, and her eldest uncle wanted to buy her some paintings and calligraphy to add to her dowry to make it more respectable, that this painting was found again. Because her parents’ accident was related to this painting, she took it as a reminder and kept it carefully, taking it out from time to time to look at it.
She clearly remembered that the painting had twenty-three seals, the last two of which were “Spring Water Hall” and “Thin Plum Man” which were stamped next to each other. However, what should have originally been stamped with the “Spring Water Hall” seal, was now stamped “Plum Forest”.
This painting is a fake!
Yu Tang was furious and said, “Father, Lu Xin is despicable!”
Seeing his daughter repeatedly slander his friend, Yu Wen became a little upset and came over to collect the scroll, saying, “Child, how can you talk like this? Who in the world does not have flaws, you should not always look at Uncle Lu’s fault, when you look at people, you have to see……”
“No!” Yu Tang interrupted her father’s words, and stopped him from rolling up the scroll, pointed to the seal stamped with “Plum Forest” and said, “Father, look, it should be stamped with ‘Spring Water Hall’.
Yu Wen laughed and said, “When I ask you to study properly, you ignore my words. And now see, you’re making a fool out of yourself. I don’t know whose seal is ‘Spring Water Hall’, but this ‘Plum Forest’ is Minister Zuo’s personal seal. I used to study Minister Zuo’s manuscripts and thus am familar with his seals. This painting in your uncle Lu’s house was given by Minister Zuo to his late father, so it will be stranger if there is no such seal. Look, this ‘Thin Plum Man’ seal is the alias of your uncle Lu’s father.”
Yu Tang was completely confused.
Could it be that the famous painting she used to hold and look at in her last life was a fake?
Yu Tang was unwilling to just give up like this, so she asked Yu Wen to find someone to identify it.
However, Yu Wen disagreed. “Although I may not be well-versed in literary works, but at least when it comes to identifying a few ancient paintings from the former dynasty, I would not be wrong about this.”
The confusion in Yutang’s heart only kept growing.
In her previous life, after she married into the Li family, there was once when a thief broke in. Later, when everyone checked their belongings, it was only Yutang who lost two or three pieces of gold jewelry. At that time, she wondered, with the Li family’s high walls, how could someone could break in, and even if they did, why did they steal so little?
Perhaps, could it be that the painting had already been stolen at that time?
Yu Tang did not want to think of of her past with the Li Family, as it was a thorn in her heart. Especially with her resentment towards the Li family, just thinking of it will make her tremble with anger and be unable to say anything.
No!
She can’t just muddle through as if nothing happened.
Yu Tang asked Yu Wen for the “Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting” and quietly took the painting to the Pei family’s pawn store.
The Pei family had only one pawnshop in Lin’an.
It was located at the crossroads in front of the Lin’an dock.
The shopkeeper was still the same fair and plump looking Supervisor Tong.
In her previous life, Yutang pawned a lot of items through him.
She wrapped her head with a scarf, and dressed herself as a family madam and quietly entered the pawnshop.
Supervisor Tong was not in, and fronting the counter was Supervisor Tong’s son Tong Hai.
Like Supervisor Tong, he was also fair and chubby. Although still only a young man, he had already learnt to smile when meeting customers and was very approachable.
Yu Tang handed the painting over and whispered “pawn ‘live'”.1
Tong Hai smilingly took the painting and leisurely opened the scroll. However, the moment he saw it, he was startled. Although it was immediately replaced with a smile, but the shock on his face was seen by Yu Tang.
It was evident that Tong Hai had already been trained to spot antiques.
“Young lady, this would take a while. Please go to the inner hall to enjoy a a cup of tea first.” He smiled pleasantly, “We will have to get our in-store expert on calligraphy and antique paintings to have a look before we can quote a price.”
Why is the Pei family’s pawnshop still considered fair and just? It’s because they are different from many pawn stores. In an average pawn store, when a customer pawns something, they will first treat the item like it’s a fake, and ask the customer to set a price. No matter what price you set, they will forcefully devalue the item until it’s treated as worthless, and persuade you to pawn ‘dead’. 2
Yu Tong nodded. Her anxiety that only kept increasing after knowing that her father bought the painting again eased a little.
With her actions, everything is changing. At least this Pei family’s pawn store was familiar to her, and supervisor Tong and his son were the same as before.
She followed the Tong Hui to the inner hall.
A gust of wind blew and the balsam fir tree in the patio swayed, causing a few koi to emerge from under the water lily leaves in the pond.
Yu Tang could not help but slow down her pace and look at the scenery. However, she heard someone talking faintly behind the half-hidden glazed partition on the other side.
She looked over at where the sound was coming from.
As she peered through the gap in the doorway, she only saw the silhouettes of two men, but were unable to see their faces clearly.
She immediately recognized the plump looking one as supervisor Tong. The taller figure wore an azure pure silk robe, with a distinguished posture, standing with his hands behind his back. Even from afar, across the doorway, and partially hidden, she could still feel his dignified and imposing presence.
This person should be an esteemed guest of the pawnshop.
As YuTang came here secretly, she was afraid of being spotted and didn’t dare to pry further, and could only silently ponder in her heart.
This person had such a good temperament, and yet is here to pawn something, I wonder which family he belongs to….
She shook her head, inexplicably feeling some pity.
After Yutang drank two cups of tea, both supervisor Tong and his son came in one after another.
“Young lady,” Supervisor Tong took out the scroll and pass it back to her. After wiping his perspiration, he said “this painting of yours, it’s a fake.”
Fake?
Yu Tang stood up with a start.
She knew it, this Lu Xin was a scoundrel!
In her previous life, when her father bought this painting willingly, he at least sold a real painting to her father. In this life, when her father was reluctant to buy, he sold a fake painting to her father instead.
Yu Tang gritted her teeth.
However in her heart, she had to admit that if not for her interference, this would not have happened in this life.
Since this trouble was caused by her, naturally she will be the one to clean up this mess.
If she can’t obtain the real painting from Lu Xin, she will at least have to take back the silver!
Yu Tang snatched the painting out of Tong’s hand and said harshly, “Thank you, supervisor Tong, I’m sorry to have bother you.”
However Supervisor Tong only stared blankly at her, as if he was frightened by something.
Yu Tang could only smile half-heartedly.
She resented Lu Xin, but she shouldn’t have took out her anger on supervisor Tong.
“I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you” She apologized, “I didn’t expect it to be a fake painting. I regret to have wasted your time.”
Supervisor Tong and his son were good people. If it were anyone else, with a fake painting to pawn, she would have been thrown onto the streets and ridiculed before all the passer-bys.
“N-no!” Tong Hui stammered. “you, your head covering fell off.”
So what if her head covering fell off?
Yu Tang paused for a moment before she understood.
In order to come to the pawnshop, she deliberately dressed up as a family madam with an old robe borrowed from Shuang Tao, and also combed a married lady’s hairstyle with a pink velvet flower. Initially she thought about whether she should put a little powder to make her face look older. However, she disliked the roughness of the powder Shuang Tao had. Shuang Tao said to go to “Xie Fu Xiang” to buy a new box, however, she didn’t want to spend two taels of silver just for a little powder. The two taels of silver were enough for her mother to eat half a month’s worth of medicine.
In her previous life, Yu Tang also wore a similar head covering and visited the pawn store and no one knew. So she did the same thing today. However, she forgot that she was just a young girl of fifteen/sixteen, who only just reached maturity. Her face was still tender as a fresh cherry hanging upon a branch in March, still young and delicate. So with her get-up, she looked like a child playing dress-up.
Yu Tang’s face turned red as she haphazardly wrapped her head in her scarf. Grabbing the scroll, she immediately left the pawnshop.
The midday sun in summer was especially harsh, making it hard for people to open their eyes.
There wasn’t anyone on the streets. Next door, there was a shopkeeper who sat lying in a rocking chair with his collar unbuttoned as he fanned himself, and the dog watching the store was lying listlessly next to the chair, occasionally letting out a tired bark, which only made the silent afternoon even more dreary.
Yu Tang came back to her senses.
She only verified the authenticity of the painting, but she did not find out what was fake about it.
What should she say if Lu Xin denied it being a fake?
Yu Tang hesitated for a moment, before gritting her teeth and returned back to the pawnshop.
In the pawnshop, the man in azure clothes that she saw earlier, came out and was talking to Supervisor Tong: “Even such a young child knows how to deceive people. Should you encounter such things in the future, don’t just let it pass!”
The shopkeeper nodded, and was about to answer, when he looked up and saw Yu Tang walking in.
His mouth hanged opened awkwardly and his face showed some uneasiness.
Pawned ‘Live’ – 活当 (Huo dang) – meaning that the item to be pawned can be repurchased in future should the owner have the money to do so. Because of this, the price quoted will often be much lesser than if it was to be pawned ‘dead’ Pawned ‘dead’ – 死当 (Si dang) – the item to be be pawned cannot be repurchased anymore. As such, the price quoted will be much higher than if the same item was to be pawned ‘live’.
Chapter 8 – Selling the Painting
Yu Wen felt that he was at fault, so when Yutang questioned him, he couldn’t help but feel ashamed, and said in a small voice, “A Tang, although your mother still needs medicine, but now we do not have to go to the capital to seek treatment. So can’t you just treat this silver as the expenses for the trip? Besides, you can see how your uncle Lu treats our family. How can I only care about our family and neglect his wellbeing at this time?”
Yu Tang was extremely upset and retorted, “Is he in a life and death situation now? You mean, without these two hundred taels of silver, he will not survive?”
“There isn’t much of a difference.” Yu Wen said helplessly, “Your uncle Lu offended the Pei family and can’t stay in Lin’an. Next year, there will be another court entrance examination. If he can’t get a good recommendation, it will be hard for him to succeed academically.”
Yu Tang knew of this.
Officials who were currently serving were often willing to help candidiates from their province or hometown. If an examinee wants to enter the capital to take the exam, a local official will write a letter of recommendation to an official in the capital whom they know or are close with, asking them to help arrange accommodation or even give guidance on literary subjects, in order for them to achieve better results and rankings.
She laughed coldly. “If I remember correctly, Uncle Lu is still only a scholar candidate right? The Pei family wrote a letter of recommendation for him, but I’m afraid he can’t use it. Besides, the Pei family has always been generous in helping their neighbors. What has uncle Lu done that offended the Pei family so seriously? Why don’t father think about it carefully?”
Yu Wen obviously did not want to talk about it anymore, and said firmly, “He has decided to live in the capital, and may not come back again, so this is the last time I can help him. It’s also my way of repaying him for saving your mother’s life, so don’t pursue this matter.”
What else could Yu Tang say?
She said resentfully, “Where is the painting?”
After all, the painting is still an antique, and was worth some silver. In case their family can’t afford to pay for her mother’s medicine anymore, they can still pawn the painting.
Yu Wen appeasingly handed the painting scroll to Yu Tang.
Yu Tang unfurled the scroll on the desk, while muttering in a low voice: “Only you can be so gullible. Two hundred taels of silver… if he took it to the pawn store, at most, he can only get a hundred taels of silver ……”
She stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened.
This is not the “Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting” that she occasionally took out to look at in her previous life.
After her parents’ accident, this painting was left at home and forgotten. It was only when she got engaged, and her eldest uncle wanted to buy her some paintings and calligraphy to add to her dowry to make it more respectable, that this painting was found again. Because her parents’ accident was related to this painting, she took it as a reminder and kept it carefully, taking it out from time to time to look at it.
She clearly remembered that the painting had twenty-three seals, the last two of which were “Spring Water Hall” and “Thin Plum Man” which were stamped next to each other. However, what should have originally been stamped with the “Spring Water Hall” seal, was now stamped “Plum Forest”.
This painting is a fake!
Yu Tang was furious and said, “Father, Lu Xin is despicable!”
Seeing his daughter repeatedly slander his friend, Yu Wen became a little upset and came over to collect the scroll, saying, “Child, how can you talk like this? Who in the world does not have flaws, you should not always look at Uncle Lu’s fault, when you look at people, you have to see……”
“No!” Yu Tang interrupted her father’s words, and stopped him from rolling up the scroll, pointed to the seal stamped with “Plum Forest” and said, “Father, look, it should be stamped with ‘Spring Water Hall’.
Yu Wen laughed and said, “When I ask you to study properly, you ignore my words. And now see, you’re making a fool out of yourself. I don’t know whose seal is ‘Spring Water Hall’, but this ‘Plum Forest’ is Minister Zuo’s personal seal. I used to study Minister Zuo’s manuscripts and thus am familar with his seals. This painting in your uncle Lu’s house was given by Minister Zuo to his late father, so it will be stranger if there is no such seal. Look, this ‘Thin Plum Man’ seal is the alias of your uncle Lu’s father.”
Yu Tang was completely confused.
Could it be that the famous painting she used to hold and look at in her last life was a fake?
Yu Tang was unwilling to just give up like this, so she asked Yu Wen to find someone to identify it.
However, Yu Wen disagreed. “Although I may not be well-versed in literary works, but at least when it comes to identifying a few ancient paintings from the former dynasty, I would not be wrong about this.”
The confusion in Yutang’s heart only kept growing.
In her previous life, after she married into the Li family, there was once when a thief broke in. Later, when everyone checked their belongings, it was only Yutang who lost two or three pieces of gold jewelry. At that time, she wondered, with the Li family’s high walls, how could someone could break in, and even if they did, why did they steal so little?
Perhaps, could it be that the painting had already been stolen at that time?
Yu Tang did not want to think of of her past with the Li Family, as it was a thorn in her heart. Especially with her resentment towards the Li family, just thinking of it will make her tremble with anger and be unable to say anything.
No!
She can’t just muddle through as if nothing happened.
Yu Tang asked Yu Wen for the “Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting” and quietly took the painting to the Pei family’s pawn store.
The Pei family had only one pawnshop in Lin’an.
It was located at the crossroads in front of the Lin’an dock.
The shopkeeper was still the same fair and plump looking Supervisor Tong.
In her previous life, Yutang pawned a lot of items through him.
She wrapped her head with a scarf, and dressed herself as a family madam and quietly entered the pawnshop.
Supervisor Tong was not in, and fronting the counter was Supervisor Tong’s son Tong Hai.
Like Supervisor Tong, he was also fair and chubby. Although still only a young man, he had already learnt to smile when meeting customers and was very approachable.
Yu Tang handed the painting over and whispered “pawn ‘live'”.1
Tong Hai smilingly took the painting and leisurely opened the scroll. However, the moment he saw it, he was startled. Although it was immediately replaced with a smile, but the shock on his face was seen by Yu Tang.
It was evident that Tong Hai had already been trained to spot antiques.
“Young lady, this would take a while. Please go to the inner hall to enjoy a a cup of tea first.” He smiled pleasantly, “We will have to get our in-store expert on calligraphy and antique paintings to have a look before we can quote a price.”
Why is the Pei family’s pawnshop still considered fair and just? It’s because they are different from many pawn stores. In an average pawn store, when a customer pawns something, they will first treat the item like it’s a fake, and ask the customer to set a price. No matter what price you set, they will forcefully devalue the item until it’s treated as worthless, and persuade you to pawn ‘dead’. 2
Yu Tong nodded. Her anxiety that only kept increasing after knowing that her father bought the painting again eased a little.
With her actions, everything is changing. At least this Pei family’s pawn store was familiar to her, and supervisor Tong and his son were the same as before.
She followed the Tong Hui to the inner hall.
A gust of wind blew and the balsam fir tree in the patio swayed, causing a few koi to emerge from under the water lily leaves in the pond.
Yu Tang could not help but slow down her pace and look at the scenery. However, she heard someone talking faintly behind the half-hidden glazed partition on the other side.
She looked over at where the sound was coming from.
As she peered through the gap in the doorway, she only saw the silhouettes of two men, but were unable to see their faces clearly.
She immediately recognized the plump looking one as supervisor Tong. The taller figure wore an azure pure silk robe, with a distinguished posture, standing with his hands behind his back. Even from afar, across the doorway, and partially hidden, she could still feel his dignified and imposing presence.
This person should be an esteemed guest of the pawnshop.
As YuTang came here secretly, she was afraid of being spotted and didn’t dare to pry further, and could only silently ponder in her heart.
This person had such a good temperament, and yet is here to pawn something, I wonder which family he belongs to….
She shook her head, inexplicably feeling some pity.
After Yutang drank two cups of tea, both supervisor Tong and his son came in one after another.
“Young lady,” Supervisor Tong took out the scroll and pass it back to her. After wiping his perspiration, he said “this painting of yours, it’s a fake.”
Fake?
Yu Tang stood up with a start.
She knew it, this Lu Xin was a scoundrel!
In her previous life, when her father bought this painting willingly, he at least sold a real painting to her father. In this life, when her father was reluctant to buy, he sold a fake painting to her father instead.
Yu Tang gritted her teeth.
However in her heart, she had to admit that if not for her interference, this would not have happened in this life.
Since this trouble was caused by her, naturally she will be the one to clean up this mess.
If she can’t obtain the real painting from Lu Xin, she will at least have to take back the silver!
Yu Tang snatched the painting out of Tong’s hand and said harshly, “Thank you, supervisor Tong, I’m sorry to have bother you.”
However Supervisor Tong only stared blankly at her, as if he was frightened by something.
Yu Tang could only smile half-heartedly.
She resented Lu Xin, but she shouldn’t have took out her anger on supervisor Tong.
“I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you” She apologized, “I didn’t expect it to be a fake painting. I regret to have wasted your time.”
Supervisor Tong and his son were good people. If it were anyone else, with a fake painting to pawn, she would have been thrown onto the streets and ridiculed before all the passer-bys.
“N-no!” Tong Hui stammered. “you, your head covering fell off.”
So what if her head covering fell off?
Yu Tang paused for a moment before she understood.
In order to come to the pawnshop, she deliberately dressed up as a family madam with an old robe borrowed from Shuang Tao, and also combed a married lady’s hairstyle with a pink velvet flower. Initially she thought about whether she should put a little powder to make her face look older. However, she disliked the roughness of the powder Shuang Tao had. Shuang Tao said to go to “Xie Fu Xiang” to buy a new box, however, she didn’t want to spend two taels of silver just for a little powder. The two taels of silver were enough for her mother to eat half a month’s worth of medicine.
In her previous life, Yu Tang also wore a similar head covering and visited the pawn store and no one knew. So she did the same thing today. However, she forgot that she was just a young girl of fifteen/sixteen, who only just reached maturity. Her face was still tender as a fresh cherry hanging upon a branch in March, still young and delicate. So with her get-up, she looked like a child playing dress-up.
Yu Tang’s face turned red as she haphazardly wrapped her head in her scarf. Grabbing the scroll, she immediately left the pawnshop.
The midday sun in summer was especially harsh, making it hard for people to open their eyes.
There wasn’t anyone on the streets. Next door, there was a shopkeeper who sat lying in a rocking chair with his collar unbuttoned as he fanned himself, and the dog watching the store was lying listlessly next to the chair, occasionally letting out a tired bark, which only made the silent afternoon even more dreary.
Yu Tang came back to her senses.
She only verified the authenticity of the painting, but she did not find out what was fake about it.
What should she say if Lu Xin denied it being a fake?
Yu Tang hesitated for a moment, before gritting her teeth and returned back to the pawnshop.
In the pawnshop, the man in azure clothes that she saw earlier, came out and was talking to Supervisor Tong: “Even such a young child knows how to deceive people. Should you encounter such things in the future, don’t just let it pass!”
The shopkeeper nodded, and was about to answer, when he looked up and saw Yu Tang walking in.
His mouth hanged opened awkwardly and his face showed some uneasiness.
Pawned ‘Live’ – 活当 (Huo dang) – meaning that the item to be pawned can be repurchased in future should the owner have the money to do so. Because of this, the price quoted will often be much lesser than if it was to be pawned ‘dead’ Pawned ‘dead’ – 死当 (Si dang) – the item to be be pawned cannot be repurchased anymore. As such, the price quoted will be much higher than if the same item was to be pawned ‘live’.