When Jiang Yulou came home on Saturday night, he was surprised to find many antiques in his home.
All kinds and varieties.
After asking, I found out that these were collected by his eldest brother Jiang Yuanchao.
My parents were quite critical of this. In the eyes of the old couple, the eldest son was just using the younger son's money to waste the family, which was not appropriate.
Under the verbal criticism from his parents, the eldest brother Jiang Yuanchao wanted to explain, but couldn't. His face turned red and Jiang Yulou felt uncomfortable.
"Mom and Dad, you have misunderstood my eldest brother. I actually asked my eldest brother to do this."
His father was angry and said, "Louba, you are confused!"
"What's the use of these things? You've spent so much money in vain, why not save it to marry a wife." Li Xiulian agreed.
Jiang Yulou glanced at his eldest brother who was silent on the side, and said with a wry smile: "Mom and Dad, I have money, aren't I trying to preserve its value?"
"What is value preservation?"
Jiang Yulou said: "Well, I can't explain it at the moment. Anyway, you believe that I won't spend money recklessly."
After finally convincing his parents to believe what he said, he took his eldest brother to the yard.
"Brother, how did you come up with the idea of buying antiques? Did Ma Dudu tell you?"
"Well, it was Martha...Ma Dudu who taught me." At the end, he added: "Dudu is a good person and can be dealt with."
Jiang Yulou was a little surprised. Ma Dudu was capable. He could let his eldest brother, whom he had only met a few times, speak for him. He had two brushes. No wonder he would become rich later.
Jiang Yulou asked: "It's just this kind of thing, can you confirm its authenticity and age?"
"Dudu and I have discussed it, and he will come over tomorrow to take a look." Jiang Yuanchao said.
"Okay, let's talk about it tomorrow."
The next day, morning.
There was a knock on the Jiang family's courtyard door. Jiang Yulou opened the door and saw that it was Ma Dudu.
"Hey, it's Dudu. You're here, come on, sit inside."
The two entered the house, and Jiang Yuanchao also came to the living room.
"Dudu, I have to thank you very much this time."
"Hey, Yulou, you are too polite, I just helped you a little."
"Having someone as understanding as you saves me a lot of trouble."
"Don't thank me in a hurry, let's take a look first."
Ma Dudu was quite anxious. Firstly, Jiang Yulou asked him to help with this matter. Secondly, he also wanted to take the opportunity to practice what he had learned.
"Okay, let's go."
The Jiang family has a large yard and many rooms. Jiang Yuanchao has dedicated a room to collect the antiques he collected.
"Click."
After opening the lock, several people entered the room.
Ma Dudu blinked his little eyes and looked around.
This room was originally a guest room. It was not small in size and could be used temporarily to collect antiques, but it was more than enough.
Jiang Yulou winked at Jiang Yuanchao, "Brother, take out the things you collected and let Dudu take a look."
"Hey, that's good."
Then, he pulled out three round stools from under the table, "Sit down, sit down and watch."
"Eh? This stool is famous!"
Ma Dudu knows his stuff, and his eyes lit up when he saw this stool.
"Is there anything unusual about this stool?"
No matter how he looked at it, Jiang Yulou felt that it was just like that. At best, the shape was a bit unique.
Ma Dudu pointed at the stool and introduced it to the two of them: "You see, this stool has five legs, is curved, and has a begonia surface. Unfortunately, the pattern on it is not well preserved and the paint has peeled off.
The head is intact and the edges are rounded. The bottom is round and surrounded by a foot tent. The color is deep red, with deep red mixed with dark brown, and the texture is slanted and staggered. It looks oily, like a layer of wax, and it is very textured.
This is a typical Qing Dynasty round stool, also called a round stool, which is a stool that combines a stool with a pier. "
"Oh, that's right. I thought this stool was quite unique, and since I've always wanted to buy some furniture, and the family didn't want it high, I bought it," Jiang Yuanchao said, scratching his head.
Ma Dudu glanced at him in surprise, played with the stools for a while, and asked, "Brother Jiang, how much did you pay for these three stools?"
"It's five yuan a piece. I gave the old man fifteen yuan." Immediately, he said uneasily: "Dudu, I won't buy it too expensive, right?"
"It's not expensive. You can still make money at this price!" Ma Dudu gave a thumbs up and said: "I have seen this round stool from my master. The style is similar and the same age. What's the price? , I asked, and the old man raised a finger."
"Ten yuan?" Jiang Yuanchao was a little happy.
Jiang Yulou guessed: "It's probably a hundred yuan."
"Yulou guessed it right." Ma Dudu gave the answer.
Jiang Yuanchao was so surprised that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear, "One hundred yuan?"
Originally he just wanted to buy some furniture for his home, but he didn't expect to make twenty times the profit. How could he not be surprised?
Jiang Yulou was not surprised. In the antique business, in addition to testing your eyesight, it also depends on luck.
In his previous life, he had seen many examples of such unexpected fortunes.
After looking at the stools, Ma Dudu became more interested, "Brother Jiang, are there any good things?"
"I collected a few knick-knacks yesterday."
Jiang Yuanchao opened the cabinet, took out the antiques he had received these days one by one, and placed them on the large round table.
The first one is a snuff bottle made of porcelain. It has a small mouth, an oval flat belly, and an oval ring foot. Two crabs, reeds and algae are painted in pastel on both sides of the abdomen. The outer sole is signed with the four characters "Daoguang Year System" in alum red color seal script from right to left.
The other is a pen pillow made of bamboo, with no trace of period craftsmanship.
As for the third one, it’s the jade paperweight.
It is carved from a piece of light green jade and has an oval shape. A landscape painting is carved on the surface of the paperweight. The mountains, trees, streams and other elements in the picture are lifelike, as if you are in nature.
In addition, the edges of the paperweight are also engraved with exquisite flower and plant patterns, adding a touch of elegance.
Lao Ma has only been on the road for a few years and his knowledge is limited. Moreover, there are too many categories of antiques to be fully proficient in. He picked up the pen pillow and played with it for a moment, then said, "I'm not familiar with this thing, but the bamboo pen pillow won't last long and is not worth much. How much did it cost?"
"Three dollars."
"Oh, that's okay."
Following the second item is a jade paperweight.
"This is not bad." Ma Dudu nodded and said: "The ancient literati liked paperweights, which are both practical and fun to play with. This is called Qingshang. Especially jade paperweights, if you meet someone who is knowledgeable and good at it, It can be sold at a good price.”
Then came the third item. As soon as his eyes met, his little eyes blinked twice and then returned to normal. After playing with it in my hand, I saw the bottom mark "Daoguang Year System" and put it back on the table.
"Where did you get this snuff bottle?"
"These three items were all bought from an aunt, and they cost me a total of nine yuan."
Jiang Yulou picked up the snuff bottle and asked curiously, "What's so special about this snuff bottle?"
"Have you seen the pattern on the belly of the snuff bottle? Two crabs, reeds, and algae are painted in pastel on both sides. At first glance, the pattern on this snuff bottle seems to be a common small scene of a pond. In fact, it is a kind of thing that people like to see. The auspicious pattern - "Er Jia Chuan Lu", also known as "Huang Jia Chuan Lu"."
Ma Dudu talked eloquently: "Because crabs have hard shells, and "The List of Different Things: Aquatic Crabs" says: "The big crab is called a crab, and its name is Huang Jia." The word "Lu" for reed is a play on "胪". "Sound, therefore, the ancients often painted two crabs with reeds, which means "Er Jia Chuan Lu" or "Huang Jia Chuan Lu", thereby wishing people good luck in officialdom and a bright future."
"Let me just say this, there is a similar one in the National Palace Museum."
"ah!"
Jiang Yulou and Jiang Yuanchao were stunned after hearing what he said.
"Doesn't that mean this snuff bottle is worth Old Nose's money?"
Seeing how surprised a few people were, Ma Dudu felt a little proud. He took a few steps in the hut and said, "I don't dare to say it's definitely worth it, but Brother Jiang made this deal worth it."
As he said that, he extended his thumb towards Jiang Yuanchao.
"Hehe." Jiang Yuanchao smiled sheepishly.
Jiang Yulou was also somewhat impressed by his eldest brother, not because of anything else but because of his luck.
