"That was back in Peiping."

Xie Songshan explained: "At that time, there was a servant in the Du Mansion. My daughter-in-law was working as a cook in the Du Mansion. She was quite pretty. One night, Mr. Du Ge drank too much and woke up in the middle of the night.

When I asked for mint and lotus seed soup to sober up my hangover, the cook quickly helped me make it and sent it to Mr. Du Ge.

As a result, Mr. Du Ge drank mint and lotus seed soup, and the alcohol was still strong. Looking at the cook, his heart was pounding, and he actually raped her. These servants did not dare to say anything about this. Mr. Du Ge had a taste of it.

, for several days in a row, he called the cook into his room every night on the pretext of wanting to have late night snacks...

Over and over again, the cook had it in her belly. He was born with a fat son. Mr. Du Ge had already had a son before. When he saw it, he was not very happy. He also thought about the cook and his man. Don't make excuses.

When they asked me for money, I thought about kicking them out.

But when his eldest wife heard about it, she was not happy and said that no matter what, they were all descendants of the Du family. The cook and his husband could get out, but the child must stay.

Elder Du Ge thought that this was also the case, so he kept the child, drove away the cook and his wife, and gave them three oceans..."

Meng Shaoyuan finally understood after hearing this: "Is this child Du Zhenxian?"

"It's not him. Mr. Du Ge's eldest son is called Du Zhenchun, and he likes him the most. It's just that Du Zhenchun is a playboy and can't do anything at his age. On the contrary, Du Zhenxian has some business talents. The Du family depends on

I want to make money with this son, otherwise..."

What's all this?

Meng Shaoyuan shook his head repeatedly as he listened.

It's just a complete mess.

Also, there was a problem with that robbery.

The anti-Union people came to Xinjing to rob?

That's not right.

Xinjing was the capital of the Puppet Manchukuo, and the Japanese had sufficient military power. How could the Anti-Union people risk coming here just to rob a truck of smuggled goods?

And do you know so clearly the route, time and location of the smuggled goods?

There is definitely something wrong here.

Du Zhenxian used to smuggle, and with the protection of the Japanese, he succeeded this time. As soon as Takeo Fujiguchi joined, the goods were robbed?

"This Du family is in chaos, and we are not able to understand it." Meng Shaoyuan asked casually: "By the way, Boss Xie, all the anti-Union members came to Xinjing to kill people, so the Japanese just let it go?

"

"How could that happen?" Xie Songshan quickly replied: "As soon as he heard that the Anti-Alliance fighters were coming, Takeo Fujiguchi personally led people to hunt them down and killed two of them, while the rest ran away with their goods. Until now.

They are all still wanted."

Fart.

This makes no sense at all.

Killed two people?

The one carrying the goods ran away instead?

Take a car full of goods and run away?

Isn't this nonsense?

Takeo Fujiguchi!

In all likelihood, it was the colonel who was eating and drinking in the dark.

Even if Du Zhenxian feels something is wrong, he is a mute and cannot tell the story of his suffering.

"Thank you boss, thank you boss."

Suddenly a low voice came from outside.

"Come in."

A man who was about sixty years old, thin, fair, and fair came in, holding a roll of something unknown in his hand.

Seeing an unfamiliar face, the man was startled.

"Don't worry, we are on our own." Xie Songshan said.

The man was relieved: "Thank you, boss, I brought something out again."

The voice is sharp and sounds very awkward.

"Excuse me, this is Manager Zhu from Shanghai, one of my own. This is Eunuch Liu, from the palace."

Meng Shaoyuan suddenly realized.

Eunuch, no wonder you speak so strangely.

"Bring that table over."

Xie Songshan and Meng Shaoyuan got off the kang together.

The table was moved over, Eunuch Liu took out the roll in his hand from the cloth bag, carefully placed it on the table, and then slowly unfolded it.

This is a painting.

There is a dead tree in the painting. The crouching posture is like a twisted and struggling body, showing infinite vitality and majestic momentum. There is a strange stone at the foot of the tree. The stone is sharp and hard, but the stone is spiraling like a vortex, with square and round shapes.

Both are weird and ugly, and appear to be rotating rapidly, creating a strong sense of movement in the picture.

Let’s look at the signature again?

Good guy, Su Shi and Su Dongpo!

"Thank you, boss, take a look, how much is this painting worth?" Eunuch Liu asked flatteringly.

Xie Songshan hesitated: "It looks good, but... why don't you come tomorrow and I'll find someone to tell the authenticity."

Eunuch Liu was a little embarrassed: "Thank you, boss, tomorrow I will serve the emperor on a tour of heaven."

"this……"

While Xie Songshan was hesitating, Meng Shaoyuan said: "Boss Xie, send a driver to the hotel where I am staying and ask my housekeeper to come. He can tell the authenticity at a glance."

Xie Songshan did not hesitate and immediately gave the order.

Since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, those eunuchs, considering their own livelihood, have stolen national treasures and cultural relics from the Forbidden City and sold them off.

It is precisely because of this that a large number of national treasures have been lost.

When the emperor ran to Manchuria, he had already laid off a large number of eunuchs and maids, but some still followed him.

When these eunuchs arrived in Manchuria, they were still dishonest and unclean. They would always find ways to steal something and sell it.

Serious businessmen, black marketeers, and Japanese are all their buyers.

Anyway, although the Emperor has left the Forbidden City, he has secretly given away many treasures over the years.

When I went to Manchuria, I took most of them with me, especially the calligraphy and paintings of famous people, which were easy to carry.

This Eunuch Liu is in charge of the emperor's treasury, so it is most convenient for him to do it.

After waiting there for a while, Luo Yiyan hurriedly walked in: "Manager Zhu, did you call me?"

"Close the door." Meng Shaoyuan ordered: "Look at this painting."

"A picture of dead trees and strange rocks?" Luo only glanced at it, and then he exclaimed in a low voice. He came closer and took a closer look: "It's incredible, it's incredible. This is when Su Shi went to Shengquan Temple in Xiao County when he was the prefect of Xuzhou.

An ink-on-paper painting created by Su Shi. Su Shi's paintings were very famous at the time, and there was a scene of "withered trees, bamboos, and rocks being sold for tens of millions of gold." However, Su Shi's paintings are mostly found in records, and very few authentic works have been handed down. They are national treasures! They are so valuable.

Liancheng!"

Picture of dead wood and rocks?

Meng Shaoyuan suddenly remembered that in his time, he had seen a piece of news that Su Dongpo existed in the world. Could it be that the painting he saw was sold for a sky-high price of 460 million Hong Kong dollars, and it seemed to be called the Dead Wood and Strange Rocks painting?

"Isn't it right?" Xie Songshan frowned when he heard this: "During the Beiyang period, Bai Jianfu bought two rare works by Su Dongpo, the 'Withered Wood and Strange Stones' and the 'Xiaoxiang Bamboo and Stone Pictures' from the antique shop in Fengyu Building in Peking.

A treasure. Later, he sold the "Picture of Dead Wood and Strange Rocks" to the Japanese?"

"Do you think rare treasures like dead wood and strange rocks will appear in antique shops? Or can Bai Jianfu afford it?" Luo Yiyi sneered.

This seems to be the case.

Meng Shaoyuan was trying to remember there.

According to the Christie's auction house of his time, during the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China, the two paintings appeared at the Fengyu Tower in Beijing at the same time, and were collected by Bai Jianfuhua, a great collector and the secretary-general of the warlord Wu Peifu, with a huge sum of money.

After that, "Dead Trees and Strange Rocks" was exiled to Japan, and there has been no news about it.

After its appearance, many people strongly questioned the authenticity of this painting.

Because so far, no one has been able to provide sufficient evidence to prove that this painting belongs to Su Shi himself, and many periods in the collection history of this painting are blank.

During the period when the collection was blank, where did this painting go? Who collected it? Who was the certifier? Wait, many questions remain unanswered.

Saying the painting is authentic is just a one-sided statement from Christie's.

"I've seen those two pictures of Fengyu Tower, and I know what's going on." Luo Yiyan didn't seem to say all the words:

"Those two paintings have their charm but not their rhyme, so they are fakes!"
To be continued...