250: Chapter 250 Dark Clouds Covering the Sky

After Han Jingyang finished looking, he looked up and asked Wang Anzhong, "What's the price for this jade cicada?"

Wang Anzhong chuckled. "Those who know the origin of this item understand its value. Although it's small, the price is a bit higher. I was thinking it should be at least eight thousand yuan."

"Eight thousand? That's really not low."

Hehehe, I only dare to quote this price when I meet someone who knows their stuff."

"So you're specifically targeting experts then."

"It's a good item, so it's not really a scam. Mr. Han, if you like this kind of thing, I'll bring any future finds straight to Jiguang Zhai. How about it?"

"Fine," Han Jingyang didn't feel like haggling over a few hundred or a thousand yuan, so he transferred ten thousand yuan directly to Wang Anzhong.

Wang Anzhong was overjoyed. "Profit! I've made a profit! That's half a year's living expenses. By the way, Mr. Han, do you look at calligraphy and paintings?"

"I do. Do you have any?"

"I don't. I don't understand them, so I usually don't touch them. But a friend of mine recently acquired a painting. It looks quite good, but some say it's a modern piece made to look old, others say it's a Republic-era imitation, and some even say it's a genuine work by Zou Yigui. The offers he's getting vary wildly, from a thousand to fifty or sixty thousand yuan."

"Then sell it to the highest bidder."

"He's afraid of selling it too cheap."

"Although I'm not an expert in calligraphy and painting, the name Zou Yigui sounds familiar. He was a master of floral paintings, right? There's a market for his work, but it's not exactly 'hot.' A few tens of thousands for an ordinary piece seems reasonable. This isn't some industry secret; you can find out with a little inquiry."

"No, no, no, Mr. Han, it's not that simple."

"How so?"

"He says the painting can communicate with spirits."

"What was that?"

"Spirit communication. According to what he told me, if you hang that painting at the head of your bed, you'll dream of being in a sea of flowers. When you wake up, you can still smell the fragrance of flowers on your body. It's incredibly magical."

Han Jingyang raised an eyebrow.

A dharma instrument?

It was definitely a dharma instrument!

It wasn't unusual for ancient paintings to be used as dharma instruments. Many folk traditions were anchored in a painting, usually a portrait of a founding ancestor or a certain deity. They would even have to hang the portrait before performing a transmission or engaging in battle.

However, some of these dharma instruments were formed accidentally, while others were intentionally Consecrated. There were also painters who were themselves skilled practitioners of metaphysics and created their works with the specific intention of making a dharma instrument.

Was Zou Yigui a metaphysics practitioner?

There were no historical records of that, only that he was extremely skilled in meticulous floral painting. He was a painter during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor and had a successful official career, rising from an Investigating Censor to a Provincial Education Commissioner, then to Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and even a Grand Secretary of the Secretariat. It wasn't an exaggeration to say he had reached the pinnacle of officialdom.

Would such a high-ranking official and painter also be a metaphysics practitioner?

There was a certain probability.

But that wasn't important; what mattered was the painting itself.

Since Han Jingyang started out, he had encountered various dharma instruments, but this was the first time he had seen one that could actively pull someone into an "illusion."

To him, this was a wild dharma instrument.

The wild dharma instruments he had encountered before were mostly unremarkable and were appraised as soon as he got them.

But this one was different.

Thinking this, he asked casually, "Sounds interesting. Old Wang, is he sure he wants to sell this painting?"

"Sell it? Definitely. It's just that the price is hard to negotiate. He's treating it like a rare treasure and wants a high price. There's probably no hope for anything less than five hundred thousand."

"Five hundred thousand, huh? That's certainly not cheap," Han Jingyang nodded. "Shall we go take a look? If it's suitable, I don't mind being a bit of a sucker. After all, I like collecting these strange and unusual things."

"Let me ask first," Wang Anzhong sent a message and quickly received a reply. "He's at home. We can go over now."

"Is it far?"

"Not far at all. It's right here in our village, less than a two-minute walk."

Two minutes later.

They stood before the entrance of another small courtyard that was almost identical to Wang Anzhong's.

Han Jingyang stood outside the gate, hesitated for a moment, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, something has come up, so I won't go in. Old Wang, please apologize to him for me."

Wang Anzhong was stunned. "Mr. Han, we're already here, right at the door..."

"I'm really sorry. Next time. Next time, you can ask him to bring the painting to your house, and I'll look at it there."

"This..."

At this moment, Wang Junyan, who had followed Wang Anzhong to join the fun, coughed. "Dad, what are you thinking? If someone has business, let them go. There's no reason to force someone to look at goods."

Wang Anzhong became even more hesitant.

Han Jingyang cupped his hands in a parting gesture and turned to leave.

After walking a distance, Liu Jing asked urgently, "Boss, is there a problem with that family?"

"Yes, a big problem."

"Is it a trap?"

"I don't know if it's a trap, but it's very troublesome. We have important business to do and can't afford to be distracted right now."

"Alright," Liu Jing nodded, but she was still curious. "Boss, what did you see?"

"Dark Clouds Over the Head."

"What kind of harm would that cause?"

"I don't know, but that family's luck is extremely poor. Something will happen sooner or later; they might already be in deep trouble. If we get involved now, we won't be able to extricate ourselves quickly, and there might even be danger. We didn't bring many dharma instruments on this trip, so it's better to be cautious."

"It's just a pity about that painting. It sounded quite interesting."

"It should be a decent dharma instrument. It is a pity, but I suspect that family's bad luck was brought about by that painting."

"You mean... 'possession of a jade is a crime'?"

"Something like that. Otherwise, an ordinary family wouldn't usually suffer such immense misfortune."

"Should we warn them?"

"No," Han Jingyang shook his head and sighed. "Based on what Wang Anzhong said, the owner of the painting is greedy. If we warn him, not only might we not get his gratitude, but we might even attract his suspicion or resentment. If something happens, he might even blame us, or worse, treat us as the culprits."

"This..."

"That's human nature," Han Jingyang put his arm around Liu Jing's waist. "One should never intend to harm others, but one must always be on guard against them. At a critical time like this, it's better to avoid unnecessary trouble. Let's finish our business in Xipo Village before thinking about anything else."

"It's just a shame about that painting. It sounded very interesting."

"It is indeed interesting. We'll keep an eye out for Zou Yigui's paintings later and see if we find anything else."

"Is Zou Yigui very famous?"

"Not super famous, but he was actually a formidable figure. From Yongzheng to Qianlong, he had a smooth official career, reaching the positions of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Secretariat. His achievements in painting were also extremely high; he even wrote theoretical works on painting. He's an indispensable figure in art history and a master in the field of floral painting."

"Then he really is impressive. Based on what you told me before, the works of someone like that have the most potential for speculation."

"True, but Zou Yigui's style was a bit singular, focusing only on flowers, and there's a fair amount of his work still in existence. So, the speculative value isn't incredibly high. If it were, people would have driven the prices up long ago."

"I see. But I think you could give it a try, Boss. Since you're going to collect Zou Yigui's paintings anyway, you might as well try to hype them up. If it works, you make a small profit; if not, you haven't lost anything. It'll just tie up some liquid capital, but since you're not in business, you don't have much use for liquid capital anyway. You can just slowly digest them later."