The Auction Begins
I heard that my father has taken on another apprentice, a woman. Although I know my father has a keen eye for talent, Kang Yannian still doesn't value Zhao Ruxi enough. He thought that Zhao Ruxi's talent in painting was limited to sketching, and that she was only taken on by my father by chance. I never expected that my father would take on such an apprentice.
Kang Shilin had no time to concern himself with his son's and eldest apprentice's complicated feelings. He was currently focused on the crowd below.
Today is the day his young apprentice's paintings will be displayed to the public. Although he has great confidence in his apprentice's paintings, they are ultimately not famous. He worries that people only value fame and are not discerning.
Therefore, his attention was entirely focused on the reactions of those below him.
As Eunuch Qin led his servant, they slowly walked among the seats. Wherever the painting went, the guests seemed to be frozen in place, standing motionless. When they came to their senses, everyone tried to move closer to the painting, but Eunuch Qin politely stopped them.
"Wow, that's amazing!"
Whose painting is this?
"If I had seen it, I would know it."
In their excitement, everyone raised their voices, and the murmurs reached Kang Shilin's ears.
Kang Shilin finally breathed a sigh of relief, a smug look on his face.
These people are lucky they're not blind.
Not only Kang Shilin, but everyone else in the private room also turned their attention downstairs after exchanging a few words.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Wu Zong turned to Zhao Ruxi and smiled, "Junior Sister, how much do you think your painting will fetch at auction?"
Zhao Ruxi shook her head. "It's hard to say. After all, I'm just an unknown person."
Wu Huaisi replied, "Don't worry, your painting is too stunning. Anyone with eyes can see its value. Although Zuo Qiusheng is famous, his horses are still minor compared to the roaring mountains and rivers. Putting others aside, even if I, your senior brother, had both paintings in front of me, I would definitely choose yours."
"Thank you for your kind words, Senior Brother," Zhao Ruxi said with a smile.
Wu Zong couldn't help but give his junior sister a thumbs up in his heart.
Since Zhao Ruxi became Wu Huaisi's disciple, Wu Huaisi's attitude towards Zhao Ruxi has been relatively good, and he has often protected her in matters. However, this is all because of his master's reputation, and he does not really value Zhao Ruxi herself.
Later, seeing that Zhao Ruxi was good at both interpersonal relationships and talent, his opinion changed somewhat, but his attitude remained largely the same.
Having served as an official to the level of Wu Huaisi, he had seen countless people and events, and fewer and fewer people could catch his Wu Huaisi.
But just now, he could clearly sense that his senior brother was intentionally getting close to his junior sister.
If it were anyone else, they would be flattered and overwhelmed to receive such a gesture of goodwill from their senior brother, and would gladly accept his kindness and respond to him warmly.
But the junior sister maintained her previous attitude, as if she couldn't feel the senior brother's previous coldness and current warmth; her attitude remained unchanged.
What does it mean to be neither humble nor arrogant? The junior sister vividly demonstrated the meaning of this idiom to him.
Zhao Ruxi's attitude did not Gao Xing Wu Huaisi; on the contrary, it made him value her even more.
Kang Yannian's change of attitude was similar to that of Wu Huaisi.
"The bidding has begun." Gong Cheng's excited voice pulled Wu Zong back to reality. "Let's see what the reserve price is."
The starting price for Zuo Qiusheng's painting is eight thousand taels of silver. Gong Cheng was extremely curious to know what starting price the Fifth Prince would set for his junior sister's painting.
His words drew everyone's attention to Guan Wentao.
The reserve price reflects the auction house's recognition of Zhao Ruxi's painting and is also key to establishing Zhao Ruxi's status.
"It can't be too low, and it can't be too high," Wu Huaisi muttered, staring at Guan Wentao.
Everyone was initially worried that the price was too low, but after hearing what he said, they realized it made perfect sense.
The lower the starting price, the more skeptical everyone became. Zhao Ruxi's style was too distinctive; no one had ever seen anything like it before. The low starting price confirmed that it was an unknown work, so people were unlikely to offer much higher prices.
But if the starting price is set higher than Zuo Qiusheng's, people will feel cheated when the truth comes out.
You're just a young girl, do you really think you can be more famous or outstanding than Zuo Qiusheng? Have you no shame?
At that point, no one will care who set the starting price for the auction; they'll just think Zhao Ruxi is arrogant and conceited.
"As I just mentioned, things are meant to be appreciated. That's why the auction house covered the artist's signature on both the previous galloping horse painting and this landscape painting. Our intention was to let everyone see with their eyes and feel with their hearts. We hope that when people appreciate and collect paintings, it's not because of the artist's fame, but because they truly focus on the painting itself. A thousand pieces of gold cannot buy what the heart truly loves. Only if you like it will you feel it's worth any price. If you don't like it, it's naturally worthless. Do you all agree with what Wentao said?"
"Yes. But I still want to know who painted this." Finally, someone in the audience stopped putting on airs and shouted from below.
Everyone burst into laughter.
After the laughter subsided, someone chimed in, "Yes, tell us who drew it."
"If you want to know the answer to this question, then bid on it. Only the owner of the painting can remove the obscuring material," Guan Wentao said with a smile, then his smile faded and he became serious. "The landscape painting ' Flying Torrent Waterfall' has a starting price of eight thousand taels of silver. The bidding will now begin."
As he spoke, he struck the small drum with a "thump".
No sooner had he finished speaking than a servant raised a bidding paddle, "Ten thousand taels."
The room fell silent for a moment. Everyone stared blankly at the servant—they hadn't even summoned the messenger yet, and who was so impatient as to shout out a price of ten thousand taels?
In Xiao Lingpu room, Fu Yunlang looked at his brother speechlessly. "Brother, do you like this painting that much?" Before the price had even been quoted, his brother had the servant quote a price of ten thousand taels without even asking any questions.
His brother only reads military books and doesn't touch any other books, let alone have any artistic talent. If someone gives him a piece of calligraphy or painting by a famous person, he will definitely want them to exchange it for its equivalent value in silver, so that he doesn't have to take the calligraphy or painting to the pawn shop to exchange it for silver, which is troublesome and devalues the artwork, and is not worthwhile.
Furthermore, having witnessed the impoverished lives of people on the border, his brother couldn't bear to see people spending lavishly on things they couldn't eat or wear.
But this very person is now offering ten thousand taels of silver for this painting; he thinks his brother has gone completely mad.
Just as Fu Yunkai was about to speak, the waiter representing their private room, after announcing his price of ten thousand taels, raised his sign again and announced another number before everyone could recover from their daze, "Fifteen thousand taels of silver."