Yangon,
Gu's calligraphy and painting shop.
The weekend is another rest day without going to the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Gu Weijing opened the top drawer of his bedroom cabinet and poured all the red envelopes inside on the bed.
Today he contacted an orphanage to visit. Before going, he planned to prepare some gifts for the children there.
He was going to count all the lucky money he had saved over the years.
Like most Asian places influenced by the Chinese cultural circle, Yangon also has plans to give lucky money to children in the New Year.
And the red envelope is not one but two.
The first red envelope is given out on New Year’s Eve and is a normal red envelope.
The second one was on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. He went to a neighborhood merchant on the same street as Gu's calligraphy and painting shop that had just reopened after the Chinese New Year to pay New Year greetings. He said some auspicious words and usually wrapped them in red envelopes. A small gold coin is given to the children. This red envelope is called a good start.
Each store will prepare it.
Correspondingly, my grandfather will also buy some small gold coins for other neighbor children.
Burmese people like gold. These gold coins weigh about half a gram or one gram. They are not very valuable, but they are just for luck.
Many children will spend their New Year’s money that year.
Gu Weijing has had low materialistic desires since he was a child and has little money to spend.
I have saved a lot of gold coins or small jewelry over the years, and this time I plan to take them to a gold shop outside to sell them for money.
The calligraphy and painting shop is a duplex structure, with a shop in front and a home in the back, with a total of three floors.
When Gu Weijing went downstairs, he happened to hear voices coming from the conference living room.
"I heard that someone gave Gu Weijing a set of painting tools, which are very expensive."
This was my uncle's voice.
Although he was born into a family of calligraphers and painters, his uncle’s painting skills were average.
After graduating from high school, he followed his father Gu Tongxiang to run a calligraphy and painting shop. Now he is considered the second boss of the calligraphy and painting shop, responsible for the acquisition of calligraphy and painting and some regular entertainment.
During the Spring Festival, my uncle and aunt took their cousin back to my wife’s natal home, and they just came back a few days ago. < /p>
The aunt's tone was full of gossip.
She also serves as the store’s accountant and is responsible for financial management. She is naturally sensitive to numbers.
My ears perked up when I heard that someone gave my nephew an expensive gift.
The uncle did not speak, and seemed to just gesture.
"Two or two hundred thousand kyats is really a lot of money. There is no need for children to use such good brushes."
A general oil painting brush set for beginners is about about kyats. Eighty, nine thousand to ten thousand, 200,000 kyats is about a hundred dollars, which is already a very good brush. DeservingA month's salary of an ordinary worker in Yangon.
"It's 20,000 US dollars."
The uncle was silent for a moment, "But the unit is US dollars."
"Twenty thousand US dollars"
Gu Weijing heard his aunt exclaim in low voice.
"That's a kes master suit, which is equivalent to Hermès, and it has to be high-end. Twenty thousand dollars is just the selling price, and ordinary people can't buy it. If you sell it outside, it will cost an estimated fifty thousand dollars. "Up."
Fifty thousand U.S. dollars, my aunt quickly converted it in her mind. Even according to the official exchange rate, this amount was over 100 million kyats.
"Are you crazy? This is as big as a car. What is our dad's plan?"
"The old man didn't say anything else, he just said it was Gu. It’s a scripture.”
The uncle shook his head. When he first learned the news, he was no less surprised than his wife.
The $20,000 oil painting equipment is a luxury item that I have only heard about online.
"The old man doesn't really want to give this set of painting tools to children, right? It costs tens of thousands, tens of thousands of dollars. The economic environment has been so bad in recent years. I told the old man that it is better to sell it to support the family. ”
Dong dong
Gu Weijing felt a little embarrassed if he listened any further.
He knocked lightly on the door of the main living room and then pushed it open.
The living room suddenly became quiet.
"Good morning, I have to go out."
Gu Weijing pretended to be nonchalant and didn't hear anything, and looked at his cousin who was sitting on the sofa holding a mobile phone. Nod.
My uncle and aunt have a daughter named Gu Lin.
She is seven months older than him and is in the same grade as him in the same school.
It is difficult to get ahead by learning to paint, and the aunt does not want her daughter to continue on the path of art.
So the other person is in an ordinary class, has an out-of-the-box personality, is slightly fat, and has average academic performance.
During the Chinese New Year a few days ago, the other party went back to his parents' home with his uncle and aunt. Now the holiday is halfway over, and he has just come back these two days.
Gu Weijing saw the set of kes master painting tools that Lao Yang gave him on the coffee table. The black walnut painting box was opened, revealing the messy paintbrushes and the opened lapis lazuli paint box. .
Lapis lazuli is a relatively expensive gem pigment. The kes gift box contains a master pigment set and a small plate of various mineral pigments.
Among them are 150 grams of white pearl powder, 5 square meters of gold foil, 30 grams of lapis lazuli powder, etc.
These valuable items are only used when painting special types of paintings.
For example, lapis lazuli powder is the main component of ultramarine blue pigment.
The Italian painter Cenino Cenini commented on ultramarine blue in the book Art as "a noble color, unparalleled in beauty, and the most perfect pigment in the world."
Even ifIn medieval cathedrals that were splendid and not short of money, some lapis lazuli would only be used when coloring the statues of the Madonna or angels.
Its international market price is US$2,500 per ounce, which is higher than the price of gold.
Cousin Gu Lin held up his new iPhone for the Chinese New Year next to the black walnut box, seemingly filming TikTok.
Douyin is very well-known internationally, even as good as YouTube.
Many people are aware of TikTok’s lawsuit in the United States, but in fact, even children in the Middle East are now beginning to use TikTok as a tool to understand the world.
My cousin also has a Douyin account called Gallery Little Princess in Yangon.
The daily content is to show off some expensive paintings and calligraphy in the gallery.
It is still relatively rare in Myanmar galleries, and her account also has three to four thousand fans.
It seems that my master suit has become a new toy for my cousin to show off.
The aunt pretended not to see anything, and Gu Weijing also pretended not to see anything, which made the uncle a little embarrassed.
"Uh, that"
The uncle opened his mouth. He knew that Gu Weijing might have heard the conversation in the living room and wanted to say something.
"Just don't break it."
Gu Weijing waved his hand.
"Okay, Xiao Lin, stop taking pictures. That's not your thing. Keep it for your brother." The uncle frowned and looked at his daughter.
"Why, just shoot a few short videos, why do you talk so much."
My cousin was a little impatient with her father's discipline, "Look at Ona in our class, she's like He runs a jewelry store and has more than 30,000 fans."
"It's the Chinese New Year. You are a family member, so you can't be more generous."
Auntie. Looking at her husband, she was a little unhappy with his fierce tone.
"Xiao Lin is just taking a video, and he won't take off a hair on the brush."
Gu Weijing knew that this was actually meant for him.
His aunt may not have any bad intentions, but she is just a philistine and a bit shrewd.
After all, he was the elder, and it was hard for Gu Weijing to say anything.
When he was young, he knew that his aunt thought his grandfather Gu Tongxiang was partial and made it clear that he wanted to keep the most valuable calligraphy and painting shop in the family for himself.
In recent years, I have also preferred myself, who inherited the family’s painting skills, to my cousin.
So I have some opinions about his nephew.
But
Alas
It can only be said that every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite.
In fact, from the bottom of Gu Weijing's heart, he really didn't mind selling this master suit.
He felt that he would not be able to use such good paint for a long time.
Even a conservative estimate of US$30,000 is enough to upgrade several of his skills to professional levels.
It is also appropriate to spend some money to subsidize some household expenses. For well-known reasons, the number of tourists has decreased in the past two years, and business has not been so easy.
From her perspective, her aunt's plan is naturally that she is thinking about her family.
But this set of painting tools was, after all, a gift given to him by Lao Yang as a sign of goodwill.
Someone gives you something in front of you, and then it appears in the online market.
It’s not like borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha. Let’s see what Lao Yang thinks.
Maybe the master’s assistant doesn’t care about this at all.
But Gu Weijing cannot be like this.
Gu Weijing shook his head, booked an Uber taxi on his phone, and picked up his coat.
"Shh, have you seen the plastic box in my hand? It's full of gold coins. I guess it was given to me secretly by the old man when we were not at home during the Chinese New Year this year. Your daughter doesn't have it. The old man is too partial. . ”
“Let me tell you, the old man gives you so much money when you are young and you don’t make money for your family. You may not know what to do with it. People are spoiled. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had gangsters come to our door all the time before.”
When Gu Weijing left the reception room, he still heard his aunt’s murmuring voice that was kept low but deliberately meant for him to hear.
He did not turn around to explain. It was useless to explain this kind of thing. He could only sigh softly. Please remember to collect it, the latest and fastest website is free to read without anti-theft