According to Rosalind's words, among the auction houses, even if the auctions held by the world's top auction houses, there are still a lot of dark box operations. For example, the most common "chandelier bidding".

"Chandelier bidding" is a typical trick in art auctions, where the auctioneer pretends to see someone bidding in the auction hall at the beginning of the bidding, when in reality, the auctioneer is not referring to anyone raising his hand, he is just pointing to the chandelier on the ceiling.

The auction house believes that this kind of bidding method is harmless, and some auctioneers explain that "chandelier bidding" can avoid the exposure of the guaranteed reserve price, thereby protecting the interests of the seller. The auctioneer believes that without this means, bidding may have to start with the reserve price, because that is the lowest price that the seller can accept, so that everyone knows where the price is.

As for the price gouging, it is even more abundant, and there are countless cats.

"Okay, just do as you say. ”

Wu Qian thinks that since he has hired a bodyguard, he naturally has to listen to professional guidance and arrangements, and even the president and head of state have to listen to the words of the bodyguard many times, and Rosalind knows far better about the auction than him, he arrived at the scene, in case he made irrational behavior, he was the one who lost money, although he didn't care about the money, but it was very bad to lose it stupidly.

Seeing that Wu Qian did not insist on participating in the auction by himself, several bodyguards immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"In the past few days, Sotheby's has been previewing the lots, BOSS, do you want to go over and see if the artifacts are authentic?" asked Rosalind.

Whether it is appreciation, warm-up, or appraisal in advance, it can be carried out in the process of preview, and if it is determined to be an imitation after the auction, it will be more troublesome to protect your rights. Although Sotheby's has a great reputation, it is difficult to guarantee that the appraisers will not lose sight.

And in recent years, some of the atmosphere is very bad, mainly in the Celestial Empire cultural relics, the auction house found that some people who make imitations are very good in technology, and those who make imitations think that foreign people are easy to deceive, relatively high prices to sell to the auction house, but in the end they still pit their own people!

Wu Qian smiled and said, "The porcelain and jade calligraphy and paintings are also blind when I go to see them, so let's find a professional to help me take a look." ”

Spending money, or even spending a little more, Wu Qian can accept it, but he can't accept buying fakes and buying fakes. Thinking of this, Wu Qian raised his wrist and glanced at the time, half past six London time, and it was already early in the morning on the side of the Celestial Empire.

"There's no way, I can only trouble General Manager Yao. Wu Qian smiled awkwardly, and then dialed Yao Xinlu's phone.

Beijing time, at half past two in the morning, Yao Xinlu naturally sleeps sweetly, these days she is busy with video website acquisitions, too much mental work during the day, and sleeps very well at night, but she dreams more.

The princess's room was dark, with only a small swan night light next to the bedside table.

I don't know what Yao Xinlu dreamed again, the corners of her mouth curled, it should be a sweet dream, suddenly, a bell rang on the bedside table, and Yao Xinlu's eyes opened suddenly.

"Wu Qian!" Yao Xinlu snorted, and hurriedly picked up her mobile phone to see that it was Wu Qian's phone. Although Wu Qian disturbed her dreams, she didn't have the air to get up and quickly answered the phone.

"Hey, Wu ...... Wu Qian, is that you?" Yao Xinlu tried hard to clear his brain.

8,000 kilometers away, Wu Qian heard Yao Xinlu's confused voice, and felt a little apologetic, calling people up at more than 2 o'clock in the morning, which was really a bit excessive.

"General Manager Yao, disturb your sleep. It's a bit urgent and can't be delayed, can you concentrate on listening to me now?" Wu Qian asked, he was afraid that Yao Xinlu would be half-asleep and half-awake, and finally put his words on deaf ears.

Yao Xinlu shook her head and said, "Yes, you say, I'll listen." ”

"That's right, there is an auction here in London in two days, I plan to auction some porcelain and jade calligraphy and paintings, but I can't find a suitable appraiser here, you can help me contact some people in this area from China, and arrange for them to come over as soon as possible." There is still a day and a half left for the preview, and the auction will be held in the afternoon after tomorrow, so we should be able to catch up. ”

There is a saying about collecting antique calligraphy and paintings, which is "the latest to get started, the earliest to go out", which means that the career is successful and rich, buying a car, buying a house, buying jewelry or something is enough, with the growth of age, the accumulation of wealth, the improvement of taste, and finally remembering to play the collection of antique calligraphy and painting, which is the so-called latest entry.

The first thing to say when going out is that whenever there is a little economic crisis, antique calligraphy and paintings and other items are also the first batch of assets to be liquidated. Gold in troubled times and antiques in prosperous times have always been like this.

Yao Xinlu's own father has a hobby of collecting, she didn't expect Wu Qian, who was two years younger than herself, to fall in love with this industry, and she was very surprised in her heart, Wu Qian's psychological age is not a little too calm and old-fashioned.

Naturally, what he thought in his heart would not be said, Yao Xinlu thought about the problem that Wu Qian was facing now, and asked: "Wu Qian, the artworks you want to bid for are ancient porcelain, jade, and celebrity calligraphy and paintings of the Celestial Empire, right?"

"Well, yes, you must be a senior appraiser, don't look for those mouth cannon experts who are pretentious. Wu Qiandao. Those who have the ability are making a fortune in a muffled voice, and the half-bucket of water is shaking vigorously, and he is on TV everywhere, for fear that others will not know his ability.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements, and let the appraiser team rush to London as soon as possible, and I'll let you know as soon as the progress progresses. Yao Xinlu had already gotten out of bed, and she felt that she couldn't sleep again.

"Okay, I'll wait for your call. This trip is in a hurry, and the cost will be increased by 30%, that's all. I'm sleeping, I'll bring you a gift back. With that, Wu Qian hung up the phone.

Yao Xinlu took the mobile phone and eased her nerves, and said softly: "Wu Qian, do you know what gift I want?" After speaking, Yao Xinlu stopped thinking about these things, got up and went to take a shower to sober up.

After the arrangement was made, Wu Qian had a comfortable dinner, and then went to the spa of the Corinthia Hotel, which is known as the best spa in Europe, and is only open to guests who are above the hotel suite.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, that is, at 7 o'clock in the capital time, Wu Qian received a call from Yao Xinlu, and had arranged for a team of 9 appraisers to set off, with three people in each field of calligraphy and painting, jade and porcelain, all of whom were senior appraisers in the industry.

The biggest credit for being able to find an appraiser so quickly is Yao Xinlu's father, after all, he also plays collecting, and he has usually been in contact with people in this area, and there are some ways, otherwise it would be impossible to contact senior appraisers in three fields in such a short period of time.

Some of these appraisers serve the top auction houses in China, some are private masters, and some are ...... A collector who has failed in business. In short, these people's skills in identifying the cultural relics of the Celestial Empire are by no means inferior to those within Sotheby's.

After the matter is done, after calculating a correct time according to the time, the appraiser team will arrive in London, and Wu Qian has a lot of time to make arrangements.

"Okay, the cultural relics identification is done, and the rest is to see what you really like." Wu Qian took the auction catalogue back to the room from the hotel front desk, and looked at it comfortably while lying on the bed.

The four bodyguards, Rosalind and Wu Qian, live in the royal loft suite, after all, there are three rooms, and the other three bodyguards arrange their own accommodation, all of which are distributed in the Corinthia Hotel.

Wu Qian looked at the auction catalogue with interest, and what was very unusual was that this time he was not looking at the antique car auction column, but real estate.

Wu Qian has little interest in real estate in China, and commercial housing in recent years is not very interesting, but he has a very strong interest in manors and castles near London.

Just kidding, what kind of houses are the buildings of the Celestial Empire at the same level as the British castles, not to mention how much is left, the problem is that you can't buy it if you have money.

There are many castles and estates on British soil, many of which are world-famous, with a vast country estate or castle that is definitely a symbol of status and wealth.

In the early years, there was a traditional idea of the British aristocracy, and the aristocracy had always regarded owning a manor in the countryside as a symbol of their status. In particular, the castles, palaces and villas with their historical heritage are excellent signs of their wealth and taste. In London, it is a "mansion", but the "home" must be in the countryside.

The castles and manors are not only full of stories in the long history, but also become the filming locations for many classic modern film and television dramas.

Bamburgh Castle, perched on a jutting basalt rock off the coast, was the setting for Harry Potter, Elizabeth, Black Jazz and more.

With a history of 400 years, Hatfield House is the setting for "Shakespeare in Love", "Batman", "Sherlock Holmes" and other dramas. In addition, there is Highclell Castle in "Downton Abbey", which is even more famous.

Located in the city of Alnwick in the northeast of England, Alnwick Castle is a medieval-style castle known as the "North Windsor" in the Victorian era, and the "Quidditch" match in the movie was held on the front lawn of the castle.

Legend has it that Grammis Castle is the most eerie castle in Scotland, and it was the great writer Shakespeare who was inspired by the ghost legend here and wrote one of his famous four tragedies, Macbeth. This French-Scottish style building was built in 1372 and has a large landscaped garden outside the castle.

Although the castles and estates auctioned by Sotheby's this time are not necessarily the filming locations of a certain drama, they are no small few, some cover an extremely large area, some have beautiful scenery, and some are extremely historical.

Not only that, but the castle and manor are rich in supporting facilities, such as swimming pools and tennis courts, helipads, wine cellars, cigar rooms, billiard rooms, etc., almost every manor and castle is basically available.

Some estates also have horse farms next to them, where British thoroughbreds can be kept in stables, and wide grass and horse tracks can be roamed freely. There's even an old castle with a nine-hole golf course on its grounds.

Sotheby's shooting level is also first-class, villas, manors or castles are beautifully photographed, and the special filter is full of the luxury and heaviness of historical accumulation, making people unconsciously feel the pure British aristocratic atmosphere.

This charm is difficult to imitate through imitation, and it takes hundreds of years of slow accumulation, and it is never achieved overnight.

"Such a large piece of land, the valuation is actually so low? Buy, buy, buy!" Wu Qian crawled on the soft bed, flipped through the auction catalogue, his mouth was full of words, and his eyes were shining.

Gardner Manor, which covers an area of 125 acres on the banks of the Thames, is estimated at only 10 million pounds, and 125 acres is 505,000 square meters.

Wu Qian rolled over on the bed, touched his mobile phone and called Rosalind and asked her to come up, although it was a suite, there was some distance between the bedroom and the bedroom.

Rosalind hasn't slept yet, she is doing fitness exercises in her room, her fitness habits are somewhat similar to Jason Statham, she is good at using all the environment around her to do fitness, and she is not confined to the gym.

After receiving the BOSS's notice, Rosalind was a little apprehensive in her heart, Wu Qian looked at her eyes a little wrong today, but Rosalind didn't want to ask why. It's not surprising that there is some kind of special affection and relationship between a bodyguard and an employer, especially a personal bodyguard, but it's not going too fast.

Rosalind had the feeling of "squire, come to my room", she wiped her sweat with a towel, changed her clothes, stood in front of the mirror and smiled, secretly cheering herself up.

Wu Qian had never seen Rosalind's smile, otherwise he would have been amazed, because if he didn't smile, Rosalind and Gal Gadot were six points alike, but if he smiled toothy, he would be almost eight points alike.

Two minutes later, Rosalind went up the spiral staircase to the floor where Wu Qian was.

"Come, Rosalind, tell me if there is any difficulty if I want to auction some real estate in England. Wu Qian took Rosalind's hand and sat on the sofa, and also prepared two glasses of red wine.

According to Wu Qian's thoughts, British castles are unique and non-reproducible, and there may be a lot of trouble and constraints in buying such an important property, but he knows that the purchase of commercial houses in the Celestial Empire is limited.

Rosalind looked at Wu Qian with dark brown eyes, feeling a little funny in her heart, and dragged herself into the room at night and asked this?

"BOSS, as long as you have money, there is no difficulty in buying real estate. There are two main types of property in the UK: leasehold and freehold, with the term of leasehold ranging from 125 to 999 years, and most of them are apartments.

Manors and castles, on the other hand, are mostly freehold and do not impose any additional taxes on overseas buyers. Recently, there seems to be a draft that will charge a stamp duty of 1%-3% for buyers who do not usually live in the UK, but it is not known whether it will be implemented. ”

"However, many castles in the UK are historic buildings, and the local government will have many restrictions on their renovation, and the later maintenance will also be a large expense, and if you do not meet the promised requirements, you will face fines. The exterior of the castle usually cannot be changed in any way, only the interior decoration can be done, and the decoration requirements are equally demanding, and every nail may be nailed to be built. ”

Rosalind told Wu Qian a lot that if you buy a historic manor or castle, the purchase price is often only a small part, and the repair and maintenance costs are the main part.

One of the most failed cases is the largest private residence in the UK, Wentworth Woodhouse, a Grade 1 listed building with a façade length of 182 meters, nearly twice the size of Buckingham Palace. After the news of the public sale was released, it was purchased by a Hongkong company for 70 million Hong Kong dollars.

At that time, Hongkong's company thought it had picked up a big bargain, but because the castle was in disrepair, it had to invest a huge amount of money to restore its use, and when the repair cost of 150 million pounds fell on the company's head, the board of directors was directly circled.

The big bargain suddenly turned into a hot potato, and in the end, Hongkong's company had no choice but to sell the castle cheaply to a British trust institution, and after the price reduction and various transaction taxes, it was a miserable loss.

"Although the castle looks beautiful and dreamy, it is not recommended to buy it if it is not financially strong. Rosalind suggested heartily.

Wu Qian also thought about it after listening to a series of deeds, he smiled and said: "What I want is the original, and I see that these manors and castles auctioned by Sotheby's this time have been renovated, or there are still people living in them a few years ago, and there seems to be no problem in terms of functional facilities, so you can go and see it in advance." ”

Rosalind didn't go out of her way to learn about the auction information of the castle and the manor, she took the auction catalogue from Wu Qian's hand and looked at it carefully, and said: "Sotheby's autumn auction this time is very grand, which may have something to do with the fact that the economy has not been very good in recent years, otherwise such a good manor and castle will not be put up for auction."

BOSS, if you have an idea, you can auction a manor or castle to play, and the real estate in this auction is really good. Fortunately, there are many real estate auctions this time, otherwise the competition may be fierce. ”

Wu Qian took out his mobile phone and looked at it, and there were nearly 5 billion soft girl coins in cash on his account, although it was not too much, but according to Sotheby's valuation, it should still be able to make a difference.

"Rosalind, according to you, real estate in the UK basically enjoys freehold rights, so this should be a very reliable investment, right?" Wu Qian asked.

Rosalind nodded lightly, shook her head slightly, and said: "BOSS, I remember that I have read a piece of information, in the past ten years, the people of the Celestial Empire have invested in manor castles in the United Kingdom, and they have made and lost money. If you are buying with an investment mentality, I advise you to be cautious, then there are many aspects that need to be paid attention to. ”

Wu Qian saw that Rosalind was going to popularize the relevant laws and regulations of the United Kingdom and taxation to him, so he hurriedly stopped the other party and said, "Okay, my main consideration is not investment, or living by myself." Come on, I'll circle it. Let's take a look at these estates and castles, and if the descriptions are true, they will be included in the bidding list. ”

Wu Qian took out a pen from his bag and said with interest, although it was almost midnight, he was not sleepy at all. Of course I'm not sleepy, I have money in my pocket, and I've found something I like, and no one will be sleepy if I change it.

In the end, Wu Qian circled four sets of more than 10 real estates, two manors and two castles.

"Yawn. Tomorrow morning, you can accompany me to see these properties, and in the afternoon, let Bauer and David accompany the appraisers to Sotheby's to sift through the porcelain, jade, calligraphy and paintings, and then have them compile a list for me. Wu Qiandao.

As he spoke, Wu Qian and Rosalind stood up together, Wu Qian looked at Rosalind who was close at hand, smiled, and said, "Rosalind, do you know that you are somewhat similar to a female movie star?"

Rosalind was slightly stunned when she heard Wu Qian's words, and said, "Boss, you're talking about Gal Gadot." ”

"Yes, Gal Gadot is a female star I like very much. With your face by my side, I'm afraid there will be 'danger' in the future, haha. With that, Wu Qian walked towards the bedroom, and didn't seem to mean to invite Rosalind.

Rosalind looked at Wu Qian's back inexplicably, and the confusion of the whole day was finally explained.

"Dangerous, dangerous?" Rosalind didn't think that the "danger" Wu Qian said was "danger", she shrugged her shoulders and went downstairs from the spiral staircase, took a shower, and went to sleep.

The next day, after breakfast, Wu Qian set off in a car, accompanied by Cooks and Rosalind, and David and Bauer were instructed by Wu Qian to prepare a vehicle to receive the team of appraisers who had arrived from the Celestial Empire.

The filming team set off earlier than Wu Qian, a large group of people with various equipment, took two buses to the Silverstone circuit in the north of London, and the shooting task was very heavy, taking about 3-5 days in total.

Everyone in the team was full of ambition, and after learning that Silverstone Circuit would cost 20 pounds a day, they even cheered up the spirit of 12 points.

Wu Qian's first stop this morning is the 125-acre estate on the Thames River, 60 kilometers southwest of London, which is a place that Wu Qian likes very much.

But Wu Qian is not very relieved, he has been poisoned by the phrase "subject to the real thing" for many years, and he still believes in the results of seeing it with his own eyes.

Sitting in the back row of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Wu Qian asked Rosalind beside him: "Rosalind, do you know anything about the copyright trading of film and television works?

"BOSS, I haven't been in contact with the situation of your company yet, so I can't give detailed advice. According to the meaning of your words, just go directly to the door to talk to the person in charge of the relevant department, the world capital of capital is king, and there is nothing that money can't do. Rosalind said.

Wu Qian knew in his heart, he and Yuan Bingqing had discussed it in China, give money where money should be given, and delete where it should be deleted, and the road would be smooth, since there was no problem here, the whole road would be opened.

"You contact a couple of lawyers and talk to the heads of ITV and BBC in the afternoon. Wu Qian instructed, hurry up and finish this business, and the rest is a relaxed and happy leisure time.

PS: Some book friends actually thought that I had changed the subscription fee without permission...... Dude, the cost is 1000 words and 5 points, if the number of words is more, the subscription is naturally expensive.