There are no secrets in this world, and if there is, it only means that it doesn't matter.

The British came sooner than Li Yuan expected.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Smith took an old man with silver hair to the tea room on the top floor of the hotel.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lee. The old man took off his hat and saluted, saying, "I am the chairman of William Hill Hotel Management Group, Brandon Hill." ”

"You may be seated. ”

Li Yuan politely invited him to sit down, but he didn't show too much enthusiasm.

"Please use tea. ”

Li Yuan stretched out his hand to signal, and then picked up the teacup by himself.

Brandon frowned imperceptibly.

In his opinion, Li Yuan was extremely rude.

……

The British, like the Chinese, have the habit of drinking tea, and there is no problem with using tea to entertain guests, the problem lies in the details.

First of all, like most Britons, Brandon prefers black tea, but Li Yuan brews green tea.

This is not hospitality.

Generally speaking, the host should at least ask "coffee or tea" or "black tea or green tea" first, leaving the guest with a choice. However, Li Yuan did not do this, and said "please" in his mouth, but in a commanding tone.

Another problem lies in the etiquette of the tea ceremony.

Brandon has been to Hong Kong and Japan, and knows that for Asians, tea tasting is a cultural activity with a strong sense of ritual, and there are many requirements for places, utensils, and manners, but when he came to Li Yuan, all red tape was omitted, and there were only three ordinary glasses on the table, judging from the color of the tea, it seemed that it had been brewing for a while.

……

All kinds of details made Brandon realize that the young man sitting across from him was not an easy guy to deal with.

Brandon decided to skip the temptation and get straight to the point.

"My intention, Mr. Li must have guessed it, so I said bluntly, Mr. Li's behavior bothered us a lot, and we hope to ......"

Li Yuan put the teacup on the table and raised his hand to interrupt Brandon.

"Since it's straightforward, don't beat around the bush. Li Yuan said: "Are you going to repay the debt?"

Brandon twitched the corner of his eyes and said: "I think you are mistaken, compared to the credibility of the William Hill Group, 600 million pounds is nothing ......"

"It's really rich. ”

Li Yuan smiled and said, "Let me guess, you will definitely say it next, but 600 million pounds is not a small amount after all, and it will still be a little stressful to cash it out at once." ”

What Brandon wanted to say was said first, and he nodded helplessly.

"I don't like to be strong. Li Yuan said: "I can also accept the installment payment." ”

"Mr. Li, I have to warn you that you are thinking too simply. ”

Brandon couldn't be led by Li Yuan all the time at his age, and adjusted his mentality and began to counterattack.

"The fact that we are willing to pay bonuses is that the UK government believes there is money laundering and backroom dealing......

"Then convince them. Li Yuan chuckled and said, "I have never cared about the reason, only the result." ”

Brandon said, "As a result, it may take us a long time to convince the government, and we even need you to attend relevant meetings to prove your innocence." ”

"Yes. ”

"I have to warn you, it could take a long time, maybe ten or eight years, maybe longer......"

"It doesn't matter. ”

Li Yuan said with a smile: "Ten years, a hundred years, one day it will be solved, my patience is very good." Besides, a long delay is not necessarily a bad thing. ”

Li Yuan turned to Smith and said, "Some time ago, Vanity Fair

I thought I should take the initiative to contact her, I believe there will be many media interested in this matter......" Li Yuan crossed his fingers and said: "You see, Chinese, the impeachment case of the President of the United States, the bonus of 600 million pounds, the bookmaker is in debt...... Together, these words should be very newsworthy, and do you think I should charge the media for breaking the news?"

Brandon's face sank.

"Mr. Li, I have to warn you that no one is going to pay their bills. ”

Li Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, I know, but I can't control what the media says, right?"

……

The atmosphere in the tea room became a little tense.

Smith smiled and started the round: "Lee, I don't care what your talks will be, the only thing I'm curious about is, how did you guess?"

"You don't doubt that I bought off all the judicial commissioners, right?" Li Yuan smiled and said, "Of course this is impossible, in fact, it's just some calculations, plus some luck." ”

"Luck......

Although Smith doubted the authenticity of Li Yuan's words, he couldn't think of a better explanation. He sighed: "Dare to take out 80 million pounds to gamble on luck, this is not something ordinary people can do." ”

"I'm not an ordinary person, am I?" Li Yuan smiled: "For me, this is just a game, it is good to win, but it is not the end of the world to lose." ”

After Li Yuan finished speaking, he picked up the water glass and looked at Brandon, and said, "Does Mr. Hill know why I entertained you with a glass?"

Brandon shook his head in confusion.

Li Yuan said: "The porcelain cup is too subtle, I don't like it." In comparison, the glass is obviously much more honest. ”

Brandon thought for a moment, his frown furrowed.

Li Yuan then said: "In order to show honesty, I can show my hole cards first." I will not disclose this to the media, and accordingly, you do not have to use the international financial organization and the British government as an excuse. ”

"Fair enough. ”

Brandon nodded in agreement.

Li Yuan continued: "I can make concessions, one to eight is indeed too exaggerated, and the bottom line I can accept is one to two." ”

Brandon thought for a moment and nodded again.

"Acceptable. ”

"Don't worry," Li Yuan stretched out two fingers, "I still have two conditions." ”

"On what terms?"

"First, the bonus needs to be cashed out within three days. Second, I want a painting. ”

"The first request is hard, but I don't think it's a big problem. ”

Brandon didn't dwell on the first condition, but asked with interest: "As for the painting you are talking about, what painting?"

"The Female Historian". ”

Li Yuan said the name of the painting in Chinese.

Brandon and Smith didn't understand Chinese and were confused.

Li Yuan briefly introduced the painting.

"The Female History of Zhen Tu" is the Chinese Eastern Jin Dynasty "painting ancestor" Gu Kaizhi's silk paintings, the original work has been lost, there are copies of the Tang Dynasty, the original 12 paragraphs, because of the age, only 9 paragraphs remain, for the silk color, now collected in the British Museum.

Originally in the Old Summer Palace, the painting was stolen by British and French troops in 1860 when the British and French invaded Beijing and took it abroad.

In 1903, the painting was collected by the British Museum, becoming the museum's most important oriental artifact and one of the three treasures of the museum.

After listening to Li Yuan's introduction, Brandon's face was a little ugly.

The British Museum is one of the five largest and most famous museums in the world, and it can be listed as a "treasure of the town".

Li Yuan's act of asking for "The Female Historian" is no less than asking for it from the Louvre

In the Mona Lisa, the value of the painting is put aside, which is ridiculous in itself.

"I'm sorry, but your conditions are really ......"

Brandon didn't know what to say.

He thought for a moment and said, "I think you'd better change your conditions." ”

"Nope. ”

Li Yuan shook the water glass and said, "I said, this is my bottom line, you should know what the bottom line means." If you agree, then the deal is established, and if not, then there is nothing to say. ”

"Now it's not a question of whether I agree or disagree. Brandon said: "This request is simply impractical, and the British Museum cannot agree to such a request......

"I haven't tried it, how do you know I can't do it?"

Li Yuan said with a smile: "You have to understand that the painting is Chinese, and the British snatched it away by despicable means, and now my request is only 'return to the original owner', which I think is beneficial to the relationship between the two countries." In other words, which do you think is more precious than Hong Kong?"

There is no need to think about this question at all.

Although many works of art are called "priceless treasures", to put it bluntly, art cannot be eaten, cannot be worn, and cannot even create value, if you ignore the exhibition tickets, it is not worth mentioning compared to a city.

Brandon understood what Li Yuan meant, since Britain had returned even Hong Kong, it was not impossible to return a painting.

Whether it can be done or not depends entirely on whether someone pushes for it, and on how much the impetus is.

Brandon's ears came Li Yuan's bewitching voice.

"Think about it, how much do you think a painting is worth? If I were to come up with 400 million pounds, the British Museum would never refuse to trade me, the question is, is it really worth that much money?"

……

Li Yuan doesn't know what the highest price has been at auction so far, but he does know that more than a decade later, an oil painting called "Salvator" by Leonardo da Vinci set the highest price in the history of art auctions for $450 million.

At the same time, he knows that the top 10 artworks in the auction list are all Western artworks.

To put it bluntly, Westerners subconsciously don't think much of Eastern art.

The same goes for Brandon.

He had never seen "The Female Historian", but he subconsciously did not think that a Chinese painting was "valuable", so his headache was not "whether he could agree", but "whether he could do it".

He thought for a while, shook his head, and said, "You're stealing a different concept." ”

Brandon is finally not old and confused.

Li Yuan is indeed secretly changing concepts. No matter what he did, he couldn't get the £600 million prize, and it didn't make sense to measure a painting that didn't belong to him with money that didn't belong to him.

The problem is that Brandon knows that Li Yuan's request is rude, but he has to think carefully.

It's really Li Yuan's "media theory" that is too lethal.

If Li Yuanzhen made public the fact that the company tried to repay the debt, it would be a huge blow to the entire British and even European lottery industry.

On the one hand, bettors will lose confidence in the credibility of the company. On the other hand, the British government has been trying to curb the culture of fighting, and seizing this opportunity is likely to make a big fuss.

There are only three paths in front of Brandon now.

First, be honest with your prize.

Second, agree to Li Yuan's conditions.

Third, tear the face.

For a moment, the thought that popped into Brandon's mind was that if Li Yuan died unexpectedly, maybe the matter would be over.

As soon as this thought arose, it was interrupted by what Li Yuan said next.

"Actually, it's not as difficult as you think. ”