Chapter 000035

Cut off the beard

Xiao Yifei circled around the magic capital a few times and arrived at the place where he had originally rented.

Li Qinglin was surprised by his return:

"Why are you back?"

"Not welcome? I'll come and see you. See if you've done anything bad. ”

"It's just right, you're back, let's get together on the weekend."

"Well, I haven't seen you in a long time."

"I think of a duckling."

"What do you say?"

The two chatted for a while, and Xiao Yifei walked out of the apartment,

After getting off work on Friday, Xiao Yifei asked Xiao Ya for dinner and told her his plans.

"Xiao Ya, I have decided to emigrate."

"Did I guess, Germany?"

"No, the United States."

Xiao Ya was silent, and after that, neither of them spoke.

When she went downstairs to Xiao Ya, Xiao Ya didn't go upstairs, lowered her head, and pulled the cement floor with her toes.

"Xiao Ya, when I get over there, I will definitely take some time to think about my personal feelings."

"Hold me."

Xiao Yifei was stunned, what kind of response is this?

Xiao Ya stared at Xiao Yifei, bit her lower lip, and said again, "Hug me." ”

Xiao Yifei hugged Xiao Ya and felt the wetness on his shoulders.

Xiao Yifei didn't know how to deal with his relationship with Xiao Ya. Originally, maybe this year, maybe next year, Xiao Yifei felt that he would marry Xiao Ya, and the two lived an ordinary life from then on. But all along, he felt that the life between him and Xiao Ya seemed to be the kind of life that had not yet experienced intense love and had become family affection, which made him a little lost.

If he hadn't bought the Osiris space, maybe he would have just been lost. But now there is the Osiris space, and there is a huge amount of wealth in the space. He really wants to go outside, see the world, enjoy life, and maybe one day, he will want to go to that haven that gives him peace.

But now he couldn't make any promises, he could only hold her quietly.

After a long time, Xiao Ya pushed Xiao Yifei away, and in his puzzled gaze, he turned around and ran upstairs.

Xiao Yifei didn't know what this meant, was Xiao Ya completely broken off with him? There was a sharp pain in his heart, he was really reluctant to Xiao Ya, he had an intuition that it would be difficult for him to meet such a good wife candidate as Xiao Ya in the future.

When he got home, he actually received a call from Xiao Ya, and he simply said: "I'll send you when I leave." ”

Xiao Yifei hoped that this was Xiao Ya's expression to show that she didn't want to break off contact either, and was a little worried that Xiao Ya would completely send him out of her heart.

He had no sleep, so he could only lie on the bed and turn his mind to oil painting.

Now it seems that Picasso and Sunflower and Water Lily Pond are better not to sell, because if they are shot, the minimum transaction price is nearly 400 million, and the money is going to depreciate, and it is not interesting to keep it in your hands, so it is better to keep the painting. In this way, there are still 140 million euros for 7 paintings, which is definitely enough to buy a winery, and the auction will definitely generate a premium, and the premium part will be used as working capital.

The next day, Xiao Yifei sent off Nagao's appraiser, and Leonard and his lawyer continued to wait for Xiao Yifei's results in the hotel. Xiao Yifei had no choice but to go to the suburbs alone. He is making a show for people to see, making people think that he is really discussing with the real owner of the painting.

In the car, Xiao Yifei received a call from Li Qinglin

"Xiao Yifei, are you going to auction something again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just now a company knocked on the door, oh, Antiguren, they said they liked the oil painting in your hand and wanted to talk to you about cooperation."

What, Xiao Yifei was taken aback. Antiguren, isn't it a Swiss auction company specializing in auctioning clocks that was smashed by Nagao, how did they know about this? And I still know that it is an oil painting.

"Did they say anything else?"

"No, I just asked for your phone number, I saw that they were a regular company, so I gave them to them."

"Oh, well, I'll talk about it when they contact me."

Xiao Yifei didn't blame Li Qinglin for saying the number randomly. After returning to China, he reactivated the domestic number, and there are many people who know this number, even if Li Qinglin doesn't say it, Antiguren can find it. It's just that Antiguren can find where he used to live, so it should be easy to find his phone number, why don't they call first?

Soon Xiao Yifei received a call from Antigulen

"Mr. Xiao, we are the magic capital office of Antiguren Auction Company, we are very interested in the oil painting in your hand, and I hope that Mr. Xiao will give you a chance to cooperate."

"Can you tell me how you know about the painting in my hand?"

He was a little worried that Nagao's appraisers had betrayed the news.

"We have been paying close attention to Nagao's movements, and the new vice president made a special trip to the magic capital with 4 oil painting experts, and it is not difficult to guess."

Oh, it seems to be a legacy of that Swiss watch auction. Auctions of watches, especially high-end antique watches, have always been a no-go affair in Antiguure. Now Nagao stepped in so strongly, it definitely caused a backlash from Antigulen, it seems that Antiguren is using his own way to govern his body, you grab my clock auction, I also grab your oil painting auction.

Xiao Yifei actually didn't care who he auctioned it for, but it was very good to cooperate with Nagao, and Antigulen's auction of oil paintings, and such a high-value oil painting, was really a bit like a vindictive move, so he directly refused.

"None of your majors are this, so forget it."

The people on the opposite side of Antiguren probably also had the idea of "having dates and not hitting a rod with dates", and they were not surprised at all by Xiao Yifei's refusal.

"Okay, Mr. Xiao, I hope there will be a chance to cooperate next time."

"Okay, if you have the opportunity, you can cooperate." The second half of the sentence didn't say: forget it if you don't have a chance.

Antiguren's tricks are not only this, they turned around and sold Xiao Yifei's information.

The next day, when Xiao Yifei was about to return to the magic capital, he received another phone call.

"Hello Mr. Xiao, we are Christie's China, and we would like to talk to you."

When Xiao Yifei heard this, Christie's insisted on the company that auctioned the beast head of the Old Summer Palace despite China's protests.

The whole thing goes like this: last year, in October 2008, Christie's announced that it was going to auction the 12 animal heads, the rat and the rabbit, and what a stir in China caused a lot of protests, and the 67 lawyers formed a public interest litigation group to file a lawsuit in France against the collectors of the two Chinese antiquities and Christie's auction house to prevent the auction and recover the national treasure. Xiao Yifei was in Germany at the time, and even the German media reported on it.

Of course, everyone now knows what happened next, and the domestic action to stop the auction failed, and the French court announced that the auction would continue. But the state also has tricks, first of all, it does not allow these two beasts to enter the country for the first time, that is, some Chinese cannot bring it back if they buy it, which prevents all domestic buyers from bidding. The second is that Mr. Cai sacrificed his credibility and did not pay the bills at the auction, losing the deposit, but disrupting the auction.

Of course, in the end, a French family bought it and donated it to the country in 2013. (This will be explained later.) ）

There are also rumors that he originally planned to give the two beast heads to the Forbidden City of WW, but was rejected by the Forbidden City on the grounds that the history of the Forbidden City is unknown.

It was because of this incident that Christie's China branch was in great trouble in China, with unfavorable collection and publicity, and was beaten by the official in the open and in secret.

Xiao Yifei directly rejected them:

"I'm sorry, now is not a good time to talk to you about cooperation, let's cooperate in the future."

The other party probably didn't expect Xiao Yifei to refuse them. In their opinion, they are a world-famous art auction house, and they have been competing with Sotheby for the first title, which is much better than Germany, which is second-rate in Europe. Even if they are currently in trouble, it is only in terms of collecting Chinese cultural relics, but this is a Western oil painting, and it has nothing to do with patriotism or not.

But now the other party actually rejected them and chose to take a high, and it can be seen from what the other party said "It's not a good time" that it should still be affected by the beast head incident.

Hung up Christie's, and Sotheby's call came again.

Founded in 1774, Sotheby Auction Company was acquired by an American company in 1983, resulting in two headquarters, London, England and New York, USA. Xiao Yifei thought of going to the United States to reach the manor, thought about it for a while, and said to the people in the Sosby Demon Capital Office:

"You can relay the information to the headquarters in New York, and I'll talk to them."

"Okay, Mr. Xiao, that's no problem, we don't have independent auction rights in China, and a large amount of money must go through the headquarters, but before that, we have to look at the oil paintings, okay?"

"No problem."

Back in the magic capital, Sosby's people read "The Sunset Effect of Water Lilies" and some of the appraisal certificates issued by Nagao's auctioneers, and immediately notified the New York headquarters. The New York headquarters was overshadowed by the paintings, and although many established collectors had collections far beyond this level, they would not easily let them go. This is a big business, looking at the list of oil paintings and the valuation provided by the magic capital office, the New York headquarters immediately sent people to the magic capital, trying to grab this business.

Xiao Yifei rushed to the hotel, and Leonard was already waiting in the café.

"Leonard, have bad news for you."

Leonard immediately became nervous: "Shaw, you're not working with us anymore?" ”

"Now things have changed."

"Could it be that the owner of the painting refuses to make a move?"

"No, he's still willing to sell 6 paintings."

Leonard thought of what he feared most: "What's that?" Do I have a competitor? Shaw, I assure you, we have absolutely not violated the confidentiality agreement. ”

"I know that Antigulen called, and they said that from your whereabouts and the people who came to China, they analyzed that you came to see the oil paintings."

Leonard was obviously relieved when he heard Xiao Yifei say that it was not them who violated the agreement, and when he heard that it was Antigulen:

"One of them sells clocks and watches, and they can't compete with us in oil painting auctions."

"Listen to me first, that's how I rejected them. But then Christie's and Southby called. ”

Leonard gasped, these two giants are indeed not comparable to their auction house now.

"Xiao, I have won a preferential condition from the company to help you bear 9% of the tax, which means that you only need to pay 10% of the tax, and the rest of the auction proceeds are yours, which is an unprecedented discount."

"I turned down Christie's, but I was going to immigrate to the U.S. when I got the auction money, so I agreed to talk to Southby."

Leonard is still making a final effort: "Shaw, we have worked together so many times, and it has all gone very well. ”

"I know, I want to continue working with you, but everyone in the painting wants to talk on both sides. I can only promise that, under the same conditions, my company will be preferred. ”

"Okay, Shaw, I'll wait for your news."