The car drove all the way at high speed, and when it arrived at the door of Sotheby's San Francisco, it was still ten minutes away from the agreed time.

Pei Pei parked the car, picked up the three painting tubes from the back seat, and walked into the Sotheby's door with Ranson.

The receptionist at the door smiled and asked Pei Pei about the reason for her visit, and Pei Pei explained to the receptionist that she had made an appointment with her agent, Mr. Sean Lawrence, to come over at two o'clock in the afternoon for identification.

The reception lady led Pei Pei and Ranson into a reception room, then said "Wait a minute" and went out.

About three to five minutes later, the reception lady came back, followed by a slightly chubby man, looking about thirty years old, wearing a suit and a straight suit, an elite style.

As soon as the gentleman came in, he introduced himself: "Hello, I'm Shaun Lawrence, and this is Miss Lee, who made an appointment with me to do the appraisal." As he spoke, he handed over a business card and shook hands with Peipei.

Then, he took out another business card and handed it to Ranson on the side, and then asked, "I don't know who this is?" ”

Ranson took the business card and handed over one of his own, "I'm Ranson Doon, Miss Lee's personal lawyer. ”

After shaking Ranson's hand, everyone sat down again. Agent Sean asked again: "Do you two drink coffee or black tea?" ”

Pei Pei asked for black tea, Ranson ordered coffee, Sean told the reception lady to prepare a drink, and the reception lady walked out of the reception room lightly and closed the door of the reception room.

While waiting for the drink to come, Sean asked with a smile, "I take the liberty of asking, Miss Li, are you an adult?" ”

Because of the tenderness of the Orientals, although Pei Pei is 16 years old, in the eyes of foreigners, she looks like she is only twelve or thirteen years old, "I am already 16 years old and have my own citizen number!" Pei Pei puffed out her cheeks and replied a little depressed.

“sorry！ Because you came with a lawyer, and you look very young, I was a little misunderstood. Sean explained with a smile.

At this time, the door of the reception room remembered two gentle "knocks", Sean replied "please come in", and the reception lady came in with a tray.

After putting away the tea that the guests wanted, the reception lady went out quietly again, and the door of the reception room was gently closed again.

"Miss Li, can you open the three paintings you commissioned for me to take a look at first?" Sean's eyes looked at the three painting tubes hanging from the edge of the couch.

"Yes." Pei Pei placed the painting tube on the table in front of her.

I saw Sean scoop out a pair of white gloves from his pocket, and then the gloves on the gloves picked up one of the painting tubes and opened it, pulled out the scroll from it, and gently flattened it to look at it. After looking at it for about two or three minutes, he rolled up the painting and put it aside, opened the second painting tube and looked at it, and when the third painting was finished, Sean raised his head, smiled at Pei Pei, and then said: "Sorry to keep you waiting, I just made a preliminary identification of these paintings, can I ask curiously, how did you get these three paintings?" ”

So Pei Pei brought out the rhetoric that fooled Ranson before.

After hearing this, Sean smiled, "You are really lucky, if these paintings are authentic in the end, then you will make a lot of money, and you can ask curiously, how much did you spend on that old cabinet at that time?" ”

"$65!" Pei Pei replied.

At that time, the cabinet really cost her 65 dollars, and the reason for buying it was because it was old enough, and at that time she just had a sudden thought, thinking that such an old cabinet, in the future, if she was short of money, she could use the same set of arguments that had just fooled people to explain the treasure in her space.

Sure enough, early preparation is still very useful, no, as soon as the old man plays majestic, she still has to take out the treasure in the space to raise money.

After hearing this, Sean smiled and said to Pei Pei: "If it is authentic, your investment is really profitable, please wait a while, I will ask the professional appraisers of the auction house to come and appraise." Then he got up, nodded to Pei Pei, and walked out.

About five or six minutes later, Sean walked in with two white old men, and introduced Pei Pei: "These two are professional appraisers from our Sotheby's auction house who are responsible for appraising famous European paintings in the last century. After saying that, Sean picked up a few magazines from the newspaper shelf at the door and put them in front of Peipei.

Pei Pei nodded, picked up a magazine and flipped through it.

Ransen on the side was not as calm as Pei Pei, and from time to time he looked at the two professional appraisers wearing gloves and holding magnifying glasses

After about ten minutes of appraisal by the two appraisers, one of the appraisers nodded to Sean and suddenly went out.

After a while, the appraiser returned to the reception room with an unknown instrument.

He put the instrument to the side, and then took out a small steel sheet and a small brush and three small pieces of glass from his pocket, and another appraiser on the side took one of the glasses in one hand and placed it under the edge of the painting, and bent down with the small brush in the other, and the appraiser holding the small steel plate in his hand actually scraped lightly at the edge of the painting.

Ranson leaned his head to take a look, and saw that the two experts cooperated very tacitly, and after three clicks, some fine debris was swept off the glass, and Ranson asked Sean, "What are they doing here?" ”

Sean smiled and replied, "They're collecting scraps of paper and paint right now, and they're putting them in this machine for testing, and this instrument can detect the exact year of these scraps of paper and paint." Don't worry, Mr. Doon, they are professional appraisers, and they are very experienced in dealing with this aspect of the work, and they will not affect the painting itself. ”

As Sean spoke, the two appraisers had already scratched up another painting. Soon, all three paintings were scratched by the appraisers,

Then the appraiser in charge of scraping the drawings rolled up the three paintings and put them aside and put the three pieces of glass into the instrument for testing, one by one. Ranson walked over to look at the paintings, and saw that there seemed to be no signs of scratching, so he sat back on the sofa, took a sip of his coffee, and watched them with his eyes intently as they were tested.