The gallery is a bit far from my house, in the direction of the South Side.

There is an old factory area, which has now been converted into an art district, and the rent is not cheap.

In addition to the comings and goings in the art circle, the decoration company is also the object of our cooperation.

The gallery is surrounded by high-end residential areas, many new developments, and villas in the South City, and the renovation company often works with us to buy paintings of various styles to decorate the client's room.

But what I really do is the secret gift market.

When I got to the gate, I got out of the car and walked in the direction of the gallery.

From afar, I saw the gallery door open.

This Ah B, as soon as I heard that it was related to the painting six years ago, I was nervous like this.

He got up later than me, and came earlier than me.

"Did you sleep in the gallery last night?" As soon as I entered the gallery, I shouted.

I was stunned.

The first floor of the gallery is a mess, as if someone has flipped through it.

"B-" I shouted again.

No one responded.

I rushed up to the second floor, and it was a mess.

"Ah B!!"

My eyes were dark, and on the empty second floor, where was the figure of Ah B?

All the paintings, we collect, bought second-hand, including those we are painting, and the works I have accumulated over the past ten years......

It's all gone.

The gallery has been burglarized?!!

I quickly dialed B's phone.

"It's already on the way." As soon as the phone was connected, he thought I was urging him in a hurry, so he quickly explained.

"How long will it take?" I asked.

"Ten minutes, not far away......" he could hear something wrong with my voice, "what's wrong?" ”

"The gallery has entered the thief." I say.

"What ?!!" He was taken aback, "What did you lose?" ”

"It's all lost." I glanced at the second floor of the gallery and sat down on the floor.

"Don't worry, I'll be there right away." On the phone, I heard him shouting to the master, "Master, hurry up, there is something urgent......

When B arrived at the gallery and saw me in despair, he first came over and patted me on the shoulder, and then began to look around the house for the theft.

My body trembled uncontrollably, and most of the stolen things were paintings from the store, some were bought, some were consigned, and some were imitated.

But the works I have accumulated over the past ten years, including Chen Yiyao's paintings in high school, many of them contain endless memories and emotions, and their theft is almost equivalent to stealing half of my soul.

"Did you call the police?" Ah B spun around, sat down next to me with a frown, and asked me.

"Not yet." I shook my head, "I'll just call you, where can I care about calling the police......"

"Have you seen the surveillance?" He glanced at the ceiling, "Two surveillance, it should be recorded 24 hours a day." ”

yes, how did I forget about this stubble.

But we both forgot our login ID and password.

When I called the service provider, and according to the other party's instructions, I entered the phone number, ID card information, and retrieved the password, and more than half an hour had passed.

We logged in to the monitoring app on the Pad and found the replay record.

It was about twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, four or five big men wearing masks entered the gallery and began to move things from the first floor. There's a chubby guy who's been commanding from the side.

Because of the mask, I can't see the appearance at all.

The monitoring position on the second floor was a bit low, and when they all went up to the second floor and began to pick up the paintings on the wall and a few boxes with paintings, the chubby guy looked up at the surveillance.

"Stop." I patted Ah B.

He quickly paused the picture.

"Replay a little more, do it a little more......" I instructed him to adjust his pace, "stop, that's all!" ”

The picture clearly captures the fat man wearing a mask.

"Wearing a mask...... "Ah B stared at the screen, then turned back to me and asked, "Do you know?" ”

It was like a drum was ringing in my ears and my head was buzzing.

"Don't you know......," I nodded, "B, we seem to have a big deal on it." ”

The guy on the screen, I just saw it two days ago.

It's the fat guy who picked me up and sent me back at Brother Mazi's.

"What the hell is going on?" He anxiously asked me, "Do you want to call the police first?" ”

"No, don't call the police...... I shook my head, was silent for a while, looked into B's eyes and said, "These people who entered the studio have something to do with what I told you on the phone." ”

I started with Brother Mazi's loan shark phone call, and told Ah B carefully about the situation of meeting that night. However, I hid the plot related to Chen Yiyao.

I don't want to make a fuss, after all, Chen Yiyao has nothing to do with this matter.

But if Brother Mazi wants to cooperate with me, I have to let Ah B know.

Because the fake from a few years ago was done by me and him.

The imitation of a fake is a technical job.

Not only do you have high requirements for your painting skills, but you also need to be familiar with the style, brushstrokes, and techniques you are good at imitating the object.

In addition to this, there is another key link that cannot be missing.

That's how the material is aged and how the pigment is blended.

Many modern fakes are made of modern chemical pigments, which are too low-level, and in the eyes of connoisseurs, it is easy to reveal the filling.

The high-level fraud requires the study of the environment in which the author lived, as well as the materials and processes of the popular pigment production at that time, the most common of which are natural mineral pigments and plant pigments

The principle of mineral raw materials is very simple, that is, the pigment made of ore after crushing, grinding, rinsing and other processes, and the color quality is relatively stable. The plant pigment comes from the sap of the plant and is suitable for layer-by-layer rendering.

And Ah B is in charge of the painting materials and the old part of the paper.

He studied in antique painting restoration for four years in college, and I wondered why he was interested in antique painting, but I didn't expect that this major would become a dark line that would affect both of our careers.

But that picture of Ren Bonian's waterfowl, to be exact, the two of us were deceived.

At the beginning, the gallery where I worked said that there were customers who liked to collect and wanted to find someone to make a picture of Ren Bonian's waterbirds, and the original works were put in the safe, and the fakes were hung outside.

Because the cost is not low, about 30,000 yuan for labor costs, I took this list and spent a month with Ah B to make this painting.

It's just that soon we know we've been scammed.

The painting was not only auctioned, but also sold for 1 million.

For this reason, Ah B and I have been worried for a long time.

But none of us have the courage to debunk the truth.

Until now, Brother Mazi came to the door......

"Do you think, that pockmarked brother, is it the guy who spent 1 million to buy a fake?"

After listening to my speech from beginning to end, Ah B was silent for a long time and asked me.

"Probably not." I shook my head and said, "How can a loan shark spend money on art?" ”

"Money laundering," Ah B said......, "Art investment, isn't it a good way to launder money?" ”

"Money laundering?"

I frowned.

I hadn't really thought about it.

But looking back now, it's really a bit of a black money laundering meaning.

But I have another question.

"No," I said...... "if you want to launder money, why bother making fakes?" ”

"I don't know......" he fell silent.

"There's one more question." I looked at the empty room and said, "If you want to cooperate with me, why do you want someone to steal the gallery?" The expression of this fat man looking at the surveillance was clearly deliberately let me see it. ”

"I want you to know who did it......" Ah B nodded.

As if to confirm his judgment, my phone rang suddenly.

I picked it up and looked at it.

Sure enough, the three words "usury" lit up on the screen.

Ah B and I looked at each other.