Shu Xin heard that I was going to take her to the UK, and she was so excited that she was about to jump.

When she was in her third year of college, Jihua wanted to study in Europe, for which she also took the IELTS exam and participated in various training courses, but in the end she did not choose to study abroad, but stayed in school as a teacher after graduation. It's not that she doesn't want to go, it's not that her family doesn't approve of it, it's just that I said to her very selfishly, "Don't go, stay with me."

Five years later, the opportunity to go to Europe was finally in front of Shu Xin's eyes, she didn't care whether her annual leave had been used up, and directly agreed to go with me. She said that if the school did not agree to give her leave, she would simply resign and go to my detective agency to be a receptionist on duty, so that even if Qiao Wei and I went out to work, the family would not be afraid that no one would receive her.

The receptionist she mentioned is indeed necessary to arrange one in the detective agency, and some time ago there were really cases where a guest wanted to meet me and Qiao Wei but neither of us was available. However, if Shu Xin resigned and went to the detective agency to help, this kind of thing can only be said by her and listened to by me, and the actual operation is not strong, the most important thing is that I am afraid that her mother will come to the house to teach me a lesson.

Of course, whether you want to resign or something is an afterthought, and the thing in front of you is to hurry up and go through the procedures for leaving the country.

It took me two days to basically go through all the procedures that should be taken, and it took me half a month to wait for the passport, so during this time, I went to Harbin with Qiao Wei, found the auction house that auctioned the oil painting "Dark Surge", and asked the people there to help identify whether the painting in our hands was genuine, and also asked about the previous owner of the painting.

The auction house didn't ask Weishenme that the painting would be in our hands, they immediately asked an expert to appraise it, and after confirming that the painting was indeed from the painter named Spencer, the auction house specially asked someone to introduce me and Qiao Wei to the history of the painting.

The work is said to have been completed in 1917, when Spencer was only 19 years old, as an unknown apprentice painter. He didn't paint it to be sold, but he was hired by a farmer to paint a family portrait, and the painting was left in the hands of the farmer.

Ten years later, a tragedy occurred in the farmer's home, killing all four members of the family, and the painting disappeared from then on.

It wasn't until 1938 that the forty-year-old Spencer used all his savings to open his first solo exhibition in London. As a result, Spencer's paintings shook London, and five of his paintings were bought at high prices that day, and he became a celebrity in London almost overnight.

It's just that people are not talking about his paintings, but about the secrets behind his overnight riches, and some people call Spencer's success "Spencer's miracle".

Unfortunately, the "Spencer Miracle" did not bring him a prosperous second half of his life, and after the week-long exhibition, Spencer hanged himself in his own home. His death forever became a mystery, but his paintings soared in value with his death, and even the practice works of his youth had a high market price.

In 1995, Spencer's painting of "The Farm Family" appeared in China at the age of nineteen, and it quickly became the focus of attention of art investors, because it was the earliest Spencer work on the market, and it can be seen that Spencer had already established his Fauvist style when he was nineteen years old, and this work was even better than his later masterpieces.

From '95 to 2013, the painting changed hands three times in the eighteen years, and finally came to Heilongjiang to meet with collectors from Northeast China.

At this point, the origin of the painting Undercurrent is introduced.

After listening to it, I asked the people who had previously collected the painting how they were doing, and if there had been any accidents, such as suicide. But my question was not answered in any positive way, and the auction house only smiled perfunctorily and said, "How can such a thing be?" ”

The reply given by the auction house was also expected by me, and if the painting was a cursed work, it would be difficult to sell it. I then asked who had owned the painting before, and the auction house rejected me on the grounds that the client's information was confidential.

That's all we can do with our investigation, and it's almost impossible to find out if anyone else has committed suicide because of this painting.

Before I came to Harbin, I knew that I would not have much to gain, and there was not much hope, so there was no way to talk about disappointment. However, it is worth the trip to learn a little about Spencer and figure out when the work will be completed.

For the next ten days, there was no trouble with the painting. Qiao Wei sealed the painting in a plastic bag and put it in a water tank according to the method his father had told him, and he didn't take the painting out of the water tank until Shu Xin and I got our passports and we were ready to leave for England.

The day before I left, I called Lei Qishan again and asked him if there was any news of Tang Hui there, but there was still no news, and I could only pin my hopes on this trip to the UK.

Traveling abroad for the first time can be a little exciting, but also a little nervous. Compared with me, Shu Xin was much calmer, and after getting on the plane, she began to chat with Qiao Wei in London-accented English like a warm-up exercise.

I don't like to travel, especially long trips of more than ten hours. It was only two hours after the plane that I had lost the urge to speak, and then the irresistible feeling of lethargy came over me, and even the occasional shaking of the plane due to the air currents could not stop my sleepiness.

As a result, I spent almost half asleep during the flight of more than ten hours.

The cross-country flight is a very interesting thing, we got on the plane at noon, obviously flew in the sky for more than ten hours, but when we arrived in the UK, the sky was still bright, and it was only two o'clock in the afternoon. I don't know if it's the excitement of going abroad for the first time or because I slept too much on the plane, but I was very awake and basically didn't need to adjust to the jet lag.

Qiao Wei's home is in London's East End. Although I haven't been there, the name of the place is all too familiar to me.

London East, Whitechapel, 1888, Jack the Ripper...... I'm sure there are many people who can tell the story of this mysterious pervert who carried forward the word "serial killer", but for Qiao Wei, Jack the Ripper's is more like a rumor, a story.

When we arrived in London's East End, I could roughly understand the origin of Qiao Wei's attitude towards the Ripper.

In my imagination, Dun Lun was probably full of Victorian buildings with the atmosphere of British aristocracy, but in fact, the East End was full of matchbox buildings, and the shops on the first floor were covered with black leather tartars, making the roads look extremely crowded and narrow. The pedestrians here look hurried, and do not reflect the slow-toned life of Europe, although the overall tone of the place is still gray, but there is definitely no sense of decadence of Jack's time.

The taxi took the three of us to a small three-story building that was Qiao Wei's home.

This building looks like a student apartment from the outside, and it feels even more like an apartment when you enter the door, except that this is not your average school apartment, but a student apartment at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! The palatial retro front entrance hall, the spiral staircase, and the exotic and fantastical paintings on the walls on both sides...... There's a strong smell of Harry Potter everywhere.

"Your family isn't all Harry Potter enigma, are they?" I half-jokingly said to Qiao Wei.

Before Qiao Wei could answer my words, a low, magnetic voice came from the direction of the staircase facing the gate: "Actually, the layout here is more like a church. Besides, Harry Potter was originally British. ”

The other party used Chinese, and there was a slight northeast accent.

I've heard this voice on the phone before, and even if I haven't heard it, I can guess that this person is Qiao Wei's father!

I quickly followed the sound in the direction of the stairs, and a tall, dashing uncle in a gray-blue casual suit was walking towards us. He looks quite similar to Qiao Wei, and he also has curly hair, but this uncle's hair is much longer than Qiao Wei's, and it has hung down to his shoulders.

Before I came, I imagined that Qiao Wei's father was a serious pastor, but this uncle in front of me is obviously more of a shake style!

Without waiting for Qiao Wei's introduction, this dashing long-haired uncle had already come to me and said: "Hello, you are very welcome to my house, I am the father of this kid, but you don't need to be polite to me, you can directly call my name Craig (Craig), or call my Chinese name Qiao Feng." ”