Two days later.

Luk Museum.

The weather is warmer, everything is recovering,

People gradually shed their heavy clothes and put on slightly lighter spring clothes.

Lambert, the director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, walked to the door and handed the ticket to the security personnel.

The way the other party checks the ticket is quite strange,

I saw him pick up the ticket, observe it in the sun, and grope it carefully with his fingers along the third of the ticket from top to bottom, and then nodded,

"No problem."

Lambert was let in.

He couldn't help but be curious, and walked through the security guards' methods, only to find that there was a slight "relief" on the ticket.

With such a complex production process, it's no wonder that only 800 tickets are put in a day.

Lambert felt that the tickets were memorable,

He put it away and entered the museum.

The first is the manuscript area.

I saw a bunch of people at the connection to the gallery, holding a notebook and a pen in their hands, as if they were fascinated.

At the same time, there is also a voice,

"Lu's level is too high. I can't write it. ”

"You can't do that little thing between men and women?"

"I can! Who can't do it? But can you describe it in such elegant words? Lu's words fall on the paper, calling the love to the thick; Your words fall on paper, and they are called wandering wreckage. ”

……

Apparently, they were discussing the original manuscript of Lolita.

Lambert also heard,

Compared with the publisher's edition, the original manuscript has more original, direct descriptions and more ornate diction.

No wonder so many people transcribed on the spot.

He squeezed through the crowd and into the gallery.

The atmosphere here is noticeably more serious than outside, with an air of tension and antiquity.

Several dealers each occupy a corner, frowning in contemplation, and from time to time they raise their heads and make eye contact, as if they are testing each other.

Someone noticed Lambert,

"Giray! Why did you get here? ”

The person who greeted him was Henry Tate, founder of the National Gallery of Art.

At the same time, he was also a sugar tycoon in London, a wealthy businessman, who often paid four-figure or even five-figure prices for his paintings.

This kind of money is very disgusting to people in the collecting and art circles.

Lambert raised an eyebrow,

"Henry, you're buying paintings at a premium again?"

Tate spread his hands and said: "Grey, works of art are priceless, so how can there be a 'premium'. When we buy a painting, we are selecting the paintings, but on the other hand, the paintings are also choosing their owners. ”

If it were an ordinary person who said this, Lambert must have felt very philosophical,

But Tate said it was a little strange,

Whoever gives the most money will be chosen, right?

Lambert rolled his eyes, too lazy to bother with the other.

Tate didn't think it was wrong,

"Giray, you haven't answered my question just now~ You came here to buy paintings? It seems that the art gallery in Whitechapel is in good financial condition~ I was thinking about whether to fund it. ”

Lambert's face darkened,

was held seven inches, and there was no way to refute it.

Tate proud,

"I think, why don't you just buy that statue?"

He gestured casually.

Lambert looked along, and then found the statue of Lu Shi, and complained wildly in his heart,

Isn't Lu a bit narcissistic?

Thinking so, he stepped forward to observe curiously, and soon showed a shocked expression,

This turned out to be the work of Master Monet!

Monet has a group of sculptures in the pool of the Giverny Gardens -

"Water Lily Garden".

The work has a modernist and impressionist style, with abstract and simplified figurative images, emphasizing form and contrast.

His technique is the same as that of Lu Shi's sculptures.

Lambert took out a magnifying glass to look at the details.

The design is definitely Monet's design, but it should not be carved by the master himself,

After all, he is old, and chiseling marble can cost him half his life.

But even so, the value of the statue is definitely not low,

Because the art market is most expensive and rare, most of Monet's paintings are circulated in the market, and there are very few sculptures, so each one is worth collecting.

"Tsk......"

Lambert couldn't help but be stunned,

Unexpectedly, the Lu Museum picked out a random one of the treasures.

Tate came up,

"What's the matter? Are you really optimistic? Grit your teeth and maybe you can get tough. ”

Lambert replied quietly, "I would like to buy it." It's a pity that such a precious sculpture will not be sold by Sir Lu. ”

Tate pursed his lips disdainfully,

"Humph......"

I felt that the other party was slapping my swollen face and being fat, so I walked aside a little bored.

"Whew~"

Lambert let out a sigh,

Finally got rid of the copper-smelling merchant.

He was about to look around the gallery when he heard someone say, "Young man, I see you've been staring at the sculpture, do you see something?" ”

Lambert raised an eyebrow,

He is a lot older, and he is still called a "young man".

He was very annoyed, and looked sideways,

As a result, he is indeed an "old man" in the true sense of the word.

The old man was dressed very plainly, with a jacket and a fleece cap, and his unassuming face, like a coachman, out of step with the artistic atmosphere around him.

Lambert always felt that the other party was a little familiar,

"You ......"

Stumbling, I can't tell.

The old man smiled,

"You may have seen my orange, yellow, red portraits."

Lambert:!!!

"Orange? Are you Mr. Gauguin? ”

Paul Gauguin, a French post-impressionist painter and sculptor, is best known for his works Where Do We Come From? Who are we? Where are we going? 》。

This kind of celebrity, people in the mixed art circle have no reason not to recognize it.

But Gauguin was too far away from mainstream society for too long,

In 1886 he left Paris for the small town of Puntavain in Brittany, and then, increasingly tired of civilization, he settled in Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean and later to the Marquesas Islands.

(Part of the prototype of "The Moon and Sixpence" is Gauguin.) ）

He was isolated from the rest of the world, and he basically only contacted agents when selling his paintings.

Lambert was stunned,

"Aren't you very sick?"

"Yes."

Gauguin patted his chest in distress,

"My heart was beating weaker and weaker. And, I don't think you would want to see my legs in a miserable state, which is already full of eczema. ”

Lambert couldn't help but sigh in his heart,

One of the world's greatest painters stands in front of him, but he will soon die.

Gauguin said: "Still, I am satisfied. ”

His gaze moved to the center of the gallery,

There, "Galaxy Water Lilies" is quietly being admired by the world.

He said: "I have no regrets in my life to see such outstanding paintings. ”

Lambert also looked over,

Frankly, he couldn't appreciate that painting.

And not only that, but the strange paintings around him were a little beyond his level of appreciation.

Gauguin said: "Which one do you like?" ”

Lambert's favorite painting is still the ordinary impressionist painting "Water Lilies".

It's a pity that the painting doesn't sell,

Even if he sold it, he couldn't afford it.

He said: "Does Mr. Gauguin know that there is a very popular cartoonist right now? ”

Gauguin chuckled: "Mr. Picasso from Spain." He is good at comics, and he also has the article "Lens Design in Comic Creation", which can be called a model of art theory. As for his oil paintings......"

Behind a big gasp.

Lambert couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it good?" ”

Gauguin limped to the painting "Girl in Cooperation",

"I watched it carefully and was blown away. I think most painters, including me, never thought of painting like this, didn't dare to paint like that, because deep down they didn't think that it was a painting. ”

He turned to Lambert,

"Why do you think, people paint?"

Lambert replied: "Seeing things and feeling them is the primitive impulse of painting. For example, when you see a beautiful scenery and feel beautiful, you want to draw it. ”

Gauguin said: "Yes, there is a sense of seeing things." What if this 'thing' doesn't really exist? ”

Lambert was a little confused,

"Huh?"

Gauguin explained: "What Mr. Picasso's paintings express is a conflict of self-perception. He saw the depravity, the distortion, the contradictions, and the antagonism within the perfect. ”

To be so highly praised by the master, Picasso's paintings are definitely worth investing.

It's over without a brain!

At this moment, the door of a small room next to it opened.

Picasso, Lu Shi and several dealers came out, including two young men whom Lambert had met the other day.

The sound of their conversation came faintly,

"Monsieur Picasso, £1,500, think about it."

"I can get out more! Just give me time......"

"Give it to me anyway. Although my good friend Nicolic and I can only afford to pay 1,300 pounds, we can travel to museums in France and Spain with our paintings. It's definitely the most lucrative deal in the long run. ”

……

"Hiss......"

Lambert gasped.

Unexpectedly, at least 1300 pounds,

The Whitechapel Art Museum had to sell all its belongings to buy one.

But even so, Picasso still did not give a clear answer,

He said with a haha, "Don't worry, everyone. No matter how you look at it, 1,000 pounds is not a small amount, so you should read more, learn more, and make a decision after consideration. ”

The painters looked at each other,

“……”

They don't want to look at it anymore, they just want to buy paintings.

But Picasso didn't let go, only shook his head and didn't set a price.

Lu Shi beckoned,

"Alright, five more. Let Mr. Picasso tell you about it himself. ”

Whoop -

All the dealers huddled together.

Lambert wanted to squeeze through as well, but on second thought, it was better to probe the tone of the two young men first.

He confessed to Gauguin, and then went to Solomon and Nikolic,

"Both, what painting did Mr. Picasso talk about?"

Solomon pretended to be amazed,

"Curator Lambert is there too? Your ticket should be a gift, right? We bought it. ”

The tone of jealousy is shown just right,

Lambert satisfied his vanity a little, and continued: "Everyone is here to chase art, what is the difference between the tickets you buy and the tickets you give away? ”

He went back to the subject,

"Let's talk about the paintings."

Solomon winked at Nikolic.

The latter understood and introduced: "Mr. Picasso was the first to talk about "The Girl in Cooperation". He will distort, contradict and antagonize ......"

Lambert's eyes lit up,

This coincides with what Gauguin said.

Sure enough, there is something about Picasso's oil paintings.

Nikolić said for a while, and said regretfully: "It's a pity that "The Girl in Cooperation" was given to Sir Lu by Mr. Picasso, and Professor Lu could not sell it to the outside world. After that, we consulted several other paintings and liked one of them, but the offer was ......"

Before he could finish speaking, Solomon coughed again and again.

"Ahem......"

Nikolić showed a look of sudden realization,

"I'm sorry, Mr. Curator. At this point we are already in competition and I can't tell you what we offer. ”

Isn't it 1,300 pounds?

Lambert just heard it all!

He silently calculated his money bag, and he had some bottom in his heart,

Compared to these two poor students from abroad, the budget of the Whitechapel Art Gallery is still sufficient.

He patted them on the shoulders comfortingly,

"It's okay, you'll be able to buy the ...... you want"

Suddenly, there was a noise outside.

And the abrupt screams of women.

Lambert frowned,

"What's going on?"

He cast a curious gaze,

Then I saw a security guard rush in and enter the hut.

After a while, Lu Shi came out,

He apologized to the surroundings: "Everyone, I'm sorry, something is wrong in the manuscript hall, I'll deal with it." As for the gallery, Mr. Picasso will continue to move forward, so don't be impatient. ”

After saying that, he left straight away.

……

Manuscript Gallery.

Stephenson parted from the crowd and frowned and walked in front of his men,

"What's going on? Let you come over and make a cameo as security, you guys are good, and you can directly perform and take people on the spot. Fortunately, I didn't give you a gun, otherwise I wouldn't have turned the sky upside down? ”

The deputy hurried closer,

"Sir, it's the person you and Sir Lu told us to keep an eye on a few days ago."

Stephenson immediately looked over,

I saw Pankhurst being held by two people, his hair hanging down messily, like a crazy woman.

The deputy whispered, "She brought paint and a very small pickaxe." ”

"Tsk......"

Stephenson was staggered.

What this woman is going to do, you can guess with your knees.

Pankhurst yelled, "Let go of me!" ”

Stephenson "snorted...... waved his hand,

And the woman was let go,

Of course, the tools of the crime were not returned.

Pankhurst patted the dust off his body and said, "What are you doing?" Why did you push me down for no reason? ”

Stephenson sneered, "For no reason? I don't know what normal person would bring a pickaxe and paint to the museum. We found out, why can't we take you? ”

Everyone nodded,

The pickaxe sounds like it's used to break glass;

Paint is a splash or an original.

But if Pankhurst succeeds, there really can't be any way.

She is a ruthless person who dares to throw Molotov cocktails on the street, and she doesn't care about going to prison at all, and even takes pride in it like the people in the old revolutionary area.

Another point is that the paintings and manuscripts are not well valued.

I was really splashed with paint, how can I claim compensation?

I can't say.

Stephenson has a headache,

There's nothing he can do with this hob meat.

put it and can't put it;

Catch and can't catch.

It's not going to be cut down, is it?

Killing a feminist leader casually, and the third place in "The 20 Greatest Britons" voted by the female citizens of London, will definitely cause more troublesome sequelae.

Stephenson asked, "Have you contacted Sir Luke?" ”

The deputy nodded,

"Someone has been sent."

Stephenson has a bottom in his heart,

Procrastination~

When the time comes for landing, everything will be fine.

By this time, Pankhurst had calmed down his breath,

She had worked in the political party, and her mind was nimble, and she quickly found room to refute it, saying, "Sir, what you just said is not right. ”

Stephenson:???

"Which one?"

He felt like he hadn't said anything.

Pankhurst sneered,

"You say, because I brought paint and a pickaxe, you want to take me? In other words, what did you find out I had with me before you took me? ”

"This ......"

Stephenson scratched his head,

was discovered by the other party.

But judging from the situation on the ground, Pankhurst's statement made her more passive,

The so-called "clever words",

In fact, she brought those two things, and she was obviously malicious, and used clever tongues to exonerate herself, trying to make people disgusted.

The crowd whispered,

"Her argument sounded weak."

"Tut-tut......"

"But it's a procedurally cumbersome matter."

……

Pankhurst's face was red and white,

Cursed in my heart,

Men do protect each other.

Stephenson cleared his throat, ready to say something.

At this time, Lu Shi's voice sounded:

"Miss Pankhurst, it looks like you've forgotten what I told you before."

He walked slowly,

"That being the case, then I repeat, 'This is not a courtroom, there is no need for evidence here'. If there is a need for a trial, then, excuse me, my word is evidence. I'm a juror, a prosecutor, a judge. ”

This was said quite domineeringly, and the scene was quiet,

“……”

“……”

“……”

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Well said! ”

This was followed by cheers, applause, and even whistles.

Pankhurst's forehead was bruised,

"You ......"

Lu Shi directly raised his hand to interrupt,

"If you've seen my work and listened to my lectures, you know how highly I think of Marie Curie and Marie Shelley. Then you should know that I am actually optimistic about women to obtain rights through work. So, what I just said is not aimed at this group, but at you personally. ”

He took a breath,

"Now, please get out of my museum!"

Stephenson secretly gave a thumbs up,

You still have to look at Lu Shi.

Then, he leaned sideways to make way for space,

"Ms. Pankhurst, get out of here."

Other security personnel also formed two "escort" teams, creating a path leading to the gate.

But Pankhurst didn't move,

She stiffened her neck, stood in place, and looked at Lu Shi with eyes full of anger,

"I bought the ticket!"

The people were speechless,

“……”

Stephenson was a little embarrassed,

Speculation without evidence makes it impossible for him to forcibly put people out.

Lu Shi sighed and said, "Sister Pan, do you have to let me reveal your old background?" ”

He looked left and right,

"What about this lady's ticket? Show me. ”

The corners of Pankhurst's mouth hooked,

Previously, she was found by the security staff to be a fraudulent ticket, so she had been watching from the sidelines, and noticed that the security personnel would hold the ticket up to the sun to observe, and found that the printing of the ticket was gradual.

After that, she went back and asked for help and made a ticket that was fake enough.

What I didn't expect was that Lu Shi didn't use sunlight to identify at all.

I saw his fingers groping carefully on the ticket,

"The tickets of the Lu Museum have a total of three layers of anti-counterfeiting: first, gradient printing; Second, one number and one vote; Third, hide the texture. You can take out your ticket and touch the third of the ticket from right to left. ”

The crowd immediately tried,

Sure enough, there are some subtle convex textures that resemble relief.

Lu Shi said: "But this ticket doesn't have it. ”

He threw the ticket back,

"Sister Pan, it is a proper illegal act for you to create fake tickets. What is Sir Stephenson's problem with you? ”

Pankhurst's mentality collapsed,

Who would have thought that there would be so many articles on one ticket?

She said, "You let me in knowing I had a fake ticket?" ”

Lu Shi shrugged,

That's right, I'm really fishing.

The other day, Churchill told him about Pantshurst, and he had an extra eye for the security guards to keep an eye on.

Lu Shi said: "If I don't let you in, you won't be able to refine the counterfeiting technology layer by layer in the future?" Only a thousand days to be a thief, how can there be a thousand days to prevent thieves. So, it's better to ......"

He cleared his throat,

"Ms. Pankhurst entered the museum with a fake ticket and will not be allowed to enter the museum in the future."

These words made Pankhurstcher completely break the defense,

"You're special! *#￥%……”

Lu Shiquan didn't hear it, and turned to Stephenson,

"Sir, it's illegal to use fake tickets, it's okay to close them for a few days, right?"

Stephenson nodded straightly,

"Of course."

After speaking, he waved his hand and asked his subordinates to take people.

Pankhurst struggled hard,

"That's not what I just said! You arrested me because I brought paint and ......."

Before the words fell, Lu Shi directly interrupted: "Sir Stephenson said something wrong. If you want to hear an apology, he shouldn't mind. ”

Stephenson was stunned,

The heart says,

Sir Lu's face is thick, but he is no worse than the British.

He followed suit, "Yes, I was wrong." I'm sorry. ”

This "sorry" is not very lethal,

Insulting but strong.

Pankhurst's whole face was distorted,

"You ......"

Stephenson ignored it and bowed his head to his subordinates.

Pankhurst was immediately carried out,

Even after that, she still shouted hysterically: "The book "Lolita" should not appear! ”

Lu Shi's brows furrowed.

Stephenson glanced at him and hurriedly said to his subordinates, "Why don't you speed up and take her away?" Don't interfere with the museum's business! ”

The security personnel woke up like a dream, and they were on their hands and feet.

Pankhurst continued to shout: "It's going to ruin women!" Ruined all women! ”

(End of chapter)