Chapter 800 Black Card Methods
Finally, after more than 20 minutes of fierce competition, this painting, which was re-identified as Wu Daozi's early work, was sold at an incredible high price of 163 million US dollars.
And everyone found that the final winner was still the one who won the salvage rights of the sunken ship.
This time, he did not try to use the previous method again to shock everyone with an absolutely high price, but like the other participants in the auction, he raised the price by one million or two million at a time.
And this price is not that no one can continue to bid, but everyone has been bidding in turns until now, and they feel exhausted. Could it be that they really want to bid a fragment of a scroll to 200 million US dollars?
If they buy back such a painting, won’t the family have to build a safe for it at a cost of hundreds of millions? And this is the work of the painting saint, what should the country do if it asks? Should they give it to the Palace Museum for collection? Will they ask the country to return the money to them at that time?
Under such circumstances, the wealthy people who were overwhelmed by the shocking news gradually calmed down, and the one who won the right to salvage the sunken ship seemed to be determined to get the painting. So, everyone chose to give up at the same time.
"It's this gentleman again, haha, it's amazing, a total of more than 300 million US dollars invested tonight." The auctioneer was also sighing on the stage.
But the man stood up, smiled and bowed to the people around him, and said: "I'm sorry, everyone, I took away your love, and thank you for not continuing to fight with me. But auctioneer, you are wrong. On the surface, I did invest more than 300 million US dollars, but if the sunken ship is salvaged, its value is far more than 150 million? Then, I only spent more than 100 million tonight to bid for this masterpiece of the painting saint, or even, it may be only tens of millions of dollars."
Everyone suddenly realized, no wonder this person bid so firmly.
However, this statement is not true. If the things inside the sunken ship are found to be worthless after it is salvaged, wouldn't it be equivalent to spending more than 300 million to buy a painting by Wu Daozi?
There is no such logic.
But no matter what, the auction tonight ended perfectly. Everyone dispersed. The man who won two yuan followed the auction staff to the second floor, paid the remaining amount, and obtained the contract for the salvage rights of the sunken ship, as well as the true shape map of the five stars and twenty-eight constellations that was confirmed to be Wu Daozi's early work.
There is no doubt that these two items, whether the items themselves, the transaction prices, or the meaning behind them, are the objects that news must pursue.
So, the front pages of major websites that night had already reported this auction with extremely strict number limits in great detail. The salvage rights of the sunken ship, which should have caused the greatest sensation, were completely obscured by the news that the painting saint Wu Daozi's handwritten work was handed down.
Shi Lei knew nothing about this. After he finished his phone call with Ding Yu, he was exhausted and couldn't sit for even a minute. He fell directly on the bed and fell asleep.
It was not until he got up the next morning that Shi Lei saw the breathing light on his phone flashing non-stop. He opened it and found that Liu Qian and Liu Zhen had called him several times, and even their daughter Liu Jiani had called him.
There were more than ten messages on WeChat, all from the family of three.
Shi Lei was stunned at the first glance.
"Huh? The true shape of the five stars and twenty-eight constellations?"
After roughly reading the WeChat messages of the family of three, Shi Lei opened the browser and searched casually, and saw overwhelming news about the masterpiece of the painting saint Wu Daozi.
Shi Lei was also stunned.
He handed over the scepter and black card for this painting in Japan. Originally, the black card should have been returned to him two days ago, but with the experience of the blue and white porcelain of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Shi Lei knew that the black card would return the painting to him at an appropriate time.
Later, because Ding Yu called in early and the ferryman came to see him again, Shi Lei plunged into the identification of the sunken ship and completely forgot about this matter.
He never thought that Hei Ka's return of the painting to him would make such a big fuss this time. As for the porcelain vase last time, he just tried to get the director of an art museum to return it to him.
What Shi Lei found most incredible was that Hei Ka actually used this method to help him solve the biggest problem, that is, how to prove that this painting was made by Wu Daozi, not a copy of Liang Lingzan.
After thinking about it, Shi Lei called Liu Zhen back first.
Liu Zhen had obviously been waiting for Shi Lei's call. Once the call was connected, he didn't ask Shi Lei why he didn't answer their calls last night, but directly said: "Mr. Shi Lei, you really proved that this painting was the work of Wu Daozi! How did you do it?"
Shi Lei thought to himself, how do I know how Hei Ka did it? The news only said that the latest scientific methods were used to determine the age, which could be accurately dated to a specific year, and that more than 50 experts, scholars and masters had made the identification, but how could Shi Lei have such ability to contact so many experts and scholars?
So, he could only say: "If I say I don't know, will you believe me, Ms. Liu?"
"Nonsense!" Liu Zhen's emotions seemed extremely high, and she laughed and scolded, "How did you do it?"
"In fact, I gave this painting to a very respected senior before I returned to China, and he was in charge of it. I really had no idea what happened yesterday."
Liu Zhen was shocked when he heard this: "What? You didn't know? Do you mean that the respected senior sold your painting?"
"I believe he must have his own plan. I personally tend to believe that he just used this method to announce the true appearance of this painting to the world."
"But this painting has been bought by someone else!"
Shi Lei also felt that he had no idea about this, but he still insisted: "I believe that this painting will be back in my hands soon." Shi Lei believed that no matter what means Hei Ka used, the painting would definitely be handed over to him by the person who bought it. Of course, this did not need to be known to the outside world.
"I hope so, but Mr. Shi, the world is dangerous and people's hearts are dangerous. You... Alas..." Liu Zhen didn't know what to say.
Shi Lei smiled calmly. It was just more than 100 million US dollars, which was nothing to Hei Ka.
He said calmly: "Let's do this. When this painting returns to me, I will definitely ask the couple to appreciate it with their daughter."
Liu Zhen: "..." She was speechless and didn't understand where Shi Lei's confidence came from.
After hanging up the phone, Shi Lei took a shower and wondered whether he should go to the scepter to ask for clarification.
But when he came out of the shower, he wiped his wet hair with a bath towel and heard the hotel doorbell ring.
Looking through the cat's eye, it was a stranger.
Shi Lei asked through the door: "Excuse me, who is it?"
The other party said: "The person who returned the painting."
Shi Lei smiled. Sure enough, Heika just used that person's hand to announce that the painting had returned to China and was Wu Daozi's original work. Now, someone came to return the painting.
After opening the door, the man didn't intend to enter the door. He just handed a painting tube to Shi Lei and said: "Mr. Shi, please check it."
Shi Lei didn't take it and asked: "Who are you...?"
"The organization asked me to return this painting. I don't know anything else. Mr. Shi, don't ask more."
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