"Well," she thought for a moment, "I'm thinking of buying a painting recently. Do you have time?"
Long Yixing looked at her and said, "Why buy paintings? Aren't all those paintings given to you by the Zhuo family? What will they think if you sell them?"
"It's okay," Ouyang said, "You just need to follow my instructions, take one of my paintings to this agency, and ask them to help you sell it."
Long Yixing was a little confused, but he still followed her instructions and took the painting to the office the next day.
"Sir?" A waiter came up to him. "How can I help you?"
Long Yihang didn't think too much about it and directly took out the painting in his hand: "I want you to help me sell a painting."
The waiter looked at the box containing the painting, which was made of fine mahogany, and then led him into a private room. After a while, a man wearing round glasses came in with a smile on his face.
He is an expert in painting. He can tell at first glance that it is an ink painting handed down from the Qing Dynasty. Such precious paintings are rare in major auction houses.
Although Long Yixing didn't know much about painting, he could tell from the other party's ecstatic expression how valuable the painting was. He didn't understand why Ouyang Haohao wanted to sell the painting, so he could only follow her instructions and wait for the other party to make an offer.
"Sir, do you really want to sell this painting?" the man with glasses asked, "or do you want to use it as collateral to get some emergency funds from the office?"
Long Yixing shook his head and said, "Just sell it. You can give me an estimate for the price."
"That's the price?" The other party knocked on the table. "I'll give you 5 million! What do you think?"
When Long Yixing heard this, he thought the price was indeed good, but before coming, Ouyang had told him that no matter what price the other party offered, he just had to double his price: "Ten million!" Long Yixing said it confidently. This was the highest price he had ever bid during the bargaining.
"Fifteen million?" The other party hesitated, "Please wait a moment." The price of ten million is not high, and the value of that painting is no less than fifteen million.
Ouyang sent him a message: If there is a younger man who wants to talk to you, ask him to meet you at the coffee shop across the street.
When someone came in, Long Yihang put his phone in his pocket and pretended nothing happened.
"Sir!" the man with glasses introduced, "This is Mr. He, the famous calligraphy and painting appraiser. Can he take a look at your painting?"
"Of course!" Long Yixing opened the box in his hand again.
Mr. He doesn't look any younger, so what should he do?
Ouyang, who was in the coffee shop across the street, sent him another message: "The painting is no longer for sale! Come to the coffee shop."
"Sorry!" Long Yixing said, "I don't want to sell this painting anymore." After packing up his things, he went straight into the coffee shop across the street.
Of course, Long and his group were followed by some people. Ouyang looked at them, and they also saw Ouyang: "Interesting!"
Longlong and his group placed the painting on the table. "Are you selling it or not? Or are you looking for someone?"
The people who followed Long and his group sat in a corner not far away, as if they were watching them.
"Okay," Ouyang said, "Don't you still have things to do at the fire station? Leave the painting to me, and you can go now."
She was indeed a little strange today, but he left first. The team was waiting for him to go back for a meeting, so he didn't have time to spend time with her here.
Not long after he left, someone finally found him.
The man was young, dressed in a suit and looked energetic. He strode up to Ouyang and glanced at the box next to her. "Miss, where did you get this box?"
"Sir," she patted the box, "haven't you heard the saying, 'Look not, hear not, what is indecent?'"
"Haha." As he spoke, everyone in the cafe disappeared. "But this box is from the last century. If it's not passed down in your family, you must have bought it from someone."
"Your analysis makes sense," she said. "I also want to know who the previous owner of this box was."
Neither of them mentioned the painting in the box, but just talked about the origin of the box.
"This box does have a story, but not everyone knows it."
Ouyang looked at him. When her grandfather gave her the box and the painting, he told her the origins of the box and the painting:
Once upon a time, a prestigious old man celebrated his birthday. Local officials and merchants, both high and low, presented him with gifts, one of which was this empty box. After the birthday celebration, a servant was counting the gifts when he discovered the box was empty, a rumour that a thief had been discovered. He summoned the servants and questioned them one by one. But no one had seen the contents of the box. Finally, the old man heard about this and ordered the box to be brought back. After examining it, he said, "I have the contents here." He then placed the painting that hung in his study in the box. As luck would have it, the box was just the right size for the painting.
No one knew that an empty box was worth far more than the painting. But people at that time only thought that the things inside the box were valuable, not the value of the box itself.
Later, after many transfers, the box was bought together with the painting to those who wanted it.
When her grandfather told her this, Ouyang finally understood why the Zhuo family collected so many antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. They were afraid that truly valuable things would be buried in the insignificant world, especially in an era of rapidly changing values. The fate of these unchanging things would also fluctuate accordingly.
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