Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Pouring Oil
Ever since the eldest son of the Cheng family revealed his divorce at the Business Evening News, the media had a really rough night. The number of clicks and comments on the Internet created a bloody storm. However, on the next morning, the matter should have continued to ferment, but suddenly it fell silent like a firecracker that had gone silent.
The text and video interviews disappeared one after another, and when searching for the Chamber of Commerce interview, only the standard official reports were left, as if last night's revelry was just a fantasy.
Even the discussion thread with thousands of layers of content [Frontline news, official divorce announcement] was deleted, leaving only another parallel thread [Wealthy couple] still stubbornly holding on.
The message could not be sent out, but it did not prevent everyone from privately exploring which big boss had made the move.
First, let's rule out Cheng Shao. He is the first person in history to announce the divorce news directly in a small interview instead of through formal channels. Moreover, I didn't see Cheng Shao intervene in this matter last night, so I don't think he will suddenly delete the post today.
Or it could be the Jiang family.
Honestly, even in a divorce, if it's not announced simultaneously and agreed upon by both parties, it's rather undignified for only one party to make it public. Generally, you wouldn't see such a situation happen unless things get really out of hand. Even if you've already been at loggerheads privately, wishing your partner a lifetime of happiness, publicly, you still have to wish them happiness. After all, everyone values face.
Since Young Master Cheng announced his divorce, the Jiang family naturally couldn't let the matter continue to ferment.
Just when everyone thought that Jiang had secretly suppressed the news and was planning to handle it coldly, the official Weibo account of Jiang Group suddenly posted a message in the evening.
Jiang Group V: The news of the divorce between Miss and Mr. Cheng is true. The two parties parted ways amicably due to personality differences, and this will not affect normal business dealings. Thank you all for your concern. We met through the tides of time, and now that the equation has been solved, we are both well and happy, and we have lived up to our acquaintance.
"I didn't post it. I don't have the official Weibo account." Jiang Yiyu threw something into her suitcase. "I just said that if I want to respond, I can just say that we have a personality clash."
"Your company has a lot of talented people, and they are very talented." Tang Ya sighed as she looked at the response from Jiang Group.
Jiang Yiyu spoke on the phone with her parents for a full two hours, and finally succeeded in brainwashing them, making them calmly accept the official announcement of their divorce.
Although their daughter had already presented her divorce papers, they hadn't said it would be such a grand affair. That evening, their phones were flooded with all sorts of messages. Someone even tried to sell them their son, saying he was a psychology major who could comfort the young lady and help with the child's relationship. Although they now disliked the Cheng family's son, that didn't mean they'd lowered their standards. They looked like overindulgent people, looking at Jiang Yiyun, finally divorced, and rushing to make a marriage proposal. What a bullshit.
After talking to her daughter on the phone and informing the company's publicity department to handle the news, Jiang's mother answered the fifth call from the Cheng family.
Jiang's statement confirmed the divorce, and CP fans, who had initially thought there was a chance of a resurgence after the news was suppressed, immediately began to wail. However, today's outcry had dwindled considerably, with many wishing the older sister a happy marriage and predicting that Cheng Shao, the son of a wealthy family, would soon be involved in a wave of scandals.
Before they could say a few words, two groups of people who thought that it was unlucky not to have the name of a divorced ex-husband appear in the comment section of Jiang Group and those who wanted to mention and post photos of Cheng Shao started fighting again and had a fierce battle.
Tang Ya: “…”
Damn the online world.
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law! What should I do if you get divorced?" A mournful voice came from the opposite side. Cheng Shuyi cried so hard with real emotions.
She knew that she shouldn't count on her useless brother. If she had taken action herself, she might have been able to chase Sister Jiang back home by now.
"Don't cry. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me directly. It's still the same as before." Jiang Yiyu laughed.
"Wow, I'm so sad," Cheng Shuyi was still sad. She cried into the phone for a long time before wiping away her tears. "Forget it, sister-in-law, if you have a crush on someone in the future, tell me in advance and I'll recognize him as my brother. This way, we can continue our relationship as sister-in-law."
Jiang Yiyu was packing her things with both hands and put her phone on the table with the speaker on. Tang Ya heard Cheng Shuyi's talk about changing brothers clearly and couldn't help but sigh at the deep love between the brother and sister.
Cheng Shuyi continued on the other side: "Is it Ling Jingzhi? I will go to him and become his sworn brother right now. From today on, he and I are half-brothers and half-sisters."
Jiang Yiyu pressed her forehead with a headache, and it took her most of the day to comfort Cheng Shuyi, who was traumatized by the fact that her sister-in-law was no longer her sister-in-law.
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yiyun looked up thoughtfully and asked, "What happened to Ling Jingzhi?"
From last night until now, apart from the message that he'd handle it, Ling Jingzhi hadn't sent her any messages since then. It was a bit strange that he always liked to make his presence known to her morning, noon, and night, especially after the recent news of her and Cheng Shuze's divorce, not having any messages for over 24 hours. Considering what Cheng Shuze had said that morning, something must have happened.
"You don't know yet?" Tang Ya sat up suddenly. "That's right. You must not have heard about what happened this morning because you were busy with your divorce."
"Do you still remember the Fulai auction?"
Of course, she remembered the Fulai Charity Auction not long ago. She also gave the Rose Kiss, although it returned to her in the end.
"What happened to the auction?"
That auction ended with her Rose Kiss, and Cheng Shuze's high bid was a resounding success, not only making a killing but also significantly elevating Fuller's reputation. You should know that Fuller's auctions had never seen such a high-quality piece before. Although it was only a customer donation, it was also a sign of recognition and affirmation for Fuller.
Auction houses are also divided into upper, middle and lower levels. The most important things are the collections, circles and connections. Top-level collections are often only circulated in those few inner venues. Ordinary auction houses cannot even reach the threshold, and even the connections of the upper level are tightly sealed.
For a place like Ling's Fulai, even though it seems hard to get a ticket, if it weren't for Jiang Yiyu, Cheng Shuze wouldn't even be interested in taking a second look.
Thanks to the success of this auction, Ling Jingzhi's voice in the family is increasing, even though he has just returned to China and is in charge of domestic affairs.
"Do you remember the painting at the auction? It was appraised and said to be a Qing Dynasty painting of spring water play. I forgot who painted it. But it was the second most expensive lot that day, at 41 million, just below your ring."
Jiang Yiyun shook her head honestly: "I don't remember at all."
That day, she was in no mood to pay attention to what was happening on the field, and had no impression of the water-playing picture at all.
"Hey, I don't remember either. Yang Han told me about this."
"The painting was bought by a big boss who runs a mine." The boss who became rich overnight in the coal mining business naturally wanted to pretend to be a cultured person with money in his hands. He bought some high-end cultural relics and antiques to cultivate a scholarly atmosphere. This is also a way for nouveau riche to integrate into the upper circle.
"He feels like he got a bad deal? For a Qing Dynasty painting of good quality, 40 million is a normal price, not too high."
Tang Ya smiled, her eyebrows dancing with joy: "No, guess what happened to this matter."
"It just so happened that last night was not the last night of the Chamber of Commerce. After the meeting, the boss invited people to his place to appreciate paintings. He invited quite a few people, all of them important figures. But when the painting was taken out, those who knew the value of it noticed something was wrong."
Jiang Yiyu vaguely guessed what would happen next.
As expected, Tang Ya continued, "That painting is fake! A forgery! The boss couldn't stand the humiliation of being exposed as a fake in front of so many bigwigs. He endured it all night and went to Ling's headquarters early this morning. I heard he's still there arguing and hasn't left yet."
He prayed and prayed with great hope and finally invited a group of bigwigs in the business circle to come and appreciate the painting. However, less than five minutes after he took it out, it was revealed to be a fake. At first, he didn't believe it. How could a painting that had been authenticated at the Fulai auction house be fake? As a result, after turning it around in his hands, the bigwigs all confirmed that it was fake, and he was the only one who couldn't tell.
Mining nouveau riche were already looked down upon in the industry. To publicly disgrace such a prominent figure, the coal boss, a veteran of bloody battles, was ready to kill. He treated the important figures to fine wine and food, bowed and scraped as they departed, and the next day, he copied the fake painting and went to settle the score. This matter wouldn't end until the Ling Group, and their second son who was in charge of the auction, came to an explanation.
"Logically speaking, even with the appraisal results, isn't it common knowledge that items at auctions are not authentic? Who can guarantee that there will be no mistakes?"
The unspoken rule of the industry is that authenticity at auctions is determined by appraisal results, not by personal judgment. If you spend a fortune on a fake, you can only blame your own poor judgment and suffer a loss, not the organizers. Even if the coal boss complained, it would probably be fruitless and he would be accused of shortsightedness.
"That's true, but think about it, so many people realized it was fake last night after just a few glances. How could those professional appraisers at Fulai not have seen it? How did they come up with the result that confirmed it was authentic? And that coal boss is not an ordinary quarrelsome person."
The most common thing in the coal mining business is to argue. They don’t care about the unspoken rules or irregularities in your industry. If someone takes a fake painting with a certificate of authenticity and bids for it, you must give an explanation, otherwise they will call the police and accuse you of fraud.
There must be something fishy going on within Fulai or with the appraiser about this appraisal report. Not guaranteeing its authenticity is one thing, but deliberately falsifying it is a scandal. In addition, this is not the first time Fulai has falsified something. If this matter cannot be handled privately, and previous customers become aware of it, it will be a matter of life and death for the company.
The Ling family is now in a state of panic and is trying to find ways to suppress the news. Ling Jingzhi, as the person in charge of the charity auction, was put in the spotlight overnight.
"This matter seems to have spread. One of Yang Han's good friends happened to be at the scene yesterday. He told everyone about it as soon as he left, and Yang Han told me."
When Yang Han heard last night that it was Ling Jingzhi, he naturally would not help to hide the scandal of Cheng Ge's family, and he even kindly helped to polish it. As a result, the matter basically spread throughout the circle in one night.
No wonder Cheng Shuze had spoken of Ling Jingzhi this morning with such coldness and contempt. He'd always been at odds with Ling Jingzhi, and even if he hadn't been responsible for the previous incident, it was impossible for him not to cause further trouble for Ling Jingzhi after something like this happened to the Ling family.
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