Chapter 143 - Chapter 143: Help Me Sell This Painting
Chapter 143: Help Me Sell This Painting
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After checking on Jiang Yining, Lu Zhi went back to the study and asked Qi Feng if Queen had been chatting with him when he was away.
Qi Feng replied honestly, “Yes. 1 am still chatting with him and he asked me to transfer him the down payment.”
Lu Zhi was a little surprised. He took Qi Feng’s phone and looked at their chat.
It was just as Qi Feng had reported.
After a moment of silence, he overturned his earlier hypothesis.
It seemed that Yining wasn’t Queen.
But they always appeared together. Jiang Yining was also acting sneakily just now, like she was hiding something.
It must be something connected to Queen.
He didn’t find out how they were connected this time, but it didn’t matter.
He would know when Queen fell into his trap.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yining let out a long sigh of relief after she saw Lu Zhi off.
She locked her door to prevent anyone from barging in again.
She walked to her laptop and logged in again.
A message from K flashed. “Q what the hell are you doing? Why did you ask me to pretend to be you to discuss these two deals?”
Jiang Yining tapped on her keyboard and replied, “I’m in some kind of trouble. So, I asked you to take some attention away from me. When I get paid, I’ll immediately pay you what 1 owe you.”
At the mention of payment, K immediately stopped complaining.
However, he still teased her.
“It’s rare that you are in trouble.”
The famous genius hacker was omnipotent. Who would dare to provoke her?
Jiang Yining could sense K’s schadenfreude through the screen. She snorted and organized all the mission information before she sent him a reply, “I’ve got work to do. Can’t chat now. Bye.”
“Bye.”
After saying goodbye to K, she went offline.
She could get 11 million yuan from the two missions, but she only got downpayments of 3.3 million yuan.
That amount of money was meaningless to Lu Zhi. It was nowhere near enough.
Jiang Yining walked to a cabinet and took out a backpack.
She unzipped the bag and carefully took out a scroll painting.
She unrolled the painting and looked at it.
She sighed softly and muttered to herself, “I’m sorry to pawn you for the time being. When I have the money, I’ll redeem you.”
With that, she rolled up the painting again and put it into a gift bag.
She then called Xiao Lang.
Xiao Lang rushed to their meeting place after he received Jiang Yining’s call.
He even ordered two drinks and some desserts and waited for her arrival.
Jiang Yining carried the painting on her back and found the place.
“Here!” Xiao Lang stood up and waved at her.
Jiang Yining walked up to him with an indifferent expression and said, “I need your help with something.”
To auction something worth billions of yuan, she must find someone of high status and influence to pull strings with the right auction house.
She wasn’t familiar with the people and places in A-City. The only powerful people she knew here were Lu Zhi and Xiao Lang.
She could not let Lu Zhi know about the sale of the painting.
He would be too proud to accept her gift.
But Xiao Lang wouldn’t be.
Therefore, even if she did not like this idiot, she still looked for him.
“What is it? I’ll help you as long as it’s something 1 can do.” Xiao Lang said happily with starry eyes as he rested his chin on his hands.
Jiang Yining took out the painting and put it on the table. “Help me find an auction house and sell this painting as soon as possible.”
“Whose painting is this?” Xiao Lang asked as he unrolled the painting.
When he saw what was inside, his face revealed a shocked expression.
This was the work of Qi Bai, the master of traditional Chinese painting in the early days of the founding of the country!
Qi Bai’s life was full of hardships. He did not leave behind many paintings, but every one of them was a top-notch work!
Qi Bai’s painting once sold for a sky-high price of 2 billion yuan at an international auction!
“This is Qi Bai’s painting.” After Jiang Yining decided to entrust the matter to Xiao Lang, she no longer hid it and told him the truth. “This was his last work before he died. You probably know better than me how precious it is.”
This Jiang Yining was really a treasure girl!
She had the original manuscript of an Elder Liang masterpiece and now she had a masterpiece from Qi Bai!
In A-City, there were only a handful of people who could take out so many priceless items like her!
Xiao Lang tried his best to calm himself down and said, “First, tell me how you got this painting.”
“It’s very simple. Elder Liang and Qi Bai are old friends. I was by his side when he died. He was grateful so he gave this painting to me.”
Xiao Lang was speechless.
Many people dreamed of meeting one of these two masters. Some would spend their entire life trying to achieve this goal.
But this girl just knew them!
It was truly enviable!
Xiao Lang, who was born into a wealthy family, had never been so envious and jealous until now!
“I will give you ten percent of the sales proceeds after it’s done.”
Jiang Yining offered money when she took Xiao Lang’s speechlessness as his unwillingness to help.
“Aren’t we friends? Money talk will just hurt our relationship.” Xiao Lang swallowed his jealousy and continued, “But if you really want to thank me, it’s hard for me to refuse. But 1 don’t want money. Can you give me another one of Elder Liang’s music score?”
H H
This person was a die-hard music fan.
It was rare for someone to be so thick-skinned for a musical score.
“Alright, deal.” Jiang Yining agreed without much deliberation.
Anyway, she had many scores from Elder Liang.
“Yining, you’re too cute! I love you to death!”
Xiao Lang stood up happily and held Jiang Yining’s face across the table as he laughed happily.
Jiang Yining slapped his hands away curtly. “Show some respect.”
Xiao Lang quickly sat down. “1 know quite a few auction houses, but if you sell it in a hurry, you might get a serious discount. Why don’t you tell me how much money you need and I’ll lend it to you first? You can return it to me after you solve your problem.”
He wasn’t worried at all that Jiang Yining couldn’t pay him back.
He even secretly wished that she couldn’t…
Then he would have an excuse to ask her for an Elder Liang score to pay off this debt.
Jiang Yining didn’t know what he was thinking and said calmly, “About one billion yuan.”
Xiao Lang raised his eyebrows in surprise.
But he figured it out very quickly and said, “You need this money to help Lu Zhi?”
“Yes,” Jiang Yining replied honestly. “He’s in this fight with the Tao family because of me, so 1 want to help him.”
Xiao Lang was touched when he heard that. He was deeply envious of Lu Zhi for finding a girl who was as loyal and righteous as Jiang Yining.
He was surrounded by women, but all of them were after his money.
If the Xiao family fell one day, they would try to outrun each other away from him.
Why would any of them be like Jiang Yining, and take out their own treasure to tide him over?
“I can lend you one billion yuan but let me give you a piece of advice. Given Lu Zhi’s capabilities, he doesn’t need your help at all.”
The Phantom storm, whether to Lu Zhi or the Tao family, was too small to shake either of them.
But this painting was very important to Jiang Yining.
He could tell that she had taken good care of the painting.
“It’s not that he needs my help, but that I want to help him.” Jiang Yining said. “Xiao Lang, 1 know about your relationship with the Tao family. If you don’t want to help, you can tell me no.”
Xiao Lang smiled and said, “I’ll handle my relationship with the Tao family. You don’t have to worry about me. As for the money I lend you… I won’t stop you if that’s what you really want to do. When do you need the money?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Okay, then give me two days. 1’11 get it ready for you.”
“Thank you.”
This was the first time Jiang Yining realized that Xiao Lang was a good friend.
But as soon as this thought occurred to her, Xiao Lang said affectionately, “You’re welcome. You must remember to give me Elder Liang’s score as soon as possible, okay?”
Jiang Yining was speechless..