Chapter 35: Only I Have My Law Chapter 35: Roman Column

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The delegation's banquet was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in the city center of Jiangning City.

The treatment of over five stars meant not only attentive service and delicious food, but also a decor design completely suited to the host.

The bright red carpet came from Turkey, the velvet curtains from France, and even exquisite pre-Renaissance artworks hung on the walls—decorations brought by delegation members from their own treasuries, now placed in the hotel hall.

Even Chen Yi, born of an aristocratic family, had never attended a banquet of such high standard. Like many gentlemen who had just entered, he stood in place and gasped: "What exactly does the Vatican want to do?"

"Preach, of course." Han Jie took small steps, happily spinning in a circle on the ground, her skirt hem flying up, just like her mood at this moment.

"Hopefully just that." Chen Yi said, slowly walking inward.

Unconsciously, keeping secrets seemed to make people more steady.

Those attending the banquet were mostly middle-aged and elderly people; even when young people appeared, they were usually accompanied by elders. Chen Yi looked around, and apart from a few gentlemen he recognized but did not know, there seemed to be no one he needed to greet.

He was glad of this, sat down at the edge, and while speaking quietly with Han Jie, began observing others.

The handsome foreigner appeared together with another retired handsome man, the latter dressed in formal priestly black robes, holding a Bible, acting very seriously; they spoke kindly to the crowd in the center of the hall, sometimes in Chinese, but most of the time in gibberish foreign talk.

They talked for about twenty minutes; by now the main guests of the banquet had all arrived. The handsome foreigner clearly showed a relaxed expression, and at the same time saw him walking this way.

"Mr. Chen Yi, Miss Han." Stanik was as polite as ever, saying: "Do you know anyone?"

"No one knows me." Chen Yi was not intimidated and remained very calm; he was only eighteen years old, and regardless of whether the Chen family was strong or not, it was not his turn to know others.

Stanik smiled, and at the same time said to Chen Yi and Han Jie: "Let me take the two of you around; many artworks in the hotel are usually not seen."

"Brought from Italy? Not sparing any trouble." Chen Yi praised with a sentence, presumably the handsome foreigner could not hear the sarcasm in it.

Stanik looked at Han Jie and smiled: "It's the Vatican. We are preparing consecutive art exhibitions in Asian cities; Jiangning is the first stop. Believe me, many of these artworks are appearing in the secular world for the first time, and they are important artworks. Many scholars, upon hearing about it, are willing to come specially."

Art exhibitions are a standard upper-class route. Moreover, unlike collections kept in safes, publicly displayed artworks have extremely high insurance costs, possibly reaching one-tenth of the artwork's appraisal value. Given the Papal State's nearly thousand years of accumulated history, its insured amount figures might be enough to bankrupt ordinary collectors.

The Church is indeed rich!

Chen Yi suppressed his surprise and quietly followed behind Stanik, listening to him explain the artworks in the precise and transparent glass frames. In the whole world, only the Vatican Museums could rival the London British Museum and the Paris Louvre. They basically relied on the gains from early rule and later wealth support to pile up the largest treasury in human history. If it were not for them hiding so many rare cultural relics and art treasures underground, the prices of ordinary artworks on the world market would surely fall to a level everyone could afford; as for so-called modern artists, they would probably have to resort to manual labor—treasures worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars, priceless, were classified by them according to storerooms.

By comparison, Han Jie's mind was much simpler. Listening to the explanation and looking at the actual objects, she was full of longing.

Early European artworks were easier to understand. Although the Church's collection, especially the items they brought out for exhibition, was relatively monotonous, those household names still shone over the whole scene.

Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Caravaggio... Even one or two paintings by these people occasionally flowing to foreign lands could shock the world, let alone many sculptures, tombstones, and inscriptions from ancient Rome and ancient Greece...

Now, the few hundred works exhibited in the hotel might be just a drop in the bucket of the Vatican's collection, but they were absolutely top-tier exhibits; perhaps just as the handsome foreigner said, it was the highest-level exhibition held in Asia.

Han Jie had received good art appreciation education and watched with great interest. Chen Yi, however, soon grew tired. Although both were scions of aristocratic families, his parents never thought artistic cultivation was beneficial to him. Therefore, in his view, who did not understand appreciation, all these artworks were more like a pyramid scheme continuing world history—they indeed had some value, but besides the impulse of forever appreciating, their value was still open to negotiation.

Just as he was thinking this and that, the handsome foreigner led them to another area, where everything was collections from the ancient Roman period, and various three-dimensional historical auras full of natural transformation flavors came rushing toward them.

Stanik was very professional, using oratorical grammar to say: "God tells us that everything humans obtain comes from..."

Beside the largest Roman column placed at the front center, suddenly a commotion arose.

Chen Yi and Han Jie instinctively looked toward the sound, and the handsome foreigner's explanation had to be interrupted.

The ones making the noise were two foreigners. They were arguing with some foreigner about something.

The foreigners were all fat, with rum blossom noses and double chins, looking very friendly. The foreigner dressed in the host's clothing was not like that: thin lips, high nose bridge, muscles strong like an old-fashioned European knight; presumably in his early years he was extremely handsome.

As a man, Chen Yi, although he could not understand their language, still sympathized with the foreigners' side. Unconsciously he walked over, and Han Jie followed closely.

Stanik was helpless and had to follow, introducing in a low voice: "The one on the right is Alphonse, a Swiss. The other two should be guests. They are speaking German."

The Vatican's permanent population is very, very small, basically maintained within a thousand people. So including church guards, envoys sent abroad, etc., they all like neutral Swiss people.

Chen Yi did not understand and had to ask: "Can the host argue loudly with guests?"

"If the matter concerns the honor of the Holy See." Stanik explained, then paused slightly and continued: "These two German gentlemen accuse this Roman column of being a copy. You know, the Samothrace Column is a relic of a former Pope; Alphonse is defending the honor of the Holy See."

Ten years after the Apollo moon landing, the Church only then admitted the moon is Earth's satellite. Chen Yi could not see what their honor had to do with forgery, which belongs to science.

He shrugged and decided to continue watching. Many people made the same decision. These gentlemen and ladies who were previously immersed in the quiet, incomprehensible ocean of aesthetics now behaved no differently from the ordinary commoners they despised.

The banquet was large in scale, but not many people were invited. Everyone stood loosely in the side hall, pretending to appreciate artworks while enjoying the foreigners' debate—three people remained relatively calm; apart from their voices being slightly louder than normal speech, generally speaking they were reasoning.

However, precisely because they were reasoning, the entertainment value was much worse. The situation before them was equivalent to wild donkeys from Inner Mongolia discussing grass quality in front of Texas wild buffaloes. Not to mention Chen Yi didn't understand; countless gentlemen claiming to be upper-class people also stared at each other with wide eyes.

Of course, compared to boring sculptures and paintings, at least more than half of the people were willing to watch something moving and with sound.

Just as the foreigners and the foreigner's reasoning was about to fail, a huge figure shifted out from behind the Roman column.

"Professor Lang!"

Chen Yi unconsciously cried out.

"Oh, Chen Yi. Seeing you reminds me of Tang Linze's bottle." Professor Lang's width was comparable to the Roman column; his thick flesh was like a copy of it. He still remembered Chen Yi's name, so he smiled friendly.

"Did you come alone, sir?"

Professor Lang embarrassedly shook his head and pouted: "Just right, two German friends came over, and we came together to see the Vatican's artworks. Unexpectedly, everyone is serious."

He said this while nodding at Stanik. That signature outfit made anyone know he was a church person.

The handsome foreigner showed a beautiful smile, then advised: "Professor, Alphonse is a priest who insists on principles; perhaps you can persuade your friends..."

"Karl is also a person who insists on principles." Professor Lang's face was round, but not at all tactful.

The handsome foreigner had to stop speaking.

"How could a dispute happen?" Han Jie's voice was clear and crisp.

Professor Lang looked at Stanik, lowered his voice: "It's also our fault. Two old men have been in China for several days, used to others not understanding German. Seeing this Samothrace Column, we started discussing it. Who knew that Swiss person understood German; he was born knowing four languages."

As he spoke, he himself laughed, but Chen Yi's curiosity was greatly aroused. His hand secretly reached into his pants pocket's inner pocket and tore open a Perception Scroll.