Chapter 617: Why?

The two were polite on the surface, but each had their own little schemes in their hearts.

The venue, however, was like an explosion:

Lin Sicheng indeed set no reserve price, and even less of a valuation, but many experts had come today; according to their estimates, these two items were worth about 1.5 million at market price.

The provenance was indeed quite bizarre, the historical depth was sufficiently thick, and Lin Sicheng was indeed good at telling stories. But no matter how high the premium, doubling it would be the limit. Therefore, guests who were basically interested and wanted to bid had an expected price of around 3 million.

But no one expected that Lin Sicheng would open his mouth and say "starting bid at 8 million"?

This was already surprising enough, but what was even more surprising was that someone actually raised a paddle? Not only did they raise the paddle, they directly added 2 million?

When they saw that the person raising the paddle was Huang Zhi, everyone thought he was a shill, thinking Lin Sicheng wanted to "wash" these two items.

But just as they were being self-righteous, a shocking reversal suddenly occurred: several bank funds went crazy, as if the money their clients deposited in their banks was paper, not money. In the blink of an eye, it was raised from 10 million to 20 million.

Then, after a slight pause, in another blink of an eye, it was raised from 20 million to 33 million?

Get this straight: the market price of this thing is only a little over 1 million, a premium of more than twenty times—are you crazy?

Someone couldn't understand it at all: "If they buy it back for over 30 million, and if Poly Investment can't sell it later, or even worse, loses money, wouldn't this General Manager Jiang be lifting a rock only to drop it on his own feet? With such poor judgment, who would dare invest in your fund?"

"Rest assured, it can be sold, and it will definitely be sold at a premium—doubling it is even possible!" the person next to them lowered their voice. "As for how much it actually sold for, only the buyer and seller know!"

The person asking suddenly realized: falsely inflating the price to create a positive outlook?

Thinking deeper: it might not even be a false inflation, but a solid, real transaction.

For example: I have many items from the Qu Clan collection in my hands, what should I do if I want to sell them at a high price?

Simple: release the positive news of "seeking to purchase with heavy gold," and the market will naturally respond. Once it is hyped to a certain level, slowly release them.

The reason why the paintings of certain masters are so expensive is that most of them were hyped up this way. Especially Master Zhang—

No one else bid, and Lin Sicheng raised his hand to signal: "Congratulations, General Manager Jiang."

Jiang Cheng smiled with effort: because there was nothing to be happy about; that bastard surnamed Zheng had indeed made him bleed heavily.

But it wasn't a loss, because the two sides had different goals and stood from different perspectives.

He immediately asked his deputy to handle the settlement procedures and asked Lin Sicheng's Assistant for an account number.

Seeing this scene, many people finally reacted: Lin Sicheng, he earned another 30-plus million?

Everyone who had participated in the Banghans Auction was reminiscing: how much money did Lin Sicheng spend to buy these two items back then?

The painting album was a bit cheaper, 180,000. The Medical Book was a bit more expensive: 250,000.

Adding them up, it was 430,000, yet today it sold for 33 million?

Plus that painting by Zhang Daqian, Lin Sicheng had already earned 38 million.

Then calculate the time: from the end of the Banghans Auction until now, only half a month had passed. If you use a money printer, could it be this fast?

The key is, how grand was the scale of the Banghans Auction, how sufficient was the momentum, and how many famous masters and Experts came to participate in the bidding, to help, or even to appraise?

But why did Lin Sicheng happen to pick up such a big leak, and two of them at that?

A group of people were completely baffled and at a loss.

It wasn't that no one had thought about why they hadn't discovered these two items at the time.

But recalling carefully, they discovered that even if they were given another chance, they would still be disdainful and scoff at them.

Because that painting by Zhang Daqian was really not painted well. Let alone 6,000, they wouldn't even want it for 600.

The 24-page Landscape Pattern album was indeed painted well, but the price was not low. The transaction price of 180,000 could already rival the prices of works by famous masters of the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty like Qian Gu, Wen Jia, Zhang Hong, and Zhao Zuo.

Of the first two, Qian Gu was a disciple of Wen Zhengming, and Wen Jia was the son of Wen Zhengming; both were famous masters of the Wu School in the late Ming Dynasty.

Of the latter two, Zhang Hong was a famous master of the Suzhou School, and Zhao Zuo was a famous master of the Songjiang School. If it weren't an album but a scroll, it would have been bid up to 500,000 or 600,000 in a minute.

Therefore, it wasn't that no one saw the artistic value of this painting album, but the problem was that no one had ever heard of the painter "Hong Daoren," which was equivalent to an anonymous work.

That it could finally sell for 180,000 precisely showed that there were many people who knew their stuff.

It's just that no one expected that the so-called Hong Daoren was actually Fu Shan?

As for the Medical Book, there was really no way around that: out of 160 medical books in total, 154 were the least valuable Classic Workshop Editions. Even if six hand-copied volumes were tucked inside, no matter how good the handwriting was, there was no way to connect them to a famous Ming Dynasty calligrapher.

It was also their poor memory to blame for not remembering that Fu Shan was not only a calligrapher, but had also become a monk and a Daoist, and was even the abbot of several Daoist temples in Taihang Mountain.

Besides that, he was a medical sage of his generation, leaving behind multiple treatises such as Fu Qingzhu Men's Medicine, Fu Qingzhu Women's Medicine, Treatise on Various Large and Small Syndromes, and Secret Manual of the Blue Bag.

Especially the first two: these were the first medical works in China's history to be clearly classified and named as "Men's Medicine" and "Women's Medicine."

To borrow a self-assessment from Fu Qingzhu: My painting is not as good as my calligraphy, and my calligraphy is not as good as my medicine.

One can only say, Lin Sicheng deserved the leak—

The venue was buzzing with noise, and the sound grew louder and louder.

Among them, there were not a few people who had participated in the Banghans Auction. Even if they hadn't participated, word of mouth spread, and those who should know now all knew.

Dare you say that these people were not professional?

Was Banghans not professional? Were the nearly a thousand guests who were invited to participate in the auction, including well-known experts and senior collectors, not professional?

Were the antique companies that came upon hearing the news, and the teams behind several professional art funds, not professional?

Or perhaps, was Tian Rulong not professional, or was Sheng Guoan not professional?

Including these masters invited by Liang Shiya from Hong Kong and Singapore, which one of them was not a famous appraisal master who had studied for many years and could stand on their own?

But in front of so many experts, the biggest trick was exposed by Lin Sicheng, and the Zhu Zi Manuscript worth over 100 million turned out to be a fake.

If one attributed this to Lin Sicheng having good luck and reading many books, it could still be justified. But then the biggest leak of the Banghans Auction was also picked up by Lin Sicheng—how should this be explained?

Spent 430,000 and 6,000 to acquire it, and sold it for 38 million in less than half a month; if this isn't the biggest leak, how big do you want it to be?

Could it be that these top experts, these well-known Appraisers, and the expert teams behind the investment institutions who participated in the auction at the time were all blind?

Of course they weren't blind, but if they were asked to admit that their skills were inferior to others, surely no one would be willing to admit it.

In literature there is no first, in martial arts there is no second!

At most, it was just that their eyes weren't good, or they weren't careful enough.

But those who do appraisals play with their eyesight and rely on being careful; if you can't even beat others at your own specialty, then you are simply inferior to them.

To put it in the language of the underworld: it would not be an exaggeration to say that Lin Sicheng is establishing his reputation here today.

He even performed a special skill for them: how to give the most vivid and memorable lesson to the most professional Experts, using the very skills they are most proficient in and proud of.

Of course, not everyone was unconvinced, because not all the guests make a living by appraisal, nor does everyone dream of picking up a bargain.

For example, those few fund companies.

Sun Yan and Zheng Shanghui did not bid on anything, but they were not disappointed; they even began to look forward to what was next: it had only just begun, and only three items had been auctioned, but at the very least, the atmosphere of this venue had indeed been warmed up by Lin Sicheng.

This goes to show that the good stuff is all yet to come—

Lin Sicheng announced an intermission, and the noise in the venue grew louder, yet the circle behind the podium was deathly quiet.

The United Association sent Liang Shiya and the others with a clear purpose: to trip Lin Sicheng up and hold him back.

It cannot be said that they were not dedicated or that they did not try hard; aside from moves outside the rules, they thought of every method they could and used every tactic available, and the results were indeed good.

Those who wanted to send money to Lin Sicheng could not find a way, and those who wanted to provide loans or lend him money could find even fewer reasons to do so.

To this day, not a single cent that does not belong to him, or that does not comply with the restrictive clauses of the United Association, has been added to Lin Sicheng's account.

And that includes the future as well.

Therefore, Liang Shiya was fully convinced that Lin Sicheng would not even be able to pass the first hurdle: in just one month, where would he go to scrape together twenty million US dollars?

But what was the result?

Lin Sicheng managed to create something out of nothing, making them watch helplessly as he earned one hundred million within a single week.

Without spending a cent of cost, and without even much effort, just by moving his mouth?

Then, he let them witness once more: when professionalism reaches a certain level, how easy it is for those who engage in appraisal and Artifact Research to pick up a bargain.

Thirty-eight million, easily obtained. Added to the previous one hundred million, the twenty million US dollars of entry capital was more than enough.

The key is that this money was not borrowed by Lin Sicheng, nor was it loaned to him by a bank, and it certainly wasn't sent to him by relevant departments under some fabricated pretext.

Rather, he used his real skills, took less than a month, and earned it through sheer effort with almost zero cost.

The origin is clean, and the earnings are clear. Even if Liang Shiya chewed over every single restrictive clause, she could not find a single reason for non-compliance.

But let's be clear, this is over one hundred million.

No matter how much of a foreign Executive she is, and no matter how well-traveled she is, Liang Shiya would not dare to say: over one hundred million is not much.

Because she could not earn that much in her entire life—

Liang Shiya looked at the two beside her, as if asking: what now?

Chen Jiashan and Guo Yongshan sighed: Diwen, didn't you already think of this?

Previously, when Liang Shiya arranged for them to make an audit plan to prepare for reporting to the United Association, they were actually preparing for this day.

At that time, they had already anticipated: twenty million US dollars would not stump Lin Sicheng.

The facts were indeed so—

"But this is just the beginning!" Guo Yongshan laughed, "Just like the eighty-one tribulations in Journey to the West, Lin Sicheng has only passed the first hurdle; he hasn't even left the newbie village yet."

"Not to mention the boundless, heaven-defying, world-destroying great monsters, he hasn't even encountered a thief with a manure fork or a tiger blocking the road—the hard part is all behind him!"

Guo Yongshan paused and looked at Lin Sicheng, "What is twenty million? There are five hundred million US dollars waiting for him later!"

"Converted to RMB, that's over three billion; how is he going to earn that?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Liang Shiya and Chen Jiashan also laughed.

But it was not mockery, nor was it waiting to see a joke; at most, it could be considered teasing.

To tell the truth, even as an opponent, an opponent like Lin Sicheng is hard to hate.

On the contrary, it actually made them admire him immensely.

But what must be done still must be done; at least, they are drawing high salaries from a foreign company.

"Audit what needs to be audited, investigate what needs to be investigated, and report it up as soon as possible—" Liang Shiya calculated, "There aren't many days left!"

The two nodded in unison: indeed, it must be done as soon as possible.

At least they cannot let Lin Sicheng think that they are intentionally delaying.

As for how the United Association will arrange the next step, they can only wait for instructions.

But presumably, the tactics are still the same, and it is not as if the higher-ups will think they didn't try their best just because Lin Sicheng passed the first hurdle.

Everything is laid out right here; whoever thinks they can do better can come and try.

What's more, just as Guo Yongshan said, the hard part is all behind them. At the very least, Lin Sicheng won't be able to pass the five hundred million hurdle—

In a flash, the auction resumed, and the venue quieted down.

Lin Sicheng scrolled his mouse, and several pictures appeared on the screen.

At the same time, Zhao Da walked onto the stage carrying a brocade box. Li Zhen, Fang Jin, and Zhao Er each carried a stack of catalogs and distributed them to the guests in the venue.

"Next are some collections I have picked up over the past two years. I've been quite lucky, and most of them are boutique items. I will introduce them one by one. If any teacher is interested, you can come to the stage to see the actual items. If there is anything you don't understand, you can also ask questions on the spot—"

Lin Sicheng paused, his expression revealing a hint of solemnity and gravity: "At the very least, one thing: they are all authentic! Secondly, I will guarantee one more thing: for all items in this auction, I guarantee to be responsible for after-sales service!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the venue suddenly went quiet, and everyone stared at Lin Sicheng.

They were all people in the Antique Trade, so of course they could understand the meaning of this sentence: if it's fake, it can be returned.

In other industries, this is of course a matter of course and a perfectly normal service clause. But only in the Antique Trade has there never been such a thing as a guarantee of authenticity.

It didn't exist in the old society, and it has never existed in the new China.

Sotheby's and Christie's abroad, and China Guardian, Poly, and Xiling Seal Art Society domestically—these auction companies are powerful and professional enough, right?

The latter three are even state-owned enterprises with annual turnovers of tens of billions; when have you ever heard of them providing after-sales service?

Duoyunxuan, Rongbaozhai, Hanhai—which of these is not a regular state-owned antique company? Who dares to hang a sign in their shop: if fake, returnable, after-sales guaranteed?

But is there no one who dares to do this?

The answer is yes: state-owned Cultural Relics stores.

Because behind every major Cultural Relics store are major Cultural Relics management agencies and state law enforcement and supervision organs; their purpose is not to earn how much money, but to ensure the credibility of state institutions.

What they follow is not the Auction Law, but the Consumer Protection Law.

But on what grounds does Lin Sicheng do this?

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