Novel Bin Chapter 624: Paintings of Picasso
Maybe this young man wanted Sir Owen’s protection, but Tian Ye did not think that Sir Owen could protect him from Master Yi Chenzi.
Besides, he was just a nobody who had made several deals with Sir Owen. They were not even friends and Sir Owen certainly would not offer any help.
But he had to answer Qin Haodong’s question, “Mr. Qin, I’ve only met Sir Owen a few times and he may not even know me. I’m just a nobody, after all.
“If Sir Owen wants to hold an auction here, his housekeeper, Mr. Fred, would contact me. So we’re quite familiar with each other and he’s a good friend of mine.”
Qin Haodong said, “Good, that’s enough. I just want to know if Sir Owen has other bronze statues of the 12 zodiac signs. Do you know anything about that?”
Looking at Qin Haodong who appeared eager and excited, Tian Ye felt frustrated and did not know what to say. This young man apparently was unaware of the danger he was in now. He had already offended Master Yi Chenzi over the snake-head sculpture and the top priority now was to make an apology and beg his pardon. Why was he still thinking about the sculpture?
He said, “Mr. Qin, please excuse me for being impolite, but I think you should call the chairman right now. He and Master Zha are good friends and Master Zha is also Master Yi Chenzi’s younger brother.
“If Master Zha could act as a buffer between the two of you and you are willing to give the snake-head sculpture to Master Yi Chenzi, the problem might be resolved, otherwise, you might be in great danger.”
Qin Haodong was surprised when he heard what he said. He was desperate to get another Animal Head now and he did not expect that Tian Ye would ask him to apologize to Master Yi Chenzi.
Besides, it was impossible to ask Master Zha to act as a buffer between him and Yi Chenzi. He had already been killed, after all.
He replied, “Mr. Tian, thank you for your advice. But please don’t worry about me. I can handle this. I just want to know if Sir Owen has other sculptures of the 12 zodiac signs.”
Tian Ye realized that Qin Haodong was not accepting his suggestion, so he said with a sigh, “One time when Fred was drunk, he told me that Sir Owen has two sculpted animal heads. One of them was sold in today’s auction and I think he still has another one.”
“Really? That’s great.”
Qin Haodong was extremely excited to hear that Sir Owen might have another sculpted animal head. If he could get two Upper-Level raw gemstones, he might reach the later stage of the Gold Core period. With the help of the Eternal-Life-Obtaining Green Wood, he could definitely defeat all those below the Sage Realm.
He asked Tian Ye with great excitement, “Mr. Tian, is there any way to ask Sir Owen if he wants to sell the sculpted animal head?”
Tian Ye shook his head and said, “It’s up to him to decide on the items he wants to sell and even Fred could not change his mind. How can I ask him to sell the sculpted animal head?”
Qin Haodong asked again, “Could you please help me to buy the sculpted animal head from Sir Owen? I’ll pay whatever he wants.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Tian Ye said. “Sir Owen is a well-known collector. He’s super-rich and doesn’t care about money at all. He will only sell a collection when he gets tired of it. So it’s almost impossible to buy something from him.
“Besides, it is the housekeeper’s duty not to give away the secrets of his master. Fred mentioned that Sir Owen has two sculpted animal heads only because he was drunk.”
“If we directly ask Sir Owen to sell us the sculpted animal head, he’ll never give it to us. Besides that, Fred may even lose his job as the housekeeper.”
Qin Haodong also realized that this was not a good idea. He continued, “Mr. Tian, you’re an expert in antiques. Please help me think of a way to buy the other sculpted animal head from him.”
It seemed that Sir Owen did not care about the snake-head sculpture, but it was extremely precious to Qin Haodong.
Tian Ye said, “Sir Owen is a great collector and the super-rich like him seldom sell their collections. These antiques are usually given to friends as gifts and sometimes they might exchange collections with each other.
“Mr. Qin, if you want the sculpted animal head, you can try to find something which Sir Owen is interested in and do an exchange with him.”
Qin Haodong said, “That’s a good idea. Mr. Tian, do you know what Sir Owen likes most? In other words, how can I get the sculpted animal head from him?”
Tian Ye said, “Sir Owen has a great passion about collecting. For historical reasons, most of his antiques are from Huaxia, so I don’t think Huaxia’s antiques can grab his attention.
“As a great collector, Sir Owen does not have enough cultural relics from Europe. And he’s also very interested in those items.
“Mr. Fred once told me that paintings of Picasso are his favorite. However, he doesn’t have one in his extensive collection.”
“So he has told me several times before that if there were any of Picasso’s paintings in the auction, I must inform Sir Owen in advance and he would get it, no matter how expensive it was.”
“Mr. Qin, if you have any of Picasso’s paintings, you can get whatever you want from Sir Owen, including the sculptures of the 12 zodiac signs.”
It was good news for him. It might take him some time to find other antiques, but ancient paintings were different. In fact, he could produce a bunch of them in a short period of time.
But Tian Ye shook his head and said, “That’s impossible. Picasso is a prolific painter, but all of his works have been collected by his fans around the world. I’ve never seen his paintings, even in any international auction houses all these years.”
Qin Haodong said, “Mr. Tian, I just happen to have some paintings of Picasso. Please help me to determine the authenticity after a few days. If they’re genuine, I’d like to contact Sir Owen and make an exchange with him.”
“What?!!”
Tian Ye was so surprised that he nearly bit his tongue. He had never expected that Qin Haodong would have Picasso’s paintings. Besides, if he heard Qin correctly, this young man also mentioned that he had SOME Picasso paintings. Did he have more than one of them? That was too absurd.
Qin Haodong stood up and said, “Mr. Tian, thank you so much for helping me. I have to go back now. See you later.”
“Wait a minute.” Tian Ye stopped him and said, “Mr. Qin, I think Master Yi Chenzi might be waiting for you outside now. You could be in danger, so please stay here for a while.”
Qin Haodong smiled and rejected his offer, “That’s absurd. I can’t stay here forever, besides, Yi Chenzi is nothing to me.”
After speaking, he and Nalan Wushuang walked out of the door. Tian Ye said hastily, “Mr. Qin, please wait for a while. I’ll ask all the bodyguards to protect you.”
“Thank you, but we can handle this by ourselves.”
Qin Haodong waved his hand at Tian Ye and then strode out of his office.
Tian Ye was astonished by his confidence. Why wasn’t he afraid of Master Yi Chenzi? After thinking for a while, he took out his mobile phone and called Master Li. The only thing he could do now was to report to him and ask him to protect Mr. Qin.
Qin Haodong and Nalan Wushuang drove out of the auction house and received Li Meiyu’s phone call. She asked hastily, “Haodong, what happened? I heard that you’ve offended Master Yi Chenzi in the auction house.”
Qin Haodong smiled and said, “The old faker showed off and tried to buy the snake head sculpture at the lowest price. But I won and got the snake head sculpture at last.”
Li Meiyu said with great anxiety, “Haodong, why are you still laughing now? Do you know that Yi Chenzi is Master Zha’s senior brother and is much more powerful than him? He’ll definitely take revenge on you since you’ve offended him.”
But Qin Haodong did not care about him at all, “He’s just an old faker. Don’t worry, I can handle this.”
He did not take Yi Chenzi seriously because he had a strong Spirit and few people could defeat him in this field.
Li Meiyu said, “Well, be more careful.”
Master Zha had already been killed and Mei Zhanlong might take revenge on them a few days later. There was nothing the Li family could do to help Qin Haodong now.
After he hang up, Qin Haodong did not go back to the Li family. Instead, he drove out of the urban area and stopped at a remote place.
Nalan Wushuang asked, “Why are we here?”
Qin Haodong said, “Let’s settle this problem as soon as possible.”
He still had a lot of things to do, including improving his cultivation and buying the other sculpted animal head from Sir Owen. It would be best if he settled this problem right now.
He sensed Yi Chenzi ‘s force when he was in the car, so he drove directly outside of the city to give Yi Chenzi an opportunity to kill him.
He got out of the car after speaking, turned toward the darkness and said, “You’ve been following us for a long time, hurry up and let’s have our fight. I’m quite busy now.”
Nalan Wushuang also got out of the car, with the monk’s staff in her hands. When Qin Haodong stopped speaking, she saw a person slowly emerge from the darkness and appear in front of them. It was Yi Chenzi, who looked gloomy and angry.
Yi Chenzi looked at Qin Haodong coldly and said with a murderous stare, “Ignorant boy, do you know who I am?”
Qin Haodong replied, “Of course, you’re just an old faker. You’ve been fooling around all day long and call yourself a great master. But I know you’re just a piece of garbage.”
“How dare you!” Yi Chenzi said, “Give me the snake-head sculpture and I may spare your life.”
“Give you the snake-head sculpture? Are you kidding me? Why would I spend so much money on it only to give it to you now?” Qin Haodong continued, “You just want to rob me. Just hurry up, I’m quite busy now.”