Chapter 458 The Expert Appraisers (1/2)
Chapter 458: The Expert Appraisers
Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
He spent the evening with Sophie. Li Du received a call the next morning from Ma Zhi-an who told him that the Chinese appraisers from Christie's had reached Flagstaff.
Li Du drove the Hellcat and went straight to a junction to wait for the appraisers. They had fixed a venue for the meetup. Not long after, a Toyota Prado arrived.
The car stopped and three middle-aged Chinese men walked out.
The three of them seemed to be around 40 to 50 years old. They wore glasses, their clothes were neat and tidy, they had good complexions, clean and trim fingernails, and, lastly, they all possessed the air of an expert.
Li Du took the initiative by walking up to them and extended his hand. ”Nice to meet all of you, the three of you are Mr. Ma, Mr. Du and Mr. Ding right?”
The three experts were namely, Ma Cheng, Du Dayuan, and Ding Xiaofeng. Ma Zhi-an had sent Li Du information on these three gentlemen, so Li could recognize them right away.
After shaking hands with all three of them, Ma Cheng, who was the eldest, laughed and exclaimed, ”Nice to meet you—you are Mr. Li Du? Xiao Ma has told us about you. You're just like what he told us. Heroes are certainly the young people.”
Li Du was embarrassed to answer him. I'm not a hero. I'm just a junior in the storage auction business, he thought.
Li introduced Hans to the three gentlemen. On the Toyota Prado, there was a well-built driver who was also Chinese. He looked ferocious and wore a pair of sunglasses—one would get the feeling that he was not to be trifled with.
Ma Cheng introduced this muscular Chinese guy to them—he was employed by Christie's to be their bodyguard as well as driver. This was because, with their nature of work, sometimes after they appraised antiques and artifacts they might purchase something and required the necessary protection.
Ding Xiaofeng went straight to the point after all the introductions. ”Xiao Li, we've come to Arizona for the autumn auction in Phoenix so we can't spend too much time here. Should we go ahead and appraise your famille rose porcelain?”
”No problem,” said Li Du. ”But since it's already lunch, why don't we eat first?”
Ding Xiaofeng waved his hand and said, ”There's no need to—”
Ma Cheng interrupted, laughing as he said, ”It's fine, Mr. Ding, don't reject the lunch offer. You have a problem with your social skills! There's no need to reject a meal with your fellow countrymen.”
Ding Xiaofeng rubbed his nose, looking embarrassed. ”Okay then, let's have a fast meal. Xiao Li, don't mind what I said earlier—it was mainly because we have other places to go as well.”
”It's alright, Mr. Ding,” replied Li Du quickly. ”Let's have lunch together first. We can start work after the meal. I want to seek your expert advice in certain topics as well.”
”Okay,” agreed Ma Cheng, ”let's have our meal first. But I want to let you know, we don't want a heavy meal. Just some fast food will do.”
Du Dayuan, who had remained quiet this whole time, concurred with Ma Cheng. ”Yes, I like this arrangement. We can have our fill and save some time too.”
Hans had made reservations at The Golden Aquitaine. When the three of them saw the style of the restaurant, they shook their heads adamantly. They said fast food was all right for them.
”How can I let all of you eat fast food?” said Li Du with a bitter smile. ”Brother Ma's going to give me a lashing out if he hears about this.”
These people were here to help him ascertain the value of his items. It was only right that he wanted to treat them to a nice meal.
”He won't, we'll lash out at him first,” said Ma Cheng, whose eyes were wide open in that instant. ”That Xiao Ma is so unlike our fellow countrymen. After he's stayed here in America, he's forgotten the good habit of thriftiness that our ancestors preached.”
Hans came up to help with the persuasion and said, ”We've already booked this restaurant, why not just eat here? The beef here is delicious.”
Ma Cheng declined the offer. He turned to Li Du and said in a sincere tone, ”Xiao Li, I don't know what Xiao Ma said to you. But in our opinion, we're just here to help with a small matter. Fellow countrymen helping each other out.
”Therefore, if you need to spend so much money because of us, we'd rather we didn't come here in the first place. You can tell us the truth—are you the son of a super wealthy Chinese family?”
”I'm not, but …” Li Du admitted reluctantly for he knew Ma Cheng was using this as an excuse to reject his offer of having a good meal at the nice restaurant.