Chapter 628 - The Astounded Appraiser (1/2)

Qin Haodong said, “Of course it’s true. Manager Tian, I am not joking with you.”

Realizing that he had lost his composure, Tian Ye hurriedly said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Qin. I’m just too shocked. Please forgive me.”

“It doesn’t matter. Is it convenient for your appraiser to come and appraise it for me now?”

“No problem. I’ll bring the appraiser with me. Please wait a moment.”

Tian Ye hung up and immediately asked someone to call the appraiser Zhang Zhaohui.

As the owner of the largest auction house in Hong Kong, he had more than a dozen appraisers and Zhang Zhaohui was the among the top experts, who was best at appraising ancient European paintings.

“Manager, what can I do for you? I’m about to get off work. Are you asking me to work overtime?”

A young man in his thirties came in. He was Zhang Zhaohui. He had a good relationship with Tian Ye, so he dared to speak so casually to him.

Tian Ye said, “Take your tools and come with me. There is an important collection that you need to appraise.”

Zhang Zhaohui said, “Can’t we do it tomorrow? I have arranged to meet a beautiful girl today and it took a lot of persuasion on my part to get her to agree.”

“Of course we can’t wait.” Tian Ye pulled him and walked out. As he walked, he said, “The person who asked us to do the appraisal is a distinguished guest. We must serve him well.”

They got in the car and drove in the direction of the Li family villa.

“These rich people really don’t care whether we have a life or not.” Zhang Zhaohui sat in the passenger seat, vented his dissatisfaction and asked, “What are we going to identify this time?”

“A painting of Picasso.”

“What?”

Zhang Zhaohui, who was slouched in the seat suddenly sat up straight and then laid back again, like a deflated ball. He said, “How is that possible? These days, who will take out Picasso’s painting to sell? I guess this stupid rich man must have been deceived by someone. He managed to get a painting and claims it’s Picasso’s work.”

It was not surprising for him to make such a statement. As the chief appraiser of the auction house, he had seen many rich people being cheated by those charlatans over the years. They spent a lot of money to buy a pile of fake works.

Tian Ye said, “I don’t know if it’s genuine or not, so I brought you with me. Let me tell you, this is a VIP that the old man particularly likes. You must be careful when you speak and you must be respectful.”

As a manager, Tian Ye was still a professional, so he did not reveal Qin Haodong’s identity. Soon they came to the Li family villa and went to Qin Haodong’s room, led by Zhang Tieniu.

Knowing that there were guests coming, Nalan Wushuang went inside to cultivate. Qin Haodong was alone in the room.

“Boss, I brought them here.”

Zhang Tieniu said and stood respectfully behind Qin Haodong.

Tian Ye said, “Mr. Qin, this is Zhang Zhaohui, the chief auctioneer of our auction house. He is particularly good at appraising ancient paintings from Europe.”

“Please take a seat.” After Qin Haodong asked them to sit down, he reached out to take a painting on the table. It was the naked drawing Nalan Wushuang had just seen.

“Mr. Zhang, please help to ascertain if this painting is a genuine work of Picasso’s.”

After that, he handed the sketch to Zhang Zhaohui.

Since the moment he saw Qin Haodong, Zhang Zhaohui had held him in disdain. He thought that Qin Haodong must have been deceived by someone. In his opinion, Qin Haodong’s painting was definitely not the real work of art.

However, as a professional appraiser, he still had the basic qualities. He looked very serious. He took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket, put them on, took Qin Haodong’s painting and then took out a magnifying glass to check.

At first, Zhang Zhaohui did not pay much attention to it, but when he saw the painting, he immediately became serious.

He did not check what was on the painting initially. Instead, he first looked at the sketch paper and gently folded it with his hand to feel the hardness and flexibility of the paper. This was a procedure that an excellent appraiser usually followed.

After checking the material of the sketch paper, Zhang Zhaohui’s expression became even more serious. He was sure that the sketch paper in his hand was produced in Europe in the 40s and 50s of the last century. He thought it absolutely could not fool his eyes.

Now he could be sure that even if this drawing was not Picasso’s work, it had been copied in the last century. From this point of view, it could be regarded as an ancient painting.

Tian Ye was watching from the side and his expression became serious. He had worked with Zhang Zhaohui for many years and he had seen some clues from his friend’s expression. Now it seemed that Qin Haodong’s painting was not an ordinary one. It might be really a masterpiece.

“Jacqueline, this is Jacqueline!”

When Zhang Zhaohui turned his eyes to the naked woman on the painting, he immediately screamed and attracted everyone’s attention.

Hearing the noise outside, Nalan Wushuang was not in the mood to cultivate. She came to the door and eavesdropped. She also wanted to see if the ancient European paintings made by Qin Haodong could still be passed off as the genuine ones.