shuhaige
Chapter 286 Wang Xing-Duo Stealing The Limelight
Chapter 286 Wang Xing-Duo Stealing The Limelight
"Li! Congratulations!"
"You got a real treasure!"
"When we want to admire it, please don't turn us down."
"We probably haven't had enough of it."
"Old man, you finally won. After losing money a few years ago, you will probably recoup it all with this
one calligraphy painting." The people around him congratulated and flattered him.
After all, Yunzhou was only that big, and the brush painting and calligraphy circles were small. Most of
the people were acquainted with each other.
Now that Li's piece won the award, everyone was envious and they all came forward to congratulate
him.
Li was enjoying the limelight on the stage and kept beaming from ear to ear as he thanked everyone.
All the people in these circles either craved profit or fame.
So if anyone had something as impressive as what Li had in their collections, it was undoubtedly
something to be proud of.
Almost all the people in the circle would ingratiate you and try to build a good connection with you, and
everyone would look up to you.
And that was why Wang Xing-Duo would even borrow Qiu Mu-Ying's painting so that he could attend
this exhibition.
But just when the employees were ready to present the old man with his award, cold laughter came
from beneath the stage.
"It is just Liang Shizheng's calligraphy. How can that be considered a treasure? Since when has
Yunzhou's brush painting and calligraphy circles become so lousy? It was worth just slightly over $10
million and it can win the gold award for the year?"
That laughter was clearly filled with disdain and mocking as it quietly rang out.
The crowd soon realized it was Wang Xing-Duo standing offstage with his arms folded and a cold smile
on his face.
"What?"
“Wang Xing-Duo, it's you?”
"Haha!" ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
"Seriously Wang. It's fine if others look down on this $10 million calligraphy, but what right do you have
to look down on it?"
"You have attended this exhibition for years, but you have never shown us any decent art."
"Never mind something worth $10 million.
Do you have anything even worth $1 million?"
"I don't think you have anything that is even worth $100,000."
The crowd was initially surprised to hear those words, but once they saw it was Wang Xing-Duo who
said those things, they laughed as if they had just heard a
joke.
Wang Xing-Duo was infamous in the Yunzhou brush painting and calligraphy circles.
He was a real weirdo. He didn't have any decent artwork at home and loved going around to show off.
He enjoyed putting on an act of criticizing and despising paintings.
And now, even a piece of art worth $10 million wasn't good enough for him still.
He was strange, but everyone was already used to it and just treated it as entertainment.
When Li saw it was Wang Xing-Duo, he mocked him too, "Wang, don't just come here and brag. If you
look down on my calligraphy, then just show us something more worthy. If you can't, then shut up!
You're just a poor civil servant and you don't even have any good paintings. And you dare to mock
me?”
Li sneered rudely and shouted angrily at
Wang Xing-Duo.
Wang Xing-Duo smiled right away, "You seem confident."
"Then do you think a Tang Bohu painting can compare to your Qing dynasty calligraphy?"
What?
"Tang Bohu?"
"Are...are you talking about one of the Four Scholars of Jiangnan, Tang Yin...Tang Bohu?"
Wang Xing-Duo words sent everyone into a shock.
For a while, everyone gasped as they looked at Wang Xing-Duo in shock.
"Did...did you really manage to buy Tang Yin's work?"
"Impossible!" "It must be a fake, right?'
"Tang Yin's calligraphy is the rarest of all."
"It's a collector's favorite.
"The last time it went on auction, the price went up to more than $100 million!"
"How can you possibly have one of his pieces?"
"You must be joking, right?"
After quavering in shock, everyone remained in complete disbelief and shook their heads.
But Wang Xing-Duo walked up the stage enthusiastically straight away. Then he opened the scroll in
his hand.
SWISH.
Just as everyone looked in surprise, Tang Bohu's Visiting a Recluse near the Streams appeared before
their eyes.
"Is...is this real?"
After a long silence, everyone stared at
Visiting a Recluse near the Streams quizzically in disbelief.
After all, many of the people present were small-town tycoons at best. Something like Tang Bohu's
work was all too rare for them to ever have the chance to admire.
Hence now they couldn't determine whether this piece that Wang Xing-Duo brought was authentic or
not.
But Wang Xing-Duo stood on the stage and seemed confident as he said loftily, "This Visiting a
Recluse near the Streams is one of Tang Bohu's greater achievements. I trust all of you remember that
this painting was auctioned off in Yunzhou last year at $80 million to the head of the Shen family. After
that, Mr Shen gave the painting to my close friend, Chu Wen-Feng. If you don't believe me, I have a
photo to prove it!”
As Wang Xing-Duo spoke, Qiu Mu-Ying brought her handphone onto the stage.
Out of fear that the audience wasn't able to see it clearly enough, Qiu Mu-Ying even got the employees
to display the photo using a projector and screen.
"Fuck!"
"It really is the Mr Shen!"
"Did he really give it away?"
"Does that mean it is a Tang Bohu original?"
When they saw the picture of Shen Jiu-Yi giving the painting away, there was an uproar.
They were deeply impressed by how the head of the Shen family, Shen Jiu-Yi, had just generously
given the painting away.
It was a rare piece of art worth an astronomical sum, yet he gave it away just like that.
At the sight of their reaction, Wang Xing-Duo beamed even more brightly. He continued, "Do all of you
believe it is authentic now? Also, Chu Wen-Fei and I are very close friends, so in the future, this
painting will be stored at my place permanently. If anyone wants to admire it, they are welcome to
swing by," said Wang Xing-Duo loftily as he held the painting and continued to brag.
Qiu Mu-Ying and Chu Wen-Feng stood offstage with their faces livid.
How could this fucking Wang Xing-Duo say such nonsense!
When did they agree to let him keep it permanently at his residence?!
But even if they were upset, it was a bad time to raise it now. Qiu Mu-Ying and her husband could only
suppress their anger and wait until the exhibition was over.
They had to let Wang Xing-Duo finish his act first.
As expected, when Wang Xing-Duo made this offer, there was a huge wave of flattery offstage.
Even Li's eyes brimmed with shame as he lowered his head and apologized to Wang
Xing-Duo.
"Wang, since we've known each other for years, allow me to apologize for our previous
disagreements."
"Sorry about being too snobbish and making a fool of myself."
"Wang, you're awesome!"
"You have such a great friend!"
"You must keep open your doors for us tonight., so we can study such a rare treasure!"
"Haha!"
Countless people changed their attitude toward Wang Xing-Duo. Almost everyone wanted to personally
view it at his place, even if they had to pay to do so.
"Haha! Don't worry, everyone. It's not like I can hide such a rare treasure from you.
You still have plenty of time to queue and admire it one by one.”
Wang Xing-Duo was beside himself with joy. Since he joined this circle, he never enjoyed the attention
that he did now. He felt so energetic as if he had reached the pinnacle of his life.
"Yingying, it looks like your grandfather is going to get that approval!" Chu Wen-Feng and Qiu Mu-Ying
were relieved when they saw the scenario before them. They didn't screw up the mission that Master
Qiu had entrusted them with.
As for the painting, they would ask Wang Xing-Duo to return it in the future. He couldn't possibly dare to
just snatch it from them.
"It's just a fake painting, I can't believe you found it in yourself to show it off.
Fortunately, there are plenty of pros here. Otherwise, it's going to be the joke of the year."
But while Wang Xing-Duo was still basking in the glory of his success, a calm laugh suddenly rose from
the crowd.