Chapter 1900 - Do Cai Wenhong a Favor
Chapter 1900: Do Cai Wenhong a Favor
When Cai Wenhong and his people finished the appraisal, it was 7 pm. Master Leng and the others already left after staying for more than an hour.
Because they only came to appreciate the bronze chimes, there was no need to appraise them one by one, or to wait for all of them to be appraised.
They all loved antiques, but they didn’t want to collect just any antiques. They just liked to collect small objects, so they didn’t have much interest in the bronze chimes.
Cai Wenhong and the others were still there, so Gu Ning couldn’t walk away. She didn’t invite Master Leng and his old friends to dine together, but she promised to do that the next time she was free.
Master Leng and his old friends agreed.
After the appraisal, Cai Wenhong and his people were sure that the bronze chimes were all real and they got very excited.
“Miss Gu, why don’t you sell this set of bronze chimes to the Palace Museum?” said Cai Wenhong. The Palace Museum would be more than willing to collect this whole set of highly valuable bronze chimes.
Not only the Palace Museum, other museums would also compete for it if they knew about it.
Actually, in addition to museums, there were a lot of other people who would love to collect the set, like orchestras and super-rich collectors. After all, the whole set of bronze chimes was worth over a billion yuan. Only rich people could afford it.
“Curator Cai, how much do you think this whole set of bronze chimes is worth?” Gu Ning asked. She didn’t accept, nor refuse, which was a chance for Cai Wenhong.
Gu Ning took this set of bronze chimes out in order to make money and promote Xiangyun Antique-store. As long as the price was reasonable and Xiangyun Antique-store could gain some fame, she didn’t care who the buyer was.
Hearing that, Cai Wenhong immediately became excited. “In 19XX, two sets of bronze chimes were unearthed in a tomb of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty at a certain place, a set of 9 pieces, and a set of 7 pieces. They were auctioned for the price of more than one billion yuan. Now this is a full set, 9 groups, so it’s at least 5 billion yuan. Well, if it’s auctioned, the price can be even higher. It’s possible to reach 7 billion yuan.”
Many things relied on publicity stunts to win a high price, but they actually didn’t have much value.
“Curator Cai, how much are you willing to pay for this set of bronze chimes?” Gu Ning asked. She knew the approximate number, but also wanted to hear Cai Wenhong’s bid.
“Miss Gu, it’s yours, so you can set the price,” said Cai Wenhong. Although he hoped to buy it at the lowest price, it was owned by Gu Ning, so she naturally could set the price.
Moreover, the set of bronze chimes was at least 5 billion yuan. At the auction, the price might soar to 7 billion yuan, so naturally they couldn’t give Gu Ning only 5 billion yuan. They had no intention of taking advantage of her.
If Gu Ning was annoyed, she might refuse to sell it to them.
“I’m a businesswoman, and of course I put the bronze chimes up for auction for money, so I won’t allow anyone to take advantage of me. In addition, I also expect to use the bronze chimes to promote Xiangyun Antique-store, so I’ll certainly put it up for auction. However, although I want money, I’m not greedy. Curator Cai, since you said the whole set is worth at least 5 billion yuan and the price can go up to 7 billion yuan at auction, I can sell it to you at the price of 5 billion yuan. What do you think? I’ll still put it up for auction under the name of Xiangyun Antique-store. People can bid for it, but the Palace Museum will finally get it no matter what the bidding price is. I don’t care about the price of the deal. I only need 5 billion yuan,” said Gu Ning.
Cai Wenhong was amazed, because Gu Ning only wanted 5 billion yuan.
The other two experts were also shocked, so was Chen Darong. Nevertheless, it was Gu Ning’s decision, so he couldn’t interfere.
It wasn’t a low price compared to Gu Ning’s estimated price, but she actually lost a lot of money if she put the whole set up for auction. After all, there was a huge gap of 2 billion yuan.
Gu Ning, however, didn’t care much about it. Anyway, she got this set of bronze chimes for free, so she easily made 5 billion yuan at zero cost. Sometimes, people couldn’t be too greedy and only care about money.
She did this right now to do Cai Wenhong a favor as well. After all, there were many illegal antiques in her hands, and they might cause her trouble sooner or later.
Cai Wenhong was the curator of the Palace Museum and the vice director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. With Cai Wenhong’s help, she could get herself out of trouble in the future.
In fact, even if she didn’t do Cai Wenhong the favor right now, Cai Wenhong wouldn’t make things difficult for her for the sake of the Leng family, but she still preferred to solve the problem on her own.
Gu Ning wouldn’t have a low profile afterwards, but she was reluctant to put Cai Wenhong into a dilemma just for the favor.
“Miss Gu, do you really mean it?” Cai Wenhong heard it clearly, but couldn’t believe it. It was too shocking to be true!
“Yeah, I mean it.” Gu Ning said, “Curator Cai, you know the industry I’m involved in. There are always some objects from illegal sources, so please forgive us sometimes if it’s possible.”
“I know. It’s not a problem. Even if you don’t sell the bronze chimes to me, I won’t blame you for that,” said Cai Wenhong. Actually, he was thrilled. He didn’t think that he could get this whole set of bronze chimes at the price of 5 billion yuan until Gu Ning gave him the price of her own accord.
Gu Ning laid down a condition, but it wasn’t a big deal for him. Even if Gu Ning didn’t do him the favor, in order to please the Leng family he wouldn’t cause her trouble.
“Great, Curator Cai, please draw up a contract later and inform me afterwards. I’ll go to sign it once I’m free. We can make a formal deal after the auction,” said Gu Ning.
“Sure.” Cai Wenhong agreed.
“It’s not early now, and I’ve booked a private room at the restaurant outside this living block. Why don’t we share a meal?” said Gu Ning.
“It’s my honor!” Cai Wenhong didn’t reject. Gu Ning already booked a room after all. If he turned her down, she would be embarrassed.
He definitely wouldn’t let Gu Ning pay for the meal though, he would do that by himself.
Gu Ning sold the bronze chimes at a low price, so he owed her. It was very reasonable that he paid for the meal.
When they walked out of the basement, Gu Ning was a few steps behind them. Once they were all out, she put the bronze chimes back into her telepathic eye space before leaving.
On their way out, Gu Ning called Gao Yi and Qiao Ya. They stayed outside the entire time, and hadn’t eaten yet.