The Pentium Era - South to North

Zhang Chen was driving the car and while he was still on the road, Liu Yun called him and asked him if he had come to Shanghai. Zhang Chen said yes, I am on the road now. How did you know?

"I just met Xiaomi downstairs, she told me." Liu Yun smiled and said, "Let's have dinner together tonight?"

Zhang Chen said yes.

"Just upstairs, how about the buffet on the 88th floor?" Liu Yun asked.

Zhang Chen said yes.

When it started to get dark outside, Zhang Chen and Liu Yun were already sitting in the cafeteria on the 88th floor of Jinmao Tower, next to the floor-to-ceiling glass countertop. They looked at the night outside, and it didn't look like they had fallen from the sky. , but slowly rising from the ground, because of the lights, because of the light strips composed of lights and traffic, the sky became dark.

The two of them looked at the slowly moving traffic below and didn't speak for a while. It seemed like they were sitting face to face for the first time in such a long time. It was the first time that two people had a meal. It turned out that both of them had Xiaofang. If there were more people, it would be like that. There were Xiaomi, Lao Ju, and Lao Wan. Now they are all gone, only the two of them. Liu Yun looked at Zhang Chen and smiled, and Zhang Chen looked at Liu Yun and also smiled.

Zhang Chen remembered that it was in this hotel that day that he saw Liu Yun. He chased her out, but Liu Yun had already entered the elevator. Zhang Chen wanted to talk to Liu Yun about this, but then he remembered that he and Liu Ligan were in the room behind him. If he said it, he didn't say it.

"What do you want to say?" Liu Yun asked, seemingly guessing Zhang Chen's thoughts.

"Nothing." Zhang Chen panicked and said, "One year, I seemed to see you at Jianqiao Airport in Hangzhou. It was far away. I saw you walking towards the security check. I chased you to the door and you had already passed. We passed the security check, could that be you?"

Liu Yun said without hesitation: "Yes, it's me."

After Liu Yun finished speaking, she remained silent. She did not tell Zhang Chen why she was so sure that it was her that day. It was because for some reason that day, after passing the security check, she had a strong feeling that someone was looking for her outside. .

Liu Yun had already walked far away, then walked back. She walked to the security checkpoint and looked outside. She saw Zhang Chen's back. Liu Yun stood there in a daze until he completely disappeared.

Zhang Chen smiled and said, "It looks like my eyes are pretty good."

Liu Yun also smiled and said in her heart, but can you see my heart?

Liu Yun asked Zhang Chen: "What are you going to do when you come to Shanghai this time, or make a film?"

"Xiaomi didn't tell you?"

"No." Liu Yun shook her head, "She accompanied the guests out and told me that you were coming today."

Zhang Chen told Liu Yun the purpose of his visit, and Liu Yun said, "French people? Then be careful when discussing business with them."

"Why?" Zhang Chen asked.

Liu Yun smiled and said: "The French are very similar to us Chinese. They like to bluff and play hard to get when talking about things."

Zhang Chen vaguely remembered who seemed to have said such things to him. Zhang Chen asked: "Is it really that similar?"

Liu Yun nodded and said: "It's very similar. By the way, you don't have a translator yet, I will be your translator."

"Do you know French?" Zhang Chen asked in surprise, "Why have I never known that before?"

Liu Yun said: "We haven't seen each other for many years, how could you know? When I was young, I liked French literature very much, so I studied it by myself. Later, I often went to France for vacation and learned some more."

Zhang Chen smiled and said: "You like Duras, right? Girls seem to like Duras."

Liu Yun shook her head: "I don't like it. I don't like Duras or Sagan. I like Malraux and Sartre. I like reading Sartre's "Literary Life" the most. How about it? Doesn't it look like a girl? "

Zhang Chen chuckled and said, "It still looks like a girl who likes Malraux and Sartre."

Liu Yun chuckled.

"Actually, my favorite is Claude Simon. I like his "Farming Poems" and "Flanders Road"." Liu Yun said.

"That's the girl who likes Claude Simon." Zhang Chen said.

The next day, Zhang Chen arrived at Jinmao Building and first went to Xiaofang’s company on the 28th floor. Although Xiaofang was not there, he still wanted to take a look. This was still an old habit left over from the renovation, that is, as long as it was Whenever you pass a project you designed or did, you should go in and take a look to see if there are any shortcomings or modifications.

Everyone in Xiaofang's company knew Zhang Chen. Zhang Chen asked them if they had any problems with the decoration. They all said it was very good and beautiful and there were no problems.

Zhang Chen went back to his company, and Xiaomi yelled when she saw him. She said, Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhang, I was about to call you and made a fool of myself.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Chen asked.

"The Frenchman has already gone downstairs but refuses to come up. He insists that we go down to the coffee shop to talk. Do you think it's strange?" Xiaomi said.

Zhang Chen said with a smile: "People are afraid that our place is a bandit's den and they will be kidnapped when they come in. He feels very safe in the public places below."

"It's unreasonable. I think these foreigners themselves are like bandits. Those paintings of his may have been stolen from us in China by burning down the Old Summer Palace." Xiaomi scolded.

Zhang Chen laughed loudly and said to Xiaomi: "Don't worry, it won't be a cultural relic. At the time of the British and French coalition forces, we didn't have oil paintings in the country, so they had no place to rob them."

Zhang Chen called Liu Yun as he spoke, and Liu Yun said okay, I'll come down and wait in the lobby.

Zhang Chen and Xiaomi went downstairs and waited for a while in the elevator hall. Liu Yun also arrived carrying a computer bag and asked them why they came downstairs. Xiaomi told Liu Yun the other party's request, but Liu Yun didn't take it seriously and smiled. explain:

"This is the virtue of the French."

The three of them arrived at the coffee shop and saw a thin Frenchman in his thirties sitting there with a Chinese man in his forties. This Chinese was the husband of Zhang Chen and their private custom customer. When they saw Xiaomi , and raised his hand.

Zhang Chen and the others walked over and sat down. Liu Yun shook hands with the Frenchman, introduced herself in French, and then introduced Zhang Chen. When the client’s husband heard that Liu Yun could speak French, he said to Liu Yun:

"Do you want to be a translator? Sir, I'll run away first."

He spoke a few words to the foreigner in French, then got up and left. It seemed that he was just doing a favor for his friend, and didn't want to get too involved in the matter. He just ran away when he got an opportunity.

After the man left, the Frenchman remained silent, resting his chin with both hands, and kept staring at Xiaomi. Xiaomi was so frightened that he realized that this foreigner thought she was redundant here. Xiaomi, Zhang Chen, and Liu Yun scolded her. road:

"This damn foreigner, if I don't leave, will he kill me?"

Zhang Chen and Liu Yun both laughed. Xiaomi stood up and left, not even bothering to say hello to the foreigner.

It was really until Xiaomi left that the Frenchman breathed a sigh of relief, put down his hands, and began to introduce himself. He said his name was Clement, a native of Marseille, and that his great-grandfather was a teaching assistant at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. At that time, they The family was very wealthy, and his great-grandfather also liked to make friends with people who came to Paris from all over the world to study art.

These people were very poor. They had nothing to eat, so they would sell the paintings they painted to his great-grandfather. They were very cheap, five to ten francs. Some of his great-grandfather liked them and asked them to buy them. Their family was in Paris. There was a castle in the suburbs filled with these paintings. After his great-grandfather died, he left them all to him and his sister.

In the past few years, they have also sold some, such as those by Zhao Wou-ki and Zhu Dequn, which they bought a long time ago at very good prices. There is also an overseas Chinese who bought Xu Beihong and Pan Yuliang...

Zhang Chen was surprised when a Frenchman said these names. It seemed that his great-grandfather was a teaching assistant at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris during the years when Xu Beihong, Wu Guanzhong and others went to study abroad. The paintings he was talking about, It should also be the paintings they painted at that time.

Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun have long been well-known painters in France. Of course, their paintings are easy to sell. It is not surprising that overseas Chinese have bought Xu Beihong and Pan Yuliang. For some people, they are not the most famous Chinese painters. One?

"Whose other paintings do you have?" Zhang Chen asked.

Clement said: "I don't know, you Chinese painters, how do I know? There are probably 182 more paintings, all painted by you Chinese painters."

"So many?" Zhang Chen was surprised.

Clement said: "Didn't I tell you that there are paintings piled up in a castle? There are also painters from India, Vietnam, Mexico, and Japan. The paintings of painters from these places are not valuable. Just listen. My friend said that now some people in China will buy Chinese paintings, so we sorted out all the Chinese paintings."

"Are there any pictures?" Liu Yun asked.

Clément said yes. He took out a photo album from his bag and handed it to Zhang Chen. Inside was a picture of a painting. Zhang Chen flipped through the pages and felt frightened. He understood again why he went there. The overseas Chinese who had seen them did not buy these paintings. These paintings seemed great to Zhang Chen, but they were indeed not well-known and almost no one knew about them.

Zhang Chen saw works by Fang Junbi, Chang Yu, Liao Xinxue, Pang Xunqin, Lu Sibai, Sha Qi, Liu Ziming, Fang Qianmin, Zhou Bichu, Wu Fading, He Muqun, Hu Shanyu and many others. He also saw vague signatures, but they must be Wu Works by Dayu and Chang Shuhong.

What makes Zhang Chen strange is that he also saw three paintings by Zhu Yunzhi. Zhu Yunzhi obviously did not study in France, but studied at the California Institute of the Arts in the United States. Later, he did not return to China, but settled in the United States. His paintings How would it appear here?

The only explanation is probably that he gave it to a friend or classmate of his. In embarrassment, this friend or classmate also sold his painting to the Frenchman's great-grandfather.

"How much do you plan to sell these paintings for?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Eight million euros," Clement said.

Zhang Chen's first thought was value. He felt that with this batch of paintings, plus his original collection, his "Riverside Oil Painting Gallery" could include almost all the painters who studied in France. He even We can hold a special exhibition of painters studying in France, especially the paintings of some of them, which I had never seen before, but I saw them today, and they are so good.

Liu Yun immediately shook her head and told Clementine that it was too expensive. These paintings were not worth the money at all. Liu Yun didn't know much about oil painting, but she knew what Clemente had said before speaking.

Liu Yun said: "If you still have paintings by Zao Wou-ki, Zhu Dequn, Xu Beihong and Pan Yuliang, then you are still worth the price. Now, they are all gone."

This means that you have already sold everything that is valuable, and these cannot be sold, otherwise you would not have to go to China to sell them.

Zhang Chen looked at Liu Yun calmly, although in his opinion, the paintings of those few people may not be more valuable than those of these people.

Liu Yun's words seemed to hit a vital point in Clement's heart. He twisted the fingers of his hands together and pushed each other hard to relieve the tension in his heart. He thought for a while and said, "We require you to stay abroad." Pay us, do you have the money?

Liu Yun seemed to be well prepared. She took out her laptop, opened it, plugged in the USB shield, opened a bank page, showed it to Clément, and told him, this is Deutsche Bank, are you right? ?

Clément nodded.

Liu Yun moved the computer, turned her back to him, entered her account number and password, then turned the computer over and said to Clément:

"Look at my account balance."

Clément shuddered, he was frightened by the balance on it.

Liu Yun smiled and said to him: "Now that you know our sincerity, can you also show your sincerity?"

Clément's face turned red and he was stunned for a moment before he said: "Fifty-two million euros, it can't be any less."

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