The Chrono Admiral

Chapter Four: Selling Paintings

Lin Daxin has now spent a full 1,000 taels of silver on the four paintings in his travel bag.

One day, while Lin Daxin was resting at a construction site in the modern world, he traveled back to the time of 1892. He originally planned to buy some antiques from a place in Weihaiwei City and sell them in the modern world!

While walking through the market in Weihaiwei City, I suddenly saw a scholar-like man squatting on the street with a white cloth in front of him and four scrolls on the cloth.

Lin Daxin asked out of curiosity, and the scholar said that he was a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the county level) and his family needed money to save their lives, so he had no choice but to sell four authentic works by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which had been passed down for hundreds of years.

Is it true or not? Lin Daxin knew Gu Kaizhi, but he had never heard of any of Gu Kaizhi's authentic works surviving. However, Lin Daxin looked at the four paintings and found them to be very beautiful. He asked the scholar how much silver he wanted, and the scholar gritted his teeth and said that he would let Lin Daxin take the paintings for 1,000 taels.

Lin Daxin didn't haggle. Looking at the scholar's reddened eyes as he stared at the four paintings, he realized that the scholar's family was in urgent need of money, which was why he had reluctantly taken out the four ancestral paintings to sell.

In the end, Lin Daxin "spent" 1,000 taels of silver to buy the four paintings. The 1,000 taels of silver used to buy the paintings was pure silver that Lin Daxin had exchanged for nearly 200,000 RMB in modern times.

Otherwise, given Lin Daxin's meager fortune of 200 taels of silver in the Qing Dynasty, he wouldn't have been able to afford these four paintings even if he came across them.

Although the scholar confidently asserted that the four paintings were genuine works by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Lin Daxin had no expertise in authentication. However, he figured that after more than 100 years, these four paintings would certainly be considered antiques!

Lin Daxin learned from the internet that antiques are extremely valuable in the modern world. Even if they weren't genuine works by Gu Kaizhi, he wouldn't lose money. Otherwise, Lin Daxin wouldn't have planned to "get" a few antiques and sell them in the modern world. So, Lin Daxin bought 200,000 RMB worth of unmarked silver bars from a gold shop in the modern world and used them to buy the four paintings.

In his five-star hotel room, Lin Daxin took out his phone from his travel bag, found a number stored on the phone, and dialed it. The call was answered quickly!

A cheerful voice came from the phone receiver, "Hello! Who is this?"

"Boss Wang, I'm Lin, the one who sold the jade Guanyin pendant in your shop a while ago!" Lin Daxin shouted into the microphone.

Mr. Wang, on the other end of the phone, was startled by Lin Daxin's loud voice and quickly moved the phone away from his ear. "Little Lin, I remember you! You were introduced to me by Boss Zhang Guangfu! What's up? Also, you don't need to speak so loudly. I'm only in my forties, still young! Aren't you hard of hearing? Haha!"

Lin Daxin scratched his head sheepishly. He always unconsciously turned up the volume on his phone, feeling that the other person couldn't hear him if the volume was too low. He then lowered his voice and said, "Mr. Wang, I have a few precious ancient paintings that I'd like to sell! They're quite valuable! I wonder if you'd be interested?"

"Oh! Valuable antique paintings! Four of them! Of course I'm interested! I happen to be in the shop right now! You can have the paintings! Take them to my shop, I'll be there when you arrive, and we can examine them in detail!" Mr. Wang's voice was excited on the phone. You see, Mr. Wang made 800,000 yuan by reselling the jade Guanyin pendant that Lin Daxin sold to him. And that was even though Mr. Wang didn't run a jewelry business; he had transferred the jade Guanyin pendant to a friend who was in the jewelry business.

For Mr. Wang, who runs an antique shop, antiques are his forte, and he can earn greater profits from them.

"Alright! Mr. Wang, I'll bring the painting to your shop in a bit!" After saying that, Lin Daxin hung up the phone, slung his backpack over his shoulder, left the hotel, and took a taxi to an antique shop called Jubaoju.

This Jubaoju is located on a bustling pedestrian street. It has two floors, each with more than 300 square meters, and is the largest antique shop in Weihai City.

Lin Daxin entered Jubaoju. A middle-aged man in a suit saw Lin Daxin and came up to him with a big smile, saying, "Welcome! Welcome! What treasures did you bring this time, Lin? Please come upstairs!"

"Okay! Please, Mr. Wang!"

Lin Daxin followed Boss Wang upstairs to an office. Inside were two elderly men wearing glasses, who were appraisers at Boss Wang's antique shop.

"Xiao Lin, bring out the painting and let me take a look!" Boss Wang said as he put on white gloves, and the two old appraisers also put on their gloves.

Lin Daxin took the backpack off his back, opened it, and took out four long cardboard boxes one by one.

After Lin Daxin unfolded all four paintings and placed them on the large desk in the office, Boss Wang and the two veteran appraisers carefully examined the paintings several times. Then, the three of them looked up, their expressions becoming serious.

Mr. Wang asked the two veteran appraisers, his voice trembling slightly, "Master Liu, Master Ma, they should both be... both genuine works, right?"

Although Lin Daxin couldn't authenticate paintings, he still said with certainty, "Mr. Wang, these four paintings of mine are all genuine works by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty! They are priceless treasures!"

The two veteran appraisers exchanged glances and nodded. The appraiser surnamed Liu said, "Boss, these four paintings are Gu Kaizhi's 'Beauty of Guiyang,' 'Boating,' 'Tiger, Leopard and Birds of Prey,' and 'Ducks and Geese.' Old Ma and I both believe they are genuine! This is truly astonishing!"

It should be noted that no original works by Gu Kaizhi have survived to this day; what has been passed down are all ancient copies from the Tang and Song dynasties.

The sudden appearance of four genuine works by Gu Kaizhi here is a sensational event!

Seeing the three men's reactions, Lin Daxin breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed these four paintings were genuine! Now, in this modern world, he wouldn't be short of money for the time being!

Mr. Wang and the two appraisers carefully examined the four paintings again before putting them back into the cardboard box.

Looking at the four cardboard boxes, Boss Wang swallowed hard and said to Lin Daxin with a wry smile, "Brother! Where did you get these four paintings by Gu Kaizhi?"

Lin Daxin replied without hesitation, "It's an heirloom!"

“Brother! These are all national treasures! Just like you said, they are priceless! I couldn’t even afford one of them! These four paintings should be auctioned at Sotheby’s or Christie’s!” Mr. Wang said with emotion, then looked at Lin Daxin with a hint of hesitation.

Lin Daxin frowned: "But I urgently need cash!" In fact, Lin Daxin had also thought about auctioning these four paintings, which might fetch more money. However, in the original timeline, there were less than two years left before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the auction house procedures were complicated and the auction would take a lot of time.

Furthermore, Lin Daxin did not intend to sell the four paintings to foreigners.

If I want to change the course of the war and the fate of my father dying on the battlefield, I must use the technology and resources of the modern era.

They were to "get" back to the original timeline and enhance the Beiyang Army's and Japan's war-fighting capabilities in every aspect.

When Mr. Wang heard Lin Daxin say he urgently needed money, his eyes gleamed with excitement. He said, "Brother! To be honest, I own an auction house in Weihai City. It's not very famous, but I, Old Wang, have been in the antique business for many years and know quite a few powerful bosses and families! They're all incredibly wealthy! If you trust me, give me five days, and I can hold a special auction! Your paintings absolutely cannot be sold cheaply! As for the commission, we can discuss it further! What do you think, brother?"

Upon hearing that it would only take five days, Lin Daxin immediately nodded and said, "Boss Wang is a friend of my Uncle Zhang, and I trust you! The four paintings will be 'handed over' to Boss Wang's auction house!"

Upon hearing that Lin Daxin had agreed to hand over the four paintings to his auction house, Mr. Wang, who was in his forties, jumped up and down with joy, his face beaming with happiness.

Finally, the two agreed that Mr. Wang would only charge 5% for the handling fee of the four paintings. But even this 5% was a considerable sum based on the value of the four paintings!

Lin Daxin then instructed Boss Wang that although he needed to sell the paintings to make money, he did not want these four paintings to fall into the hands of foreigners.

Boss Wang patted his chest and promised Lin Daxin that even if he didn't know how to find foreign buyers, these wealthy people in China wouldn't let these four paintings fall into foreign hands.

After the two finished discussing the auction, Mr. Wang had his driver take Lin Daxin back to the five-star hotel.

Before the auction, Mr. Wang hired four researchers from the Palace Museum to re-authenticate Lin Daxin's four paintings. The four researchers excitedly confirmed that all four paintings were undoubtedly genuine works by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty!

Four researchers from the Palace Museum repeatedly urged Lin Daxin to donate the four paintings to the country, promising that the country would reward him handsomely!

However, Lin Daxin was unmoved by persuasion and was determined to sell the four paintings for money, leaving the four white-haired researchers from the Palace Museum to sigh in despair!

Mr. Wang indeed had extensive connections, and coupled with the sensational effect of Gu Kaizhi's authentic works, the auction attracted more than two hundred wealthy individuals and dignitaries from all over the country, and in the end, all four paintings fetched astronomical prices.

After deducting Mr. Wang's handling fee, Lin Daxin's bank card had an extra 1.7 billion RMB.