Money makes the world go round.

Linda Yun handed the task to the assistant's office. Su Yehao's family office quickly contacted an investigator named Dick Whittle.

This art investigator had worked for the Art and Antiquities Squad of the London Metropolitan Police. Later, he married an American girl and joined the FBI's Art Crime Investigation Team.

And then.

Dick Whittle resigned and partnered with a friend to open a company in Los Angeles, primarily responsible for finding desired collections for wealthy people. He was also a consultant for the Getty Art Center.

After some works of art are bought, they disappear for decades or even centuries, possibly lying in the collection room of a large family, or stored in a bank vault, never seeing the light of day.

To understand the clues, the help of these art investigators is needed.

Ordinary people rarely come into contact with this circle because they have no need for it. However, it is more common among the wealthy, not only for art, but also for rare old wines, limited edition vintage cars, or jewelry.

Speaking of the enthusiasm for collecting, the United States is undoubtedly more popular, with many related industries emerging around the entire circle.

After receiving Su Yehao's task and the deposit.

Dick Whittle, forty-two years old this year, bought a plane ticket as soon as possible and went to the Christie's auction house office in San Francisco. As an art consultant, he directly investigated the news related to Van Gogh's paintings, only saying that a super-rich man had entrusted him to find out the reason for the buyer's default.

At auction houses like Christie's, defaulting on a bid often means a lot of trouble. Not only is it likely to be sued, but it will also be blacklisted by major auction houses and treated as untrustworthy, subject to the resistance of the collecting circle.

Doing this business well, the total reward is 25,000 US dollars. Dick Whittle feels that this task is not troublesome, just like picking up money.

This middle-aged art investigator did not know Su Yehao before, and it was the first time he heard his name.

But now, just search the Internet, and you can find a lot of news related to Su Yehao, and it is not difficult to understand him.

After learning about the employer's information, Dick Whittle was dumbfounded, thinking about doing things beautifully, getting on Su Yehao's line in the future, and maintaining long-term cooperation...

For two days in a row.

Dick Whittle has been busy investigating this matter.

Unlike what Christie's auction house told him, that the "buyer's capital turnover had problems," the more he investigated, the more he felt something was strange.

First, the buyer's identity was fictitious, and there was no rich man from the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Middle East who had photographed the work. Second, the seller who sent the auction was in a lawsuit, and several heirs were arguing endlessly about the ownership of the painting.

After collecting enough clues, Dick Whittle appeared in front of Su Yehao and handed over the collected information to Su Yehao.

Only two thin pages of paper.

At this moment, Su Yehao quickly finished reading, his brow furrowed slightly, and asked, "The seller is still in a lawsuit, will it affect me if I buy it? Also, why can't I find any information about the buyer?"

Dick Whittle sat upright on the sofa in Su Yehao's house, and said calmly:

"Christie's is very experienced. As long as you buy this painting from the auction house, it is yours. Even if there are some differences, it is a matter between the seller and other heirs, and it has nothing to do with you and the auction house."

"As for the missing buyer, Mr. Su, this is actually normal. Maybe someone wants to launder money by buying paintings, and something went wrong in the meantime. It is difficult to hide tens of millions of dollars in cash, but a Van Gogh painting can be easily taken away in a suitcase, and no matter where in the world, as long as the price is right, you can easily find a buyer willing to take over, and then exchange it for legal cash."

"There are trillions of dollars of black money circulating in the gray area every year. If the art trading market lacks them, the value of most antiques will decline. However, fortunately, Van Gogh's works are not one of them. They are really popular. Only Da Vinci, Raphael and other art masters can surpass Van Gogh..."

Dick Whittle was dealing with Su Yehao for the first time, and he spoke a little fast.

However, as a Brit, his pronunciation was clear, allowing him to barely understand what he meant. Su Yehao nodded and said, "In other words, there is nothing wrong with the work itself, right?"

"Of course, if there is a problem, I would advise you to buy it even more, because that would mean a large amount of compensation. Christie's auction house was not strict in its review this time, and dared not disclose the buyer's fictitious identity, for fear of being involved in money laundering. It would rather not collect millions of dollars in commissions, and it would not dare to sell a fake Van Gogh, which would be absolutely fatal to its reputation."

After listening to Dick Whittle, Su Yehao said, "...Okay, I understand what you mean."

After thinking about it for two days, he also called Peng, the president of Bank of China, to ask if they would be willing to accept a Van Gogh painting as collateral to help him buy the painting.

Having cooperated with the Hong Kong City Branch of Bank of China so many times, President Peng couldn't wait for Su Yehao to borrow more money. Forty million US dollars is a small matter.

The reason for looking for funds in advance was to prepare for buying the painting.

At this moment.

Su Yehao asked Dick again: "Since Christie's hasn't found a buyer for that painting yet, if I ask you to come forward, can you help me lower the price a little bit more? I know you people have wide connections. I can promise you an extra reward of 10,000 US dollars for every 100,000 US dollars reduction in price."

Although he has money, he can't waste it randomly.

In this situation, he felt that it was very suitable to lower the price. It would be easy to be slaughtered if he showed up in person. Su Yehao himself felt that he had been too rich recently and looked like a standard fat sheep.

Those auction houses appear to be conducting business officially, but in fact, as long as there is money to be made, many things can be negotiated.

Dick Whittle had never tried to bargain with an auction house for someone, but he had helped clients reduce some transaction commissions many times. Discovering that it was profitable, he immediately agreed:

"No problem, the buyer's commission is waived, and the seller can still make money. It is impossible to lower the price too much, but I will try to negotiate to 39 million US dollars, or 39.5 million US dollars."

……

Su Yehao's business in Silicon Valley is already finished.

The little girl at home urged him several times, and they were preparing to return to Hong Kong City directly.

Remembering Jack Ma who came to Silicon Valley, this amazing guy is worth cultivating, so before leaving, he called Mr. Ma to ask if he wanted to take his private plane and send him back to the mainland by the way.

President Ma has been in Silicon Valley for the past two days, staying in a hotel and placing orders through Amazon. He received the package placed at the hotel front desk the next evening, which amazed him.

In fact, Amazon has a logistics transfer warehouse near San Francisco.

Even if FedEx is slow, it should be delivered to him in one day for only a few dozen miles.

Since he agreed to work for Su Yehao, President Ma quickly changed his thinking and no longer considered how to raise money to start a business, but instead thought about how to use the funds that Su Yehao was about to invest in him in the places where they should be used.

Four hours later.

Su Yehao took Yin Liuli and Jack Ma to San Francisco Airport, listening to President Ma's suggestion to find a team in the United States to develop the most advanced shopping website.

He soon received a call from Dick Whittle, who said that Christie's auction house was only willing to reduce the price to 40 million US dollars, mainly because it was a Van Gogh work, and they could always find a way to sell it. Some museums were already considering it.

Excluding the promised remuneration, it is equivalent to saving more than 600,000 US dollars, which is enough to refuel the plane for a few more flights, which is also very good.

So he asked Dick Whittle to notify Christie's to send the painting to Hong Kong City for transaction...