Novel - Drama Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Gunther was Hailey’s father. The name rang a bell to Oliver, but he did not know he was Hailey’s father.
Gunther thought it was unreliable for her daughter’s store manager to buy antiques. He glanced at the box opened by Oliver and asked, “Hailey, how much did you spend on these things?”
Hailey bragged, “It cost me 4 million dollars until I almost emptied everything in my store. Dad, buy it, please. I know you like calligraphy and painting.”
Gunther knew she was bluffing about it, but he believed the money must have been spent, so he reached out to look.
Gabriel, an antiquities expert, was having tea with Gunther too.
Gabriel, formerly a professor of Archeology in the Department of Archeology at Jacaster University, had been associating with him. After he retired, he became Gunther’s assistant.
Gabriel took out a painting from the box and scanned it before he gasped in wonder.
They fumbled with the box full of 55 items. After that, Gunther glanced at Gabriel in surprise.
Gunther’s expression was mirrored on Gabriel’s face as well. He stared at Oliver and asked, “Have you carefully checked on each item?”
Oliver nodded, thinking there was no need to hide it since he was Hailey’s father. He answered honestly, “Yes, I think they are all authentic. We paid 1.57 million dollars for all 55 items. I don’t know if it will be a loss or not…”
“1.57 million dollars?” Gabriel smiled in surprise and looked at Gunther as he thought to himself, “Hailey’s store manager is so lucky. It will not be less than 4 million dollars if all these items are sold!”
lucky
as this
Gunther sighed and glared at Hailey again. “You won’t give up until I get mad at you. You will not always be as time. I advise you to recycle your items. Believe me, you won’t suffer significant losses from it.”
“You just don’t want me to do well, do you? You always want me to lose money, but I never lose it.” Hailey was not convinced.
Gunther admitted defeat and sighed. “Okay. I’ll offer you 4 million dollars to buy these things. Is that okay?”
“Now we are talking!” Hailey smiled with satisfaction. Then she took the lynx skin and gold-clasped jadeite ring from her bag and laid it before her father. “There are two more pieces left. How much are you willing to offer?”
Gunther shook his head with a bitter smile and picked up the lynx skin without saying a word. However, when he scanned it, his facial expression changed. He looked at it again and handed it to Gabriel. “Gabriel, look!”
Gabriel took it over, and he turned solemn as well. Then he picked up a magnifying glass on the coffee table and observed it.
Gunther picked up the gold-clasped jadeite ring and observed it too. Then, he asked his daughter, “How did you get these two items?”
Hailey pointed to Oliver and said, “He made an offer for these two things. They cost 100 thousand dollars together. I don’t know what they are.”
Gunther stared at Oliver and asked, “Do you know what this is? How could you get the items by only offering 100 thousand dollars?”
Oliver pondered for a while before answering, “Well, I did not have any reference either. There is a map crafted on the lynx skin. The map pattern is unrefined, but the gold-clasped jadeite ring looks more valuable. The gold button should be pure gold, and its quality was not bad. The jade ring was hollow with a miniature carving inside, but the most valuable part was…”
Gunther and Gabriel shot a look at each other without saying a word. Then, their gaze fell upon him again.
Oliver said to Hailey, “Ms. Fox, please find a glass, fill it with some water, and get a flashlight for me.”
Hailey didn’t know what he wanted to do, so she nodded and returned later with a delicate flashlight and a glass of water.
Under their gaze, Oliver poured some water into the jade ring, put the ring on the flashlight, and then turned on the switch.
A beam of light shone out, and Oliver pulled away the lynx skin that was as big as a foot and put it under the beam of light.
Hailey was also surprised that a three-dimensional map emerged from the lynx skin at this time. There were mountains, trees, rivers, and streams. The gurgling water was flowing between the rocks in the river. novelbin
Gunther and Gabriel also bent down and stared at the map in awe-striking silence.
When he looked at the gold-clasped jadeite ring, he could see a carving of miniature stones in the hollow. He never thought there would be such a secret surprise in the ring!
He couldn’t have discovered the secrets inside the lynx skin if Oliver did not use a flashlight and the water to illuminate light
on it.
The process was so important.
The miniature carving could be seen with a special magnifying glass, but it would be impossible for him to find the secret
inside
Oliver showed them the secret and then placed the lynx skin back on the coffee table.
Gunther suddenly changed his impression of Oliver. He took the gold-clasped jadeite ring and held it in his hand as he asked Oliver, “How did you know this secret? And do you know what the map indicates?”
Oliver shook his head and smiled sheepishly, saying. There are words in the miniature carving inside the jade ring. Henry’s treasure map is also known as the Seven-Star treasure map. One-third of the map is in lynx skin, and one-third is in gold-clasped jadeite ring, but I’m not sure where the one-third left is. As for the treasure map. I do not trust it as it only appeared in the movies, TV shows, or novels but not in real life.”
Gabriel stared at him and surprisedly said, “Do you think it’s unreliable? The Seven-Star Treasure Map has a historical record. I think it is authentic since there is a real map now.”
Oliver shook his head again. “Anyway, I’m not interested in these illusory kinds of things.”
Gunther clapped his hands and said, “Hailey, I’ll offer you 4 million dollars for those paintings. I’ll give you 4 million dollars for these two items as well. A total of 8 million dollars will be credited to you later.”
Hailey stretched her tender hand and said, “Okay, give me the money!”
She spent about 1.8 million dollars but earned 8 million dollars. She earned a total profit of 6 million dollars. This was a good deal.
Gunther tapped his daughter’s head gently. Then, he took the check and signed a cash cheque for 8 million dollars before he passed it to her.
As he saw his daughter hold the check cheerfully, Gunther smiled bitterly. But when he looked at Oliver, he became serious again as he asked, “What is your name?”
“Oliver Eastwood, the store manager of Ms. Hailey Fox’s luxury second-hand upcycling store.”
Gunther nodded, stared at him, and asked, “Oliver, you are so young; where did you learn your identification skills?” Although these items were not very valuable, their total value was over 2 million dollars. Besides, they were all genuine products, which proved that this young man had real skills and sharp eyesight.
The most important thing was Oliver knew the secret of the Lynx Map and gold-clasped jadeite ring, which nobody could have discovered except the experts.
Oliver pretended to be dumb and said, “I studied it all alone. Nobody ever taught me anything, I read it all from books.” “You learned it from the books?” Gunther and Gabriel burst into laughter upon hearing that.