Chapter 370: The Rosewood Expert
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Early the next day, a piece of news was circulating amongst the other treasure hunters staying in the hotel:
"The Vendetta Storage Company found some mahogany furniture inside the storage units. The company was surprised and contacted a Chinese rosewood expert to appraise the authenticity and value of the furniture."
"What’s even more shocking is that the rosewood expert has confirmed the authenticity of the mahogany furniture and gave it a fairly high value. The storage company will hence withdraw those units from today’s auction."
Li Du heard this while he was having his continental breakfast. He called up the storage company angrily. "We’re calling to protest against the withdrawal of the units put up for auction!"
Storage companies had the right to withdraw units put up for auction because some tenants would pay their balances on the last day possible. Such units would, therefore, need to be withdrawn.
However, the storage company was bewildered by the call. They had never intended to withdraw any unit from the auction. "Hello sir, we will not withdraw any unit from the auction—"
"You can’t do that," said a disgruntled Li Du. "We came to Holbrook because there were many units put up for auction. If you’re withdrawing seven units, that will defeat our purpose of coming here in the first place!"
An agitated Hans urged the treasure hunters residing in the same hotel, "Everyone, let’s call the storage company to protest. We can’t let them do this!"
The treasure hunters followed suit by taking out their phones and calling the storage company's hotline, which became congested in no time.
In the hotel next door, the Ricks, Frank, and York all came down for breakfast at the same time before heading out to attend the auction.
When they entered the hotel restaurant, they saw a middle-aged Chinese man and a white man having a meal together.
Rick did not know who the Chinese man was but he knew the white man. He was Vendetta Storage’s Operations Manager.
The Chinese man was almost finished with his meal. There was tons of food served on the table; there was even a bottle of good quality Mexican tequila.
After finishing the last piece of toast, the middle-aged Chinese man got up and said, "Mr. Powell, it was nice to meet you. A pleasure talking to you. Goodbye."
Mr. Powell smiled cheerfully and said, "I’m happy to meet you too. Thank you, Mr. Liu, you have a lot of knowledge in this area."
Mr. Liu laughed, "Oh, no, no, you think too highly of me. I just told you what I know about our Chinese architecture and the beauty of Chinese furniture. I’m just glad that I could be of help."
Both men waved goodbye and the middle-aged man left the restaurant.
Rick stared at Mr. Liu’s back for a while. He then exchanged a glance with his son and whispered, "Go, follow him and see what’s going on."
As Lil’ Rick left, Rick walked up to Mr. Powell and laughed, "Hey Powell, my old friend. It’s a coincidence seeing you here. What are you up to?"
Powell wiped his mouth with a napkin and replied, "Breakfast. Someone treated me to a nice breakfast. The food’s not bad."
Frank came over as well. "Mr. Powell?" he asked. "Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself: my name is Frank Boll, a professional treasure hunter."
Powell shook hands with him, giving him a few casual compliments before his phone started ringing. "What?" Powell frowned. "Who spread that news? Okay, let me get back first and we’ll see how to deal with it."
After hanging up the phone, he said to Frank and Rick, "My apologies, something’s come up at the company. I need to hurry back. Nice meeting both of you, let’s talk some other time. See you around."
"See you around," Rick smiled politely and nodded.
Powell left in a hurry. Frank looked to Rick and asked, "What happened?"
Rick blinked and said, "Mr. Boll, do you know why so many treasure hunters came here to attend this auction?"
Frank was a veteran treasure hunter: besides wanting to deal with Li Du, he had also come here to attend the auction put on by Vendetta Storage. Therefore, when Rick threw him that question, he immediately replied, "Because there might be some mahogany furniture in the storage units?"
Rick nodded. "Yes, there’s some mahogany furniture. But did you manage to get further information about it? There’s a problem with the mahogany furniture!"
Frank asked cautiously, "What’s wrong with it? I only have some general information. Do you have details?"
"Yes. I contacted the company’s storage unit supervisor and got hold of some pictures. Frank," said a slightly smug Rick, "everyone has their territory, and Arizona is my turf."
Frank knew that Rick was flaunting his abilities. He sneered, "And?"
"And I handed the photos to a mahogany furniture collector who thought that the all the furniture were imitations."
Almost every citizen in the United States was a collector of something. Furniture collection was one of the many types of collection, and mahogany furniture was an important branch.
Over ten million historical Chinese artifacts were scattered around the world in places like Europe, America, Japan, Southeast Asia, and so on. Ancient Chinese mahogany furniture could be seen in many historical museums in western countries.
Museums in America and England owned more red sandalwood furniture collections of the Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties than the Palace Museum in China, which still owned an impressive 10,000 pieces of ancient furniture.
For example, the scented rosewood throne of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty was showcased in the National Museum of Denmark. A Danish collector had successfully bid for it in Sotheby’s auction house. Ultimately, the historic relic was donated to the museum.
Unlike other national treasures, the bulk of mahogany furniture that had gone to the West had not been stolen, but sold. Emperor Wanli’s scented rosewood throne was one such instance.
There was also a legend that a lot of caves had been used for storing treasures in the western parts of America 100 years ago. It was said that there were tens of thousands of pieces of ancient Chinese furniture stored in caves with cool temperature so they would last for their future generations.
Whether it was the museum, or the caves in the United States, their collection would be the famous ancient mahogany furniture.
Therefore, in regards to mahogany furniture collecting, China was not in a position to ask for such artifacts to be returned. The dispersion of mahogany furniture had resulted in its popularity growth and brought about an increase of mahogany furniture collectors.
Professional mahogany furniture collectors had very deep knowledge on the subject, and were able to tell genuine ones from the imitated counterparts. Rick had contacted a professional to help him appraise the authenticity of the mahogany furniture in the unit up for auction.
He had originally concluded that the pieces of furniture were all knockoffs. But after hearing the Chinese man mention "beautiful Chinese furniture" to Mr. Powell, he began to waver in his decision.
He was also unsure because the collector had told him that he could not give an absolute conclusion just by looking at the pictures. In addition, as the collector was an amateur, the conclusions he’d made were not authoritative.
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Chapter 371: With All Efforts
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After some time, Lil’ Rick came back.
He passed a name card to his father as if he were presenting a prestigious item. "I’ve found out who he is. His name is Oscar Liu. An employee from the Beijing Museum, he is mainly involved in wooden crafts. He is here in America for a tour and has been invited to appraise some Mahogany furniture during this trip."
"What’s the authenticity of the Mahogany furniture?"
"He refused to reveal anything related to it," Lil’ Rick said in frustration.
Rick walked away. After a few minutes, he returned and said to Frank, "I’ve asked the Chinese man to stay. Would you like to talk to him?"
Frank flashed Lil’ Rick a condescending smirk. "This is your territory? You can’t even question someone on your own territory?"
Rick gave his son a disappointed glance. If he couldn’t even get the crucial information out of that man, what was the use of this son of his?
York’s experience was not something that could even be compared to the experience of a greenhorn like Lil’ Rick. York’s preparations were immense.
Having invited Oscar Liu, York brought him to a small café to minimize the possibility of catching some other treasure hunter’s attention.
Now working together, Frank and Rick went to meet them there.
There were many Chinese people in America, especially Los Angeles.
However, when he saw Liu, Frank put his guard up. He first stated, "I know a Chinese man. His name is Du, Li. He’s a good man from Flagstaff."
Oscar Liu wiped his glasses and revealed a gentle smile. "We Chinese are all good people. A pleasure meeting you guys. Is there anything I can do for you?"
As he spoke, Frank had been observing his eyes and expression.
However, he couldn’t find anything suspicious. When this Chinese man heard Li Du’s name, he was unfazed. The clearest emotion on his face was just a tiny hint of confusion.
He analyzed it for a moment and felt that he was probably being too suspicious. Just because this man from China had appeared, it didn’t mean he was related to Li Du.
Rick knew the reason why he was testing the waters. He scoffed and whispered in his ear, "You know that that Chinese aren’t easy to deal with? You know that you’ll have to keep your guard up against him, right?"
Frank ignored him and instead gave a bright smile to Liu. "Hi, buddy, nice to meet you. I love the Chinese. I love your culture. So here’s the thing: we do indeed need your help for a few things."
Liu nodded pleasantly and said, "Go on."
"It’s like this," Frank said, "I’ve always been interested in this friend of mine called Du, Li. Even his name interests me. From what I know, there is something special about his name in Chinese culture, right?"
Liu smiled and said, "Oh, if I’m not wrong, if we go by his Chinese name, it is pronounced ‘Li Du’?"
"Yes."
"That’s right, there is something special about that name. In the study of Chinese poetry, there was a line in a poem that goes like this: ‘Li and Du’s poems are so widespread that they’re no longer novelties.’"
Appearing very interested, Frank asked, "What does that mean?"
Liu explained, "It means that a poet with the surname ‘Li,’ and another with the surname ‘Du,’ had their poems and teachings spread widely. ‘Li Du’ is a term we use that combines the surnames of two of our culture’s greatest poets.
"Besides Li-Du, there were also combinations like ‘Xiao Li Du,’‘Liu Bai,’‘Su Li,’‘Gao Cen,’‘San Xie San Cao San Su,’‘Er Li,’‘Pi Du,’‘Zhong Xing Si Jie…’"
Frank and Rick had no clue what they were hearing, but they had no choice but to pretend that they were interested, because the important question had yet to be asked.
After Liu finished explaining, Frank said, "Buddy, you seem to be well-versed in poetry. You must be a scholar."
"No, it just happens to be my interest," Liu said with a smile. "In fact, I’m an architecture expert."
"An architecture expert? So you study bridges and buildings?"
"No," Liu shook his head. "I study architecture and related renovations from the four dynasties: Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing."
Frank immediately asked, "Then you must have a deep understanding of ancient furniture from China."
"Yes," Liu smiled. "I do understand it. That’s a good way to put it: that I have a deep understanding of them."
Frank shot Rick a glance. Rick handed some photos over to Liu and said, "We would like to know what material this furniture seems to be made off?"
Liu studied the photos and soon there was a slight change in his expression. He then said, "Sorry, I can’t tell. I don’t think I can help you guys with this."
"Don’t be like this, buddy," Frank smiled. "We don’t have any other intentions, just that we need some help from you to appraise the material used for the furniture."
Liu shook his head. "Just from photos, one cannot tell the materials used. Fellas, if someone tells you that they can do that, then they must be lying."
"Really?" Rick asked with wide eyes.
"Unless he has some sort of supernatural power, it would be impossible. Validating the material of a piece of furniture can only be done with the actual thing.
"Even with the furniture in front of me, it’s not that easy. Several aspects have to be investigated, touched, and felt. A breathtaking amount of experience is needed too..." He then continued with a bunch of terms like "The yellows of the Heaven and Earth,""Yin and Yang balance," and stuff like "Sandalwood’s true colors will grow thicker with time."
Frank and Rick had headaches listening to all these terms.
However, Rick’s expression was turning more and more grim. The trap he was planning to set for Li Du was solely based on these photos. If the photos could not tell anything, then there was a huge problem!
Frank realized that Liu wasn’t going to stop talking, so he slipped a few notes of cash to him, implying as he said, "Perhaps you could tell something from these photos, buddy. Help us out a little."
Liu’s face turned grim. "What do you mean, sir? What kind of person have you made me out as? Sorry, but I think I won’t be able to help you guys. I’ll be leaving."
With all his methods proving useless, Frank gave up.
Seeing such, Rick had a vicious look in his eyes and said, "I guess it’s still up to me."
He held Liu back and made a call. Soon, two Native American Indians walked in and asked, "What’s up?"
Rick said darkly, "We know this Chinese man has information on the mahogany in storage, but he won’t speak to us. We have no choice but to ask you for help."
Harris used his poisonous gaze to scan over Liu. He waved his hand and said, "You guys head out. I’ll have a talk with this guy."
Liu jumped up in a panic and said, "Sorry fellas, I have to leave—"
"Don’t be hasty, tell us a few things before you leave," Harris said with a diabolical smile.
Frank didn’t want to leave and said, "Perhaps I can help out."
Harris suddenly flashed out a khukuri. He slapped the flat part of the blade onto Frank’s face and coldly said, "What can you do? For the d*mn sake of God, can you guys listen to me and scram?!"