Chapter 630 - The Collection Exchange (2/2)

“Dear sir, please come with me.”

With this welcome from Sir Owen and a group of servants, Qin Haodong and Nalan Wushuang walked into the manor together.

Uncle Cheng’s face was full of shock. He was very clear about the status of Sir Owen in Hong Kong. He did not understand what magic Qin Haodong had used to make him personally welcome him.

As the steward of the Li family, he naturally knew that it was not suitable for him to participate in such an occasion, so he did not go into Sir Owen’s manor. Instead, he returned to the car and waited.

After entering the living room, Sir Owen warmly treated Qin Haodong and Nalan Wushuang to a glass of good red wine. Then he said with a smile, “Dear Qin, your painting is so perfect.”

“I’ve always been eager to have a painting of Picasso. I would like to ask you how you can bear to part with it, or according to a Huaxia saying, you must be reluctantly giving up your love.”

Although Mr. Owen was a citizen of Britain, he had grown up in Hong Kong. Not only did he speak the Huaxia language very well, but he also knew a lot about the culture of Huaxia. He even used idioms.

Qin Haodong said, “Of course I can. I’ve heard that Sir Owen has quite a lot of antiques from Huaxia, so I want to exchange some antiques with you.”

Sir Owen said, “Mr. Qin, I’m very willing to be your friend and exchange some collections with you. Do you have anything specific in mind?”

Qin Haodong spread out his hands and said, “I don’t know, because I don’t know what kind of collections you have.”

According to what Tian Ye had said, he did not directly tell Sir Owen the purpose of his visit.

“It does not matter. I can let you choose. As long as the item is suitable, we can make a deal that will satisfy us.”

Sir Owen said to Fred, “Bring us the file of our collection and let Mr. Qin choose.”

“Yes, Sir.”

After he finished speaking, Fred turned around and went out. It was not long before he came in with a log book, in which all the collections in Sir Owen’s treasury were recorded.

“Mr. Qin, please have a look.”

After that, Fred politely handed the book to Qin Haodong.

“Thank you!”

Qin Haodong smiled at Fred, then opened the book and quickly read through it.

Sir Owen’s collection was really vast. There were about thousands of them, which also included antiques from all over the world.

The first part were the works of art in Europe. It could be seen that in Sir Owen’s heart, these collections were more important.

However, Qin Haodong did not care about these things at all. He quickly looked through them and found the rooster’s head from the twelve zodiac sculptures, which he had been dreaming of, in the last few pages of the records.

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and said, “Sir Owen, I was lucky enough to get the bronze snake head sculpture you sent for the auction yesterday. As a Huaxia man, I have special feelings for these bronze head sculptures. I want to take all of them back to Huaxia in my lifetime.

“Just now, I saw that there was also a bronze head sculpture in your book. I will exchange this painting for the rooster head sculpture. What do you think?”

Sir Owen said, “Dear Qin, as a friend, I should satisfy your wish. These 12 bronze head sculptures are treasures of your country. I also like them very much, so I’m a little reluctant to part with them.”

Qin Haodong smiled slightly. He knew very well that this foreigner was not reluctant at all. Just like what Tian Ye said, the antiques in Huaxia were not very important to him. It could be seen from the ranking of the bronze head sculpture in the list of his book.

The reason why Sir Owen said so was because he was not satisfied with the price Qin Haodong had offered. It was true. If the painting of Picasso and the bronze head were exchanged for Huaxia currency, the price of the bronze head sculpture would be about 50 million and the painting of Picasso was at most 10 million yuan.

Although the exchange between collectors were based more on the reputation of the collection, the value should not be too great a difference.

He said, “Sir Owen, I’m very sincere. Do you think you can bear to part with this bronze head sculpture with a few more paintings like this? Two or three?”

After he finished speaking, Sir Owen’s eyes lit up in an instant. He excitedly said, “Dear Qin, could it be that you have more of Mr. Picasso’s paintings?”

Qin Haodong smiled in agreement, but he did not say how many paintings he still had. This was also a kind of negotiation. Of course, he would not expose his trump card in advance.

Sir Owen thought for a moment, then stretched out a hand and said, “Five! As long as you have five paintings of Picasso, I will exchange this bronze head sculpture with you.”

Qin Haodong said, “Sir Owen, you have to know that this is one of Picasso’s paintings. If you can receive it in your treasure vault, it will definitely help you become the first-class collector.”

Although he had 10 of these paintings in his hand and he could draw one in a few minutes, there were many treasures in Sir Owen’s place. He did not mind exchanging some of them and bringing them back to Huaxia.