Chapter nine hundred and sixty seventh fake painting
For nobles, a birthday dinner, eating and drinking are not important things. The most important thing is giving gifts!
For birthday stars, the better and more gifts they receive on their birthdays, the more respect they will have.
For the guests attending the banquet, the more expensive and rare the gift, the more honorable it is.
Slowly, over hundreds of years, gift-giving has become the most important part of noble birthday banquets.
Ryan Portman's physical condition has improved a lot at this time. He sits at the center round table, Prince Wesley sits on his left, Natalie sits on his right, and Lin Zhiming
He sat on Natalie's right hand side, and the other seats were occupied by Ryan Portman's relatives.
When the butler Payton announced the start of the dinner, nearly a thousand guests in the hall took out their carefully prepared gifts and came to Ryan Portman and gave them to Ryan Portman.
"Lord Bit sent a pair of Pisces jade pendants, ancient artifacts from the Dragon Kingdom!"
"Marquis Marta sent a pair of gold and pearl bracelets..."
"Duke Bonuman sent a pair of fangs of a red flame beast from the battlefield outside the territory..."
The butler shouted out the gifts that each person brought. Some people brought precious things, which caused bursts of cheers from the scene. Others brought mediocre things, and the scene was filled with silence.
Express everyone’s emotions.
The gifts were placed one by one, and soon they became a small mountain.
Thousands of gifts are no joke, the total value of these gifts alone exceeds one billion!
If a birthday gift exceeds one billion, it is estimated that this will only appear in the aristocratic circle of the corrupt country.
Soon, all the guests' gifts were delivered.
Then it was the turn of the people at the main table.
Prince Wesley was the first to take out the gift.
His gift was a large sapphire.
"His Royal Highness Prince Wesley sent a Heart of the Ocean Sapphire!" the butler shouted.
There were waves of exclamations at the scene.
Heart of the Ocean is known as the most precious sapphire in history. The value of one piece is more than one billion. And even if you have one billion, you can't buy it because it was collected by the royal family many years ago and will not be taken out at all.
Sell.
Unexpectedly, Wesley actually took it out and gave it to Duke Bauhinia today.
This can be regarded as the most expensive birthday gift in the whole audience, no one can compare with it.
Of course, no one would be foolish enough to compare with the royal family.
There were bursts of applause!
Prince Wesley smiled slightly and seemed quite satisfied with everyone's reaction.
"Father, I carefully selected a gift for you." Natalie took out a box and handed it to Ryan Portman.
Ryan Portman opens the box.
Inside was a pair of small ballet shoes. The shoes looked to be old, and they looked like they were worn by children.
"These are the shoes I wore when I first learned ballet. I wore them for two years until I couldn't wear them anymore, so I washed them and put them away. They represent my childhood. Today I give them to you.
." Natalie said.
Seeing this pair of shoes, Ryan Portman's eyes were so moved that his eyes turned red. He hugged Natalie and said touchedly, "Thank you, my daughter."
"Miss Natalie sent me a pair of ballet shoes from my childhood." The housekeeper shouted from the side with a smile.
There were bursts of applause at the scene. This pair of ballet shoes actually cost less than ten yuan, but they represented Natalie's childhood, and what Ryan Portman lacked was Natalie's childhood. So, in a sense,
, the significance of this pair of ballet shoes transcends everything, not even the heart of the ocean can compare to it.
After a long time, the applause stopped.
Lin Zhiming took out a box from the bag behind him and handed it to the housekeeper.
"This is a painting by Mr. Millsap that I specially found someone to collect. I know that Mr. Duke likes art, so I gave this painting to Mr. Duke. I hope he likes it!" Lin Zhiming said.
The housekeeper opened the box and took a look, then shouted loudly, "Master Lin Zhiming sent a painting by Millsap."
"Thank you, Zhiming!" Ryan Portman said with a smile.
Although this gift from Lin Zhiming was not earth-shattering, it was still quite precious, so there were bursts of applause at the scene.
But at this moment, Auden stood up with a surprised expression on his face.
"Mr. Lin, where did you get this painting?" Auden asked.
"I acquired this painting from a good friend of mine. He is a loyal fan of Millsap and has many of Millsap's paintings!" Lin Zhiming said.
"That's strange!" said Auden.
"What's wrong?" Ryan Portman asked.
"Uncle, what I have prepared for you today is also a painting by Mr. Millsap. I personally bought this painting from Mr. Millsap many years ago," Auden said.
"Oh? Really? Then take it out and have a look!" Ryan Portman said.
Auden quickly took out a box, opened it in front of everyone, and took out the oil painting in the box.
When this oil painting appeared in front of everyone, there were waves of exclamations.
It turned out that this painting was exactly the same as the one given by Lin Zhiming before!
Two identical oil paintings! This is amazing.
If this is a painting by an ordinary artist, it is possible that this artist painted two paintings. However, this is a painting by Millsap. It is impossible for Millsap to paint two identical paintings, so there must be something between the two paintings.
The picture is fake!
So whose painting is fake?
At Duke Bauhinia's birthday dinner, whoever brings a fake painting will be really embarrassed!
Natalie looked at the two paintings on the table and was also stunned.
She looked at Lin Zhiming, then at Oden, and her expression began to turn ugly little by little.
In her opinion, it is impossible for Auden to just come up with a painting that is the same as the one sent by Lin Zhiming. Therefore, it is possible that all this is designed by Auden. Since he can design such a thing, what will happen to the painting?
This shows that he knew in advance what the painting Lin Zhiming sent looked like.
However, this painting has always been in her safe!
How did Auden know?
Could it be that he has opened his safe?!
A look of horror slowly appeared on Natalie's face, and this was the only reasonable explanation she could think of.
If this is really the case, the painting in Lin Zhiming's hand is most likely fake, and she has indirectly become Auden's accomplice! After all, she was the one who did not value the painting!
Many thoughts flashed through Natalie's mind instantly, and at the same time, Prince Wesley spoke.
"Why are there two paintings by Master Millsap? Master Millsap never painted two identical paintings!" Wesley asked doubtfully.
"I don't know either, Your Highness, but I can be 100% sure that this painting of mine is authentic, because... I personally bought this painting from Master Millsap. I went to Millsap specifically at that time.
I saw this painting in the master's studio and liked it very much, so I bought it." Auden said seriously.
Hearing what Oden said, all the nobles present turned their attention to Lin Zhiming.
Auden said that he bought his paintings from Millsap, while Lin Zhiming said that he bought them from his friends. Of the two, Lin Zhiming was undoubtedly more likely to buy fake paintings than Auden.
"Mr. Lin, you said you bought this painting from a friend of yours?" Wesley asked.
"Yes!" Lin Zhiming nodded.
"Then your friend...where did he get this painting?" Prince Wesley asked.
"This...he basically buys it from Master Millsap himself, but he also buys it from some collectors." Lin Zhiming explained.
"Oh..." Prince Wesley nodded and said, "If that's the case, then it's not impossible for you to buy a fake painting!"
"It's impossible. This painting was given to me by a very good friend of mine. There's no way he could have sold me a fake painting!" Lin Zhiming said excitedly.
"Mr. Lin, in the oil painting business, many people cheat so-called good friends. We must be more cautious when buying these things. It is best to find the painter himself, or the artist's relatives or studio.
This way, the paintings you buy will be authentic and you will not be laughed at if you give them as gifts." Auden said calmly.
Lin Zhiming stood there, looking extremely embarrassed.
The people around looked at Lin Zhiming, some with joking expressions, and some with mocking expressions.
In front of thousands of nobles, Lin Zhiming sent a fake painting. Such a performance was enough to make him the biggest laughing stock of the evening. Even the Redbud Duke Ryan Portman would be embarrassed because of it.
"Father, I know he may have been deceived by a friend." Natalie explained.
"I know that although it is a fake painting, at least he has the heart, so it doesn't matter." Ryan Portman said.
It was obvious that both father and daughter were trying their best to help Lin Zhiming save face.
However, Oden did not intend to simply let Lin Zhiming go.
"Uncle, it's hard to say whether Mr. Lin has that kind of heart. It's also possible that he knew it was a fake painting and deliberately spent a small amount of money to buy this painting for you. If he hadn't happened to bump into me
Together, then who among us would know that he sent a fake painting?" Auden said.
Ryan Portman frowned slightly and said, "Zhi Ming is not that kind of person."
"My boyfriend is not that stingy. He has a lot of money." Natalie also said.
"Natalie, money and generosity cannot be equated. Although some people are rich, they care about everything and like to use the smallest amount of money to do the biggest thing. You don't understand!" Auden said.
Auden's words made Lin Zhiming's face become even more ugly.
However, at this moment, Lin Zhiming suddenly spoke.