"How about something to eat first?" Daniel wisely changed the topic, "My chef is very good at baking bread. You can eat some slices of bread first to fill your stomach. There are not many things to do at the party.
The only things that are enough to eat are some snacks and a variety of wines."
"No. Thank you. I'm not hungry yet."
It was actually a bit unnatural for Miranda to be alone with him just now. Fortunately, two bodyguards came over in time.
However, she still felt in her heart that Chen Feng's previous judgment of Daniel was a bit arbitrary. Although he may also have feelings for her, he has always been a restrained gentleman.
When Daniel saw her refusal, he didn't persist. But when he interrupted the topic just now, he naturally stopped continuing.
"By the way, you seemed to be asking me about the second painting just now. Let me continue talking about it." Daniel picked up the coffee, took a sip, and then continued, "Dali's second painting is
Works from his middle age, when he lived in the United States for eight years due to the war, leaving behind many works. Some of his paintings were sold privately to private individuals. This painting of mine is one of them, and has not been shown to the world before.
It has been made public. However, this painting has Dali's signature on it. After the original owner asked someone to identify it, he was not sure whether it was the original work of the master Dali, because it might be a forgery. Once, I learned about this through a friend
Something happened, so I took a look at it with great interest.
When I was a child, I was influenced by my family to study piano and painting. Although I didn’t have any great achievements later on, I still had the ability to appreciate music and paintings. After I looked at it carefully at the time, I decided that this was an authentic work by Master Dali.
So, I tried to buy it. At that time, I had just graduated from Yale, and I was much more mature than when I was nineteen years old. After some bargaining, the man just needed money urgently, so he accepted me for $90,000.
Later, I spent two thousand US dollars to reframe the painting. In addition, through my connections, I found an expert from the auction house and confirmed that it was an authentic work by Master Dali, with an estimated value of around US$4 million. Of course, this
It was the price at that time. It has been almost twenty years now. If it were put up for auction, I think the price would definitely double."
Miranda couldn't help but sigh after hearing this: "Those two people are really miserable. They originally had millions of wealth, but in the end they could only get so little."
Daniel laughed and said: "Landa, you are really a very sympathetic person. In fact, this kind of thing is common in the collection world. Many people just don't understand the value of these works of art and treat them as ordinary
To deal with decorative paintings. In addition, Dali was not very popular among collectors in the past, and Dali fever has only slowly become popular in the past ten years. His works are also becoming more and more popular among collectors.
Especially his early works, they are very rare. Five years ago, an auction house sold an early work by Dali, and the final transaction price was US$5 million. My work without Dali's signature was ten years old.
A while ago, someone offered to buy it for US$3 million, but I refused. Now, if it were put up for auction, I think it would be at least no less than US$10 million."
Of course, Miranda didn't know anything about art and collections before. After listening to Daniel's story, she couldn't help but become interested in art and collections. The reason is very simple. Money moves people's hearts. After more than ten years, Daniel spent one hundred thousand dollars.
, in exchange for a return of more than a hundred times. Who wouldn’t be tempted by this?
"Danny, you are so awesome." Miranda praised sincerely, "The return on investment of this artwork is too high."
Daniel felt Miranda's eyes with envy and adoration, and felt very happy. Although he had experienced this situation many times before, this time because the target was Miranda, he couldn't help but feel huge.
A sense of satisfaction and vanity.
Humans are animals that crave to be praised, and Daniel is no exception.
"Not all investments in art have returns. It's like stocks. You can make money by buying them, but of course you can also lose money by buying them. Whether you make money or lose money depends on your eyesight and rich knowledge of art appreciation."
When Daniel was talking enthusiastically, the cell phone in his jacket pocket suddenly rang. He had to take out the cell phone to check, but the screen displayed an unknown number.
Daniel couldn't help but feel stunned. After hesitating for two seconds, he hung up the phone.
But just as he hung up, the phone rang again, and the "unknown number" was still displayed on the screen.
This time, Daniel answered the call.
"Hello, hello." Daniel said hello first. This is the basic etiquette of making a phone call.
"Hello, Mr. Daniel. I'm glad to call you." An awkward mechanical sound came from the phone.
Daniel's heart suddenly shivered, and he immediately stood up and asked in a bad tone: "Who are you?"
As he spoke, he walked further inside with his cell phone, avoiding Miranda.
"You don't need to know who I am. As long as you know that I have something in my hand that you are afraid of."
Being threatened by the other party, Daniel was furious and cursed in a low voice: "You bastard. Who are you targeting? Believe it or not, I will call the police immediately and find out you bastard."
"Haha. Yesterday, I filmed the entire car ride between you and Darif. What do you think if I send this information to the Los Angeles Times or National Entertainment News?"
Daniel was suddenly struck by lightning. He asked himself that he had been careful enough, but he was still secretly photographed. You know, he is not a star after all, and has been working behind the scenes in film production. He is not very high-profile on weekdays, and is basically very quiet.
Accept less interviews from the media.
Therefore, for those paparazzi reporters, he had no newsprint at all. This time he was suddenly threatened with being beaten, and he knew that he was deliberately targeted.
Daniel was not a rookie. He had experienced a lot in the vanity fair of Hollywood. He immediately forced himself to calm down. He did not seek confirmation immediately.
Instead, he took his mobile phone and walked into the bathroom downstairs, then turned around and locked the door. Then he lowered his voice and asked through gritted teeth on the phone: "What on earth do you want to do? Do you want to blackmail me? I think you are.
If you find the wrong person, I am not afraid of being threatened. My uncle is a state legislator, my father is the chairman of WJH Group, and I also have a net worth of hundreds of millions. You must know the consequences of angering me."
"You don't need to be so nervous. In order to avoid making you think that I am talking nonsense, I suggest you check your personal email first. I will call you in five minutes."
"Hey! Hey! Bastard, shit." Daniel's face was gloomy, and he slapped the wall hard with one hand. His hand felt pain and he almost screamed.
Although he was extremely angry, he did not dare to waste time and came out of the bathroom immediately.
"Danny, what's wrong with you?" Miranda asked curiously on the sofa.
Daniel's expression changed drastically after he answered a phone call just now. Now when he came out of the bathroom, his expression was even more ugly. He couldn't hide it even if he wanted to.
"It's okay." Daniel forced out a smile, "Sorry, I have something to do when I go up first, so you sit down first."
Of course, he now had no intention of further flirting with Miranda. After saying this, he hurried upstairs.
Miranda couldn't help but look confused.
Five minutes later, Daniel, who was sitting at the computer desk, had just finished watching three photos and a short video. His face became even more gloomy and terrifying, and there was a hint of fear in his eyes.
The United States is a country that attaches great importance to family and marriage, although this country is also famous for its openness to sex. If you are not married, you can make female (male) friends of the opposite sex or even the same sex at will, and even change one a day, or every few days.
Even if he cheats on you, it won't attract much heated discussion and public attention.
But if you are married and have a family, you have an affair during the marriage or a third party interferes in destroying other people's families. This kind of thing is zero-tolerated in the United States, especially for public figures. It will be frowned upon by the entire society and public opinion.
resistance and condemnation.
In fact, this principle is basically universal all over the world, but it is especially strict in the United States.
And Darif is a married woman. She has a husband and a three-year-old daughter. If the affair between him and her car is exposed, not only will his reputation be completely ruined, but his career will be completely ruined.
It may even lead to a series of legal proceedings due to the chain reaction of economic losses caused by this incident.
Just thinking about the terrible consequences made him shudder.
When the five minutes were up, the phone rang on time.
"Have you seen it? What do you think?" It's still the same mechanical voice with a changed voice.
"What do you want?" The other party held something that could ruin his reputation, and Daniel had to bow his head.
"Very good. First of all, you must donate five million US dollars to the United Nations Children's Fund in the name of Jack Lee. It must be completed within an hour. If you cannot do it, you Che Zhen will appear on the rfddit forum in an hour.
Videos and photos. To be honest, I have actually wanted to do this for a long time. The timer has started."
The rfddit forum is the largest content aggregation website in the United States, including all kinds of news and gossip.
After saying this, the other party hung up the phone again, not giving Daniel a chance to speak at all.
Daniel was so angry that he picked up his phone and almost threw it on the ground, but thinking that the other party would contact him an hour later, he could only hold it back.
Donating 5 million US dollars to the United Nations Children's Fund within one hour is enough time. Especially if it is an anonymous donation, it is even less particular. Just transfer the money directly to the UNICEF's external fundraising account.
It's just that this is 5 million US dollars. The liquidity on hand is actually not as much as 5 million. Most of his assets are placed in investments. Americans do not have the habit of depositing cash in the bank to earn interest and not use it.
and tradition.
Therefore, it is also a very troublesome thing for him to raise US$5 million in cash within an hour.
After gritting his teeth for two minutes, Daniel finally had no choice but to call his financial advisor and inquire about the specific amount of liquid funds in his name.
As a result, the financial consultant told him that his working capital was only more than 800,000 US dollars. Compared with his billions, it was really pitiful.
"Can you mobilize 5 million US dollars for me right now? Can you do it within half an hour?" Daniel frowned and asked anxiously.
"If it is within half an hour, you must pledge some of your financial products and then cash out quickly. This may cause some losses."
Daniel endured the heartache and said in a deep voice: "Just do it. Try to avoid losses."
Daniel put down the phone, feeling a little lost. He swore in his heart that as soon as this crisis passed, he would spend a lot of money to find out the guy who made the voice-change call and cut him into pieces.
While he was thinking this, his cell phone rang suddenly, which startled him. When he saw that the screen displayed was not an unknown number, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, he realized that it was Miranda's number. Of course, he had no interest in her at all, but he still answered her call.
"Danny, what's wrong with you? Why haven't you come down yet after being up there for so long?" Miranda waited downstairs for more than ten minutes without seeing him come down. Sitting on the sofa alone was too boring. She also felt that Daniel was like this.
This is not the way to treat guests, so I started to complain a little bit.
"Sorry, Randa. Today's party may have to be cancelled. I have something urgent to deal with."
When Miranda heard what he said, she felt even more dissatisfied. Isn't this just a joke? He brought her to his home specially, and before even talking a few words, he issued an eviction order.
Miranda is a person who cares about face. Since Daniel didn't seem to welcome her very much, she certainly had no intention of staying. She immediately turned cold and said, "OK. I'll leave then."
"Landa..."
Daniel still wanted to explain a few words, but Miranda had already hung up the phone. Daniel was extremely depressed, but at this time he no longer felt like calling her again.
With the efforts of the financial consultant, we finally raised US$5 million in cash within the stipulated hour, and then transferred it to the UNICEF fundraising account with Jack Lee's signature."
Because the operation was done online, Daniel endured his heartbreak and took a screenshot as proof.
An hour later, the damn cell phone rang again. Daniel immediately answered the call and said, "I did what you said. Can you delete those data?"
"Very good. I just saw it. But these five million dollars won't let me let you go."
Although Daniel was mentally prepared and knew that the other party would not let him go easily, he still couldn't help but get furious when he heard what he said.
"Damn you bastard! What do you want? Give you money? Tell me the number."
"Haha, let's do it. Next, you donate another 5 million US dollars to the WHO."
"Asshole, are you kidding me? I will never agree."