The next day, morning.
After having breakfast with Su Xiaoxiao, Tang Yuan leisurely walked to the parking lot.
Based on his attire for the day, he selected a white Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta and slowly drove out of the campus.
About twenty minutes later, Tang Yuan drove to the Zhonghai Center Building in Lu Jiazu. After parking the Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta in the underground parking lot, he took the elevator to the 56th floor.
This was the Poly International Auction House's office in Shanghai. Since Tang Yuan had handled auction procedures here before, he was familiar with the place and quickly found it.
"Hello, sir. May I ask what service you would like to handle?"
As soon as Tang Yuan entered, the receptionist at the Poly Shanghai office immediately stood up. The girl was poised and graceful, and her voice was gentle and pleasant as she asked Tang Yuan.
"Hello, I'm here to pick up the auction items." Tang Yuan opened a text message on his phone: "Last night, your Poly International headquarters reminded me that my auction items have been delivered to the Shanghai office."
Upon hearing this, the girl took Tang Yuan's phone with both hands to confirm, then extended her hand and respectfully welcomed Tang Yuan: "Mr. Tang, please come this way."
Tang Yuan nodded slightly. After taking back his phone, he followed the girl into the office and was eventually led into a high-end reception room, where the general manager of the office personally received him.
After exchanging pleasantries, they began the various handover procedures.
Involving funds exceeding ten million, the entire process was somewhat cumbersome, and it took Tang Yuan nearly half an hour to complete all the handovers.
"Swish!"
When all the procedures were completed, Tang Yuanpicked up the fan personally inscribed by Zhang Daqian. With a gentle flick of his right hand, this eight-million-yuan fan fully opened.
On the front of the fan, the scenery of Luofu Mountain was vivid and lifelike, featuring high mountains and small paths, turbulent currents, waterfalls hanging over rivers, and multi-eaved mansions. The entire painting was brightly colored, and because it was painted on a gold-leaf fan surface, the strong warm-cold contrast between the gold and the green mountains and water made it appear magnificent and subtly revealed a profound and distant artistic conception.
On the back, Zhang Daqian had written two poems from his 'Emei Travelogue' in running script. Both the verses and the calligraphy were exquisite, complementing the landscape on the front perfectly, truly a match made in heaven.
"Entering Luofu, the worldly dream awakens; the three folds of the zither heart, the Dao is initially formed."
"Mount Kuanglu has been dusty recently; the waterfall should be ashamed of the sound here."
Tang Yuan slowly recited the poems on the fan, his fondness undisguised: "It's too perfect. This fan, viewed up close, is thousands of times better than the pictures. This eight million yuan was truly well spent!"
Zhang Zhishan, the general manager of Poly International's Shanghai office, who was sitting next to Tang Yuan, heard Tang Yuan's exclamation and immediately echoed: "Mr. Tang, common collectible fans are usually nine inches long, and fans over a foot are extremely rare. The fan in your hand, however, reaches an astonishing one foot two inches in length. Its opening and closing exude grandeur, and both the fan bones and fan surface are specially customized, all crafted by Sheng Bingyun, the foremost bamboo carving master of modern times."
"Hmm..."
"The fan handle does feel somewhat unique."
Tang Yuan's fingers lightly brushed over the fan bones, and he nodded slightly in response.
"Not only that, before the auction of this fan, our Poly International Auction House specially hired cultural relic protection experts who used modern technology to apply special plastic sealing protection to the fan surface. This special material appears invisible and colorless, yet it can protect the fan extremely well, giving it a certain degree of water, fire, and corrosion resistance."
Seeing Tang Yuan's interest, Zhang Zhishan spoke again to introduce it.
"Oh?"
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I really wouldn't have noticed."
Tang Yuan showed a hint of surprise, then pointed to the other four fans: "Are these four fans also specially plastic-sealed for protection?"
Zhang Zhishan shook his head: "Mr. Tang, among all the auction items in the entire fan special session, only the fan in your hand, due to its high value, received special plastic sealing protection. The other fans did not receive special plastic sealing protection."
Upon hearing this, Tang Yuan roughly understood that the special plastic sealing protection Zhang Zhishanmentioned would likely not be easy to implement and would probably be very costly. Ordinary auction items, being of insufficient grade, clearly would not qualify for this level of protection.
However, for Tang Yuan, it was enough that this fan personally inscribed by Zhang Daqian had the special plastic sealing protection technology. Because among these five fans, Tang Yuan particularly loved this one. Although the other four fans each had their own unique characteristics, they appeared somewhat overshadowed in the presence of Zhang Daqian's fan.
"It just so happens that the weather in Shanghai is still a bit hot lately, so carrying a fan is a good choice."
If Zhang Zhishan knew what Tang Yuan was thinking at that moment, he would probably be shocked.
Using an eight-million-yuan collectible fan as an ordinary fan to cool himself?
Could a normal person do something like this?
A normal person indeed couldn't do such a thing, but Tang Yuan was clearly not an ordinary person. Anyway, the system didn't allow Tang Yuan to resell these collectibles, which meant they were destined to belong solely to Tang Yuan for his entire life. So, instead of keeping them locked away, it was better to put them to good use.
Holding the fan personally inscribed by Zhang Daqian, Tang Yuan admired it for a moment, then put it back into its collection box. At the same time, he asked Zhang Zhishan: "Are all the procedures settled? If everything is done, then I'll be leaving."
"Mr. Tang, it's only two hours until noon. Why don't you stay and have a simple meal with us?" For a major client like Tang Yuan, Zhang Zhishan naturally wanted to build a connection and win him over. So, upon hearing that Tang Yuan was about to leave, he immediately extended an invitation to Tang Yuan.
Tang Yuan smiled and politely declined: "Manager Zhang, let's skip the meal. I have something else to do later. Another day, perhaps."
Seeing that Tang Yuan was not being polite, Zhang Zhishan did not try to persuade him further: "Mr. Tang, would it be convenient to add WeChat? Besides public auctions, our Poly International Auction Houseoccasionally holds small-scale appraisal events, appreciation events, private auctions, and various other activities. These are usually only for our high-end clients of Poly International Auction House."
"If there are similar events in the future, I will contact you in advance. You can choose to participate in these activities based on your time and preferences. Furthermore, if you make any future bids at Poly International Auction House, I can personally contact you and handle the handover procedures at your location, saving you the trouble of driving here again."
Zhang Zhishan's attitude was very humble. In the auction industry, people who can casually throw tens of millions into collecting might seem numerous, but when spread across the country, there aren't many left.
Even though Shanghai is a super first-tier city, economically developed with billionaires everywhere, the number of people who can casually spend tens of millions in a single auction is less than a hundred. Such individuals are often huge potential assets, and each one requires Zhang Zhishan to meticulously maintain relationships.
Tang Yuan was clearly a potential asset in Zhang Zhishan's eyes.
"Hmm..."
"That sounds good."
"Then let's add WeChat. You scan me."
Tang Yuan nodded slightly, his interest piqued by Zhang Zhishan's words. So he took out his phone, opened his WeChat QR code, and added Zhang Zhishan on WeChat.
After adding WeChat, the two exchanged a few more brief pleasantries. Tang Yuan then picked up the fan worth over ten million yuan and, under Zhang Zhishan's personal respectful escort, left the Poly International Shanghai office...
Patrick_Djan thank you for the power stone ....