Chapter 6: The Missing Masterpiece

  A decade of foreign concessions, the Oriental Pearl. An adventurer's paradise in this era, Magic Capital.

  Walking along the Huangpu River, Gao Yang looked at the quietly flowing Huangpu River beside him and suddenly thought that the Whampoa Military Academy should be opening soon, this is a big deal. Gao Yang, lost in thought, unknowingly walked to the Municipal Park. As he raised his head, his face darkened.

  Chinese and dogs not allowed inside. The large font pierced into Gao Yang's eyes, which slightly narrowed. Living in modern society all his life, Gao Yang had never encountered such a thing before. Although he had heard of being discriminated against during airport security checks abroad, this was the first time for Gao Yang, who had never been abroad.

  Gao Yang's chest heaved violently, and in a cold voice, he said to Yuan Dian, "Activate the striking ability." His face was red with rage, and from small to large, he had never encountered such a naked slap in the face.

  A San Ge, holding a police baton, looked at the imposing Gao Yang and felt his legs go weak. Since middle school, Gao Yang had been on the school football team and although he wasn't a professional athlete, his aura combined with his 1.8-meter height intimidated A San Ge, who didn't dare look him in the eye and hoped he was just passing by.

  They are always good at bullying the weak and fearing the strong, they never know what dignity is.

  What a pity that the three brothers didn't check the almanac today, although they don't even know what an almanac is. Gao Yang rushed straight to the third brother, and the third brother closest to Gao Yang had just opened his mouth but hadn't had time to say anything when he was stamped on the face by a 42-code shoe sole.

  With one kick, the sign was split in two, and Gao Yang spat out a mouthful of turbid air. Looking at the Ah San men groaning on the ground, his mood improved a lot. The people around him had cheers and applause, as well as indifference. Gao Yang didn't have the mood to care about them, he had to leave before the armed police came over. Although he had an energy shield ring, that required consuming energy points to replenish, something Gao Yang was unwilling to do casually.

  In Shanghai, as long as you have money, there's basically nothing you can't do. Gao Yang bought a two-story villa on Avenue Joffre in the French Concession as his base of operations in Shanghai.

  The next evening, in the VIP room of Maotai Bailemen, Gao Yang was bored and smoking. The songs and dances outside didn't interest him at all, and as for the singing, he felt it wasn't even as good as listening to rock music with earphones on.

  The door was pushed open and a well-dressed comprador with a large queue followed by an old white man with a white beard walked in.

  "Good evening, Mr. Rug." Gaoyang said with a smile.

  "Good evening, Mr. Gao." said a white-haired old man named Ruger as he extended his hand.

  "After exchanging pleasantries, both sides directly entered the topic. 'Mr. Ruger, this time inviting you for an interview is because there are some things I want to entrust to Lai and Yang's firm.' Gao Yang lit a cigarette."

  "Is there anything I can help you with, Mr. Gao?" Ruge also lit a cigar.

  "It's like this, I'd like to place an order for a batch of arms from your company. Also, I'd like to entrust your company to recruit a batch of mercenaries in your country." Gao Yang said with a smile.

  "I don't know who Mr. Gao is an agent of? The Lee and Yang company must follow the diplomatic policies of its home country and cannot arbitrarily sell arms. As for the matter of mercenaries, it's impossible for noble German soldiers to come and work as mercenaries for Chinese people." Ruge said proudly.

  Gao Yang spat out a smoke ring, staring at Ruger for a while, and suddenly burst out laughing. Under Ruger's angry gaze, Gao Yang's face calmed down, pointing at Ruger with the hand holding the cigarette, "Is your brain filled with wood from the forest? Diplomatic policy? A defeated Germany still has some diplomacy left, but now their economy is worthless, even less valuable than toilet paper. And you call yourself a noble soldier, yet you dare to invade Belgium, and after all these years, you've become a laughing stock."

  Lu Ge patted his chest, while the other hand trembled as he pointed at Gao Yang, who was so enraged that he couldn't speak for a moment. The purchasing agent beside him had already been stunned, having never seen anyone dare to be so arrogant in front of the foreign master.

  Before Ruge's furious face threw the coffee cup in front of him at Gaoyang, Gaoyang took out a check from his pocket and pushed it to Ruge. Looking at the check, Ruge's beard stopped trembling, and his face was no longer red. "This is the down payment," Gaoyang said, causing Ruge's hand to tremble again.

  "Selling arms can bring foreign exchange to your country, increase the operating rate of factories, and reduce unemployment. Hiring mercenaries can give those unemployed veterans who are causing trouble a source of income to support their families and stabilize social order. This is a good thing that I hold in my hands with a check, which countries wouldn't all rush to grab? How did you manage to get to this position? Are you Polish?" Gao Yang said disdainfully.

  Everything starts anew, as if the anger just now had never happened.

  "It's easy to talk about hiring soldiers, there are many hungry soldiers at home. But it's really hard to get ammunition, the British are watching very closely." Ruge entered a state.

  "200,000 guns can be sent to Ireland, can't even handle this small matter? Smuggling." Gaoyang said and handed over a document to Ruger, "This is the list, allocate goods according to this, this is the first batch. Hire more mercenaries, officers, money is not a problem." Gaoyang leaned back in his chair and picked up his coffee.

  Ruger picked up the list, 720 P08 Ruger pistols, 26,000 Mauser 98K rifles, 220 Mark IV machine guns, 114 76mm mortars, 36 105mm howitzers, and 58 75mm field guns. All ammunition in quantities of seventy base units.

  "Everything else is easy to say, but these cannons..." Ruge's words were not finished, Gao Yang had already picked up the coffee and said "For businessmen, there are no problems that cannot be solved with money."

  The next evening, at the villa of Baron von Sardon on Hengshan Road, the lights were red and the wine was green, where a party was being held. Gao Yang smiled and excused himself from the encirclement of middle-aged women with thick powder on their faces, holding his wine glass.

  He came to a deserted corner and with a flick of his wrist, the wine cup disappeared. He quietly hid his figure and headed towards Baron Sandalwood's collection room.

  Kōyō's mood was good, as this was the new mission given by Genpou. "The Baron Shazan Collection has two of Van Gogh's works. These two paintings are part of a set of four depicting a young girl in each of the seasons - Eugenie's Spring Song and Eugenie's Autumn Dance. The two paintings disappeared after being lost in Tokyo during World War II and have not been seen since." Genpou paused for a moment before continuing, "However, they are now inside Baron Shazan's collection room."

  Gao Yang was truly delighted, the two masterpieces not only could be exchanged for 2000 energy points, but also could be converted into a huge sum of money in his original time and space, which Gao Yang urgently needed. Such good fortune was not often encountered.

  The security of the Marquess's collection room was undoubtedly very high, only that it was for the 1920s. For a non-professional thief with super-tech gadgets from after '90, it would be child's play.

  Put the two paintings into storage. Gao Yang rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed. Although he was here to steal things, it was also to complete the task. However, the large pile of gold next to him made Gao Yang hesitate for 5 seconds. "Should I take it or not? Grandpa's treasure room doesn't exist in banks, does it? Gold is also a work of art?" Other artworks from the original timeline couldn't be taken back and sold.

  Gao Yang walked out with his wine glass, wandered around the party for a while, and then bid farewell to leave. Anyway, he didn't know Sha Xun either, just spent money to have someone bring him in.

  The next day, all the major newspapers in Shanghai reported on the bizarre theft case at Baron Sassoon's home. However, by then, Gao Yang had already returned to his original timeline and set off for Frankfurt with Mr. Jung, the manager of Sotheby's, as scheduled.

  As Gao Yang took out Van Gogh's painting from the flat box, Sotheby's reception room suddenly fell silent. Half a beat later, Rong Ge said in a hoarse voice to the staff beside him, "Go and invite Mr. General Manager, and also ask Mr. Malco to come over."

  Rong Ge originally thought that Gao Yang would bring some porcelain or something, never expecting it to be Van Gogh's work. Don't doubt Rong Ge's eyesight, as a reception manager who has seen countless top-notch art pieces, he knew at a glance that it was definitely Van Gogh's genuine work. Most importantly, he had no impression of these two paintings!

  Not long after, CEO William and Van Gogh's chief appraiser Marko arrived together.

  William accompanied Gao Yang for coffee and chat, and they even had lunch together in the afternoon. The appraisal work continued until evening.

  "It's confirmed that they are Eugenie's Four Seasons, Spring Song and Autumn Dance. I never thought I'd see these two missing paintings in my lifetime, it's truly an honor." Marko said to William with a slightly excited tone.

  "Mr. Smith, I'm offering you a sincere proposal on behalf of Sotheby's." William lit a cigar for Gao Yang and continued, "Sotheby's can hold a private auction for these two paintings. We'll invite interested and wealthy individuals to participate in the bidding. The matter of these two paintings will not be leaked out."

  "Who I sell them to is none of my concern, just tell me how much they're worth?" Gao Yang said to William as he leaned back on the sofa.

  "Mr. Smith, the other two paintings of The Four Seasons disappeared in Germany before the end of World War II. If all four were to appear together, they would fetch a world-shocking price. Each one is worth at least 50 million euros, and if sold together, the two would be worth at least 1.3 billion euros."

  "Same as last time, these two paintings will be pledged to Sotheby's first. Pledge 130 million euros to me, and then calculate the auction price again after the auction is over," said Gaoyang, puffing on his cigar, facing William.

  "No problem, Mr. Smith is looking forward to having more of your artwork consigned to us at Sotheby's, it was a pleasure doing business with you." William stood up and extended his hand.

  After returning to the country, Gao Yang handled the investment immigration procedures at the Swiss Embassy with a deposit certificate from a Swiss bank. Then rushed back home to spend the Spring Festival with his parents and told them frankly that he had broken up with his girlfriend due to emotional discord. After being comforted by his parents, he put down his emotions and spent the Spring Festival peacefully.

  The 7-day holiday passed in the blink of an eye, and I bid farewell to my parents and returned to Beijing. After checking out of the hotel room, I set off for Bern to resolve the identity issue and arrived at the villa I had previously purchased by 1924.

  What a coincidence, 1924 was also during the Spring Festival. Gao Yang excitedly observed the entire Spring Festival in Shanghai 90 years ago until he was summoned by Manager Lu.

  In the reception room of Lihua Yanghang, Ruger lit a cigar for Gao Yang and said, "Mr. Gao, our company has assembled military supplies from various places in Asia, except for the 105MM howitzer, all other weapons are complete, but there is only twenty-eight base numbers of ammunition." Looking at Gao Yang's face, he continued, "The domestic headquarters is already assembling the remaining materials and will set off with the recruited mercenaries around the end of March. It is expected to arrive in Modu around early July."

  Lu said to Gao Yang with some trepidation, "Mr. Gao, can we settle the balance first?"