“Such an ancient painting, only you recognize its value, young man. It’s fate.”
Arlene almost fainted when she heard the shop owner’s words.
She had seen many absurd things, but this was the most ridiculous statement she had ever heard.
Leo nodded in agreement. “Boss, how much for this painting?”
“Since you and this painting are fated, I’ll give you a discount. Eight thousand dollars!” The shop owner wore an earnest expression.
Arlene quickly exclaimed, “Eight thousand dollars! Are you kidding? Not even eighty dollars! Leo, let’s go!”
As she spoke, Arlene tried to pull Leo away.
To her surprise, Leo took out his wallet and pulled out a bank card. “Can I pay by card?”
“Yes, no extra fee.” The shop owner was overjoyed; today was his lucky day.
“Leo, are you crazy?!” Arlene pouted in dissatisfaction.
Leo turned and winked at her before following the shop owner into the store.
After swiping the card, the shop owner carefully placed the painting in an exquisite tube and handed it to Leo with both hands.
As they left, the shop owner waved goodbye. “Young man, if you need more antiques, come to me. I’ll give you the best deal!”
In all his years of running an antique business, the shop owner had never met such a generous customer.
Seeing Leo’s delighted expression, Arlene snorted. “Tell me, what’s so special about this painting?”
“Arlene, this painting contains another painting,” Leo said with a smile.
“A painting within a painting? What do you mean?” Arlene didn’t understand.
“It means there’s another painting hidden beneath this one.”
“Really?”
“Of course, I’m not mistaken.” Leo had already used his spiritual sense to check.
The inner layer of the painting also depicted a tree and a tiger, almost overlapping with the outer layer.
However, the inner tiger was a realistic tiger, not the cartoonish one on the outer layer.
Seeing Leo’s confident expression, Arlene couldn’t help but praise him. “You’re amazing. If we take this back, my sister will be thrilled.”
They continued browsing for paintings and left the antique market with three pieces, including Tiger’s Roar in the Forest that Leo bought.
Back at the antique shop, when Leo unrolled Tiger’s Roar in the Forest in front of Christine, she was initially stunned and then exclaimed, “What is this!?”
“Sis, it’s a painting within a painting,” Arlene reminded her.
“A painting within a painting? Really?” Christine’s face lit up with excitement.
Leo nodded affirmatively.
Christine knew well about Leo’s abilities. After the initial excitement, she became worried. “A painting within a painting is precious, but if we don’t extract it, its value can’t be realized. How can we separate it?”
“Just tear it open?” Leo joked.
“No way! If we damage the inner painting, it’ll be ruined. Sis, we don’t necessarily have to separate it. We just need to prove it’s a painting within a painting,” Arlene suggested.
“But how can we prove it? Ordinary people at the exhibition won’t see its hidden value,” Christine pondered.
In a private room at a restaurant, Zakari and Ethan were discussing important matters.
“Are you sure you want to do this at the Ghost Scholar Exhibition?” Zakari was uncertain.
“To bring them down, it must be done at the exhibition. Don’t worry; if it succeeds, I’ll reward you handsomely,” Ethan enticed.
Zakari’s eyes lit up. “What reward?”
“After it’s done, how about I let you run the antique shop?”
Zakari laughed. “That’s your big reward? Don’t be ridiculous. That shop barely makes any money.”
“Ethan, you don’t understand. There’s an old saying in the antique business: ‘Three years without business, one big sale feeds three years.’ The profit margins are huge.”
“Besides, that shop has been in my family for decades. Any random antique there could sell for tens or hundreds of thousands.”
Ethan’s words reminded Zakari of the two antiques he had just broken in the shop-worth twenty-six thousand dollars!
So his eyes brightened again. “Really? You’re not fooling me?”
Ethan nodded solemnly.
Zakari had been around long enough to know there’s no such thing as a free lunch. He asked directly, “What’s your condition?”
“My condition is simple: make sure those two sisters can’t survive in the antique business!”
Zakari didn’t expect such an easy condition. Compared to the reward, it was hardly a condition at all.
If he didn’t agree to this, he’d be crazy.
So Zakari readily agreed with Ethan. They exchanged ideas amicably and discussed further actions.
Back at the antique shop, the three of them couldn’t find a good way to extract the inner painting after hours of research.
Out of options, Arlene called Karson Ballard.
When he answered, Arlene explained the situation about the painting within a painting.
After listening, Karson Ballard pondered for a moment and said, “I don’t have a solution for this kind of painting either. Let me contact a physics professor to see if we can use physical methods to extract it.”
“Karson Ballard, thank you. How about we set up a time?” Arlene said politely.
“How about now? Let’s go to Imperial College together. The professor is a friend of mine and will be there this afternoon.”
After hanging up, Arlene and Leo took the painting and headed to Karson Ballard’s house.
After picking up Karson Ballard, they went straight to Imperial College.
With Karson Ballard leading them, Leo and Arlene arrived at the physics lab.
The professor Karson Ballard sought help from was named William Wang.
Professor Wang was a big name in physics; he handled major national research projects.
Techniques for revealing hidden paintings were common; X-ray spectroscopy could do it easily with a few graduate students.
However, most international cases involved oil paintings because they could be layered on canvas. Traditional Chinese paintings rarely had hidden layers, so Professor Wang was intrigued and personally prepared the equipment for their arrival.
“Professor Wang, your treasure is here!” Karson Ballard announced loudly as they entered the lab.
William Wang put down his equipment and approached them. “Welcome. What are your names?”
“He’s Leo and she’s Arlene,” Karson Ballard introduced them.
William Wang nodded and said, “Mr. Bloomer, can you show me the painting?”