"Yo!"
You've gotten bold, huh?
Dare to curse at people now?
Who gave you the guts?
Li Congxin immediately exerted force with his feet, his speed soaring to its peak in an instant as he chased after the gangsters.
Poor little punks. How could their running speed possibly match Li Congxin, who was approaching the limits of human ability?
They hadn't even run a few steps before Li Congxin caught up with them. Then, while letting the other side use both hands against his one, Li Congxin knocked all seven of them down in a minute.
Received 7 Impression Points from Morrison Gerard!
Received from...
"You little brats, how dare you question me?" Holding the briefcase in one hand, Li Congxin swept his cold gaze over the seven punks. "Do you believe me now?"
"We believe you!"
"We absolutely believe you!"
"We'll believe whatever you say, sir!"
Li Congxin nodded in satisfaction, then asked again, "What about this Van Gogh original in my hand? Do you still want to rob me?"
"No!" One of the quicker-responding punks immediately spoke up. "How would we dare rob you of anything?"
The other punks hurriedly nodded in agreement.
Then...
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"As street thugs, you actually won't rob someone when you see such an expensive painting? Do you have any professional standards? Any professional ethics? Any professional principles? Any—"
Received 8 Impression Points from Morrison Gerard!
Received from...
After another beating, Li Congxin happily checked the increase in his Impression Points and nodded in satisfaction. He asked again, "What about now? Do you still want to rob me of this Van Gogh Sunflowers?"
"Rob you!"
"Right, of course we want to rob something this valuable!"
Li Congxin gave their professional dedication at that moment his full approval. "Mm, very good!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"You dare rob me of my things? You've got some nerve!"
Received 9 Impression Points from Morrison Gerard!
Received from...
"Now then..."
Before Li Congxin could finish his question, the punks began wailing, "Please, sir! Whatever you say goes. As long as you don't hit us anymore, we'll do anything you want!"
"Right, right, right! Stop hitting us. Someone's going to die if you keep it up."
"Hero, spare our lives!"
Seeing the punks covered in tears and snot, Li Congxin could only shake his head helplessly.
They were giving up already?
"How boring." After tossing out that remark, Li Congxin lost all interest in continuing to bully them. He turned around and disappeared at the mouth of the alley.
"Morrison." After a long while, once they were sure Li Congxin had gone far away, one of the punks suddenly asked another, "Looks like this place isn't safe anymore. Should we change locations next time? Do you have any good recommendations?"
"Recommendations, my ass!"
The punk named Morrison said irritably, "From today onward, I'm going to be a good person!"
"Right! Right! Right!" another punk echoed repeatedly. "I'm going to apply for a job as a supermarket clerk, and apply to be a security guard at a mall..."
"That's right! There's no way I'm going to be a thug anymore. Never again in this lifetime!"
"This is way too dangerous. We're practically risking our lives!"
And so, this group of lawless little punks, under Li Congxin's caring education, decided to abandon evil and embrace goodness, turning over a new leaf. How wonderful!
My ass!
Hiding at the mouth of the alley and preparing to make a surprise return attack after hearing them curse him behind his back, Li Congxin became even more depressed when he heard their vows to reform.
Another group of promising ruffians had gone straight.
This business was getting harder and harder to do!
Thus, Li Congxin fought his way through all obstacles and returned home.
When Hope came over like an inquisitive child, Li Congxin directly tossed the briefcase into her arms. "The inheritance is this thing. If you understand it, help me identify which deadbeat painter made it. There's also a flash drive, but I won't show you that."
After saying that, Li Congxin walked into his room on his own.
Insert the flash drive, turn on the computer... enter boot-from-USB mode.
Li Congxin: ...
He was too impatient and had made an operational mistake...
Turn off the computer, unplug the flash drive, turn on the computer, insert the flash drive... This time it worked!
Seeing the hardware driver successfully displayed in the lower-right corner of the screen, Li Congxin double-clicked it open with some anticipation.
Then...
Please enter the password.
WTF!
This thing actually had a password!
At a loss, Li Congxin immediately entered his own birthday, and then...
Incorrect password. Please try again...
His father's birthday...
Incorrect password. Please try again...
His mother Martha's birthday...
Incorrect password...
He combined all three birthdays!
And then, once again...
Incorrect password. Please try again!
Li Congxin racked his brains and thought hard for half an hour. He tested more than fifty passwords, but without exception, every single one was wrong!
Feeling that he had completely failed to figure the thing out, Li Congxin turned and left the room. He saw Old Pi holding a magnifying glass and carefully examining the oil painting he had brought home, while Hope stood curiously beside him, pretending to understand as she looked along.
"Um." Li Congxin cleared his throat softly and asked, "This oil painting is the last inheritance my parents left behind. Pym Uncle, do you know any experts in this field? I'd like to hire someone to appraise it. I'm willing to pay."
"No need." Only then did Old Pi withdraw his gaze. With complete confidence, he said, "I'm an expert in this field. My eyesight is absolutely no worse than those famous appraisers'. It's just that I don't have a professional license, so I can't issue an appraisal certificate for you."
Li Congxin was delighted when he heard that. Whether there was a certificate or not was irrelevant.
As long as the painting was real, he could always find someone to issue a certificate later. If he wanted to auction it, the auction house would have someone specifically responsible for handling the authentication.
Besides, Li Congxin wasn't short of money right now. He simply wanted to know what the painting's background was.
"From what you're saying, Pym Uncle, you've already identified the painting's origins?"
Old Pi nodded slightly, then looked at Li Congxin with contempt. "That deadbeat painter you mentioned was a Dutchman named Vincent Willem van Gogh. These Sunflowers are one of the works in his lifelong masterpiece series, Sunflowers."
By this point, Li Congxin had fallen into a daze.
Although he knew almost nothing about oil paintings, he had still heard of Van Gogh's Sunflowers.
It was like how many people never wore watches, but that didn't stop them from knowing that the world's top watch brand was Patek Philippe.
Whether they could tell if a Patek Philippe was made in Switzerland or in Tanggu was another matter entirely.
At that moment, Old Pi continued, "On March 30, 1987—the 134th anniversary of Van Gogh's birth—one of the Sunflowers was auctioned. The auction lasted only four minutes, and the final price was 22.5 million pounds, equivalent to 40 million US dollars."
"Are you sure you didn't misread it?"
"Of course!" Old Pi said confidently. "If the spirit of Van Gogh's works could be replicated, they wouldn't be so precious."
"1987? That was more than ten years ago. If you convert it to today's prices, doesn't that mean this painting is worth at least 100 million US dollars?"
Li Congxin sucked in a sharp breath. "In other words, I was walking all over the streets looking for robbers while carrying a genuine Van Gogh worth 100 million dollars?"
Thanks to book friend Guixi Yexiong for the 100 Qidian coins!
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