Sophia didn't expect Professor Zhou to come so fast.
Wasn't he supposed to be overseas? That would take more than ten hours to travel. Did he fly back overnight?
Her fingers quickly tapped on her phone as she replied, "Please wait a moment."
Then she sent her location.
She wasn't going to take them to the original place.
Everyone only thought that place was just a storage room.
This worked out well. Sophia could also take the paintings with her and bring them home.
These paintings were the most valuable. The others were not as expensive.
Still, when she had more money, she needed to install a proper security system.
Once she got home, Sophia went straight to her small villa.
She cleaned up the living room a bit. Just a quick tidy-up and wipe-down.
Not long after, Professor Zhou arrived.
"Professor Zhou, over here!"
Sophia stood on the second-floor balcony and waved to them.
Amelia had been to this place before. When they arrived in the village, she was the one who gave directions to the driver.
A group of people stood outside Sophia's door, knocking and calling her phone.
Sophia heard the noise and walked to the balcony.
Professor Zhou really did bring people with him. It was a big group, about seven or eight people, and they came in a business van.
Besides Amelia and the driver, the others were all older, around fifty, sixty, or even seventy years old. They all looked like educated people.
Once Sophia had their attention, she quickly went downstairs to welcome them.
"Professor Zhou"
Sophia stepped outside. "Please come in"
She gave Amelia a quick nod.
The other elders looked at Sophia with curious and eager eyes.
"This is the Miss Sophia I told you about," Professor Zhou said as he introduced them while walking.
"You've already met this one. He is Expert Shuxun. These three are retired leaders from An Province's cultural relics bureau. Now they spend their time collecting antique paintings and artifacts. And this is Elder Zhou from the Jiangshan period."
As they moved along, Professor Zhou continued speaking.
Elder Zhou was the oldest among them and used a walking stick. His legs didn't seem strong.
Luckily, although Sophia's house had three floors, it had an elevator. So the group used the elevator to go upstairs.
"This house looks newly built, right?" Professor Zhou asked.
The house still looked fresh. It was not only new, but also empty.
Sophia nodded.
The group quickly reached the second floor. Everyone was eager to see the paintings, so they didn't talk much. They went straight to the main subject.
Sophia had already taken out the paintings and placed them neatly on the table.
Luckily, the table she bought was big and long enough.
"Let me see the one painted by Wang Quanan first" Professor Zhou said without waiting.
They put their bags on the sofa, used wet tissues to clean their hands, then turned to Sophia.
Sophia had already labeled everything. She handed him the painting he asked for.
After Sophia gave them permission, the others also started to open the scrolls and look at the paintings.
When they saw so many famous and old artworks all at once, everyone became excited. They started to talk and discuss if they were real or not.
Sophia stood quietly nearby, listening to them judge and discuss the paintings from different angles. She learned a lot just by listening.
Amelia nudged Sophia with her elbow. "Sophia, you're really going to make it big this time."
"While we were still in the car, the professors already looked at the pictures you sent. They studied them carefully. They match very closely with the real ones people have talked about."
Amelia was really curious where all of Sophia's antiques came from.
She thought about it for a moment and asked, "Sophia, you never said you had so many antiques. Where did all these things come from? Did your real parents leave them to you?"
Thinking back, it was true that these antiques only started showing up after Sophia returned to where her real parents had lived.
Sophia nodded slowly.
It was a good explanation. The pig trough had been left behind by her parents. You could say it was one of the treasures they gave her.
The six elders held the paintings carefully. All the lights in the living room were turned on.
Sometimes they still thought it was too dark, so they took the paintings to the balcony where there was more light. They usually went in pairs and didn't try to hide or block anything.
Sophia didn't have to entertain them. They were fully focused and enjoying themselves.
The living room was full of energy. Sophia took out her laptop and started working.
Ronin had contacted some suppliers and found the machines they needed. Excavators, water trucks, cranes. He also gathered all the related information and sent it to Sophia.
Sophia replied, "Let's also get five earthmovers."
Earthmovers could be used to carry large stones and cut trees. They were more efficient and could carry a lot in one trip.
Everyone was busy in the living room. Without realizing it, the sky outside had turned dark.
Finally, they finished looking at everything.
"Sophia, we've seen and talked about the paintings. All eleven are real. Everyone is interested. How about you set a starting price and we each place our bids?" said Professor Zhou, who was respected and had a high status.
Sophia looked outside. "It's dinner time. Why don't we eat while we talk?"
Mr. Zhou said, "I already asked someone to order and pick up the food. We can talk over dinner."
Everyone agreed happily.
The paintings were packed up and put away.
It didn't take long for the driver to return with the food.
Amelia explained to Sophia, "The Jiangshan Era Group runs many businesses. From new energy and chips to finance, internet, real estate, and restaurants. Their businesses are in around seventy or eighty percent of the cities."
That's why even in this small town, they could arrange good food easily.
Amelia told Sophia this because she hoped she could connect with them.
"There's an old saying. If you carry a treasure, people will come for it. I don't know how many antiques you really have, but just the ones you've shown are enough to make others jealous."
Sophia felt touched. She knew Amelia was really thinking of her.
She had been thinking the same way too.
No matter the time, having only money wasn't enough. You needed power too.
Money and power needed to work together.
"Thank you, Amelia. I understand."
The driver finished setting up the food. Everyone sat at the table and started eating.
Thankfully, the table Sophia bought was big enough. It could just fit about ten people.
While they ate, they started talking about the starting prices.
"The most expensive one is probably the one by Wang Quanan. One of his paintings with plum blossoms sold for six hundred million. This one with snow and someone fishing in the lake, someone in the collectors' circle once said they were willing to pay one billion for it. If this was a real auction, even one billion wouldn't be enough," said Mr. Qin Qiusheng, one of the three retired senior officials.
Professor Zhou quickly said, "I must have this painting. I already sent money to Sophia for the chance to buy it first."
Another elder replied, "Paying early won't help. Even if you have one or two billion, can you really offer four billion? Or six billion?"