Chapter 25 I bought them all

  The Colt estate was just a few kilometers outside of New York City, and it was a small estate with a three-story brick mansion standing in the fields. Gu Yu brought Jill to the estate by horse-drawn carriage, where they were greeted by the butler and led into the living room.

  William Colt, the second son of the Colt family, welcomed them.

  Both parties knew the purpose of today's visit, after some small talk, they entered the topic. William led Guo Yu to appreciate the antique art collection on the third floor.

  There are many and varied works of art, including Chinese antique calligraphy and painting, Egyptian pharaonic artifacts, silverware, oil paintings and so on.

  Damn it, these Chinese antiques were probably looted by the Eight-Nation Alliance when they invaded Beijing, and now I'm supposed to pay money to buy them back.

  There are indeed many good things, and Guo Yu has learned a lot of knowledge about cultural relics during this period, mainly focusing on domestic cultural relics. Looking at the cultural relics displayed above, there are ceramics from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, including Jun porcelain, Ding porcelain, blue and white porcelain, and enamelware, all of which are quite comprehensive. This family hasn't been stingy in their looting, has it?

  There are still many large vessels, Tibetan Buddhist Mahavairocana statues, over 80 cm tall, and made of pure gold, not gilded. Gold is not expensive now, but it will be in the future. Such a large pure gold ancient Buddha statue is absolutely stunning.

  Jinzhuzi's seismograph, the gemstones inlaid on top representing the stars have more than 3,000 pieces, this is great, must take it down.

  My god, what I saw was a bronze beast head, it's a dragon head. The evidence is solid now, it must be an artifact from the Yuanmingyuan.

  Other things like Egyptian artifacts and European oil paintings, Guo Yu also didn't study carefully.

  Guo Yu looked around in a circle, feeling both delighted and helpless. These were all the cultural treasures of Hua Guo, but the country was weak and had been invaded, with people breaking into their homes to steal things, it was really frustrating.

  Guo Yu looked at William Colt and said: "I like these antiques very much, I intend to buy them all, how about it, Mr. Colt?"

  "Buy them all? I have over 2,000 collectibles here. Are you sure, Mr. Guo?" William asked incredulously.

  "It depends on Mr. Colt's sincerity then, if the price is too high and exceeds my estimate, I won't buy any of them." Guo Yu was clearly threatening William.

  You've thought it through, haven't you? Aren't you robbing my country of its treasures? I'll just spend money to buy them back in this time and space, and also purchase your European antique art pieces. Then, I'll sell them to you at a high price in modern times. Let's see if you'll buy them or not. I'll scam you too.

  William did not immediately respond to Gu Yu, but instead called the housekeeper to appraise and sort out the existing antiques. Gu Yu was also in no hurry, slowly appreciating these artworks in the collection room.

  "Mr. Guo, we have 588 pieces of Chinese antiques, 1220 European artworks and 340 artworks from other countries, totaling 2148 pieces. We are offering a price of $5.8 million." After calculating for half a day, William finally gave his quote.

  "Wow, it's too expensive! Chinese antiques were never worth much to begin with. Now that the war in Europe is raging on, the prices of European art pieces are getting lower and lower. And as for artifacts from other countries like Egypt and Africa, do they even have any artistic value? You're quoting a price that's way too high, Mr. William! I'm being sincere here. If you were to sell them one by one, it would be such a hassle. That's why I offered to buy the whole lot from you, just to save you the trouble. But don't try to take me for a ride, I'm not some fool!" Gu Yu said with a hint of exasperation.

  William also knew that the art market was depreciating badly, especially European art. However, the price of European art was originally the highest, and he still calculated according to the original price, actually wanting to swindle Gu Yu a bit.

  Seeing Guo Yu get up and want to leave, William quickly stopped him. A person who can buy all the artworks is really rare now, he couldn't let Guo Yu leave like this.

  "Alright, Mr. Guo, name a price and we can negotiate." William said hastily.

  "2.5 million, at most 2.5 million, this is the highest price I can offer, if you don't agree then I'll withdraw." Guo Yu turned around and said to William.

  "I want to discuss with my father, please wait a bit." The price also made William very entangled. His intention was at least 4 million, and selling one by one should be able to sell for this price. However, that would really be too embarrassing, making everyone know that the Colt family is not doing well now, and it's also too slow.

  Kuo Yu sat back down and drank tea, waiting for a while before William returned.

  "Mr. Guo, you won, $25 million, all these things are yours now." William's tone was low, but it could be seen that he also let out a sigh of relief.

  I knew you were 250, Guo Yu secretly smiled to himself.

  Jill was left in charge of supervising the packing, while Gu Yu was invited to a dinner party by the Colt family. The atmosphere was very warm and harmonious. The Colt family's business types were diverse, with food sales accounting for a large proportion. If it weren't for their factories in Europe being right in the war zone, they wouldn't be so miserable. They should have made a fortune from the war instead.

  Back in his storage, Guo Yu was thrilled to put away all the artworks and then took them out one by one to admire. Indeed, they were all masterpieces. Take Paul Cézanne's still life painting of apples for example. At that time, the appraisal value was $200,000 because it had only been ten years since Cézanne passed away and he wasn't as famous yet. But in modern times, one of his paintings was sold at an auction for $250 million, in US dollars! Only those oil tycoons would dare to spend that kind of money.

  There are many good things, after all, they are the collection of a big family, and they have been carefully selected and evaluated by professionals for their artistic value.

  This trip to New York for art collection was basically a complete success, but Guo Yu had a long-term purchasing plan, so he called Jill over.

  "Jill, I want to open an antique art company in New York. Are you willing to help me run it and manage it?" Gu Yu said to Jill.

  "Alright boss, I'll definitely do it." Able to be one's own boss, who would want to go back to being a subordinate, Jill excitedly agreed.

  "Now let me tell you how it works, our company is different from other art companies, mainly focused on acquisitions, that's what I acquire, I hope you open your eyes and bring in good stuff, mainly books and paintings, I'll give you a list."

  Kuo Yu finished speaking and took out a long list of names, all of which were the names of great painters from recent centuries and those who are not yet famous but will be in the future. Van Gogh and Picasso were on the list, and even their current addresses or the locations where their works are collected after death were listed, their behavior was simply outrageous.

  Guo Yu instructed Gill to organize people to search for the works of these individuals everywhere after setting up the company, and collect as many as they could. Now, many people's works are really unwanted.

  After leaving Jill with start-up capital, Gu Yu returned home in Los Angeles. After resting at the villa for two days, he returned to modern times.

  Guo Yu contacted Huang Jiaqiang to inquire about the progress of the ship's acquisition, and learned that the original four ships had been acquired and were being repaired. They would set sail for Africa in about ten days or so. He also got in touch with eight cargo ships and was negotiating, hoping Guo Yu could take a look at the information on these ships to finalize the matter.

  Guo Yu and Huang Jiaqiang met at a coffee shop, the two were familiar with each other, so they didn't seem as stiff and polite as before, so they chose a more relaxed place.

  Guo Yu flipped through the materials, and the situation of these ships was roughly equivalent to that of the previous four ships. The two people's ages were similar, so they started chatting, and actually both had a mind to get close, so they chatted very smoothly.

  Huang Jiaqiang also said that he has been busy with Guo Yu's case recently, and his old father is about to celebrate his birthday, so he is really busy.

  Guo Yu Yi listened and felt that this was an opportunity, so he quickly said: "Huang Lao Bo's birthday celebration, as a junior I should know about it, I must visit, when the time comes you must give me an invitation."

  "How can that be good, and also trouble Mr. Guo." Huang Jiaqiang was also very surprised, but he thought it was Guo Yu's intention to get closer, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

  Such an opportunity, Guo Yu must seize it. It's really a case of searching everywhere and finally finding it right in front of you, as if Big Brother himself has delivered it to his doorstep. In a few days, he'll be attending the Huang family's birthday banquet, where he'll see the beautiful Ms. Huang again.