Dong Wanwan stuck her neck out and said in a coquettish voice, "Even Picasso couldn't make every painting a masterpiece. I think this painting is just average, maybe it's one of his rejects."
"A few years ago, it was auctioned off. The buyer was a hedge fund manager who got it from a casino mogul. Do you know how much it went for?" Li Zhen stared straight at Dong Wanwan, exerting pressure. "One point five billion..."
He deliberately paused for a second before lazily adding two words, "U.S. dollars."
A hundred million!!!
Not just Dong Wanwan, even Zhou Chaowen and Wan Zhe were shocked.
Li Zhen smiled faintly, the corners of her red lips curving up slightly. "Do you still think it's a reject?"
Dong Wanwan opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came out.
This was the reaction Li Zhen wanted. Last time in the car, Dong Wanwan had deliberately mentioned the "nude photos" to humiliate her again. She wasn't a pushover to be casually manipulated. If someone tried to shame her, she would fight back.
Humiliating people, who couldn't do that?
Wan Zhe nodded blankly, "Indeed, art is hard to understand. Now I look at it and see it full of artistic value, I feel I've been elevated."
"I didn't look closely before, but now I see it's not bad," Dong Wanwan stammered.
Li Zhen smiled lightly and said regretfully, "But this is just a replica, imitating its form but not its spirit."
"See..." Dong Wanwan's expression immediately brightened, looking smug, "I said this painting wasn't much good, you see I was right!"
"Why the hurry? I'm not finished yet," Li Zhen was still smiling.
That smile made Dong Wanwan a little afraid, she had a feeling the other woman had something nasty up her sleeve.
Sure enough, Li Zhen's next sentence was: "But even this replica is collectible grade, fetching a price of twenty million at auction two years ago."
Dong Wanwan froze, her face alternating between green and white. Li Zhen must have deliberately brought up this matter to embarrass her.
Bitch!
Dong Wanwan was furious but couldn't find words for a rebuttal.
Suddenly, the sound of slow clapping came from behind them. "Well analyzed, quite knowledgeable."
They turned to look.
Li Zhen's hair stood on end.
Lu Yanming?
How was he here!
Behind Lu Yanming was Fei Zhao.
Fei Zhao stood respectfully behind Lu Yanming, chin up, gaze unfriendly as he stared at Yu Sheng.
Yu Sheng's expression was calm as he nodded at Lu Yanming, "Mr. Lu."
Lu Yanming pushed his glasses up and spoke as if making casual conversation, "Chairman Yu is usually busy with work, today you seem to have time on your hands?"
Yu Sheng: "There's always more work, I didn't expect to run into Mr. Lu."
Their conversation was polite and proper.
It seemed harmonious.
But Li Zhen's scalp tingled, she surreptitiously retreated behind Wan Zhe, hoping to disappear from the spot.
She really didn't want Lu Yanming to discover she was with Yu Sheng, didn't want to give him any leverage over her.
But Lu Yanming had clapped because of her! He'd already seen her! Li Zhen was exasperated, wishing she could dig a hole and burrow into it.
But someone was not cooperating with her wishes. Dong Wanwan practically shrieked, "Li Zhen! Isn't this the lawyer you were looking for last time?"
Yu Sheng's gaze gradually darkened. "Lawyer?"
Damn, Li Zhen had forgotten Dong Wanwan had met Lu Yanming before.
What a mess, everyone gathered today!
Yu Sheng turned to Dong Wanwan. "He is the deputy CEO of our Hong Hai Group. You must have mistaken him for someone else. Mr. Lu is no lawyer."
How could she have mistaken him! The man before her, Dong Wanwan would remember that face for two or three more years.
After all, he had left too deep a psychological shadow!
Dong Wanwan stated categorically, "It's him!"
Li Zhen was hopeless, Dong Wanwan's memory was surprisingly good this time!
Lu Yanming smiled faintly, "Last time was indeed me, but I never said I was a lawyer."
Dong Wanwan was silenced, he seemed not to have said he was, she had assumed.
Zhou Chaowen and Wan Zhe still hadn't fully grasped the situation, only sensing Yu Sheng's aura seemed to have cooled in an instant.
Yu Sheng looked up, gaze murky and unclear. "Is that so? Mr. Lu is quite close with Li Zhen in private?"
The point wasn't the lawyer bit, but... Li Zhen actually had private dealings with Lu Yanming?
Yu Sheng suddenly recalled seeing Li Zhen's chat records with Lu Yanming, and Lu Yanming's cryptic words that time at the photoshoot.
"Chairman Yu can come with her to an art exhibition, you two seem close as well?" Lu Yanming's tone was as usual, neither warm nor cold, his gaze falling on Li Zhen.
Li Zhen tensed up completely.
Almost reflexively, Wan Zhe said, "You can't compare with our Sheng-ge. Sheng-ge and Li Zhen are..."
"Always been quite familiar," Li Zhen weakly cut in, poking her head out again from behind Wan Zhe.
Wan Zhe was stunned for a moment.
Zhou Chaowen quickly whispered in Wan Zhe's ear, "Hong Hai..."
Wan Zhe immediately understood, Hong Hai was famously strict about forbidding office relationships. "Yes yes, Sheng-ge and sister-in-law...Li Zhen have always been quite familiar."
Wan Zhe and Zhou Chaowen tacitly chose to conceal the relationship between the two.
Li Zhen relaxed a little.
But the next second, Yu Sheng turned to look at her, gaze cold, "Zhen'er, what's this about you and Mr. Lu together on some matter? Why look for Mr. Lu instead of me?"
Usually when addressing her, Yu Sheng called her by her full name.
This rare "Zhen'er" sent chills down Li Zhen's back.
With one glance at each other, Wan Zhe and Zhou Chaowen understood that Sheng-ge seemed to be staking a claim! The situation seemed a little delicate now.
Although the gaze of the man opposite was mild and cool, he exuded a faintly formidable aura not to be trifled with.
Dong Wanwan was still aggrieved over the diamond watch matter. "Sheng-ge, the watch Li Zhen broke, this man said the watch was fake, but when I had it tested the results showed it was real..."
"The testing agency later also said their test was faulty, it was fake after all. Don't try to shirk responsibility for what should be compensated," Li Zhen piped up again when the diamond watch was mentioned, unhappy about it.
Dong Wanwan sneered coldly, "You must have used some connections to deliberately avoid paying the 32,000 yuan. That authentication agency has never made mistakes before, how could their test results suddenly be wrong?"
Yu Sheng: "Account number."
Dong Wanwan blanked. "Huh?"
Yu Sheng sounded impatient. "Bank account number."
Dong Wanwan hurriedly found her account number on her phone.
After the transfer went through, Yu Sheng turned to Lu Yanming, his tone polite but carrying an extremely aggressive cold sharpness. "Mr. Lu, I'll trouble you not to get involved in Zhen'er's matters from now on. We can afford to pay what needs to be paid, no need to shirk responsibility."
