In the blink of an eye, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon.
After lunch, another meeting began.
The location was still the small conference room on the top floor, but a different group of people participated in the meeting.
The Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Director of the Library of Congress finally arrived at the Plaza Hotel.
With their arrival, talks about exchanging 40 volumes of "Yongle Dian" with the "Dante's Ark" triptych also officially began.
In fact, it has been a while since the Librarian of Congress and his party arrived in New York.
But they did not rush to the Plaza Hotel immediately. Instead, Thomas stayed at the Metropolitan Museum to discuss countermeasures.
After discussing the negotiation, they rushed to the Plaza Hotel.
Because of this, the meeting was delayed for nearly two hours.
As for the guys from the Pelos family, they had finished their first meeting with Xiao Ran and left the conference room.
But they did not leave the Plaza Hotel. Instead, they opened a few rooms downstairs and stayed here.
At this time, they were probably reporting the situation to the crazy old woman and asking about the next direction and strategy for negotiations.
In the conference room, a new round of negotiations has begun.
"Sean, although the "Dante's Ark" triptych is the pioneering work of the Romantic school of painting, it is a very important work of art."
"However, in terms of historical and cultural research value, they cannot be compared with the value of the 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian"
"I believe you are very clear about this, so we cannot agree to your conditions. I am afraid it will be difficult to reach this deal."
The Librarian of Congress shook his head and said.
Xiao Ran just smiled softly and did not take the other party's words seriously.
I'm afraid the deal can't be concluded?
If that were the case, you wouldn't have come all the way from Washington to New York to participate in this negotiation.
Your presence in this conference room is enough to show that you very much hope to win the "Dante's Ark" triptych.
The reason for saying this is just greed and failure to meet the transaction conditions.
Since you are willing to trade and greedy, it will be easy to handle!
Xiao Ran looked at the Americans opposite, then smiled and said:
"Jonathan, you are right. "Yongle Dadian" does have high historical and cultural research value. This is why I want to collect them."
"But I am sure that your library definitely has the electronic version of "Yongle Dadian". In this transaction, I do not require you to destroy the electronic version of the book."
"In other words, even if you trade the "Yongle Dadian" to me, it will not affect your research on any content recorded in the "Yongle Dadian"."
"In other words, you have nothing to lose, and all academic research related to "Yongle Dadian" will not be interrupted because of this transaction."
"Through the exchange, you can also get the "Dante's Ark" triptych. There is no such thing as an electronic version of antique artworks such as paintings."
"ah!"
Jonathan, Thomas and others all exclaimed and were stunned.
For a moment, they didn't know how to respond.
Even though electronic versions of the books are available, the reason why the U.S. Library of Congress still retains the 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" is for two reasons.
First, because of the value of those ancient books and documents themselves, every volume is a priceless treasure!
Another reason is that it is a bit out of the spotlight.
That is to maintain the authoritative position of the United States in relevant academic research fields and prevent Chinese experts and scholars from accessing the "Yongle Dadian" in all aspects
As a result, the right to interpret the various knowledge and information recorded in the 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" has always been in the hands of the Americans.
Americans can interpret that part of Chinese history and culture according to their interests and needs, and even wantonly distort and belittle it!
If those 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" are traded to the Chinese, they will lose this privilege and will no longer be able to cover up the truth of history.
The scene fell silent, and all the Americans fell into deep thought.
Xiao Ran chuckled lightly and exchanged glances with Counselor Wang sitting beside him.
Although Counselor Wang was also in the conference room, he only attended as a third party and did not directly participate in the negotiations.
Seeing Xiao Ran's confident look, Counselor Wang couldn't help but nodded appreciatively.
After thinking for a moment, Jonathan was ready to speak.
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.
Then, a guy from the Library of Congress opened the door and walked into the conference room, holding a cell phone in his hand.
After entering the conference room, this guy walked straight to Jonathan and whispered a few words into Jonathan's ear.
Jonathan paused, then stood up and said:
"Gentlemen, I have a very important call to answer and I need to go out for a while."
Xiao Ran understood instantly and nodded immediately.
"No problem, Jonathan, you can go out and make a call, or you can go to the lounge next to you to make a call."
"We can wait for you. Taking this opportunity, everyone can take a break."
Jonathan nodded and immediately went to the small lounge next to the conference room.
The talks were suspended, and the atmosphere at the scene was temporarily relaxed, and everyone started laughing and chatting.
"Sean, before I came here, I saw on the news that you sold those pop art works to Griffin and the others, is that right?"
Thomas asked curiously.
Xiao Ran didn't hide it, smiled and nodded.
"Indeed, Brown, who collected those paintings before, was a friend of Griffin and Steve."
"Considering this relationship, I sold the four pop art works to them."
Hearing this, Thomas couldn't help but rolled his eyes secretly.
It sounds like you are so compassionate!
Even if you had the slightest bit of sympathy, you wouldn't have ripped off those two Wall Street tycoons for nearly $300 million!
Although he was complaining secretly, Thomas said another set of words.
"You move so fast. Before others can react, you have already finished processing those top-notch works of art!"
"As far as I know, there are many top collectors who want to acquire those four pop art works, but it's a pity that they started late."
After a few chats, Jonathan finished the phone call and came out of the lounge.
When he returned to the conference room, his face looked a little unhappy, and there was a trace of anger in his eyes, but it was more helpless.
When he returned to his seat and sat down, he immediately looked at Xiao Ran and said in surprise:
"Sean, I don't know how you managed to get that big shot to intervene in this art transaction."
"Okay, I agree to your conditions. Let's talk about the details of the transaction and the specific transaction time."
Before he finished speaking, a look of ecstasy flashed in Xiao Ran's eyes.
Counselor Wang next to him was the same. He was overjoyed and even a little unbelievable. His eyes were full of disbelief.
After a brief excitement, Xiao Ran said jokingly:
"I didn't do anything special. Perhaps it was because the triptych of "Dante's Ark" was so precious that it alarmed some important person!"
"For both of us, this is a win-win deal. It would be great if it can be successfully concluded."
Hearing this, Jonathan and the others all rolled their eyes, but they were also very helpless.
Next, the two parties began to negotiate on the details of this heavyweight art transaction.
With agreement on the general direction, subsequent negotiations went very smoothly.
It only took about half an hour for the two parties to reach a preliminary agreement and sign an agreement of intent.
In this intention agreement, both parties agreed.
The U.S. Library of Congress immediately began to sort out the 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" and then brought those ancient books and documents to New York for trading.
During this process, the Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy in the United States will send personnel to supervise the entire process to ensure that the transaction is fair and transparent.
After the 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" arrive in New York, the two parties can start trading and complete this heavyweight art transaction.
Before the transaction, the Metropolitan Museum was responsible for organizing a top team of experts to identify the authenticity of the "Dante's Ark" triptych.
Next, it is their business what the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum, and that crazy old woman do with the "Dante's Ark" triptych.
At that time, Xiao Ran would not ask about the whereabouts of the "Dante's Boat" triptych.
What he has to consider is how to transport 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" back to Beijing as soon as possible to avoid long nights and dreams!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which participated in the art transaction, also received a special privilege.
Next time if Xiao Ran discovers any heavyweight antique cultural relics or works of art and is willing to sell them, the Metropolitan Museum will have the first right to purchase them.
However, this right of first refusal is only available three times, and it will be over once it is used up.
After signing the agreement and chatting for a while, Thomas and Jonathan took their leave and returned to the Metropolitan Museum.
After seeing them off, Xiao Ran and Counselor Wang returned to the presidential suite.
As soon as he entered the suite, Counselor Wang could no longer contain his excitement and cheered.
"Awesome! Xiao Ran, you did this beautifully!"
"Once these 40 volumes of "Yongle Dadian" are shipped back to China, they will definitely shock the domestic cultural circle."
While cheering, he also reached out and patted his waist several times in succession.
After he calmed down a little, he started to straighten his coat again.
After sitting in the conference room for so long, my coat has become wrinkled.
When his palm caressed the right pocket, he suddenly froze.
At this moment, Xiao Ran smiled and shook his head gently.
