Ten minutes later.
Wu Tianyu walked out of the bedroom pushing a medium-sized suitcase, preparing to leave New York immediately and rush to Seattle to reunite with his children.
He had just received a huge sum of US$130 million, and he was an old man living alone with no ability to protect himself.
And many people can guess that the Chinese antiques that Xiao Ran discovered today were purchased from him, and there must be some people with ulterior motives targeting him.
In this case, his best choice is to leave New York immediately and rush to Seattle, where no one knows him, for safety.
Seeing Wu Tianyu coming out, Xiao Ran immediately stepped forward and said:
"Mr. Wu, my bodyguard will send you out of 57th Street to cover your departure and avoid attracting other people's attention."
"After leaving here, you'd better go directly to the airport and take a plane out of New York as soon as possible."
"I will have my men pack up the personal belongings you left in this apartment and then transport them to Seattle."
"When the current special situation is over, you can come back to handle the restaurant affairs, or you can ask your children to come back and handle it."
Hearing this, Wu Tianyu suddenly felt warm in his heart.
He glanced around the apartment and said with a little choked up:
"Our family has lived in this apartment for seventy or eighty years, and now it's time to leave. I'm really reluctant to leave!"
"Mr. Xiao, thank you for your concern. The old man is very grateful."
"I hope everything goes well for you and you can successfully transport these antiques, cultural relics and works of art back to China."
After a few polite words, Wu Tianyu just left.
He pushed his suitcase and walked out of the apartment building without looking back.
Xiao Ran personally took him to the elevator entrance and told the security personnel who were covering his departure to go to the back door of the apartment building to avoid the crowd gathering in front of the building.
While talking, the elevator door opened.
Wu Tianyu pushed his suitcase into the elevator and left the apartment building where he had lived for seventy or eighty years.
He went out through the back door of the apartment building, then passed through a nearby apartment building and left in a car on 56th Street without attracting anyone's attention.
Next, he took a taxi straight to JFK International Airport and left New York immediately.
After seeing Mr. Wu off, Xiao Ran returned to the apartment.
As soon as he entered the living room, Mr. Jin and others couldn't wait to say:
"Xiao Ran, can we start appreciating and appraising those antique cultural relics and works of art?"
"Everyone has been waiting impatiently! Those are all national treasures!"
Hearing this, Xiao Ran suddenly chuckled.
But he did not respond immediately, but looked at the children of the Wu family.
"Your father has left here. For safety reasons, you'd better keep in touch with him at all times."
"Before leaving New York, if your father encounters any trouble, you can ask me for help."
After the words fell, the children of the Wu family nodded in unison.
"Okay, Mr. Xiao, we will keep in touch with father at all times. Thank you for your concern."
Xiao Ran nodded and then continued:
"Nice to meet you. I hope your family will be happy in the future."
"Next, I'm going to cut off the video connection. See you again in the future."
As he said that, he waved his hands to the Wu family's children, and they did the same.
The next moment, the video connection with the Wu family's children was immediately cut off.
Xiao Ran then turned to look at Mr. Jin and the others.
"Masters, we can appreciate and appraise the antiques and works of art in the room."
"Everyone, please open your eyes and help me check carefully. I will also take this opportunity to learn some new knowledge."
With that said, he walked towards the room filled with antique artifacts and works of art.
"Great! I can finally appreciate these national treasure-level antiques and works of art!"
"I have to say, you are so cunning, and you made a lot of money!"
"The antiques and works of art in the room are worth more than 500 million US dollars at least, but you only spent 130 million US dollars!"
Several old men joked, their words full of envy and appreciation.
While talking, Xiao Ran and Elaine had already entered the room, ready to start admiring and appraising the many treasures in the room.
At this moment, the intercom placed in the living room suddenly rang.
"Sean, two curators from MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum are here and want to go upstairs to see you."
"They each also brought two appraisal experts, both of whom were old friends they had met before."
Marvin's voice came from the intercom, announcing the situation downstairs.
Before she finished speaking, Fang Yufei picked up the walkie-talkie and handed it to Xiao Ran.
After taking the walkie-talkie, Xiao Ran immediately responded:
"Marvin, you can ask the two museum directors to come up."
"Forget it about a few appraisal experts, we don't need them here."
"Got it, Sean"
Marvin responded.
After ending the call, Xiao Ran walked straight towards the Buddha head placed on the middle aisle.
The Buddha's head is closest to the door, so it is naturally the first target for identification.
Coming closer, Xiao Ran immediately squatted down and began to carefully examine the Buddha head.
This is a head of Manjusri Bodhisattva, about half larger than a normal human head. Although it is not big, the carving is extremely exquisite and lifelike.
On the neck of this Buddha head, you can clearly see the marks of a large number of knife and ax chisels. Even behind the Buddha head, there are several hacking marks.
Fortunately, the front of the Buddha's head is quite well preserved, with only some traces of natural weathering.
Obviously, this Buddha head was cut off from a statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva.
Needless to say, the person who ordered people to cut off the Buddha's head must be one of the two great traitors, Lu Qinzhai and Wu Qizhou.
Before liberation, these two traitors smuggled and resold countless such Buddha heads, statues, and other stone cultural relics abroad. This is just one of them!
In a moment, Mr. Jin and the others recognized the origin of this Buddha head.
"Xiao Ran, this should be a Manjusri Buddha head from the Yungang Grottoes. It has a history of fifteen or six hundred years."
"It has many characteristics of early Buddhist statues, is very distinctive, and has the national cultural color of Tuoba Xianbei in the Northern Wei Dynasty!"
"Although this Manjusri Buddha head is not big, it is almost perfectly preserved. It is extremely rare in the entire Yungang Grottoes and can only be counted on one finger!"
"Which Buddhist niche in the Yungang Grottoes did it come from? Is the Buddha's body still there? Can it be restored? We still need to do some further demonstration and investigation."
"But there is no doubt that this Buddha head of Manjushri Bodhisattva is absolutely a priceless treasure. It can be said to be a stroke of luck that we can successfully recover this Buddha head."
An old man from the Forbidden City said, almost flying with excitement.
This is a top appraisal expert who studies Buddha statues and epigraphic carvings. Naturally, he was very excited when he saw the head of Manjusri Bodhisattva from Yungang Grottoes!
After talking about the appraisal conclusion, several old men began to denounce the two traitors, Lu Qinzhai and Wu Qizhou.
While cursing the two traitors and traitors for their unlucky death, several old men also felt distressed that the Buddha's head had been damaged like this.
If those two big traitors were still alive today, these old men would probably tear them apart alive!
After getting the definite identification conclusion, Xiao Ran chuckled proudly.
"Come on! Just for the head of Manjushri Bodhisattva from Yungang Grottoes, my US$130 million was well spent!"
Hearing this, several old men laughed.
"You boy, this is a typical example of how you behave when you get a bargain. How can I describe what you have gained this time by saying it's worth it?"
"With the baby in this room, you're making a lot of money!"
While talking, Sam led Thomas and the others into the apartment.
Seeing them coming in, Xiao Ran immediately exited the room and greeted the two old friends.
After meeting each other, he briefly introduced the situation, and then took Thomas and the others into this room filled with antique artifacts and works of art.
Listening to his introduction and looking at the valuable Chinese antiques and artworks in the room, Thomas and the others were stunned and froze in place.
It took a long time for the two curators of the world's top museums to wake up.
Immediately afterwards, they all exclaimed in surprise.
"Sean, you guy said on the phone, this is not a treasure."
"You are just talking nonsense. If this is not an amazing treasure, what is it?"
