It wasn't until twelve o'clock in the afternoon that Xiao Ran left this small French village and went to another nearby town to continue exploring another residence of the Lu Qinzhai family.
When he left here, he didn't take anything with him, including the "Inspiration of the Poet" by Poussin, the founder of French classical art.
In Louis' eyes, it was just a copy and of little value at all.
When he sells the villa later, he will not take the oil painting with him, but will keep it in the villa.
In this case, there is no need for Xiao Ran to take action now.
That might be self-defeating and arouse Louis' suspicion.
In several other neighboring villas, he did not find similar top-notch antiques and artworks.
However, a very secret underground passage was discovered more than five meters underground in one of the villas, leading directly to the country villa of the Lu Qinzhai family.
After some understanding, Xiao Ran learned.
The villa where the underground secret passage was discovered was originally a barn on the manor.
It can be inferred from this that the secret passage hidden deep underground is most likely a secret escape passage built by Lu Qinzhai.
As a top antique dealer and billionaire, and having just experienced World War II, it is normal for Lu Qinzhai to build an escape tunnel in his own manor.
However, this secret escape route was not used and was completely abandoned.
Before Lu Qinzhai left Paris and moved to Cannes, he completely buried and sealed this escape route.
After his death, his descendants sold the barn land, and this secret passage became completely silent until now.
The discovery of this secret passage made Xiao Ran more determined to buy all the villas here.
Moreover, these villas are not expensive. Even if you buy them all, it will not cost much, but the returns will be extremely amazing.
Not long after, Xiao Ran drove to the next target location and immediately launched an exploration operation.
In the blink of an eye, it was already around three o'clock in the afternoon.
After completing his exploration mission, Xiao Ran drove back to Saint-Germain Avenue where the hotel was located.
But he didn't go back to the hotel directly. Instead, he found an opportunity to meet up with Elaine and the others outside.
When he got into the bulletproof SUV, Elaine immediately asked curiously:
"My dear, please tell me about your harvest. Are there any surprising discoveries?"
Xiao Ran looked at her, then smiled and nodded.
"I did make some discoveries in the Lu Qinzhai family's country villa and several surrounding villas."
"Those discoveries may not necessarily point to the batch of antique cultural relics and artworks hidden by Lu Qinzhai, but they are enough for me to make a decision."
"I decided to buy the country villa owned by the Lu Qinzhai family and several other villas around it, and then start further exploration."
"One more thing, the scenery in that countryside is very nice. It would also be nice to buy those country villas and use them as vacation homes."
Next, he introduced the situation while removing his disguise.
But he did not mention the discovery of the "Poet's Inspiration", let alone the discovery of the underground building.
While he was introducing the situation, the motorcade was also heading towards the hotel.
After a while, the team returned to the hotel.
Xiao Ran, who got out of the car with Yi Lian and others, restored his appearance without any flaws.
But no one knew when he left the hotel.
Seeing them coming back, the media reporters guarding the door of the hotel immediately swarmed over and started conducting interviews.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Sean, I am a reporter from France Television Station"
"What are you going to do with the "Portrait of Paulina" you discovered yesterday? Are you going to collect it yourself or sell it?"
"People are very concerned about this unique painting. Could you please display this painting publicly?"
A beautiful reporter asked loudly.
Before Xiao Ran could respond, another reporter asked:
"Good afternoon, Mr. Sean, I am a reporter from Le Parisien"
"The series of fire incidents that occurred in District 10 last night are related to you?"
Xiao Ran stopped and looked at the reporters, then smiled and said loudly:
"Good afternoon, friends from the media, I haven't decided yet on how to deal with "Portrait of Pauline"."
"When I think about it and make a decision, I will announce it to the public. Please be patient and wait for a while."
"As for the series of fire incidents that occurred in the 10th arrondissement last night, we were not involved, as the Paris police can prove."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and gestured towards several Paris special police officers not far away.
Then, he ended the interview and took Elaine and the others into the hotel.
When they returned to the presidential suite on the top floor, Ryoko, who had already returned to the hotel, immediately came over with today's spoils to report.
As soon as he entered the door, this guy said with great joy:
"Xiao Ran, I successfully acquired the paintings and antique furniture you asked me to buy, and at a very low price."
"Ms. Henyal, Lu Qinzhai's great-granddaughter, seemed eager to get rid of these paintings and antique furniture, and agreed to my offer without much consideration."
"According to your instructions, in order to avoid attracting attention, the antique furniture was sent to Pierre's house. I only brought back a few paintings."
With that said, the guy handed over several paintings in his hand.
Xiao Ran reached out and took a few paintings and nodded appreciatively.
"Well done! It seems that you have some acting talent, but it would be buried if you didn't go to Hollywood!"
"Let me take a look at these paintings. Are they the same as I guessed? Tell me about Mrs. Henyal and the others."
After a few jokes, Xiao Ran took out a scroll and slowly unfolded it, ready to appreciate it.
After washing and disinfecting, Elaine and Fang Yufei immediately came over and prepared to enjoy it together with great interest.
At the same time, Ryoko continued to introduce the situation.
"Mrs. Henyard and the others agreed to sell the Paris Red House, as well as other properties owned by the Lu Qinzhai family, including the country villa, etc."
"From the exchanges and status between them, it seems that these descendants of Lu Qinzhai sold their assets because of conflicts over the division of family property."
Hearing this, Xiao Ran shook his head helplessly.
"This is completely normal. As far as I know, these descendants of Lu Qinzhai have very few horizontal connections and their feelings are very weak."
"Similar things like dividing family assets have probably happened many times in the Lu Qinzhai family, and this is just one of them."
"But that's fine. We can take this opportunity to acquire the properties of the Lu Qinzhai family and see if we can find any bigger surprises."
While speaking, Xiao Ran unfolded the scroll in his hand.
The scroll he opened was Zhang Daqian's splash-color freehand painting, but it didn't have the author's signature.
What is depicted in the painting is a picture of a fishing boat fishing at night.
The painting technique used is based on the traditional ink landscape painting method and absorbs the relationship between light and color in Western painting. It is very innovative and has a strong visual impact.
Although this was not the first time he saw this painting, Xiao Ran's eyes were still full of surprise when he saw it again and took it as his own.
In an instant, he was attracted by this freehand painting with splashes of color and began to appreciate it intently.
At this moment, Ryoko suddenly asked curiously:
"Xiao Ran, which art master is this splash-color freehand painting? Is it valuable?"
"There is no author's signature on this painting, and the exhibition organizer does not care about this painting."
Hearing this, Xiao Ran couldn't help but smile proudly.
"You can't see gold inlaid with jade! This freehand painting with splashes of color is the work of Zhang Daqian and is worth at least 150 million yuan!"
Following his words, the scene immediately burst into exclamations of exclamation.
"I'll go! It's 150 million yuan. When I bought this painting, I only spent 5,000 euros!"
Ryoko immediately exclaimed, her eyes widening.
Zhang Daqian's "Picture of Leisurely Fishing in a Secluded Stream"
