Upon hearing the sound, everyone turned their heads and saw that Chairman Sun had appeared behind them at some point.
"Ah! Chairman Sun, why have you come over?" Xiao Feifei asked hurriedly upon seeing him.
Chairman Sun smiled and said, "Sitting there is just sitting. Why not come and see what you little ones are up to!"
"Then we'll trouble Chairman Sun!" Tang Zhiyang said with a smile.
Ye Feng and the other immediately paid the money and handed the two paintings to Chairman Sun.
Many of the paintings here were suspected to be genuine, so the prices were not cheap.
Ye Feng's painting cost over three hundred thousand, while Tang Zhiyang's was even more expensive, over five hundred thousand.
Chairman Sun nodded slightly, then took the paintings and began to examine them carefully.
He first looked at Tang Zhiyang's. As he slowly unrolled the scroll, a beautiful ink wash painting appeared before everyone's eyes.
It depicted a small pond with several lifelike lotus leaves.
The lotus leaves were uneven in height, with distinct layers and clear veins. Even with only black and white colors, the lotus leaves were rendered so vividly that they seemed real.
However, the most eye-catching element was not the lotus leaves, but a pink lotus flower on some of them.
The lotus flower grew from between the dense layers of lotus leaves, standing tall and elegant above them.
The entire ink wash painting was in black and white, with only this lotus flower in pink.
This gave a sense of "adding the finishing touch," making it very pleasing to the eye.
"Hmm! Not bad, not bad! This painting is indeed extraordinary! The brushwork is superb, the technique is ingenious, and the paper is also very special, not a modern product..."
Chairman Sun commented on the painting's technique, skill, and materials, which delighted Tang Zhiyang and Zhao Yanxuan.
"Young man Tang, this painting wasn't chosen by you, was it!" Chairman Sun said.
Tang Zhiyang's expression faltered slightly upon hearing this, but he still nodded and said, "That's right! Brother Yanxuan helped me choose this painting!"
Tang Zhiyang had some knowledge of antique appraisal, but he was completely clueless about literature, likely not even as good as Ye Feng.
If he understood anything about literature, he probably wouldn't be so arrogant.
Zhao Yanxuan, however, was different. He was learned and had gotten into a top domestic university on his own. It was rumored that he had also studied abroad later.
Therefore, he was different from ordinary rich second-generation heirs; he was a cultured rich second-generation, not someone comparable to a dandy like Tang Zhiyang.
This was also why Chairman Sun had immediately determined that this painting was not chosen by Tang Zhiyang.
"Young man Zhao, your taste is excellent! This painting should be a genuine Song Dynasty ink wash painting!" Chairman Sun praised Zhao Yanxuan.
Zhao Yanxuan beamed with joy upon hearing this and said humbly, "Thank you for your praise, Chairman Sun. I was just lucky!"
At this moment, Tang Zhiyang also chimed in, "Chairman Sun, since this painting is a genuine Song Dynasty piece, and the Song Dynasty was the peak period for ink wash painting, this painting should not be cheap, right!"
Chairman Sun replied, "Although this painting is genuine and from the Song Dynasty, the price will not be too high."
Ye Feng and the others showed confusion.
Zhou Lingyu even directly asked, "Chairman Sun, wasn't the Song Dynasty the peak period for ink wash painting? Since this painting is from the Song Dynasty, it should be expensive, shouldn't it!"
"Yes, yes, Miss Zhou is right. Why isn't the price high?" Tang Zhiyang, hearing that the price was not high, seemed a bit dissatisfied and quickly added his question.
Zhao Yanxuan also looked puzzled. Although he knew a lot about paintings, he was still far from being an expert like Chairman Sun.
Seeing their confusion, Chairman Sun said calmly, "Actually, you all know quite a bit, but you're missing the point!"
"Hmm? I don't quite understand. Please enlighten me, Chairman Sun!" Zhao Yanxuan said respectfully.
Chairman Sun immediately picked up the painting and said to them, "Look, first of all, this painting is indeed good, but it doesn't indicate who the artist is! This greatly reduces the value of the work!"
"Secondly, you mentioned that the Song Dynasty was the peak of ink wash painting, which is true! But that was for landscape paintings, and this is not a landscape painting!"
Upon hearing this, everyone looked closely and realized that the painting was unsigned. Such an unknown painting would indeed have its price greatly discounted.
Furthermore, if this painting depicted a landscape instead of lotuses, its value would be several times higher.
"I see! I've learned a lot!" Zhao Yanxuan said, cupping his fist.
Tang Zhiyang listened, completely confused, and said, "Ah, who cares what era it's from or who painted it! Chairman Sun, just tell me how much this painting is worth!"
For Tang Zhiyang, the rough fellow, the era and the artist were irrelevant; what mattered was its price.
"Although this painting is not a landscape painting, and the artist is not named, given its era of origin and the extremely high level of artistry, I'll give you a conservative estimate of eight hundred and fifty thousand!" Chairman Sun said after some thought.
Tang Zhiyang was quite satisfied with this, even though it didn't meet their expectations.
After all, they had spent over five hundred thousand on the painting and could now sell it for eight hundred and fifty thousand, making a profit of three hundred thousand.
"Chairman Sun, how much is Ye Feng's painting worth?" At this moment, Xiao Feifei asked expectantly.
Chairman Sun looked at Ye Feng's painting slowly, and his brow furrowed. Then, the more he looked, the more astonished he became.
He looked at the painting upside down, sideways, and backward... After a series of strange observations, he frowned and said, "I'm truly sorry, but I cannot discern the painting method or the era of origin of this work!"
"What? You can't tell? How is that possible? Chairman Sun, you are the president of the Antique Association. If you can't tell, who can!" Zhou Lingyu exclaimed.
But Chairman Sun still shook his head, "Honestly, in my many years of appraising antiques, I've encountered many strange paintings, but I truly cannot make sense of this one. It's impossible to estimate its value!"
Upon hearing this, Tang Zhiyang burst into laughter, "Haha! Impossible to estimate means it's worth zero! Ye Feng, you lost this round!"
Xiao Feifei hurriedly said, "This, this doesn't count. It means the value cannot be estimated, not that it's worth zero!"
"Why doesn't it count! I didn't say anything when your porcelain contained a gold ingot!" Tang Zhiyang retorted.
This made Xiao Feifei and Zhou Lingyu very indignant and about to retort, but Ye Feng interrupted them.
He held them back and said, "It's fine! Since Chairman Sun can't figure it out, let's count this round as our loss!"
"Haha! Did you hear that! He admitted defeat himself! Now it's a one-to-one tie!" Tang Zhiyang said triumphantly.
However, Ye Feng ignored him and picked up the painting, looking puzzled.
"Strange, since it could trigger the reaction of the Ding Shui Pearl, it should have some special significance!" Ye Feng carefully examined the painting.
Just then, the Ding Shui Pearl in his mind suddenly vibrated violently, and the painting in his hand trembled along with it.
As he was racking his brain for an explanation, suddenly the waterfall in the painting transformed into a stream of water, detaching from the painting and flowing into Ye Feng's body from his hand...