Almighty painter

Chapter 755 Lies and Truth

"Her name, Carol, Carla, those seemingly plausible stories, those fragmentary records, including the painting itself, are all fictitious products."

The man said with a firm tone.

"Where's Kara? Her name was mentioned once in Monet's collection of letters. This shouldn't be fictional, right? Could it be that you managed to travel back a century and a half ago and bribed Monet himself?"

The person recording the video asked back with a smile.

"Oh, of course not. She is the only real part. But Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir or Picasso, these artists wrote countless letters to their friends throughout their lives, and of course there are countless references to unknown little people. All we need to do is buy a collection of memories and pick out a suitable little person who no one cares about from any corner of it. Then we can make up a complete story around it."

"Kara is the right person you picked?"

"Yes, she is the lucky one."

The speaker paused briefly.

"The essence of counterfeit art lies here. The real and the fake are mixed together, and it is difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. It is difficult for a 17% fake to fool everyone. Some people will use the base of broken Dongxia porcelain and match it with a bottle body that was pieced together later to imitate the fine porcelain used by the royal family. If we want to imitate a famous oil painting from the 17th century, and we want to do the best, we even have to take a work of an unknown painter handed down from the th century, scrape off the surface coating, and then make a second modification."

"Kara is that little person who really existed in history but was ignored by everyone. She used a little bit of truth as the base, and then used it as the cornerstone to piece together and weave a credible lie." said the voice-over.

"Yes."

The man, whose face is hidden by mosaic, seems to be nodding.

"One percent true, nine percent false."

"I don't understand why you didn't choose someone more famous as the carrier of the image of the first female Impressionist painter in history?"

A new question was raised.

"While researching materials these days, I noticed that some people on the Internet have linked the image of Carroll to Monet's wife Camille. For you, if this painting was painted by Monet's wife, wouldn't it be more popular and more sought after by collectors than if it was painted by the unknown person mentioned by Monet in the corner of his letter? It's a bit puzzling."

There is a moment of silence in the video.

"The reason is very simple." The man said slowly, "You are right to find it confusing. You find it confusing because you have been used to thinking from the perspective of writing a paper, not from the perspective of shipping."

"From the perspective of writing a paper, the more discussion there is, the more topical the research results are, and the more prestige the writer can gain. An unknown person is not as good as Monet's wife. Monet is not as good as Van Gogh, and Van Gogh is not as good as Da Vinci... But from the perspective of shipping, this is not the case. This is a question of discourse power, and we do not have the discourse power to define the life of Monet's wife. Choosing someone who is too famous would be like making fake paintings of celebrities again."

"Ah."

The other person snorted, signaling him to continue.

"Monet's wife lived in the public eye from birth to death. Maybe she was not as popular as her husband, but she was the most important woman in Monet's life after all, and her life experience can be verified by many people. She had an Impressionist work, which was forgotten for various reasons and then found by later generations. There is nothing wrong with this story. If she had ten or twenty signed Impressionist works, and they were forgotten for various reasons, it would obviously be unreasonable for a semi-public figure like her."

"Carroll's true identity is Monet's wife. This conclusion maximizes the benefits for writing papers. Carroll's true identity is the so-called Carla. This conclusion maximizes the benefits for selling paintings."

"Because you don't just sell one painting." The man outside the camera interjected.

"What the boss wants is a gold mine that can be mined continuously, not a piece of nugget gold picked up on the roadside. The market transaction record for works by female Impressionist painters is only around a million dollars. For the size of the boss's business, a business worth a million dollars is not very important."

"Unless you can consistently produce transactions worth millions of dollars," the questioner answered for him.

"That's right. Unless we can stably produce transactions worth millions of dollars." The man under the mosaic repeated it in a strange voice that became shrill after being processed by the tuning software.

"I see. Kara left only a few records. You can write whatever you want about her life experience. You can create whatever you want about her works."

"Yes. Once this paper sparks discussion online and gains recognition, I've heard from others that the boss plans to release some more of Carol's paintings in Europe, perhaps in Paris, early next year."

"Oh, a new painting of Kara?"

"One, two, three, or even more. The story of finding bargains at flea markets has been told before. This time, it may be the attic of an old house that has not been opened for a long time, or the corner of a mysterious grocery warehouse that no one cares about. Suddenly, a large number of precious paintings were found by treasure hunters. This is also a very common story template in the art market. Why were they not found before? Because Kara's name was not popular before. With Gu Weijing's paper, collectors from all over the world are willing to collect and driven by money, one Kara's paintings after another were found. With the boss's energy, there are many ways to make the story reasonable."

"You can even wait until this craze is over before writing a new paper about Kara. Gu Weijing received some invitations for international collaborations and discovered new information about Kara's identity. I heard Gu Weijing tell me his idea for the next story... He might want to tell the story of Kara, a poor female painter who started her painting career amidst struggles and doubts and suffered social discrimination... A painter who was so poor that she couldn't even afford to eat insisted on her dream of painting. This Hollywood screenwriter-style routine can best arouse people's sympathy."

The man let out a very shrill laugh.

"You are very familiar with Gu Weijing."

"I've met him a few times, but he's a bit arrogant and mysterious in the team. He holds a very special position. Maybe he feels that he's not familiar with me."

"In other words, in addition to the "Old Church on a Thunderstorm Day" mentioned by Gu Weijing in his paper, you also have a large number of other paintings by Kara?"

The interlocutor seemed to have grasped the crux of the matter.

“No, if all goes well, by this time next year we’ll have a warehouse full of works by the first female Impressionist painter in history.”

The man shook his wrists that were handcuffed to the table. "Now... we've lost the entire team. That painting, 'Old Church on a Thunderstorm', is very likely to be a one-of-a-kind piece."

……

"We agreed to keep it a secret. My identity won't be leaked, right? To be honest, Gu Weijing has some influence in the local area, and I don't want to be retaliated against."

"Of course, don't worry."

As the video came to an end, someone behind the table reached out and began to collect the interview documents in front of them.

"One last question. Do you know why it was Gu Weijing? Why did your boss hand this painting to Gu Weijing instead of anyone else?"

"The boss has always liked Gu Weijing. He thinks Gu Weijing is talented and worth hyping. He is also an amateur, 18 years old, with a clean resume and no criminal record. More importantly -"

"More importantly, he has some skills." The man's tone became a little mean.

"What do you mean by having some ability?" The camera was pushed in to his obscured face.

"At the beginning of the year, I heard that he used some unknown method to get Sakai Kazunari's daughter. It's not easy to publish such a controversial paper... So, of course it was him. The girl is pretty, and I'm convinced that he has the ability to do this."

The man's last sentence expressed his admiration very well, and it vividly expressed his jealousy that everyone was in the same team, but he was in prison at the moment, while someone else had a girl and status, was usually glorious, and could clean himself up when something went wrong and immediately turn around and go abroad.

The video ends here.

The interface went dark, and Liu Ziming's face was reflected on the dark computer screen. His face was expressionless, his lips were tightly pursed, and the lines on his face were as hard as iron.

Basong was a little nervous.

He didn't know whether other people's reactions were a sign of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the slander he had fabricated.

"Time is too tight, Mr. Liu. I only have more than a week to do it, and I can only give you something like this at most. It may be difficult to use it as evidence for conviction in court. In my experience, it is definitely enough for moral judgment in the public opinion field. But if you are willing to give me a little more time and treat this matter as a long-term commission, then I will definitely be able to provide more convincing evidence."

"I can even find a way to convince the people around him to speak up and testify against him."

Basong couldn't wait to show his value as the king of black material. He wanted to maintain a big and generous client like Liu Ziming and transform the short-term entrustment into a long-term cooperation.

"For this kind of thing, as long as someone close to him speaks up, he will never be able to turn things around."

In the case of MJ's sexual assault on a little boy, which Bassong regards as a "great" classic case of public opinion trial, Michael Jackson was not in a weak position at the beginning.

Michael Jackson's social status is completely incomparable to that of an unknown figure in the art world like Gu Weijing, or even to that of OJ Simpson.

He was so popular that he was beyond the three realms and the five elements. He was the most powerful, most respected, and possibly the richest black man in the United States. In the world, only Nelson Mandela in the political arena at that time could be compared with him.
Jackson has hundreds of millions of fans around the world, and even the mother of the little boy who claimed to have been sexually assaulted is a fan of Jackson. She made it clear that she believed MJ would never do such a thing.

Simpson can afford a dream team of lawyers.

Michael Jackson can certainly afford the most professional public relations personnel and defense team.

under these circumstances.

At the beginning of the case, Michael Jackson was almost able to nail the doctor father who claimed that his child was sexually assaulted by MJ to the defendant's dock for extortion.

Just a little bit more and the whole case would be resolved.

The key figure who turned the case around appeared. MJ's sister La Toya Jackson suddenly jumped out and declared that she knew her brother - "He is the kind of person who would commit pedophilia."

In an instant, public opinion reversed and the whole of America was in an uproar.

Is there any more ironclad evidence in the world than the pop king's sister coming out and claiming that MJ was a pedophile? No one cares that La Toya Jackson's relationship with the entire Jackson family is very bad, and no one cares that the two siblings haven't seen each other for many years.

All everyone cared about was that the person was his biological sister.

Many years later, La Toya admitted in an interview that she was bewitched and led to attack her brother in the interview, and she lied at the time.

Just a few words almost destroyed MJ's huge business empire.

The success stories are there.

Basong investigated Gu Weijing's family background in detail. The personal information he handed to Liu Ziming was not to find out whether Gu Weijing had a happy campus life at school or how many "A" grades he got.

He wanted to find out—

Where is the crack in the egg?

Who are the people around Gu Weijing who can be easily bribed?

When it comes to hammering someone down, it's much more ruthless to find someone around him who is familiar with his life to do the hammering than to find someone with a mosaic on his face who is hiding his true self.

According to Basong's experience, in similar situations, the most convenient and easiest person to bribe is always the ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend of the person being investigated.

Lowest cost, best results.

If the word "ex" is added in front of the word "girlfriend" or "boyfriend", it can be equivalent to "enemy" in certain circumstances. In a criminal case, the first suspect for murdering a wife is always the husband, and the first suspect for murdering a husband is always the wife.

After finding out about Gu Weijing's interpersonal relationships while studying at Fitz International School, Basong immediately found a way to call the phone number of Mona Sandenu, the former female leader of the student union.

He tactfully expressed on the phone that if anyone was willing to cooperate with him and say something, even if it was just a hint, he would reward them.

If she wants to develop in the entertainment industry, he can also provide some opportunities.

"You should have seen those Thai dramas, right? This is easy to arrange. It's really easy."

Basong said so temptingly at that time.

He knew too well how to impress girls of eighteen or nineteen. Female students who could study abroad in the top art universities in the UK might not be short of money, but few girls could resist the temptation of fame and fortune.

Being able to have a few positive shots of your face in an episode of a small TV series is often more effective than paying a large sum of money.

He has mastered this skill to perfection and it works every time. Few people would disagree with it.

He waited for the other party's answer with confidence.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

After waiting for more than ten seconds, he felt that the silence on the other end was too long, so he took the phone from his ear and realized that the other party had hung up the call long ago.

When he called back again.

The operator reminded that the call could not be connected normally, probably because it had been blocked by the other party.

Basong is not often rejected.

This time he encountered a rare situation.

"I've heard some rumors. Mr. Liu, you mentioned that Gu Weijing's cousin seems to have a gambling experience. Gamblers and drug addicts are the two easiest types of people to bribe in the world, but I need some time." Basong persuaded beside the coffee table, "In half a year or a year, I should be able to deal with her. It will cost some money, but not too much..."

Liu Ziming waved his hand, interrupting Basong's endless chatter about wanting to continue his business.

He just wanted to find evidence that Gu Weijing had committed fraud while writing his thesis, not to find a way to send Gu Weijing to prison or bring him to court for prosecution.

Getting these materials would be enough to doom Gu Weijing from everlasting despair.

After all, the other party is just a small figure and not worth Liu Ziming spending too much thought on.

He doesn't have to do it himself.

Liu Ziming only needed to hand over the contents of the memory card to the team of Oil Painting magazine, and the impartial Ms. Anna Irena would help him complete the next task. It would be even better than if he did it himself and let the videos leak on the Internet.

But I don't know why.

After the video on the screen ended, Mr. Liu remained calm for a long time.

Liu Ziming didn't want him to talk, so Basong couldn't continue to promote his business. Liu Ziming didn't come to a final conclusion on the investigation, so Basong didn't dare to take the money and leave.

He had no choice but to remain silent in a restrained manner.

Time passed in silence in the living room, Liu Ziming stood still in silence, and Basong accompanied him cautiously.

The Malaysian political commentator on TV was still waving the manuscript in his hand passionately in the live broadcast room, arguing with the female host on the left, but no additional sound was heard.

It's like a silent puppet show.

Basong observed Mr. Liu who was thinking quietly. He was curious about what the other party was thinking at the moment, and even more curious about why the other party was so interested in Gu Weijing.

Ok.

These thoughts that surged in his mind were merely about Basong's curiosity.

And curiosity is never a matter of consequence.

What he cared about most was whether he could walk out of the room smoothly with the money in his pocket.

Compared to the smooth receipt of $200,000, the truth has never been unimportant, and curiosity certainly is not.

The longer the silence lasted and the more silent the other party was, the more Basong could feel the invisible pressure.

For example, when an important negotiation is about to be concluded, a business partner suddenly hovers his pen over a document and thinks intently for a long time. The weight of the world seems to be hanging on the tip of the pen.

The more sinister the big shots are, the more terrifying they are.

You can't guess whether he will reward you with a smile or fly into a rage and smash the whiskey bottle beside him on your head.

"Mr. Liu is a cultured man. Even if he gets angry, he probably won't smash a bottle on someone's head, right?"

Basong was thinking wildly in his mind.

He comforted himself in his heart and just waited silently. The dirt he had dug out was so perfect that Basong could not imagine that he would make the other party unhappy.

After about a minute, Basong couldn't help but speak.

His patience was far from exhausted. In order to take precious exclusive photos, he once hid among the ivy and bushes outside a celebrity's villa for six hours on a lonely night.

However, the silent pressure coming from Liu Ziming at this moment made Basong even more uneasy than the mosquito bites between the branches and leaves that could not be stopped by mosquito repellents in the past.

Basong had to say something to relieve the feeling of being a little breathless.

"Mr. Liu, what else do you think is required for this commission——"

Liu Ziming raised his arm and pointed at the door of the living room.

The entertainment reporter-turned-black-matter paparazzi heaved a sigh of relief: "Okay, I won't disturb your rest. I'm very tight-lipped. If there are similar jobs in the future, I hope you can continue to consider hiring me. Happy cooperation."

After promoting himself to Liu Ziming once again, Basong picked up his purse and walked towards the door happily.

Just as he was about to step out of the living room, a voice came from behind him.

"Mr. Basong?"

Liu Ziming called him, his voice still sounded so elegant and gentle.

"Mr. Liu, what do you say?"

Basong turned around on the spot.

"Is it true?" the middle-aged man on the sofa asked softly.

"What."

Basong didn't hear it clearly, or rather, he heard it clearly but he didn't understand the specific meaning of the question.

"Gu Weijing forged a paper in Asian Art. He was originally a member of Hao Ge's forgery team. Is this what really happened?"

Liu Ziming repeated slowly.

That's weird.

Basong has been in this business for a long time and has met all kinds of strange employers and encountered all kinds of strange problems.

Some employers were not satisfied with the effectiveness of the black material he collected, and some employers felt that the "evidence" he fabricated was not black enough to convict the other party... But he rarely encountered employers who suddenly asked him whether the "black material" he collected was true.

Mr. Liu commissioned him to collect evidence that Gu Weijing had fabricated his thesis.

He then gave Mr. Liu the evidence that Gu Weijing had fabricated his paper.

The transaction is so simple and clear.

For the black material, the important thing is whether it is black enough and whether it is enough to kill the opponent.

It was clearly Liu Ziming who asked him to find these materials, but now he is asking whether all this is true.

It's so weird.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problem with these contents." Basong thought that Liu Ziming asked this question because he was worried that the evidence he had obtained was not effective enough. "I won't let him have a chance to turn over easily. Every piece of evidence can withstand the verification of outsiders. Everything has been arranged. I, Basong, have checked it out--"

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Liu Ziming.

“That’s not the truth, is it?”

He asked slowly.

"I didn't want to ask, and I didn't want to know all this...but..."

Liu Ziming was silent for a moment.

He shook his head.

"I can feel that these videos don't all reflect the real situation, at least the last one, doesn't."

(End of this chapter)