1176 Take Care
“A possibility?”
Mei Yanqing laughed as if he had heard a joke,
“Before these fake paintings are displayed and sold in art galleries and other places, they need to be appraised by professionals to confirm that there are no problems before they can be allowed to be sold on the market. It’s fine if it was just one or two, but there are so many of them… Yet you’re saying that there’s just a ‘possibility’ of a problem!?”
For a painting to be successfully sold, it had to go through a lot of procedures. It was understandable that there would be occasional mistakes, but judging by this summary, this was a very abnormal situation.
One had to know that many of them had cooperated with the National Art Association before. Now that the problem was so serious, all anyone would need to was to think about it to know that the National Art Association was definitely involved.
This also did not include the private transactions.
These people from the National Art Association had a high status in the art world and were respected by others.
To put it bluntly, in the eyes of many people, they had reliable channels and were professionals themselves. It seemed more credible to help sell and buy paintings through them.
This would definitely further promote the circulation of fake paintings in the domestic market.
The scale of interests involved in this was almost unimaginable.
Mei Yanqing’s words were so blunt that he did not leave Shi Yang any face.
Everyone looked at Shi Yang with different expressions on their faces.
However, Shi Yang had always presented himself as a gentle and elegant person. He had never had any direct conflict with the others, especially when he was facing Mei Yanqing.
After a moment of silence, he lowered his head slightly.
“You’re right.”
There was a look of heavy pressure in Mei Yanqing’s clear eyes as he coldly said, ”
“Chai Shiming, the Vice President of Yitang Gallery, was summoned by the police this morning to cooperate with the investigation. If there are any of you who don’t know this, let me remind you that both he and Tao Siwen are relatives.”
He looked at Shen Li and said, “Ah Li, the counterfeit painting of your ‘The Seventeenth Night’ was exhibited in a gallery, right? ”
“Yes,” Shen Li nodded.
Shi Yang looked over. His eyes lingered on her face for a moment before quickly moving away.
Many people exchanged looks with each other.
In fact, they all knew about this. After all, it was because of this that the news of Shen Li being Tree’s Shadow had been exposed.
At the same time, it was also at that time that they had found out that she was actually Mei Yanqing’s youngest disciple.
At that time, it had shocked almost half of the painting world.
Mei Yanqing’s gaze swept across the crowd, seemingly carrying a feeling of invisible coercion.
“Yitang Gallery is a well-known gallery in the country. Logically speaking, it shouldn’t have made such a big mistake. Now that Chai Shiming and Tao Siwen are being investigated, it was enough to prove that there was something wrong with their gallery. Who was in charge of the collaboration with Yitang Gallery?”
In the suffocating silence, a man in his thirties slowly raised his hand and said with difficulty, “Chairman Mei, It… It’s me… but I really didn’t know what was going on!”
He stammered through this short sentence before finally finishing it with great difficulty, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.
Shen Li looked at him.
At a time like this, it did not matter whether they knew or not. They would definitely still insist that they did not know.
Since Tao Siwen’s matter had already been exposed, the police would definitely investigate it thoroughly. No one wanted to be involved, so of course, they wanted to get rid of him as cleanly as possible.
In addition, although he was in charge of this matter, there were actually many more people involved, such as those who had assisted in the appraisal of the paintings.
Mei Yanqing frowned and said impatiently, “There’s no need to talk nonsense here. Whether you’re innocent or not, everything will be clear when the truth is out.”
The man’s lips moved soundlessly. He wanted to explain himself, but when he saw Mei Yanqing’s expression, he swallowed his words.
Moreover, what Mei Yanqing said made sense.
Realizing the seriousness of the matter, everyone fell silent.
Mei Yanqing’s expression was solemn as he said, “So, from today onwards, everyone must cooperate with the police investigation. In addition, the National Art Association will also be launching an internal investigation. Those who were involved in the matter of the fake painting should step forward. Those who knew about it should actively report it. They could even apply for leniency. If you hide it and don’t report it, you’ll have to bear the consequences yourself once it’s found out!”
The conference hall was so quiet that one could even hear a pin drop.
Mei Yanqing did not expect them to say anything in person.
He stood up, his eyes falling upon the people’s shoulders again, especially Shi Yang. Then, he snorted coldly.
“That’s all I have to say. Some people… better watch out!”
With that, he left.
Yu Pingchuan immediately followed.
Shen Li stood up and walked around the conference table.
As she walked past Shi Yang, he suddenly turned his head and called out to her.
“Shen Li.”
Shen Li stood still as her eyes met his gaze.
“Mr. Shi Yang, did you have anything else to say?”
Shi Yang looked at her quietly, but the look in his eyes behind the lenses of his classes was hard to see.
Chai Shiming was being investigated, so the happenings at the Yitang Gallery would probably be exposed.
Tao Siwen’s situation was probably even worse.
If he was not careful, those things would leak out from the tear in the gallery.
And this flaw… all of it had started with Shen Li’s ‘The Seventeenth Night’.
He smiled faintly.
“It’s nothing. I just wanted to say that Elder Mei is old and has had surgery before, so he needs to take good care of himself. It’s our dereliction of duty to worry him so much about this matter. Take care of Elder Mei when you get back. His health is the most important. As for this matter… we’ll deal with it ourselves, so please don’t worry too much.”
In the meeting just now, Mei Yanqing had not treated Shi Yang pleasantly from beginning to end. He had also spoken quite bluntly and harshly.
However, even at this time, Shi Yang’s attitude was still so gentle and elegant. He even remembered Mei Yanqing’s health.
Anyone who saw this would probably sigh with emotion. This kind of heart and temperament was really rare.
Shen Li looked at him for a moment before her lips curved into a faint smile. However, the smile did not reach her eyes.
“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Shi Yang.”
After she finished speaking, she also left.
When they had left, the atmosphere in the conference room remained quite depressing.
Shi Yang looked around and said, “I’m sure everyone is clear about Elder Mei’s instructions just now?”