my friend

In the evening, the two arrived at the door of Lin Xiao's house.

Marvin picked up the oil painting quickly, so Lin Xiao had no choice but to let him in together.

Entering Lin Xiao's home again, the simple furnishings still make Marvin feel more comfortable.He walked around the living room with the picture frame in his arms, and ran up to the second floor on his own.Footsteps rang on the second floor for a while, and then ran down again.

"Where to put it?" Marvin asked Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao walked to the opposite side of the sofa, moved the TV away, and Marvin stood the oil painting where the TV was just now.

When Lin Xiao came back and saw it, he didn't speak, and walked to the opposite sofa and sat down.

"You, drink water or Coke? Or drink water." Marvin walked into the kitchen to boil water.

"Strange, why is the second floor of your house larger than the first floor?" Marvin asked in the kitchen.

Lin Xiao was silent in the living room and did not respond.

Marvin tapped his fingers on the countertop, waiting for the water to boil, thinking about what to say.

The water boiled, but Marvin hadn't figured it out yet.

Lin Xiao watched Marvin bring two glasses of water, he got up and said, "Drink it, I'll drink something else." Then he walked to the kitchen.

Marvin followed Lin Xiao, and saw Lin Xiao press on the wall on the side of the kitchen, and a door popped open.It turned out that the door was painted with the same color as the wall, so it blended with the wall.

After walking in, Marvin realized that it was actually a small wine storehouse.

"Lin, you are amazing!"

Marvin followed Lin Xiao in and looked around.

"There is also a temperature control system... What if there is a power outage?"

"You can generate electricity by yourself." Lin Xiao chose to watch on his own.

"Not bad." Marvin walked to the other side to look at it for a while, then picked up a glass of red wine.

Lin Xiao also chose, and took over Marvin's one.

"You drink this?"

"Is it not good?"

"Sweet. As long as you like it."

After speaking, he bent down to open a small cabinet, and inside were boxes of shredded tobacco in neat sizes.

"You roll it yourself?"

Marvin poked his head forward.

"Hey!" He picked up a small cigarette rolling machine from inside, then picked up the finished product on the side, and sniffed it carefully.

"The fragrance is very pure." Marvin praised, "You are very particular, did you remodel this storage room yourself?"

"Just like doing some crafting."

Lin Xiao replied calmly. He picked up a pack of rolled cigarettes, and found an ashtray and two wine glasses in a drawer in the kitchen.

After Marvin came out of the wine cellar, he closed the door again, and now the entrance was integrated with the wall again.

"What to serve with it?" Lin Xiao asked after waking up to the red wine.

"I don't have much appetite." Marvin sat comfortably on the sofa, watching Lin Xiao's busy back.

"Salty."

So Lin Xiao cut a few slices of cheese and brought them over.

"Not bad." Marvin squeezed a piece and put it in his mouth.

"Cheers." The two drank each.

Apart from drinking, Lin Xiao remained silent.

Marvin thought and thought, and said, "The author of this oil painting is not well-known."

"Then why did you buy it?"

"That's because..." Marvin narrowed his eyes and thought about it carefully, "Because the perspective of the painting is the same as the perspective I saw from the hotel room."

"Just that?" Lin Xiao seemed dissatisfied with Marvin's answer.

"There is also a sense of detachment. It is like New York, but not quite like the New York I have been to."

"Heh..." Lin Xiao raised the corner of his mouth.

"This painter is rare. Investing is like gambling, in case he becomes popular one day." Marvin poured another glass.

"His paintings are not worth trading." Lin Xiao drank the wine in the glass, pushed the glass over, and Marvin poured it for him.

"You know this artist well?"

"He is my father." Lin Xiao drank the wine without raising his eyes.

"Oh?" Marvin raised his eyebrows and poured the wine again.

"My father's English name is Simon." He pointed to the small charcoal writing in the corner of the oil painting.

"The Chinese name is Lin Zhou."

"Never heard of it."

"Passed away at the age of 33, and the creative period was very short."

"...Heart problem?" Marvin asked cautiously.

Lin Xiao nodded.

"Then you...still drinking like this..."

"My body has nothing to do with these things." Even though he drank, Lin Xiao looked extremely calm.

Marvin saw Lin Xiao's Adam's apple slid up and down twice, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

Lin Xiao lit a cigarette and smoked it slowly for a while, as if he had finally made up his mind, he said slowly:

"My father is a Singaporean, and my grandparents run a travel agency in Singapore. He is the youngest child in the family. Because of his love for art, he has traveled around the world since he was a teenager. Although the family does not approve, all expenses should be provided. Later I My father met my mother in Taipei.

"My mother...was born beautifully."

"Then you should be very similar to your mother." Marvin leaned on the back of the sofa with one hand, and slowly took a sip of red wine.

Lin Xiao ignored it, and continued: "My grandparents' house runs a very small antique shop. My mother quit school very early, and helped out in the shop, slowly learning to start a business of art business. Later, my grandparents passed away, and my mother struggled to survive. At this time, I met my father."

Lin Xiao crushed the cigarette in his hand, let out a breath, and stopped talking again.

Afraid that he would not go on talking, Marvin calmly picked up two cigarettes, lit his own, and handed the lighter to Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao played with the lighter in his hand for a while, lit the cigarette again, and continued with what he had just said.

"She thought she had grasped the straw and could live a carefree life from then on. What I didn't expect was that my grandparents were dissatisfied with my father's long-term absence, and even more disapproved of him being with my mother. And I happened to be in Born at this time.

My father took the initiative to propose to my mother. My mother thought that with me, she had a big card, so she went to Singapore with my father.But when I was first born, I was thin, small and sick, so I didn't please my grandparents.Mother gradually disappointed.My father did nothing in Singapore either.Later, a gallery in the United States sent an invitation to my father. Although my grandparents repeatedly blocked it, my mother was very supportive, so the three of us left Singapore and came to New York.From then on, it was a formal break with the grandparents. "

When Lin Xiao said this, the cigarette in his hand was burned out, as if the scene of the drama had come to an end.He paused for a while and continued:

"The prosperity of the metropolis is very much in line with my mother's wishes. She wandered among galleries and art dealers, and she helped my father gain a little fame, as if everything was developing in the direction she expected. But I was 4 years old. When I was in the hospital, my father’s physical problems became more and more serious, which seriously affected his creation. My mother was very dissatisfied with this, so she didn’t take good care of it. I remember that once my father and I were hospitalized at the same time, and my father moved the hospital bed to my My father held my hand tightly through the curtain, while my mother was outside participating in various appreciation receptions, and there was no one there for a few days.

When I was 6 years old, my mother said that I had contacted a very good doctor in Los Angeles. Later, I followed my mother to Los Angeles for surgery.When I came back to New York, my father was already dead. "

Lin Xiao drank the wine in his hand again, and Marvin didn't move, so he poured another glass himself.

"My father's works were all sold by my mother. My mother told me that the person who should have gone to Los Angeles for surgery was my father. She called me a little villain. Lin Xiao lowered his eyes and laughed at himself. Smiled, and drank most of the wine again. She almost never appeared in the hospital. The only one who accompanied my father was me.

"On the day my father left, he told me that he loved my mother very much, and loved how she looked out of place in the antique shop when he first met her, but she was full of vitality. What he worried about most was my mother. I must follow her well, protect her.

"After my father left, I had no other relatives, so I had to follow my mother and move around in various hotels. When I was 7 years old, we returned to Taipei.

"It turned out that she had already caught up with Lin Chengxian's wife, Lin Li'e, when my father was seriously ill. In Taipei, she met Lin Chengxian head-on through the owner of Fumao Auction House."

Hearing this, Marvin's expression became serious.He couldn't figure out why Lin Xiao told him the inside story so clearly, but he was willing to believe every word Lin Xiao said.

"Lin Chengxian's home has a big basement. Every time my mother had a tryst with Lin Chengxian, she took me with her. And when I arrived at Lin's house, my mother locked me in the basement with piles of antique calligraphy and paintings.

"Their operation is also very simple. Lin Li'e is the only one who shows up in public. All the collections at home are bought by her, or in small auctions, or in the form of imitations. Lin Chengxian is very fond of my mother. Don't worry, at the same time, he is also very cautious, and he almost never sells what he gets, so my mother hardly gets any benefits except contacts. After a long time, she and Zhang Fumao thought of other ways. "

"Change?" Marvin said.

Lin Xiao nodded. "It's so easy."

"Lin Chengxian and his wife actually don't have much vision for artworks. But I, looking at the real ones in the basement day by day, were replaced by fake ones one by one.

"Maybe it was to win over my mother to do better things for him. Maybe Lin Chengxian really fell in love with my mother. When he was 9 years old, he took the initiative to help contact me and arrange for me to study in school. I also started to go in and out of Lin's house normally. The chances of seeing Ms. Lin Li'e are more than meeting my mother.

"All the way to junior high school, Ms. Lin Li'e also sponsored me to go to the United States to study at a university.

"After I came to the United States, my mother never came to see me once. When I was a freshman, I suddenly had a heart problem. It was good and bad. I stayed like this for a year, and somehow I recovered completely. Until my third year I just found out that Ms. Lin Li'e passed away during my first year in the United States.

"She found out about my mother and Lin Chengxian."

Lin Xiao's face was slightly reddened, the alcohol seemed to have opened up the meridian of his bad conversation, he continued to speak unhurriedly.

"Actually, the whole family knew about it early in the morning. Except for the Lins and his wife, every child in the Lin family and the family of Lin Chengxian's wife and younger brother have a share in the benefits of my mother and Zhang Fumao's hands and feet. When the incident happened, everyone stood up. On my mother's side. Really..."

Lin Xiao smiled and sighed.

"And I was actually funded by her to go to college."

Marvin leaned sideways on the sofa and said calmly, "So you gave up your studies?"

"Well. After I got the news, I couldn't make myself read anymore, so I quietly ran back to Taipei alone. I worked as a worker in a factory that made antique furniture. Half a year later, I met my mentor Chen Yilin. My mentor passed away 5 years ago. , all private collections are donated, and only this house is left for me to settle down. Until now.”

"Your mother's surname should be Xiao?"

"Xiao Pinyue."

The red wine in Lin Xiao's hand has been drunk by him.He looked at his watch and said:

"Twenty-ten minutes, all my stories, in exchange for this painting of yours. The questions you asked me that day should have the answers."

"Oh...my eyes." Marvin pointed to his own eyes, and then pointed to the oil painting made by Lin Xiao's father opposite.

"One last question."

"what?"

"Your body... will something happen?"

"I don't know. The examination didn't reveal any problems. My mother always said that my illness was faked to act like a spoiled child to my father."

"It's been fine for such a long time, why have the attacks suddenly become more frequent recently? Did it start when I asked you to appraise the painting? The time seems wrong..." Marvin fell into deep thought.

"I'll go back and contact my doctor friends in America."

"No need. I've thought about it for a long time, and every time it happens, there's no reason at all. Don't bother to think about it, just let it go."

"Lin." Marvin's hand covered Lin Xiao's arm.

"Why tell me this, just because of this painting?"

"Because you are my friend." Lin Xiao said calmly, staring at the empty wine glass.

"I say now that I never doubted you, are you willing to believe it?"

"I am willing."

Lin Xiao paused for a second, and slowly moved his arm away.

Marvin was a little embarrassed, rubbed his hands, and said:

"So, now Lin Xiuping has all fakes?"

"I don't know what happened later, but Zhang Fumao told him not to touch a batch of things. Among them are a pair of Yuan blue and white flowers and two Dunhuang murals copied by Zhang Daqian."

"These two blue and white statues are in this auction list... Having said so much, I don't seem to have anything I can do for you..."

"I don't need anything."

"Ah...that's right." Lin Xiao seemed to suddenly remember something.

"Do you like dogs?"

"Also... okay..."

"If one day I leave, would you like to adopt my dog? I think your house is quite big, and it will like it."

"You still have a dog?"

"What, is it weird?"

"No..." Marvin laughed, "It's just that I've never seen it before."

"I've been busy recently, and Brother Six is ​​fostered by me in a pet shop."

"Okay, no problem... Are you starting to ask Gu now?"

"Yeah, maybe I will be unlucky one day." Lin Xiao said with a smile.

The usual smile, in Marvin's eyes at this moment, seemed to have a thorn in it.

"Don't say that." Marvin suddenly hugged Lin Xiao tightly.

"We won't be so unlucky." Marvin buried his head in Lin Xiao's neck, his voice was low.

"...What are you doing?" Lin Xiao was embraced by Marvin, his voice a little husky.

"Do you know that in the reception room that day, you were like a mystery walking out of the darkness."

"... Now the mystery is solved."

"But I don't want to come out."

"...Marvin."

Lin Xiao physically resisted.

Marvin had to let go of his arms.

"sorry."

"Hmm..." Lin Xiao sat up straight with an unnatural expression.

"Tomorrow is Sunday, and you still have time."

"Yes, I'm going to call Assistant Qin back for a meeting." Marvin was so hot-headed that he still remembered Assistant Qin's panic.

"it is good."

"Then I'll go first." Marvin picked up his coat.

"it is good."

"I'll come back later, you drank so much."

"I said it's fine." Lin Xiao said, "It's very late now."

"Then... I'll pick up Sixth Brother for you another day."

"Ah."

"Goodbye."

"Ah."

The next day, all employees above the supervisory level were called back to the company by Marvin for an emergency meeting.

In winter in Taipei, the weather is mostly cold.

It's the same low air pressure in the conference room. Marvin frowned tightly for a day, and as the sky gradually darkened, he relaxed it little by little, and he seemed to have some chances of winning in his heart.

After everyone walked out of the conference room, only Marvin and Assistant Qin were left in the room.

"When will Ms. Sterling arrive in Taipei?"

"Tuesday night." Assistant Qin replied.

"Now make an appointment for me. I want to see her first on Wednesday morning."

"Ok."