Demons Beside You

Chapter 193: The Value Of Artwork

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

“Mr. Chen, why don’t you stay here for dinner?” Mr. Doman invited.

“I would love to, but I really need to go home.”

“Is your girlfriend waiting for you at home?”

Chen Zhao shook his head. “I have something else.”

“Alright then. Here’s my business card. If you need these things, you can call me anytime.” Mr. Doman gave Chen Zhao an exquisite business card.

Chen Zhao glanced at the card. Written on the front was Mr. Doman’s full name, Frickley Doman.

On the back was his company’s name, Elena Art Appraisal, as well as a bunch of phone numbers.

“Mr. Doman, are you an art appraiser?”

“We also provide auctions,” Mr. Doman said.

“Can I ask you something about artwork?”

“What do you want to know?”

“What’s the simplest way to tell if a piece of art is valuable?”

“Firstly its age. In principle, the older something is, the more valuable it is. Next, its rarity. For example, in 1798, the French king gave out Crown of France commemorative gold coins. Today, there are only three of them left, and each is worth over a million. In the same year, the Bank of England gave out empire commemorative coins. Because many collectors have them, each coin is only worth ten thousand...”

Mr. Doman was very professional in the field.

Even though Chen Zhao only wanted a brief introduction, Mr. Doman still tried his best to tell him all he could about artwork.

Chen Zhao could only understand some of it, because the rest were too technical.

In fact, despite having spoken so much, Mr. Doman had merely scratched the surface of the field.

It was obviously impossible to explain everything to an artwork newbie in just a day.

“Mr. Chen, if you want to know how much a piece of art is worth, the easiest way is to bring it to my company and get it appraised. Do not buy it before you know its value,” Mr. Doman advised.

“Of course. Thank you, Mr. Doman.”

“I have a book on art appraisal. You can read it when you’re free.”

“Thank you.”

Mr. Doman gave him the book and Chen Zhao accepted it.

...

When Chen Zhao returned home, he realized that there was a guest.

Faur was here. At the moment, she was helping Fali in the kitchen.

“Faur, why are you here?”

Faur glanced at Chen Zhao and stopped what she was doing.

She followed Chen Zhao to the living room and stared at him with a judgemental look. “Chen, what’s your relationship with my sister?”

“What do you mean? We’re friends, and also housemates. What relationship do you want us to have?” Chen Zhao was bewildered by the question.

Just then, Fali walked out from the kitchen, carrying a plate of dish in her hand. “She thinks that we’re a couple.”

“How about we make some progress tonight and break through our pure friendship?” Chen Zhao laughed.

“Are you really just friends?” Faur still did not believe them.

After all, the fact that Fali was staying in the same house as a man already indicated that she did not hate him. Maybe she even liked him.

“Why can’t we just be friends? Moreover, even if we are a couple, what are you going to do? Bless us or stop us?”

“I only want to know the truth. That’s all.”

“So you’re just here to find contents for gossip?”

Chen Zhao sat on the sofa and reached out his hand, grabbing himself a piece of meat from the plate. Faur frowned, but Fali was clearly already used to it.

The fact that Chen Zhao could do so naturally and Fali ignored it showed that their relationship was certainly not that simple.

Faur let her imagination run wild in her head. Anyway, she only believed what she saw and thought.

Suddenly, Chen Zhao removed his shirt. Faur was shocked. “What are you doing?”

“Err... I forgot that you’re here.” Chen Zhao also realized it, but since he had already taken his shirt off, there was no reason for him to put it back on again.

This only confirmed Faur’s guess that Chen Zhao and Fali had at least once seen each other naked.

“What happened to your shoulder? Were you beaten by someone?” Faur saw the obvious bruise on Chen Zhao’s left shoulder.

“My boxing coach accidentally punched me today during class.”

“No. It’s a bruise from a blunt weapon. Did your coach train you with a baseball bat?”

“Help me apply some medication.”

Given Chen Zhao’s physical strength, the gangster must have used a lot of force to leave such a bruise.

As Faur applied some cream on Chen Zhao’s shoulder, she also admired Chen Zhao’s body. “I didn’t know that you’re so strong.”

Then, she even peeked at Fali with the corner of her eye to see Fali’s reaction.

Unfortunately, Fali had seen Chen Zhao’s body way too many times.

She had in fact even seen Chen Zhao fully naked before.

Just then, White-Ma approached them with trembly movement. He carefully looked at Chen Zhao and Faur, after which he extended his paw and got himself a piece of meat.

White-Ma had already discovered that because he was injured, Chen Zhao and Fali were exceptionally tolerant to his actions.

Realizing that White-Ma had succeeded, Black-Ma followed suit. Before he even reached out, however, Chen Zhao already kicked him away.

“Go away. Can’t you see that we have a guest? Don’t you know how to spell embarrassment?”

“How did that white wolf get injured?”

“Why is everyone beside me able to tell that they’re wolves?”

“They’re too big, even for wolves. Even the largest dog can’t reach their size.”

Black-Ma and White-Ma had a shoulder height of over 120 centimeters and weighed over 100 kilograms. They were clearly two powerful beasts.

“You haven’t told me how he got injured.”

“Bitten by a shark.”

“That’s unlucky.”

“You mean he’s lucky? At least he’s still alive.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Having kicked by Chen Zhao, Black-Ma was obviously dispirited. He took out some dog food by himself and then started eating at the door.

Seeing Black-Ma’s extremely intelligent act, Faur could not help but laugh.

She had never seen a dog which knew how to take a packet of dog food from the shelf, open it, and eat it.

More importantly... Black-Ma was a wolf.

“Sell me a dog.”

“No way. Stop asking me this again,” Chen Zhao answered emotionlessly.

“Don’t forget that you owe me a favor.”

“Please. You only helped me to analyze a blood sample. I can at most pay you the money for the analysis. Stop threatening me with this.”

“Can’t you tell I was joking?” Faur widened her eyes at Chen Zhao.

“Do you know each other before? I didn’t even know,” Fali said, clearly implying something else.

“We weren’t close. Met each other a few times during work,” Faur quickly explained. She did not want her sister to misunderstand anything. “Chen, are you still working as an illegal doctor? Why don’t you get a medical license? It shouldn’t be difficult for you, right?”

“Of course it’s difficult. I’ve learned most of my medical knowledge in China, which is somewhat different from the one in America. If I want to get a medical license, I won’t be able to work at all for half a year.”