hollywood billionaire

Chapter 484 Cultural Relics Foundation

"Are these... all bought for me?"

Xu Yiru's fingertips unconsciously pressed against the cold glass cabinet surface, and the tail end of her voice trembled slightly.

The cold light refracted by the dust-proof glass shattered into stars in her pupils, reflecting the three ebony boxes scattered on the top floor - they were of different sizes, but each box was lined with ink-colored velvet, gently holding up the objects that made her breath stop.

"I bought them all for you."

Han Yi put Xu Yiru down from his arms and nodded with a blushing face.

In fact, among these three collections, only one was a gift he prepared for Xu Yiru.

The other two were items that he felt were of special significance and were intended to be collected by him.

But when the two were chatting just now, they happened to mention that they had never given each other birthday gifts. Han Yi changed his mind temporarily.

He planned to use this as an excuse to give all three collections he bought to Xiaoru.

See if he can get an extra reward for the two collections he bought for himself because of the change of ownership.

"You remembered to give me a gift on my birthday, so how could I not remember to give you a gift on your birthday? I didn't give you anything in the past two years, but now I'm giving you everything at once."

"I...I don't want it."

Xiaoru hurriedly shook her head to refuse, took a half step back, but happened to bump into Han Yi's arms.

"Don't run away. You have to accept it today, whether you want to or not."

Han Yi's deep, magnetic voice was filled with a smile. His arm was across the girl's slender waist, his chin lightly resting on the top of her head. He gently yet domineeringly locked her in front of the jewelry cabinet, making her unable to move.

"I really don't want it anymore."

Xiaoru's breathing became a little rapid because of the hot touch on her back, and her mood was even more flustered because of the gifts in front of her, which must be very expensive, causing her to whimper like a kitten in her throat.

"We agreed not to give expensive gifts, what are these...?"

“Not as expensive as the ones I bought at Harry Winston before.”

"you're lying."

"I didn't lie to you." Han Yi casually drew an irregular circle on the glass cabinet with his fingertips. "If you don't believe me, just pick one and ask. I'll tell you the real transaction price. I promise I won't lie to you."

"This... a white jade Buddha statue."

Xiaoru hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the Buddha statue, about half a meter long, placed in the rectangular wooden box on the far left.

She, who had spent almost her entire childhood in Putai, could recognize at a glance that the Buddha with the right hand in the Dharma-dharma mudra, the left hand in the Dhyana mudra, the long and oval face, the high spiral bun on the head, and the white hair between the eyebrows was none other than Sakyamuni.

"I knew you were going to ask this first." Han Yi smiled and explained softly, "But this is not a white jade Buddha statue. It's made of blue-white glaze."

"Blue-white glaze..." Xiaoru searched for relevant memories in her mind, "Porcelain?"

"Yes."

"Which dynasty?"

"Yuan."

"Oh my god." Xiaoru gasped, "More than seven hundred years ago."

"You're good at history." "I got full marks in history in my middle school." Xiaoru glanced back at Han Yi coquettishly, then leaned into his arms again, "If I remember correctly, there should be very few Yuan Dynasty porcelains still handed down in the world, right?"

"Its history is short, so the number of statues handed down is less than that of other dynasties." Han Yi nodded slightly, "Also, according to the people at Christie's, most of the blue-and-white glazed Bodhisattva statues handed down from the Yuan Dynasty to the present day depict Guanyin. This kind of Buddha statue is extremely rare, there are not many."

"And you see, the blue-and-white glazed Buddha statues of the Southern Song Dynasty were generally half-glazed, and the blank areas had to wait for the "cold color" to be used to outline the gold. But the Yuan Dynasty was different. The mainstream practice was to glaze the entire body like this Buddha statue. In addition, in the Yuan Dynasty, the craftsmanship of Jingdezhen porcelain manufacturing was improved. The proportion of kaolin in porcelain clay increased, which increased the content of aluminum oxide. The body was more suitable for shaping large objects, so the Buddha statues of this period were much more magnificent than those of the Southern Song Dynasty."

"The 37-centimeter Buddha statue in front of us is considered small, so it is generally believed to be a product of the early Yuan Dynasty. The one currently on display at the Capital Museum is 67 centimeters long."

"Then..." Xiaoru was not fooled by Han Yi's exaggerated description. She pointed out the key point, "How much did you buy this...?"

"…It's a cliché to talk about the price of this Buddha statue. It has been lost overseas for many years. During the Anti-Japanese War, it was smuggled out by a cultural relic dealer named Lu Qinzhai. It has been passed around in the hands of private collectors in France. Now I buy it…"

"how much is it?"

"No matter where we Chinese go, we must not forget our roots. Collecting these smuggled cultural relics is also for the day when we can..."

"Don't tell me I'm leaving."

"85 million euros."

Only when the girl in his arms began to struggle like a kitten that didn't want to take a bath was Han Yi forced to reveal the real transaction price.

"I... must be going crazy."

When Xiaoru heard the price, she was stunned at first, then shook her head and smiled at herself.

"I actually think that it is a good deal to be able to buy such a historical relic at this price."

"Is that so?" Han Yi cheered up. "That's what I thought at the time. Look, any high-end jewellery from Harry Winston costs millions of US dollars, while a cultural relic with a long history and great significance only costs 850,000 euros. By comparing them, isn't the price-performance ratio... Oh, the CP value you talk about has gone up so quickly?"

"You know that Harry Winston's price-performance ratio is very low, right?" Xiaoru turned around and looked at him. Han Yi felt a little gnashing in her words. "Necklaces and earrings are the most expensive. It's fine if you just wear them for a few thousand dollars, but you spend millions of dollars... Your aunt worked hard to earn every penny, and you just spend it all in one go. Don't you think it's a waste?"

"This is the death order from your aunt, my sister Ru." Han Yi hurriedly complained, "She won't let me go home until I finish spending all the money."

"I understand, but my aunt also..." Xiaoru hesitated for a while before she sighed softly, "Anyway, this Buddha statue... is too valuable and too rare. I can't keep it. I think, Yiyi, wouldn't it be better to lend it for free to... a museum exhibition in the mainland? Let it return to its homeland."

"Sure." Han Yi responded readily, "I'll give it to you, and you can lend it back, how about that?"

"No, how can I help you make such a decision?"

"Aren't we the Han couple? We have already established one together... Oh, that's right!"

Han Yi's voice suddenly rose an octave, which scared Xiaoru.

"What's wrong? Why is it so loud all of a sudden?"

"Foundation!" Han Yi hugged Xu Yiru tighter, looked at her, then looked at the jewelry cabinet in front of him. The light in his eyes was almost the same as when he gave a passionate speech about Han Music on the DJ stage just now.

"What do you think about us setting up an art foundation dedicated to collecting Chinese cultural relics?"

"We will do our best to buy back the cultural relics lost overseas one by one and bring them back home."

“Use your disposable wealth in such a righteous way that will benefit future generations.”

"I'll invest and you'll manage it, okay?"

(End of this chapter)