Almighty painter

Chapter 1063 BDE
Gu Weijing played a virtuoso polyphonic piece in front of the public. This piece is world-renowned for its high level of difficulty and has three different voices in a fugue.

Even the very existence of this piece is to allow the pianist to showcase his incredible technique, the so-called "ultimate skill".

Gu Weijing played with great enthusiasm, and the audience listened with rapt attention.

at last.

The three-hour piano recital ended, and Gu Weijing, drenched in sweat, collapsed onto the piano bench, his hands trembling with exhaustion. The host, Anna Elena, hobbled up on her cane, and remarked—

"What an honor to hear such music! In our time, perhaps only Gu Weijing possesses such extraordinary talent!"

The entire audience stood up and cheered and applauded.

The critics transformed into octopus-like scribblers, frantically scribbling in their notebooks, recording the exquisite and unforgettable details of the concert.

Those in the know will understand the technical difficulty of this piece and feel that witnessing such a performance is a truly worthwhile experience. However, those who don't understand, who don't get the point, and who aren't on the same wavelength, may just think that Gu Weijing was making a lot of noise on stage after listening to the whole piece.

This is also normal.

Not everyone can resonate with the rhythm of a piece of music, especially in the contemporary art world. Sometimes, even professional art critics may not be able to understand every work. In many cases, the number of people who dislike your work far exceeds the number who like it.

This is not the audience's fault.

You won't find any artist whose work can please everyone in the world at the same time.

The atmosphere had already been built up to this point, and everyone was clapping and saying how amazing it was. Usually, I would just join in the fun and clap along, saying how amazing it was, truly a master!
This is Gu Weijing's "The Ultimate Realm of Art" retrospective exhibition.

According to the schedule, it was time for the performance to come to a successful close, and everyone was to go home and find their mothers. Just then, a homeless man with a stubble beard and a red nose strolled onto the stage, waved his hand and said, "Please wait a moment, there is an encore performance."

Then he reached out, picking his nose as he dragged Mr. Gu, who was panting heavily on the piano bench, aside, and pulled a stack of broken bowls from his crotch.

He began to perform acrobatic tricks with his right hand, tossing and catching bowls, while singing a lotus flower ballad. At the same time, he used his left hand to play through the difficult piece that Gu Weijing had just played from beginning to end.

In an instant, a gale howled, and the arm, moving at high speed, left countless afterimages on the piano keys.

Throughout the entire process, he didn't play a single note wrong, and his emotions were surprisingly rich.

The performance is over.

The pianist, homeless man, and acrobat unbuckled his belt, urinated comfortably on stage, then stuffed the bowl back into his pants and turned to leave.

Go halfway.

He turned back, "pop," took the red nose off his own face, and then "pop," put it on Gu Weijing. He patted Gu's shoulder affectionately and pulled a piece of paper out of his four-dimensional crotch.

"Oh! My friend, you are the real SUPER—"

"Uh. Wait a minute, I picked up the wrong word."

He flipped the piece of paper over.

"Oh, my friend, now you're the real clown!" Then he happily tap-danced away.

For those in the know, they were completely dumbfounded. WTF, what was that thing just now? Did they get injected with super serum?
For those who didn't really appreciate Gu Weijing and were just watching the spectacle, Gu Weijing's image collapsed in an instant. All their dubious praise of Gu Weijing and all his past successes became the golden, mythical foundation for Hunter Bull.

Gu Weijing is showing off his skills.

Hunter Bull's approach was even more dazzling than Gu Weijing's. He waited ten years, struck at the most crucial moment, and then—delivered a fatal blow.

1 is 1, and 2 is 2.

In terms of musical difficulty, a four-part fugue is more difficult than a three-part fugue. Similarly, in sprinting the 100 meters, someone who can run it in 9 seconds is stronger than someone who can run it in 11 seconds.

There is an objective evaluation standard involved.

Hunter Bull defeated Gu Weijing in an absurdly unfair way, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

Just like Gu Weijing, during his growth, repeatedly used seemingly impossible and unreasonable methods to defeat his "opponents" from the sky.

And now.

When art critics begin to praise the living "Van Gogh" and the art market starts to cool down, once he falls from his high position, he will fall even more severely than his former competitors.

……

“Ole, you don’t like Bach, you don’t listen to Beethoven, so you don’t understand.”

The banker stared at the black screen of the television.

"Mental attributes are extremely important. A person's life is a process of fighting against all kinds of fears. Some people are defeated by fear, while others are able to defeat it."

"The so-called good investment is about recognizing when to be fearful and who are the people who can overcome fear. You use your eyes to see and your ears to listen, recognize those who are the real Bach, and then give them time. You must befriend the strong. There are many talented people in this world, and smart people are everywhere, but strong people are few and far between. You can use talented people, you can do business with smart people, but you must respect those who are truly strong."

"Yes, Father."

Ole looked like he had learned something.

"In 1747, Frederick the Great met Bach at his court. As a music lover, the emperor gave the musician a test. He gave him a very complex theme full of chromatic scales and asked him if he could compose a three-part fugue for piano based on it."

“Bach did it.”

"The two of them discussed where the limits of music lay. At the time, it was believed that the four-part fugue was the limit, and the five-part fugue existed almost only in imagination. The emperor asked the musician if he could compose a six-part fugue for the piano. Bach said he could not."

"The emperor was not angry. Instead, he gave him a brand new piano as a gift."

"A few years later."

"The Emperor received a letter from Bach in Leipzig, and this sheet music was inside." The banker pointed to the television screen in front of him.

"The Musical Offering is the first piano piece in human history to consist of a six-part fugue."

"You mean... the time we planned to sue Hunter Bull, who is the Bach in this story?"

until now.

Ole Kruger finally understood that the banker wasn't talking to him about some damn classical music. Years earlier, Ole had proposed terminating his contract with Hunter Bull and suing him for breach of contract damages.

It was banker Kruger who personally stopped the matter.

"If Frederick the Great had been furious and ordered Bach to be expelled from Prussia, or even dragged away and beheaded, would we still have this miraculous 'Musical Offering'?" "I'm never afraid of truly high-quality assets having poor stock prices. Some assets should be sold once they make money, while others can be held for ten, twenty, or even thirty years."

The banker finally showed an expression of approval that the student was teachable.

"One hundred million dollars is nothing more than the new 88-key piano that the emperor gifted to Bach, spanning 6.5 octaves. Historically speaking, there are many courts in Europe, and to be able to give Bach a piano was not an honor for Bach, but an honor for the emperor. His aesthetic taste has been proven."

"It is an honor for us to offer a contract to someone like Hunter Bull."

Mr. Kruger said.

"Now."

"All investments have yielded double the return, haven't they?"

"Investing should also involve aesthetic taste."

The banker crossed his legs, took an apple from the plate and ate it. “Business school teaches you to read company financial statements. There are plenty of people in this world who look at the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 every day, pay attention to the daily changes in various ETF indices, and watch various IPO roadshows, but very few people look at the BDE index.”

"BDE?"

“BDE.” The banker nodded.

“BDE is… uh.” Ole searched his mind for various economic terms. “Bank Details…Extension? Bank system expansion index?”

His father shook his head.

"B, D, E, Big Dic [beep——] Energy."

Ole never imagined that his own father would have such a vulgar and humorous side. They were just discussing classical music, but he suddenly started joking with him using obscene slang.

This is probably the unique way that seemingly aloof bankers manage to build a closer relationship with their sons.

"If there were a report that focused on the BDE index, I would definitely take a look."

Ole smiled along.

“Father, I have found a way to completely defeat Gu Weijing. Hunter Bull has already defeated him in the art, and the rest is our home ground, where we have the advantage.”

"Do you mean……"

"As long as he doesn't win the lawsuit between 'Oil Painting' and Gu Weijing regarding the shares, these shares will remain under protective freeze and will not actually belong to him."

"Are you confident you can win?" the banker asked.

“We can fight a lawsuit, drag it out slowly, we have the money,” Ole said.

"Do you want to bankrupt him with legal fees?" The banker thought for a moment. "The Elena family is also rich, and Gu Weijing is not short of money either. I saw the latest Forbes list. After acquiring the Hermès Gallery, Gu Weijing's personal assets alone have exceeded $2 million."

“That’s all an illusion. Money in the stock market isn’t real money; the money in your pocket is the real money,” Ole said, quoting a Wall Street joke.

"The vast majority of Elena's family assets are permanent assets held in family trusts."

He said.

Based on the separation of rights in a trust.

As the beneficiary of the family office, Anna Elena is able to regularly enjoy investment returns on the assets, but she does not have the right to divide and dispose of the core assets.

Let me give you a vivid example.

The Elena family is like a stock. As the heir, Anna doesn't need to worry about the day-to-day operations of the stock; she receives dividends, but she doesn't have the right to sell the shares. This is why Anna didn't have sufficient funds to react to Kruger Bank's sudden attack on the board.

in fact.

The largest amount of liquid assets held by the heirs of the Elena family actually comes from the family's collections.

These collections are worth over a billion dollars, and to exaggerate a little, they could be worth 30 billion or 50 billion.

However, it is also very complicated to liquidate such priceless collectibles.

For example, the art auction held after the death of Microsoft co-founder Paul Walker achieved a total sales of approximately $15 billion, possibly the highest-grossing auction in human history. To enhance the impact of the auction, the auction house even organized a global tour for the collection.

The specific process will be very complicated.

It's not like one or two paintings worth a million or two. Even if it weren't auctioned, it would sell very quickly through private negotiations with the VIP department of an auction house. The total amount of money circulating in the European art market each year is only around tens of billions. If it were sold directly, no one could afford to buy it.

and.

The Elena family can no longer sell those collections.

“Even if it’s $1000 million, Anna or Gu Weijing should be able to come up with it,” the banker said.

“That was before. Now he has bought the Mas Gallery.”

Ole's eyes gleamed with excitement.

No.

To be precise, such a look has transcended the level of excitement and can be described as pure happiness.

“This is Gu Weijing’s most valuable asset, and this asset will become the stone that drags him down into the swamp,” Ole said. “I have reliable information that this acquisition is based on a performance-based agreement. Gallery Maes is one of the oldest galleries in Europe, and the Maes family has been running the gallery for over 100 years. With Gu Weijing joining, the gallery is gradually recovering.”

"Half of the gallery's shares must be worth at least $2 million. Gu Weijing doesn't have that much money. According to the contract, much of the funding will be made up from the gallery's revenue from selling Gu Weijing's works over the next few years, and there are a series of detailed milestones."

Ole believed that Gu Weijing must have been full of confidence when he signed the contract.

Yes.

Who would easily give up such an opportunity—to own their own super gallery?
Moreover, Gu Weijing has had an exceptionally smooth journey over the past seven years. Since graduating from university, he has never failed in the art market.

Ole understood the source of Gu Weijing's confidence.

If he were Gu Weijing back then, he might even feel that he would keep winning until the end of the world.

(End of this chapter)