I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

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"Wow!" As soon as the words were out, a murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd.

"It's starting, he's starting again!"

"Did I hear that right? Did he say he's buying them all?"

"I heard that today's art exhibition features over 12,000 works, and private collectors own more than a third of them, all of which are for sale."

"Doesn't that mean at least 4,000 paintings are up for sale this time?"

"Oh my, doesn't that mean if each is ten thousand, it would be 40 million dollars?"

"Hehehe, at this level of art exhibition, do you think these paintings would be that cheap? I've been walking around here for over half an hour, and the cheapest piece I saw is 500,000 US dollars! The priciest one, priced at 120 million US dollars, doesn't have the concept of Huaxia currency in this exhibition!"

"Hiss!"

Upon hearing this, people around couldn't help but feel a twinge in their molars, as if pondering, even if the average price was 5 million US dollars, those 4,000 paintings would amount to 20 billion US dollars. Wouldn't this money be better spent on eating spare ribs, playing games, starting companies, buying stocks, or even getting some pampering? Isn't that more appealing?

"Such extravagance, truly inhumane extravagance!"

"Hey, Zhang Menglong, are you serious?" Lu Yiyao felt a chill go down her spine when she heard the conversation around her. She was aware of Zhang Menglong's acquisition of Weibo and its staggering 10 billion US dollar valuation.

But not having experienced these events herself, she couldn't quite grasp what they truly felt like—until now, when she was really getting a sense of it.

"What's true or not true about it, a few thousand paintings, that's all. I'll make that money back in one day," Zhang Menglong said, unconcerned.

Although his words seemed nonchalant, his heart was bursting with joy. He wished there were even more, more prestigious paintings; he wouldn't hesitate to buy even the "Mona Lisa" if it were for sale. It wasn't spending money that he feared, but not being able to spend it!

"But what's the use of buying so many paintings if you don't know how to appreciate them?" Lu Yiyao said, having gathered from their earlier conversation that Zhang Menglong was only interested in the value of the paintings and knew nothing else about them.

Put bluntly, if he were to buy them and just pile them up at home to collect dust, that would be the biggest waste of these artworks!

"No worries, I'll just build a museum at our Jiangnan University of Science and Technology. I can exhibit all the paintings in my home as well as these, free of charge for everyone. That way, people can come and see them whenever they wish without having to queue up and get exhausted in the sun."

Upon reflection, not only would this be making good use of the paintings, but it would also elevate the prestige of Jiangnan University of Science and Technology by a notch. Why wouldn't he do that?

A monstrous sum of funding for scientific research, plus a museum, and it's not unlikely that in a matter of years, Jiangnan University will become the second-ranked school in Jiangnan City, after Jiangnan University itself.

And as for catching up with Jiangnan University, that isn't impossible either—just spend the money to lure all those professors and academicians over!

"Building a museum..." Lu Yiyao was speechless. "Why do I feel like you're not living life, but playing in 'Minecraft'?"

"Your analogy is surprisingly apt!" Zhang Menglong reflected. It really wasn't much different; as long as he wished, the world could operate according to his will.

"Here they come, the organizers are here!" At that moment, the crowd parted to make way, and a middle-aged man who'd lost about half of his hair approached.

"May I ask which gentleman wished to purchase paintings?" the European man said.

"That would be me," Zhang Menglong stepped forward cheerfully, "I hear many of the paintings at this event are for sale?"

"Yes, sir," the European man bowed to Zhang Menglong. Although he was a person in charge, he was still just an employee.

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To tell the truth, this art exhibition was not merely for display; since there was almost no income from the ticket sales, how could the capitalist harvesters possibly let people freeload?

The main purpose of this exhibition was to sell those artworks. And it wasn't just the ones with price tags— even world-famous paintings were up for grabs if they weren't national treasures and the price was right. The organizations that owned the collections were willing to consider selling.

So, leaving aside the cost, the prices of these artworks were actually marked up significantly from the collectors' original purchase price.

"Let me introduce myself," said the European in broken Huaxia, "My name is Bruce, and I'm the main person in charge of this world tour exhibition."

"If I want to buy a painting, can you make the decision?"

"Of course, respected sir. Which piece are you interested in?" Bruce asked respectfully.

Although Zhang Menglong looked quite young, his assistant had told him that this young man seemed to be quite famous in Huaxia, a very wealthy second-generation rich kid.

To Bruce, as long as you had money, you were a client, you were a friend.

"All of them!"

"Ah?" Bruce was taken aback, "Excuse me, sir, I might have misheard you. Could you please repeat which one you'd like to purchase?"

"No, Mr. Bruce, you heard correctly. I said I'll buy all the paintings here that are for sale!"

"Oh God, you must be joking!" Huaxia was already the tenth stop on this tour. In the previous countries, some of the pieces had already been bought by various tycoons.

Of course, there were many art-loving magnates who had spent a fortune to purchase several paintings, even up to a dozen or more, but nobody had ever announced an intention to buy all the works at once.

"Mr. Bruce, I am not joking, I am serious," said Zhang Menglong solemnly.

"Sir, we have 4,320 pieces left for sale in our exhibition, some of which are valued at over a hundred million each. The total worth is close to 50 billion US Dollars!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"50 billion US Dollars?" Zhang Menglong's eyes widened in astonishment.

"Yes, Mr. Zhang," seeing Zhang Menglong's shocked expression, Bruce knew he might be having second thoughts.

"I thought people from Huaxia were really that wealthy. It seems I have overestimated the country," Bruce thought to himself.

But on second thought, even the world's wealthiest individual had assets worth just over 100 billion US Dollars, and most of that was in stocks, bonds, and fixed assets. There probably wasn't anyone in the world who could casually fork over 50 billion US Dollars.

"Hahaha, great! Fantastic!" Just as Bruce's thoughts were racing, Zhang Menglong suddenly began laughing hysterically, "Hahaha, I thought these paintings could be had for just 20 billion US Dollars, and here I can spend more than double that. This trip wasn't in vain after all!"

"Ah?" Seeing Zhang Menglong's reaction, everyone wore a strange expression, and some even started to twitch at the corners of their mouths.

"What the heck? What kind of weird thought process is this?"

"What's the matter, he's upset because he's spending less money?"

"The look on his face just now, I thought he was scared off by the high price!"

"Pfft, is Mr. Zhang someone who gets scared off that easily? He's the man who bought Weibo in half a day!"

"That's terrifying, he wasn't shocked, he was thrilled!"