Chapter 4: The Price (Part 1)
In the Proulx Gallery, the music that echoed through every corner of the hall flowed like a babbling brook through the hearts of the visitors, who quietly admired each stone sculpture on display.
The gallery was mainly divided into three exhibition halls: the Common Hall, the Expert Hall, and the Master Hall.
Among them, the Common Hall was the largest in area and contained the most stone sculptures. In the northeast corner of the Common Hall, three pieces were placed together. These three works exuded a very special aura—anyone with even a bit of knowledge about stone carving would sense that unique quality.
However, with over ten thousand stone sculptures in the Common Hall, these three pieces were like a needle in the ocean, difficult for anyone to notice.
"Most of these works have only form, but no substance."
Now over one hundred and sixty years old, Count Juno was strolling slowly through the main hall of the Proulx Gallery, his gaze sweeping over one stone sculpture after another. Count Juno had no other hobbies—he simply loved stone carving. Every day, he would spend an entire morning at the Proulx Gallery.
Yet, in the Common Hall, there were far too few works that could make Count Juno’s eyes light up.
"Count, have you found any stone sculpture that catches your eye?" A beautiful female attendant approached him. Since Count Juno came every day, some of the service staff at the Proulx Gallery were very familiar with him.
Count Juno shook his head with a smile. "Not yet."
"Count, the works in the Common Hall are far inferior to those in the Expert Hall and the Master Hall. Why do you spend most of your time here every day?" the female attendant asked curiously.
Count Juno gave a mysterious smile and said, "You wouldn’t understand. There are so many works in the Common Hall—who knows where a good piece might be hiding? The feeling of finding gold among the mud is truly wonderful."
"Oh?" The female attendant looked at Count Juno with some confusion.
Count Juno said no more and continued to admire the stone sculptures one by one. But when he reached the spot where Linley’s three works were displayed, his eyes suddenly lit up. With his hundred years of experience studying stone carving, he could tell at a glance that these three pieces were extraordinary.
"Cold, natural, aloof..."
Count Juno murmured involuntarily.
That was a kind of aura. For a stone sculpture to be considered a masterpiece, it needed a special quality. Count Juno immediately felt the cold, aloof aura emanating from these three works, and that unique quality instantly moved him.
"Come here, mark a price for me. For these three pieces, I’ll offer 100 gold coins each," Count Juno said directly to the attendant beside him.
The female attendant immediately smiled and took out a record book from her bosom. She first noted down the serial numbers of the three stone sculptures and wrote down the prices, then took out three stickers and placed them next to the three works. Each sticker read "100 gold coins."
While the attendant was recording, Count Juno examined the three stone sculptures more carefully.
"Hmm, something’s off!" Count Juno’s dim eyes suddenly brightened as he stared intently at one of the sculptures, a "Velociraptor." "How are the scales on the back of this Velociraptor and the contour lines of its legs so seamlessly connected? Logically, scales should be carved with a round knife, while the leg contours should be done with a flat knife. Even with the utmost care, it’s impossible to achieve one hundred percent smoothness and naturalness!"
Count Juno had studied stone carving for a hundred years.
Originally, he wasn’t a wealthy nobleman, but with his unique eye, he had collected stone sculptures at low prices and sold some at high prices, making Count Juno a wealthy man in Fenlai City.
"Could it have been done with a single tool? Impossible. The curves of the scales and the depth of the indentations—how could any tool other than a round knife achieve such perfection?" Count Juno frowned deeply. He had never seen such a strange phenomenon before.
"Count?" The female attendant beside him, seeing Count Juno like this, called out softly.
Count Juno’s eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, "I didn’t expect to encounter such special works in the Common Hall. I can’t let others notice them. If I bid 100 gold coins, it might make some people examine these pieces more closely, potentially driving the price way up."
Count Juno made a decision on the spot.
He would wait until the last day or two of the exhibition to place his bid.
"Cancel my offer," Count Juno said directly to the attendant beside him.
"Cancel?" The attendant was taken aback. According to the rules, once an offer was made, it generally couldn’t be withdrawn. But Count Juno was a regular customer at the Proulx Gallery, so the attendant readily removed the three stickers.
"May I ask, Count, why did you cancel?" the attendant inquired.
Count Juno gave a mysterious smile and said, "Don’t ask about that. By the way, let me ask—what is the end date for the exhibition of these three stone sculptures?"
The attendant carefully flipped through the record book in her hands, then smiled and said, "The last day of the exhibition for these three stone sculptures is June 30th. These three pieces were just moved here for display yesterday afternoon."
Count Juno nodded slightly.
"Alright, I’ll take another look around. You go ahead with your work," Count Juno said with a smile.
But in his heart, Count Juno was secretly delighted. In his estimation, the true value of each of these three stone sculptures should be around three thousand gold coins. Generally, works by experts were worth about a thousand gold coins. But these three pieces each had a very special carving technique. Just that unique carving method alone could double or triple the price.
...
Count Juno came to the Proulx Gallery every day, and as he expected, because there were so many stone sculptures in the Common Hall, these three excellent works went unnoticed by most. Even if someone saw them, they could only sense that the pieces were good, but they couldn’t grasp their true value.
On June 10th.
Count Juno came to the Proulx Gallery once again. He was casually observing in the Common Exhibition Hall, but when he reached the spot where Linley’s three stone sculptures were, his expression suddenly changed. Because all three works now had price stickers next to them.
Each of the three stone sculptures was priced at "300 gold coins."
Seeing this price, Count Juno cursed inwardly, "Idiot! Even if you recognize how good these carvings are, don’t set the price so high the first time. That just draws attention!" Count Juno was furious, but there was nothing he could do—he had no right to cancel someone else’s bid.
Just as Count Juno had expected.
On June 12th, when Count Juno came again, the price on the stickers had changed.
"500 gold coins?" Count Juno narrowed his eyes. "Looks like quite a few people know what they’re looking at!"