Chapter 617: The Best of Both Worlds

By the time Ye Tian and the others returned to the Battery Wharf Hotel, it was already past four in the afternoon.

After entering the hotel, Ye Tian first went to the banquet hall and took a look at the situation, then returned to the presidential suite upstairs and began to prepare for the evening activities.

David and Anderson also returned to the room, gathered the other paralegals together and intensively prepared relevant legal documents.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, in the banquet hall, Ye Tian will start a series of transactions with many museum curators, famous collectors and major art insurance companies to draw the most successful conclusion to this treasure hunt.

In the past four days, various museums and many famous collectors have shipped all the antique artworks for exchange to Boston.

Without exception, these antique works of art are all from China and each of them is top-notch goods and many of them are national treasures.

After these antique works of art arrived in Boston, they were basically stored in the Battery Wharf Hotel, in the rooms of museum curators and famous collectors and they could be taken downstairs for trading at any time.

The current level of security at the Battery Wharf Hotel is very high. Coupled with the accompanying bodyguards of many museum curators and famous collectors, it can be said to be very safe and theft is basically impossible.

Some antique works of art are not in the hotel, but kept in the vault of a bank not far away, which is more secure.

On the way back from the FBI Boston branch, Ye Tian asked Jason to notify all museum curators and famous collectors to tell them to trade tonight.

After receiving the notice, these museum curators and collectors immediately took action and took out the antique artworks for exchange from the bank, took them back to the hotel and waited for the evening to arrive!

The Chinese antique works of art were taken out of the bank vault and arrived at the Battery Wharf Hotel without any surprises. There were no accidents.

The team escorting these antique works of art is composed of FBI special services and Raytheon armed security. The vehicles used are Bearcat armored vehicles and Chevrolet Suburban bulletproof SUVs, very powerful! Indestructible!

There is no art thief or Boston gangster who would be stupid enough to find trouble with such a convoy, it is no different from looking for death!

These Chinese antique artworks shipped from various places are only part of the subject of exchange. The unowned antique artworks from the underground palace of the Old North Church are the subject of exchange.

In addition, there is cash transaction, which is the most important and most convenient way of transaction.

The dinner was enjoyed in the hotel restaurant. Everyone was very happy and full of expectations.

The time soon came to seven o'clock in the evening.

When Ye Tian walked into the banquet hall with Betty wearing a formal suit and a tuxedo, the place was full of people and it was very lively.

All the museum curators and collectors who lived in the Battery Wharf Hotel had gathered in the banquet hall and they waited for Ye Tian to show up to announce the start of the transaction.

Several local people in Boston, such as Isaac of the Gardner Museum, Brandon of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Robert of the Harvard University Museum, also came here and everyone was looking forward to it!

Accompanied by these professionals in the field of antique art collection, there are also a large number of top Chinese antique artworks, which are basically the essence of Chinese collections in various museums!

Those stolen top antique artworks from the underground palace of the Old North Church, which were originally arranged in the banquet hall, were moved to both sides of the hall to make room for the middle.

Jason took many brave men to explore the company's employees fearlessly, standing scattered beside these stolen top antique artworks, guarding these priceless treasures.

Matisse and the agents of the FBI's art crime team are distributed in every corner of the hall. Everyone is fully armed and maintains a high level of alert.

Seeing Ye Tian and Betty appear, the atmosphere in the banquet hall immediately became more enthusiastic.

"Steven, you finally appeared, hurry up and start trading, I can't wait, we have been waiting for this day in the museum for more than 20 years!

I speaked that there will a transaction tonight and none of our employees left after get off work. Everyone was waiting at the museum to witness the moment when the 13 top antique works of art return!"

Isaac, the curator of the Gardner Museum, said loudly, in case Ye Tian might not hear it.

The excitement of the old man made people a little worried about his heart. Don't just pass over at once, it would be extremely happy and sad!

Ye Tian smiled and nodded, then said:

"Good evening, Isaac, it seems that your museum must have a celebration and the scene is not small, although rest assured, once the transaction starts, the Gardner Museum will be the first.

It's now at night and it's about 20 minutes' drive from Gardner Museum. Isn't it too dangerous to transport these top antique artworks back at night?"

"No problem, the safety director of our museum is taking people downstairs to wait. Everyone is fully armed and drives an escort vehicle. Safety is not a problem.

As a precaution, we also borrowed a team of SWAT police from the Boston Police Department to assist us in the escort. Their armored vehicles are also in the parking lot downstairs."

"Oh! The escort force is indeed powerful! But if you don't worry about going overland, you can also choose to leave from the air. My helicopter is on the top of the hotel building and can take off at any time! Free service!"

Hearing Ye Tian's words, Issac's eyes lit up and then he continued:

"That's great! It's undoubtedly safer to return to the museum from the air. Let me think about it. The top priority now is to complete the transaction as soon as possible. I can't wait for a moment!"

After dealing with Isaac, Ye Tian took Betty and walked forward.

Next, many museum curators and collectors greeted them.

"Steven, good evening, we have the check ready, just wait for you guy to announce the start!"

"Good evening, Mr. Frank, what I like best to hear is this! It's full of temptation and beautiful!

"Steven, we have all shipped the Chinese antique artworks you named to this hotel. There are a lot of them. We hope to get back the two masterpieces of Utagawa Hiroshima as soon as possible!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Suzuki, as long as those Chinese antique works of art are in front of me and they are sure to be authentic, then you will get what you want right away!"

Ye Tian nodded and greeted everyone, and walked with Betty to the front of the banquet hall. He didn't have a rush, he responded very appropriately and he was quite comfortable.

Soon, the two came to the front of the banquet hall.

But Ye Tian did not immediately board the half-meter-high platform in front of him to start the transaction. Instead, he took Betty to a couple standing not far away with a smile on his face.

This is Matthew and Evelyn, the future father-in-law and mother-in-law, Ye Tian naturally did not dare to neglect.

It was the third time that they had come to this banquet hall. The two of them came to appreciate these top antique works of art. Today they just happened to be there, so they stayed.

The next night after the arrest, Ye Tian told Matthew the details of the whole thing.

After listening to his introduction, Matthew and the others were naturally stunned and could hardly believe everything they heard.

Although they didn't know Thompson, they all heard his name and knew that this was a very good Anglican pastor. His reputation was not low and he was respected by people!

But this pastor turned out to be the craziest art thief in the history of the United States. How can it not shock them? It's unbelievable!

Moreover, this guy was actually the robber who looted the Gardner Museum back then, leaving himself the culprit of painful memories, which shocked Matthew and the others, but also felt resentful!

The day after Ye Tian explained the situation, the old couple came back to their senses and accepted the fact that sounded a little weird!

Afterwards, the old couple came here to admire the top antique works of art. Once a day, they would come to appreciate them, after get off work and did not leave until late at night. They both wished to live here!

His brother-in-law Logan was the same. He had been here twice before, but he didn't come here today, as if something happened.

After walking closer and chatting for a few words, Matthew immediately asked in a low voice:

"Steven, what's the matter with the extra Chinese antique art? It doesn't seem to be the stolen antique art from the underground palace of the Old North Church?"

There is nothing to hide, Ye Tian immediately gave the answer.

"Indeed not! According to the practice of the treasure hunting industry, I, as the discoverer, can get a share of the stolen top antique artworks hidden in the underground palace of the Old North Church.

Why are museums and collectors willing to give up these top antique works of art? I also like Chinese antique works of art, so I came up with a solution that everyone can accept.

Use Chinese antique art plus cash to replace the top western antique art. The Chinese antique art you see in front of you is what they used to trade!"

"Oh-! This is too much!"

Matthew took a sharp breath and exclaimed in a low voice.

Ye Tian chuckled lightly, then explained in a low voice:

"This kind of bartering method is based on the principle of equivalent exchange. Although Chinese antique art is very popular in recent years, there is still a big gap in market value compared with Western top art.

At present, the highest auction record of Chinese antique art is the Qianlong famille rose hollow "Ji Qing Yu" revolving bottle sold by the British auction house Bainbridge. The price was 43 million pounds.

But even at this price, there was no transaction in the end and the buyer did not pay! This is priced in pound sterling. If it is priced in dollars, it has a higher record before, which is not more than 100 million U.S. dollars.

The market value of top western antique art is different. There are soaring price antique art of more than 100 million US dollars everywhere. Not to mention other people, several pieces have flowed out from my hands alone."

"I know, in the New York autumn auction, you sold several top art pieces worth over 100 million yuan, even two to three billion dollars."

Matthew took it, his eyes full of envy!

Ye Tian nodded and continued:

"Because of this, there are so many Chinese antique works of art here,and often the value of several Chinese antique works of art combined makes it worthy of a top western antique work of art.

This is just the market value. In terms of artistic value, any of the top Chinese antique artworks here is extraordinary and it is by no means inferior to these top Western antique artworks.

From this point of view, I shouldn't be considered to have taken a lot of advantage. Naturally, I would not refuse this kind of replacement method, but rather willingly accept it. The others are just the opposite!"

"So, this is obviously a way to get the best of both worlds!"

Matthew said suddenly, fully understanding Ye Tian's intentions.

"Yes!"

Ye Tian nodded in response.

After talking a few more words, Ye Tian turned around and boarded the table next to him, ready to start trading.