It Started With a Kiss: Leng Shao's Beloved Wife

Chapter 187: New Horizons in the Art Exhibition: Obstacles Arrive Again

The noise of the celebration party seemed to be blocked by a thin film. Wu Xinyan's heart was pounding, and the letter was like a haze hanging over her heart.

Luo Yichen's deep gaze was fixed on the postmark on the envelope. It was a postmark from Florence, Italy, a place they were not familiar with.

In the next few days, Wu Xinyan devoted herself to the follow-up work of the "Starlight Project".

I thought everything was settled and I could breathe a sigh of relief, but I didn't expect new problems to follow.

The first is the return of artworks.

Several valuable exhibits were found to have suffered minor wear and tear when they were returned to the artist.

An irritable artist named Lin pointed at a tiny scratch on the frame and yelled at Wu Xinyan, "Ms. Wu, is this what you call professional preservation? My work is priceless! Can you afford to compensate for this scratch?!"

Wu Xinyan patiently explained that during the exhibition they had been keeping the items strictly in accordance with museum standards, and there was surveillance video as evidence.

But the artist surnamed Lin did not buy it. He insisted that it was the exhibition organizer's responsibility and demanded huge compensation.

Seeing this, several other artists also echoed it. For a time, Wu Xinyan faced huge pressure to pay compensation.

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

While sorting out exhibition materials and preparing to write a summary report, Wu Xinyan discovered that key data records from the exhibition were lost!

This data, including visitor numbers, audience demographics, work sales, etc., is crucial for subsequent analysis and exhibition improvements.

Without these data, the summary report is like a castle in the air and cannot be explained to investors.

Wu Xinyan immediately called a team meeting. Curator Liu was experienced, but he was helpless: "I have always kept this data personally and backed it up at the end of each day. How could it be lost?" Transporter Wang, who was responsible for the transportation of exhibits and the safekeeping of some materials, blushed and stammered: "I... I... I don't know... I have always been... very careful..." Wu Xinyan rubbed her aching temples, her eyes swept across everyone, and finally fell on Transporter Wang, "Master Wang, when was the last time you saw this information?" Transporter Wang's eyes flickered, "It's... it's... that day..." Transporter Wang hesitated for a long time and couldn't make any sense.

His flushed face and flickering eyes gave Wu Xinyan a bad feeling.

"Master Wang, tell the truth!" Wu Xinyan's voice unconsciously rose a few degrees.

Transporter Wang shuddered with fear and stammered, "That day... after the celebration banquet... I... I put the information in the car... and then... then I went... to eat..."

Wu Xinyan took a deep breath and tried hard to suppress the anger in her heart.

"Eat? You left such important information in the car and went to eat by yourself?"

Transporter Wang lowered his head, not daring to look Wu Xinyan in the eye, and whispered in defense: "I... I locked the car..."

"Does locking the car guarantee complete safety?" Wu Xinyan's voice was icy. "This is crucial information related to the subsequent work of the entire exhibition!"

Curator Liu saw this and quickly tried to smooth things over: "Xinyan, it's useless to pursue responsibility now. The most urgent thing is to find a way to make up for the losses."

Wu Xinyan forced herself to calm down. Getting angry now would not solve the problem.

She turned to look at Curator Liu, "Teacher Liu, do you think there is any way to remedy this situation?"

Curator Liu pondered for a moment and said slowly, "Now we can only hope to back up this data and see if other staff members have backed it up."

However, after some inquiries, it was found that no one had backed up this data.

Wu Xinyan suddenly felt powerless, as if an invisible big hand was strangling her throat, making it difficult for her to breathe.

At this time, the staff responsible for the safekeeping of the works also found Wu Xinyan. They believed that they had fulfilled their responsibilities and that the damage to the works was likely to have occurred before the exhibition.

"Ms. Wu, we carefully inspect the condition of the work every day and keep detailed records. Those scratches were most likely there before, but they weren't discovered at the time."

Upon hearing this, Artist Lin flew into a rage. "Nonsense! I know my work perfectly well; there are absolutely no scratches on it! You're shirking responsibility!"

Both sides insisted on their own opinions and the argument was endless, and the atmosphere at the scene was tense.

Luo Yichen had been observing all this silently. He walked over to Wu Xinyan, gently held her hand, and whispered, "Xinyan, don't worry. Let's calm down and think of a solution." He turned to the crowd and said, "I suggest that we hire a professional art appraisal agency to assess the damage to the work and determine who is responsible. This will be fair to everyone."

Although Artist Lin was dissatisfied, he couldn't say anything more.

Several other artists agreed.

At this moment, Wu Xinyan's cell phone suddenly rang, and an unfamiliar number flashed on the screen.

She hesitated and answered the phone.

A deep voice came from the other end of the phone: "Ms. Wu, I think we should talk about your husband..." Wu Xinyan's face changed suddenly.

After the experts from the appraisal agency arrived, they conducted a detailed inspection of the artwork that showed signs of wear and tear.

With the help of high-power magnifying glasses and professional instruments, the experts finally concluded that the "damage" to most of the works was actually traces left by the artist during the creative process or old injuries incurred in previous exhibitions, and was not caused by improper storage in this exhibition.

Artist Lin was originally full of vigor and vitality, but now he was like a deflated ball, his face turning red and white, and he muttered awkwardly, "Maybe I remembered it wrong..."

Several other artists also stopped their efforts, and the compensation dispute was settled.

Wu Xinyan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Luo Yichen with gratitude. His calm smile gave her great strength.

The problem of data loss remains a thorny issue.

Curator Liu pondered over it, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind. He remembered that he had the habit of recording some key data and had saved a few photos on his mobile phone.

Although it is not complete, it is better than nothing.

He rummaged through boxes and drawers and found some scattered backup files.

Wu Xinyan was overjoyed and immediately began to organize the materials and write a summary report of the exhibition.

It was late at night. In the study of Luo's villa, Wu Xinyan was facing the computer screen with a frown on her face.

Although some data was recovered, writing the report remained difficult.

She rubbed her sore temples and her eyes accidentally fell on the exhibition album.

Suddenly, she felt a chill in her heart.

In the album, a sculpture called "Eternal Light" is particularly eye-catching.

This work received great attention during the exhibition, and critic Chen even called it "the most outstanding work of art in the past decade."

However, Wu Xinyan now discovered that the picture of this work appeared twice in the album, and the details of the two pictures were slightly different.

She enlarged the pictures and compared them carefully, and found that there was an almost invisible mark on the base of one of the pictures, but there was no such mark on the other picture.

An ominous premonition came to her mind, and Wu Xinyan immediately called up the surveillance video of the exhibition and carefully examined every detail of "Eternal Light".

Sure enough, on the last day of the exhibition, a mysterious man wearing a black baseball cap and a mask stayed next to the sculpture for a long time and seemed to have done something to the base.

Wu Xinyan's heart sank. Could it be that this work had been swapped?

She immediately contacted the creator of "Eternal Light", an art master living in seclusion in Europe.

When the master learned about this, he was shocked and said that he had never made any marks on his works.

"This...this is impossible..." The master's voice trembled, "Could it be...could it be that my work has been...copied?"

Wu Xinyan's breathing also became rapid. She realized that she might be involved in a huge conspiracy.

She suddenly looked up at Luo Yichen and found that he was staring at an email on the computer screen with a serious expression.

The title of the email read: "About the secret of 'Eternal Light'..." Luo Yichen said slowly, "Xinyan, it seems... we are in trouble." He showed the content of the email to Wu Xinyan, which read: "We know the true value of 'Eternal Light' and the secret behind it..."