Chapter 260: The Crow
The woman hesitated for a moment but did not continue opening the safe in front of Xu Youyou.
She also did not immediately let the people outside come in. Instead, she made another phone call, and after waiting for ten minutes, she went to open the door for the people outside.
Xu Youyou followed her closely and noticed that the people outside were divided into three groups.
One group was her own bodyguards, while the other two groups were on either side, in an opposing stance.
Xu Youyou guessed that one side was the buyer, and the other side was the woman’s hired help.
“My daughter is still in the hospital fighting for her life. I’m hoping this treasure can fetch a high price. The original price is no longer valid, and now we have a bidding situation. We’ll need to renegotiate,” the woman said openly.
The leader of the original group of buyers was a man in his thirties, wearing a black suit and gold-rimmed glasses, a white man.
Xu Youyou heard the people behind him refer to him as “Mr. Crow.”
“Madam, I am willing to do business with you. But you’re changing your terms like this, are you challenging my bottom line?” Mr. Crow said coldly.
The middle-aged woman’s lips trembled, but it seemed that she thought of her daughter in the hospital and gathered enough courage to say, “I need the money, I have no choice, I must do this.”
Mr. Crow sneered at her, “Do you think anyone else would dare to buy your thing if I don’t speak up?”
Xu Youyou raised an eyebrow, realizing that she was dealing with the mafia. She desperately needed what was in the woman’s safe. Seeing that the woman seemed to be retreating, Xu Youyou spoke up.
“The higher bidder wins. This has always been the rule. Mr. Crow, are you really so reluctant to part with the money?” Xu Youyou asked.
Mr. Crow turned his head and gave Xu Youyou a glance, saying, “I don’t care where you came from, this is none of your business.”
Xu Youyou didn’t back down. Instead, she replied, “The treasure in her hands concerns me, so I can interfere.”
Mr. Crow’s gaze turned icy, and he cursed, “Foolish Chinese.”
With a single glance from Xu Youyou, several bodyguards immediately moved, standing in front of her, clearly providing protection.
“Bringing a few people, do you think you can take charge in Paris? There’s an old saying in your China, ‘Even the strongest dragon can’t suppress a local snake.’ Could it be an empty saying?” Mr. Crow asked.
Upon hearing this, Xu Youyou suddenly felt a sense of relief. She had been a little scared earlier, but now she felt more at ease.
After all, if the other party were truly confident of victory, they wouldn’t need to say such things; they would act directly. Since Mr. Crow was trying to intimidate her in this way, it seemed she must be a formidable opponent in his eyes.
Thinking this, Xu Youyou relaxed even further and smiled as she said, “Whether the local snake is strong or not, we’ll have to try to find out.”
Mr. Crow’s eyes narrowed. “You really want to fight me for this?”
Xu Youyou emphasized again, “Good things should go to the highest bidder.”
“Fine, let’s see what high price you can offer and whether you’ll actually be able to take it away,” Mr. Crow said.
Xu Youyou turned to look at the seller.
The middle-aged woman, after hearing the back-and-forth between the two, looked at Xu Youyou with a more apologetic expression, but after a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and opened the safe.
Finally, Xu Youyou saw the treasure she was after.
A set of golden armor, including a breastplate, skirt, shoulder guards, and so on, it was incredibly complete.
Embroidered with five-clawed golden dragons, various cloud patterns, seas, rivers, and treasure beads… all adorned this armor.
All these details indicated that the owner of this armor had once been the ruler of an empire.
Xu Youyou examined the shape of the armor and could roughly tell it was from the Qing Dynasty. Her gaze landed on the helmet adorned with golden jewelry and pearls, and suddenly, a picture flashed in her mind.
She had once seen this armor in a painting.
It was the “Qianlong Emperor’s Grand Review” painted by Lang Shining.
This was the Qianlong Emperor’s armor!
Xu Youyou didn’t expect to see the legendary armor of Emperor Qianlong, which had supposedly been lost, here!
She quickly scanned it and was almost certain it was authentic. With the system’s authentication, her confidence turned to certainty.
“100,000 euros, is that not enough for you?” Mr. Crow asked coldly.
The middle-aged woman burst into tears, “I only have one daughter… Every day in the hospital, I don’t know how much money I’m burning…”
Xu Youyou found it strange. “Don’t you have health insurance?”
The middle-aged woman cried even harder, “We have insurance, but we don’t have good doctors. I had to send my daughter to the U.S. for treatment. Our insurance should cover overseas medical costs, but every time we try to claim, they find all sorts of reasons to reject it… I have no choice… I really need the money…”
Seeing her in such a state, Xu Youyou’s heart softened. It seemed that everyone in the world was the same when facing life and death, helpless.
Xu Youyou felt that the real value of the Qianlong Emperor’s armor was definitely more than 100,000 euros. Without hesitation, she raised the price: “200,000 euros.”
Mr. Crow remained expressionless. “250,000 euros.”
Xu Youyou casually replied, “Since you’re willing to raise the price, it’s clear you understand the true value of this item.”
Mr. Crow said, “Madam, having money and having power are two different things.”
Seeing that he was still trying to threaten her, Xu Youyou smiled and said, “500,000 euros.”
“550,000 euros.”
Xu Youyou: “1.1 million euros.”
She continued to double the price. Mr. Crow looked at her unhappily, but didn’t raise the price further. Instead, he said, “Since you, Madam, are so wealthy, I won’t compete with you. I only hope you can safely take this treasure out of Paris.”
After Mr. Crow left, Xu Youyou signed a contract with the middle-aged woman and had the payment transferred on the spot.
After receiving the money, the middle-aged woman hesitated and finally spoke, “Mr. Crow is a local mafia boss. Miss Xu, you should be careful these next few days.”
Xu Youyou had already suspected his identity and wasn’t surprised by the warning. Given the rampant presence of foreign gangs, she was worried that someone might try to steal the armor.
Xu Youyou immediately arranged for her private jet to apply for a flight route, hoping to return to China as quickly as possible.
“Boss, the earliest flight route is in twelve hours,” Xu Fang informed Xu Youyou with a helpless tone.
Xu Youyou furrowed her brow. After having once encountered a cult girl on a public flight who tried to sacrifice herself and everyone on board, she didn’t trust other planes.
“Twelve hours… that’s too long… No one leave the premises.”
Not only did Xu Youyou restrict her people from going out, but she also hired a security company to reinforce the security around her residence.
But, despite her precautions, an accident still occurred.
