In the southwest corner of Midtown New York, Chelsea District on the east bank of the Hudson River.

It was founded in the 19th century and was originally a suburban residential area of ​​New York. However, with the industrialization of New York, many meat processing plants and many other factories appeared here, so this area has a strong industrialization characteristic.

It is precisely for this reason that in the 1990s, it attracted a large number of artists to live there. Now it is the most artistic neighborhood in New York. There are more than 350 galleries alone, mainly distributed between West 18th Street to 24th Street, 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue.

If you didn't see it with your own eyes, it would be hard to imagine that there would be so many galleries gathering in this area less than 500 meters long and less than 300 meters wide.

Accompanied by Old Mike, Yang Jing got out of the car in front of a building on 20th Street. The five-story building with red bricks in front of him was once the factory building, but now, the building has been completely occupied by artists.

"Cole, there are twenty-three galleries in this building alone. The two galleries I bought are also here." Old Mike stood beside Yang Jing and whispered, Nathan Brown took four bodyguards to guard the surroundings.

Yang Jing looked up at the building full of ancient flavor, looked west, and found that to the west was 11th Avenue, and after passing 11th Avenue was the Hudson River, the bank happened to be a pier.

"This place is nice and gives people a quiet feeling." Yang Jing said lightly, but Old Mike could hear the appreciation in his tone.

"Haha, since a group of artists came here six years ago, it has become the most concentrated place for New York artists in just six years. No one would have thought that this area, which was still a factory area and a worker's residential area a hundred years ago, would become the most artistic place in New York today, a hundred years later." Old Mike said with a smile.

Then, he shrugged again, "But there is another thing I don't agree with here, that is, in addition to the gallery area with many art galleries, this place is also the most famous gay gathering area in New York. Cole, in the High Line Park on 23rd Street on the north and the Chelsea Market on the east were famous among tourists, but now it has been completely occupied by those gay people..."

Yang Jing smiled and glanced at Old Mike, "Why, do you hate homosexuality?"

Old Mike is in his sixties, so he is naturally quite old-fashioned. He heard this and nodded and said, "I don't like them very much, but I can't stop this phenomenon. So, I usually pretend to be invisible. However, I plan to move these two galleries out after a while. Anyway, the private museum I bought on Museum Avenue is about to be renovated. When the decoration there is done, I will move these two galleries over. I have enough of it here!"

Yang Jing asked: "Did you buy a private museum on Museum Avenue?"

The so-called Museum Avenue actually refers to the part of the famous Fifth Avenue. Fifth Avenue is very long, but this section between 105th Street on 80th Street is gathered in famous museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Solomon Guggenham Museum, the National Academy Museum, and more than 100 national or private museums of different sizes. Therefore, this section of the avenue is called "Museum Avenue" by New Yorkers.

Old Mike shrugged and said, "It's okay if you don't buy it. If you don't buy it, there will be no place for the antique artwork I bought for you!"

Yang Jing pointed at himself with a confused look on his face, and the meaning was very obvious - are you sure it was because of me?

Old Mike rolled his eyes in anger and ignored Yang Jing.

Only then did Yang Jing realize that since he met Old Mike and made a big profit in hype London Gold, he seemed to have entrusted Old Mike to acquire various precious antique artworks around the world. It has been seventeen years since 1980. With Old Mike's eyes and the financial resources of the Dragon Fund, Old Mike must have collected antique artworks from museums.

That's why he bought a private museum on Museum Avenue, otherwise the antique artwork he bought would really have no place to put.

Yang Jing, who figured out this, said with some shame: "Okay, Mike, I apologize for my expression just now."

The old Mike, who is in his sixties, is becoming more and more like an old child. He just shrugged his shoulders when he heard this, and without saying a word, he led the way toward the building's door.

The two galleries bought by Old Mike are next to each other, both on the fourth floor of the building. There is a 24-hour security guard on duty at the entrance of the gallery. When he saw Old Mike arrive, he immediately greeted him respectfully.

After entering the gallery, Yang Jing saw a large number of paintings hanging on the walls on both sides of the gallery, including oil paintings, watercolor paintings, prints and sketches. Although Yang Jing was not very proficient in Western paintings, he also saw that the paintings hanging on the walls of the gallery were all very ordinary paintings.

"These paintings are very ordinary. Why do you do some of these paintings?" Yang Jing asked in confusion.

"Haha, you don't know this, right? The main reason is that I have bought too many famous paintings over the years and can't let go of them, so I put some paintings with not very high value here. Of course, they are not hung here, but stored in the warehouse here. However, although those paintings are not as valuable as those famous paintings, they are also valuable. In order to conceal the existence of these paintings, I simply bought two galleries and used the gallery to conceal the existence of those paintings."

After a pause, Old Mike complained: "Cole, do you know that I have racked my brains in the past few years for the antique artwork you want."

Yang Jing made an embarrassed smile, but did not respond.

Yang Jing knew that Old Mike actually likes antique art, otherwise Yang Jing would not have entrusted him to buy antique art from all over the world. Old Mike bought these antique artworks and would take them out to appreciate them when he was fine, so he was very happy about this.

Old Mike asked a security guard who followed in, “Is Mr. Robert not here?”

The security guard shook his head, "Sir, Mr. Robert made an appointment with a client today, and he went to that client's house."

Old Mike did not ask again, but explained to Yang Jing in a low voice: "Robert is the open host of this gallery. That guy is a painter. I met him ten years ago. Later, after I bought this gallery, I asked him to take charge of the daily work here."

While talking, Old Mike led Yang Jing to the gallery's vault.

Compared to the size of the gallery, this vault seems too large.

"I bought these two galleries and built this vault. It has wallpaper on the outside, but it is reinforced concrete and steel plates inside. It is strong, and the ground and roof are specially reinforced. In addition, the security guards on duty for 24 hours a day, ordinary thieves can't do anything to this vault."

Old Mike said it was very certain, but Yang Jing still felt it was a bit unreliable.

To put it bluntly, this kind of gallery is an alternative store, but it is not as complete as the store's goods. Only one product is sold here, that is, the gallery's paintings.

There are many foreign painters, but few painters who can become famous and sell their works at high prices. Among the 100,000 people, there may not be a painter of Picasso or Cézanne. Therefore, most painters' lives are still relatively difficult.

But there are also some well-known painters who usually use their own funds or sponsorships to open a gallery and place their paintings in the gallery for the rich to choose from.

But no matter what, the value of the paintings in the gallery is far less than the famous paintings offered in the museum. Similarly, such a gallery will not have much security power.

Most of the paintings that Old Mike bought on weekdays were famous paintings drawn by famous artists. Even if the paintings placed in the gallery vault were not as valuable as those famous paintings, they would be at least 100,000 US dollars when they took out a painting.

Is it really appropriate to just put these paintings in such a vault?

However, looking at Old Mike's excited expression, Yang Jing thought about it and finally didn't say the question. While Old Mike opened the vault door, he took a little back two steps and turned his head and whispered to Nathan Brown: "In the future, these two galleries will increase more security power, whether it is personnel or equipment."

Nathan Brown is a very smart person. The ability to manage the huge dark shield in an orderly manner is enough to prove his ability, so he nodded very simply. Although he didn't ask anything, Yang Jing believed that he could make the security here better.

Old Mike opened the door of the vault, and then Yang Jing saw that the door disguised as an ordinary home security door was actually an explosion-proof door made of fine steel. Although the thickness was not large, it was definitely not something that ordinary people could forcefully crack.

"Haha, can't you tell it? This door looks ordinary, but it is a real explosion-proof door for a bank vault. If you want to open the door, password, iris scanning and fingerprint, you must have one of them. If you have any of the three verification errors three times or one error at the same time, the door will be completely locked immediately. Only I can change the password and open the door. So, Cole, don't worry about the drawings in this vault. I heard a little bit of what you said to Nathan just now..." Old Mike made a playful face at Yang Jing, just like a child.

Yang Jing spread his hands helplessly, "Okay, Mike, you won. But it's better to increase the security power here a little more. After all, we have dark shields ourselves, and there are all the most professional security guards there."
Chapter completed!