Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Brother Wolf stopped him. Li Du waved and said, “Don’t hurry, Sean, first explain the origin of this jewelry.” Sean acted calm and said, “There’s nothing to explain. I doubt this guy is really Cole Winston. Why should I believe you?” Cole smiled when he heard this. “I can show you my license, but I expect that when you see it, you will question whether it’s real or not.” Sean was clearly losing face. The situation had spun out of control. Who could expect things would turn out so? Li Du did not press the matter. He knew the evidence was in his favor. He switched off the call and said to Sean, “I won’t make a scene, but these jewels were either stolen from Harry Winston group, or they are limitation infringing on our patent rights and intellectual property rights. Our group reserves the right to pursue this matter.” Sean was a bit flustered and said, “You can’t scare me. There is nothing wrong with the jewelry I bought.” Li Du smiled and said, “If you say so. I hope you can prove it when our lawyer and the police contact you.” He handed the jewelry back to Sean, who tried to pass it to Ariana. Ariana already knew what was going on. Why would she accept such a gift? “I don't know where you got this. You’d better return it…” Sean looked at her angrily and said, “Don’t you believe me?” Ariana did not know what to say and looked to the others for help.
Hans gave Porter a push and Porter moved in front of Ariana. He wasn’t afraid of Sean. He just didn’t know what to do next. Since he was pushed out to face Sean, however, he calmly said, “Come on, man, Ariana’s right. You’d better return these jewels where they came from” Sean took the opportunity to leave. He shouted, “Fine, you do not trust me! You don’t think of me as a friend! I guess I was blind, so f*ck you!” Cursing, he quickly walked out of the villa. In this way, the atmosphere of the birthday party was destroyed. Li Du apologized to Ariana and then told her that he had to do it, or she would have accepted the jewelry and might have got in trouble. Porter took out his gift, presented it to Ariana and said, “I have tickets for the Heat’s opener and Christmas day. I remember you like the Heat, so how about if we go to the game together?” Ariana graciously accepted the ticket, smiled and gave Porter a hug. The young people clapped their hands and made happy noises. Then they began to dance again, which restored the atmosphere of the birthday party in a large measure. Li Du had nothing to do with the rest of the matter. He stayed out of the way, waiting for the party to end. However, his identity meant he could not quite stay out of it. Several girls took an immediate interest in him when they learned that he was a shareholder in the Harry Winston group. Li Du chatted and had drinks with them, but when they wanted to exchange contact information, he would politely but firmly refuse.
Hans strolled up from behind and said sourly, “Now who should be quiet? Who is messing with girls at the party?” Li Du did not know quite know how the party started, but after Sean left, Porter felt much better, and his relationship with Ariana was much closer. At the end of the evening, Porter sent off the guests, and they got down to business. Hans took out the 25 valuable comics, of which five were most valuable: Superman’s first Action Comic #1, Stan Lee’s hand-painted Fantastic Four, the first edition of Spiderman, and two DC and Marvel combined product comics which introduced the first batch of heroes. Twenty other magazines also had considerable value, being rare or having special significance in the history of comic books. Porter couldn’t put a price on the magazines, so the next day he contacted one of the industry’s leading experts to consult with him. Li Du was in no hurry. They stayed in the villa, which belonged to Porter’s family anyway. Porter brought in an expert from New York whom Li Du didn’t know but had recently read about. The name of the expert was Pressler, and he was the editor-in-chief of Wired Comics, the company that bought the first issue of the Spiderman magazine in Paris for 1.2 million dollars. Pessler, a soft-spoken middle-aged man, talked quietly with Porter, made phone calls and evaluated the comic books. The two men discussed this for about an hour and a half and then handed Li Du and Hans a report with their quotes for the magazines.
The highest price they offered was three million dollars for a hand-drawn copy of the Fantastic Four and four million for four other high-value magazines, or one million for each on average. Of the other twenty magazines, there was a set of twelve magazines from the early days of Captain America. They sold for a total price of one million dollars. The package deal was eight million and four hundred thousand dollars. Li Du was prepared for a good offer but was still shocked by these numbers. Hans bargained with Porter and got a rounded up price of nine million as the final transaction price. The contract was signed and the business was done. Li Du could now say what was on his mind. “Did not expect these comic books to be so expensive!” Porter said, “As far as I'm concerned, I can't believe jewelry and gemstones are so expensive. It depends on the market. If there is a market, there is a price. Classic comics are in the same place as famous paintings and jewelry because they are all unique and can bring pleasure to people,” he added. Li Du spread out his hands, meaning to say, whatever you want, you pay for it. “Can you get more comics from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s?” Porter asked. Li Du shook his head and said, “I can’t promise.” “The 1930s through 1950s were the golden age of comic book publishing in the United States,” Porter said with a sigh. “Unfortunately, almost all comic books published at that time disappeared. I hope they can be carefully collected.” Li Du said, “You can give me a list, and I’ll let you know if we come across any more comics.”
Porter said, “If you find any more vintage comics, you have to promise you’ll call me before you talk to anyone else. My comic book store needs more babies.”
