The Versatile Master Artist

”Anna?”

A young woman’s boisterous voice came from the other end of the phone.

”My dear bestie, it’s so late and you thought to call me. By the way, did you receive the cheese I sent for your birthday? It’s our family’s best product, almost sugar-free. It’s tasty with ham or made into cheese fondue. If you can’t finish it, keep it in the fridge for storage. Oh, you probably have a separate basement...”

Aurora is a bit of a chatterbox.

Anna had just greeted her and stated her purpose, but the other party already spilled out a whole bunch.

Those who can study art at Austria’s top university usually come from well-off families.

Aurora’s family is also wealthy, though certainly not comparable to the Ilyena family, it’s the kind of wealth of multi-millionaire assets.

The gallery in Bern is her uncle’s business.

Her dad has a hundred-acre cattle ranch at the foot of the Alps that produces Switzerland’s famous Emmental Cheese.

Back in school,

Aurora told Anna.

When she was in high school, she deliberated for a long time before choosing to study art and go to her uncle’s gallery instead of studying ranch management and returning home to make handcrafted gourmet cheese.

”Thanks, I’ll send you a thank-you card, you should receive it in a few days.”

Anna remembered the round cheese weighing 93 kilograms she received on her birthday.

She listened with a gentle smile.

The dormitory building of WYN Art Academy resembles independent three- or four-story villas, with separate little dorms allocated to each person, and everyone sharing an open kitchen on one floor.

A dormitory is like a big family.

When enrolling, Miss Ilina was slightly younger than her peers.

With a round, slightly chubby face, the dorm leader Aurora liked dressing like a cowgirl in tight jeans and bucket boots, and she was three grades above Anna, carrying the natural enthusiasm of growing up on a ranch under the Alps.

Aurora was one of the few seniors who gave Anna a feeling of being like an older sister, and she was a good friend that she could call a bestie during her student days.

This year, her family’s gallery was hosting a spring academic symposium, so she couldn’t attend Anna’s birthday party.

”Oh, right, which gallery’s contract do you want to know about, such a strange request. Send the contract to my email, okay?”

Aurora remembered the business.

She didn’t ask why, just opened the file.

”Let me see, it’s not a Gagosian contract, nor is it a PACE template contract...”

Aurora mumbled softly over the phone.

”Can you be more detailed?” Anna slightly raised her tone.

”More detailed, hmm, it’s definitely not from our gallery either.” Aurora chuckled.

”Aurora, I’m serious.” Anna was helpless.

”Anna darling, your request is inherently weird, isn’t it? Contracts aren’t like fingerprint identification; it’s all based on experience. You shouldn’t ask me; you should post it on Reddit and ask the Sherlock Holmes fan group.”

”I’ve interned at Gagosian and handled PACE contracts before, so I can rule out these two. It looks pretty formal and detailed, not just a template found directly on Google and modified, but some small galleries also hire professional legal services to write contracts.”

On the other end, Aurora complained speechlessly.

”If you really can’t figure it out, just forget it.”

Anna was originally just trying her luck.

She had promised not to investigate the other party’s identity, but... she was really curious.

”Alright, alright. Don’t worry, I’ll think about it seriously for you. Anna, do you have any other clues?” Aurora asked.

”It should be a Grand Gallery, maybe an Intercontinental Gallery.” Anna said.

”That narrows it down a lot; for a gallery to establish branches across continents, its capital has to be at least above one billion dollars. When I interned, I saw the reports; Gagosian’s branch galleries in Tokyo, Rome, Paris, and London each have annual operating costs of over 20 million US Dollars. There are only a few truly powerful galleries that can be called Intercontinental Galleries in the industry.”

”I’ve already ruled out Gagosian and PACE; it shouldn’t be Beideng or Alberto either, as both galleries are very proud of their Paris attributes, and I’ve heard that all legal texts are only available in French...”

On the phone,

Aurora fiddled and researched for a few minutes, finally concluding: ”I think if it’s really a large-scale Intercontinental Gallery, it’s likely one of the Saatchi Gallery, Ma Shi Gallery, Tokyo Gallery, or New York Limu Gallery. My judgment isn’t necessarily correct, but you can ask someone else.”

Anna pulled up a notebook on her computer and wrote down the names of [Saatchi Gallery], [Ma Shi Gallery], [Tokyo Gallery], and [New York Limu Gallery].

One of these four galleries?

She felt she had glimpsed a corner under Detective Cat Sister’s mysterious veil.

”It’s just a little discovery made while researching contracts, not considered breaking my promise.” Anna comforted herself in her heart with selective hearing.

”Say hi to August for me, your dog is super handsome, pet its head for me.”

Aurora yawned, about to hang up.

”I’m sleepy; my boyfriend is waiting for me in bed. Welcome to visit me here in the summer; if you’re not good at skiing, I can teach you how to make cheese on the ranch and take you for a ride on a snowmobile, and dog sledding too, it’s so much fun.”

”Hold on a sec, I still have something; remember, Aurora, you pursued legal studies in North America after graduation, and you have a lawyer’s license, right?”