Chapter: 3973

He pointed to the painting in Yechen's hand and said seriously: "This one right here! And the one painted by Da Vinci is just a copy, with modifications and reworkings based on this one. I mean it, it's just plagiarism."

Bernard Erlno was about to cry but couldn't, and exclaimed: "Is that possible?! Da Vinci is my idol, his Mona Lisa is a masterpiece! How could it be plagiarism?"

Yechen's face turned serious: "You see, this touches on your cognitive blind spot. I'm telling you, this painting was created by Zhao Mengfu under the command of Yuan Dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan. It should have been completed around 1275 CE, about two centuries before Da Vinci's time. Who copied who? It's not hard to figure out."

"This is all nonsense!" Bernard Erlno said angrily: "This is impossible! And look at the woman in this painting - she's a Western beauty! How could there be a Western beauty in ancient China?! This is a huge bug, what do you have to say?"

Yechen didn't flinch, chuckled, and quickly added: "So you need to bear with me and let me finish explaining. In 1275 CE, a major event that had a profound impact on world history took place. Do you know what it was?"

Bernard Erlno was furious: "I don't know!"

Yechen said very seriously: "Mr. Erlno, I'm not saying this to you. You can't just focus on making money and neglect reading books and understanding history every now and then."

"Finished, ignoring Bernard Erlno's almost about-to-spit-blood expression, he said in a deep tone: 'I'm telling you, 1275 CE is when famous Western traveler Marco Polo arrived in China!'"

He then looked at Bernard Erlno and asked, "Don't you know The Travels of Marco Polo?"

Bernard Erlno was furious, biting his teeth and saying, "I know! But what does this have to do with the Mona Lisa?"

Yechen shook his head, sighed, and said, "It's unknown by those who fear nothing."

After that, he continued explaining: "I'm telling you, Marco Polo suffered greatly during his travels in 1275 CE and arrived at the Yuan capital in the summer. He was warmly received by Kublai Khan himself."

"In order to promote cultural exchange between East and West, Kublai Khan commissioned famous painter Zhao Mengfu to show Marco Polo and his party China's exceptional painting techniques."

"Marco Polo had a lady-in-waiting named Mona Lisa beside him at that time!"

"It was this lady who served as the model for Zhao Mengfu's masterpiece creation!"

"The entire creation process took half a year, from summer 1275 CE to winter of the same year."

As he reached this point, Yechen couldn't help but let out a deep sigh: "At that time, Kublai Khan presented this painting to Marco Polo. Marco Polo truly treasured it and kept it with him, knowing he would bring it back to the West. Unfortunately, after returning to the West, Marco Polo was imprisoned due to turbulent circumstances, and this painting was lost in the chaos."

"Two hundred years later, this painting came into Leonardo's hands. After seeing it, Leonardo was deeply inspired and spent several years imitating it day and night, finally creating his famous version of Mona Lisa!"

"And after he finished his painting, he handed Zhao Mengfu's original Mona Lisa to his servant to burn it. His servant couldn't bear to see this divine work fall apart, so they secretly gave it to their relatives, which allowed the painting to be passed down."

As he said that, Zhang Erma looked at Bernard Arno with a serious expression and asked, "Mr. Arno, do you understand now?"

Bernard Arno gazed at Zhang Erma's serious face, and in that moment, he almost fell under Zhang Erma's successful brainwashing.

He looked at Zhang Erma again, then at Ye Chen's hand holding the original Mona Lisa. He repeated himself several times, his brain already having a few flashes of realization.

Ye Chen knew Zhang Erma was spinning a yarn, but he didn't expect him to come up with such a big, elaborate story, and couldn't help but feel a bit impressed by this old man's storytelling skills.

As for that, Bernard Arno quickly regained his composure, knowing that this was definitely just Zhang Erma's wild fabrication.

Without saying whether this story is possible or not, even if it's true, these people wouldn't possibly let themselves take this painting. JrNovels.com