43: Chapter 43 The Afterglow of the Setting Sun Will Shine Again in the East

These emotions of Huang Yimei, mixed with resentment and admiration, all turned into emotion points for Zhao Yang.

Zhao Yang did not want to provoke this great beauty for the time being. After all, there was still some time before the official beginning of "the story of rose", so there was no rush to change her destiny.

The next day, Zhao Yang contacted Su Gengsheng and brought the four oil paintings to Qingting. He didn't say they were newly painted, only that they were works from the past year.

Su Gengsheng looked at the paintings, was silent for a long while, and sighed: "Teacher Zhao, you were right yesterday; you really have given me a difficult problem. If these paintings of yours were placed in an art exhibition, they would completely stand out from the crowd. Our Qingting would immediately become the public enemy of those young painters, who would think we were deliberately trying to embarrass them."

Zhao Yang shrugged: "See, I told you so."

"How about I go ask President Jiang?" Su Gengsheng said, "You left too hurriedly yesterday. President Jiang still wanted to chat with you, but you had already left."

Zhao Yang smiled slightly: "That works, let's go."

The expression on Jiang Xueqiong's face after seeing the four paintings was similar to Su Gengsheng's.

After a long silence, she and Su Gengsheng exchanged a look, and then both looked at Zhao Yang at the same time.

Zhao Yang smiled and shrugged: "How about… I take the paintings back after all."

"Don't!" Jiang Xueqiong said quickly, "Teacher Zhao, let me think of a way! Your paintings are too good. Every time I think about our Qingting exhibition being able to display such outstanding works, I can't help but feel excited. Please wait while I think…"

Su Gengsheng quickly echoed: "Teacher Zhao, please wait while we think this over carefully."

Zhao Yang nodded, quietly watching the two elegant and powerful career women deep in thought.

...

Ten minutes passed, and the two had knitted their brows so tightly that their laugh lines appeared, but they clearly still had no solution.

Zhao Yang tapped his index finger on the table: "How about we just don't exhibit them."

"Teacher Zhao!"

"Please wait a little longer!"

Su Gengsheng and Jiang Xueqiong looked at Zhao Yang with pleading eyes at the same time.

Zhao Yang smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I'm not taking the paintings away. What I mean is, why don't you just auction them directly at the exhibition."

Both of their eyes lit up at the same time.

"Since they are auction items, they can be exhibited separately, and Qingting can use this to build a more high-end image."

"That's wonderful!" Jiang Xueqiong clenched her fists happily, "Teacher Zhao, thank you for the idea. Rest assured, I will definitely make your name resound throughout the entire painting world."

"No." Zhao Yang shook his head firmly, "I require anonymity. Otherwise, let's just forget it."

"Why?" Jiang Xueqiong asked in surprise, "Fame has a huge bonus to the value of a painter's work. In the future, your paintings will be worth more than…"

"I know." Zhao Yang interrupted her, saying sternly, "However, I am an official within the system, and I must observe discipline. If it's not an anonymous auction, there would be a suspicion of disguised bribery."

Jiang Xueqiong was silent for a moment and sighed: "Teacher Zhao, I am truly sorry; it was my lack of consideration. Since you request anonymity, it will be anonymous. We will absolutely not reveal any of your information."

"Good, I hope you keep your word. Otherwise, I will absolutely not admit that these paintings have anything to do with me, and I will not take a single cent of the proceeds from the auction."

"Rest assured, only Su Gengsheng and I know about these paintings."

After chatting about some art topics, Zhao Yang got up to leave.

These paintings were just a casual interlude. With the cooperation between Jinghai City and Qingting finalized, Gao Qiqiang set off for Ulan Country, and the operation to bring the An-225 super transport aircraft and the Tu-160 strategic bomber back to the country entered a rapid advancement phase.

Regarding this operation, General Feng gave it a very poetic name—Operation Sunset Glow.

The meaning was very clear: that powerful country was once so dazzling, but now it was at its sunset, with only some afterglow left.

And this afterglow could only continue to shine and generate heat in Dragon Country.

Although Zhao Yang did not appear on the front stage, the entire plan was formulated by him. When the operation was underway, all key information would be summarized to him, and he would then make adjustments as quickly as possible based on the situation.

Everyone else could make flaws, but he could not make a single mistake.

Seven days later, led by Jinghai Vice Mayor Meng Dehai, a large business delegation arrived in Budapest.

The team included representatives from over twenty Jinghai companies, headed by Hongdou Technology and Construction Group, as well as the Jinghai City Quyi Troupe and the Tomorrow Culture music group Phoenix Legend.

All liaison, organization, and communication work was handled by Qingting. Jiang Xueqiong and Su Gengsheng even took command personally, leading Qingting's best team to advance this project.

The exhibition in Budapest lasted four days and was a huge success.

This kind of product exhibition, similar to an Oscar awards ceremony, also opened the eyes of the locals. Among the products, the most eye-catching was naturally the hongdou phone—although its configuration was no different from current mainstream products, the phone casing, full of artistic flavor, received high praise: this was a technology product from the East, full of artistic flavor.

Beyond the products, the traditional art of the Jinghai Quyi Troupe and the pop music of Phoenix Legend both set off a small wave of interest in Dragon Country locally.

What Jiang Xueqiong found strange was that Hongdou Technology CEO Gao Qiqiang did not come in person; instead, his younger brother, Hongdou Technology CTO Gao Qisheng, came. However, for a product like a mobile phone, it was normal to send a technical executive to promote it, so she didn't think too much about it.

Su Gengsheng, however, felt a bit confused about the scale of this business delegation—there seemed to be too many idlers. Besides people from the corporate and arts sectors, there were many people with nothing proper to do; they were more like tourists, shopping, walking around, and taking photos in Budapest.

However, she soon figured it out: after all, this was an activity initiated by the Jinghai municipal government, and with the opportunity to go abroad, many people would definitely want to squeeze in. Going abroad for a trip these days was also a very luxurious thing.

But in fact, the devil was in these details.

Gao Qiqiang was busy in Ulan Country. The huge quantity of parts for the An-225 were methodically loaded into numerous containers and transported by land from the Antonov factory to the port of Odessa. And the Tu-160s waiting to be destroyed were also quickly dismantled into parts, loaded into containers, and transported to the port of Kerch in Crimea.

The reason for separate transportation was, naturally, for safety, to avoid the problem of being wiped out in one go.

From loading to transportation to the port was not the most dangerous part; the most dangerous part was when loading onto ships and departing at the port—at that time, there were many people and prying eyes, making it very easy for mishaps to occur.

As for those so-called "idlers," most of them were arranged by General Feng. They were responsible for the project's wrap-up and security guarantees, acting as a safety net for the project.

If everything went well, these people would just treat it as a trip.

Once things changed, they were the last resort.

The goods could be abandoned, but everyone who came out must return to the country safely.

...