A farming master in Stardew Valley

Chapter 464: Nowhere to be found after wearing iron shoes

When Maru heard Leon's idea, she did not refuse it. Instead, she took the initiative to help Leon think about the possibility of implementing it.

"Is that so? Then, Maru, do you know any institutions engaged in this field?" After hearing that it would take time to prepare, Leon gave up the idea of ​​asking Maru for help.

On the one hand, it was to avoid causing trouble for Maru, and on the other hand, it was because of time constraints.

The time given by Mr. Qi is not much. If it takes too long, Lyon is not sure whether the treasure he found will still exist.

"There's a testing facility like this in Zuzu City that specializes in carbon-16 analysis with major auction houses. I heard about it when I was in college. If you're in a hurry, you can go there for an appraisal."

Maru did not disappoint Leon and gave an accurate answer.

"Oh, so the identification speed is very fast?" Lyon asked.

"It's actually very fast, but you need to queue up. After all, their agency has to do appraisals for major auction houses every day. Private business doesn't have a high priority unless you are willing to spend more money to complete the appraisal work." Malu explained.

"Oh? How much extra money will it cost?" Lyon had no knowledge of this unfamiliar industry, so he didn't know the prices. Although he was very anxious, he didn't want to be ripped off.

"The normal appraisal fee is about 100-200G. I don't know the exact price for speeding up the appraisal, but it should be about three times the original price." Malu recalled his memory of this kind of appraisal agency and reluctantly gave an answer.

"That's okay, not too expensive." Although this price is indeed a considerable amount compared to daily expenses, it is not a big number for Lyon.

"Do you remember the address? I want to go and see it."

"I don't remember it very clearly, but it's probably on Rose Street near West Park. But for the exact location, you'll have to ask passers-by there." Maru replied.

"Thanks, Maru, you really helped me today. When I'm done, I'll treat you to a meal to express my gratitude." Leon wrote down the address and prepared to say goodbye to Maru.

"Wait, Leon, forget about eating. Can you let me see the painting you want to appraise? I'm very curious." Before Leon left, Maru subconsciously blocked Leon's steps and explained her curiosity.

After all, she really wanted to see what the painting that Leon was so anxious to identify the creation era looked like. Maru actually liked works of art very much.

"Of course, just don't be too disappointed."

Lyon naturally would not hesitate to satisfy Maru's small request, and immediately took out the clumsy graffiti from his backpack.

"Hey? Is this the work you want to authenticate?" Maru was stunned when he saw the messy paint party on the paper.

"Yeah, it's disappointing, isn't it?" Leon complained, "It's actually not worth anything. All I want to know is when it was created."

"I'm not disappointed, but I seem to have seen this painting somewhere." Maru shook his head and gave an answer that Leon was very concerned about.

"But I've forgotten exactly where it was. It must be a very distant memory. But I'm sure I've seen this painting before. After all, such a special painting is really impressive."

"Do you remember where you saw it?" Leon asked Maru softly, afraid to speak too loudly for fear of startling her or putting too much pressure on her, causing her to completely forget this vague memory. "Hmm, let me think about it." Maru rested her chin on one hand, frowning as she fell into deep thought. It took a long moment for her brow to relax.

"I remember now, this painting seems to have been drawn by Hailey! I remember it was at Hailey's seventh birthday party. Hailey's mother insisted that Hailey show everyone the painting skills she had recently learned. Hailey was reluctant, but she didn't want to disappoint her mother, so she just casually drew this picture on a piece of white paper and told everyone that it was art, and that those who couldn't understand it were not artistically literate enough."

After saying this, Maru looked at Leon with some confusion and asked.

"Where did you get this painting? I remember that after the party, Haley threw it into the fireplace and burned it."

"Well, I got it by chance, but I didn't realize you had such a good relationship when you were young." Lyon immediately said a few perfunctory words after hearing this, and then changed the subject.

"Not really. It's just because mom has a good relationship with Haley's mom that we were invited to Haley's birthday party," Maru explained.

"Is that so?" Leon didn't say anything else. After all, it was not easy for him to make any comments on such matters. Maru didn't show up at Hayley's birthday party last time. Instead, Robin was invited. It seemed that the friendship between the two families had not faded, but it just didn't continue to the next generation.

"You haven't told me where this painting of yours came from." Maru remembered his previous doubts.

"I bought it from a passing merchant. He said it was the work of a great painter, but no one appreciated it, so he sold it to me at a low price. Now it seems I was cheated." Lyon lied.

"Is that so? That's quite annoying. You shouldn't have suffered much loss, right?" Maru asked Leon awkwardly.

"It's not a big deal, just a loss of 10G. Just consider it as a lesson learned." Lyon continued to talk nonsense.

"Oh, that's okay, but I didn't expect that there are two identical paintings in the world. If Haley's painting hadn't been burned in front of me, I would have really thought that this painting was Haley's." Maru sighed.

"Maybe it's a coincidence." Leon shrugged and replied, "By the way, thank you for reminding me, Maru. Your reminder saved me a lot of appraisal fees."

"Haha, it's okay. I just happened to remember this. I'm glad I could help." Maru said with a smile, saying it was okay. Then he added, "I should go find Penny. We agreed to chat in the small garden after get off work. I'll be leaving first."

"Well, goodbye." Leon had no intention of stopping Maru. After waving goodbye to Maru, he stood there alone, looking at the graffiti in his hand.

"Mr. Qi, Mr. Qi, what on earth are you doing? Why is every treasure map related to the girl from Pelican Town? And you even produced a painting of the same girl that should have been burned to death."

At this moment, Leon's heart was full of doubts, and his intuition told him that this painting might not be the end of the treasure.

At the same time, Leon was also a little worried about Haley. After all, he had played a trick on Haley again when they met before. Now that he knew that the original author of this painting was Haley, he was afraid that he would have to go find Haley. However, Leon, who had just annoyed Haley, really didn't know how to make Haley cooperate with him.

Not to mention that the creation of this graffiti has no special meaning. It is just a joke that was forced to be created by parents to show off in front of others. Even if Haley is found, I am afraid that no useful information will be obtained.

But in the end, I still have to go to Haley to ask, after all, this is the only clue Leon has now.

(End of this chapter)