Owen Sutton was a bit surprised by the little squirrel’s cleverness. He handed it a blueberry, and after repeating this a few times, whenever he called ‘Little Jack’, the little squirrel would happily run up to him.

“Damn, it’s even smarter than the dog I used to have.” Owen Sutton sighed. Just as he was praising it, the little squirrel, having eaten and drunk its fill, flicked its big tail and dashed off.

Before long, the squirrel Little Jack came hopping back, and this time, it brought along another red squirrel that was slightly bigger than itself.

Owen Sutton couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. This little guy was treating his place like a charity hall, even inviting friends over for a meal.

But the two little squirrels didn’t go straight for the food. Little Jack, leading the new squirrel, jumped in front of Owen Sutton and stretched out its front paws. Each of them was holding a plump pine nut, clearly bringing a gift.

These were probably food the squirrels had stored for surviving the winter and spring. Spring comes late in Canada, and squirrels can’t find food until April. This gift was something very precious to them.

Both pine nuts were plump. Owen Sutton took them, and Little Jack jumped up happily, while the other squirrel was a bit shy, lying quietly to the side.

Little Jack climbed onto the dining table and started squeaking. The other squirrel glanced at Owen Sutton, then cautiously climbed onto the table as well.

Owen Sutton put down the pine nuts. Little Jack hopped over, grabbed one, and handed it to him, clearly meaning for him to eat it.

With no other choice, Owen Sutton cracked one open and popped it into his mouth. The pine nut was sweet, even sweeter than the syrup he used for fruit, and tasted great. The roasted pine nuts back home couldn’t compare at all.

Seeing him eat two pine nuts, Little Jack became even happier, hopping around the fruit plate.

Owen Sutton handed it a blueberry, but this time it didn’t eat it—instead, it gave it to the other little squirrel.

With the two squirrels in tow, Owen Sutton went back to the bedroom to watch TV. Little Jack was also very interested in the scenes on TV; whenever Owen Sutton laughed, it would bounce around. The other little squirrel, meanwhile, hugged a black grape and dozed off on Owen Sutton’s shoulder.

The phone rang, and Auerbach’s voice came through, saying that he and his friends from Ritchie’s Auction House would be arriving soon.

Not long after, a BMW 750Li drove into the fishery. Auerbach got out, followed by three others: an elderly man with a half-bald head and energetic demeanor, and two blond, middle-aged white men in suits.

Auerbach introduced the bald old man to Owen Sutton: “This is my good friend Krzyzewski, the art director of Ritchie’s Auction House in Ontario. These two are his colleagues, both appraisers at Ritchie’s.”

The two men in suits introduced themselves. One was named Kelvin, who specialized in sketches, and the other was Pietrus, who was skilled in oil paintings.

Owen Sutton laid out the thirty paintings. The three put on gloves, took out magnifying glasses, and brought out a small device that, once connected to a laptop, could be used to scan the paintings.

Auerbach had already told Owen Sutton about Ritchie’s Auction House. Although it couldn’t compare to world-class auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips, or Bonhams, it was still quite famous in Canada.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers was founded in 1958 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Its headquarters are now in Vancouver, British Columbia. It has over 110 business locations worldwide and more than 1,160 full-time employees. In the Canadian auction industry, it is the undisputed leader.

Krzyzewski was a serious and meticulous person. Upon seeing the paintings, he furrowed his brows and began studying and discussing them with his two subordinates.

The three appraisers first examined the works by Pinajian, looking at each one carefully. After about an hour, Krzyzewski walked over to Owen Sutton, sat down, and said, “Hello, Mr. Qin. According to our research, all of Mr. Pinajian’s paintings here are originals.”

Owen Sutton was puzzled. What’s the difference between originals and fakes? Was this Pinajian some kind of artist? He had searched online before but hadn’t found any information about this person.

Krzyzewski explained, “Arthur Pinajian was an Armenian-American painter and cartoonist. He was born in 1914. His parents survived the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and then came to the United States. He was self-taught in art from childhood.”

“Like most famous artists, Mr. Pinajian was unrecognized during his lifetime and could only make a living by drawing for comic companies. He died in 1999. It wasn’t until a year after his death that his achievements in fine art were discovered by the art world. He was highly accomplished in portraiture, landscapes, and abstract painting, especially his abstract expressionist works, which are considered to have great artistic value.”

Krzyzewski gave a brief introduction. Owen Sutton was delighted and asked, “Are Mr. Pinajian’s paintings worth a lot of money?”

Hearing this, Krzyzewski smiled slightly and said, “Yes, some of Mr. Pinajian’s works are indeed quite valuable now, but this is limited to his abstract paintings. Although you have four abstract paintings here, unfortunately, they are all early works and not very valuable.”

Owen Sutton felt helpless. Couldn’t this guy just get to the point? This rollercoaster of emotions was really uncomfortable. So he simply asked, “In your opinion, how much are the paintings I have here worth?”