He turned his head and saw Professor Yajima putting down the phone and smiling at him.

Hanks felt uneasy under the gaze and quickly returned a smile.

"Professor, please consider it. Fifty million dollars, it would be hard to find a more sincere offer than ours." Hanks thought Uncle Sakai seemed a bit moved.

"No, no, no."

Ichiro Yakai wagged his fat carrot-like finger gently and said, "With all due respect, if such a contract came from Gagosian or Lisson, that would be sincere. But the allure of Ma Shi Gallery is much smaller."

"In fact, I don’t mind telling you, Gagosian is also negotiating with me. They are willing to consign for cooperation, with a fifty-fifty split of sales. OFA’s renewal offer is also for four years, roughly forty-eight million dollars. If it’s just two million dollars less, why not continue with my old employer?"

The smile on Hanks’ face became a bit strained.

He knew Professor Yajima was speaking the truth.

OFA is no less than Ma Shi, and Gagosian is the industry leader.

With a fifty-fifty split, through Gagosian’s channels, the total value of Uncle Sakai’s work in the coming years might easily exceed one billion dollars, perhaps even more, though consignment payouts are slower.

"I believe your desire to change galleries isn’t solely about money."

Hanks hesitated for a moment before saying, "At Ota Art Gallery, as long as Yayoi Kusama is alive, you’ll never be the leading featured artist. Larry Gagosian may not wish to groom you into the next Damien Hirst, but at our Ma Shi Gallery, everything becomes possible."

Ota Art Gallery wouldn’t abandon fully promoting the still-creating Yayoi Kusama for Professor Yajima.

Gagosian, with its crowd of major talents, has at least five or six artists on par with Ichiro Yakai; Uncle Sakai is just a very ordinary member among them.

"I admit I have such concerns about changing galleries. No offense, but can Ma Shi Gallery really market me into the next Kusama?"

Uncle Sakai countered, "Words alone mean nothing. How many artists are represented at your gallery, around a hundred and ninety, right? How many have succeeded?"

This hit Hanks’ sore spot.

Ma Shi Gallery currently represents a total of 193 artists globally, the oldest being 81 and the youngest 23, a considerable number for gallery businesses, ranking first among top galleries.

It’s not really a proud ranking.

The art industry is one of the most affected by the Matthew effect, where a high-caliber artist outshines a basket full of rubbish.

A lone tiger walks while sheep flock together.

Rich people aren’t foolish [bleep], oil tycoons, Arab princes can spend over a billion Pounds without batting an eye for a piece bearing Hirst’s name. Yet they wouldn’t spend a hundred dollars on unknown small artists.

The truly remarkable top galleries casually sell artworks worth billions of Dollars a year, yet only have a few artists.

The few celestial kings in the gallery world, like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, PACE, these super galleries, each represents merely a few dozen artists on average.

Gagosian, with the largest scale and the most employees, historically represented a total of 122 artists, but only around a dozen are truly featured at the same time.

The combined value of any two of these artists could easily surpass all of Ma Shi Gallery’s current more than a hundred.

Ma Shi Gallery’s total sales revenue last year was only some 40 million dollars.

"Rather than wanting to sign with me, I recommend you switch targets. Turning an unknown into a master is more demonstrative of Ma Shi Gallery’s ability than raising a master’s worth by one or two million dollars, isn’t it?"

Seeing Hanks remain silent, Uncle Sakai smiled subtly and pushed the screen in his hand over.