Dai Meng's hands were trembling.
He did not find any signs of forgery after studying it for a while. Whether it was in terms of style or paper material, they were all authentic.
"This... is indeed an authentic Van Gogh painting."
Van Gogh!
He was one of the greatest modern painters, so it was very shocking to find an authentic Van Gogh painting in a place like that.
In a museum, this painting would be treated as a treasure.
Yet, it was hung in the living room of a commercial house.
"Everyone, have you guys come to a conclusion?" The host walked over and asked.
Dai Meng did not say anything, but Jiang Meng, who was beside him, said excitedly, "We're done. This painting is a real Van Gogh painting."
The host continued to say, "Contestant Thomson and his wife really do have a good taste. They have a real Van Gogh painting hung in the living room!"
The host's hands trembled as he spoke. Although he looked calm, his heart was beating very fast.
He was standing in front of a famous painting that was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If it were anyone else, they would be excited as well.
...
"What the hell is his taste? It's so extravagant!"
"If this painting is real, that alone is enough to crush the other contestants."
"This year's actors are all very good. Look at these professionals. Some of them were singing a different tune before, but now they're all silent."
"With the plot and acting skills, this show is quite interesting."
"Amazing. Is Thomson the illegitimate son of a government official? The whole program team is helping him with his act here."
In the live broadcast room, the audience was complaining.
However, it did not affect the popularity of the show at all. In fact, its viewership ratings had soared to a few million, which put the show on the same level as some of the top streamers.
At this moment, the host stood in front of the camera and said, "I believe the audience has already seen some of the furnishings in Thomson's living room. Next, we will take a look at somewhere else."
With that, the host led the camera into the bedroom.
The bedroom was very tidy because while everyone was outside, Alice had quickly tidied up the place and hid some private items.
"Miss Alice, do you mind if we open the wardrobe?" the host asked.
"Go ahead."
Inside the wardrobe was some outerwear, and there was nothing inappropriate to the public.
After the host received permission, he said to the camera, "Audience, the most direct way to look at a person's standard of living is to look at a person's taste in clothing. Next, let's take a look at the clothes in the wardrobe."
Then, the host opened the wardrobe, revealing clothes that were hung and filled the entire wardrobe.
Fortunately, it was folded neatly, and it did not look too messy. However, it did look like it was about to overflow with clothes.
"Is this family so poor that they can't afford to buy a bigger wardrobe?"
"If it can't fit, then throw it away. Don't tell me you can't bear to part with so many clothes?"
"I guess they are all cheap goods that cost a little more than ten dollars per piece."
"To be honest, twenty years ago, when my family was very poor, we also had a lot of clothes."
"They've been exposed. Which rich person would store their clothes like this? Don't they wear one and throw another one away?"
When the audience in the live broadcast room saw the wardrobe full of clothes, they began to mock the program team. It seemed that they had finally found something they could use against the latter.
Indeed, there were at least hundreds of clothes in the closet.
The fact that the couple had so many clothes only proved one thing — they were reluctant to throw them away.
The host asked Alice, "Miss Alice, why do you have so many clothes at home..."
Alice replied a little embarrassedly, "Um... My husband was the one who bought all these clothes. They are all very nice, but we've accumulated a lot over time."
Among the two of them, Alice did not like shopping very much.
When she first got together with Thomson, Alice would only wear a few clothes repeatedly for a month to save money.
After Thomson found out, he threw away all of Alice's previous clothes and bought her some clothes from time to time.
Alice was very touched by his gesture.
"Your husband bought them? Then may I ask where your husband bought them from?" the host asked.
"Well... my husband said that they were either bought at a 10% discount in the mall, with company benefits, or from an online shop."
Alice was not lying.
That was indeed what Thomson told her when he brought the clothes home as he only wanted to live a normal life at that time.
However, Thomson felt a little annoyed now.
A discount at the mall?
Would a mall give such a discount?
Benefits from the company?
Had he ever gotten a raise in his entire career?
From an online store?
Had she ever received his packages?
Only Thomson knew where these clothes came from.
Most of the clothes were from small workshops. These so-called small workshops were such as the Queen's private tailors, limited editions of various luxury brands around the world, and more.
In order to prevent Alice from suspecting, these clothes had no logos on them.
Otherwise, if the house was filled with Louis Vuitton and Gucci clothes, it would definitely arouse Alice's suspicion. After all, he was supposed to be poor.
Even so, Thomson did not expect that Alice would believe in them for so many years.
On top of that, Alice did not throw away any of the clothes that he had bought for her.
They all had the best craftsmanship in the world, so they were definitely more comfortable to wear than any other clothes.
That was why the closet was filled with clothes.