Chapter 26: The Appraisal Meeting

  "What's wrong?" Lan felt my unease and followed my gaze to look at the crowd, but didn't find anything unusual, so she asked me in a low voice.

  Nothing, I met someone at Zhongyue Temple this morning and now I've run into them again, it's a bit too coincidental. I whispered in response, but the appearance of Xie Rongrong here was really making me suspicious, I don't believe in such coincidences in the world. However, she didn't seem to want to recognize me at all, smiled at me for a moment and then disappeared into the crowd.

  "Be careful, don't push me too far." Lan's eyes turned slightly stern. This time, raising funds was a matter of her brother's life and death. Whoever blocked her would have to pay with their life. However, she was also extremely confident in her own abilities. She believed that there were few people in the world today who could surpass her in combat skills.

  "Alright, everyone quiet down for a moment. I'd like to introduce these two friends who have brought in two treasures to sell at our store. However, they haven't been appraised by an expert and even I couldn't tell their authenticity. So, I was wondering if all of you could take a look and estimate the price? Perhaps these two friends are short on cash."

  "Oh, even One-eyed Liu can't identify it? That's interesting! Come on, let me take a look and see what treasure it is!" As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, an old man squeezed out of the crowd and said so. The rest of the people also echoed with many voices, as if the middle-aged man couldn't identify it was a very strange thing.

  We don't care who this one-eyed Liu is or what status he has, since so many people have taken an interest, that's all the better. I immediately handed over those 'jade' chopsticks to the old man.

  The old man took a closer look and also clicked his tongue in wonder, saying "No wonder Duan Yan couldn't tell what it was, even I would have trouble identifying this thing"

  The old man's words immediately drew more people's attention, with over half of them immediately focusing their eyes on that 'jade' chopstick and passing it to the next person for appreciation.

  "Come on, young man, let me ask you, is this 'jade' chopstick an heirloom of yours? It's from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, not many of these have been passed down." The old man said with a smile after handing the chopsticks to someone else and walking in front of me.

  "No, it's not an heirloom," I shook my head and said. In fact, I also wanted to say that it was an heirloom, which would have avoided a lot of trouble, but obviously more than half of these people were experts in antiques, so I didn't dare to fake it.

  "Haha, you're quite sensible for a young fellow. This indeed isn't an heirloom passed down through generations. The Northern and Southern Dynasties were over a thousand years ago, no matter how well you preserved it, this 'jade' artifact would have suffered some damage. Moreover, after being handled by many people, this 'jade' should have developed a unique texture, but yours doesn't seem to have any of that. It's as if someone had carefully stored it away back then and left it untouched for over a thousand years. But now I'm even more suspicious, old man that I am. While it was indeed customary for ancient people to bury everyday items with the deceased, your piece lacks the scent of being from a tomb. And if you say it's from an archaeological site, that's even more impossible, because I really don't believe any site could preserve artifacts this well. Young fellow, are you willing to give me some answers?"

  The old man's words and the one-eyed Liu's views are roughly the same, people who come here with some level of knowledge also have this question, and if we don't resolve this question, it will be difficult to sell today.

  I exchanged a sneaky glance with Lan, and she hesitated for a moment. If the information about Kou Qian was revealed, it would be very unfavorable to me, but I didn't care. Heh heh, where is this place anyway? It's unfamiliar, take the money and leave, never come back again, what can they do? So under my firm gaze, Lan just nodded slightly.

  "In the surname Kou, according to the genealogy, my ancestors may be from the Northern great family of Kou during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which is the same family that produced the Taoist priest Kou Qianzhi. My ancestor Kou Qianzhi guarded his spirit for 30 years on Mount Song, establishing a Taoist temple there. I recently went to Mount Song to pay my respects based on the information left by my ancestors. Luckily, my luck improved, and while 'lost' on the road, I encountered a mountain cave, which turned out to be an ancient place of enlightenment. These are what I found inside."

  I carefully explained that this was a reason I had thought about for a long time, and perhaps only this way could dispel their doubts. After all, the ancestral transmission of this thing is too unpredictable, and they can't investigate my ancestors for eighteen generations, can they?

  But what I didn't expect was that as soon as I finished speaking, the old man grasped my hand with force and asked urgently, "Shan Dong, young man, are you telling the truth? Where did you see it? Take me there quickly!" The place of enlightenment for the ancients, that is the legendary "Dong Tian Fu Di". In many people's eyes, this place is just an ordinary place, but in some people's eyes, it is an invaluable treasure.

  "Let go!" Because the old man was too close to me, and Lan Jie didn't think he would be so "excited", I let him grab my hand in an instant. But Lan Jie's speed wasn't slow either, she pinched the old man's hand, and he immediately cried out in pain as if pricked by a needle, withdrawing his hand. Meanwhile, Lan Jie opened her arms to shield me and took a step back.

  "What's wrong, Old Zhang?"

  "What did Professor Zhang do to you?"

  "What kind of person are you? Security guard, security guard, hurry up and chase them away"

  It's clear that this old man holds a high position, after a loud cry the crowd split into three groups. One group was indifferent and kept their distance, the second went to care for the old man, and the third shouted angrily at me.

  "Mr. Liu, don't say anything else, let's go, give us the chopsticks." Seeing the crowd with some righteous indignation, as if we had done something terribly wrong, made my and Lan sister's face turn black like a pot bottom. Damn it, I'm the victim here, who knows why you old man are so agitated? I just wanted to sell an antique to exchange for money, do we need to make such a fuss?

  "No, no, young man, wait a minute. I was the one who was rude just now, it has nothing to do with you or your friend. Now let's talk about the price of this 'jade' chopstick." The old man saw me wanting to leave and couldn't care less about the pain in his hand, sweating profusely as he pushed through the crowd and stopped us.

  "No, we don't want to sell." I directly refused without even thinking about it. With so many people staring at me like tigers, what am I supposed to do?

  "This, this, isn't my apology enough for you?" The old man was extremely anxious, almost foolishly eager to apologize to me. And sure enough, in the next second, I reaped a harvest of countless disdainful and scornful glances.

  "I can't take it anymore, Lan Jie, let's go" was pulled by the old man's words with countless hatred, I no longer had the heart to stay here, and took Lan Jie away.

  "Tsk, tsk, these young people nowadays, not only do they not respect their elders or care for the young, but they can't even contain their temper. How can they accomplish great things? Let's go, let's go." Just as I was about to leave, a sigh suddenly came from the crowd, stopping me in my tracks. And whose voice did I hear? Wasn't it that Xie Yongyong?

  Damn it, I really can't stand being 'fired'! Don't even get me started on the part about respecting the elderly, where they emphasize "respecting" so heavily. Can't even contain my anger, and you're saying I don't have patience? Screw your patience, bring me money instead.

  "Old man, you want chopsticks, okay, take out the money, one million, no bargaining, if you dare to haggle I'll turn around and leave." I turned my head and said very kindly to the old man, although I didn't know what the true value of this antique was, but it seemed like one million was a bit too much.

  "Alright, 'transaction' settled. What's your bank account number? I'll transfer the money to you right away." As expected, seeing the even more annoyed gaze of the person next to me, I knew I had shouted too much. But the old man didn't care; he had money, and besides, his goal wasn't this 'jade' chopstick, but something behind it.

  "Don't transfer, I want cash. I can wait for you here for half an hour, if it's less than half an hour, we'll leave." If I could use a bank card, would I still be selling things? Although Lan Jie's savings are not much, they're enough for us to go back to Jiangbei to handle things.

  "Alright, half an hour, wait for me." The old man ignored others' advice and immediately turned around to make a phone call, while the one-eyed Liu quickly led us into a room, which was to take care of other people's emotions.

  "Lan sister, will we be in danger if we do this?" The decision just now was made by me alone, Lan sister didn't even have time to stop me. After calming down, I felt that it wasn't right after all. This is the territory of those rich and powerful people, if they were to do something, we wouldn't be able to stop them.

  "Don't worry about that anymore, once we get the money, we'll leave," Lan sister replied. Although there was some danger involved, it was also an unavoidable situation. No one could have anticipated that selling an antique would lead to so many problems.

  "Alright, who dares to stop us? We'll 'take care' of him!" I said, raising my fist and earning a faint smile from Lan.

  "Wow, who are you going to 'mess' with now? You're really something, even daring to embezzle Old Zhang's money. Do you know who he is?" Suddenly the door was opened and a woman sat down elegantly across from us.

  "What's it to you? We're doing a legitimate business, both parties are willing." Seeing Xie Rongrong sitting opposite me, I don't know why but I always feel that she has ulterior motives, her words are laced with venom.

  "Hmph, mutual consent, everyone can see that Zhang Lao is interested in the cave you mentioned, are you not afraid of being retaliated against for taking advantage of him like this?" Xie Yongyong didn't take my sarcasm to heart and replied calmly.

  "Revenge? I'm never afraid." I glanced at Lan beside me, even ghosts aren't afraid, what's there to fear about your revenge.

  "Alright, it seems that having a bodyguard makes a difference. But I'm not here to discuss this with you now. Have you thought carefully about what I said this morning? Come with me to Lao Mang's place to resolve our karma, and I'll give you money - one million, how about it?" Xie Yongyong said with a wave of his hand.

  I patted Lan's hand to calm her down, then turned to Xie Yong with a cold smile and said, "No need, we have no karma, after today I will leave here and never come back."

  "Hmph, do you think this is useful? This morning I was still telling myself that I never want to see you again in this lifetime, but unexpectedly I ran into you here. Anyway, now I believe the old blind man's words - you and I will have an inexplicable karma, and right now I really don't want to have this karma with you, so you need to cooperate with me, I'll ask someone to dissolve it."

  "Not interested, you can leave. If you don't and something gets out, that's on you. Scram."

  I've never had a good temper with this woman, seeing her always speaking in a condescending tone, I suddenly got angry.

  "You, good, very good, it's been many years since anyone dared to speak to me like that, I hope you don't regret it." Having torn his face apart, Xie Tong could no longer tolerate his own anger, and after speaking harshly, he walked away with a cold face.

  "What's going on?" Lan Jie asked eagerly as soon as Xie Yongrong left.

  "There's nothing, just a fool plus a madman." I replied lightly, but still told Lan about what happened this morning. For some reason, I didn't want her to misunderstand the situation.

  But the matter was not over, and the "door" was opened again. This time, a fat man in a suit came, with a big head and ears, and as soon as he spoke, he was extremely annoying. "You two are the antique sellers, right? I'm from the Cultural Relics Bureau. Someone reported that your antiques were cultural relics dug up from the mountains. According to our country's law, all cultural relics dug up from underground belong to the state, and private possession is illegal."

  Damn it, how did this trouble come so quickly? I'm sure that person was called by those people outside who don't like me. What cultural relics, what belongs to the country? This is what my master left for me.

  "Wait, this is a cultural relic. Do you have any evidence? You must have heard it from someone outside, but they didn't tell you that I found this based on our family's genealogy records. So, this is something that belongs to my ancestors. Is this also something that belongs to the state?" Seeing me getting angry, Lan sister stopped me and said to the fat guy from the cultural relics bureau, "Lan sister was full of momentum at this time, not showing any fear at all. The fat guy, on the other hand, was at a loss for what to do, after all, he didn't have any evidence at all. He was originally just wandering around next door when he suddenly received a call from a friend telling him that there were two country bumpkins who seemed to have dug up something good here and asked him to come take a look."

  It's not the first time he's done something like this. In today's society, there are many people who can easily "create" a national treasure with just one stroke of luck. However, unfortunately for them, the law states that anything found underground belongs to the state. So as long as they show their cultural relics bureau ID, they can easily get the item back by promising them a banner and some prize money. What happens to it after that is their business. As for those who resist, he's seen many before, but someone with such momentum like him today is a first.

  "Hum, you say what is what, I still suspect you are tomb raiders. You, look at what you're looking at, and you're saying it's you. Where's your ID? Now I strongly suspect you're a tomb raider. The police will arrive soon, now it's not too late to surrender." Lan Jie pointed her spearhead at me, shouting loudly.

  Looking at him like this is quite amusing. This trick might have been useful for the me of the past, but now, I just want to hehe.

  "ID card, tomb raider, you'd better think twice before speaking, you're not a cop, do you have the right to check our ID? And the crime of false accusation is not small either. Are you sure you want to accuse us of being tomb raiders?" Lan Jie sneered coldly, she had seen many people like this who relied on their power and influence to bully honest people.

  "You, you're still talking back to me? Do you know who I am? I'm the deputy director of the Cultural Relics Bureau, a department-level official. By speaking like this, you're admitting that you're a tomb raider! Fine, I'll call the police right now!" The fat man was left speechless by Lan's rebuke, and only when he regained his composure did he shout angrily, pulling out his phone to make a call.

  I've had enough, I picked up the teacup on the table and threw it at him, hitting his hand, knocking his phone out of his hand, and with a punch to his face, he was left with a "blooming" face.

  I didn't dare use the moves Lan Jie taught me, because those were really deadly, but even if I held back, that fatty was quickly beaten half to death by me and couldn't even cry out in pain. But such a big commotion had obviously alarmed the people in this store, several security guards had already rushed over, and Lan Jie, for convenience's sake, had taken them down quickly.

  "You're causing trouble here, you, you don't give Golden Eagle Airlines any face, take them down" By the time one-eyed Liu rushed in, the security guards here had already been knocked down by Lan Jie. One-eyed Liu was furious and ordered his men to take us down.

  Two men in black suits rushed over immediately, one rushing towards me and the other dealing with Lan Jie. Their movements were extremely agile, and at a glance, it was clear that they were seasoned professionals, high-level experts, and not comparable to those security guards from earlier. Unfortunately for them, they encountered Lan Jie, a highly skilled expert who had received mercenary training and been remolded by the Dragon Tiger Fist.

  No one saw what Lan Jie did, but everyone saw the black-suited man rushing towards Lan Jie being thrown out by her, coincidentally knocking down the person who was rushing towards me. With a loud crash, he fell to the ground. Then Lan Jie rushed up again and with two punches, knocked both of them unconscious.

  "Be careful, Lan sister" In fact, when the black suit man rushed out, Dugu Liu felt something was wrong, because at that time, Lan sister's momentum had just burst out, but Lan sister's speed was too fast, in the blink of an eye, two masters were knocked down, how could he accept it, in a fit of rage, he rushed out and punched towards Lan sister.

  No need for me to remind her, Lan Jie had already sensed the chill and fist strength behind her back. With a turn of her body, she also struck out with all her might, "Boom" a muffled sound.

  The two fists met in mid-air, but the result was that Lan Jie took a step back, while Liu Danying retreated three steps, covering his arm and staring at Lan Jie in disbelief.

  How could he have lost with just one punch? Liu San, who had been practicing boxing since the age of three, was a master of the family's unique internal fist method. By his teens, he was already famous in the martial arts world. While it wouldn't be accurate to say that he was invincible, in recent years, no one had been able to beat him except for those who were already well-known for their skills. Especially when he used his inner strength, a power that he had only recently mastered and which even his proud father had not been able to achieve. Yet, this mysterious power was still unable to defeat the woman in front of him, and the result was utterly shocking.

  "Hmph" Lan sister waved her hand, looking at the one-eyed Liu with some disdain. She had already sensed the opponent's inner energy, but compared to hers, it was much weaker. This time, Lan sister would either retreat a step or suffer a loss from being ambushed, and her attack was somewhat hasty. Moreover, she hadn't mastered the method of using her inner energy, so she could only rely on brute force, just like a person with great strength but no technique, otherwise she wouldn't have retreated at all.

  One move to see the victory or defeat, even the legendary Wulin master Duoyan Liu is not a match for Lan sister. The person in front was stunned, and everyone looked at each other in dismay, unsure whether to leave or do something else. For a moment, the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

  Fortunately, the savior arrived quickly. It was that old man who suddenly shouted from outside the door, "Young man, the money is here!"