“Whoo…”
Shen Sangyu let out a long breath and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
She had been so nervous just now that she had barely dared to breathe.
All that effort and all those precious reserves of artifact aura had not gone to waste.
Shen Sangyu could say with absolute certainty that this restored bronze vessel was a priceless national treasure!
It had the classic shape of a bronze wine zun, with a perfectly square opening at the top.
Four elephant heads decorated the four corners of the shoulder, with beast heads and beast feet interspersed between them.
The overall decoration was built around leiwen, or thunder patterns, while the upper and lower sections of the body were covered in taotie motifs and kui patterns.
With such intricate patterns and the scattered cast components of the wine vessel, Shen Sangyu could almost certainly determine that this bronze zun dated to the late Shang Dynasty.
It had been made using the lost-wax casting technique.
As far as the bronze artifacts discovered in China were concerned, most dated from the Shang Dynasty through the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
The craftsmanship and production process had already reached an extremely sophisticated level.
In fact, as early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the techniques had been systematically recorded in the Kaogong Ji, part of the Rites of Zhou.
It could be said that every bronze artifact confirmed to be genuine was a national treasure of immense historical importance.
There was no room for doubt about that.
Shen Sangyu picked up a magnifying glass and carefully examined the vessel.
She had even deliberately put on a pair of white gloves.
After finally restoring it, she couldn’t afford to damage it by accident.
“There’s writing?!”
Shen Sangyu exclaimed.
She knew better than anyone what it meant to discover inscriptions on a bronze artifact.
Ancient bronze vessels were often used for ritual purposes.
The inscriptions carved into them served to record important events and affirm the divine legitimacy of royal authority.
At this point, Shen Sangyu didn’t dare touch the “national treasure” in front of her anymore.
The inscriptions found on bronze artifacts were also known as bronze script, a specialized form of writing used during the Yin and Zhou periods.
Even scholars with graying hair at research institutes might not necessarily be able to understand every character.
After all, only a few thousand characters of the bronze script currently known to researchers could actually be identified with certainty.
Shen Sangyu thought for a moment.
She decided to send Fu Yingqi a message.
The artifact ultimately had to be handed over to the relevant authorities, but she was worried that doing so might bring unnecessary trouble.
She didn’t want to expose herself to the Meng family just yet.
It would be better to ask Third Master Fu for help!
She opened the chat window of her golden benefactor.
[Mr. Fu, do you know anyone who works at the Beijing Museum? I have a bronze artifact that I’d like to turn over to them.]
…
The Capital Club was nothing like the extravagant, pleasure-filled place one might expect.
Fu Yingqi was reclining on a single-seat sofa, his legs crossed as he absentmindedly rubbed the ring on his middle finger.
“Fu San, where did you get that? You seem pretty attached to it.”
Gu Weiming had never seen Fu Yingqi look like this before.
It almost seemed as though he were looking through the ring at someone else.
“Yeah, Third Master, did you pick it up in Haishi?”
Zhou Baiyu joined in the teasing.
Neither of them had even considered the possibility that a woman might be involved.
After all, among the children of the powerful families in the capital, who didn’t know about the Fu family’s third son?
Not only did he supposedly have the fate of a lone star of misfortune, but his personality made him nearly impossible for strangers to approach.
Women?
That was even more out of the question.
Yet Fu Yingqi unexpectedly didn’t deny it.
He straightened up.
His calm voice carried a faint vibration, along with an unmistakable sense of control and authority.
“Gift from a friend.”
Everyone in the private room froze.
A friend?
Almost all of Fu Yingqi’s childhood and longtime friends were right here.
Xiao Yu sat down beside Fu Yingqi with a glass of wine in hand.
His charming, mischievous eyes sparkled with gossip.
“A friend? A beautiful friend, perhaps?”
The moment he said that, the atmosphere in the private room exploded.
The powerful figures who normally dominated the business and political worlds suddenly became as talkative as schoolboys.
Lu Chengyuan said, “A beauty? Seriously?”
Zhou Baiyu chimed in, “Third Brother Fu, come on, let me see the ring.”
Gu Weiming added, “Tell us about this beauty.”
None of them actually expected Fu Yingqi to respond.
Anyone could tell how much he treasured that ring.
There was no chance he would let anyone else see it.
Fu Yingqi merely spoke in an unhurried tone.
“She’s very beautiful, but I’m not letting you see her.”
…
Whether he was talking about the ring or the woman…
Perhaps only Fu Yingqi himself knew.
Xiao Yu was just about to keep pressing him, convinced that this thousand-year-old iron tree was finally about to bloom, when he saw Fu Yingqi pick up his private phone and check a message.
Had he seen that correctly?
Third Master Fu, who had always been obsessed with efficiency, was actually…
Sending a message?!
When Fu Yingqi heard the notification sound, he immediately guessed that Shen Sangyu was probably contacting him about something.
He picked up the phone and walked out of the private room.
“Miss Shen.”
He completely ignored the teasing and astonishment coming from his friends behind him.
Meanwhile, Shen Sangyu received a message from Fu Yingqi not long afterward.
[Would it be convenient to talk on the phone?]
Shen Sangyu already had Fu Yingqi’s number saved.
She immediately called him.
“Mr. Fu, you can just call me Sangyu.”
Being addressed as “Miss Shen” still sounded a little strange to her.
Fu Yingqi leaned against the hallway wall.
His prominent Adam’s apple bobbed twice before he spoke with unusual seriousness.
“…Sangyu, call me Fu San or Fu Yingqi.”
(⊙o⊙)…
Shen Sangyu’s only thought was:
I don’t dare, big shot!
After thinking about it for a long time, she finally came up with a form of address that was respectful without being too formal.
“Third Brother Fu.”
She really was clever.
Originally, she had actually wanted to call him Uncle.
After all, Fu Yingqi was seven years older than her.
But men were probably similar to women in that they didn’t like being addressed in a way that made them sound older.
Although Fu Yingqi was the youngest in his immediate family, the Fu family had a complex hierarchy of seniority.
Combined with his status, he had heard people call him by his name and Third Master countless times.
But he had never heard anyone call him “Third Brother.”
And certainly never in such a gentle, sweet, slightly syrupy female voice.
Fu Yingqi felt that those three words, “Third Brother Fu,” had melted straight into his heart.
They were so sweet that he almost felt dizzy.
Shen Sangyu had absolutely no idea that the man on the other end of the phone had already been reduced to complete disarray.
She simply continued talking about the matter at hand.
“Third Brother Fu, I have a bronze wine zun from the Shang Dynasty… Could you, could you help me find an expert in the capital to take a look at it?”
Although she knew that this was nothing more than a trivial matter to Fu Yingqi, Shen Sangyu had never been accustomed to troubling other people.
Whenever she needed to ask someone for something, her throat seemed to tighten as though someone had grabbed it.
“No problem. Leave it to me.”
Fu Yingqi had no idea about the internal struggle she was going through.
If anything, he wished she would come and “trouble” him every day.
“If that’s not possible… Ah? Then, can I ask for one more favor?”
Since she was already troubling him, she might as well go all the way.
With one hand in his pocket, Fu Yingqi curled his lips into a faint smile.
His eyes and brows softened with a hint of warmth.
“Go ahead.”
“Could you keep it from becoming widely known that I was the one who turned it in?”
She was worried that drawing the Meng family’s attention too early would disrupt her plans.
“All right.”
The corners of Shen Sangyu’s lips curled upward, her eyes narrowing into happy crescents as she broke into a radiant smile.
“Thank you, Third Brother Fu… Oh, and let me tell you, I think this bronze wine zun…”
She thought Third Master Fu was surprisingly easy to talk to.
He was nothing like the cold and unapproachable man described in the rumors.
Before she knew it, she had gotten carried away and started chatting with Fu Yingqi endlessly.
Shen Sangyu was simply too excited.
There was no one around her with whom she could share her happiness.
This was a bronze artifact!
A real bronze artifact!
Fu Yingqi simply leaned against the hallway wall and listened to her talk for a long time.
He spent most of the conversation listening rather than speaking, but he felt a kind of happiness he had never experienced before.
If Shen Sangyu hadn’t hurriedly ended the call, Fu Yingqi felt that he could probably listen to her talk for the rest of his life.
“Yingqi, what a coincidence!”
“Uncle Xu, what a coincidence.”
Fu Yingqi’s expression softened no longer.
The warmth that had been lingering at the corners of his lips disappeared as he looked at the person approaching him.