The red mole on her chest began to feel faintly warm again.
What was going on?
Just as Shen Sangyu was wondering about it, she suddenly saw the enormous flower bud that had been floating in midair appear inside her…
Dantian?
It had to be her dantian, right?
And it had shrunk down to a miniature size.
The golden mist curled around the flower bud, circling it once before slowly being absorbed into it.
After absorbing all the golden mist, the flower bud swayed gently.
Why did it look… satisfied?
Had the flower bud grown a little larger again?
It wasn’t going to bloom into an actual lotus flower in the end, was it?
Wait…
Had it just absorbed the golden mist inside the vase?
And had it done so through her eyes?
Shen Sangyu stood there completely stunned.
Then what exactly was inside her eyes?
She discovered that she could control the energy within her body. Slowly, she guided the flow of energy through her meridians toward her right eye.
Holy crap!
She could clearly sense something inside her right eye.
It seemed to be…
The bone relic of a revered monk that had been displayed at the Beijing Museum before her rebirth!
Shen Sangyu had an especially deep impression of that exhibit.
It was the only thousand-year-old bone relic with a historically documented provenance ever unearthed in China since the founding of the country.
The relic had come from the remains of a Tang Dynasty eminent monk who had passed away while meditating. It had long been enshrined at the most popular temple in Haishi, a place that received a constant stream of worshippers.
Before her rebirth, the relic had been loaned to the Beijing Museum where Shen Sangyu worked for an exhibition.
The reputation of a thousand-year-old relic attracted countless visitors, leaving the Beijing Museum packed with people.
But on the very first day of the exhibition, a fire suddenly broke out inside the museum.
Shen Sangyu had rushed to save a child who had been separated from their family when a falling glass display case struck her on the head.
At the time, she vaguely remembered something falling beside her hand. Instinctively, despite the pain, she had clenched her fingers around it.
Could it have been that relic?
…
Shen Sangyu slipped into her father’s office.
She needed to take a good look at this piece of porcelain that had been emitting golden mist!
She spread out the broken pieces of the vase in her hands.
The base was still relatively intact. Turning it upside down, Shen Sangyu discovered that there was no inscription or maker’s mark on the bottom.
Then I’ll have to determine its age based on its material and decorative patterns, she thought.
Carefully following the intact base, she slowly fitted the broken porcelain fragments together, piece by piece.
“I didn’t expect it to actually look pretty decent.”
Shen Sangyu muttered to herself.
Once assembled, the vase really did have an antique quality to it. At first glance, it looked like an old piece.
The intertwined floral patterns were paired with a plum blossom design around the rim. The vase stood roughly twenty centimeters tall, with a straight mouth, slender neck, and ring foot.
With the eye for antiques she had at seventeen, there was no way Shen Sangyu could have identified it.
That was why, in her previous life, when she had seen this vase in her father’s office, she had assumed it was merely a reproduction.
But after spending years immersed in the world of antiques at the Beijing Museum in her previous life, combined with the golden mist revealed by her special ability, the relic eye in her right eye…
Shen Sangyu could almost be certain that this was the real thing!
This was a blue-and-white vase decorated with intertwined lotus patterns from the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty.
Just thinking about it made Shen Sangyu feel sorry for her parents in her previous life.
Although this Xuande blue-and-white piece could not compare with Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain, its shape was symmetrical and its patterns were exquisitely detailed. Even if it had not been made specifically for imperial use, it should at least have been produced for exclusive use by the imperial household.
Its value could easily reach several million.
After all, in her previous life, a larger Xuande blue-and-white jar had sold at auction for as much as 140 million Hong Kong dollars…
Shen Sangyu couldn’t help feeling a little melancholy.
If only she had discovered it sooner in her previous life, her father would not have been driven to the brink of collapse because of Qinan Restaurant.
Her thoughts drifted away, and she failed to notice that the fingertips resting against the broken vase were releasing wisps of golden mist.
The mist slowly coiled around the entire vase.
And then…
It actually began repairing the damaged porcelain!
By the time Shen Sangyu realized what was happening, the vase in front of her was already completely intact.
There wasn’t even the slightest trace of repair.
Shen Sangyu stared at her fair, delicate fingertips in disbelief.
But after everything she had experienced over the past two times, she quickly calmed herself down.
She merely pondered inwardly.
So, the relic eye in my right eye converts the energy from ancient objects into another kind of energy through the lotus flower, and that energy can repair them.
She wondered whether this energy could be used for anything besides restoring antiques.
Shen Sangyu carefully placed the restored vase inside the safe in her father’s office.
The moment she saw that safe, her eyes grew hot.
In her previous life, when Qinan Restaurant had run into financial difficulties, Shen Qian, the pillar of the family who was nearly fifty at the time, had gone from having dark hair to being completely grayed almost overnight.
He had stood in front of that safe, sobbing uncontrollably.
He had already made plans for his daughter.
He had even saved a sum of money for her, thinking that once Sang Sang grew up, she could use it to pursue whatever she wanted.
But he had never imagined that circumstances would force him to dip into that money.
The defeated and guilt-ridden expression on her father’s face had been etched deeply into Shen Sangyu’s memory.
After putting away the porcelain vase, Shen Sangyu finally remembered why she had come to Qinan Restaurant today.
…
“Sister Li, have you seen my dad?”
Shen Sangyu had searched through the front hall on the first floor and the corridors leading to the private rooms on the second floor, but she hadn’t seen Shen Qian anywhere.
Li Li happened to be walking out of the private room next door when Shen Sangyu caught her.
“The boss is in Room Six, Fengyu Xigu. He’s entertaining a guest.”
A guest?
A cold smile appeared on Shen Sangyu’s previously gentle and sweet face.
More like a predator, if you ask me!
Outside the door of the Fengyu Xigu private room…
“Can I come in?”
Shen Sangyu suppressed the cold smile from earlier and knocked on the door.
The quiet conversation inside stopped for a moment.
Then Shen Qian’s voice came from behind the door.
“Sang Sang?”
The door immediately opened.
A familiar face appeared before her.
Not the aged and defeated face she remembered.
“Why aren’t you resting at home during your vacation? Did your mother wake you up? I heard there’s some big celebrity performing at Mingzhu Plaza today. Why didn’t you go out and have some fun with Tang Yuan…”
All right.
Her father was still exactly the same as she remembered.
Nagging!
“I missed you!”
Shen Sangyu strode into the private room and hooked her arm around her father’s.
At a glance, she spotted the middle-aged man sitting in a tea chair.
He had a pair of sharp, calculating eyes, though they were narrowed into a smiling expression as he looked at her.
It was the very man who had caused Qinan Restaurant’s financial troubles in her previous life.
Shi Qing!
Qinan Restaurant had managed to establish itself as a high-end private restaurant largely because of Shen Qian’s gentle and humble character. Over the years, he had built friendships with elite figures from all kinds of industries.
As for the man sitting before her, Shi Qing was the purchasing manager at the Haishi branch of a multinational corporation, making him a relatively senior executive.
In her previous life, he had been quite close to her father.
Back then, Shen Sangyu had only thought that Shi Qing was an exceptionally shrewd man.
But now, looking at those smiling eyes, she felt a chill run down her spine.
“Hello, Uncle Shi.”
Suppressing the anger boiling inside her, Shen Sangyu greeted him as she normally would.
At the same time, her eyes quietly swept across the room.
Sure enough!
It was this painting.
“Come here, Sang Sang. This is Wuyi Mountain black tea, freshly harvested this year. It’s the good stuff.”
Shen Qian picked up the fairness pitcher and poured a little tea for Shen Sangyu.
Shen Sangyu lifted the cup and gave it a sniff.
She knew nothing about whether tea was new or aged.
Her attention was entirely focused on Shi Qing.
“Uncle Shi, did you bring something good for Uncle Li to appraise again today?”
In her previous life, Shen Sangyu had always found it strange.
Compared with her father’s other friends, Shi Qing had been far too enthusiastic toward him.
Only later did she understand the reason.
Shi Qing had been taking advantage of her father’s relationship with Uncle Li, the owner of the antique shop next door, asking him to help select antiques so that he could make a profit from the transactions.
Otherwise, how could a mere branch-office executive afford to live in a villa and drive a luxury car in Haishi?