Shi Qing finally gritted his teeth.
“Fine. We’ll go to the notary’s office as soon as it opens. Five million, not a cent less! I can scrape together some money from my mother for now.”
Shi Qing thought to himself that, according to the plan, the painting absolutely had to remain in Shen Qian’s possession.
As for everything else, he would figure it out later.
After all, the painting was fake anyway!
Hearing this, Shen Qian felt even more suspicious and was just about to refuse.
Then he saw Shen Sangyu winking at him.
She looked so adorably mischievous that he couldn’t help smiling.
Shen Qian understood his daughter’s hint.
“All right, then. Take the painting back for now. Later, we’ll ask Master Li to come with us to the notary’s office.”
Shen Qian didn’t know why, but he had a strong feeling that Shen Sangyu knew something about what was really going on.
He had just noticed how she couldn’t take her eyes off that painting.
After seeing Shi Qing out, Shen Qian couldn’t resist asking his daughter, who was standing beside him with a suppressed grin.
“Sang Sang, that painting… is it real?”
“Of course it is…”
“Fake! Hahaha!”
Shen Sangyu burst out laughing when she saw the look on her father’s face.
She couldn’t believe her dad had actually agreed to the deal even though the painting was fake.
Was he an idiot?
How could Shen Qian know?
Although the painting wasn’t an authentic work by Shen Zhou, there was something else hidden inside it.
“That painting really isn’t an authentic Shen Zhou, but it is from the Ming Dynasty.”
Shen Sangyu didn’t even wait for her father to ask before explaining.
She had examined it carefully, and the imitation was indeed remarkably convincing.
It was probably one of the famous “Suzhou copies” produced back then.
They were somewhat like the factories today that specialized in making high-quality replicas of luxury brands.
So even at five million yuan, Shen Qian would still be making a safe investment.
And that wasn’t even counting the other secret hidden inside the painting.
Shen Qian nodded.
He trusted his daughter, but when the time came for the notarization, he would still have to find a master he trusted to examine it carefully.
“Still, we’d better have Uncle Li take another look. Just to be safe.”
Of course they had to let Uncle Li examine it again.
If Shen Sangyu’s guess was correct…
Then the scheme Shi Qing had set up in her previous life definitely had Meng Chengxi’s involvement behind the scenes.
Otherwise, why would a supposed “authentic Shen Zhou” painting appear at precisely the time Shen Sangyu had begun searching for her biological parents?
She simply couldn’t figure out why Meng Chengxi had chosen Shi Qing.
“Fresh winter bamboo shoots came in today. Wait here. Dad’s going to make you some bamboo shoot lion’s head meatballs.”
Shen Sangyu watched as Shen Qian walked out of the private room without even looking back.
She couldn’t help laughing.
Knowing that stubborn old man as well as she did, he was undoubtedly going to investigate what kind of scheme Shi Qing was hiding.
After all…
In this life, her sudden appearance had caught Shi Qing completely off guard.
That was why he’d accidentally let his fox tail show.
Meanwhile, in Shen Qian’s office…
“Hello, General Manager Wang? This is Shen Qian from Qinan Restaurant. We just received some fresh winter bamboo shoots today…”
…
“Mom, what delicious food are you making?”
Shen Sangyu wrapped her arms around her mother from behind as Zhou Hui busied herself at the kitchen counter.
She yawned several times.
After leaving Qinan Restaurant yesterday, Shen Sangyu had deliberately made a trip to the Haishi Library.
She had borrowed several ancient books and spent the entire night studying them.
When she shuffled out of her room in her slippers, she found her mother, Zhou Hui, busy in the kitchen.
“You lazy little pig. It’s already eleven. It’s almost lunchtime.”
Zhou Hui tapped Shen Sangyu lightly on the head.
Then she ladled some soup from the pot beside her.
“Here. I made this stock first thing this morning. Have some little wontons to tide you over.”
Shen Sangyu simply sat down at the open kitchen island and started eating the little wontons.
They were so fresh and delicious that she nearly felt her eyebrows fall off from the sheer flavor.
“Mom, did Dad go to Qinan Restaurant? Where’s Big Brother?”
Normally, Shen Qian was the one who prepared lunch at home.
And she hadn’t seen Shen Jingnian either.
She wondered where he’d gone off to play this time.
At that very moment, Shen Jingnian was in the library at Haida University, furiously writing his thesis.
He suddenly sneezed several times.
“Your brother went back to school to work on his thesis. Your father drank too much last night and still hasn’t gotten up!”
Just talking about it made Zhou Hui irritated.
A middle-aged man who had been drinking could snore like thunder!
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had to get up early in the morning to make stock.
As though she had suddenly remembered something, she sat down beside Shen Sangyu.
“Your father told me that Shi Qing brought a painting to the restaurant yesterday and wanted five million for it?”
Shen Sangyu immediately understood.
So that stubborn old man had uncovered something yesterday?
“Yes. Dad and I both thought it was strange. Qibaozhai is right next door, but he insisted on using the painting as collateral with Dad.”
Anger flashed across Zhou Hui’s face.
“Who knows what kind of dirty trick that Shi Qing is plotting? Your father had dinner with the vice president of Shi Qing’s company last night. Apparently, Shi Qing embezzled company funds to gamble!”
“Company funds? But Shi Qing clearly told Dad that his elderly mother was sick.”
“What a heartless bastard!”
Zhou Hui had nothing but contempt for people like him.
“How could anyone use their own family’s health as an excuse to deceive people?”
“They say it was tens of millions. But somehow, Shi Qing managed to get money from somewhere and filled the hole. So the company only fired him instead of reporting him to the police.”
What?
There was actually something like that going on?
Shen Sangyu was almost certain now.
This was definitely Meng Chengxi’s doing.
Shi Qing’s company was a foreign-owned enterprise.
Judging by how foreign companies typically handled such matters, even if the missing money had been repaid, they would still have reported the embezzlement as an economic crime and handed the case over to the police.
Other than Meng Chengxi, Shen Sangyu couldn’t think of anyone else who would protect Shi Qing.
Hmph.
What a big move.
Shen Sangyu sneered inwardly.
“Don’t worry, Mom. Dad knows what he’s doing. He won’t suffer any losses.”
With her around, she would never let Meng Chengxi succeed again.
“No. I need to go ask your father exactly what’s going on!”
Seeing her mother get up and head straight toward the master bedroom, Shen Sangyu silently prayed for Shen Qian.
Hopefully, Mom wouldn’t hit too hard.
Shen Sangyu changed into a thick, long black down coat.
She clipped her bangs back with several colorful hair clips, making her small, palm-sized face look even more delicate and mischievous.
She brought all the money she had with her, roughly five hundred thousand yuan in total.
It was the pocket money and various prize winnings she had accumulated since childhood.
Today, Shen Sangyu was going to the Haishi Antique Street.
She had spent the entire night researching.
Finally, she had found a record concerning “mist” in one of the ancient texts.
A Han Dynasty text recorded that those who did not understand the laws governing supernatural omens would be unable to perceive changes in the energy emanating from objects.
The energy released by ancient artifacts was known as “artifact energy.”
It was essentially a kind of “ghost aura” that had accumulated over hundreds or even thousands of years.
That was why objects excavated from ancient tombs were generally collected rather than worn or displayed casually.
This kind of aura was a form of “ghost energy,” and for ordinary people, it brought nothing but harm.
But the relic eye Shen Sangyu had obtained was an extremely pure and intensely yang force.
It could purify this “ghost aura,” thereby nourishing the lotus bud in her dantian.
To prove her theory, Shen Sangyu had decided to visit the antique street today and put her ability to the test.
…
The antique street in Haishi was nothing like the one in Beijing.
If it hadn’t been for the New Year’s holiday, there usually wouldn’t have been many people here at all.
Shen Sangyu got out of the taxi and stood by the roadside, feeling a little dazed.
She hadn’t expected there to be so many visitors at the antique street in the middle of winter.
Whatever.
She’d stroll around first and see what her relic eye could do.
“Come take a look! This is Ru ware! Listen to this sound…”