Chapter 19

After eating, Wu Di thought of the painting in the brick inkstone and quietly asked Zhong Qi if he knew any auction companies. Zhong Qi answered without hesitation:

"Of course! Big Brother has friends all over the world. I have a buddy who runs an auction house. What do you want to auction?"

"There's a painting, it seems to be by Shi Tao. I want to get it appraised and framed, but I don't know anyone and I'm afraid of being cheated. I thought I'd find an auction company to appraise it for free, and then we'll see if it's worth auctioning."

"Shi Tao!"

Zhong Qi shouted loudly, then immediately covered his mouth and whispered:

"Are you sure it's by Shi Tao? If it's a large, high-quality piece, it will be very sought after. Let's go, I'll take a look first."

This hasn't even started yet! How could Wu Di let him go? Just as he was about to refuse, the old man came to the rescue:

"Where are you going? From today on, you're grounded for a month. If you step out of this courtyard, I'll break your legs."

"Dad, I'm just taking Xiao Wu home."

"Home? This isn't home? Xiao Wu, you're not allowed to leave either. Tomorrow, I'll have someone take you to work. If you need something appraised, bring it to Uncle Chang."

Wu Di was worried about the painting at home but didn't dare to argue with the old man. He gritted his teeth and pointed at Zhong Qi, unable to speak. Zhong Qi hummed a song and walked around in front of him, making Wu Di so angry he wanted to bite him.

Seeing that the time was right, Zhong Qi said:

"Let's go, let's check out your car."

Which boy doesn't love cars? Wu Di couldn't resist the temptation. As he followed Zhong Qi out, he said:

"Big Brother, this isn't over..."

"Hehe, brothers should share the good and the bad, right? Besides, if you don't consider this place home, I'll tell the old man, and no one will dare to manage you!"

"…You're ruthless!"

The next day, after reporting to the company, Wu Di rushed to the rental house. On the way, he suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but shout in distress. He remembered that when he left, he had thrown the brick inkstone into the water. How could the painting withstand being soaked? If the brick inkstone had any gaps, the painting would be ruined!

He ran up the stairs and rushed into the bedroom. Fortunately, everything was fine! Wu Di let out a long breath. The floor was wet, and the plastic basin had leaked, but the brick inkstone was still intact in the basin, with only the bottom a bit damp. Wu Di didn't have time to clean up. He picked up the brick inkstone and carefully examined it. The patina was a bit dark, but there were no gaps.

Should he use a knife to pry it open? Suddenly, he remembered there was another piece of raw material. He put the stone on the table and placed it on the Heavenly Book.

A moment later, Wu Di removed the raw material, and the Heavenly Book gave an indication:

"Natural jadeite, glass type, full green!"

This was incredible! The stone that Wen Yajun had been searching for years was casually picked up by Wu Di and had even passed through his hands. Was this considered a lucky find? Wu Di couldn't resist wanting to call Wen Yajun, but then he became cautious. This was still just a stone! He could call Wen Yajun when he was ready to open it.

Wu Di had a rough idea of the price of jadeite. Although this piece of glass type wasn't very large, even a piece the size of an egg yolk would be enough to buy a car and a house. Since that was the case, he didn't need to rush to get the painting. Thinking about destroying the brick inkstone, he suddenly felt a bit reluctant.

But then Wu Di called out in distress again. Not only did Zhong Qi know about it, but the old man had also given instructions. What would happen if he couldn't show anything? Besides, Wu Di wasn't entirely confident in his judgment. Well, he might as well use the knife. What a tough life.

Wu Di took out a paper cutter and continued his great revolutionary cause, cutting here and there, but he couldn't see any gaps! Just as he was getting frustrated, his phone rang. His hand slipped, and he cut a large gash in his left hand. Angry, Wu Di slammed the inkstone on the table and went to find the phone, cursing all the while:

"If this thing was done by Xiao Si, I'll make him understand why the flowers are so red!"

Sure enough, it was Zhong Qi!

"Calling for help! I'm busy! I have things to do!"

Before Zhong Qi could say anything, Wu Di hung up and went to find something to stop the bleeding.

Zhong Qi was furious. What a brat! His wings were getting hard, daring to yell at Big Brother and hang up on him. Did he know that in this city, few people dared to challenge him? No, he had to call back and scold him!

He grabbed the phone and called again. The little bastard, he had turned off his phone! Zhong Qi was so angry he wanted to throw the phone.

Wu Di bandaged his wound and used a piece of paper to wipe the blood off the inkstone. When he lifted it, he felt something was wrong. The inkstone was loose, and when he picked it up, he saw a crack running through the entire inkstone, almost splitting it in two!

After searching high and low without success, he finally found it with no effort at all! Wu Di carefully moved the inkstone up and down a few times, and it broke completely, revealing an oil paper package stuck in the crack. Wu Di was overjoyed, rubbed his hands, and carefully pulled out the oil paper package. He opened it and took out a folded painting.

He gently unfolded the painting and saw that the creases were padded with something like sponge, which relieved him. The painting was a vertical scroll, nearly one meter long and sixty centimeters wide. Wu Di didn't know much about art, but he recognized it as a landscape painting. He looked at the signature and, with the help of his computer, identified the words: "Dadi Zhi A Chang." There were two seals, but Wu Di only recognized a few characters. He guessed one was "Shou Jin Qi Feng Da Cao Gao" (Collecting all the strange peaks to draft) and the other was "Jingjiang Houren" (Descendant of Jingjiang). There was another seal in the lower left corner, but Wu Di couldn't identify it.

After looking at it for a while, he knew that the item he had just taken out couldn't be exposed to the air for long and should be framed immediately. He carefully folded it back up, wrapped it in oil paper, and gently held it in his hand, ready to leave. He thought for a moment and put the inkstone in his bag, found a large plastic bag, and put the oil paper package inside, tying it tightly before leaving.

Wu Di turned on his phone and immediately received three missed call notifications from Zhong Qi. This brother was really hard to appease! There was no choice but to blame the boss, the poor monk.

Just as he was thinking, his phone rang again. It was Zhong Qi. Wu Di answered and heard Zhong Qi's sad voice:

"Xiao Wu, where are you? Come and save Big Brother! Mom and Sister took Dou Dou out to play, and the old man sent a guard to watch me. He said he won't let me out until he sees you. I can't use the computer, and there are no novels at home. I'm so pitiful."

Wu Di didn't expect this outcome and smiled:

"Just now, I was being scolded by the boss. I'm sorry, the boss made me turn off my phone."

"Ah? What kind of bastard boss? How dare he scold our Xiao Wu? Come over, pick me up, and let's go deal with him!"

"Alright, Big Brother, I'm already in the car. I'll be there in about half an hour. I'll call you when I get there, and you come to the door to meet me."

After settling that, Wu Di remembered his earlier confusion and opened his bag to take out the broken brick. He carefully studied it. Although the brick inkstone had been hollowed out, its weight hadn't decreased, or Wen Yajun would have noticed. However, if it contained lead, the weight would be uneven. He couldn't figure it out.

Wu Di held the brick inkstone in his hand and examined it closely. The hole was large, and his fingers could fit inside. The inner wall was very smooth, not like stone. Besides, why would the inner wall of a stone need to be polished so smoothly? He thought for a moment and used his paper cutter to gently scrape the inner wall. The car jolted, and he accidentally pried off a piece. He pinched it and found it to be lead. He then felt the walls of the hole and marveled at the ingenuity of the person who had hidden the painting.

The guard who met Wu Di was one of the old man's guards. It seemed the old man was serious and wouldn't let Zhong Qi out until he saw Wu Di.

As soon as Wu Di entered the small building, Zhong Qi pulled him into the study, took the plastic bag from Wu Di, and carefully opened it. After a quick look, he said:

"It must have just been taken out of something, right? It's probably genuine. You can't leave it like this; it needs to be framed immediately."

Wu Di took out the broken brick inkstone and said:

"I bought it to give to a client, but I accidentally broke it, and that's how it was revealed."

Zhong Qi looked at it and said:

"This brick inkstone is also a good thing. If it's in this condition, Uncle Chang can't see it, or he'll scold us for wasting things."

After a few steps, he added:

"Take it with you; otherwise, it will be hard to explain where the painting came from. The old man isn't easy to fool. If he thinks it was found underground, it will be a problem."

The guard didn't stop them as they left. Zhong Qi quickly walked toward the Range Rover in the garage. Before he could take two steps, the old lady came back and shouted:

"Brat, you're getting bolder, where are you going?"

Zhong Qi smiled bitterly and said:

"I'm taking Xiao Wu to Uncle Chang for an appraisal."

"You should eat first."

Wu Di saw that Mr. and Mrs. Lu were also there and hurried over to greet them.

"Mom, this painting just saw the air. If it's not framed quickly, it will be ruined. It's worth millions!"

"Is it real or fake? Don't try to fool me."

Zhong Qing said:

"Mom, let them go. Old paper deteriorates quickly when exposed to air."

Ou Dou Dou whined, and the old lady, seeing this, laughed and scolded:

"Are you not hungry now? Go, take some snacks. I said, Si, drive slowly. If Dou Dou loses a hair, I'll hold you responsible!"

"Can I treat him like a little god?"

"Spit, spit, children speak without restraint!"

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