Chapter 45

Wu Di handed over the subsequent matters to his mother and the two people, Pang and Zhu, then drove straight to the capital. He had been exhausted during the past half a month at home, and now in the capital, he could finally have a good rest.

The end of July and early August were the hottest times in the capital. However, Wu Di was not afraid. He had a luxury car for transportation, was about to buy a luxury villa, and after half a month, he could go to Yingjiang to avoid the heat, gamble on jade, and make money. Life would be incredibly carefree.

Wu Di entered the capital in the afternoon. Before he even got home, he received a call from Zhong Qi, asking him to go directly to Zhao Dengyu Road. Without asking much, Wu Di headed over.

Young Master Zhong had been waiting by the roadside. When he saw Wu Di, he was startled.

"Damn, I thought an African brother had come! What's up? Did someone smoke you?"

"Caught fish for a few days, got sunburned. I'll be fine after a couple of days of rest."

Zhong Qi, full of mischief, thought for a moment. You like fishing, huh? After you get your skin back, I'll take you fishing for two more days!

Zhong Qi led Wu Di through the alleys to the entrance of a quadrangle courtyard. Wu Di looked and exclaimed, "Wow, what a grand entrance!" The gate was built on three steps, standing over three meters high and more than two meters wide. The red wooden door had sparse brass door nails, though a bit worn out.

After passing through the long gatehouse, they faced a screen wall, over two meters high and more than three meters wide, which looked a bit out of place but was relatively well-preserved. In the center of the screen wall, there was a large piece of glass, which, upon closer inspection, was made up of many small pieces of glass glued together. Inside the glass, there was a painting of flowers and wealth.

At the upper left corner of the screen wall, a piece of glass was broken, and under the sunlight, something colorful seemed to be shining inside. Wu Di reached out to touch it, then jumped up to take a closer look. It seemed there was a layer of tiles inside, smooth but with undulating curves, as if there was a painting. Wu Di didn't pay much attention, but his hand was covered in dust. Zhong Qi casually said:

"It was fine a few days ago. Maybe the workers broke it, but it's going to be demolished anyway."

Behind the screen wall was a courtyard, overgrown with weeds and littered with dead branches and leaves. A curved pond was already dry, with a solitary rockery in the middle. There was a large tree, similar to the one at Old Chang's place, exuding vitality.

Wu Di gently touched the tree trunk and smiled.

"Nice, I like this. Is this your wedding house? When the time comes, give me a room to stay in."

After passing through the courtyard, they came to the second courtyard, which was slightly smaller, with a blue brick floor. A few people were clearing the weeds. The third courtyard, traditionally the inner courtyard, was the smallest but still exceeded 800 square meters.

Wu Di looked around and nodded.

"Great, Fourth Brother, how big is this house? Over a hundred million, right? After some renovation, it would be perfect for an old Beijing wedding, fitting your status."

"Get lost, I'm a modern guy, I want a villa, not this old place. It might be carried away by rats one day!"

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"Who else would come if you didn't? I do all the work, and you get all the credit, Little Five, your Fourth Brother is so poor!"

Wu Di took the red book Zhong Qi handed him and saw it was a property deed. When he opened it, the name of the owner was printed as Wu Di!

"This, this is..."

Zhong Qi was delighted by Wu Di's surprise, smirking and shaking his body, as if saying, "You don't ask, I won't tell." Wu Di ignored him and took out his phone.

"I'll call my godmother."

"Oh, ancestor, Mom entrusted this to me. If you call her, you'll be selling me out! This is the house Mom bought for you, are you satisfied?"

"Godmother bought me a house? Why would she do that? It's so big, I can't live here alone!"

Wu Di looked at the 4999.99 on the property deed and shook his head.

"It was originally 5021, hehe, I had it changed. Isn't this number lucky?"

"Tell me, what's going on?"

"Mom said your whole family will come to the capital in the future, so she wanted to buy you a villa. I said you like the style at Grandpa Chang's place, so Mom asked me to get you a quadrangle courtyard. We picked and picked, but either the older sister was unsatisfied or Mom found it unsuitable. In the end, we settled on this place. It's a bit big, but the price is reasonable. I did the math, and Mom agreed."

"How much is this house? What math?"

"The house costs 120 million. Your landscape painting is worth 30 million, the glass jade is worth 30 million, and the stone pedestal we opened was worth over 60 million. After the calculation, Mom agreed."

Wu Di wanted to strangle Zhong Qi. He couldn't stand seeing himself with money!

"I need over 10 million for the 4S store!"

"No problem, I'll lend you the money. You still have that small bottle from the official kiln, right?"

"This house is in ruins. Can it even be lived in? Renovation costs money, hiring a nanny costs money, buying things costs money, I..."

Zhong Qi's eyes twinkled.

"So I have a reason to go jade gambling with you!"

Wu Di was speechless.

Zhong Qi quickly comforted him.

"I have a friend in the Ministry of Public Security. They just finished restoring an ancient building. You can contact him and get the construction team they used to do a budget. The money you have should be enough!"

Wu Di rubbed his face hard. Fine, he had planned to make the glass jade into jewelry to give to his mother when she came to the capital, but now that was out of the question. He'd think of another gift for her.

Zhong Qi pulled over a middle-aged man who was directing work in the back courtyard and introduced him.

"This is Director Qu from the neighborhood committee. This courtyard used to belong to the district government. If you have any issues, contact Director Qu directly."

Director Qu hurriedly greeted Wu Di, who politely chatted with him for a few moments before leaving.

Back at the Zhong family, the old lady immediately told Wu Di to rest indoors, saying he was too dark and it would be hard to find a partner. Wu Di laughed. If he didn't want to go on blind dates in the future, he could just go out in the sun for a while. The old lady and his mother, who lived far away, seemed to be on the same wavelength. Wu Di didn't know that he had already escaped one ordeal at home because of this.

Zhong Qing smiled and asked:

"Little Five, how is the house? Your sister picked it for you. It should be comfortable to live in."

"Sis, it's good, but I'm so poor!"

"Stop it, who are you imitating, that old cliché from Little Four!"

"Hey, Sis, don't insult me like that. I, I'll go find Linlin!"

The next morning, Wu Di took the glass jade to find Money Fatty. On the way, he stopped by Mingtang Hall to visit Uncle Wen.

Wu Di didn't call, heading straight to the manager's office. Uncle Wen was sitting there looking at the computer. When he saw Wu Di, he immediately shouted:

"Kid, the one-month deadline is up. I thought you had run away! I'm glad you came on your own!"

Did you hear that? The one-month deadline is up. Wu Di put the Go stones on the table and scratched his head, thinking.

"What is this? Trying to bribe me won't work. Pass is pass, fail is fail!"

Uncle Wen opened the Go stones and smiled.

"Good, you know how to respect the elderly. Too bad there's no Go board or box, it's a bit of a letdown. I've decided, the test will be a bit harder."

"Uncle Wen, can you pour out the stones and take a good look?"

Wu Di had mixed the selected stones back in. He hadn't used the Heavenly Book, wanting to see if his guesses were correct through Uncle Wen's expertise.

"What's wrong?"

Uncle Wen found a piece of fur and laid it on the table, then poured out the black stones and examined them one by one. He was lucky and found the one Wu Di suspected was ink jade after just a few looks.

"Hmm, what's this? Ink jade?"

Old hands are always the sharpest. Uncle Wen held it up to the light and was almost right. He then used a flashlight to confirm:

"It's ink jade, no doubt."

Finding treasures is the most fun, and Uncle Wen was no exception. Soon, he found over twenty stones, nine of which were ink jade and sixteen were ink jade. After checking the white stones and finding nothing, he asked:

"Were the stones originally placed like this?"

Wu Di nodded.

"How much did you pay?"

"Less than 2000."

"Ha, you found a small bargain. I'll keep this as a gift from you."

"It was meant for you to play with."

Uncle Wen then asked over a dozen questions about Ming and Qing porcelain. Seeing Wu Di answer fluently, he was amazed. Even if he did nothing else and studied those books intensively, he shouldn't have reached this level. Was this kid really a genius?

Uncle Wen gritted his teeth and took out his final trick.

"Next is a practical test. If you get it right, you pass."

Uncle Wen bent down and took out a frame with a painting inside. Wu Di examined it carefully and muttered to himself:

"A porcelain painting?"

He suddenly had a thought, as if remembering something but couldn't quite recall it. He decided to focus on the current task. He first looked at the signature, "Xu Zhongnan," then the back, which read "Jiangxi Porcelain Company." He had a hunch.

"The porcelain painting by Xu Zhongnan, one of the Eight Friends of Zhushan, from the Republic of China era. Xu Zhongnan mainly painted figures in his youth, landscapes in his middle age, and pines, bamboos, and flowers in his later years. He is known for his bamboo paintings. His calligraphy is graceful and elegant, with a vigorous and clear style. His works are often inscribed in running script or running regular script, but mostly in running script. Common signatures include: 'Xu Gai, Xu Zhongnan,' 'Xu Zhongnan,' 'Bamboo Elder Xu Zhongnan,' 'South Bamboo Elder Xu Zhongnan at the West Window of Qibi Mountain Pavilion in Zhushan.'"

Wu Di was about to touch the glaze but suddenly realized and asked Uncle Wen for a pair of white gloves before gently touching it.

"The glaze is smooth, with a patina. The style is simple and elegant, not overly ornate. The colors are bright and clear, with a cold tone. The brushwork is concise, complemented by poetry, calligraphy, and seals, giving it a strong sense of Chinese literati painting. It should be from his middle to late years, and it's genuine. The market value is around 400,000."

After finishing, he looked at Uncle Wen confidently. Uncle Wen remained expressionless.

"Done?"

Wu Di nodded firmly. Uncle Wen smiled.

"Not bad, a bit mechanical, but the basic direction is correct, and the conclusion is right. This is from Xu Zhongnan's middle years, before he developed his simple and elegant style, but the trend is already visible. Look here, and here, these are what the artist was striving for. What I'm most pleased about is that this isn't in those books. This is considered a miscellaneous item, but you still answered correctly. Wu Di, you are indeed born for this field."

Wu Di wiped the sweat from his forehead. Without the Heavenly Book, I would have been dead long ago! He took out the glass jade from his bag and asked:

"Uncle Wen, do you still want this?"

"What is it?"

Uncle Wen casually opened the soft cloth wrapping the jade and was stunned by the brilliant color.

"Yellow-green high-quality glass jade!"

Wu Di explained the origin of the item, and Uncle Wen shook his head and sighed.

"Your luck, sigh, they call you a super-lucky guy, and I thought they were exaggerating. It seems I was wrong!"

"Uncle Wen, do you still want it?"

"Hehe, one piece is enough. Having too many would be a burden. What? You're planning to sell this?"

"No choice, bought a house..."

Wu Di suddenly stopped. A house, yes, a house. Could the tiles behind the screen wall be a porcelain painting?