Chapter 49

As the saying goes, extreme joy can turn to sorrow. Wu Di was just in the first state, and upon seeing his little brother, he felt a sudden dizziness and fainted directly onto the chair.

After resting for a while, Wu Di recovered and dared not let his little finger touch any part of his body again. He didn't know if it was because he had used his透视 ability too much and was tired, or if it was just not suitable for using on human bodies. Anyway, there was plenty of time, so he could take it slowly.

The phone rang, and it was an unknown number. Wu Di answered, and upon hearing the caller, he immediately perked up. The caller was an ancient building restoration expert introduced by a friend from the Ministry of Public Security. The expert was now available and ready to visit Wu Di's house.

Wu Di took a taxi straight to the quadrangle courtyard. At the entrance, he found a middle-aged man and a young man waiting. The young man was curiously circling Wu Di's Land Rover.

Wu Di ran over quickly, and they introduced themselves. The middle-aged man was Yang Jinsong, a professor from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering, and the young man was his graduate student, Liu Limin.

As soon as they entered the gate, they saw a pile of bricks and luffa rinds by the screen wall, but the rest of the place was quite clean. Wu Di hesitated for a moment and realized that this was probably because Director Qu was waiting for his instructions before cleaning up. If so, he was a thoughtful person, though it was unclear how he performed in his official duties.

"Has this courtyard been empty for a long time?"

"For over ten years. The property rights were always in dispute, involving more than a dozen state-owned units, making it a mess. It couldn't be sold, and there was no money to repair it. Later, the district government took it over."

Not long after Wu Di and the others arrived, Director Qu also showed up. Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, he replied directly.

The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses and sighed, "The situation is not optimistic! Xiao Liu, try to dig out a brick."

Xiao Liu picked up a wooden stick with a sharpened end and gently poked at the corner of the wall. Dust and soil fell, and soon, he had dug out more than half a brick! Wu Di's eyes twitched.

The cross-section of the brick was uneven, and even Wu Di, an outsider, could see that the brick was crumbling. Xiao Liu rubbed it in his hands, and it flattened. Suddenly, he felt a childlike urge, and with a palm strike, he split the brick in half!

"Don't mess around!"

Holding the wooden stick, he poked at the exposed rafters under the eaves. With a "puff," a piece of the rafter was pushed in by nearly ten centimeters, as if it were a layer of paper.

The middle-aged man continued poking around the corners and the roof. After half an hour, they hadn't even finished inspecting the first courtyard. The young man started taking photos from various angles, both close-ups and overall views.

Wu Di and Director Qu stood to the side, smoking. Director Qu's face was not looking good. He steeled himself and said, "This, this, Xiao Wu, we didn't notice it was in such a state before we sold it. What if... what do you think...?"

"Forget it. If we have to, we'll tear it down and rebuild. We might even clear out some snakes and bugs from the corners, and who knows, we might find some treasures. Then my purchase price would be covered. Oh, by the way, Director Qu, I donated the porcelain board painting we found the other day to the Palace Museum, but it's best not to publicize it."

"Ah, donated? It would have been so prestigious to mount it on a wall after the house is fixed up!"

"That thing is too precious, almost a national treasure. If I mounted it on my wall, I'd be drowned in criticism. It's hard to hide, so I donated it."

"If that doesn't work, you could sell it to them. The Palace Museum has a lot of funding every year."

"They rewarded me with ten million. I thought it would be enough for the renovation, but now it looks like there's still a big gap."

"Ha, ha, this is all due to our lack of thoroughness."

While they were talking, Wen Yajie called. Upon hearing that Wu Di was at the quadrangle courtyard, he also wanted to come and see. A place that could make a billionaire like Wu Di sell glass seeds to raise money was not to be missed.

Half an hour later, Professor Yang was still inspecting the front courtyard. Wen Yajie arrived and said as soon as he entered, "Can anyone live in this place?"

Yang Jinsong turned his head and scolded, "Wen Yajie, what are you saying?"

"Wow, I didn't expect you, the expert, to be inspecting the house for Xiao Wu. Great, Xiao Wu, you'll save a lot on surveying and design fees. With my old brother here, he won't dare to overcharge you."

"Wen, I've never overcharged, okay?"

"How much did you charge for the last project? Can you say you didn't overcharge?"

"That was a public project, okay? The money wasn't mine. Professors need to adapt to social trends, or they might as well go back to selling tea eggs."

"Damn, look, this is the quality of professors nowadays, misleading students."

The inspection of the next two courtyards went much faster. After finishing, Professor Yang said to Wu Di, "Xiao Wu, you've seen the house. It's completely rotten and can't be repaired. It needs to be torn down and rebuilt. The total investment will likely exceed 15 million. If you trust us to do it, I'll arrange for a team to come and measure it right away."

"Okay, I'll leave it to Professor Yang. I don't understand these things anyway. I just want it done as soon as possible, and I want modern renovations. I can't stand living without heating, air conditioning, and having to use public toilets."

"No problem, rest assured. Our construction team is very professional. We've done a lot of this kind of work in recent years, though we've never taken on a single project this large."

"Then I'll leave it to Professor Yang. If you need to sign a contract or make payments, just let me know. I won't bother with the details. Just make the courtyard look nice, and if you can expand the pond, that would be great."

"Tomorrow, you might need to come back. I'll work on some plans overnight, and we can meet again tomorrow."

"Okay, call me when it's time."

As they passed the front courtyard, Wu Di pointed to a pile of bricks on the ground and whispered to Wen Yajie, "We found a treasure in this screen wall, hehe."

"Where?"

"I'll tell you later."

Wu Di handed a key to Professor Yang and told Wen Yajie the story of the porcelain board painting in the car. Wen Yajie was stunned and kept complaining that Wu Di hadn't notified him to come and see it. Wu Di just smiled and listened.

Back at the Zhong family, dinner hadn't started yet. After greeting everyone, Wu Di ran back to his room to check the astonishing masterpiece he had brought back on a whim.

Placing his little finger on the white jade surface, a surge of coolness entered his body, lasting for about ten seconds before gradually fading. Wu Di shivered, feeling as if he had eaten an ice cream on a hot day, and his pores opened in comfort.

Through the white jade board, Wu Di saw a layer of metal on the inside. Recalling the brick inkstone, he knew it was used to add weight and didn't pay much attention. Behind the metal plate was a space, and a jade sand table appeared in Wu Di's mind. The position where Wu Di placed his little finger was on the top of a stone, and the view was like an aerial shot.

The towering protrusion was a mountain, the winding band was a river, and at the foot of the mountain was a grand pass. In front of the pass was a large plain, and among the green trees were villages. It seemed to be mealtime, and Wu Di even felt as if he could see the smoke from cooking. Not far away was another city, with houses, shops, and palaces densely packed, and the streets were crowded with people. Further away was a large lake, shimmering with light, and boats and fishing vessels were crisscrossing. On the shore, there were fields of water, and many hardworking farmers...

Wu Di watched until he was exhausted and then lifted his finger. Checking the time, he saw that half an hour had passed. It seemed that the透视 ability of his little finger lasted about half an hour. After that, it needed to rest, though how long it would take to recover was something he would have to figure out over time.

Lying in bed, he pondered what he had seen: mountains, water, cities, lakes, people, horses, trees... But how could a single stone contain so much detail? Was it micro-carving, not just in parts but the entire piece? He had heard that micro-carving masters could engrave a long poem on a grain of rice, but that was done with a microscope. Did they have such advanced tools in the past?

Wu Di had watched for half an hour and had only seen about half of the carving. Thinking of Lu Zigang, his admiration grew. The title of "master" was not enough to describe his skill; "god" was more fitting!

After dinner, Wu Di continued to lie in his room. The old lady, seeing his pale face, thought he was tired from inspecting the house and called Zhong Qi to help more. Zhong Qi naturally agreed, but in his heart, he cursed Xiao Wu for ruining their romantic evening.

Resting until after one in the morning, Wu Di felt his energy fully restored. This time, he didn't rush to look at the carving but instead searched for seams around the edges. After a thorough inspection, he found none! There were no seams on the inside or outside of the four jade boards!

Wu Di shivered. Was Lu Zigang a god? Could he wave his sleeve and transform the inside of a stone? Could the metal plate be hiding the seams? No, the metal plates did not cover the entire jade boards, and there were no connecting seams. Unwilling to give up, Wu Di focused on the bottom edges, thinking that Lu Zigang might have hollowed out a large piece of jade, leaving a seam only on one side. The bottom was the most complex and thus the best choice. But after another inspection, he found nothing!

Wu Di considered a possibility and began examining the connection between the metal plate and the stone. Indeed, he found a clue. The seam was not on the edges or the bottom but in the middle! Lu Zigang had hollowed out two pieces of jade, connected them, and then processed the external seams to disappear, hiding the internal seams under the metal plate! Did he predict that someone would use透视?

Upon closer inspection, Wu Di discovered words on one side of the metal plate. Carefully deciphering, he found that they were Lu Zigang's own account in regular script:

"In the 32nd year of the Wanli era, I obtained a divine jade, very large, with a colorful glow in the sunlight. After three years of effort, I created a micro-carving of mountains and rivers. On the day it was completed, the wind rose, clouds gathered, and a heavy rain fell, changing the color of the mountains and rivers. It lasted for three days without stopping. I then sealed and hid this treasure, with a family rule that it must not be opened, or there would be divine retribution!"

Wu Di didn't believe in the nonsense about the wind and rain changing colors. It was probably just a heavy rain that lasted for three days! Knowing the truth about the item, Wu Di felt relieved and planned to auction the glass seeds the next afternoon. The day after, he would go to Old Chang's place to find a way to open it. When the quadrangle courtyard was renovated, he would hide it in the basement, hehe. No, it would be safer to wait until the basement was ready and then secretly open it, so no one would know.

However, the problem was that no one would know. Owning such a treasure without sharing it was like wearing fine clothes at night. Could Old Chang be trusted?

After much deliberation, he fell into a deep sleep.