Chapter 8

Jiang Yan looked at the bag of documents in Yang Kang's hand and asked anxiously, "Xiaokang, what else did you bring?"

"Nothing much!" Yang Kang shook his head and smiled, "I just came along to broaden my horizons."

"Can I take a look?" Jiang Yan pointed at the bag in Yang Kang's hand and asked. He had already directly requested to see it, thinking that Yang Kang wouldn't refuse.

However, Yang Kang glanced at him and smiled, "Uncle, forget it, it's just a small trinket, not suitable for grand occasions." Of course, if Ni Zan had heard this, he would probably have been so angry that he would have risen from his grave to confront him.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Ni Zan was said to be the leader of the "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty," who once said, "My bamboo paintings are merely a way to express the free spirit in my heart!" At that time, "free spirit" was considered the highest artistic realm—this phrase "not suitable for grand occasions" was a direct insult to Ni Zan.

"What are you talking about? Do you think my father would take your things?" Jiang Shanghua sneered and couldn't help but mock him.

"Oh?" Yang Kang deliberately responded with a noncommittal "oh," making Jiang Yan's face lose some of its composure, but he still held back. Without saying a word, he turned and walked towards the door.

Jiang Shanghua drove the Chevrolet, and Jiang Yan deliberately sat in the front passenger seat, leaving Jiang Xiaoyue and Yang Kang to sit in the back.

"Yang Kang, can I see what you have?" Jiang Xiaoyue waited for Jiang Shanghua to start the car and deliberately moved closer to Yang Kang, smiling.

"Let's wait until we get to Langyuan to see it!" Yang Kang said indifferently, "It's too dark in the car to see anything clearly."

"It wasn't dark at my house just now," Jiang Shanghua said deliberately.

"It was dark!" Yang Kang said matter-of-factly, without showing any emotion.

"You—!" Jiang Shanghua was so angry that he almost mistook the gas pedal for the brake. If he hadn't been driving, he would have turned around to confront Yang Kang over that one sentence.

"Oh?" Jiang Yan sneered, "Xiaokang, are you saying you have a problem with me, your uncle?"

"No!" Yang Kang shook his head decisively. Problem? Wei Yan had been calling him a "white-eyed wolf" all along, but he felt that his father, Yang Chongxuan, had helped a white-eyed wolf back then.

He wasn't angry that Jiang Yan had let him stay in that dirty, cluttered storage room, nor was he angry that Wei Yan and Jiang Shanghua treated him like a servant. However, he was indignant that after his father, Yang Chongxuan, passed away, the Jiang family still insulted him.

His father had merely made a mistake in business, losing everything and dying in depression. But he had never wronged the Jiang family.

Suddenly, Yang Kang thought of something. If Jiang Yan had no source of goods, wouldn't it mean that he couldn't run the Yuzhenzhai for much longer?

The current Yuzhenzhai was maintaining its original layout, ostensibly selling antiques, but in reality, it was just selling some crafts. Although the craft business in Fuzimiao was not bad, it was still difficult to manage.

Since Jiang Yan took over their antique shop, Wei Yan had been dressing up like a wealthy lady and going out to play mahjong every day. Jiang Xiaoyue, after graduating from a junior college, worked for two months but found it too tiring and didn't want to continue. She spent her days at home or shopping with friends or traveling.

Jiang Shanghua did have a job, but his salary was not high. As a result, the Jiang family's income and expenses were definitely not balanced, which was why he was so eager to know about the source of goods.

Thinking about this, Yang Kang couldn't help but laugh. Who knew, he didn't even know about his father's source of goods.

Langyuan was not far from the antique street. Initially, it was said to have been initiated by several antique shop owners in Jinling. If you had antiques to sell but couldn't find a suitable buyer, it was naturally a source of worry.

Some collectors, with money in hand, wanted to find something good but didn't know where to go. Ordinary shops were full of fakes and mixed goods, making it difficult for buyers to trust them.

The antique exchange at Langyuan had experienced appraisers on hand. For items that both buyers and sellers were unsure about, they could request an on-the-spot appraisal.

While it couldn't be said to be 100% accurate, it provided more assurance than outside, making it a place where wealthy and leisurely buyers felt comfortable. Yang Kang naturally knew about this place. He had come here twice with Yang Chongxuan, so it wasn't unfamiliar to him.

However, to get into Langyuan, you needed to be a regular antique shop owner, have an invitation, or be introduced by someone you knew. Otherwise, it wasn't easy to get in.

Langyuan had a large garden outside, and the interior was also spacious. It was said that the owner of Langyuan was a person of great influence—of course, without such influence, it would have been impossible to own such a large property in the center of Jinling.

As they entered Langyuan, Jiang Yan deliberately said, "Xiaokang, since you have something to sell, just put it down somewhere. Xiaohua and I will look around." He then gave Jiang Xiaoyue a meaningful look.

"Sure, go ahead," Yang Kang agreed, watching as Jiang Yan and Jiang Shanghua walked towards the crowd. He looked around but didn't just put his items down anywhere.

Paintings and calligraphy, sometimes more valuable than jade and stone, were often priceless, but precisely because of their value, countless copies had been made over the generations. In the antique trade, they were the hardest to authenticate. Without an appraisal, who would dare to buy them?

So, he glanced around and headed straight for the flower hall. It was hot, and the garden was cool at night, with bright streetlights on both sides. Some sellers of jade and stone items set up stalls on the ground, allowing buyers to pick and choose freely, giving it a real "treasure hunting" feel.

The word "treasure" was a profound concept. Since the rise of the study of bronze and stone in the Song Dynasty, the antique trade had been full of fakes. Whether you had the eye to find the real thing among a pile of high-quality fakes was like panning for gold in a river, full of meaning.

Inside the flower hall, two eight-foot tables were placed side by side, covered with red carpets. A few people were gathered around a painting. Out of curiosity, Yang Kang couldn't help but go over to take a look.

As for Jiang Xiaoyue, she followed him the whole time, but he ignored her.

To Yang Kang's surprise, the painting on the table was actually a portrait of a lady by Tang Bohu, the famous "Zhaojun" painting. The painting showed a beautiful woman holding a lute, with her hair in two buns, her eyes expressive and radiant. The painting was exquisite, and there was a poem beside it: "The Han emperor ruled the world, but the northern barbarians were still at war. The brave generals and wise ministers blamed themselves, but the beauty's smile cleared the dust of war."

It was said that there was a late Qing Dynasty copy of this painting, but he had never seen the original. Since there was a copy, there must have been an original. But where had it ended up?

"Hey, what painting is that?" Jiang Xiaoyue finally couldn't hold back and asked in a low voice.