Chapter 89

Chapter 87: The Buried Ancient Painting

"Daydreaming, huh? Who asked you to stay here! If it weren't for your apparent honesty back then, I would have kicked you out long ago!" Wang Qiang's voice paused, and after a glance at Liu Dong, she said irritably, "Now it seems that your honesty back then was all an act, and deep down, you're just as bad as those men outside!"

"This is really too much!" Liu Dong thought bitterly, finally understanding the capricious nature of women. They could connect things that seemed completely unrelated.

Though he didn't have much dating experience, Liu Dong now felt it was best not to continue this conversation.

Seeing that Liu Dong didn't respond, Wang Qiang glared at him but said nothing. However, the warm atmosphere between them increased significantly.

The meal was eaten slowly, as both seemed to cherish this rare opportunity for genuine communication.

However, what Liu Dong found regrettable was that after Wang Qiang finished clearing the dishes, she returned directly to her room, giving him no chance to further capitalize on his victory. Liu Dong, who had hoped to take advantage of the situation, could only return to his room with a sigh.

Closing the door, Liu Dong removed the brown paper from the two stacks of newly bought books and placed them on the bookshelf by his bed. Glancing at the alarm clock on the bedside table, it was just past 8 PM, and he still had plenty of time before he needed to rest.

Thinking of the ancient painting he had acquired from the Black Tiger Gang in the afternoon, Liu Dong's heart raced. He quickly walked to his somewhat old writing desk, pulled out a chair, and turned on the desk lamp. Then, he took out the ancient painting from his storage space.

Carefully unrolling the thick hemp cloth, five vivid and lifelike cranes reappeared before his eyes. As a pulse in his brow throbbed, the entire painting, both real and illusory, became clearly visible in his mind.

His face soon showed intense excitement. Perhaps only he, with his ability to see through objects, knew that these five white cranes were not the entire painting but only a little more than a third of it. The rest was folded beneath the top layer.

The thick hemp cloth used to mount the painting also effectively concealed the increased thickness due to the folding, turning what should have been a timeless masterpiece, praised by the world, into a relatively unknown ancient painting of decent craftsmanship, greatly reducing its value.

Moreover, the mounting of the painting was rather poor. Although Liu Dong wasn't very familiar with the nearly two-thousand-year-old mounting techniques of China, which carried a bit of mystique, he knew the basics. Generally, the backing of ancient paintings used specialized backing paper in modern times and silk in ancient times. However, this one used hemp cloth, a material never used before. The top and bottom rods had long since rotted away due to age. The only consolation was that the painting itself was relatively well-preserved, despite the large amount of greenish-gray mold spots, which was a stroke of luck.

"It seems I should find a skilled mounting master to re-mount this painting!" Liu Dong's right hand unconsciously caressed the ancient painting, thinking to himself.

Having spent three years in the antique market in Quancheng, Liu Dong had heard a lot about ancient painting mounting. He knew that these traditional mounting masters, through dozens of processes such as backing the painting core, cutting materials, inlaying, backing, and mounting, could restore a damaged ancient painting to its original glory, almost as if it had just been created.

With a plan in mind, Liu Dong admired the painting once more before putting it back into his storage space.

He then listened for any sounds outside, noting that Wang Qiang was still in her bedroom and hadn't come out. Disappointed, he shook his head, reached for the book on Chinese painting history he had bought during the day, and leaned back against the bed to read.

As time passed, it was already 10 PM. For most young people in the city, 10 PM was the time to start having fun, but for Liu Dong, who had maintained a regular sleep schedule since leaving home, it was time to rest.

Feeling a bit drowsy and checking the time, Liu Dong closed the book, placed it on the bedside table, laid the pillow flat, and closed his eyes without undressing.

Liu Dong had always had excellent sleep quality, and after a poor night's rest the previous day, he quickly fell asleep.

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"Bang, crash...!" A delicate blue-and-white porcelain vase shattered into pieces upon hitting the hard floor. Han Lei, however, showed no signs of stopping.

"Damn it, that despicable country bumpkin, I won't let him off, never!" Kicking a cushion that had fallen to the floor, Han Lei hunched over, breathing heavily, his eyes bloodshot as he roared.

Seeing his疯狂的样子，站在一旁的韩忠心中暗自叹了口气。相比起他的父亲，韩磊无论是在个人能力还是修养上都相差太远了。将来韩氏集团要是交到这样的人手中，恐怕韩家也就离着破败不远了。

不过这些却不是他这个下人该关心的。他的职责也仅仅只是保护韩磊的人身安全而已。

当然这里抱着跟他一样想法的还有王林，不过他跟韩氏集团只不过是雇佣与被雇佣的关系，所以此刻他看韩磊的眼神当中全是鄙夷之色。

“咕咚……！”在把沙发踹翻之后，可能是因为消耗了太多体力，韩磊终于停下了他持续了半个多小时的破坏。不过此刻原本豪华的酒店贵宾套房，早就被他摧残得不成样子。除了门窗尚算完好之外，沙发、电视、桌椅，以及各种装饰品早就变得东倒西歪，支离破碎。

“韩忠，我知道你有办法。给我杀了那个小子，我要他死！”韩磊表情扭曲地转头紧盯着站在一边的韩忠，声音低沉地怒吼道。

从小到大，他从来没有在一个人身上吃过这么大亏，不仅让他在那么多人面前丢脸，而且还输掉了父亲交给他的，韩氏珠宝这次准备在泉城赌石大会上采购毛料的三千万资金。更让他觉得无法忍受的是，这个让他丢脸的人还是一个身份根本无法与他相比的乡巴佬。而且，这个人还可以说是他的情敌。这无疑让从小顺风顺水，从来没有吃过什么大亏的韩磊更加无法忍受。

看着他脸上疯狂的样子，韩忠皱了皱眉头，今天下午在赌局上见识到王海涛对刘东的态度后，想要在泉城用黑道上的手段报复刘东已经变得不可能了。所以，韩磊昨天晚上想要出更多钱让黑虎帮再次出手教训刘东的计划也已经行不通。

不过尽管如此，韩忠也不可能同意韩磊的计划，要知道如果他真的按照韩磊所交代的去办，那可就是真正的犯罪，而且杀人是要偿命的。不过看这位大少爷现在的样子，显然是被今天下午众目睽睽之下输了赌局的事情刺激坏了，要是现在不给他一个答案，恐怕也无法让这个让他感觉到无比头疼的大少爷安静下来。

而就在韩忠绞尽脑汁出主意安抚韩磊的时候，原本紧闭的房门猛然被人从外面推开了。

“是谁让你们进来的，连本少爷的话也敢不听，想找死是不是？”正背对着房门的韩磊，听到开门的声音后，头也不会地骂道。

现在他的心里正火大呢？这些不知所谓的人居然敢往自己的枪口上撞。不过等他转过身来，想要继续那这个不懂规矩的下属出出气的时候，脸上的表情一愕，仔细看了一下来人之后，原本嚣张的样子，立即消失不见了，取而代之的则是一副异常恭顺的表情。

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"Who allowed you to enter? Do you dare to disobey me? Are you looking for death?" Han Lei, who was facing away from the door, shouted without turning around.

His anger was still boiling, and these people daring to interrupt him was the last thing he needed. However, when he turned to confront the intruder, his expression changed abruptly. Upon recognizing the person, his arrogant demeanor vanished, replaced by an unusually submissive expression.