Chapter 247: Invitation to Auction

Originally, Sun Zhiwei wanted to ask his sister to assist him in finding the culprit. But after a few thoughts, he thought that he only got beaten up because he acted arrogantly in front of these people. If he were to tell Sun Jie about this, she might not even let him drive anymore in the future! As he thought about it, Sun Zhiwei could only swallow this bitter encounter. What bad luck!

It must be my encounter with Yang Ming, the god of plague. Whenever I meet him, nothing good happens! Sun Zhiwei thought about it with hatred.

When the police asked him whether he wanted to file a case, Sun Zhiwei shook his head helplessly. I can’t let my sister know about this matter! Since the victim didn’t request anything further, the police just let it go. Although Sun Zhiwei seemed to be heavily injured,  it seemed like the few people who beat him up were veterans who specialized in hitting the spots with more muscles and they didn’t hurt his bones or internal organs.

Stealing was also one of the compulsory courses for assassins. Fang Tian was working on Yang Ming’s crash course in this area. In many cases, the assassin needed to steal a car to complete their contract, or open a security door to sneak into a room after they had already gotten the important clues from people. Therefore, the assassin profession could be regarded as one of the most profound fields. Not only must an assassin possess a deep understanding of martial arts and medicine, but also various other industries in the society. No one can foresee what kind of identity they needed to be when they approached the target.

To be a capable assassin, it might only require a few months. But becoming a truly qualified assassin wasn’t something that happened overnight. Just like Yang Ming right now, if you were to ask him to kill an ordinary person there wouldn’t be any problem. But if the target was a heavily protected person, it became more difficult. Therefore, it was necessary to constantly improve their abilities.

For the assassin’s skills of stealing, Fang Tian had taught most of it to Dong Jun already. Therefore, Dong Jun acted as the master and taught Yang Ming this knowledge in many cases. Coupled with Dong Jun’s many years of practical experience, Yang Ming’s progress was rapid.

On Sunday afternoon, Yang Ming received a call from Liu Weishan. He said that he needed to discuss something with Yang Ming and asked Yang Ming to come over.

Since Lan Ling’s departure, Yang Ming had not gone to the family residence of Song Jiang Industry University for a long time. He didn’t want to reminisce on his past. Therefore, it had been a while since he had last seen Liu Weishan. Yang Ming felt a bit embarrassed. Recently, he had been busy with honing his skills as an assassin as well as managing the underworld, he had neglected to build his connection with Liu Weishan. Thinking about how well Liu Weishan had treated him in the past, Yang Ming decided to visit him often when he had the time since he stayed close by anyway.

In the afternoon, Yang Ming came to the family residence of Song Jiang Industry University and showed his pass to the security guard. The security guard let Yang Ming enter the residential area. Yang Ming couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He hadn’t used this pass ever since Lan Ling left. Looking back at the familiar family building, Yang Ming felt a little sad. Lan Ling, are you alright there?

Yang Ming breathed out a long sigh and didn’t visit Lan Ling’s house. He went directly to Liu Weishan’s home.

Liu Weishan’s wife opened the door for Yang Ming, “Yang Ming, come in. I was just talking to my old man about how you haven’t visited us recently. Both of us miss you a lot! Now that you are here, stay for the evening and have dinner together. Qingqing [1] will be here too!”

Qingqing? Yang Ming was stunned. His thought to himself that she most likely referred to Xiao Qing. Yang Ming said embarrassingly, “Sorry Aunt Chu, I have been busy with university recently, therefore I haven’t come over.”

“En, I understand. You just got into your freshman year. The courses are generally packed, and there are a lot of extracurricular activities. However, if you have some time on the weekends, come over and have a meal. On Sunday, just like today, you can come over here for a meal and then return to university.” Liu Weishan’s wife’s name was Chu Huifang. She nagged at Yang Ming.

“Alright, Aunt Chu. Whenever I have nothing much going on, I will come to visit!” Yang Ming nodded and promised. Yang Ming knew that ever since Aunt Chu’s son had disappeared, her life was lonely, and her family became very quiet. Therefore, she liked the younger generation like Yang Ming to come around often.

“Great!” When she heard Yang Ming’s affirming promise, Aunt Chu’s face had a gratified smile. “Go to the study room. Elder Liu is modeling the jade that you gave him!”

“Alright, Aunt Chu. Then, you do what you need to do. Let me visit Elder Liu.” Yang Ming nodded.

“Well, I am going to prepare a nice meal. Once you are old, all that you could hope for is for the family to have a reunion dinner together on the weekend. Qingqing will come by every weekend. Yang Ming, you have promised me too! In the future, I will prepare a meal for one more person. If you don’t come, we will have to dump the extra food!” Aunt Chu said with a smile.

“Okay, Aunt Chu. If there’s nothing else, I will definitely drop by in the future!” Yang Ming promised with a smile.

Yang Ming had already visited here for a few times. Naturally, he knew where the location of the study room was. Once he came to the entrance of the study room, Yang Ming knocked on the door and heard the voice of Liu Weishan, “Who’s here? Is it Qingqing or Yang Ming? Come in, the door isn’t locked.”

“Elder Liu, it’s me.” Yang Ming pushed the door open and went into the study room.

“Yang Ming, ah! Come and have a seat!” Liu Weishan said happily as he pointed to the sofa by his side.

“Okay.” Yang Ming didn’t reject him and sat beside Liu Weishan.

“Yang Ming, look at this!” Liu Weishan pointed to a jade sculpture on the table and said, “What I have just completed is your imperial jade.”

Yang Ming looked in the direction of Liu Weishan’s fingers. He saw four galloping jadeite horses on the desk. Each horse’s expression and posture were different. The fur on the horse was also crafted precisely. It was a masterpiece in the art of carving. On the base of the sculpture, a small square print was engraved with the words “Liu Weishan’s sculpture.”

Yang Ming had also learned about this market before. Even if two pieces were works of Liu Weishan, there would be a huge difference just based on whether these words were present or not. Ever since Liu Weishan started his career, there were only a total of nine sculptures that were engraved with his own name. Each of these sculptures was given to his best friends. Only one or two pieces were auctioned out by the owners’ descendants, and none of the other carvings circulated in the market.

Now, Liu Weishan was undoubtedly trying to increase the value of this sculpture.

“It’s so beautiful!” Yang Ming couldn’t help but make a heartfelt admiration. It was no wonder that Liu Weishan’s works have been sought after by countless people. This was simply a god-like skill!

“I’m going to put it up for auction in the Asia International Auction in Hong Kong, and all of the proceeds will be given to you.” Liu Weishan said plainly.

Although Liu Weishan’s calming tone sounded as if he was speaking it as though it was a common thing, to Yang Ming’s ear, it undoubtedly sounded like a heavy bomb. Yang Ming felt a little breathless as if a loud thunder had just struck. “Elder Liu. You can’t do that!”

“This was originally yours. Hadn’t we agreed to that from the beginning?” Liu Weishan smiled and looked at Yang Ming. What he liked the most about Yang Ming was how he valued relationships and wasn’t greedy for wealth. Therefore, Liu Weishan favored him because of those things.

“However, isn’t it a pity to sell away such great art?” Yang Ming looked at the “Four Galloping Horses” on the table and said reluctantly.

“This was just a hobby of mine to entertain myself as an old man. The value was also blindly hyped up by the people outside. If you leave it here, it’s almost worthless.” Liu Weishan shook his head. “It would be best to exchange it for some money for you. What’s the use of money for me as an old man?”

Since Liu Weishan had said it to this point, Yang Ming wouldn’t want to reject it again. So, he nodded and said, “Okay, I will go with whatever arrangement that you, Elder Liu, have come up with!”

“That’s right. Hehe.” Liu Weishan laughed happily, “Those corner scraps, I have carved them into six small pieces of art according to their respective shapes. There are rings, jade, and an ink slab. Let’s auction these things together too.”

“Sure. Any arrangement by Elder Liu.” Yang Ming said with some delight. He didn’t expect Elder Liu to create something from the scraps! Many people didn’t dare to cut a whole piece of the corner out from the imperial jade. They were afraid that with a bad grasp of the strength, it would ruin the entire piece of imperial jade. Therefore, most people would grind it to the shape they want. The broken pieces could only be sold as jade powder. No matter how good the jade was, it was then just jade powder. There was little to no value for creations from jade powder. He never thought that Liu Weishan was able to be so accurate with his strength.

“Are you interested in seeing the auction?” Liu Weishan asked.

“Auction? Are you talking about the International Auction in Hong Kong?” Yang Ming asked.

“Yes, the 27th of this month is Thanksgiving Day. The international auction will be held in Hong Kong on this day. If you are interested, you can go with me.” Liu Weishan invited him.

Liu Weishan was invited to be the chief jade appraiser of the auction. Since he was invited by a good academic friend of his, Liu Weishan didn’t want to reject the invitation. Since he wanted to auction the jade that Yang Ming had given him anyway, he agreed to it. However, if he were to go alone, it wouldn’t have much meaning to it. Liu Weishan was planning to go with his wife as a vacation. If Yang Ming went along, it would be livelier.

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