After Wu Tingxiu left, Hong Yunpeng had someone start serving the dishes.
Since they had booked a private room, it would be a waste not to eat.
The dishes soon arrived, and the three of us began to eat and chat.
“Xiao Fei, what did Wu Tingxiu want you to do tonight?” Hong Yunpeng asked.
I picked up a piece of white cut chicken and said, “What else could it be? Judging by her demeanor, she most likely wants me to appraise something.”
“That’s true… I just wonder what she’ll have you appraise when the time comes?”
I smiled and said, “We’ll know when we get there. Brother Hong, you should hurry up and eat, or the food will get cold.
Hong Yunpeng came back to his senses, picked up his chopsticks, and said helplessly, “We spent so much money treating her to dinner, but it ended up benefiting us. If I had known, I wouldn’t have ordered any food myself. We could have just used the private room and saved a lot of money.”
“Since we’re here, let’s consider this meal my treat,” I said.
Wang Yang seemed preoccupied and sat silently, his attention not fully on his food.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked him.
Wang Yang looked at me and said, “Who do you think is the person who hired Liu Hui to dig up Wu Jinyuan’s grave?”
“Do you have any suspects?” I asked.
Wang Yang replied, “Wu Tingxiu installed surveillance at the grave site, clearly not to guard against us… She also knows someone might try to dig up her grandfather’s grave…”
“What are you trying to say?” I asked.
Wang Yang looked at me and said, “If you were Wu Tingxiu, with wealth and influence in Guangling, and you knew someone was coveting your grandfather’s grave, what would you do?”
I thought for a moment and said, “I’d definitely deal with them first.”
Wang Yang grinned, “Exactly. Most people would try to eliminate the person who covets Wu Jinyuan’s grave. But why didn’t Wu Tingxiu do that?”
“She wasn’t sure who it was?” I asked.
Wang Yang shook his head, “No.”
“Then what was it?”
“Think about it yourself.”
I put down my chopsticks and stroked my chin, pondering. After a moment, my eyes lit up, “That person is someone I can’t afford to offend?”
Wang Yang snapped his fingers and chuckled, “You guessed it!”
I was a little confused, “How could someone that even Wu Tingxiu can’t afford to offend be interested in her grandfather’s grave?”
Wang Yang smiled, “Perhaps you can ask her tonight?”
After finishing dinner and leaving Zui Xian Lou, it was just past seven o’clock. The three of us sat in Hong Yunpeng’s Santana to rest for a while.
At exactly eight o’clock, I called Wu Tingxiu.
She asked me to go to a hotel named “Jun Zai Lai.”
It was a four-star hotel with a large fountain at the entrance. The decoration was opulent and grand, suggesting it had recently opened.
After parking the car, we went into the lobby.
As soon as we entered, the lobby manager came to greet us, asking if we were here for dining or accommodation.
I handed him Wu Tingxiu’s business card and said, “She asked us to come.”
Upon seeing the card, the lobby manager bowed slightly and said, “Oh, you must be friends of Director Wu. Please follow me.”
“Director Wu?” I was a bit surprised.
The lobby manager led us to an elevator and took us to the sixth floor.
Upon reaching the sixth floor, we saw two people standing guard at the entrance. It was evident that this floor was not open to the public.
The lobby manager explained our purpose to the guards. One of them looked at me and asked, “Are you Mr. Xiang?”
I nodded.
“Please follow me.”
As he spoke, he led me down the hallway to the left. Wang Yang and Hong Yunpeng intended to follow, but they were stopped.
“I’m sorry, the chairman only asked Mr. Xiang to come in. Please wait in the lounge area on the other side.”
I glanced at Wang Yang and Hong Yunpeng, nodded to them, and they went down the right-side hallway while I followed the man in the black suit down the left.
The corridor was not wide, and it was carpeted with a soft, dark brown carpet. The walls were covered with a dark gold wallpaper.
Small spotlights shone down from the ceiling, casting a mysterious aura over the entire hallway.
Soon, we arrived at a pair of large, lacquered redwood doors, with two more men in black suits standing at the entrance.
Is Wu Tingxiu so wealthy she’s looking to burn money, or is she afraid of being ambushed? Why does she have so many bodyguards everywhere?
The two men in black suits opened the doors, and I walked in.
It was a large conference room, divided into an inner and outer section by a redwood bookshelf.
The outer area was furnished with standard office supplies. The inner area remained unseen for now.
I waited for about a minute, and then Wu Tingxiu emerged from the inner room.
She was wearing a luxurious red slip dress, with her middle-parted long hair casually draped over her shoulders. She wore light makeup, but the lipstick on her lips, whether intentional or applied too heavily, appeared particularly striking.
I had to admit, her figure and demeanor were top-notch. Every move she made exuded an air of nobility.
Wu Tingxiu walked up to me, crossed her arms, and smiled slightly, “You’re quite punctual.”
I shifted my gaze from her oval face and said, “Go ahead, what do you need my help with?”
She gestured towards the inner room with her chin and said, “I’ll need you to appraise two items for me shortly.”
“What items?”
She turned and said, “You’ll know when you go in and see?”
I quickly followed her inside.
Upon entering the inner room, the first thing I saw were two “scholar’s rocks” placed on a table.
Scholar’s rocks, also known as unique stones, are, as the name suggests, strangely shaped rocks.
There is a saying in the antique collecting circle: “Scholars play with scholar’s rocks, finding enlightenment in the vastness of mountains and rivers within inches of space, and expressing spiritual aspirations beyond aesthetic appreciation of form and texture.”
In ancient times, scholars were very fond of scholar’s rocks.
For example, some well-known figures like Tao Yuanming, Fu Yi, and Su Shi were infatuated with stones.
It is said that Tao Yuanming had all sorts of stones in his home, and whenever he felt inspired to write poetry, he would drink wine while stroking these unique stones.
The line, “Picking chrysanthemums in the eastern hedge, I leisurely gaze upon the Southern Mountain,” was written by him on a unique stone after getting drunk.
This demonstrates the profound love ancient people had for unique stones.
The two scholar’s rocks before me were uniquely shaped, resembling “a roc spreading its wings.”
Shifting my gaze from the stones, I noticed several elderly people standing around.
Some held magnifying glasses, some wore white gloves, and they were gathered around the scholar’s rocks, whispering to each other.
Wu Tingxiu brought me to the two scholar’s rocks and said, “What do you think of these two rocks?”
I asked, “Why are these two rocks identical?”
Indeed, the two stones before me were identical in shape, markings, and even the holes.
Wu Tingxiu said, “Because one of them is fake.”
Hearing her say that, I finally understood.
“Can you tell which one is the forgery?” she added.
I pursed my lips and replied, “Yes!”