At the corner of the stairs, Xu Yinshui gripped his gun tightly, his palms slick with sweat. He pressed his back against the wall and carefully poked his head out to assess the situation, only to be spotted instantly!
Bang!
Another gunshot rang out!
The bullet struck the corner of the wall right beside Xu Yinshui, sending a shower of concrete chips flying!
"Huff, huff!"
Terrified, Xu Yinshui broke out in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. If he hadn't pulled his head back just in time, his brains would have been splattered all over!
"Xu, stop hiding and come out!" A chilling voice echoed through the living room.
"Viper?"
Hearing that familiar voice, Xu Yinshui relaxed his vigilance just a fraction, but still cautiously poked his head out for a peek.
Sure enough, Viper and his accomplices were standing in the living room holding guns, staring fixedly at the corner where he was hiding.
"Come out, I'm not going to kill you!" Viper's voice came again.
"Viper, what is the meaning of this?"
Certain that it was Viper, Xu Yinshui marched out from behind the wall in a rage, only to catch sight of Xu Ni slumped beside the sofa, with a pool of fresh, crimson blood still warm beside her!
"Daughter!"
At this sight, Xu Yinshui completely lost his composure. With a thud, he dropped to his knees in front of Xu Ni, cradling her body and bursting into loud, heartbroken sobs.
"Stop that damn crying, this bitch deserved to die!" Viper said unceremoniously at the sight.
"Bastard!"
Hearing Viper kicking him while he was down, Xu Yinshui could no longer control himself. He sprang to his feet, leveled his gun at Viper, and roared, "You killed my daughter, I'm going to make you pay with your life!"
"Boss Xu, I advise you not to act rashly! When it comes to guns, we are the professionals!"
Before the words had even faded, Viper moved with lightning speed. Before Xu Yinshui could react, the gun in his hand was in Viper's grasp, the dark muzzle pressed squarely against his forehead...
"Viper, don't do anything reckless!"
Xu Yinshui swallowed hard and gritted his teeth. "I haven't offended you, why did you have to kill my daughter?"
"Hmph! You have the nerve to ask!"
Hearing this, Viper flew into a rage, raising the butt of his gun to smash it fiercely against Xu Yinshui's head. Xu Yinshui let out a miserable shriek and collapsed to the floor. Viper planted a foot firmly on his chest and snarled viciously, "If it weren't for your daughter, my brother wouldn't be dead! And you still dare to say you haven't offended me?"
"What do you mean by that?" Xu Yinshui endured the pain, completely baffled by Viper's words.
"Mr. Chu told me everything. Your daughter has a crush on him, so she betrayed us! If I hadn't been smart and backed down in time today, I'd probably be dead too!" Viper fumed angrily.
"Impossible!"
"My daughter has no idea about your movements, and as for who she likes... wait, you said Mr. Chu, you mean Chu He?" Xu Yinshui froze.
"That's right, got nothing to say now, do you?"
Viper gave a cold chuckle. He considered himself exceptionally smart; trying to fool him meant Xu Yinshui was still too green.
"Asshole, you've been tricked by Chu He! How could my daughter possibly like him!"
Xu Yinshui finally saw the whole picture. Chu He had clearly provoked Viper like a blind dog leaping over a wall, and Viper, that utter fool, had actually jumped!
"I'll believe that when I see it!"
Naturally, Viper didn't believe a word of it. He berated, "Hand over the final payment right now, or I'll blow your head off!"
"Chu He is still alive, why on earth should I give you the final payment?! Besides, because of your own stupidity, you killed my daughter. I haven't even settled that score with you yet!" Xu Yinshui said, his face a mask of grief.
"Fine if you won't pay, I'll just kill you right now!"
With that, Viper clicked off the safety of the gun and made a motion to pull the trigger.
"Wait!"
Seeing that the other man meant business, Xu Yinshui had no choice but to back down to save his skin. He said indignantly, "Fine! Five million for the final payment, is it? I'll give it to you!"
"And for the lives of my two brothers, you have to add another five million!" Viper sneered.
"What?"
"What's in the sky? Are you paying or not?"
"Fine, I'll pay!"
Xu Yinshui completely surrendered. Arguing with an idiot was a waste of breath; it was better to just cough up the money and be done with it.
Before long, Xu Yinshui transferred the money to Viper. Only after checking and confirming the funds did Viper leave with a satisfied smirk. Before departing, he cast a meaningful look at Xu Yinshui and said indifferently:
"President Xu, although the mission failed, I can leave you with a piece of advice."
"..."
"Don't go messing with Chu He; he is someone you cannot afford to provoke! That's all I have to say. Farewell!" With that, Viper strode out swaggeringly with his accomplices.
Lying on the floor of the living room, Xu Yinshui finally let out a roar of rage:
"Chu, it's you and me to the death! Just you wait!"
Emerald Gardens.
Just as Chu He returned home, he found Leng Muxue wearing a thin, pink silk nightgown, drinking alone in the dining room. A one-kilogram bottle of whiskey on the table was already half-empty!
"Leng Muxue, is something bothering you?" Chu He asked.
"Master, you can tell?" Leng Muxue turned her head, spotted Chu He, and offered a wry smile.
"It's practically written all over your face, how could I not tell?"
Looking at Leng Muxue's flushed cheeks and tear-rimmed eyes, Chu He couldn't help his curiosity. To make the president of Osha Group miserable enough to drink alone, it had to be a major crisis!
"Wuu wuu..."
Leng Muxue suddenly threw herself into Chu He's arms, clinging tightly to him as she sobbed softly.
"Stop crying, what on earth is going on?"
Chu He sniffed the air, and a distinct scent of musk drifted into his nostrils.
This girl had some nerve; a lone man and woman, and she actually dared to wear musk? Didn't she know that scent could fire up a man's hormones?
"My family wants me to marry a man I don't love. Master, you have to help me!" Leng Muxue raised her head, looking at Chu He with tear-filled eyes.
"This... should we just offer him a sum of money to call off the engagement voluntarily?"
Chu He smiled awkwardly. After all, he had just called off two engagements himself, and still had another fiancee waiting in the provincial capital whom he hadn't even found time to break things off with.
"Actually, there's an even simpler way!" Leng Muxue blurted out suddenly.
"What way?"
"As long as I become Master's woman... to put it bluntly, if Master sleeps with me, wouldn't that solve everything?"
"Leng Muxue, so this is what you were driving at!"
Chu He realized in an instant that this woman had simply found a roundabout way to try and sleep with him.
He pushed Leng Muxue away unceremoniously and stated bluntly:
"Just stick to cooking dinner and stop dreaming about things out of your league, alright?"
With that, Chu He bolted back to his room in a flash, terrified that if he lingered, Leng Muxue would dream up some other seduction scheme...
Chapter 35: Antique Street
Out of her league?
Watching Chu He's retreating back, Leng Muxue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. By his logic, did that make her a toad wanting to eat swan meat?
"Strange, did Master not smell the musk, or does he just not like women?"
"Sigh, trying to sleep with Master is so hard!"
Leng Muxue let out a soft sigh, looking down at her own curvaceous figure. Any other man would have pinned her to the floor and 'wrestled' with her by now, wouldn't he?
Back in his room, Chu He let out a long breath.
Women nowadays were far too desperate, their heads completely filled with how to sleep with men!
After being teased like that by Leng Muxue, Chu He's body temperature had spiked again. With no other choice, he pulled out a piece of Ice Stone to refine, suppressing the wild fire raging inside him...
The next morning.
After waking up and washing up, Chu He walked out of his bedroom.
"Master, good morning! Breakfast is all ready, please enjoy!"
Leng Muxue had just changed out of her apron and smiled brightly when she saw Chu He emerge, acting as if she completely forgot her attempts to seduce him last night.
"Thanks for your hard work!"
Chu He nodded. He had to admit that Leng Muxue was quite domestic and her cooking skills were top-notch. If only she weren't always plotting to sleep with him, she really would be a great catch!
As they sat dining together, Leng Muxue reminded him:
"Master, our group is hosting a business banquet tonight at the Jiangzhou Hotel. Will you be coming?"
"We'll see. If I have time, I'll drop by!"
Chu He didn't make a firm promise. What if something came up and he couldn't make it? That would make him look like a flake.
"I hope I'll get to see Master there. It would be the honor of Osha Group, and my personal honor as well!" Leng Muxue said with a sweet smile.
"..."
This woman even knew how to flatter people?
Still, the flattery sounded rather pleasant; a clever woman truly knew how to get along with men.
After breakfast, Chu He planned to head over to the Jiangzhou antique market to find a alchemy furnace.
On the path of ancient martial arts, apart from grueling cultivation, one also needed a vast amount of medicinal pills for support, and a good alchemy furnace often doubled the results of pill-making with half the effort.
Antique Street.
The largest antique market in Jiangzhou. Chu He drove over, got out of the car, and headed straight into the ancient street.
There were quite a few people browsing the ancient street, with various cries of hawkers and sounds of bargaining echoing endlessly.
"Mister, hold on!"
Suddenly, a figure stepped out to block Chu He's path.
"Are you talking to me?"
Chu He stopped and looked closely. Standing before him was a short, thin, middle-aged stall owner.
"That's right!"
The vendor looked Chu He up and down with a deadpan expression and said mysteriously, "Mister, I can see from your distinguished bearing that you're no ordinary person! As it happens, I have an ancestral calligraphy and painting scroll from the Kangxi era in my hands. How about I let you have it cheap?"
"Not interested!"
Chu He refused flatly. The antique market was basically full of fakes, and even if a genuine item occasionally popped up, it depended entirely on one's discerning eye. His trip today was purely based on luck.
As for the vendor's talk of an 'ancestral scroll'... practically every vendor on Antique Street had scrolls passed down by their 'ancestors'!
With that, Chu He started to walk forward, but the vendor grew anxious, grabbing Chu He by the arm and saying, "Buddy, at least take a quick glance! I only called out to you because I felt a connection between us!"
"Fine, I'll take a look!"
Chu He figured he had time to spare, so a few moments wouldn't hurt, and he followed the vendor to his stall.
The stall was littered with various pieces of porcelain, bronzes, and ancient coins. However, having learned plenty of antique lore from the old man up in the mountain, Chu He could tell with a single glance that these were all replicas.
With his back to Chu He, the vendor popped open a rather worn leather suitcase and carefully extracted a scroll painting from inside.
"Buddy, go ahead and appraise it. Is this the real deal or what?" The vendor handed the scroll to Chu He, smiling broader than a blooming flower.
"Red sandalwood?"
To his surprise, the vendor's scroll rollers were actually made of red sandalwood. Chu He recognized it immediately because the old man had a profound obsession with red sandalwood, making him quite familiar with the material.
However, although the two pieces of red sandalwood were aged objects, their weight was clearly off. He tapped lightly on the sandalwood rollers—sure enough, they were hollow!
"A connoisseur! Spotted it right away!"
Hearing this, the vendor immediately gave a thumbs-up and chuckled, "Spot on! My great-great-grandfather was a third-rank imperial official, which is why he could afford to use such fine timber for painting rollers!"
"Skinflint Qian, weren't all your ancestors carpenters? When did a third-rank official pop up in your family?" A colleague nearby chimed in with a teasing grin.
"Exactly! If the Qian family had ever produced even a ninth-rank sesame seed official who left you a trinket, you wouldn't be down here selling junk on the ancient street!"
"..."
The neighboring vendors seemed very familiar with the vendor surnamed Qian and lost no time tearing down his facade.
"Get lost, what do you guys know!"
Skinflint Qian glared fiercely at them, his weathered face flushing red as he turned to Chu He and said, "Buddy, don't listen to them running their mouths. This really is an heirloom treasure from my family!"
Chu He gave a faint smile, unrolled the scroll for a quick look, and asked:
"How much do you want for this painting?"
"Ahem... well, since it's an heirloom handed down by my ancestors, I wouldn't be selling it if I weren't in urgent need of cash!"
Skinflint Qian rolled his eyes, feigned a sigh, and said, "Since my friend here wants it sincerely, I'll part with it reluctantly. Take it off my hands for five million!"
"Holy crap!"
Hearing that, the crowd lost their composure. No wonder Skinflint Qian could afford to drive an Audi A8; this guy was truly mother-fucking ruthless when it came to fleecing people!
Yet the young man before them didn't look particularly wealthy. Skinflint Qian had probably miscalculated this time!
"How about this, I'll offer three hundred bucks!" Chu He grinned, holding up three fingers.
"Pfft!"
A vendor eating instant noodles nearby spat out a mouthful of noodles upon hearing Chu He's counteroffer.
Even if the painting was worthless, weren't there still two valuable red sandalwood rollers?
Skinflint Qian had finally met his match; this guy's counteroffer was vicious enough!
"What?"
Skinflint Qian's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Chu He, pulling a long face as he complained, "Buddy, I've seen people slash prices in half, but I've never seen anyone slash it from the neck down... no, you didn't even leave me my ankles!"
"Take it or leave it!"
With that, Chu He handed the scroll back to Skinflint Qian and turned to walk away.
"..."
Skinflint Qian was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected Chu He to drop the deal just like that—how could he let a cooked duck fly away?
Right at that moment, Chu He had already been pulled over by a neighboring vendor to check out another 'family heirloom'.
"Buddy, add a bit more and I'll sell it to you!"
Skinflint Qian gritted his teeth, wearing an expression of profound heartache as he declared, "Three million, not a penny less!"
"Boss Qian, do you take me for a fool?"
"A fool?"
Before Skinflint Qian could even process that, Chu He turned around and ignored him entirely.
"Fine, bottom line, five hundred!"
Seeing that Chu He was dead set against buying it, Skinflint Qian slashed his own throat—metaphorically speaking—with a vicious, heavy cut!
"Deal!"
Hearing Skinflint Qian 'lower his own price', Chu He turned back with a smile and said, "Boss Qian, let me scan your WeChat!"
"..."
Skinflint Qian froze. Chu He's sudden willingness made him feel like he had just been scammed!
Yet he had only bought that painting for twenty bucks from a peer, and the red sandalwood rollers were only worth a few dozen. Put together, it was less than a hundred yuan. Realizing this, Skinflint Qian promptly flashed his payment QR code...
Chapter 36: The Eccentric Little Vendor
In the end, Chu He bought the scroll for five hundred yuan.
"Tsk tsk, young man, you got conned!"
Seeing the deal close, the noodle-eating vendor spoke up candidly:
"That painting is a secondhand piece I bought from the wholesale market for five bucks, and Skinflint Qian only bought it from me yesterday!"
"Still too young, though at least the money isn't much. Consider it an expensive lesson!"
"..."
Hearing the others chime in, Skinflint Qian wasn't worried at all, because there was an unwritten rule on Antique Street: once goods and money exchanged hands, all transactions were final and non-refundable, even if the Jade Emperor himself came down to complain!
Chu He just smiled without refuting them, and the next second, he made a move that left everyone utterly stunned!
He gripped the red sandalwood scroll and gave it a gentle squeeze!
Crack!
The rock-hard red sandalwood instantly shattered into dust. A breeze blew past, scattering a flurry of wood shavings...
"Young man, we only teased you a bit, there's no need to take it out on the scroll like that, right?"
"Five hundred bucks isn't a fortune, but it's still money!"
"..."
The vendors all assumed Chu He had destroyed the scroll out of frustration and babbled away in discussion.
Seeing this, Skinflint Qian hurriedly chimed in, "Buddy, you broke the scroll yourself, so don't come blaming me!"
Chu He gave an indifferent smile, looking at the wood debris in his palm as he muttered to himself:
"Just as I suspected, it's hollowed-out wood!"
With that, he gave a light blow, and the wood shavings in his palm scattered in all directions, revealing a rolled-up piece of cowhide right before everyone's eyes!
"Goodness, there was a hidden mystery inside the rollers all along!"
"Young man, how did you know there was something inside? Can we take a look?"
"Skinflint Qian, you took a massive loss this time!"
The scene instantly erupted into chaos. People deduced that the cowhide in Chu He's hand must be a priceless treasure; otherwise, why would anyone go to such lengths to hide it inside a piece of wood?
"It's got to be a treasure map!"
"That's right! Handsome, I'll buy that piece of cowhide from you for a high price. How about a thousand?"
"I'll bid two thousand!"
Seeing this, Skinflint Qian turned green with regret. If he had known there was a treasure map inside the red sandalwood, he wouldn't have sold it even if it killed him!
Watching the bidding war among his peers escalate, Skinflint Qian hurriedly stepped forward and bellowed at the crowd:
"Shut your traps, all of you! I was the one who sold the item, I'll buy it back for ten thousand!"
"Who said I was selling?"
Chu He stuffed the cowhide into his pocket, turned around, and began to walk away.
"Hold on!"
Skinflint Qian, who had been grinning obsequiously moments before, saw Chu He leaving and immediately blocked his path, his face turning livid as he warned:
"Buddy, a wise man submits to circumstances. If you don't sell it to me, you'll have a hard time walking out of this ancient street!"
"Is that so? Then I'd love to try!" Chu He replied with a cold smile, a sharp, piercing glint flashing in his eyes.
"You've got guts. Let's see how this plays out!"
Feeling deeply unsettled by Chu He's gaze, Skinflint Qian spat out a parting threat and stalked off in a rage.
Chu He didn't dwell on it and continued browsing the ancient street.
After wandering around for a long time, all the way to the end of the ancient street without spotting a single suitable furnace tripod, Chu He was just about to call it a day when he noticed an extremely inconspicuous little stall tucked away in a corner.
The stall held only a single object the size of a gourd—none other than the furnace tripod Chu He needed.
His eyes lit up at the sight. Judging from its appearance, the tripod wasn't artificially aged; it was a genuine antique!
What a find!
Filled with delight, Chu He strode over to the stall in a few steps, reaching out to pick up the tripod for a closer inspection, when a casual voice drifted to his ears:
"Don't touch. This tripod is not for sale."
"Are you the boss?"
Following the sound, Chu He looked over to see a man dressed in coarse linen clothes lying on the ground, resting on a worn-out straw mat. Even stranger, the man had a straw hat covering his face, making him look at first glance like he was just taking a nap!
"Duh. Stop disturbing my rest and get lost!" An impatient voice came from beneath the straw hat.
"What if I insist on buying it?" Chu He frowned slightly.
"Oh, you've got some nerve!"
The vendor let out a cold snort, lifted the straw hat with one hand, and sprang to his feet with a single agile kip-up.
Only then did Chu He get a clear look at the man's appearance. He was about the same age as Chu He, sporting a slight beer belly, small eyes, and a small mouth—rather delicate features.
What truly surprised Chu He, however, was the faint, lingering aura of true qi swirling around the stranger!
"You can have my tripod, provided you've got the skills to take it!" The vendor looked Chu He up and down, a teasing tone in his voice.
Criving no need for idle chatter, Chu He moved with lightning speed to grab the tripod.