"Wait!" Su Yuqing grabbed his sleeve. "There is a private salon happening today, and the attendees are all top collectors in the industry. If you are willing to part with that snuff bottle..."
Mu Feng stopped in his tracks. He indeed needed to make more connections in the circle now; after all, that old hound Master Xu San could be lurking around for him anywhere.
"Fine, let's go take a look."
Su Yuqing immediately broke into a radiant smile, a smile that made Mu Feng's eyes spin slightly.
The Su Family's ancestral residence was located in Jincheng's most expensive villa district, featuring a classic Chinese courtyard with a winding stream and small bridges right past the entrance. Following Su Yuqing through the veranda, Mu Feng felt his eyes growing increasingly painful. The stone carvings and bonsai displayed in this courtyard were all glowing in his vision like neon lights in a nightclub.
"This way, Mr. Mu." Su Yuqing pushed open a carved wooden door.
Seven or eight people were already seated inside, all of them middle-aged and older gentlemen. Seeing Su Yuqing bring in a newcomer, they all cast probing gazes.
" Seniors, this is Mr. Mu Feng, a recently rising appraisal expert in our circle," Su Yuqing introduced.
A bald fat man sneered. "Just this wet-behind-the-ears kid? Yuqing, you haven't been conned by someone, have you?"
Mu Feng said nothing. He walked straight up to the coffee table and pulled the filthy snuff bottle out of his pocket.
"Would anyone care to take a look?"
The bald fat man snatched it up, pulled out a magnifying glass, and put on a show of inspecting it for a long time. "The replica is not bad, but unfortunately the artificial aging is too obvious. It's worth at least a thousand bucks at most."
The others passed it around for inspection, and basically all shared the same view. Finally, the snuff bottle reached an elderly man with white hair. The old man squinted and examined it for a long time before suddenly letting out an "Oh?"
"This patina... this clay body..."
The corners of Mu Feng's mouth curled up. Finally, someone who knew what they were doing.
The old man tremblingly pulled out a handkerchief, dipped it in a little tea, and gently wiped the bottom of the bottle. As the grime faded, it revealed a tiny maker's mark: "Guyuexuan."
"Hu... Hu Xuezhou's private mark!" The old man's voice changed pitch with excitement. "This is a snuff bottle personally crafted by the Imperial Workshop master Hu Xuezhou during the Qianlong era! A similar one was auctioned in Hong Kong last year, and the winning bid was two million six hundred thousand!"
The room instantly erupted in pandemonium. Those collectors who had looked down on Mu Feng just a moment ago now had their eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
Su Yuqing stood beside Mu Feng and gently nudged his arm. "Mr. Mu is truly amazing."
Her fingers were ice-cold, but the moment they touched him, Mu Feng felt as though he had been branded with a hot iron. Even more bizarrely, a flash of an image suddenly crossed his mind—an antique book with yellowed pages, featuring the pattern of a pair of eyes drawn on it...
"Hiss..." Mu Feng violently pressed his temples; the pain this time was so intense it almost brought him to his knees.
"Mr. Mu!" Su Yuqing hurried to support him. "Is your headache acting up again? I have medicine in my study, come with me."
Without waiting for Mu Feng's reply, she half-supported and half-carried him out of the room. Traversing two covered walkways, they arrived at a room filled with bookcases. Dazed, Mu Feng was pressed down onto a sofa. As he watched Su Yuqing's back as she hurriedly rummaged through a medicine box, the image in his mind grew clearer and clearer—this was the study! That book was right in...
His gaze uncontrollably drifted toward a sandalwood bookcase in the very corner.
"Take a piece of painkiller first." Su Yuqing handed over water and pills, but following his line of sight, her expression suddenly stiffened. "Mr. Mu is interested in these old books of mine?"
Mu Feng swallowed the pill and forced himself to stand up. "Just looking around. Miss Su has quite a rich collection."
He feigned nonchalance as he walked toward the bookcase, and miraculously, his headache began to subside. Just as his fingers brushed against a thread-bound book with a blue cover, Su Yuqing suddenly lunged forward like an arrow released from a bow and forcefully pinned his hand down.
"You can't look at this one!" Her voice turned sharply shrill.
The two stared into each other's eyes, and the air seemed to freeze. Mu Feng could clearly see her pupils sharply contracting, resembling a startled cat.
"Why?" Mu Feng asked deliberately, "Could it be some kind of ancestral secret manual of the Su Family?"
Su Yuqing took a deep breath and managed a forced smile. "Just some ancestral account books, nothing interesting to see." She forcibly pulled Mu Feng back to the sofa. "Your complexion is still terrible, you should rest a bit longer."
Mu Feng did not press further, but in his heart, he was certain there was definitely something wrong with that book! And it was very likely connected to his Mystic Pupil ability.
After the salon concluded, Su Yuqing personally escorted Mu Feng to the entrance. The hour was late, and vintage lanterns had been lit across the courtyard.
"Mr. Mu," Su Yuqing suddenly lowered her voice, "can you... see things that other people cannot?"
Mu Feng's heart skipped a beat, though his expression remained unperturbed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean..." Su Yuqing bit her lower lip, "do certain antiques... glow? Do they give you headaches?"
Cold sweat instantly broke out across Mu Feng's back. How could this woman possibly know?
Just as he was hesitating over whether to play dumb, a harsh glare of headlights cut through the air. A black sedan screeched to a halt right in front of the courtyard gates, and the window rolled down to reveal Master Xu San's greasy, fat face.
"Yo, isn't this our genius antique appraiser?" Master Xu San said with a mocking, sarcastic tone. "What, did you cozy up to the young miss of the Su Family?"
Su Yuqing's expression darkened. "Master Xu San, you are not welcome here."
Master Xu San chuckled nastily and tossed out an envelope. "Kid, tomorrow afternoon at three, the Antique City auction. Do you dare come? I hear your eye for antiques is good, so I've specially prepared a few 'good things' waiting for you to appraise!"
The sedan sped away. Mu Feng picked up the envelope; inside was a gold-stamped invitation card.
"Don't go." Su Yuqing grabbed his wrist. "Xu San has definitely set a trap."
Mu Feng stared at the invitation and suddenly smiled. "Why not go? It's a good chance to meet this 'Master San'."
"You!" Su Yuqing stamped her foot in agitation. "Do you know who stands behind Xu San? It's the largest counterfeiting syndicate in Southeast Asia! They—"
Mid-sentence, she suddenly snapped her mouth shut, as if realizing she had let something slip.
Mu Feng narrowed his eyes. "Miss Su seems very well-acquainted with Master Xu San's background."
Su Yuqing averted her gaze. "In short, just don't go. I... I'm worried something might happen to you."
Spoken softly, these words nevertheless caused a faint tremor in Mu Feng's heart. Under the moonlight, Su Yuqing's profile possessed an indescribably soft contour, her eyelashes casting tiny shadows across her face.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Mu Feng tucked away the invitation card and turned to leave, then paused and looked back as if remembering something. "Right, that book... sooner or later, I'm going to read it."
Su Yuqing's entire body stiffened, but she offered no reply.
Stepping out of the Su Family gates, Mu Feng immediately pulled out his phone and dialed a number—it was Zhou Xiaochuan, the young reporter from yesterday.
"Hello, Old Zhou? Help me look into something..."
Hanging up the call, Mu Feng looked back at the Su Family's ancestral residence. The light in the second-floor study was still on, and the silhouette of Su Yuqing standing by the window was faintly visible.
"A Mystic Pupil Bearer... what on earth is that?" Mu Feng muttered to himself.
At that exact moment, a sharp wave of intense pain suddenly struck him. He staggered and grabbed onto a streetlamp, the vision of the blue-covered book flashing before his eyes once more. This time, he clearly saw the words written across the page:
"When Mystic Pupils appear, the world is thrown into chaos; those who obtain them walk hand in hand with fortune and misfortune..."