Chapter 291: The Visitor (Part 1)

This happened during the second winter after Yinggan Tang changed its name and location. Since I had just returned to take charge and the ripples in the industry hadn’t fully settled, Chen Canghai stayed at my shop doing odd jobs. It also made it easier for him to help me gather the latest intelligence.

Times had changed, and it wasn’t easy to fool anyone anymore. I had intentionally handed over power in the coastal Liu Family to their own reliable men, and I gradually stopped collecting their ledgers until I eventually quit altogether. It was perfectly normal for a branch to become an independent business in my eyes.

I was happy to be free of official burdens. Just managing my own small patch of land was enough to make my hair fall out. Both physical and mental ailments had nearly exhausted my brain cells, and I was in no state to pull off any more grand schemes.

However, just as I had bought the storefront, renovated it, and settled in, ready to sit on my small stool with a cattail fan and enjoy a few peaceful days, trouble arrived.

The source of this trouble, ironically, was myself. During the worst period of my illness, I had stayed in Ulanqab. My movements were sluggish, and I even suffered from bouts of amnesia, so my memories of that time are very blurred.

When Lu Ayao recounted it to me later, he said I would spend all day in the same position, staring out at the vast grasslands. I wouldn’t respond to anyone, and no one knew what I was looking at. To prevent my condition from worsening, he gave me paper and a pen so I could write and draw every day to regulate my mood.

And so, I recorded everything I had seen and heard over the years and sent it to a Wenbilu^[1] with a clean background.

A year had passed, and I had long since forgotten about it. I never expected that the young man I had harassed with my mail would possess such extraordinary perseverance. Using the clues hidden in my records, he actually tracked me down. Fortunately, Chen Canghai was well-informed and managed to set up a few obstacles for him before he entered the city.

After dismissing all the workers, I pulled down the rolling shutter and headed home with my keys in hand.

Either way, my shop wouldn’t be able to open for the next couple of days; I had to shut it down. Even though I was still using a pseudonym, to be safe, I still had to warn everyone in the house not to give their boss away. Otherwise, I’d be the one suffering for it.

Back at my grandfather’s old house, He Yu was sitting in the main hall brewing tea. As soon as I walked in, he pointed upstairs, indicating that Lu Ayao was catching up on sleep. Two days ago, Lu Ayao had been hired for a high fee to look at a haunted house. After two days of exhaustion, he had come straight to my shop and fallen into a deep, dark sleep.

He had returned in the morning, but by the afternoon, Chen Canghai told me the news. I immediately dragged him out of bed in the back room and brought him back to the old house. When I woke him, the resentment on his face was scarier than any ghost, though it mostly vanished once he saw it was me.

“So? Do you think that guy will find his way to our house?” He Yu asked softly.

I was feeling irritable and took a sip of tea to cool my nerves. “If he really finds us, there’s nothing we can do.”

He Yu’s state of mind was completely different from mine. All my assets were in the shop, and now I was effectively locked out of my own home, left out in the cold. He, on the other hand, was sitting beside me looking quite cheerful.

“You seem pretty happy for someone who can’t open for business,” I remarked sarcastically.

He quickly pulled out his phone to show me the screen. I looked closely and saw it was his inbox. Someone had sent him an invitation to a large-scale auction in Hong Kong, cordially inviting him to attend.

“I heard there’s a lot of good stuff. Since you’re afraid of getting caught, why don’t we take a trip to Hong Kong, pick up some treasures, and come back later? By then, he won’t be able to find us and will surely have left. What do you think?”

I thought about it. It really was a good destination. At least I wouldn’t have to stay here in constant fear.

I gave He Yu a thumbs-up. “Second Senior Brother, your proposal is approved. Pack your bags. I’ll message Canghai and have him book the flights. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can relax.”

“You got it!” Seeing that I agreed, He Yu scampered off to the inner room to pack his luggage, looking delighted.

Chen Canghai quickly booked our flights to Hong Kong. I wasn’t familiar with the city, so I called Han Cheng in advance. The staff at the Han family’s Hong Kong branch would handle all the arrangements for the auction.

On the fourth night after settling into Hong Kong, we arrived at the auction venue. This was a private auction with a tedious entry process. In such cases, there was a high probability that the items on the block would include things with less-than-clean origins.

I sat in the audience, quietly watching the auctioneer who was the focus of everyone’s attention. Then I turned to look around at the assistants constantly on the phone with their big bosses behind the scenes. I leaned in and whispered to He Yu, who was watching intently, “Which item are you really here for?”

Having his inner thoughts exposed so easily, He Yu still tried to play dumb. “N-no, what are you talking about?”

I scolded him softly, “You’re still trying to hide things from me? The auction has been going for two hours, and you haven’t chirped in my ear once. Does that seem normal?”

He Yu chuckled. Seeing he couldn’t fool me, he shifted over to lean closer and opened the auction catalog we’d been given at the entrance. He pointed to a gilded bronze crouching ram on the final page.

“What do you think? It’s worth a fortune. I won’t play games with you; I’ve actually been eyeing this thing for over six months, just waiting for the original owner to put it on the block. It’s all or nothing today. Your brother is definitely taking this home!” He Yu was brimming with fighting spirit.

I took the catalog and flipped through it, then patted his shoulder. “Let me give you a reality check. Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing—even Tang and Song items are already a handful to handle, but bronze from the Spring and Autumn period^[2]? You’ll never be able to flip that for a profit. Are you really planning to buy it from that big collector just to keep it as a home decoration?”

Hearing me say that, He Yu snatched the catalog page back from my hand and snorted. “Flipping it? Your mindset has really taken a step backward! This is a hobby. Do you even know what a hobby is? What’s wrong with buying it just to put it on display? I do what I want.”

I waved a hand, not bothering to banter with him.

After a while, I tilted my head toward him and asked, “This is the grand finale item. What kind of budget did you bring?”

He Yu looked confident and flashed an “eight” gesture against his chest.

Seeing his hand gesture, I took a breath, shifted closer, and gave a slight shake of my head. “In the current market, that number might not be enough to win it.”

“Are you serious?” He Yu hadn’t been in a real market for a long time. At my words, his voice even began to tremble. He licked his lips and stared at the auction stage. “Then… then what should I do? This is all the capital I have left. Any more and I’ll literally be living on air.”

I did a quick mental calculation of the nest egg I had stashed with the Tian Family. “It’s fine,” I said. “If you really want it, worst-case scenario, I can back you up when the time comes. My budget is pretty high.”

He Yu looked at me with surprise for a long moment. It was understandable, though; we had only been living together properly for less than half a year, so my background was still a complete mystery to him.

The auction process was tedious, so I won’t dwell on the details here.

All in all, the auction night was quite productive. First, I won the only emerald jade buckle among the hundred items on auction. Finally, I spent nearly nine figures helping He Yu secure the last piece, a bronze reclining ram.

Sitting on the plane back to the mainland, my head was spinning. While this amount of money wasn’t a crippling blow, it was the first time I had ever thrown money around like that.

In contrast, He Yu was so excited he hadn’t slept for days, bouncing around like he’d reverted to a primate. On the plane, he shook me awake just as I was drifting off. “Hey, I didn’t realize your nest egg was so huge. What did you buy that jade buckle for, anyway?”

I let out a yawn. “Didn’t that Blood Jade shatter back then? Half of that was left for our Old Lu by Lu Xiaosu. Even though so much time has passed, I still need to get something of similar value to compensate her, or I won’t feel right about it.”

He Yu gave a forced laugh and paused. Nowadays, everyone who spoke to me had developed a habit of picking their words carefully, terrified that saying the wrong thing would trigger another episode.

“Actually, as long as you’re fine, that’s all that matters. To put it bluntly, those are just material possessions. I don’t care, and Old Lu definitely doesn’t either. Look, he hasn’t brought it up even once.” He Yu’s voice grew quieter as he spoke.

When we returned to the Central Plains, Lu Ayao wasn’t at the old house. Chen Canghai, on the other hand, had reopened the shop the day after learning that Wenbilu fellow had left the province. Old Qian had partnered up with him, and during the few days He Yu and I were away, they had actually drummed up quite a bit of business.

Ever since I got sick, I had lost interest in everything. After getting back, the only thing I did was go to bed. I even forgot to return Lu Ayao’s call.

By the time Lu Ayao returned with his backpack, I was sitting on the steps in the courtyard, slurping a bowl of hot thin noodles. His face was filthy and a layer of dust had settled on his head, looking as if the slightest tilt of his neck would send dust falling off him.

He stopped in front of me, looking at me for a long time with a complex expression. He stared so long it made my skin crawl, and I finally remembered that I’d forgotten to call him back days ago. Before I could figure out how to explain, He Yu’s voice rang out from behind me.

“Oh, Old Lu, you’re finally back! What happened to you?” He Yu came out of the house carrying his own food. “Did that group of experts drag you out to inspect a tomb again? What a pain. Quick, quick, go get washed up. You’re filthy!”

Lu Ayao didn’t linger. He carried his bag and went upstairs in silence.

He Yu was sensitive to the mood. He came over to sit beside me and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I finished the last mouthful of noodles and gave a couple of dry laughs. “I probably forgot to call him back when I got home the other day. He’s likely just sulking.”

“I doubt it. I called him back myself, but you never know,” He Yu said, slurping his noodles with his mouth full. “People from his background have delicate feelings, not like us two rough types. Just take that jade buckle you spent millions on and explain it to him. I think that’ll fix it. Our Old Lu isn’t the type to hold a grudge.”

I thought about it; that made sense.

I got up, went to the kitchen to quickly wash the dishes, then went up to the second floor. I took the box out of my desk drawer and walked the few steps to Lu Ayao’s door, giving it two knocks.

The door opened quickly. Lu Ayao stood there in his pajamas, holding a towel, looking like he had just finished cleaning up.

I handed the box to him and smiled. “I brought this back for you from Hong Kong. A souvenir. My memory has been terrible lately; I didn’t ignore your call on purpose. I honestly only just remembered. Sorry.”

Lu Ayao looked down at the box for a long time before saying to me, “While you were out, I saw that the medicine in the living room had expired. If you keep trying to tough it out, your memory will only get worse.”

His words made my entire body go stiff. The mask I had painstakingly worn for months finally showed signs of cracking. My expression darkened, I took a sharp breath, and my tone turned cold. “I’m not taking medicine. I had enough of that in the hospital.”

Lu Ayao looked up, his brow deeply furrowed as he stared at me.

I looked at him and said, “Besides, don’t you think I’m the one who should disappear most of all?”

The superficial peace of the life I had maintained for so long was finally torn open. As I spoke those words, my chest began to heave uncontrollably, and the hand hanging at my side started to tremble.

“Gan Ji, there are many people who want you to live a good life.” Lu Ayao took a small step toward me.

I scoffed coldly at him. “Did any of you ever think about letting me live a good life when you were using me and treating me like a bargaining chip?”

Lu Ayao froze.

“Maybe you should never have saved me back then.”

Leaving those words behind, I retreated to my room like a ghost, slamming the door shut with a loud bang. Downstairs, He Yu was startled by the noise and called up to ask what was going on. I ignored him, and Lu Ayao didn’t answer either.