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His grandfather was just like him: he could appraise antiques, but not human hearts.

Chapter 23

Meeting an old friend in a foreign land was always something worth celebrating.

Pei Liujun immediately invited Grandpa Gu and Gu Jiuque to dinner as their host. Seeing this, Zhou Mu tactfully said, "You go ahead. I still have some matters to handle."

Grandpa Gu nodded to Zhou Mu and rose to his feet. "Then we won't disturb Boss Zhou any longer."

Zhou Mu stood where he was, watching Pei Liujun and the Gu family grandfather and grandson leave the hotel. After a long while, he revealed an unreadable smile.

Pei Liujun drove Grandpa Gu and Gu Jiuque through the streets and alleys of Fog City, finally stopping in front of a Chinese restaurant with a very old signboard.

Only after the three of them entered did Gu Jiuque learn that the restaurant's specialty was hotpot lamb.

They had crossed oceans and traveled thousands of miles, yet the first meal he ate abroad was hotpot lamb. The slightly strange feeling made Gu Jiuque smile. Across the table, Grandpa Gu and Pei Liujun were already raising cups and reminiscing about old times.

With a wistful expression, Pei Liujun mentioned that when they had been studying under their master, the happiest thing for the fellow disciples was being able to have a meal of hotpot lamb at Fulai Shun after a long day's work.

"Back then, everyone had it hard. Being able to eat hotpot lamb once a month was considered a treat." Pei Liujun drank as he sighed. "Unfortunately, after coming to Country B, even having a meal of hotpot lamb became much harder."

Since the conversation had reached this point, Grandpa Gu naturally asked about Pei Liujun's experiences overseas over the past several decades. Pei Liujun gave a brief account, with eight out of every ten sentences lamenting that goods were more expensive away from home, while people were worth less, and that life abroad was difficult. He then asked how Gu Eight Blades had been doing back home.

Grandpa Gu was still immersed in the delight of meeting an old friend in a foreign land and did not pay much attention to Pei Liujun's vague words. He merely assumed that his senior brother had not been doing very well overseas, so he did not say much about his own development back home, lest it seem like bragging.

Pei Liujun, however, was very interested in how Grandpa Gu had been invited to serve as an appraiser. He asked a few extra questions over the meal. Grandpa Gu understood his meaning and said he would introduce Boss Zhou to Pei Liujun. However, Boss Zhou was currently occupied with matters concerning the auction and likely had no time for social calls. Grandpa Gu therefore postponed the matter until after the auction.

"As long as Boss Zhou is willing, I'll definitely make the introduction for you."

Pei Liujun was naturally delighted and thanked him repeatedly.

Gu Jiuque watched all this without saying much. Perhaps he truly had no interest in the conversation between the two old men; ever since sitting down, he had been fiddling with his phone.

After dinner, Pei Liujun drove the Gu family grandfather and grandson back to the hotel. While riding the elevator, Grandpa Gu casually asked, "You don't seem to be in very high spirits today?"

"Maybe I'm tired." Gu Jiuque smiled. "This is my first time abroad, after all!"

Grandpa Gu nodded. "Then get a good rest tonight!"

Gu Jiuque agreed aloud, but used jet lag as an excuse for being unable to sleep and carefully explored the hotel, especially the two floors containing the three presidential suites Zhou Mu had lavishly booked.

Gu Jiuque remembered that in his previous life, Zhou Mu had suddenly turned hostile after getting off the plane. After the auction ended, he had chartered a plane directly back home. The moment he got off the plane, he gathered a group of experts to appraise the Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs that he had bought at the auction. The result was unexpected—what he had spent 120 million to bring back from Country B across thousands of miles, the Yongzheng Emperor's own handwritten treasure, turned out to be fake.

Zhou Mu flew into a rage on the spot. Since Grandpa Gu was the appraiser he had hired at great expense, Zhou Mu's first burst of anger fell upon Gu Eight Blades.

Zhou Mu demanded to know what was going on. He had spent ten million to hire Gu Eight Blades as his appraiser because he trusted Gu Eight Blades's eye. Yet after all that appraisal, Gu Eight Blades had helped him buy nothing but a fake.

"Didn't you say this jade seal was genuine? So what's going on now? I spent 120 million only to buy a fake? You said you'd never misjudged an item before—my ass! Are those eyes of yours only there to breathe?"

Zhou Mu cursed aggressively and relentlessly. The sudden attack caught Grandpa Gu completely off guard, leaving him stunned on the spot.

Gu Eight Blades did not know how things had turned out this way either. The Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs that he had seen at the auction had indeed been genuine. He had no idea why the jade seal had become a fake after being transported back home.

Seeing that Gu Eight Blades could not explain himself, Zhou Mu could only turn his fire on the High-End Auction House. Naturally, the High-End Auction House refused to admit that a fake had appeared at its auction. Besides, auction transactions were settled once payment and goods had changed hands. Four days had already passed since Zhou Mu purchased the Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs, during which it had traveled tens of thousands of kilometers. Anything could have happened.

Zhou Mu's accusation that the High-End Auction House had provided a fake simply did not hold water. If the Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs sold at the auction had been fake, why had they not said so at the time? Surely it was not because their eyesight was poor and they had failed to notice?

And so, after going in circles, the blame landed back on Gu Eight Blades's head. Gu Eight Blades was equally baffled. He could never have imagined that Zhou Mu himself was the one who had swapped out the Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs. Left with no other choice, Gu Eight Blades could only admit that he had misjudged it.

The jade seal he had bought for 120 million had turned into a worthless fake. Naturally, the young and hot-blooded Boss Zhou could not swallow that insult. He had made his fortune in the internet industry, was well-informed, and had extensive connections. Having made up his mind, he naturally intended to uncover the entire truth.

Meanwhile, the High-End Auction House had been saddled with blame for no reason and was naturally unwilling to let the matter rest.

With both sides applying pressure, they soon discovered that the seller of the Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs was Pei Liujun—the fellow disciple whom Gu Eight Blades had previously tried so hard to recommend to Zhou Mu. It was said that his skills in cultural relic restoration were equally masterful.

As everyone knew, restorers with exceptional craftsmanship were often also highly skilled counterfeiters. Pei Liujun's past record included three instances of being caught making and selling fakes, for which he had gone to prison.

Under immense pressure, Pei Liujun had no choice but to admit that he had indeed forged the Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi dragon knobs. After the auction ended, when he met with Zhou Mu, he had secretly switched out the genuine item Zhou Mu had purchased. He also truthfully confessed that he had done so because he had been incited by his junior fellow disciple, Gu Eight Blades.