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According to Pei Liujun, Gu Eight Blades had been the one to propose this scheme. Because the Gu family had suffered one disaster after another, Gu Eight Blades desperately needed money and had come to him. He had only partnered with Gu Eight Blades to deceive Boss Zhou out of pity. Otherwise, he would have long since washed his hands of the business and turned over a new leaf.

The moment these words came out, public opinion both at home and abroad erupted. No one could believe that the highly respected chief appraiser of Antique Appreciation Studio, who had treasured his reputation all his life, would do such a thing. Grandpa Gu naturally refused to admit it. He had never done any such thing. Pei Liujun was outright slandering him.

Yet after several rounds of confrontation, Grandpa Gu could not produce any evidence to prove his innocence. By comparison, although Pei Liujun could not provide any concrete evidence for his accusation either, his account was logical and well-founded. There seemed to be no flaw to pick apart.

After the stalemate dragged on, Zhou Mu, unwilling to swallow the loss in silence, immediately mobilized the media companies under his command to publicize the matter. Overnight, Grandpa Gu became a fraudster who had conspired with his senior fellow disciple to stage a scam and forge antiques. To outsiders unaware of the truth, Pei Liujun had met Zhou Mu through Grandpa Gu's introduction and thus gained the opportunity to switch out Yongzheng Emperor's imperial white jade square seal with nine chi-dragon knobs. Now that he had personally accused Grandpa Gu, surely he could not be making baseless slander?

As the matter grew ever larger, all rumors and gossip pointed at Grandpa Gu.

Out of guilt—or perhaps because he wanted to put the matter to rest—Grandpa Gu simply returned the ten million Zhou Mu had paid him. Yet this became another piece of "irrefutable evidence" that Grandpa Gu had a guilty conscience. Holding the returned money, Zhou Mu acted as though he had obtained proof of Grandpa Gu's crime and shouted even more fiercely. The self-media accounts under his control also relentlessly whipped up public sentiment online, claiming that if Grandpa Gu had done nothing wrong, why would he spit back out money that had already reached his mouth?

Unable to defend himself, Grandpa Gu coughed up blood in his fury. Not long afterward, he died in depression.

Not long after Grandpa Gu's death, Pei Liujun also drowned after drunkenly falling into the water. His death had been swift and clean.

In his previous life, Gu Jiuque had spent a great deal of time and effort investigating this matter. After sending Zhou Mu to prison, he had wanted to pry the entire process of how they framed Grandpa Gu out of Zhou Mu's mouth. Unfortunately, he had been one step too late. On the night the verdict was handed down, Zhou Mu committed suicide in prison.

Gu Jiuque had not made it in time to see Zhou Mu one last time and could only gather other evidence to prove his grandfather's innocence.

Over the long years of his previous life, Gu Jiuque had also reconstructed every detail of the scam. Given how much the Jin family valued that auction, they would never have displayed a fake at it and ruined their own reputation.

Considering that, in his previous life, Zhou Mu and his group had flown to Country B in business class, they could not possibly have brazenly carried a fake Yongzheng Emperor imperial white jade square seal with nine chi-dragon knobs through security. Moreover, immediately after the auction ended and they returned home on a chartered flight, they had sought out experts to authenticate it.

Although Zhou Mu had done this to maximize the suspicion that Grandpa Gu had conspired to deceive him, leaving Grandpa Gu unable to excuse himself by claiming the seal had been switched after they parted ways, Zhou Mu's actions had also indirectly exposed the time of the switch.

In other words, Zhou Mu had the opportunity to switch the seal only after booking three presidential suites at the Fog City Grand Hotel and before everyone boarded the plane after the auction.

Given Grandpa Gu's eye and experience, he would never have let his guard down during the entire transaction. And Pei Liujun could not have had the chance to switch the jade seal right under Grandpa Gu's nose as he had claimed. Thus, the window of time for the switch could be narrowed even further.

As Gu Jiuque walked down the hotel corridor, he seemingly casually glanced at a surveillance camera. If only I could look at the surveillance footage from the past few days. Especially the footage from the floor where Zhou Mu was staying.

As he pondered in silence, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him. Then someone whistled frivolously from behind. "Yo, fellow countryman~"

Gu Jiuque turned around and saw a tall figure standing behind him. A tailored black suit wrapped around the young man's lean, powerful body, its crisp, fitted fabric accentuating his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs. His open collar revealed firm pectoral muscles. Even with his lazy, casual expression, every movement carried the fierce air of a thug in a suit.

"What a small world!" President Shen smiled at the handsome, exquisitely featured man before him and said comfortably, "I'm very happy to see you."

"Are you happy to see me?"

Chapter 24

Gu Jiuque's expression stiffened for a moment. The scene of his first meeting with the man before him at the antique market surfaced uncontrollably in his mind.

...It could not be called pleasant or unpleasant. He could only say that Shen Heng was a weirdo unlike any he had encountered across two lifetimes.

Unaware that he had left such an indelible impression on Gu Jiuque at their first meeting, Shen Heng looked at him with a smile. The slight curve of his lips softened the bright yet sharp lines of his face, while his relaxed brows and eyes diluted much of the natural pressure he exuded. Only his teasing tone faintly revealed the danger and coldness hidden beneath his carefree facade.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you. Seventy-four hours, fifty-four minutes, and thirty-two seconds after we first parted..." As he spoke, the man raised his wrist to check his watch, then added affectionately, "...later."

The assistants following behind Shen Heng silently looked at Gu Jiuque. The hotel staff member leading the way also secretly pricked up his ears.

Gu Jiuque: "..."

Gu Jiuque once again deeply realized what an emotion it was to be rendered speechless.

After a long while, faced with Shen Heng's unchangingly affectionate gaze and the several burning stares behind him, Gu Jiuque forced himself to make polite conversation. "President Shen has a strong sense of time."

Apparently not expecting Gu Jiuque's first words to be that, Shen Heng raised an eyebrow in surprise. Then he gave a courteous little bow. "I'm honored that, on our second meeting, Mr. Gu has noticed one of my insignificant virtues."

Gu Jiuque: "..."

Gu Jiuque suddenly felt that conversation was a skill in itself. And he was clearly not proficient enough at it.