A Plan to Profit from Antiques
"I'm telling you this in all seriousness: Zhang Yang is the man I love. I believe in love. I won't divorce him, and I'll never have anything to do with you, so stop dreaming."
Seeing Zhang Yang stand up for her again, Cheng Dongxue found his violence unsettling, but it gave her a sense of security.
"And I know what's going on at your company. One phone call from me, and your company might really be finished."
Zhang Yang sneered, looking utterly confident.
"You'll regret this..." Clutching his stomach, Xu Mingxian edged toward the door, then bolted.
"You—"
Yang Su had seen what Zhang Yang was capable of. Xu Mingxian had money and influence, but Zhang Yang was willing to use force. In the face of that, even a rich young master had to back down.
Yang Su had plenty to say about Zhang Yang, but she was afraid of his violence, even though he was unlikely to turn it on her.
Cheng Hai was just as shocked. Zhang Yang, who once had been too cowed to raise his voice, now dared to shout and strike—and he was fast and precise.
Zhang Yang could use force, but Yang Su could make a scene.
"Zhang Yang, you dared to hit Young Master Xu. You haven't heard the last of this." Yang Su's tone had grown considerably calmer, with fewer vicious insults.
Zhang Yang shook his head in silence.
"Mom, Zhang Yang is my husband. You introduced me to someone else without my consent. No matter how powerful or wealthy he is, what you did was disgraceful, and I won't agree to it."
Cheng Dongxue was furious and ashamed of what her parents had done.
"Fine. You have three days to come up with five million. Otherwise, you must divorce him." Yang Su was helpless too. Even with her powerful connections, she couldn't force an immediate divorce through legal channels.
"If we still don't have five million, we can all watch the company go under!" Cheng Hai admitted that Yang Su had gone about it the wrong way. But with a useless man like Zhang Yang around, divorce was only a matter of time.
They parted on bad terms. Zhang Yang went straight back to the room.
Cheng Dongxue followed close behind. Lin Xiaofei stood there at a loss, then hurried back to her own room.
"Zhang Yang, you need to take a stand and do something." Once they were back in the room, Cheng Dongxue spoke to him.
The Cheng Company was in crisis, yet her parents had pinned their hopes on Cheng Dongxue, even trying to trade her away to save it.
For a woman to be treated as a bargaining chip was humiliating. Cheng Dongxue couldn't bear it.
What she found even harder to bear was that her own mother had started it.
"Five million isn't that much. I can pay it, but I shouldn't be treated like this." Zhang Yang wasn't refusing to save the Cheng Company. He simply couldn't endure his mother-in-law's contempt and insults.
"But no matter what, she's still my mother." Cheng Dongxue bit her lip. Caught in the middle, she felt utterly helpless. At times, she had even wondered whether choosing Zhang Yang as her husband had been a mistake.
Zhang Yang saw it differently. The Cheng Family had three daughters. Xia Shiying was Yang Su's prized son-in-law, yet he hadn't helped the family. Even when the company was in crisis, he hadn't offered a cent. Still, Yang Su favored him.
Her second son-in-law, Yang Gang, had been generous enough to offer a million, money he would have to raise elsewhere. Yet Yang Su had responded lukewarmly, without a single word of praise.
So Zhang Yang was certain Yang Su's hatred of him couldn't be solved with money. Even if he paid five million, she still wouldn't treat him kindly. Putting him down was her favorite pastime, and she wasn't about to give it up.
Cheng Dongxue didn't believe Zhang Yang had five million on hand, but she believed he could earn it or raise it through his connections with the Lin Family.
"Zhang Yang, help the Cheng Family through this," Cheng Dongxue said.
She was pleading with him, and placing her trust in him.
"Xiao Xue, how do you want me to help?" Zhang Yang asked with a grin. He could ignore anyone else, but he would listen to his mother, Liu Mei, and his wife, Cheng Dongxue.
Cheng Dongxue paused. Usually, it was the woman who asked what they should do, not a grown man asking her.
But Zhang Yang had spent decades living an ordinary, even mediocre life. She could accept that.
The fact that he was asking her what to do was progress in itself. Perhaps he would listen to her.
"Zhang Yang, what you have right now is an eye for antiques. Yang Gang told me you're unusually good at appraising them. Since that's the case, you could give it a try." Cheng Dongxue worried about the company's future. She didn't want the Cheng Family to fall on hard times.
Nor did she want the family's bankruptcy to damage their marriage.
She could imagine it clearly: if the Cheng Family went bankrupt, Yang Su would take all her anger out on Zhang Yang. He might truly be driven out of the family.
"But antiques don't necessarily bring huge profits, and even when they do, you can't always turn them into cash right away." After a thousand years, Zhang Yang knew the antiques trade all too well.
Finding an overlooked treasure wasn't something you could do just because you wanted to. The timing, the place, and the people all had to align. Only then might the chance arise.
"..." Cheng Dongxue fell silent. She didn't understand the antiques trade, but she had heard enough to know that plenty of people lost money instead of making it.
"Still, we could go have a look," Zhang Yang said.
Sitting around doing nothing was worse than getting out, especially when he wasn't happy in the Cheng household.
"All right. Let's go tomorrow," Cheng Dongxue agreed. She still remembered vividly how Zhang Yang had bought the White Jade Hairpin on Antique Street.
One phone call brought Yang Gang over.
When Yang Gang heard they were going to Antique Street, he agreed at once. He admired Zhang Yang's remarkable eye for antiques, so he set aside his work and drove over to pick them up.
"Zhang Yang, I dropped everything to come here, and I've got a million ready in my account. Don't let me go home empty-handed."
Yang Gang's BMW 3 Series was parked outside the villa. He grinned as he teased Zhang Yang.
Yang Gang's trust in Zhang Yang stunned even Cheng Dongxue. She had never seen Zhang Yang deal in antiques before; buying the White Jade Hairpin had been the first time.
"Don't worry. I won't pick a fake or anything we can't profit from. If I've examined an antique, I won't get it wrong."
Zhang Yang climbed into the car and answered with confidence.
Cheng Dongxue had been the one to suggest this path, but now that Yang Gang had come with a million to spend on antiques, she couldn't help feeling uneasy.
The antiques trade was treacherous. One careless purchase could cost them everything.
"Zhang Yang, I'm curious. How did you get into antiques? How long have you been at it? How come I never knew?" Yang Gang wondered. He had never seen Zhang Yang take an interest in them, though Cheng Hai had paid dearly for a few lessons in the trade.
"Chance brought me into it. I don't buy much myself, but I've helped a few friends check things out. And you know what? I've never been wrong." Zhang Yang grinned. Thinking back on the thousand years he had spent trapped in the same day, he really had done what he described.