own money"When Xiao Yu suddenly felt that the middle-aged man's words were very strange, he couldn't help but say, "Just tell me what you want to say!""Hehe, little brother is smart; one hint and it a...Chapter 363: Coins

About a quarter of an hour later, when Mr. Cai saw that the ink on the characters had dried, he walked over and handed the scroll to Manager Wang who was standing nearby, saying, "Manager Wang, please ask Old Ge to frame this one first; we urgently need it!"

"Mr. Cai, you can rest assured, I will definitely convey your message!" replied Manager Wang before taking the scroll out of the room.

After Manager Wang left, Mr. Cai turned to Xiao Yu and said, "Old Ge has a peculiar habit; he doesn't see anyone except his staff during working hours."

Xiao Yu nodded upon hearing Mr. Cai's words but remained silent.

A short while later, Manager Wang returned and told Mr. Cai and Xiao Yu, "Old Ge agreed and asked you to come at five o'clock this afternoon to pick up the framed scroll."

Originally, when Manager Wang took the scroll over and requested Old Ge to find a way to finish it today, Old Ge was not very willing even if Mr. Cai had brought it. Although he was reluctant, out of respect for their past relationship with Mr. Cai, he agreed reluctantly.

Due to his heavy workload that day, which included two newly collected ancient calligraphy and paintings requiring re-framing for auction, Old Ge did not promise outright but said he would try his best.

However, when he took the scroll from Manager Wang's hand and opened it, this elderly man in his sixties who had been dealing with calligraphy all his life was stunned on the spot.

The moment he unfolded the scroll, an imposing aura hit him before he even had a chance to look closely at the characters. As he examined the piece thoroughly, he couldn't help but burst into laughter and exclaim, "What a marvelous work!"

This calligraphy consisted of just four large characters—"Cang Song Jin Cao"—but they vividly depicted the resilience of grass and the upright nature of pines. Coupled with the scholar's noble bearing and righteousness evident between the lines, this piece was undoubtedly the masterpiece of a grandmaster at the peak of their career.

The elderly man looked at the freshly dried ink and asked Manager Wang, "Is this just written"

"Yes, Old Ge!" replied Manager Wang.

After hearing Manager Wang's response, Old Ge nodded and glanced at the signature. It read: 'In celebration of Mr. Song’s hundredth birthday, wishing him longevity like the sea and long life surpassing Mount Tai; respectfully offered by Xiao Yu.'

Pondering the name Xiao Yu, Lao Ge displayed a hint of confusion. Having dealt with calligraphy and paintings for many years, he recognized numerous renowned masters in the country, but this Xiao Yu was someone he had never heard of.

Could it be that this Xiao Yu is a newly risen master But could such a new master write with such skill This piece might even be considered one of the top-tier works in the entire nation. From an artistic perspective, it's almost unparalleled.

"Tell this master I'll take on the job; have him come and pick up at five o'clock in the afternoon!" After some thought, Lao Ge said.

He had originally planned to meet this master himself, but considering how urgently they needed it done, he decided just to work on it now. Moreover, he was proud of his own expertise as one of the best in his field and didn't want to seem overly eager by going to see them now. When they came to collect their work, wouldn't that be a natural occasion for introductions

Hearing Manager Wang's reply, Xiao Yu let out a sigh of relief. Why hadn’t he thought to write the calligraphy piece himself earlier Fortunately, this worked out; otherwise choosing a gift would have been troublesome. He couldn’t very well show up empty-handed, even if it wasn't strictly necessary.

"Wait! Mr. Cai, could you come over here and take a look Is there something wrong with this jar" As Xiao Yu and the others were talking, Ms. Bai's voice suddenly came from behind them.

It turned out that when they had left the waiting room earlier, since Xiao Yu needed to write his piece, Ms. Bai had taken over carrying the black porcelain jar for him. The jar was very heavy, and she found it quite difficult to carry. When she placed it on the floor just now, she noticed something unusual about its base.

"Ms. Bai, what’s wrong" Upon hearing this, Mr. Cai couldn't help but turn around; Ms. Bai was squatting down on the ground examining the porcelain jar closely, and he walked over to ask her about it.

“Mr. Cai, take a look!” After hearing Mr. Cai's question, Ms. Bai pointed at the base of the porcelain jar.

"Mmm... There is an issue! Let's go see it in that room!" Following Ms. Bai’s direction, Mr. Cai squatted down and examined the jar carefully; after a while, he got up to say this.

Xiao Yu bent down and picked up the porcelain jar from the ground, following both teachers into another waiting room where he placed it on a table.

After Xiao Yu set down the jar, Lao Cai and Ms. Bai took out their gloves and powerful flashlights from their bags and began examining the jar carefully around its entirety.

A while later, they instructed Xiao Yu: "Little Xiao, pour out whatever is inside!"

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Yu also wanted to know the origin of this jar, after all, something that could make him feel a stir in his heart must be extraordinary. However, he didn't understand why such a black pot could give him this feeling, so he hoped the two people would help solve this mystery for him.

After speaking, Xiao Yu walked over and poured out the pile of coins from the jar.

Upon seeing the copper coins that Xiao Yu had taken out, both Mr. Bai and Mr. Cai grabbed a handful each to examine them. Soon, they simultaneously shook their heads, put down the coins in their hands, and focused on examining the porcelain pot.

While Mr. Cai and his team were studying the porcelain pot, Xiao Yu suddenly felt that the stir within him did not come from the jar but rather from the pile of copper coins.

Since discovering that it was these copper coins causing him to feel a stir in his heart, Xiao Yu no longer had any lingering interest in the porcelain pot Mr. Yue and others were holding onto; instead, he focused intently on these coins.

As Xiao Yu looked at this pile of coins, a hint of worry appeared on his face. Standing there for a moment, an idea suddenly dawned upon him.

Xiao Yu walked over and divided the pile of coins into two portions, then examined them closely to see which portion gave him that stirring feeling in his heart.

Once he determined which half was causing this sensation, he further split it until he could pinpoint exactly which coin or coins were responsible. Though everyone else found Xiao Yu's actions peculiar, no one had the nerve to ask about them.

Mrs. Cai and Mrs. Bai simply glanced at him once before returning their attention to the black porcelain pot, ignoring his odd behavior.

Xiao Yu carefully divided these coins bit by bit until he isolated three copper coins. Examining the coins in his hand, they were heavily oxidized after long exposure to air, making it impossible to clearly read the inscriptions on them anymore.

These few copper coins seemed somewhat different from the others; Xiao Yu examined the coins and although the corrosion made them hard to recognize, he felt that their design was familiar somehow.

If they were familiar, then naturally Xiao Yu himself hadn't seen them before. That meant these coins must have been encountered in Zhong Kui's memories. Closing his eyes, Xiao Yu carefully recalled where he had seen such copper coins before.

After a while, Xiao Yu suddenly opened his eyes wide as he remembered from deep within his memory that these were copper coins used by fortune tellers during the late Sui and early Tang dynasties for divination purposes. The few coins in Xiao Yu's hand must have been used by masters of divination among Qimen practitioners; otherwise, they wouldn't have stirred such a strong feeling in him.

Xiao Yu looked at the few rusty bronze coins and thought to himself that it was no wonder he found them so familiar. It turned out that Zhong Kui had also learned divination in his early years, but after thousands of years, his memories were too complex, causing him to forget these things.

Moreover, when Zhong Kui initially observed people's facial features, using bronze coins for divination was too exhausting, so he seldom used them. After becoming a Celestial Master, the challenges he faced involved high-level practitioners, and as he wasn't solely dedicated to divination anymore, nor did he have proper tools, thus gradually stopping their use.

Xiao Yu focused his mind, put the three cups of bronze coins in his personal bag, and didn't pay any attention to the other bronze coins on the table. From the appearance of Mr. Cai and the others just now, he knew that these weren't good items.

Back then, when he bought them, it was because these things made him feel a slight stir in his heart. Now that he had found the source of this stirring feeling, other objects didn’t matter to him anymore.

Xiao Yu turned and looked at Mr. Cai and Mr. Bai; both were still examining the jar inch by inch. After some time, they raised their heads to look at each other and saw confirmation in one another's eyes, so they stood up together.

"Phew... Xiao brother, this jar’s surface seems to have been coated with a layer of black lacquer! We were thinking about helping you remove it. What do you think"

Mr. Cai got up and exhaled deeply. He glanced at the black porcelain jar and said that when he mentioned cleaning the jar, a look of excitement appeared on his face.

When they had just been looking at this jar, they found that although its exterior was dull and dark, its body was delicate and smooth, very extraordinary indeed. After careful observation, they confirmed that the entire jar’s body was uniform, leading them to be certain that someone had coated it with a layer of black lacquer.

However, this coating technique was extremely skillful; so much so that if one didn’t see the true texture of the porcelain, there would be no way to tell from its exterior appearance alone.

It’s important to know who they were. They were among the top experts in the country, and even they couldn't detect it. It was hard to imagine anyone else could spot this.

This clearly indicated that whoever had used black lacquer to conceal the porcelain jar must be a connoisseur of antiques with skills surpassing those of Mr. Cai and Mr. Bai.

Mr. Cai instructed Manager Wang for a few moments, who responded affirmatively before leaving. Shortly after, he returned with some tools.

Rong Bao Zhai, as an established century-old store and the largest in this area, had all kinds of tools required to remove traces concealed by various techniques.

Seeing these tools brought back by Manager Wang, Mr. Cai and Mr. Bai immediately got to work, carefully removing the black lacquer from the porcelain jar's surface. They were now very excited and eager to see what was hidden inside.n, yet Xiao Yu effortlessly cured them. Therefore, it was evident that Xiao Yu possessed extraordinary abilities. Hence, Song Wanta disregarded his status and spoke with great respect toward Xiao Yu."...