ly losing their condescending looks. They never expected that Wu Shouye would be among the crowd.Seeing Wu Shouye sitting in the crowd drinking plain water, they felt even less qualified to pick and c...Chapter 443: Selling the Ming Dynasty Blue and White Porcelain

A while later, Xiao Yu finally hung up the phone. Cai Laoshi had asked him on the call about whether he still intended to sell the Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain.

Xiao Yu decided without any hesitation that he would sell it. This item was of no use to him at all; keeping it just took up space. Moreover, Xiao Yu knew that items like this national treasure from Tongwen Bookstore would not be sold overseas. In fact, they likely wouldn’t even be sold in the future because these items were state-owned and thus belonged to the country.

Furthermore, their CEO might even donate it to the Palace Museum. The money spent on purchasing such items was public funds, but donating them would benefit him personally, adding significantly to his political capital.

This was what Song Hushan had told Xiao Yu when he asked about it. As someone who lived in Beijing all year round, he knew some of the internal workings of Tongwen Bookstore. For them, spending public funds to pave their way for political advancement made perfect sense and they were happy to do so.

When Cai Laoshi called him, Xiao Yu didn’t hesitate but agreed immediately. He told Cai Laoshi his location and waited with Song Hushan until the construction team inspected the place. After that, he would go with Cai Laoshi to see the porcelain jar, which was currently at Song Hushan's villa.

Shortly after, a few people arrived at Xiao Yu's door through Song Hushan’s introduction. Xiao Yu learned they were professional renovation teams specializing in restoring and renovating ancient buildings; this particular courtyard had been restored by them before.

Xiao Yu handed over the keys to the construction team here. He didn’t understand these matters, so he left it up to them to handle things as they saw fit. With Song Hushan around, these people wouldn't cut corners or skimp on work here.

Right after Xiao Yu and his group gave instructions to the construction team, Xiao Yu’s phone rang. Seeing that it was Teacher Cai calling back, he guessed they had arrived. So, he walked out with Song Hushan while connecting the call. On the call, Xiao Yu asked Teacher Cai to wait a moment as they would be heading outside soon.

When Xiao Yu and his group came out, they saw that Teacher Cai and company were standing at the entrance of the alley looking inside.

Cai Laoshi spotted them walking out from nearby courtyard, quickly coming over to greet them.

"Mr. Song!"

"President Song..."

After these individuals approached Xiao Yu and Song Hushan, they successively greeted Song Hushan. Since Song Hushan often went to Rong Bao Zhai to buy things, everyone here recognized him. However, they did not know his exact identity, only that he had connections reaching the heavens.

Moreover, Teacher Cai was also his private antique consultant. It should be noted that continuously hiring an expert like Teacher Cai is not merely about having money to do so.

Song Hushan heard their greetings but simply nodded without speaking.

"Young brother, they want to buy the blue-and-white porcelain vase!" After greeting Song Hushan, Teacher Cai looked at Xiao Yu and said.

Since they had discussed this over the phone before, Xiao Yu merely nodded in response.

"Boss, do you still need us to add some modern buildings here Like a garage" While they were talking, the construction foreman ran out and pointed at a section of wall, asking Xiao Yu.

After hearing what the construction foreman said, Xiao Yu looked at that section of the wall and replied, "Make several garages then! Try to make them look ancient as much as possible so they don’t break the overall ancient atmosphere here!"

"Alright, you can rest assured, boss! Our construction team has worked on numerous projects like this before. We will definitely satisfy your expectations!" Upon hearing Xiao Yu’s words, the construction foreman patted his chest and promised, then turned around to enter the quadrangle courtyard for a site survey.

"Young brother, is... Is this really your house" Hearing their conversation, Teacher Cai looked at Xiao Yu in shock and said.

Teacher Cai had lived in Beijing for decades. Naturally, he was well aware of the property prices here. Especially with regards to quadrangle courtyards, under the influence of the craze for them, they fetched sky-high prices recently. Moreover, based on Xiao Yu’s courtyard's exterior and entrance decorations, it was clear that this wasn't just an ordinary quadrangle courtyard but rather a nobleman's annex.

The price for such a courtyard was now counted in the billions of yuan in Beijing, and there was no guarantee one could even buy one. He never would have thought Xiao Yu actually had one.

After Teacher Cai’s emotions slightly recovered, he looked at Xiao Yu with astonishment. When they first met, Xiao Yu was merely a medic at a small clinic, but now, he owned an estate worth hundreds of millions! It was just a matter of several months!

Hearing this, the few people behind Teacher Cai looked at Xiao Yu with admiration when their gazes fell upon him. These individuals were all rather old; three elderly men in their sixties and one middle-aged man in his fifties. This fifty-something-year-old man was actually the general manager of Rong Bao Zhai.

Since meeting those people at Xiao Yu's villa, he had been anxious for two days, afraid that a wrong word might bring trouble upon him. However, after several days with nothing happening, his desire to buy the blue and white porcelain vase resurfaced.

This time, he planned to offer a high price to curry favor with Xiao Yu and cultivate good relations. Since it was public money being spent anyway, such an act would not only help him build connections with Xiao Yu but also earn political capital if he donated the item to the country. Where else could one find such a beneficial opportunity

Therefore, he contacted Mr. Cai and asked him to arrange an introduction.

"Haha, yes! It's a heritage from my ancestors; I've just never lived there and want to renovate it!" Xiao Yu chuckled upon hearing what Mr. Cai said.

After saying that, he led the way with his car towards Song Hushan’s villa, for the blue and white porcelain vase was still kept there. If he wanted to buy the vase, of course he would have to go there.

Xiao Yu's vehicle took the lead while Mr. Cai and the others followed in a minivan. So, they only had one car following behind Xiao Yu’s vehicle heading towards the villa.

None of them spoke inside Mr. Cai's car; even the general manager of Rong Baozhai was silent, looking dazed as he sat beside the driver.

It turned out that after getting into the car and seeing the courtyard house from a distance, its layout and decoration differentiating it from other courtyard houses made him recall an old legend. He remembered helping an aristocratic youth obtain a treasure in the past; afterwards, this youth invited him to visit his home as a gesture of gratitude.

The youth’s residence was also a courtyard house, specifically a two-in compound. The general manager of Rong Baozhai had lavishly praised the courtyard during their conversation.

Upon hearing his praise, the aristocratic youth did not speak much but smiled and modestly acknowledged it.

Only when this youth was drunk did he inadvertently reveal that his courtyard house wasn't anything special. There was a truly remarkable one located behind Beihai Park which enjoyed considerable fame among these aristocrats in Beijing, though it might not be the best in the city.

The general manager asked why such a reputation would be accorded to just a courtyard and this inebriated youth cautiously told him that due to this courtyard house's reason, a vice-state level leader had fallen from power and an entire faction suffered a severe blow. After saying so, the youth fell asleep on the sofa.

The next day, he came here and found only one door tightly shut; he thought it must be that courtyard house. However, after returning home, this matter gradually faded from his mind. With his thoughts preoccupied by the soon-to-be-acquired blue and white porcelain vase, he hadn't paid much attention to details at the time. Only now had he suddenly recalled it upon getting into the car.

Thinking of this, cold sweat ran down his head. A vice-provincial leader would actually fall from power just because of a siheyuan; the thought seemed unbelievable. Moreover, that member of an elite family wouldn’t lie after getting drunk! Therefore, it meant that the vice-provincial leader didn’t fall due to the siheyuan but its owner!

Hearing their conversation at this moment, he learned that this siheyuan belonged to Xiao Yu and was even his ancestral property. This made cold sweat break out on his head; luckily, he had encountered those people the other night or else he wouldn’t have known how he died.

Their car drove straight to Xiao Yu’s former villa before stopping there. This villa had been kept vacant for him and there were still a lot of things inside belonging to him.

Xiao Yu led them into the house and took out that blue-and-white porcelain jar from the corner, placing it on the table.

Seeing Xiao Yu casually place the jar on the table, these experts couldn’t help tightening their hearts, afraid that he might accidentally drop or damage it.

The experts pulled out powerful flashlights and magnifying glasses, circling around this porcelain jar to examine it. Teacher Cai sat on the sofa without moving; having seen the jar several times before, he naturally knew straight away that it was genuine. Meanwhile, as these experts were appraisers in charge of acquiring this item, they had to do their duty.

Half an hour later, these experts put everything back into place and nodded at each other. They then nodded toward the general manager.

As domestic top-notch experts, they naturally had great confidence in themselves, while the general manager of this Rong Bao齋also had faith in them. Seeing their nods meant that there was no mistake about this item’s genuineness.

"Mr. Xiao, we are straightforward people; I won’t beat around the bush. We’ll take this item and give you 100 million yuan as a highest offer after yesterday’s discussion. Please consider it," said the general manager of this Rong Bao齋upon realizing that this item was good.

They shouldn’t have been so hasty; items of such value at least required an official ceremony and more domestic-renowned experts, along with carbon-13 dating to verify its genuineness. After all, the item was so valuable—how could they be careless

But when this general manager whispered a few words into his chairman’s ear, the chairman’s expression changed, looking at him seriously and cautiously. Seeing the general manager nod, he took in a deep breath.

The chairman thought for a moment before telling the Rong Bao齋general manager to bring Teacher Cai and three experts along, raising their original offer of 80 million yuan to 90 million and giving him an additional 10 million in authority. So upon seeing that siheyuan, he had immediately offered its highest possible value—100 million yuan. (To be continued...)heart and started feeling Old Patriarch Song’s pulse. As Xiao Yu felt for the pulse, his brows furrowed tighter with each passing moment.After about three minutes, Xiao Yu finally let go of Old Patria...