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It was almost noon when I received the keys to the new villa.

The commotion at the sales office had just subsided when General Manager Chen personally handed the keys to Lin Yanzhou. Intern Xiao Zhao stood beside him, head slightly bowed, still clutching a copy of the signed contract in her hand.

He showed Lin Xiaoya and Xiaozhou a quick look at the house, then asked Xiaoya to take the children to look at stationery near the school and familiarize them with the new school environment, while he stayed behind.

He had already seen the villa's basement once, but that was just a house viewing. Now that he had the key, the feeling was completely different. He closed the basement door, turned on all the lights, and the gray-white wall tiles were brightly illuminated. The 80-square-meter space had a high enough ceiling, was dry and well-ventilated, and the four walls were waterproofed, with power outlets pre-installed in the corners. He stood inside for a while, making sure he hadn't missed any potentially noticeable corners, and then took the items out of his silver ring one by one.

He started with the artifacts Xuan Shuo had brought back: gold ingots, silver ingots, celadon tea sets, calligraphy and paintings by famous artists of the previous dynasty, ancient scrolls with ivory scroll ends, and short knives inlaid with turquoise. He arranged them according to their categories—calligraphy and paintings for calligraphy and paintings, porcelain for porcelain, gold and silver for gold and silver—placing them in different corners, each category marked on the wall. Finally, he took out the batch of ancient jade pieces confiscated from Zhang Lin's residence, nine pieces in total, large and small, with a warm and lustrous texture and exquisite carving. He carefully arranged them in a row in the corner.

The basement was about one-fifth full.

He straightened up, dusted off his hands, and glanced at the silver ingots. Hu Dahai had mentioned that the price of silver had been rising recently, and that large quantities could be handled through special channels. He squatted down and counted them; the batch of silver ingots weighed about two hundred jin (approximately 100 kg), and according to modern silver prices, it was worth at least seven million.

But he didn't plan to sell everything at once. Good things should be released gradually, giving Hu Dahai room to process them, and keeping his own cash flow under control. With that thought, he put all the items except those he intended to sell today into his ring.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Hu Dahai: "The goods have arrived. If it's convenient for you, could you come and take a look this afternoon?"

Hu Dahai replied quickly: "Young man, you are indeed a reliable and punctual person. I need to bring someone with me when I go."

Just after 2 p.m., a black minivan pulled up in front of the villa. When Hu Dahai got out, a young man in his early thirties, wearing thin-rimmed glasses and carrying a professional appraisal kit, followed behind him. After getting out of the car, the young man glanced at the villa's exterior, then quickly followed Hu Dahai, head down, into the yard.

Hu Dahai stood at the door, looked up at the courtyard of this corner house, and paused for a moment on the bluestone slabs in the front yard and the osmanthus tree in the back yard: "This yard is nice. The afternoon light looks even better than in the morning."

"Let's go in and take a look."

When the basement door opened, all the lights were already on. Hu Dahai walked in, his gaze gliding from the ancient jade in the corner to the celadon and calligraphy. He didn't speak, but first squatted down in front of the celadon vase. He didn't touch it, but just looked it over. Then he took a magnifying glass and flashlight from the appraiser and carefully examined the glaze on the rim of the vase and the firing marks on the base for a moment.

Lin Yanzhou stood to the side, his gaze seemingly casually sweeping over the appraiser. The young man squatted beside Hu Dahai, a notebook in his hand, his expression calm, his eyes fixed on the object, his posture respectful and professional. Lin Yanzhou activated his mind-reading ability, and the first thought he sensed was—"The glaze has even crackles, and there are firing marks on the base; this piece is authentic." His professional judgment was consistent with his outward appearance.

But he didn't retract his thoughts, and continued to probe deeper. As the next thought surfaced, the thread hidden beneath his professional composure finally emerged—"The quality is too good; official kiln pieces of this caliber shouldn't be appearing on the market. I need to find out where it came from so I can report back to my superiors."

Lin Yanzhou remained expressionless, withdrawing his mind-reading ability as if he had merely glanced at the shelf beside him casually.

Hu Dahai put down the magnifying glass, stood up, turned to the ancient jade paperweight, and then walked to the silver ingots on the wall, giving them a cursory glance: "Three antiques, how many silver ingots are there?"

"Over two hundred jin," Lin Yanzhou said. "You can check the quality yourself."

Hu Dahai nodded and glanced at the appraiser. The young man took out a portable weighing device and a silver ingot purity tester from the box, squatted down, and began to examine them one by one.

Lin Yanzhou activated his mind-reading ability once again as the young man squatted down. The young man appeared focused on examining the silver ingots, but inwardly he was thinking, "The purity and weight of these ingots are correct, but the item only appeared this morning, and this seller has no prior record. I need to find a way to figure out his connections so I can report back later."

Lin Yanzhou withdrew his mind-reading ability, his expression unchanged. He didn't expose him on the spot, but remembered a few key words from the sentence—"above," "to deliver." This appraiser wasn't just one of Hu Dahai's men; there was someone else watching him from behind.

About fifteen minutes later, the young man stood up, walked to Hu Dahai's side, and whispered a few words. After listening, Hu Dahai turned his gaze back to Lin Yanzhou: "Three antiques, four and a half million. Silver ingots, according to the current market price, are worth about seven and a half million. I'll give you a round number, seven million."

Lin Yanzhou didn't hesitate: "Deal."

Hu Dahai took out his phone and made a few transactions; the two payments arrived in separate installments. Lin Yanzhou glanced down at the screen—11.5 million.

"The batch I'm referring to isn't just this much," Lin Yanzhou put away his phone. "I'll give it to you in batches. If I release too much at once, the market can't absorb it, and the price will actually drop. I'll keep some for myself. Can you wait?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking too," Hu Dahai said, giving a thumbs up.

With a thought, he picked out a white jade dragon-tiger pendant from his spatial ring, turned around and handed it to Hu Dahai: "This little trinket is for you. I know what I'm doing regarding the villa and getting out of this predicament."

Hu Dahai took it, weighed it in his hand, and glanced at it for a moment. The lines of the dragon-tiger pendant were simple yet powerful, the carving understated, but its quality was excellent. A slight smirk appeared on his lips: "You never give me a heads-up before giving me gifts?"

"Human relationships are about give and take."

Hu Dahai put the jade pendant into his inner pocket without refusing, saying, "Okay, I'll take it. You won't need to go through that trouble in the future."

As Lin Yanzhou saw them off, his gaze swept past the appraiser. The young man had already packed his suitcase and was standing by the car waiting for Hu Dahai to get in, his face still bearing that composed professional expression. Just as the door closed, Lin Yanzhou whispered to Hu Dahai, "The people you brought aren't just your people, are they?"

Hu Dahai paused, turning his head to look at him: "What?"

"When he was assessing the value, he wasn't thinking about whether the product would sell well; he was thinking about how to report back to 'his superiors'," Lin Yanzhou said. "That's not right."

Hu Dahai's gaze darkened slightly. He didn't press Lin Yanzhou about how he knew, but simply nodded: "I understand."

The black van drove out of the villa area, turned at the end of the tree-lined road, and disappeared.