Divine Eye Appraisal: Starting with a Lucky Pickup of a Beautiful CEO's Family Heirloom

After saying that, Xuan Kongzi stood at the entrance of the passage without moving.

Wen Zhaoye stared at him, his hand still pressed against the cauldron, not letting go. The jade pendant, embedded in the crack, emitted a faint light, tapping rhythmically under his fingertips like a heartbeat.

"Say it again," Wen Zhaoye said, his voice dry.

Xuan Kongzi didn't repeat himself. He took two steps forward, stopped in front of the stone platform, and looked down at the cauldron. The patina on the cauldron shone dark green under the flashlight, jade pendants were embedded in the cracks, and some fine golden patterns were slowly moving along the edges.

"Your father isn't missing," Xuan Kongzi said, his voice hoarse, as if he had been thirsty for a long time. "He's inside the cauldron."

Wen Zhaoye's mind went blank.

His fingers tightened, his nails digging into his palms, the pain bringing him back to his senses. He stared at Xuan Kongzi, trying to discern something from his face—a joke, a lie, a slip of the tongue, anything. But Xuan Kongzi's expression was calm, so calm it didn't seem like he was lying, so calm it was as if he had finally been able to tell the truth after holding it in for thirty years.

"What do you mean?" Wen Zhaoye asked, his voice trembling. "What do you mean by 'inside the cauldron'?"

Xuan Kongzi didn't answer. He took out something from his pocket, bronze in color, about the size of a palm, with dense patterns engraved on its surface, exactly the same as the patterns on the cauldron. He handed it to him, but Wen Zhaoye didn't take it.

"This is what your father left behind," Xuan Kongzi said. "The key to the seal."

Wen Zhaoye stared at the talisman, and his divine eye moved on its own. Pale golden characters emerged from the surface of the talisman, appearing line by line—

"Winter Solstice, midnight, blood as the guide."

Seven characters were engraved on the inner wall of the talisman, the strokes light but clear. Wen Zhaoye looked at the characters and recalled the secret message his father had left on the inner wall of the cauldron—"The next activation will be on the winter solstice next year."

"Left by my father?" he asked. Xuan Kongzi nodded.

"He told me that if his son ever came, I should give this to you." Xuan Kongzi's voice was even lower. "The seal isn't permanent. Every winter solstice, it needs to be activated once by the Wen family bloodline. Otherwise, the seal will collapse." Wen Zhaoye took the talisman, his fingers tracing the patterns on it. The talisman was heavy, its edges worn smooth, as if it had been held for many years.

"Every winter solstice?" he asked. "Every winter solstice," Xuan Kongzi said. "Before your father was sealed inside, he told me two things. The first was to give you this talisman. The second—" He paused, looking into Wen Zhaoye's eyes. "was to keep watch for him for a year."

Wen Zhaoye was stunned.

"You waited for him for seventeen years?"

"Seventeen years," Xuan Kongzi said, his voice calm. "Every winter solstice, I would come here to activate the seal with the jade pendant left by your father. Until you came."

Wen Zhaoye held the talisman, his palms beginning to burn. His mind was a jumbled mess, as if someone had thrown a bomb into it, making it impossible for him to think clearly.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

"Your father won't allow it," Xuan Kongzi said. "He said we'll talk about it when his son is capable of getting here."

Wen Zhaoye stared at him, feeling as if a stone was stuck in his throat.

"Your father said that if his son ever comes, I should tell him—I'm sorry." Xuan Kongzi paused, "And also, tell him not to blame you."

Wen Zhaoye's hand holding the talisman trembled slightly. "He told you not to blame me?" he asked, his voice slightly distorted. "He sealed himself inside the cauldron for seventeen years, and then had you tell me—not to blame you?"

Xuan Kongzi remained silent. "Where is my father?" Wen Zhaoye asked, his voice suddenly hardening. "You just said he's inside the cauldron—what do you mean?"

Xuan Kongzi remained silent for a long time, then turned around and looked at the bronze cauldron.

"There's a space inside the cauldron," he said. "When he activated the Four Symbols Sealing Array, he locked himself inside."

Wen Zhaoye followed his gaze to the cauldron, its body covered in verdigris, with his father's jade pendant embedded in the cracks, golden patterns slowly spreading across it.

"Is he still inside?" he asked softly. "I don't know," Xuan Kongzi said. "Once the seal was activated, no one could open it."

Wen Zhaoye stared at the cauldron, his palms sweating. He recalled a sentence from his father's letter—"Your father's greatest regret in life is not being able to watch you grow up."

He recalled his father's words, "Don't mention the surname Wen."

He remembered the hesitant look on his grandmother's face whenever she mentioned his father. Now, he finally understood.

His father didn't abandon him.

He's not coming back.

"Can I open it?" Wen Zhaoye asked, his voice dry.

Xuan Kongzi looked at him, remained silent for a long time, and then shook his head. "Once the seal is activated, it can never be opened from the outside unless someone shuts it down from the inside," he said. "And the only way your father chose to shut himself down was to completely collapse the seal."

Wen Zhaoye gripped the talisman tightly, his fingers turning white. "Can he still come out now?"

Xuan Kongzi did not answer. Gu Qinghan stood at the entrance of the stone chamber, remaining silent. She stared at Xuan Kongzi's retreating figure, her gaze cold.

"Master," she spoke, her voice soft but clear, "the thing you've kept hidden for thirty years is finally going to be revealed today."

Xuan Kongzi didn't turn around. "I sent you down the mountain to keep an eye on him," he said, "not to help him."

"I know," Gu Qinghan said, "but I saw it."

Xuan Kongzi turned around and looked at her.

"What did you see?"

"I saw his connection to the jade pendant," Gu Qinghan said. "I saw him cry when he read the letter. I saw him standing in front of the cauldron, saying, 'Dad, I've found it.'"

She paused, her voice growing even colder.

“Master, you’ve guarded him for seventeen years. You knew his father was inside the cauldron, but you didn’t tell him. You made him think his father had disappeared, that his father didn’t want him anymore. You made him think about it for seventeen years.” Xuan Kongzi remained silent. “Is this how you protect him?” Gu Qinghan asked.

The stone chamber remained quiet for a long time.

Xuan Kongzi stood before the cauldron, gazing at the bronze vessel covered in verdigris, and remained silent for a long time. Then he spoke a sentence, his voice very soft, as if speaking to himself.

"Your dad said that if his son ever comes, I should tell him—"

He turned around and looked at Wen Zhaoye.

"I'm not alone anymore."

Wen Zhaoye stopped holding the talisman.

He stared at Xuan Kongzi, and the sentence in his mind crashed down like a stone, making it hard for him to breathe.

"This isn't what my dad said," he asked. "Did you say it?"

Xuan Kongzi didn't answer, only looked at him, his eyes filled with the weariness and guilt of seventeen years. "Before your father was imprisoned inside, he said something to me," Xuan Kongzi said. "He said, 'Old friend, if my son ever comes, please tell him for me—'"

He paused, his voice hoarse like sandpaper. "—I'm sorry to have left you alone."

Wen Zhaoye stood in front of the cauldron, holding the talisman, his fingertips tingling.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but his throat felt blocked by something, and he couldn't speak.

He recalled the sentence in his father's letter, his father's words "Don't mention the surname Wen," and the hesitant expression on his grandmother's face whenever she mentioned his father.

Then he remembered what he had said to his father—

"I'm not alone anymore."

He lowered his head, looking at the talisman in his hand, and at the line of pale gold characters on it—"Winter Solstice, Midnight, Blood as the Guide."

He gripped the talisman tightly, his knuckles turning white. "Next winter solstice," he said, his voice soft but steady, "I will come."

Xuan Kongzi looked at him without saying a word.

Gu Qinghan stood at the door, watching his back, her eyes filled with something indescribable.

Wen Zhaoye put the talisman into his inner bag and attached it to the letter. He took one last look at the bronze cauldron, then turned and walked towards the passage. He paused at the doorway and glanced back at Xuan Kongzi.

"You've kept watch over my father for seventeen years," he said. "Thank you."

Then he left.

Gu Qinghan followed behind him, and when they reached the door, she turned around and glanced at Xuan Kongzi.

Xuan Kongzi stood in front of the cauldron, looking at the bronze cauldron covered with verdigris, which resembled a statue.