Life in siheyuan era

That night, Han Xue didn't sleep well. After the twenty-odd minutes of unease last Saturday, she heard Liu Lanying talking about strange noises again last night. She wanted to go out and take a look, but her parents firmly stopped her.

She had a question in her mind: "Is Zhou Zhiyuan here?"

Then she remembered what He Yushui had said, "My silly brother said that Zhou Zhiyuan hasn't been staying at home these days."

This made her wonder, "Could Zhou Zhiyuan be living here?"

This morning, this question suddenly popped up, and she couldn't lie in bed any longer. She reached for her watch and saw that it was almost seven o'clock.

She hurriedly got up, washed her face, and got dressed. As she walked out the door, she saw five elderly neighbors standing in the hallway talking:

"Did you hear that strange noise last night?"

"I heard it. It scared me so much that I couldn't sleep all night."

"It seemed to be coming from our floor. That sound gave me a strange idea, like someone was dragging another person's leg upstairs."

"Don't scare people."

"Did I say it was a strange idea?"

Han Xue walked past them, hearing these words. She turned a corner, came to the stairwell, and looked up. She withdrew her gaze and saw a gap in the concrete stairs.

She squatted down to take a closer look. It was definitely a heavy object that had smashed off the concrete. She couldn't help but wonder, "Did a fight happen here last night?"

Then, she raised her eyes and looked up. A scratch on the steps caught her eye. She leaned closer to examine it carefully, certain that it was a scratch from a hard object.

Afterward, she walked up the stairs, occasionally seeing a scratch, judging that someone had dragged something upstairs.

Making this judgment, Han Xue became more vigilant. Following the traces of the scratches, she came all the way to the ninth floor and saw that the floor of the corridor also had this scratch. She followed it inward, finally stopping in front of a door. She turned her head and looked, the narrow stairs opposite led directly to the roof platform.

Turning back to look at the door, she hesitated for a moment, raised her hand, and gently knocked. *Tap, tap, tap*. After three knocks, there was no movement inside. She knocked on the door three more times, but there was still no response.

Han Xue had found the room, but Zhou Zhiyuan had already left. To avoid revealing his whereabouts, he had been entering at 8:30 PM and leaving the building at a little after 5:00 AM these past few days.

At this time, he had already finished his morning exercise, had breakfast, and driven his jeep to the entrance of South Fifth Alley on Fengxiang Road, waiting. Soon after, he saw Yu Li walking out of the alley entrance holding a pot of flowers.

Just as he was about to get out of the car and walk over, he saw a slender figure following behind Yu Li.

Yu Li stood at the entrance of the alley and glanced this way. Zhou Zhiyuan immediately leaned to the side and fell onto the passenger seat, reaching from the back seat to grab the cotton coat and cover his head.

After a while, he slowly sat up. He saw Yu Li slowly walking forward, carrying the flowerpot, while that slender figure rode a bicycle in another direction.

Zhou Zhiyuan gently shook his head. This flower business was being handled like a secret agent rendezvous.

But he still had to drive over. He saw her standing by the side of the road waiting. He stopped the car, rolled down the window, and asked, "Comrade, are you selling this pot of flowers?"

Hearing him speak, Yu Li hesitated before replying, "It's not for sale, it's a gift."

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "I'm the kind of person who loves to do good deeds. Let me give you a ride."

"Okay," Yu Li agreed, holding the flowerpot and sitting in the passenger seat.

The jeep immediately drove forward. Yu Li asked, "Isn't that division-level little leader not lending you his car?"

Zhou Zhiyuan laughed and said, "Last night, I went to find him, held a fruit knife to my neck, and asked him, 'Are you lending it or not? If you don't, I'll stab myself.' He had no choice but to lend it."

Hearing him say it so amusingly, Yu Li chuckled and said, "This peony flower is called LY Red. It will bloom in a few days."

Zhou Zhiyuan turned to look at the pot of flowers and said sincerely, "Sister Yu is parting with something she loves. I express my heartfelt gratitude."

"You're welcome..." Yu Li replied, "A distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. We should help each other."

Yu Li's words had a deeper meaning. Zhou Zhiyuan solemnly said, "Sister Yu, besides Hu Biao's matter, is there anything else you need my help with?"

"I have you to help me," Yu Li said bluntly.

Zhou Zhiyuan pondered for a moment and said, "I can help you appraise."

"I don't have purchasing channels, and I don't have sales channels either."

Yu Li's words stunned him. He asked in a low voice, "Sister Yu, what do you have?"

"You need a helper." These words showed that Yu Li understood very clearly.

Zhou Zhiyuan turned to look at her, then turned back and said in a deep voice, "I also need to establish a channel. We'll talk about it later."

He didn't refuse. Yu Li turned her face and replied in a low voice, "Talk to me first."

"Okay," Zhou Zhiyuan agreed.

"Can you tell me about antique knowledge?" Yu Li was completely a layman in this field.

She didn't know that this industry was full of fakes, and that doing this job meant paying for lessons. The more lessons you learned, the more you slowly entered the industry. The only question was whether you could bear those lessons or not.

Zhou Zhiyuan had to make this clear to her. She was different from his master. His master was born into an antique family and had been playing with antiques since he was a child.

She was even more different from him. His talent in this field was so high that even his master marveled at it, especially his unique and keen intuition.

Zhou Zhiyuan's words left Li in a daze as she got out of the car, only knowing one thing: Zhou Zhiyuan didn't want her involved in this line of work.

He made it clear: don't enter this field without appraisal skills, because the fakes in this industry are all top-notch.

This is a mixed bag of an industry, where genuine articles aren't necessarily better than fakes, and a famous painter isn't necessarily better than an unknown one, just like Lou Cheng's 'Plum Blossoms Braving the Snow' – in Zhou Zhiyuan's eyes, it wasn't as good as what Zhou Zhining could paint.

But analyzing the paper and ink of this painting, it was indeed an antique. The problem was, who was this 'Tianjing'?

That was the key question. Talented scholars in ancient times were expected to be skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting; creating a painting wasn't difficult. The price depended on the artist's reputation.

This 'Plum Blossoms Braving the Snow,' although skillfully painted, didn't seem particularly special, and the 'Tianjing' seal was unheard of.

Carefully examining the 'Plum Blossoms Braving the Snow' painting, Zhou Zhiyuan closed his eyes slightly, deep in thought, while Lou Xiao'e still thought, "He's asleep again."

This "again" was different from the appraisal of the mutton-fat jade. He had the same expression then, and Lou Xiao'e thought he was asleep.

Lou Xiao'e believed that Zhou Zhiyuan was good at appraising things in his sleep.

But Zhou Zhiyuan was visualizing the painting in the starry sky. An orange thread of light shone on the painting, and a poem appeared beneath the stars: "Several plum blossoms in the corner, bloom alone in the cold. From afar, I know it's not snow, for a faint fragrance pervades."

This poem immediately reminded Zhou Zhiyuan of someone, then of his wife, and he immediately knew who Tianjing was.

Concealing the starry sky image, Zhou Zhiyuan opened his eyes. Seeing him open his eyes, Lou Xiao'e immediately sat up straight, and Lou Xiaoning's lips curled into a smile.

Zhou Zhiyuan looked at Lou Cheng and said softly, "This painting is priceless; it's a treasure to some, but worthless to others."

This statement piqued the interest of the Lou family of three. Lou Cheng hurriedly said, "Please be specific, Comrade Zhou."

Zhou Zhiyuan said solemnly, "Seeing this painting reminded me of Wang Anshi's poem 'Ode to the Plum Blossom,' and then of Wang Anshi's wife, Wu Qiong."

He didn't say more after that. Lou Cheng and his children were silent for a moment. Lou Xiaoning took the lead, saying, "Remove the 'mouth' radical and the 'king' radical, and you get Tianjing! So it was Madam Wu's painting."

Wang Anshi's wife, Wu Qiong, was historically known as Madam Wu, a title bestowed by Emperor Shenzong of Song.

Lou Cheng and Lou Xiao'e both knew about Madam Wu. Hearing Lou Xiaoning's words, they immediately understood why Zhou Zhiyuan said, "This painting is priceless."

Madam Wu was relatively famous in history because she was Wang Anshi's wife. She was said to be a talented woman, but no poems or writings of hers have survived, and no one had ever heard of her painting.

Even though it was known to be painted by Madam Wu, the painting wouldn't be worth much to most collectors, but it would be priceless to Wang's descendants or Wang Anshi's admirers.

Zhou Zhiyuan's assessment hit the mark. Lou Cheng completely accepted this explanation, carefully put away the painting, and then had Lou Xiaoning bring out a Zisha teapot and place it on the tea table.

This teapot was a square Dou style, with a simple design, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, a square handle, a square spout, and four feet – a standard Chuanxiang teapot.

But Zhou Zhiyuan looked at the teapot, raised his head, and said to Lou Cheng indifferently, "Lou Gong can use this teapot to make tea, but there's no need to collect it."

Hearing this, Lou Cheng said in surprise, "Please look at the bottom of the teapot before you speak."

Zhou Zhiyuan still said indifferently, "The bottom of the teapot must be meticulously engraved with the words 'Let my bones transmit fragrance, Mingyuan,' but it's not a work by Chen Mingyuan. The reason is simple: no matter how carefully it's imitated, it lacks the natural fluency of a master. It feels a bit awkward to me."

This sentence completely negated the Chuanxiang teapot, leaving Lou Cheng stunned for a while. Lou Xiaoning took the fake Chuanxiang teapot inside, and then brought out a jade Ruyi scepter.

This jade Ruyi scepter was made of green jade and was over twenty centimeters long. Zhou Zhiyuan felt it was very ordinary in his hand. He placed it on his right palm, and suddenly felt a warm stream of energy flow into his four fingers, instantly clearing away the coldness lingering in his finger meridians.

The starry sky image in his mind instantly rose, and the orange began to slowly rotate. Four streams of heat circulated in his fingers and entered the Laogong acupoint, and a small emerald dragon appeared beneath the starry sky, then swam through his eight extraordinary meridians, circled around, and reappeared beneath the starry sky. "Sing…" A long chant resounded through the starry sky, rushed into the orange, and disappeared.

The orange also slowly stopped rotating, and an infinite vitality suddenly arose in this starry sky.

This feeling was simply too wonderful, but he couldn't close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep. He slowly opened his eyes and said solemnly, "If you don't lack money, never sell this jade Ruyi scepter."

"If you really want to sell it, you must sell it to those who cultivate. This jade Ruyi scepter is priceless; you'll lose money no matter how much you sell it for."

This was a jade Ruyi scepter used by a Taoist master. Because he held it in his hand for cultivation for many years, it had a trace of spirituality.

But he couldn't say that he had absorbed this trace of spirituality. Although it was unintentional, he owed a great favor.

But he still didn't lie. Although this jade Ruyi scepter had lost its spirituality, it still contained a cultivator's aura, which was still priceless to those who cultivate, and for Lou Cheng, holding this jade Ruyi scepter for many years could also ward off disease and prolong life.