Chapter 2850

Ye Chen felt that his brain had short-circuited for a brief moment.

Looking at it now, it was highly probable that Zhou Liangyun had appeared in Jin Ling due to someone's arrangement, and the person who arranged it was very likely his own father, who had passed away twenty years ago.

This also made Ye Chen feel an inexplicable sense of tension and pressure; what exactly had his parents encountered back then that not only brought about their untimely deaths but also required them to plan so far ahead and so extensively for him before the incident occurred?

Back then, when his parents met with their misfortune, Tang Sihai had protected him in the welfare institution at the very first opportunity; this was an arrangement his father had made long ago. Yet, he never expected that his father had also arranged for this man surnamed Zhou to head to Jin Ling nearly twenty years later to set up a layout for him...

Thinking of this, he picked up the phone again and called Song Wanting; there was one more question he urgently needed to confirm with her.

The call connected, and Song Wanting asked respectfully from the other end: "Master Ye, have you looked at the information I sent you just now? Is there any problem?"

"I've looked at it," Ye Chen said. "There's no problem. I just have another matter I'd like to confirm with you."

Song Wanting hurriedly said: "Please go ahead, Master Ye."

Ye Chen said: "It's about that Yuhu Chun vase that my father-in-law accidentally broke back then. Do you still know how it ended up at Jiqing Hall? Did Jiqing Hall acquire it themselves, or did someone else place it there for consignment?"

Song Wanting pondered: "That Yuhu Chun vase... if I remember correctly, it should have been acquired by Manager Zhou. In the first month he joined, he helped Jiqing Hall acquire quite a few antiques. However, most of them weren't particularly outstanding. Although they couldn't be called 'eye-openers' (fakes), the items were quite ordinary and didn't have much profit margin. That Yuhu Chun vase could be considered the best antique he acquired."

Ye Chen murmured: "So it really was acquired by him... Then, did he say where exactly he acquired this item from?"

Song Wanting thought for a moment and said: "At the time, he said it was transferred to him by a friend he used to deal in antiques with because the friend was short on cash. Moreover, the price was indeed quite reasonable; the market price could probably fetch around four to five million, and it even had the potential to fetch five or six million. However, the person's asking price at the time hadn't even reached four million, so I felt it was a steady profit without risk, and I let him acquire it."

"I understand," Ye Chen nodded to himself. This result did not exceed his expectations. Looking at it this way, this Zhou Liangyun specifically went to Jin Ling, applied for a job at Jiqing Hall, and even introduced that Yuhu Chun vase to Jiqing Hall at a low price—everything was done so that he could obtain the "Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra."

Then the question arose: was this "Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra" left for him by his father?

If his father had already obtained the "Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra" back then, why didn't he practice the techniques within it?

Thinking of this, Ye Chen couldn't help but fall into a dilemma.

At this moment, Song Wanting on the other end of the phone asked with concern: "Master Ye, why are you suddenly so concerned about that Yuhu Chun vase? Is there a problem with it?"

Ye Chen hurriedly said: "There's no problem. I just suddenly thought of this matter and wanted to get it clear."

As he spoke, Ye Chen added: "Wanting, I have some other matters here, so I won't chat with you for now. We'll talk again when I return to Jin Ling another day."

Song Wanting guessed that Ye Chen must be verifying certain things, but seeing that Ye Chen didn't want to be explicit, she was very tactful and didn't pursue the matter, instead saying respectfully: "Master Ye, if you have any needs or any questions, feel free to call Wanting at any time."

"No problem."

Ye Chen thanked Song Wanting and hung up the phone.

Seeing his face full of doubt, Lin Wan'er couldn't help but ask: "What is troubling you now, Young Master?"

Ye Chen said frankly: "I just suddenly thought of one more point. At the time, that 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' appeared to be a book, but in reality, it didn't look like a book. Moreover, after I picked it up, it quickly turned into dust on its own, yet the content inside was inexplicably imprinted into my mind..."

Pausing, Ye Chen added: "In that case, does it mean that this 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' itself was just a one-time item, destined for only one person to obtain its content?"

Lin Wan'er nodded without hesitation and said: "It should be exactly as you guessed, Young Master."

Ye Chen added: "Since that's the case, when I discovered it, the Yuhu Chun vase had just shattered, and it hadn't turned into powder yet. Does that mean that before I discovered it, no one else had seen the content inside?"

Lin Wan'er thought for a moment and said: "I don't think we can say no one had seen the content inside. I feel it's more like others wanted to see it but couldn't."

As she spoke, Lin Wan'er added: "From your uncle's words, we know that when your father obtained the 'Nine Mysteries Sutra Preface' back then, he treated it like a treasure and studied its mysteries day and night. Therefore, I believe there is no reason why, after studying the 'Nine Mysteries Sutra Preface' and obtaining the deeper 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra,' he would choose not to study it and instead leave it for you."

Ye Chen agreed: "That's right. According to normal human thinking, since it's a book, even if it's the best and rarest book, one could read it first before passing it on to one's son, or teach the content to one's son. There is absolutely no reason to not even look at it and just put it away for over twenty years, waiting for one's son to read it."

Lin Wan'er nodded and said: "Therefore, I believe there is only one possibility: that although your father obtained the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' at the time, he was unable to access its content. It was like a riddle he couldn't solve, so he found a way to leave it for you to solve."

Ye Chen said: "You mean to say that the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' itself had some kind of restriction, such that even though my father obtained it, he couldn't see the content inside, and only I could obtain it?"

"Yes," Lin Wan'er said firmly. "I think it must be so! Perhaps your destiny is stronger, which is why you could gain the recognition of the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra'."

Ye Chen asked back: "They all say I have a Dragon Destiny. Then I want to ask, is a Dragon Destiny innate?"

"Of course!" Lin Wan'er said without hesitation. "Destiny is determined the moment one is born. You were naturally born with a Dragon Destiny, Young Master."

Ye Chen asked again: "Then since I was born with a Dragon Destiny, why did my father arrange for me to wait until I was twenty-seven to obtain the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra'?"

Lin Wan'er thought for a moment and said: "Didn't you say you were previously in a 'Dragon Trapped in Shallow Water' situation? Thanks to the descendant of the Lai family helping you break this predicament, perhaps it was because you were in the process of being a 'Dragon Trapped in Shallow Water' that your father was waiting for you to break this predicament?"

Ye Chen murmured: "But Zhou Liangyun didn't stay in Jin Ling waiting for me to break the predicament. He only came to Jin Ling a little over a month before the incident. That means when he came to Jin Ling, he knew what would happen later..."

"But my father has been dead for twenty years... He isn't a master calculator like you. How could he have known twenty years ago that I would only be able to break that predicament when I was twenty-seven?"

Lin Wan'er couldn't help but frown.

She pondered for a long time before saying: "What you just said is very true, Young Master. Although I have no intention of being offensive, it is impossible for your father to have calculated things twenty years later so precisely twenty years ago."

Ye Chen added: "When I met Old Master Lai at Mount Ye Ling, he said he was requested by my grandfather to go to Yan Jing to select Mount Ye Ling as a geomantic treasure land for the Ye family. I have verified this matter with my grandfather and many other sources. At that time, the Ye family's luck was poor, and my grandfather did indeed seek help everywhere, finally reaching Old Master Lai. Therefore, my ability to break the 'Dragon Trapped in Shallow Water' predicament shouldn't have been arranged by my father in advance."

Lin Wan'er asked: "Then did the descendant of the Lai family tell you when your 'Dragon Trapped in Shallow Water' predicament was formed?"

Ye Chen recalled for a moment and said: "According to him, it should have been formed when I got married."

Lin Wan'er asked in confusion: "Then it's even harder to understand. You are twenty-eight this year. From birth until you were twenty-three, you had a Dragon Destiny and were never trapped. Why didn't Zhou Liangyun give you the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' before you were twenty-three?"

Ye Chen sighed: "Yes, I can't understand it either. And what I find even harder to understand is that Zhou Liangyun didn't appear before I was twenty-three, then I got married and invisibly fell into the 'Dragon Trapped in Shallow Water' predicament, which was only broken by Old Master Lai four years later. Why was Zhou Liangyun able to grasp the timing so precisely?"

"From the timeline Old Master Lai told me, I can confirm that immediately after he completely broke the 'Dragon Trapped in Shallow Water' predicament, I obtained the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra'. This means Zhou Liangyun knew when I would be able to break the predicament, so he came to Jin Ling to prepare a month before I broke it."

Lin Wan'er exclaimed: "It seems he has been paying attention to the Ye family, to you, and even to every move Old Master Lai made."

Ye Chen couldn't help but sigh: "Looking at it now, to know what is going on, I must find this Zhou Liangyun. He must know what this is all about."

Lin Wan'er agreed: "Finding him is the key. But there is one more thing I want you to confirm with your father-in-law, Young Master."

Ye Chen asked her: "My father-in-law? What do I need to confirm with him?"

Lin Wan'er said seriously: "You need to confirm with him how exactly that Yuhu Chun vase shattered when he was at Jiqing Hall."

Ye Chen said: "He slipped and dropped it."

Lin Wan'er asked back: "But you didn't see him slip with your own eyes, did you, Young Master?"

Ye Chen nodded: "Indeed, that's what he told me."

Lin Wan'er said: "Looking at it now, the shattering of that Yuhu Chun vase was the key to you obtaining the 'Nine Mysteries Heavenly Sutra' later. It was like the only fuse for detonating explosives. Therefore, I believe such an important trigger condition should not be left to chance based on whether your father-in-law slipped or not."

"Therefore, how exactly that Yuhu Chun vase slipped from your father-in-law's hand and shattered is also very important. Was it a scheme deliberately set by Zhou Liangyun, or did the vase shatter on its own?"