Chapter 49: The Infuriating Father-in-Law

After lunch, my father-in-law, Xiao Changkun, was already dressed and ready. He urged Ye Chen, "Ye Chen, hurry up and get ready. Drive our new car and take me to the Antique Street. A shop there just received a Tang Dynasty official kiln vase, and I want to go appraise it."

Ye Chen couldn't help but advise, "Dad, are you starting to play with antiques again? Our family doesn't have much money. Isn't buying antiques a bit too extravagant?"

Xiao Changkun had no real talent for making money, but he had plenty of dreams of getting rich. Whenever he was free, he loved wandering the Antique Street, dreaming of picking up a bargain.

However, over the past few years, he had mostly been the one getting scammed.

Previously, he had quieted down for a while, but who would have thought that instead of stopping completely, he had reignited his obsession.

Seeing that Ye Chen dared to lecture him, Xiao Changkun snorted coldly and said, "Don't talk so much nonsense. Hurry up and drive me there."

Ye Chen felt helpless, but he couldn't disobey, so he had no choice but to drive his father-in-law to the Antique Street.

On the way, Xiao Changkun sat in the new BMW, looking incredibly smug.

He didn't sit in the passenger seat but instead sat in the spacious back row, crossing his legs. While directing Ye Chen to drive, he also made Ye Chen play his favorite treasure-hunting audiobooks on the sound system.

In his words, he was getting old, and reading books strained his eyes, so he just listened to them every day.

That would have been fine, but after listening to a few segments with him, Ye Chen discovered that in the stories he listened to, the protagonist could spend ten yuan and gamble on a piece of raw jade worth a billion.

Hearing this, Ye Chen finally understood why his father-in-law had endless dreams of getting rich every day.

Xiao Changkun was listening with great relish. While listening, he didn't forget to sigh, "Oh, when will I, Old Xiao, ever have such luck—buy a stone for ten yuan and make a billion? Sigh, forget a billion, I'd be satisfied with a hundred million..."

Ye Chen coughed awkwardly and said, "Dad, stop thinking about gambling on stones. Those are all scams."

Xiao Changkun curled his lips: "What do you know?"

After speaking, seeing that the car had reached the Antique Street, he hurriedly ordered, "Hurry up and find a parking spot. Don't delay the time I've scheduled to see the goods!"

Jin Ling is a famous historical city. The Antique Street located outside the scenic area is also quite well-known in the country, gathering antique dealers and treasure hunters from all over the nation.

The local tourism department also followed the trend, spending a huge sum to renovate the Antique Street, turning it into a tourist attraction.

Arriving at the Antique Street, Xiao Changkun navigated the familiar path to the entrance of an antique shop. He explained to the receptionist that he had an appointment, and the other party invited the two to the VIP room in the back to view the goods.

Just as Ye Chen was about to follow, Xiao Changkun turned back and said, "You don't need to come in. You wouldn't understand it anyway. Wait for me at the door of the VIP room!"

Ye Chen had no choice but to nod: "I understand, Dad!"

Xiao Changkun walked into the VIP room with his hands behind his back, following the receptionist, while Ye Chen sat down in the lounge area.

A few minutes later, Ye Chen suddenly heard a crisp "clatter" from inside the VIP room.

Shortly after, Ye Chen saw his father-in-law, Xiao Changkun, running out from inside with a panicked expression.

He was muttering, "It's over, it's over! Now it's really over!"

Ye Chen hurriedly walked over and looked behind his father-in-law. He saw a tall, slender ceramic vase on the ground, already broken into two pieces, with many small ceramic shards scattered around.

Through the fragments, one could vaguely tell that what had been broken was likely a Tang Dynasty Jade Pot Spring Vase.

Having grown up in the Ye family, he had seen and heard much, and at a glance, he could tell that the bottle was a genuine antique. It wouldn't be a problem for it to sell for several million on the market.

It seemed his father-in-law had caused a huge disaster this time.

Inside the VIP room, a middle-aged man with a dark face said, "Mr. Xiao, we bought this Jade Pot Spring Vase for over five million. Now that you've broken it, you must compensate us according to the price!"

This person was Zhou Liangyun, the manager of Jiqing Hall.

Xiao Changkun pulled Ye Chen over and said, unable to hide his panic, "This is my precious son-in-law. Do you know how much money he has? Forget five million, even fifty million is no problem! You two can talk about the compensation! I have something else to do, I'm leaving first!"

After saying this, Xiao Changkun pushed Ye Chen inside and turned to run away.

Ye Chen was stunned. This father-in-law was too shameless. He was clearly trying to make him take the fall!

Zhou Liangyun looked at Ye Chen and asked coldly, "This gentleman, it's five million three hundred and eighty thousand in total. Will you pay by card or transfer?"

Ye Chen spread his hands: "I have no money."

It wasn't that he couldn't afford to pay, but he wanted his father-in-law to learn a lesson, so he wouldn't keep asking him to come to the Antique Street every day.

"No money?" Zhou Liangyun gritted his teeth and said, "You broke something from our Jiqing Hall, do you think you can get away with just saying you have no money?"

Ye Chen said helplessly, "I didn't want to get away with it, but I really don't have any money. Besides, you didn't see me break this vase, so why should I pay?"

Zhou Liangyun was furious: "Isn't that your father-in-law?"

Ye Chen nodded: "You said it yourself, it's my father-in-law, not me. Whoever broke it, you should ask them for compensation. This is called 'every debt has its debtor, and trouble shouldn't involve the family.' Don't you understand this principle?"

Zhou Liangyun was annoyed, but he realized what Ye Chen said made sense.

If he forced him to pay without reason, and it got out, the reputation of Jiqing Hall would be ruined.

So he hurriedly blurted out to the people around him, "You guys, hurry up and catch that old man for me!"

Ye Chen watched them scramble to chase his father-in-law, smiling without a word.

Actually, he could have just swiped his card to pay for it, but if he did that, wouldn't he be letting his shameless father-in-law off the hook?

Rather than that, it was better to let the old man suffer a bit.

Otherwise, if he encountered such a thing again in the future, he would still try to frame him.

The entire staff of Jiqing Hall went out to catch Ye Chen's father-in-law. Since Ye Chen was idle, he took a look at the vase broken into two halves on the ground.

The vase was about half a meter tall, and now it was broken into two halves and a pile of shards. It really was a pity.

However, he suddenly noticed that something seemed to be hidden at the bottom of the lower half of the vase.

He hurriedly reached in and fished it out, and to his surprise, he pulled out a small wooden box!

He didn't expect that there would be such a mystery inside this vase!

The shape of the Jade Pot Spring Vase had a small mouth and a large belly. This wooden box was clearly two or three times larger than the mouth of the vase. It seemed this wasn't inserted later, but rather, the wooden box was built directly into the vase when it was being made!

Looking at it this way, this wooden box must have been left behind from the Tang Dynasty as well!

He held the wooden box in his hand, examined it carefully, and then used some force. With a "pop," he opened the wooden box.

As the wooden box opened, an extremely refreshing fragrance wafted out. Ye Chen took a breath and felt refreshed.

Looking closely, inside the wooden box lay an ancient book no larger than a palm!

Ye Chen picked up this very miniature ancient book and saw the four ancient seal characters "Nine Profound Heaven Scripture" written on the title page.

"This name is quite interesting. I wonder what it records." Ye Chen opened the book and looked through it.

The first chapter was the "Medical Arts Chapter," which recorded a large number of cases and treatment methods.

Ye Chen frowned slightly. He had been exposed to Traditional Chinese Medicine and knew some basic theories, but the content recorded in this book was clearly far more advanced than the methods of the current TCM world.

Some diagnostic methods were unheard of, and at the very end of the Medical Arts Chapter, Ye Chen even saw alchemy techniques. The effects of some pills were simply beyond the reality of society.

Ye Chen became interested, sat on the ground, and kept flipping through it.

To his surprise, this "Nine Profound Heaven Scripture" also contained content on Feng Shui divination, as well as various miraculous methods for appraising treasures and restoration. Besides that, there were many other strange and curious things.

Ye Chen read for a long time, feeling as if every word in the book was drilling into his brain, his heart feeling like boiling water.

He had picked up a bargain!

This was a peerless treasure! ===== CHAPTER 50 =====