Chapter 35: It Just Had to Happen This Way

Page 1 of 3

Almost involuntarily, Li Xinfang remembered the time she had accompanied her father to Rongbaozhai. The shop manager had been hounded to the point of helplessness and finally summoned General Manager Hao:

With an air of solemn gravity, he had sat rigidly upright and said, “Director Li, I won’t hide it from you. The shop does have what you want, but I’m afraid it would be difficult…”

Yet the man before her now had an arm draped over someone’s shoulder, laughing and joking merrily.

If the impression had not been so deep, she would hardly have recognized him.

After exchanging a few words, Hao Jun prepared to leave, but Lin Sicheng caught him by the arm.

“Director Guan hasn’t called yet. What are you in such a hurry for? As it happens, I need a favor. Does the shop have any jade objects? Could you spare one for me?”

“Tell me first who it’s for.”

Oh? So there were different grades depending on the recipient?

Lin Sicheng’s mind raced. “The father of my grandpa’s god-grandson’s future girlfriend!”

Hao Jun spent quite some time untangling that in his head, then glanced behind him. “Why not just say it’s for a relative?”

“Are you going to tell me whether you have one or not?”

“We do.” Hao Jun nodded. “But you need to be more specific. Even among study antiques and jade objects, different pieces carry different qualities and symbolic meanings.”

“I know. It’s a gift, a birthday gift. The recipient holds a fairly important position.”

Lin Sicheng answered, then looked back again. “Doctor Li, can you give him a little more information?”

Li Xinfang suddenly froze.

Was it really going to be this easy?

She steadied herself and lowered her voice. “My uncle works in the judicial system.”

“Then a seal would be perfect!” Hao Jun declared decisively. “But there’s no need to go to the shop. The paperwork would be troublesome, and the prices are high besides. Old Guan has several of them, all carved by renowned masters—Gao Fengxiang, Zhang Yanchang, Li Liangyu… There’s even one by Wu Changshuo, made from black field-yellow stone…”

Lin Sicheng was startled.

Black field-yellow stone was the finest of the field-yellow stones, and this particular piece had been carved by Wu Changshuo?

Even in 2007, it would have been worth more than a million.

When Lin Sicheng remained silent, Hao Jun assumed he was worried that Guan Xingmin might not be willing to part with it. He gave him a reassuring look.

“Old Guan does treasure that piece, but it depends on who’s asking.”

The previous night, when the two men had spoken on the phone about coming to West Warehouse, Old Guan had mentioned Lin Sicheng as well: the boy had a good eye, and an even better temperament…

In short, they had taken to each other.

“Let’s forget the Wu Changshuo.” Lin Sicheng glanced behind him. “Doctor Li, ask your uncle whether a Gao Fengxiang seal would do.”

Gao Fengxiang was famous, but not overwhelmingly so—not nearly as conspicuous as Wu Changshuo. His public image was impeccable, and he had even served as an official.

Li Xinfang nodded repeatedly. “It’ll definitely do!”

“Still, it would be better to ask.”

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

“Of course, of course… I’ll ask him right now!”

Li Xinfang’s face flushed with excitement as she hurriedly took out her phone.

How could she not be thrilled? Her father had exhausted every avenue, humbling himself and speaking with the utmost deference, yet Secretary Hao had never relented. Lin Sicheng, on the other hand, had used only a few sentences.

And however little she understood about such things, she did know what field-yellow stone was, and who Wu Changshuo had been.

When her father found out, he would be beside himself with joy.

While waiting for her to finish the call before going to see Guan Xingmin, Lin Sicheng casually asked, “Does Director Guan have a fondness for epigraphy and seal carving?”

“Not gold—only stone. And it isn’t just seals. He likes tinkering with all kinds of jade objects.”

“What about Tibetan prayer beads? Would he like them? Green nephrite from Hotan, dating from the Qing dynasty, with four kapala beads made from human bone?”

“He definitely wouldn’t want them, but someone else would.” Hao Jun’s eyes lit up. “I have a Tibetan client. You sold that statue of the Buddha to him last time, and he paid without blinking.”

He certainly had. The statue had been worth around two hundred thousand, yet Hao Jun had managed to sell it for three hundred and seventy thousand. After taxes, the final amount came to exactly three hundred thousand.

“Ask him later. His place is just around the corner. The asking price isn’t high either—only one hundred and sixty thousand. And the owner has already been shaken badly by me. You might even be able to bargain him down…”

Lin Sicheng briefly recounted what had happened, and Hao Jun’s eyes widened.

How obscure was this Tibetan incense blend?

Hao Jun specialized in Indian studies and Buddhist archaeology. He had hardly ever even seen it, let alone smelled it.

The crucial point was that the formula was extraordinarily complex, containing more than thirty ingredients of all kinds. Yet Lin Sicheng had identified every one of them without a single mistake.

Should he bring over a sniffer dog?

Lin Sicheng rubbed his nose. “Why are you staring at me?”

“I’m not.” Hao Jun looked away. “You’re not going?”

“Forget it. I’d only be asking for trouble and end up getting beaten.”

Was it really that serious?

Perhaps not quite, but Hao Jun understood that Lin Sicheng was simply returning a favor.

To ordinary people, kapala beads were made of human bone. But to followers of Tibetan Buddhism, they were among the holiest of sacred objects. Unless they were relics of a great lama, such beads would never be strung with jade prayer beads, much less placed on an altar and worshipped for years.

If he sold them to the client who had bought the Buddha statue, the man would have paid three hundred and twenty thousand without so much as wrinkling his brow.

Hao Jun sighed.

What had Old Guan said the previous night?

That boy was rather stubborn. He never failed to repay kindness, and never left affection unanswered…

He was still sighing inwardly when his phone rang. Hao Jun had just taken it out when the call was disconnected.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

A moment later, Guan Xingmin’s voice came from behind them.

“Oh? Little Lin, did Old Hao ask you to come?”

“No, this kid skipped class!”

“Hahaha…” Guan Xingmin burst out laughing. “You’re quite something. You’ve got your grandfather pinned down in the hospital, and you’ve run off to enjoy yourself?”

Lin Sicheng laughed as well. “I’m helping a relative look at something.”

Hao Jun mentioned the seals again. Guan Xingmin did not offer even the slightest objection. He simply told Lin Sicheng to come to his house and choose whichever piece he liked.

After chatting for a while longer, Li Xinfang finished her call and came over with Gu Ming. Lin Sicheng was just about to introduce them when Li Xinfang gave a startled cry.

“Uncle Guan?”

Guan Xingmin froze. Recalling what Lin Sicheng had just said, his expression grew stranger and stranger.

“The gentleman over there is my grandfather’s god-grandson. You should know his father—Gu Kaishan, from Nanyuanmen Police Station…”

“The person beside him making the call is his girlfriend. They’ve only just started seeing each other, and her father happens to need to give someone a gift…”

“I didn’t get a chance to ask exactly what he does. She only said he works in the judicial system. I imagine he needs someone to handle a matter for him, and his position must be fairly senior…”

So the person to whom the father of his grandfather’s god-grandson’s future girlfriend needed to give a gift—

could that person be him?

Li Xinfang was even more dumbfounded.

She had heard Lin Sicheng and Hao Jun mention “Director Guan” several times, but Guan Xingmin’s official title outside the office was “Division Chief.” She had never connected the two.

What were they supposed to do now?

How could she possibly give him a gift?

Hao Jun was also deeply shocked. In fact, he had recognized Li Xinfang at first sight, but they were not acquainted, so he had kept quiet.

Lin Sicheng was utterly bewildered.

Her uncle worked in the judicial system…

Guan Xingmin worked for the Public Security Bureau.

His rank was fairly senior…

Was the deputy director of the Forensic Identification Center a senior division-level official or a deputy division-level official?

He enjoyed collecting antiques…

Well, if he did not enjoy collecting antiques, Guan Xingmin could never have joined the Collectors’ Association.

But who could have imagined that everything would line up so disastrously?

Had his good intentions somehow backfired and made matters worse?

Just as he sensed that something was wrong, Guan Xingmin suddenly laughed.

“Little Li, go back and tell your father to come to my office tomorrow. And tell him not to bring anything. If he does, he shouldn’t come!”

After a brief pause, he laughed again and patted Lin Sicheng on the shoulder.

“All you had to do was make a phone call. Why did you go to so much trouble?”

Li Xinfang was in a daze. She wanted to thank him, but her tongue seemed tied in knots.

The matter that had tormented her father, keeping him anxious for months, had actually been settled just like that?

Page 3 of 3