51: Time freezes

In the evening, Lu Fan sat in his newly decorated open-plan study.

On the bookshelves made of red sandalwood, various books were neatly stacked;

Inside a large Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain vat, calligraphy and painting scrolls were packed to the brim;

On the rosewood desk, the four treasures of the study were all present;

On the small-leaf red sandalwood tea table, purple clay teapots by Gu Jinzhou and Wang Yinchun were lined up.

Looking at all this, the smile on Lu Fan's face was harder to suppress than an AK's recoil.

He had as many as twenty-one paintings by Huang Binhong, Fu Baoshi, Wu Hufan, and Zhang Daqian.

Using his limited knowledge of the art market, he did a rough estimation.

At an average price of thirty million each, that wasn't too much, was it?

These twenty-one paintings were worth at least several "small goals."

Buying these twenty-one paintings for 70,000 silver dollars was already an incredible bargain.

He also got a whole room's worth of items for free, especially those ancient books, which he felt would be quite valuable after flipping through them.

They might not sell for much, but their cultural research value was definitely sky-high.

He would pick out some of these books to send to Cloud Pavilion.

They were paying him a salary, so it wouldn't be right to do nothing.

He casually pulled out a painting by Zhang Daqian and muttered to himself, "Having eyes but failing to recognize gold-inlaid jade."

Any of Zhang Daqian's paintings would start at tens of millions in a modern auction.

Although market enthusiasm had cooled down quite a bit in recent years.

However, Zhang Daqian's works were like hard currency; their value had risen instead of falling.

Now, even without those five hundred kilograms of gold, he didn't have to worry about his debts.

There was no debt that a painting by Zhang Daqian couldn't settle.

If there was, then throw in another one.

"Today you ignore me, tomorrow I'll be out of your league."

In a good mood, Lu Fan muttered smugly as he leaned down.

He began to admire the masterpiece by the famous artist with great care.

"Are those words meant for me?"

A cool voice came from outside the door, followed by the clicking of high heels as a beautiful sight entered the room.

Today, Sheng Aiyi was dressed in simple, everyday clothes, having shed her heavy makeup to become the image of a modest girl-next-door.

Lu Fan put down the scroll. Seeing Sheng Aiyi dressed like this, his heartstrings were inexplicably tugged.

Undeniably, this fresh and lovely Sheng Aiyi was exactly his type.

But the gap between them was obvious, and besides, they weren't from the same era.

He immediately composed himself and moved to the tea table.

He didn't dare neglect Seventh Miss Sheng; he had to brew tea, and it had to be good tea.

Sheng Aiyi walked slowly to the tea table, watching Lu Fan skillfully handle the tea set.

The smile playing on his lips looked to her like he was mocking her previous ignorance.

"Is it fun to play tricks on me?"

She sat down at the tea table with a look of coquettish annoyance.

Lu Fan was taken aback: "Seventh Miss, what do you mean by that?"

"Those watches, in terms of material, movement, design, function, and craftsmanship, are in a league of their own.

I took them as ordinary goods, with a price difference of dozens of times. Why didn't you remind me?"

Sheng Aiyi huffed and placed the watch box heavily onto the tea table.

Lu Fan didn't even look up, focusing on brewing the tea.

After performing the 'Phoenix Three Nods' pour, he placed a cup of black tea in front of the beauty: "So, is the eldest Seventh Miss Sheng here specifically for poverty alleviation?"

"Stop being so sarcastic!" Sheng Aiyi tapped the table twice with her fingers and picked up the tea cup for a sip.

"Tell me, how much? I'll pay the difference."

"Payment on delivery, the deal is done. There is no 'difference' to pay."

Lu Fan blew gently on the steam, causing ripples in the bright red tea.

Looking at the calm Lu Fan, Sheng Aiyi's ears burned. She took a sip of tea to suppress her chaotic thoughts.

Born into a wealthy family and well-educated, she, Seventh Miss Sheng, had dominated the business world for over a decade.

She considered her vision, knowledge, and refinement to be top-tier.

Who would have thought she'd meet her match in a returned overseas Chinese man.

What was more frustrating was that he handled things even more calmly than she did.

"With such a price difference, aren't you angry that I took advantage of you?"

Strong curiosity drove Sheng Aiyi to get to the bottom of it.

"Angry? Of course I'm angry," Lu Fan sighed with interest, resting his chin on his hand.

"Seventh Miss Sheng, when you were haggling, you were like a queen possessed—decisive and ruthless.

I wanted to haggle too, but 'this humble servant' just couldn't do it~~~"

Sheng Aiyi burst out laughing, her tense nerves relaxing. "Then are you still going to let me pay the difference?"

She looked at his profile through the rising steam of the tea—lazy yet sharp.

For a moment, she was lost in thought.

"Then how does Seventh Miss Sheng plan to make it up?" Lu Fan silently refilled the tea. Chatting with a less aggressive Sheng Aiyi was quite pleasant.

His lips curled up slightly, and he said on an impulse, "Friendly reminder: this shop accepts repayment with your body."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Fan realized he had been too flippant.

This was 1937, and social norms were far less open than in modern times.

Because of those words, it wouldn't have been too much if Sheng Aiyi gave him a hard slap.

The atmosphere instantly froze.

Feeling guilty, Lu Fan discreetly glanced at Sheng Aiyi out of the corner of his eye.

Her brows were furrowed, she was biting her lower lip, and her eyes flashed with anger.

At the same time, faced with such blatant teasing, her cheeks and neck turned a deep red, looking like a ripe red apple.

At this moment, Sheng Aiyi had none of the crispness of a strong woman; instead, she showed the bashfulness of a young lady.

Her eyes darted away, clearly unsure how to respond to Lu Fan's words.

Both lost in their own thoughts, the two sat there silently drinking tea.

Seeing the painting spread out on the desk, Sheng Aiyi used it to restart the conversation: "Do you like traditional Chinese painting?"

Lu Fan scratched his head awkwardly and admitted honestly, "I like it, I do,

but I'm a complete layman with no eye for discernment."

Sheng Aiyi moved to the desk and examined the painting.

"A work by Zhang Daqian from a few years ago. It's good." Then she took a turn around the study and hit the nail on the head.

"If I'm not mistaken, everything in this study was bought from Zhang Daxing, right?"

"Seventh Miss Sheng, you have sharp eyes; nothing escapes you."

Lu Fan's hand holding the tea cup froze mid-air. The vision of those from prominent families was indeed broad.

"Now you know how to flatter me? Too late~~"

Sheng Aiyi straightened her back and lifted her chin proudly, like a haughty swan.

Then, she picked up a scroll to look at and opened an ancient book to check.

Finally, she gave a sharp critique: "The items are decent. Although the things from Zhang Daxing's house aren't exactly antiques,

these paintings by contemporary masters have very good artistic value and great potential for appreciation.

You bought them as a package, so the price definitely wasn't that high. You have a good eye..."

While she was talking eloquently, a bee flew into the room and headed straight for Sheng Aiyi.

"Ah~~"

Facing the aggressive bee, she let out an instinctive cry.

She instinctively held her head to dodge, but unexpectedly her foot slipped, and she began to fall.

Faster than words can say, Lu Fan propped himself up with one hand, vaulted over the tea table, and flicked away the troublesome little bee.

With his other hand, he gently wrapped his arm around her slender waist, steadily catching the falling young lady.

Still shaken, Sheng Aiyi instinctively hugged Lu Fan's waist tightly with both hands.

When they were both fully steady, she slowly looked up. The moment her eyes met Lu Fan's, time seemed to freeze.