118: Chapter 118 Really? Like the antiques people talk about online? How much are they worth?

Her mouth was agape, her finger extended, pointing forward at the building. But there was no sound, no movement—she just stood there pointing, eyes wide, her expression like someone who had just been struck by something from high above and hadn't yet come to their senses.

Hu Tian withdrew his gaze, rolled down the window, and glanced outside. The sensor at the gate flashed red and then turned green. The wrought-iron gates slowly parted from the center to both sides, silent and smooth, as if well-accustomed to this process.

He drove the car inside.

The gravel road made a faint crunching sound under the wheels. The car stopped in a parking space, and the engine cut out.

Silence.

A light breeze moved through the courtyard, and the leaves of several trees rustled softly.

Hu Tian unbuckled his seatbelt, pulled open the door, got out, walked to the rear, opened the trunk, and pulled out Cousin Zhang Fei's suitcase.

There was no movement from the passenger side.

He walked around and pulled open the passenger door. "We're here."

Only then did Cousin Zhang Fei snap back to life like a plucked string, suddenly springing up.

She straightened up in her seat, turned to look at him, then at the building, then back at him. Her voice burst out, more than twice as loud as she realized, carrying far across the quiet courtyard.

"Cousin! This is what you meant by 'more or less'?!"

Hu Tian stood there with a calm expression. "Get out of the car."

"You said 'more or less'!"

Cousin Zhang Fei jumped out of the car and stood on the gravel road, her entire being still vibrating with shock. Her voice remained loud. "You said three floors with a yard. I thought it would be a normal three-story house with a small yard. But this..."

She gestured all around her. "You call this 'more or less'??"

"It is three stories, and it has a yard."

"Yes! It has three stories and it has a yard!"

Cousin Zhang Fei took a deep breath, covered her face with both hands for two seconds, then lowered them. "Cousin, do you know? Before my mom let me come here, she told me not to cause you any trouble, not to eat too much of your food, and not to touch your things carelessly. At the time, I thought, 'Sure, that makes sense.' But now..."

She glanced at the building again. "With a place of this scale, is my mom's advice even necessary?"

Hu Tian gave her suitcase a push forward. "Go inside."

"Oh, oh, okay."

Cousin Zhang Fei took a deep breath, adjusted her expression, and followed him inside.

The gravel path ended at three steps made of light gray stone, which felt cool to the touch.

The main entrance was a wide solid wood door with a deep grain. Hu Tian approached the sensor area beside the door, and the lock clicked open automatically. He pushed the door open and stepped aside to let Cousin Zhang Fei in first.

Cousin Zhang Fei walked in, her footsteps landing on the foyer floor made of large slabs of dark stone. Light filtered in through the floor-to-ceiling glass on the side, making the floor shine brightly.

A step further inside was a spacious living room.

The ceiling height was much higher than a typical residence. Floor-to-ceiling windows faced the courtyard, bringing the lawn, swimming pool, and trees all into view. The scenery outside the window looked like a hanging painting.

There wasn't much furniture, but every piece was precise. The sofa was deep gray fabric with simple lines; the coffee table was marble with a beautiful grain. On one side stood a bookshelf filled with books and several ornaments: a Small Celadon Jar, an old pit inkstone, and a few items Hu Tian had picked up from who-knows-where and casually placed there. None of them looked cheap.

Cousin Zhang Fei stood in the middle of the living room and slowly turned in a circle.

She didn't speak.

There was a silence for about twenty seconds.

Then, "Cousin."

"Yeah."

"Just what..."

She emphasized every word, "...kind of business are you in?"

Hu Tian dragged her suitcase to the bottom of the stairs. "Antiques."

"Antiques,"

Cousin Zhang Fei repeated. "Antiques? Is it really that simple?"

"Yeah."

Cousin Zhang Fei stared at him intently for five or six seconds before finally sighing. "Fine, if you don't want to say, I won't ask."

She looked around the living room again, her gaze finally resting on the Small Celadon Jar next to the bookshelf on the east side. "Is this real? Or fake?"

Hu Tian followed her gaze to the Small Celadon Jar and paused.

He remembered that jar.

The last time Zhou Waner came over, she had been standing by the bookshelf flipping through books. After a while, she put the books back, looked at the empty corner next to the shelf, and frowned.

"It doesn't look good empty here."

That's what she had said.

So, the two of them went to the Underground Collection Room.

The collection room was further inside, a separate area. A portion of his items from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Holy Treasury were stored there, some in crates and some on shelves. There were quite a lot of them. Zhou Waner had wandered around inside for a long time, looking here and there, before finally stopping in front of a wooden rack and pointing at that Small Celadon Jar. "This one. Take it out and put it in the living room."

So, he had moved the celadon jar out.

He placed it next to the bookshelf. Zhou Waner stepped back to take a look and said, "See, it looks much better this way."

And so it was settled.

"It's real."

"Real? Like the kind of antique they talk about online? How much is it worth?"

Cousin Zhang Fei asked in surprise.

"Over 3 million or so."

Cousin Zhang Fei's jaw dropped. "Uh, this thing you just casually left on the bookshelf... it's real, worth over 3 million, and you just left it there like that?"

Hu Tian withdrew his gaze. "Yeah, just left it there."

Cousin Zhang Fei: "..."

Cousin Zhang Fei looked at Hu Tian with a complicated expression. "Cousin, do you know? When you say that, it makes me feel a bit uneasy."

"Uneasy about what?"

"It's just that..."

She thought for a moment. "The feeling of unease caused by the gap between ordinary people being careful with things worth a few hundred, while you just casually toss aside something worth millions."

Hu Tian didn't respond to that. He took a couple of steps toward the stairs. "Put your luggage up first. I'll show you your room."

Cousin Zhang Fei collected her thoughts and followed him up with her small bag.

The layout of the second floor was more private than the living room. There were several rooms on both sides of the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large window that looked out toward the distant coastline. The weather was good today; the sea was calm, and several distant cargo ships could be seen on the horizon.

Hu Tian pushed open the door to the first room on the right. "You'll stay in this one."

Cousin Zhang Fei followed him in.

The room wasn't small. The window faced the side yard, where a large Osmanthus Tree was planted. Its canopy was dense, and a few shadows from its branches peeked in through the window. The filtered light falling into the room was very soft.

The bed was custom-made with light-colored bedding. There was a wardrobe against the wall, a desk facing the window, a lamp, a small bookshelf—everything basic was there, and there was even an en-suite bathroom.

Cousin Zhang Fei stood in the room, looked around, then turned back to him with a complicated expression. "Cousin, did you set this up for me in advance?"

"It was already like this."

"Already..."

Cousin Zhang Fei paused. "You already had a guest room set up here?"

"Yeah."

She was silent for a moment. "Cousin, how long has it been since you bought this house?"

"Almost two months now."

"Two months,"

Cousin Zhang Fei lingered on the number, a certain look appearing on her face.

She couldn't understand the world of big shots anymore.

Cousin Zhang Fei put her bag on the desk, sat on the edge of the bed, pressed down on the mattress, and looked back at him. "Cousin, do you actually like having company, but just don't say it?"

"Go ahead and unpack,"

Hu Tian turned to walk out. "I'll go prepare lunch."

"Hey,"

Cousin Zhang Fei bounced up from the bed and leaned halfway out the door. "Cousin."

He turned back. "Yeah."

"Thank you."

Her voice was sincere, not just a polite formality, but the kind of thought that had to be voiced.

Hu Tian glanced at her. "Unpack."

Then he walked toward the stairs.

Cousin Zhang Fei stood at the door for a while, watching him go downstairs. The light in the hallway stretched his silhouette long—steady and unhurried. He was already very different from the cousin in her memories who used to stand in corners.

She touched the wooden frame of the door, turned back into the room, pulled her suitcase over, and began to unpack.

Outside the window, the leaves of the Osmanthus Tree moved in the breeze, and the filtered light fell quietly on the bedsheets.

From downstairs came the sound of the refrigerator opening, then the faint sound of water, and then nothing.

Cousin Zhang Fei unzipped her suitcase and began putting her clothes into the wardrobe one by one. Halfway through, she stopped and glanced out the window.

In the side yard, the Osmanthus Tree blocked half the sunlight, casting a diagonal shadow onto the courtyard wall.

She lowered her head again and continued folding clothes, a slight smile on her lips. "More or less,"

She murmured the words and shook her head slightly.

More or less.

One person living in three stories, with a yard, a pool, and an internal lake view, in the building at the very back of the villa area with the largest plot of land.

She used to think her cousin was the type of person who lived in his own world—quiet, reserved, always looking like an extra person wherever he stood.

But now, she was in his house, sitting in the guest room he had kept for her, with a silence outside the window that money couldn't buy.

She thought that he probably was never that kind of person; he just hadn't found the path he was meant to walk before.

She reached into her suitcase again and pulled out a bag from the very bottom. It was some food her mother had stuffed in—cured meats, dried goods, and a jar of homemade chili sauce. Her mother had said, "Your cousin lives alone, give him a little support."

Cousin Zhang Fei carried the pile of dried goods downstairs.

She walked to the kitchen door.

Hu Tian was standing in the kitchen, pouring water into a glass.

Cousin Zhang Fei set the dried goods on the counter. "Cousin, my mom asked me to bring these. She said it's to support you."

Hu Tian looked down at the food on the counter—cured meats, dried goods, and chili sauce.

Hu Tian picked up the water glass, took a sip, and then said, "Leave them there for now. I'll organize them later."

Cousin Zhang Fei turned around and leaned against the counter with her hands behind her back.

She carefully scanned the kitchen. "Cousin, do you know how to cook?"

Hu Tian put the water glass back on the counter, opened a cabinet, scanned the contents, and looked back at her. "I do."

Cousin Zhang Fei's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"What did you think?"

"I thought you lived alone and ordered takeout every day."

Hu Tian didn't reply. He leaned over to check the fridge. Inside were the ribs he bought yesterday, a piece of pork belly, two bunches of greens, half a carton of eggs, and a block of tofu.

He took the items out one by one and placed them on the counter.