Chapter 33
Inside the Gu family villa.
“Is the person you found reliable at all!” Gu Yue frowned while speaking to Gu Shaoyu with unease.
After hearing that a young antique shop owner had taken on the job, she wanted to personally visit and see for herself.
However, Gu Shaoyu wouldn’t allow it, saying this would make it seem like they didn’t trust his friend.
She simply didn’t trust them – such complex craftsmanship, could someone who graduated not long ago repair it properly?
She was afraid that they might be getting scammed.
“Sister, if you don’t trust me, then you should at least trust Brother Jiayan, since he also knows her.” Gu Shaoyu explained, “Besides, her shop is still there, so she won’t just run away.”
While this was true, Gu Yue still felt uneasy about such a precious item.
Moreover, yesterday an acquaintance told her that someone on his side could repair it for only 100,000 yuan.
He also mentioned that the person her brother found might be an amateur, questioning why anyone would charge such high prices – it was too expensive.
He warned her to be careful, as the person might create a counterfeit replica to give them instead.
Just then, Gu Shaoyu received a video from Shen You.
One fracture on the item he had sent was already repaired, and the craftsmanship was so exquisite that without looking at the remaining unrepaired parts, no one would know it had ever been broken.
Gu Shaoyu showed the video to Gu Yue.
“Brother Jiayan says this is ancient lost technique, and even museums use methods provided by my friend. Can that person you mentioned do work this well?”
Moreover, Shen You had donated cultural artifacts worth hundreds of millions – would she really covet their item?
After watching the video, Gu Yue finally felt somewhat reassured.
“I’ll wait a few more days, but if anything goes wrong with this, you’re finished!”
Gu Shaoyu quickly asked Shen You whether the remaining parts would take much longer, since he had been watching for several days and only one section was repaired.
Shen You replied: No need to worry, the beginning is always the most difficult, and it can be restored within the agreed timeframe.
“Is the other party female?”
Gu Yue thought about that wealthy profile picture, “It can’t be that you’ve fallen for her, that’s why you’re defending her so much, right?”
Gu Shaoyu shook his head then found an excuse to return to his room.
He admitted that when adding Shen You as a friend at the gathering, it was indeed because she was beautiful.
During university, he had met her several times on the road, and some classmates had even chased after her to ask for her WeChat.
His impression of Shen You was limited to that, since he never lacked girls who approached him actively.
After adding her as a friend that day, there wasn’t much interaction.
It wasn’t until he broke Gu Yue’s antique that he tried reaching out for help with a hopeful attitude.
Unexpectedly, he had found the right person!
However, he noticed that Brother Jiayan seemed to have some interest in her.
Shen You worked for several hours, then went to the courtyard to trim dead branches as a way to relax.
If one couldn’t calm down for this work, they wouldn’t last two days – they’d get so irritated during meals that they’d slam their bowl on the table.
She went to the nearest supermarket again, buying some vegetables, fruits, meat, and drinks to restock the refrigerator.
On her way back, she accidentally overheard gossip about herself.
“She’s a young girl, yet expensive cars keep coming to her shop from time to time. I think something’s not right about this.”
“The antique business is like that, though some shops indeed don’t make money from their surface business.”
“That’s what I’m saying, no wonder my nephew wasn’t interested.” Sister Cui added.
Some people also spoke up for Shen You:
“You can’t talk nonsense, making baseless accusations. That girl is quite nice. Wasn’t it your nephew who got kicked out some time ago? How did it become your nephew not being interested?”
All the neighbors knew that Sister Cui considered her nephew extremely outstanding and that he had to find a girl with good conditions.
She had previously tried matchmaking in the neighborhood, but when people weren’t interested in her nephew, she would claim it was her nephew who wasn’t interested in them.
Everyone was about to continue talking when they saw Shen You passing by, and they all fell silent with embarrassed expressions.
Only the neighbor who had spoken up for Shen You smiled and greeted her, and Shen You responded graciously while walking toward her own door.
After dinner, the Great Qi Antique Shop opened.
Today brought an unexpected regular customer – Li Heng.
He looked at Shen You with a smile, “Being able to see Miss Shen in the capital is truly a wonderful thing.”
Shen You nodded in surprise. Indeed it was good – the capital was great for business!
“What brings you here today?”
Li Heng’s gaze paused slightly, then he smiled helplessly. It seemed he only had the slight friendship brought by a few transactions with Miss Shen.
She had never cared about his identity, nor had any schemes.
Only here could he dare to breathe a sigh of relief.
That day’s welcoming banquet was full of people coming and going with hidden agendas.
It wasn’t as good as that meal eaten in the shop that day.
“After returning to the capital two days ago, there were many people and matters to deal with, so I waited until today to come here.”
Shen You nodded again, showing understanding, waiting for him to continue.
“Since returning to the capital, I haven’t slept well for a single day.” Li Heng said softly.
“The palace is trying to plant people around me.”
If the disaster relief in Yunzhou hadn’t gone well, they would have had reason to depose him. Since he returned smoothly, the emperor’s suspicions were greater than before.
Today he used the excuse of going to the temple to escape those eyes secretly watching him and came here.
Li Heng observed Shen You’s expression. That last sentence was intentionally said, but Shen You only looked at him sincerely.
“This is a heart ailment, and there’s nothing I can do about it here.”
Sleeping pills could help with sleep, but such medicine shouldn’t be taken carelessly.
Li Heng felt somewhat disappointed and remained silent for a moment before speaking:
“The pair of hair ornaments worn by Miss Zhao from the Marquis residence – were they bought at your shop?”
“Yes.”
Shen You thought Li Heng would say something more, but she saw him hesitate for a few seconds before standing up to leave.
“Three days from now is the temple fair, and the capital will be very lively then. If Miss Shen is interested, you can go take a look.”
“I will.”
Li Heng walked out of the shop and looked back at the light on the door.
The carriage swayed, and his subordinate came to report: “Miss Zhao did indeed send people everywhere to search for clues about Western Region merchants, but found nothing.”
Li Heng lightly tapped the window frame, signaling the person to withdraw.
It was fine for others to think that shop was opened by Western Region merchants. Those items used by young ladies wouldn’t attract too much attention.
Given his current situation, some matters should wait a few more days until he dealt with the spies around him.
Miss Shen was different from the women he had met. She wouldn’t want to get involved in those power struggles.
**
Shen You opened the system interface.
Her trip to the capital to complete Miss Zhao’s two transactions had met the requirements for a small shop KPI task:
[Transaction income in the capital reaches 2000 taels of silver.]
So she could receive the reward: one Great Qi one-hour experience card, which meant two hours.
The temple fair was a good choice.
She could use this opportunity to find suitable small pearls to complete that phoenix hairpin.
She had originally wanted to set up a stall in ancient times to resell some modern items, but the experience card showed:
The shop level was insufficient – she could only buy things in Great Qi, not take things out to sell, so she had to give up.
Buying some interesting things from Great Qi to bring back wouldn’t be a loss either.
“Does your experience card guarantee personal safety?”
This was the most important question.
She didn’t want to get herself trapped there.
[Not guaranteed. Personal safety service requires payment of 20 points.]
Shen You: …