Chapter 63
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Shortly after the dinner gathering ended, many people came asking whether Shen You was willing to sell.
Even without seeing the item, everyone trusted Master Jiang’s judgment.
And among them were quite a few people with opportunistic mindsets hoping to find a bargain, but Shen You turned them all away.
On this day, she had just sent her parents the ticket information. Since the county didn’t have an airport, they would need to come to Jiangcheng first.
In a voice message, Shen You’s mother hesitantly beat around the bush, asking what kind of people she had gotten to know in the city.
Hearing this, Shen You immediately understood what was happening.
It was all the same old gossip and rumor-mongering.
When confronted, they would turn the tables and say it was no big deal.
Without a word, she pointed her phone at her work table, which was full of round-nose pliers and gold wire-working tools.
Naturally, she didn’t include any customers’ heirloom antiques in the shot, afraid someone might see them and develop inappropriate ideas.
Shen You’s mother felt embarrassed to speak directly. “Xiao You, we’re just worried about you…”
“I understand.”
Shen You hung up the voice call and then contacted a distant relative who also lived near their home first.
This person also couldn’t stand those few troublemakers who seemed to stack debuffs on each other.
Last time she visited, she had brought gifts and given several hundred yuan in red envelopes to the relative’s children, hoping they would inform her if anything happened at home.
This was called learning from past mistakes and gaining wisdom.
She had suffered from information gaps precisely because had been away at school and had been quite gullible at the time due to her young age.
Sure enough, she got to the bottom of the matter when she asked.
The reason was that since they couldn’t get the shop’s address from her, someone had approached her parents instead. Her sister-in-law and the aunt who called her wasteful were both involved, and her cousin’s family was also playing psychological games to extract information about the shop.
They remained troubled by the fact that the shop had been specifically given to Shen You.
It had been tolerable before, but since learning that she was making money, they became increasingly resentful.
And knowing that they couldn’t leech off of her, they targeted her parents, but her parents didn’t know where the shop was either.
So someone speculated maliciously that since she didn’t even dare tell her parents, it was a wonder what kind of business she was running and whether she had a guilty conscience.
Her parents defended her in front of others but privately asked her out of concern when they got home.
Shen You had originally intended to stay away from these people and avoid mutual interference, but they just couldn’t stay idle.
She directly opened the family group chat and said plainly: let’s hurt each other.
If there was a next time, she would take a megaphone to everyone’s workplaces and publicize their glorious deeds.
She had originally left this group but was later pulled back in to stay informed about family matters.
She typed quickly, posting their dirty laundry piece by piece in the group, adding: “Spreading rumors is illegal. If anyone thinks I said something wrong, please point it out.”
Although everyone knew about these incidents, having them dragged out into the open was embarrassing. Being caught in a honey trap certainly wasn’t something to be proud of.
When the knife didn’t cut ones own flesh, one wouldn’t know the pain. Now they couldn’t sit still.
“We’re all family. What are you doing?”
“You’re just making a scene for no reason!”
Several people accused her righteously, but Shen You replied calmly, “Everyone should know I’m capable of following through. I have no work unit and don’t care about face. Do you believe I’ll post this online right now?”
Immediately, they all started behaving, starting to make peace and apologize, turning their anger toward the aunt who had been most aggressive in stirring up trouble, not daring to say another word about her.
For people who cared about appearances in public, tearing away their dignity would be worse than death.
The barefoot weren’t afraid of those wearing shoes. It was this exact approach that they were afraid of.
Shen You deliberately waited until her parents boarded the train and calculated the time when they’d be passing through tunnels with poor signal before posting, so even if her relatives wanted to contact them, they couldn’t get through.
And it was just as she predicted, chaos erupted in the county town.
Those whose dark histories of clubbing, fighting, drunk driving, and defaulting on debts that had been exposed were now full of rage with nowhere to vent, so they alternated between cursing her and each other, then finally ended up fighting among themselves.
Her male cousin cursed his aunt and sister-in-law as troublemakers, while another cousin cursed him for thinking he was still in his glory days.
And as things got heated, they nearly charged to each other’s doorsteps.
Shen You sighed across the internet: They fought like this every time, but then still made up again after a while. How couldn’t they be a loving family?
Those who had originally suggested joining her parents for a group trip to Jiangcheng stopped mentioning it now.
They never wanted to see Shen You again, and the feeling was mutual.
While she was working, she suddenly received a call from Professor Li, whose excitement was audible in his voice.
Unable to explain clearly over the phone, Professor Li asked her if she had time to come over, mentioning that people from the Capital’s Ancient Silk Research Collection had arrived.
Hearing this, Shen You felt somewhat uneasy. The item’s origins weren’t entirely clear, after all.
She had originally called in a big shot to examine the item, but that big shot had summoned other big shots, and the circle kept expanding.
However, she had anticipated this outcome when she had agreed to the testing.
If she wanted to legitimately own this item, she definitely needed to go through proper channels.
“I’ll come right over.”
Shen You ended the call, changed her jacket, and headed to the collection.
The staff at Jiangcheng Collection basically all knew her now. Hence after registering, she could just enter the non-public internal areas.
In Professor Li’s restoration team workspace, Xu Jiayan, Master Jiang, and the curator were all present.
There was also an unfamiliar young woman, in her thirties, who looked ordinary but carried an air of competence.
“The results are in. It’s not made of asbestos! Our preliminary assessment suggests it’s a plant fiber from an extinct species. Only related species exist in modern times.
This fire-proof cloth underwent some special treatment to achieve its fire-resistant properties, so its fire resistance is far inferior to asbestos. If you had burned it a little longer that day, the material would have been ruined.”
By the end of this explanation, the several experts looked both heartbroken and relieved. After finally finding such a piece, they had nearly lost it.
Thinking of that potential outcome, their hearts skipped several beats.
What incredible fortune in misfortune!
Shen You hadn’t expected such results either
Sure enough, professional matters required professional people.
“So this fire-proof cloth is harmless to the human body?” She focused on the key question.
“It is.” Professor Li nodded.
Asbestos fiber was a Class 1 carcinogen, but this cloth wasn’t made of asbestos, and the test results showed that it was non-toxic and harmless.
Speaking of which, if it were made of asbestos fiber, it wouldn’t have shocked everyone so much, since asbestos itself was naturally fire-resistant.
If news of this fire-proof cloth got out, it would indeed drive the entire collecting world crazy, just as Shen You had previously thought.
Knowing that the cloth was safe, Shen You felt relieved.
The person from the Ancient Silk Collection stepped forward and introduced herself as Cheng Yanling, a researcher in textile craftsmanship research and authentication.
“Miss Shen, this fire-proof cloth is of great significance to ancient textile research. We would still like to ask whether you’d be willing to sell it to the collection.”
Cheng Yanling spoke softly, her eyes filled with hope.
Shen You shook her head. She wasn’t short of money now. “I still prefer to follow the plan I discussed with Master Jiang earlier.”
Disappointment flashed across Cheng Yanling’s face, but she didn’t say much more.
She had already said she could donate a portion for research. Insisting on the entire piece might anger her and result in no donation at all, which would be counterproductive.