Chapter 50: Ye Chen Takes Action

Ye Chen was overjoyed and immediately prepared to tuck the “Nine Mysterious Heavenly Scriptures” into his bosom.

However, the book instantly turned to dust and vanished.

Yet, every word from the book was clearly imprinted in Ye Chen’s mind.

At that moment, his fleeing father-in-law was roughly brought back by several burly men.

Seeing his swollen and bruised face, it was clear he had been caught and beaten!

Ye Chen looked at his father-in-law’s disheveled appearance and couldn’t help but want to laugh.

This old guy, causing trouble and trying to shift the blame onto him, was truly outrageous! Letting him suffer a bit was just a fitting punishment.

At this time, his father-in-law, Xiao Changkun, was particularly embarrassed; he had just run desperately and was exhausted.

But he didn’t have the car keys, and being older and overweight, he couldn’t run fast enough to compete with these young men.

So, it wasn’t long before he was caught, tied up, and slapped several times—what a miserable situation!

After bringing Xiao Changkun back, the manager, Zhou Liangyun, gritted his teeth and said, “Old man, you think you can smash our vase and run? You should know the background of our Jiqingtang!”

Xiao Changkun said in terror, “I didn’t do it on purpose! The vase was just too slippery…”

Zhou Liangyun coldly replied, “Stop wasting my time! I’ll give you an afternoon to raise the money. If you can’t pay, I’ll report you for intentionally damaging someone else’s property. The case is worth over five million; you’ll be in prison for a long time!”

Xiao Changkun trembled in fear, looking at Ye Chen as if he saw a lifeline: “Ye Chen, my good son-in-law! You can’t just stand by and do nothing!”

Ye Chen helplessly said, “Dad, I don’t have that much money either!”

Xiao Changkun quickly blurted out, “Then you can go to jail for me! The Xiao family has supported you for so long; it’s time for you to show some gratitude!”

Ye Chen thought to himself, how can you have the face to say such things?

Just as he was about to refuse, a middle-aged man interjected, “There’s a principle to debts; we at Jiqingtang value our reputation in business. You broke the vase, so you must compensate!”

After saying that, he turned to Ye Chen and said, “You can leave, but it’s best if you help him raise the money. Otherwise, after this afternoon, I’ll take him to the police station!”

Ye Chen nodded slightly.

Xiao Changkun was terrified, crying, “Good son-in-law, you can’t leave! What will I do if you go?”

Seeing him so frightened, Ye Chen couldn’t help but chuckle.

But of course, he couldn’t show it on his face.

He was just thinking of finding an excuse to leave and let his father-in-law suffer a bit.

Suddenly, he remembered that the “Nine Mysterious Heavenly Scriptures” contained ancient methods for restoring porcelain artifacts. So, he had an idea and said, “Manager Zhou, if I can restore that jade vase, will you let my father-in-law go?”

Zhou Liangyun sneered, “Who do you think you are? You want to restore antiques? I’ll tell you straight, I’ve already sent the photos to an expert in Jinling, and they said that with it shattered like this, it can’t be restored.”

Ye Chen shook his head, “The vase is already broken; it’s useless anyway. I might as well give it a try; I won’t lose anything…”

Zhou Liangyun scoffed, “Oh, you’re not giving up until you hit a wall, huh? Fine! I want to see what you can do!”

Ye Chen said, “Prepare a piece of rice paper, a brush, and five raw eggs.”

Zhou Liangyun, eager to see what kind of joke Ye Chen would make, quickly brought him a basket of raw eggs without hesitation.

However, he couldn’t help but taunt, “Using eggs to restore artifacts? I’ve never seen such a method. I warn you, don’t try any tricks. Either you pay for the damages, or we’ll take your father-in-law to court for five million; that’s enough for him to rot in jail for life.”

Ye Chen nodded, “What if I do restore it?”

Zhou Liangyun coldly snorted, “If a professional confirms it’s indeed restored and can recover most of the losses, then you can leave!”

“Good!” Ye Chen nodded, “It’s a deal!”

After saying that, he immediately stopped talking to him, picked up the brush, and began to outline the shape of the jade vase on the rice paper.

Then, he cracked open an egg, dipped his finger in the egg white, and smeared it on a piece of the vase’s shard, pressing it onto the paper model. He then picked up another shard and pressed it down, gradually covering the paper model with the antique fragments…

Everyone held their breath, afraid to disturb his restoration process.

Soon, half an hour passed.

When Ye Chen straightened up again, what appeared before everyone was a newly restored Tang Dynasty jade vase.

He smiled at Zhou Liangyun and said, “You can take a look; see if there are any flaws left.”

Zhou Liangyun picked up the vase, examined it closely, and then disdainfully said, “Are you kidding me? You just smeared it with egg liquid and think it’s restored? If I broke your legs and smeared them with egg liquid, would that work?”

“Don’t touch that vase!”

At that moment, a crisp and urgent voice suddenly came from the doorway.

Following that, a stunning beauty in a white casual suit stepped in.

She had a beautiful face, a perfect and tall figure, nearly 1.7 meters tall, exuding an air of nobility. Her beautiful eyes looked into the room, filled with a cold arrogance, like an ice queen.

Zhou Liangyun’s face changed drastically upon seeing her, and he quickly lowered his head respectfully, “Miss, what brings you here?”

The newcomer was none other than the actual owner of Jiqingtang, the young lady of the top family in Jinling, the Song family—Song Wanting.

Song Wanting coldly snorted, her face filled with anger, “I was afraid if I didn’t come, you would ruin this place! What’s going on here?”

Zhou Liangyun awkwardly smiled and quickly replied, “A customer accidentally broke the vase while looking at it, and his son-in-law tried to restore it with eggs. I was just about to say that this method is worthless and discuss compensation with them.”

Song Wanting approached the jade vase, observed it for a moment, and her expression suddenly changed dramatically!

Then, she immediately turned around and scolded Zhou Liangyun, “Put it down! Who told you to touch it without understanding?”

Zhou Liangyun was stunned, “Miss, what do you mean?”

Song Wanting angrily said, “This is a recently restored artifact. Besides the restoration expert, no one else is allowed to touch it for now. Don’t you know this basic rule?”

Zhou Liangyun hesitated and said, “But… it’s just smeared with egg liquid; that doesn’t count as restoration, right?”

Song Wanting’s beautiful eyes were filled with anger as she scolded, “You fool! After this vase is restored, its value will at least double, but because you touched it, it will lose at least two million! Pack your things; don’t come back tomorrow!”

She had previously seen a porcelain plate from the same period as the jade vase at an auction in Port City.

That porcelain plate had an interesting history; it was a Tang Dynasty piece that was broken during the Song Dynasty, and then a skilled craftsman from the Song Dynasty restored it using the same method.

Because this restoration technique was extremely rare and had long been lost to history, that porcelain plate ultimately sold for thirteen million, far exceeding its actual value.

Now, with Ye Chen using the lost technique to restore the jade vase, its value would undoubtedly rise!

Zhou Liangyun’s face turned pale; he never expected that merely touching the jade vase would lead to such a huge loss and cost him his job.

Song Wanting then asked, “Where is the master who restored this jade vase? Bring me to meet him.”