Chapter 130: Can't Hide It Anymore

  After a busy late afternoon, I finished dinner and sent the bean grass back to the stable. Then I took a sweat pad and saddle from the stable and put them in space. At night, I rode the naughty bag in space for two laps, just to exercise it.

  Everything was settled, and Teddy and Wu Song were brought into the space to spend the night. The saddle was put on Taoguibao's back, and he rode it for a circle. The speed was indeed much faster than that of Doucao, although his legs were thinner than those of Doucao. However, this couldn't stop him from having a high frequency. He rode until Taoguibao started to sweat, and then he got off the horse, took off the saddle, and hung it on the branch of a nearby fruit tree. He led Taoguibao to the edge of the pond, intending to give him a bath. But before he knew it, Taoguibao had already entered the water by himself, his two front legs paddling away as he played in the water, his head pulling on the reins held by Ju'an. As soon as Ju'an let go of the reins, Taoguibao slowly walked towards the deep water and started swimming. Watching this, Ju'an couldn't help but praise him silently - what a clever little guy, who could even take a bath by himself!

  Just praised a sensible one, and this insensible guy came up with an apple in his mouth, shaking his big butt to watch others swim, and followed them into the water. His whole body was buried in the water, only his head was raised, with only two eyes and a closed mouth visible. In the clear water, four small short legs were seen swimming rhythmically, heading towards the naughty bag. Who knew that when the naughty bag saw Teddy, it let out a loud neigh and scared this guy back. He ran to the shallow water in front of Ju'an, stood up, and looked at the naughty bag in the water.

  "Hey, Teddy!" he shouted, pointing to Wu Song under the fruit tree. Teddy lazily swam back, and as soon as it reached the shore, Ju An hastily retreated a few steps. Sure enough, as soon as it left, this guy started shaking off the water on its body. If you got too close, you'd definitely get splashed by this guy.

  Watching the horse swim in the water for a while, waiting for the naughty bag to get ashore, then pulling the naughty bag, letting Teddy smell it, when the naughty bag got used to it, stretching its big head on Teddy's body and rubbing against it, this guy immediately went crazy, surrounding the naughty bag and rubbing against it. Wu Song was a good boy, he just touched it twice, then continued eating the fruit in his hand.

  Watching these three guys get along quite harmoniously, I felt at ease and left the space, took a bath, squatted on the bed and started surfing the internet.

  As soon as I opened my QQ, I saw a message from Haohan in the vast ocean of messages, saying that he and his teacher would arrive in New York in three or four days to exchange ideas with some foreign colleagues. They also plan to visit the Metropolitan Museum to take a look at some ancient Chinese books. He hopes to see the bamboo slips held by Ju'an with his own eyes. The old man has some doubts about this bamboo slip, and he also mentioned that he hopes Ju'an can come to New York, after all, the old man is not young anymore, it's not easy for him to travel to New York again, and before he passes away, he wants to see those national treasure-level books once more.

  After seeing this, Ju An patted his head and thought to himself: "This old man, I was prepared to let him fade away into obscurity until he died of old age. How did he suddenly remember again?" However, thinking back to the old man's profile that he had seen online before, which described a lifetime dedicated to researching China's traditional culture and being courteous even to those who were not worthy of respect, Ju An truly felt that this old man was worthy of admiration, unlike those so-called "experts" in China who recklessly fired off big talk. It was really unbearable for him to refuse such an old man. After thinking about it some more, he agonized over it for half a day before finally making up his mind: even if it meant exposing himself, it would still be considered a contribution to the development of Chinese traditional culture. Although he was living in America, after all, he was still a descendant of the Yellow Emperor and spreading his own nation's culture was always a good thing. So he left a message saying that he would bring bamboo slips to visit the old man in New York at some point.

  He then entered the space again, looked through several bamboo slips, picked out those that talked about the pearls on his neck and the few moves of martial arts and swordsmanship, put the remaining five volumes on the table, gently stroking them, wondering if this decision was right or wrong in his heart. Looking at the bamboo slips from over 2,000 years ago, they were preserved so perfectly, if they were taken out and verified, it would be unknown how big a stir it would cause.

  When I lay down on the bed, my heart was still a bit uneasy, but after thinking about it, I entered a dream. For the next few days, Xiao Yezi lived a relaxed and happy life, and Ju'an's heart gradually calmed down. Let's just go with the flow, if the sky falls, there will be someone to hold it up.

  It had been almost a week when Jū ān finally received a call from Hào Hàn Wén Hǎi. As soon as he picked up the phone, Jū ān heard a loud and clear voice of a middle-aged man: "Is this Little Jū? I'm Hào Hàn Wén Hǎi, my name is Xǔ Dōng, just call me Brother Xǔ."

  "Ha ha, I am. Hello Xu Ge, I've been waiting for your call. Has the old man arrived in New York? Was everything smooth along the way?"

  Mr. Xu smiled and replied, "Everything is fine with the teacher, it's been a few days since I arrived, and I've been spending all my time at the Metropolitan Museum for these past few days. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, my teacher won't have anything to do, so if it's convenient for you, please bring your things over. This time, I'm really troubling you, and the teacher even mentioned specifically that she wanted me to tell you to take the trouble to make a special trip."

  "Never mind, I'll go to New York tonight and the old man will see it tomorrow. By the way, I'll bring the rest of the volumes too, and let the old man take a look at them all together."

  Xu Dong listened with great joy and said: "There are still a few, thank you very much, teacher. I had some doubts and couldn't put my mind at ease. I must see it with my own eyes. Even if it's from the modern era, it's a masterpiece, not something that can be easily forged by ordinary people. I've been thinking about this for some time now, and since you're all experts in Chinese culture here, you'll be able to give me a definite answer later on."

  He chatted with Ju An for a few more sentences, repeatedly confirming the time, and then hung up the phone. He immediately called Wang Fan again, telling him that he would arrive in New York tonight and asking him to prepare a room for himself, where he would stay overnight.

  "When did you call, Wang Fan asked strangely: "That's okay, I'll pick you up tonight, what's going on? You just came back from New York for twenty days, and now you're coming again?"

  "Wouldn't be disturbing your little world, no way, I'll just stay in a hotel then. You're not married yet, that's why I'm giving you the chance to host me, if you were married, I wouldn't go stay at your place, looking at Ke La's expression." Ju An smiled and asked.

  Wang Fan said: "No way! Just curious, you're like a rabbit who doesn't leave its nest, and when it does, something's up."

  He originally didn't plan to hide it from Wang Fan, so he said: "I got a bamboo slip, which seems to be from the late Spring and Autumn period. Let's give it to an expert in the country to see if it's real or not."

  "Can't you just be reliable for once? I'm telling you, don't bully your brother who's uncultured. We've seen the Warring States bamboo slips, and Qingda still has a few preserved, black as they are, and they're all treasures. You're still talking about the end of the Spring and Autumn period, but if you say it's the end of the Qing dynasty, I might believe you." Wang Fan said disdainfully.

  "Cut it out, when the time comes, the expert will take a look and that's it."

  "Then I'll go with you and open my eyes to see what the spring and autumn bamboo slips look like." Wang Fan replied with a laugh.

  The two hung up the phone, went upstairs to the space, took out a few things, found a large cloth to wrap them in, and then put them in the suitcase. After packing a few clothes, they called Thomas over at noon after eating, told him that he was going to New York for a trip, and left the few little ones at home to Er Zhuang to take care of.

  In the afternoon, Er Zhuang sent me to the airport. Before boarding, I sent a message to Wang Fan, telling him that I would arrive in New York at a certain time, and then sat on the plane and flew straight into the sky.

  When they arrived at Wang Fan's home, Wang Fan urged Ju An to take out the bamboo slips. After flipping through them casually, Wang Fan nodded and said, "Not bad, not bad."

  "Still pretending to be real, not bad, not bad. Can you recognize the characters written above? Point out one and let me see, don't pretend to understand if you don't."

  "I don't recognize the characters, but my buddy has been learning calligraphy since he was a kid. I'm just saying that this guy's handwriting is not bad, it's passable." Wang Fan said with a serious face.

  "Haha, I really can't help but laugh when I think of you with that silly look on your face, holding a brush and sitting at the desk." As soon as this scene appeared in Ju An's mind, she couldn't hold back her laughter. With a mischievous expression, he sat there without any decorum, his posture all wrong, yet he had studied calligraphy. To use Wu Mengda's words, even the birds would laugh themselves silly.

  "You don't know, when I was a kid, I lived in Old Master's big courtyard, and followed a group of kids to a teacher to learn how to write. Every night we practiced writing, and the old master's secretary checked every day. If you wrote well, the old master would praise you with two sentences, if not, you had to rewrite it ten times that night. In elementary school, my calligraphy even won an award in the capital! Luckily, when I entered junior high, I followed my dad to another place." Wang Fan pretended to wipe away cold sweat from his forehead.

  "How come I've never heard you mention this before? You didn't even show your face when we were writing big characters in university," Ju An Qi asked strangely.

  Wang Fan glared and said, "You've been forced for many years, try it now. Even thinking about it makes me afraid. By the way, what's the name of this domestic expert? Maybe I can still recognize him."

  "Uncle An shook his head and said: 'I don't know, I only know that one of his students is named Xu Dong. But I think the old man is about 80 years old.'"

  "Xu Dong? Isn't he that guy who's not young anymore, with a round face and a small birthmark on his neck?" Wang Fan asked.

  "Really haven't seen it before, but judging from the sound, it seems that the age is definitely not young."

  Wang Fan thought for a moment, subconsciously shrugging his shoulders and said: "Damn! Then I'll really go take a look tomorrow. If he finds out that the old man came and I didn't go see him, the old man will say again that I'm not well-educated."

  "Who is it after all? You're so scared just hearing the name," Ju An asked with a smile.

  Wang Fan said: "Nine out of ten it was the old man who taught me to write characters, and he is a close friend of our family's old master."

  "Are you an old revolutionary too?" Wang Fan asked.

  "This is not, it's the top scholar in the country, also famous in the world, enjoying national subsidies. Now, what 40 or 50-year-old so-called masters are just rubbish compared to him," said Wang Fan.

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