Chapter 131: First Small Man, Then Gentleman

  "Never mind who the old man is, I just want to show him the bamboo slips. After he's done reading them, we'll leave. If you don't want to see him, then don't see him. Your father didn't send anyone to America to keep an eye on you, so how would he know if you went to see him or not."

  "Wang Fan rubbed his head and said, "Damn! That's right, how could I not have thought of that?! Tomorrow, I'll take you to the entrance of the Metropolitan Museum, and then I'm outta here. I'm really afraid of this old man."

  Next, the two brothers made a few small dishes and drank some light beer, feeling carefree. Wang Fan also forgot about that old man who had forced him to write since he was young.

  The next morning, Ju An received a call from Xu Dong early in the morning. On the phone, he asked if Ju An could come over earlier, and the old man had already woken up. Ju An looked at his watch and it was already after 8 o'clock, so he told Xu Dong that he would arrive an hour later, then went to knock on Wang Fan's door, loudly calling him to get up, and sent himself over.

  Deng Ju'an had just finished dressing and was waiting for Wang Fan to come out. Whoa! This guy was wearing a big pair of sunglasses and a stand-up collar short-sleeved shirt, looking like some kind of secret agent.

  "Alright, you don't have to send me over there either. I'll just take a taxi myself. Looking at the way you're dressed, I'm afraid the New York police will stop us halfway and send me to jail again."

  "Now in New York, I've gotten to know quite a few cops. As soon as I walk into the precinct, someone always asks me, 'Hey, aren't you here for Cola again?' We're familiar with each other, and we don't break any laws, so what trouble could there be? I'll just drop you off and take a look around, then turn back and leave. I'm afraid of being discovered," Wang Fan said.

  Ju An shook his head and put on the backpack that Wang Fan had helped him find last night, following Wang Fan downstairs.

  When they arrived at the museum entrance, Ju An got out of the car and made a phone call. After it rang, he heard a voice from not far away: "Little Ju!" Following the direction of the sound, he saw a middle-aged man in his 40s or 50s waving at him. Then he heard Wang Fan quickly start the car and escape.

  As soon as he walked up and took a closer look, it was indeed a Chinese character face, with a birthmark on his neck. No wonder Wang Fan ran so fast. He walked up and shook hands with Xu Dong, then Xu Dong led him into the museum.

  Xu Dong walked with Ju An for a while before arriving at a door, pushed it open, and Ju An saw seven or eight old men surrounding a table discussing something, among them was an old Chinese man. The others were all foreigners. Each of them had hair that was almost white, staring at the few sheets of paper in their hands.

  Upon hearing the sound of the door, several old men simultaneously lifted their heads to look at Xu Dong bringing himself in. The Chinese old man then smiled and asked: "Is this Xiao Ju? My name is Liang Guangzhi, thank you for your trouble." After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand.

  "Ah, no, no, I dare not! It's my good fortune to listen to your teachings, elder. I wouldn't presume to trouble you."

  Then the old man introduced Ju An to several other old men, and Ju An listened, but couldn't remember, it was either this professor or that professor, anyway there wasn't a single one who wasn't a professor. Xu Dong sent Ju An in and then left the room, closing the door behind him.

  After the introduction, Mr. Liang Guangzhi asked Ju An to take out the bamboo slips he had brought and put them on the table. The old men opened them and started reading, occasionally discussing among themselves. After a while, they began to argue, and then they quarreled loudly.

  I was sitting comfortably on the sofa next to me, listening to a bunch of old men talking about their ancestors' stuff, and I was completely confused for half a day, wondering what they were saying. And to make matters worse, several foreign old men were speaking in Chinese, with perfect pronunciation and intonation, one of them even had a soft southern accent. What the hell is this, it's really getting on my nerves!

  Just as I was thinking of singing a song by Hei Bao "No Place to Hide", Old Liang suddenly asked: "Right, Xiao Ju, we can't debate about this anymore. How about doing a carbon-14 test?"

  "Are you sure it won't get broken?"

  Liang Lao smiled and replied: "It won't be a problem, just take a few points on the bamboo slips to try it out, it won't take much."

  "Then you pay attention, find a wordless piece to test," Ju An replied.

  After hearing Ju An's words, a group of old men burst out laughing at the same time. Liang Lao also laughed and said: "No problem, we'll just find a test without words."

  This old man nodded, then saw an old man sitting in front of the table get up and walk to the side to make a phone call. Before long, a young man came in with a tool and swiped it on Ruan An's bamboo slips a few times before leaving.

  Then a group of old men began to surround the bamboo slips and discuss them, occasionally picking up the pen in their hands to follow the text written on it.

  It's been a while since I've been bored again, sitting next to me thinking, if only I had an iPad or something, these old professors just threw themselves aside, not even leaving anyone to chat with, leaving me to sit alone, it's really too rude. Had no choice but to sit on the sofa, picking at my fingernails, humming a little tune in my heart, and then started thinking about the interesting things that happened to Teddy's chubby face and Wu Song's gang to pass the time, thinking and thinking, I fell asleep on the sofa.

  Also didn't know how long had passed, when he heard someone calling his name, Ju An immediately woke up with a start. Then he saw Liang Lao beside him, shaking him awake. He felt a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth and wiped it away before sitting up.

  "Are you guys done discussing?" said to Old Liang.

  Mr. Liang said excitedly: "Really sorry, we old guys talked about it and forgot about others. Ah, the carbon 14 test results are out, it's indeed from the late Spring and Autumn period. I didn't expect it to be real, this is a national treasure! A true national treasure. By the way, can you leave it here for a few days so we can study it thoroughly? There are still some things that aren't clear."

  As soon as he heard the national treasure, Ju An shivered and thought to himself, "What does this old man want to say?" After thinking for a moment, Ju An said, "Wait, I'll ask my friend for his advice. Later, I plan to put these things there for safekeeping."

  Li old nodded and said: "Should be, let it go for a couple of days, I'll make a few calls to some old things in the country today, this discovery is significant".

  An walked out of the door and dialed Mike's phone number. After a few rings, he heard Mike's voice: "An, how are you? Why did you suddenly think of calling me today? Are you back in New York?"

  "Yes, I'm at the Metropolitan Museum now. I've got a few bamboo slips here for appraisal and will be ready to put them in your place for safekeeping later. They want to keep it for a few more days, so I'll ask you then," said Ju An.

  "What's a bamboo slip?" Mack asked, puzzled.

  "We Chinese people in ancient times wrote on bamboo slips and then strung them together, which is called a bamboo book."

  McKay said: "It's probably something from many years ago, forgive me, you Chinese have a history that's too long, it's always several thousand years."

  "Two thousand years old and yet it looks brand new. If you're coming to take it, please hurry up, I'll leave the preservation and exhibition for later to you."

  Mike heard two thousand more, and immediately that head laughed happily: "Come on! You are my lucky star, half an hour to arrive". After finishing the phone call, he thought for a moment and then called his own lawyer, Hua En, to come here to deal with it.

  Jū ān this undergraduate entered the room and told a group of old professors that his friend would arrive soon, and when he did, everyone would start discussing, so they all started waiting for Mike and Wayne.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, in less than half an hour, Mike had someone bring him in. Seeing Ju An, he gave Ju An a big hug, then introduced himself as the Chinese antiques expert from his auction company, and also the company's legal expert. Damn! Now this room was full of experts and professors, except for himself and Mike.

  Then he looked at the bricks brought by Mike and said, "Really, these are all top-notch Chinese cultural relics in the international arena. The probability of them making mistakes together is too small." They said that culturally speaking, they are priceless.

  "An! What are you going to do!" Mack said happily to Ju An.

  "Like that painting, you can keep it and take it out for exhibition, but don't damage it and don't reveal my information. The profit-sharing ratio is still based on that painting."

  Mike smiled and said, "No problem, actually our company is preparing to hold a spring auction in China next year, coincidentally there is an exhibition before that, we can bring it along then, it will definitely attract many people."

  "Fine, I don't care. Now I'll just wait for Huai En to come over and we can sign an agreement." After the two of them chatted for a bit, Huai En rushed over, and under the witness of both parties' lawyers, Ju An and Mike immediately signed the documents. The remaining matters were then handed over by Ju An to Mike to handle, including dealing with a group of bricklayer professors.

  Jū ān zì jǐ dài zhe huái ēn biàn zhǔn bèi lí kāi, hé Liáng lǎo gào bié de shí hòu, Liáng lǎo shuō dào: "Duō xiè nǐ, xiǎo huǒ zi, ràng yī fèn bǎo bèi chóng jiàn tiān rì" rán hòu dǎ qù dào: "nǐ zhè dài zhe lǜ shī de bù hé chán men Zhōng guó rén de dài kè zhī dào ā".

  "Hey, Old Liang, I'm not doubting you, but those foreigners in America are unpredictable. You said it yourself that this is a treasure, so of course, I have to be careful. If something goes wrong or gets lost, who am I going to look for? It's better to bring a lawyer along, just in case. Let's be cautious first and then we can be gentlemen."

  Old Liang listened and smiled, shaking his head: "What a good man who is small before but becomes a gentleman later. However, if there's an opportunity, I must send it to the country for exhibition."

  "Definitely," said Ju An, patting his chest, and then left the museum with Huai En.