Now that he’d happened to run into an old classmate, the carefree him actually felt quite happy inside. He greeted with a smile, “Xiang, what a coincidence! Didn’t expect you to be doing so well, your shop is huge!”
Lin Mo wasn’t bothered to dwell on those old stories after all, it had been over a decade. If Zhang Yihua hadn’t brought it up last night, Lin Mo would have completely forgotten about Xiang Feiwen. He had no other thoughts and gave Xiang Feiwen a slight smile, “Old classmate, long time no see. Should I call you Boss Xiang now?”
Only then did Xiang Feiwen come back to his senses from shock and astonishment.
Seeing Lin Mo still reminded him of those unbearable past events, but as far as Xiang Feiwen had learned, Lin Mo had worked as a mover, arguably one of the worst off people in their class, even worse than Zhang Yihua.
Zhang Yihua, though not particularly successful himself, had come to seek investment from him a while back. But Zhang Yihua was still his own boss at the end of the day.
Haha,
Li Jinwen, is that all the ambition you have?
Serves you right for living a hard life!
This thought had secretly delighted him for a long time.
“You’re too polite, Lin. It’s not like I’m some big boss, I just run a small business.” Xiang Feiwen’s face returned to normal as he replied noncommittally, then turned to Zhang Yihua and said, “Mr. Zhang, wasn’t your animation company busy looking for investors? How come you have free time to go shopping?”
Xiang Feiwen had long blocked the class group chat, rarely opening it even once a year.
With business keeping him so busy, who had time to check out the class group chat?
Therefore, Xiang Feiwen had no idea about Lin Mo and Zhang Yihua’s situations.
Speaking of which, Xiang Feiwen suddenly changed the subject, pointed at Lin Mo who was beside him, and said with a grin, “Oh, I get it, it was Lin who invested in you, right?”
“That’s not wrong. Lin has developed in a big city like Rakshasa City, he must have plenty of money. I should’ve just suggested you go directly to him from the start.”
“By the way, Mr. Lin, how much did you invest? Tell us so we can all be envious.”
His words sounded very courteous, and each sentence seemed to praise Lin Mo to the skies.
But if one knew that Lin Mo was a mover, it would be a great irony.
Everyone was already in their thirties, and apart from a few like Zhang Yihua, had been battered by society, making their speech naturally very smooth.
Especially since Xiang Feiwen ran an antique shop. Daily dealing with all sorts of people meant his talk was particularly crafty. Sometimes he’d insult you without you even realizing it.
Zhang Yihua was indeed more straightforward, but he wasn’t a fool, so how could he not detect the undertones in Xiang Feiwen’s words?
Although Zhang Yihua didn’t know what had happened between Lin Mo and Xiang Feiwen, he was certain to side with Lin Mo.
Just as he was about to speak up, Lin Mo stopped him, and said with a smile, “Boss Xiang, you’re overestimating me. Right now, I’m just an unemployed vagrant with no job, where would I get the money to invest in Mr. Zhang? By the way, would you mind inviting us to take a look around your store?”
From Xiang Feiwen’s words, Lin Mo also realized that this guy probably hadn’t checked the class group chat recently.
Or perhaps, like Li Jinwen, had long left it.
So he still didn’t know about his investment of three million in Zhang Yihua.
For the current Lin Mo, of course, he could let Zhang Yihua talk about the investment.
He could even show off in front of his ‘rival’ from the past.
But it wasn’t necessary.
If he pretended to be a rich man now, would he be able to get a discount later when Xiang Wenfei raised the price on the antiques in his shop?
“Of course, please, this is like home. Feel free to look around, take your time.” Xiang Wenfei, anxious for an opportunity to flaunt his own strength, said with a smile, “Lin, oh, no, Mr. Lin, what are you interested in?”
“I may not have many other things, but I do have plenty of paintings and calligraphy, including some valuable items.”
Lin Mo, not wanting to stand around listening to his nonsense, went in with his hands behind his back and started looking around on his own, searching for the “Five Horse Painting” mentioned in the system information.
Zhang Yihua followed by Lin Mo’s side, and as Lin Mo had stopped him earlier, he didn’t say anything more.
“Mr. Lin, this way, please. That side is all cheap stuff, not fitting for your stature; come over here and take a look.” Xiang Wenfei moved to the left side of the store, pointing at several pieces of calligraphy and paintings, and said, “1 might not have Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy, Qi Baishi’s shrimps or Zhang Daqian’s tigers, but I do have quite a few works from famous artists from the Qing dynasty to modern times.”
“Look at this painting, ‘Reading by the Mountain Window’ by Wang Hui, does it catch your fancy?”
“It’s quite affordable, just around 3 million.”
Lin Mo looked up, gave a slight nod, and regardless of whether it was worth 3 million or even if it was genuine, he thought, as an amateur, that the painting seemed rather nice indeed.
Truth be told, Lin Mo didn’t even know who Wang Hui was.
Seeing Lin Mo unresponsive, Xiang Feiwen pointed to another painting and said, “And this one, a painting by the court artist, the Jinmen Painter Historian Leng Mei, ‘Embroidery Under the Paulownia’.”
“The price is just 2.1 million, and I can give you a discount if you’re interested.”
Lin Mo shook his head without speaking.
He continued searching for the “Five Horse Painting.”
Xiang Feiwen’s brow furrowed, and he was becoming slightly impatient. He said, “Lin, you’re not here just to look around without buying, are you? If you’re just casually browsing, just tell me, we don’t have to make an effort, we can sit down and enjoy a cup of tea.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yihua finally couldn’t hold back and said, “Xiang, what are you implying? Right from the entrance, you’ve been full of sarcasm.. Even if we were just ordinary customers, what’s wrong with us browsing in your store?”