Chapter 63

I will finally have enough chapters to open up the next tier on my patreon next month, and after some thought, I have decided to change the price to 15 dollars, any objections now is the time!

The amount of chapters available for that tier will always remain above 10, and for each 10 above that, I will try my best to keep it at that level. if I charge 10, I will make a separate tier for the chapters onwards of 100.

“Gu Yan Xin!”

Song Yuan’s scream was sharp and fierce, sounding relatively ear-piercing as it echoed in the spacious hall.

The people who were leaving stopped to look back. Was she still not done causing a commotion? There was still the second young master behind her? Things really were getting more and more exciting……

When Gu Zong Han turned back to look, his brows were knitted into a frown. He was feeling slightly unhappy, this Song Yuan really was lacking in education. But as soon as he turned, he found that Gu Yan Xin was missing. He had scurried off into some corner some time ago, and seemed to be trying to sneak his way out of here. Gu Zong Han’s heart jumped in fright. Could this matter have something to do with Gu Yan Xin? Was he the one who lured Song Yuan into targeting Gu Yan?

Although the two brothers were usually not on very intimate terms with Gu Yan, but they still got along with each other harmoniously. Could that all just be a facade?

Even though Gu Zong Han was very dissatisfied with Gu Yan Xin, this was still his birthday banquet after all, he did not want his family to end up in great embarrassment.

Song Shan’s face sank. Gu Yan Xin’s matter had been arranged for him to do by Qin Yao, so of course he was clear.

Right now, Qin Yao was standing right at the side. No matter what, he could not let Song Yuan ruin Gu Zong Han’s birthday banquet, he was very regretful now for bringing Song Yuan here today. He immediately called his secretary, and spoke in a grave tone:”Send the lady home.”

The secretary stays by Song Shan’s side year-long, and was best at deciphering the situation, it did not take long for him to understand Song Shan’s meaning. He rushed over at once and pulled Song Yuan away without leaving any room for explanation, he could not allow her to speak anymore.

And the discordant voice finally disappeared……

Even though everyone was curious to see the ruckus, it was clear now that they would not get to see it. But even without the extras, what happened today was already quite splendid. Nothing else should happen today, right……?

Gu Zong Han also sighed in relief. He gave Song Shan a glance filled with gratitude. It was best if this matter was dealt with by himself, she was part of the Song family after all, it was no good for an outsider to get themselves involved. And it was also quite fortunate he was in good else, else how could he not end up in a heart attack after the endless rounds of messes happening today?

It was just a pity that his birthday banquet was doing well before, but now everything feels a little off……

At this moment, Qin Yao suddenly took two steps towards Gu Zong Han, and was able to attract everyone’s attention from the previous farce. Nobody dared to look down on this young man anymore, even if he did not say a single word, he was still like the star of the crowd. His each and every move attracted everyone’s eyes.

Nobody wanted to offend a person who received this much respect from Song Shan. Even though they did not know him, they were still very polite with Qin Yao.

None of them were trying to get any merits out of this, they just wanted to keep their noses out of trouble.

It was not known when it happened, but a long box suddenly appeared in Qin Yao’s hands. He passed the box over to Gu Zong Han and said:”A small gift as a token of my sincerity, I hope you can accept it, uncle.”

Gu Zong Han looked surprised. He did not expect that Qin Yao would actually prepare a gift for him. Fortunately, Gu Zong Han was also a wise man who had seen countless storms in his life. Since Qin Yao called him uncle, then accepting a gift was nothing. Moreover, for Qin Yao to be so courteous proved that he attached great importance to Gu Yan, which was a very good thing for the entire family.

Gu Zong Han accepted the gift happily and opened the box. It was a traditional ink painting. The painting depicted tall mountains and flowing rivers, magnificent and exceptionally profound. When you looked at it closely, it almost feels like you could see the rivers flowing slowly……

Gu Zong Han blinked his eyes, and the flowing waters returned to their rest. He moved his gaze over to the corner, and instantly jumped in shock.

He quickly spoke in an upright manner:”Mr. Qin, this gift is too precious, I cannot accept it.”

As soon as this was said, everyone’s curiosity was perked. There was not a single person lacking in money here. They weren’t at that level where their wealth as plenty as the dirt on the ground, but they still could not be shaken by numbers under the millions. Nobody cared about the gift when Qin Yao took it out, what they cared more was this mysterious Mr. Qin’s attitude towards the Gu family. Even if the box contained only a sheet of white paper, they would still have to keep it with care.

But of course, such a possibility was very slim. Something that could come from Mr. Qin’s hands definitely would be no normal object.

But to say that it was precious enough that even Gu Zong Han could not accept this, this was rather strange……

Some people still had their restraints, but there were others who could not help themselves from looking over probingly. They were all curious about what sort of precious the mysterious Mr. Qin had taken out. From the looks of it, it was a painting, at most it would just cost about 10 million, right?

But thankfully, Gu Zong Han did not leave the others to wait too long. He quickly revealed the mystery,”The last piece of the Seven Hills by the Sanhe Daoist! I can’t accept this gift.”

Everyone present sucked in a breath of cold air, and they all looked in shock at Qin Yao.

The Sanhe Daoist was a renown Confucian scholar from three hundred years ago, said to have assisted two emperors in his lifetime. His legendary career has been written down as a great achievement in history. They say that he was most adept at landscape paintings, but they were rarely handed down to the next generation. Among them, the one best preserved was the seven mountains. They come in a set of seven, and each of them depicted famous mountains and great rivers, altogether they had a very high collective value. Out of them, six have surfaced in this generation, all collected by museums and private collectors. The one most recently found had been auctioned off just last year, and the winning bid was the price of a whopping 100 million in US dollars! It had since been crowned the peak if painting and calligraphy antiquities.

As for the mysterious seventh piece of the collection, not a single person has seen it, some even suspected that it did not exist at all.

If this painting really turned out to be the seventh piece, then it would definitely be worth at least 100 million US dollars, and that alone was just a simple quantitative price. In fact, the artistic and collection value alone of the painting was far more than that. It was a precious piece of art you could not even buy with money! Not to mention bringing it out and giving it away.

If Qin Yao had taken this out at the very start, nobody would’ve believed him. But now……Nobody dared to question whether it was fake or not, this was the halo brought about my his status. Even if there were still a few people who had doubts in their hearts, none of them dared to speak out about it.

For something offered by Mr. Qin, even if it was a fake, it had to become real.

Song Shan was the one who trusted Qin Yao the most here, so he would not find anything that Qin Yao could take out to be unusual. What’s more, it was just a painting.

But he was still a little surprised.

Qin Yao had no interest in figuring out what anyone was thinking about, he just waved his hand casually:”Please take it, uncle, as a token of our friendship.”

Gu Zong Han was a little hesitant, but he was also a great fan of antiques. But this was too precious, he couldn’t……Why was Qin Yao doing this? Is there something the Gu family had that was worthy of being bribed by him? No, right……?

“It’s just a painting, you really don’t have to worry too much about it, uncle.”Qin Yao’s voice was carefree, as if he had just given him a forged copy worth ten bucks.

But he really did not think of it as much. He had way too many things in his collection, and the ones least valuable were these lifeless objects. Even if it was an antique, it was worth little to him. He had also just accepted this casually since that little Daoist insisted on giving it to him, he would never expect it to come to use now. Even if he had taken something else, the others may still not know what it was, so he might as well save on the effort and just give him this painting……

Gu Zong Han observed Qin Yao and ascertained that he was not faking it, so he could only keep it away carefully.

This young Qin Yao’s face seems to become more and more profound and unpredictable the more he looked at him.

Song Shan came out to try to calm down the situation, and the atmosphere had come into harmony once more. But as for what everyone was thinking about deep inside, nobody knew.

After that, no more surprises popped up.

Qin Yao was not a fan of such noisy occasions, so he went over to stand at a corner after he was done offering his gift, and nobody dared to disturb him either. And so, an empty zone with a radius of several meters was formed around him.

Gu Yan was also not interest in meaningless chatter with the others, but there were always those who would come to talk to him. They all came over to ask about Qin Yao, and their attitudes towards him had also taken a 180 degree turn. Gu Yan could not be bothered with this, so seeing that Qin Yao’s side seemed peaceful, he simply decided to just go over with his wine glass in hand.

He gave Qin Yao a meaningful look,”Thank you, even if I am just an illegitimate child, I have somehow turned into a favourite.”He thanked him, but the expression on his face clearly showed his displeasure.

“Is that not good?”When Qin Yao was facing Gu Yan, his cold eyes finally turned soft.

“What do you think?”Gu Yan looked at him with a brow raised.

Qin Yao chuckled softly, and said after a moment:”If you don’t like to bother with them, then you don’t have to, you just have to be yourself.”

Gu Yan looked at Qin Yao’s carefree expression that looked as if he was saying ‘you can do anything you like, I can cover for you regardless’, and a mysterious sense of unhappiness rose up within his heart. He was not faking it, he was truly displeased.

He should be happy since Qin Yao’s actions proved that this human cultivator had already put his guard down against him completely, and even included him within his circle of protection. He had already achieved way more than he had planned for, but the truth was——He did not feel the satisfaction at all that he had gained anything out of this.

Gu Yan thought about it, and decided that he was just too used to being strong. At the end of it all, he was still not used to playing the weakling, he still felt that weaklings were the most disdainful in his heart, so there was no way he could tolerate himself becoming just like that. Why did he have to disguise himself in such a way? Is it because of the threat this person could bring him?

So this was not truly him, and he did not like the him of the current day.

He——was not someone who needed to be protected!

He loves to slaughter, to use people, to gain what he wanted with his own hands, he loved all of this, but he just could not enjoy being cared for by someone else.

What good is it to be offered what you want by somebody else? Things are only interesting if you got it with your own hands!

And what he enjoyed the most was the process of that plundering.

“Even if you did not come, I would still be able to settle that problem by myself.”Gu Yan’s voice was cold and distant, just like the time when they first met.

Since this game was no fun to him anymore, there was no need to continue on with the act. The crisis had been lifted for now anyway, and Qin Yao is no longer any threat to him. So why would he still need to continue his act? This was not his style of doing things.

He admitted that he was slightly worried of Qin Yao’s existence, but this did not mean that he was a little ant that required help at everything.

He was completely capable of achieving his own goals with his own power.

The smile gradually dissipated from Qin Yao’s face, but he did not reveal any anger nor scorn, instead, his eyes were calm. He said:”I know.”

Gu Yan shot him a cold smile.

“I knew it from the start.”Qin Yao looked at Gu Yan,”I know that you can take care of yourself, and that you won’t go down easy. In fact, you’re very strong. Even if I was not there, you still would not be defeated by the malice of others.”

“But the idea that just because you can do it yourself, you don’t need the help of others——You should not think like that.”

“Strength should not become a reason why someone could hurt another casually, but a strong person was also qualified to be treated with kindness.”

“And I care about you, this has little to do with whether you are strong or not, it is just because it’s you.”