A Dish Best Served Cold (The Man In Rage)
Chapter 277 The Painting and the Jade Hairpin

"But..." Master Qiu wanted to go on but Qiu Mu-Ying held him back.

"Grandpa, quickly finish your tea otherwise it'll get cold," said Qiu Mu-Ying as she gave her grandfather a look to tell him not to interrupt and she would get it done.

Qiu Mu-Ying poured Wang Xing-Duo a glass of wine and smiled, "Manager Wang, you've misunderstood what my grandfather means."

"Given your relationship with my father-in-law, of course we know that you'd definitely try your best to help us push your colleagues along. Of course, if it's really too difficult, there's nothing we can do but wait. We can't ask Manager Wang to go against the rules, right?"

"Yingying, you..." Qiu Guang started getting anxious at these words.

They had specially arranged this meal and invited Wang Xing-Duo over precisely so that they could get the approval as quickly as possible.

If they could afford to wait, then they wouldn't need Qiu Mu-Ying and Chu Wen-Fei to use their connections.

So it was only natural for Master Qiu and Qiu Guang to get anxious now.

But Qiu Mu-Ying glared at them to tell them not to interrupt her because she had a plan for this.

"Alright, let's not talk about this," Qiu Mu-Ying finished her niceties and changed the topic. "By the way, Manager Wang, I heard that you're into paintings."

Wang Xing-Duo was surprised. He didn't expect Qiu Mu-Ying to know him well. She must have done a lot of homework before this lunch.

"That's right," Wang Xing-Duo nodded. "I won't say that I'm really into them, but my father influenced me greatly and so I like to look at paintings, especially the artworks by the great masters of Chinese paintings." "Then has Manager Wang ever seen the paintings by one of the great painters of the Ming Dynasty, Tang Bohu?" asked Qiu Mu-Ying with a smile.

Wang Xing-Duo was instantly stunned and his eyes widened. "Tang Bohu?"

"You mean the artwork of Tang Yin, one of the Four Scholars of Jiangnan?" "That's right," nodded Qiu Mu-Ying.

Wang Xing-Duo shook his head and sighed, "Tang Yin was the most outstanding painter of the Ming Dynasty and his artistic talent is one of the best in this country's long history. Even though he has left us some paintings, every piece is a treasured item and sells for even $100 million at auctions! They are very hard to come by!"

"I'm just a civil servant in a small city, so there's no way I could get a chance to see such a treasure. But if I could just get the chance to look upon one at a close distance, then I would die with no regrets," sighed Wang Xing-Duo.

Qiu Mu-Ying smiled when she saw his reaction and continued, "Manager Wang, I have a painting on hand but I'm not sure if it's a genuine painting by Tang Yin or not. Could you help me to take a look?" "What? Do you really have a painting by Tang Yin? Let me have a look!" Wang Xing-Duo was so excited that he immediately stood up from his chair.

"Manager Wang, don't be so anxious, I'm taking it out now. But we're really not sure if it's a genuine one or not, so we'll need you to help us take a look," said Qiu Mu-Ying as she got Chu Wen-Fei to take it out from the bag.

Wang Xing-Duo excitedly unrolled the painting. The painting slowly unfurled before everyone's eyes, and it was actually Tang Yin's Visiting a Recluse near the Streams!

Wang Xing-Duo wiped his glasses and leaned against the table as he carefully inspected the painting inch by inch. Anyone who didn't know better might really have thought that Wang Xing-Duo was really an expert in such paintings.

After a long time, Wang Xing-Duo removed his glasses and rubbed his slightly sore eyes.

"Manager Wang, how is it? Is this painting real?" asked Qiu Mu-Ying with a smile. She didn't sound anxious at all and looked like she was in complete control of the situation.

After all, to Qiu Mu-Ying and Chu Wen-Fei, this painting was definitely a genuine one.

This was given to them by Shen Jiu-Yi of the Shen family, so how could it be a fake?

She was asking Wang Xing-Duo about it only to give herself an excuse to take the painting out.

Wang Xing-Duo didn't answer Qiu Mu-Ying immediately and didn't disprove her immediately either.

He put his glasses back on and turned to ask Qiu Mu-Ying, "I won't talk about whether this is a genuine painting or not first. I'm just curious, how did you get your hands on Tang Yin's Visiting a Recluse near the Streams?"

"As far as I know, this painting did appear in Yunzhou before some years ago, but in the end the head of the Shen family, Shen Jiu-Yi, won the bid for it. So I'm now wondering where you could have gotten this painting from," asked Wang Xing-Duo slowly as he looked at Qiu Mu-Ying.

Qiu Mu-Ying covered her mouth and laughed gently.

"Manager Wang, you're really an expert! You just took a few looks and you knew where this painting came from. It's just as what you said - this painting was given to my husband by Shen Jiu-Yi of the Shen family at a dinner."

What?!

"Shen Jiu-Yi gave this to you? Are you serious?" Wang Xing-Duo was finally losing his calm demeanor.

"Of course I'm serious. I took a photo too, you can have a look," said Qiu Mu-Ying as she took her phone out to show Wang Xing-Duo the photo.

It was the scene outside Yunjing Hotel where Shen Jiu-Yi had given Chu Wen-Fei the painting.

Since it was a glorious moment for her husband, of course Qiu Mu-Cheng took a photo as a memento.

"Oh my goodness! You're serious!" Wang Xing-Duo became excited and looked back down at the painting again.

Before this, Wang Xing-Duo didn't think this painting was genuine. It was something worth tens of millions after all, so how could someone as young as Qiu Mu-Ying have the money to bid for such a precious item?

But now, he had to admit it was real.

"So this painting is real? This painting is really the one by Tang Bohu?" His heart was trembling and so were his hands.

Wang Xing-Duo was going crazy with happiness as he started to inspect the painting inch by inch again. He looked like he was admiring the body of a great beauty.

"What a wonderful painting! What a wonderful painting! Look at this composition, this use of shadows and highlights and these brush strokes. The brushes are so detailed and the arrangement is sparse. The style is simple yet elegant. Yingying, just like I said, this painting is definitely genuine. I could tell it was real at first glance, and now I find it hard to look away from it."

Wang Xing-Duo was so excited that he kept gasping about how lovely the painting was and kept caressing the painting gently.

Qiu Mu-Cheng and the rest were speechless. When did he say that the painting was real?

But they didn't expose Wang Xing-Duo on the spot and continued to sing his praises instead.

"Yingying, Wen-Fei, I had no idea that you two were so outstanding to the point where even the head of the Shen family would gift you a painting like this. I really like this painting. Could you lend it to me for a couple of days to admire it? There's also an art exhibition coming to Yunzhou soon, so I'd like to bring it over for my fellow art enthusiasts to have a look. Don't worry, I'll take good care of it like it's myself, and I won't let it get damaged."

"This..." Qiu Mu-Ying was a little hesitant. She didn't mind lending it to him for just a few hours to admire it, but a few days made her worried. This was an item worth millions, so how could she just lend it out like that?

In the end, Qiu Mu-Ying only agreed to lend it to Wang Xing-Duo for half the day on the day of the exhibition.

Wang Xing-Duo knew that this painting was very valuable and it wasn't right for him to borrow it for a few days, so he went along with Qiu Mu-Ying.

"By the way, Manager Wang, I nearly

forgot. We also prepared a gift for you wife. It's just a jade hairpin, and I hope you can accept it. This jade hairpin is from a royal family in Europe, so after she puts it on, it would definitely bring out the elegance and poise in your wife!"