Chapter 17 

"Come here, let me have a look at it."

The old lady was getting restless and ordered softly, to which all her juniors made way for her.

She adjusted her reading glasses and looked at it without blinking.

Such powerful strokes, so brilliant and smooth! It was simply a masterpiece!

"I’m quite certain that this isn’t an imitation," Claude gave a thumbs up and seemed rather excited. "I would never expect to see Wang Xizhi's original work here!"

"Yes! It’s usually seen only in museums!"

"So beautiful! His ability to create this piece makes him worthy of being the Sage of Calligraphy!"

Everyone lavished praise on it and Grandmother Lyndon was beyond thrilled!

"Alright, alright, alright!" The grandmother repeated three times before carefully putting away the scroll. She instructed her servants, "Put this in the box right away. Be sure to hold it gently and put it down carefully!"

"Yes,” The servants nodded in quick succession and were very cautious to not hold it using too much force. Everyone said that it was Wang Xizhi's work and was of immense value. If they destroyed it, would they be able to afford its compensation?!

On one side, Lily bit her lip tightly and felt touched for some reason.

Ashton had sold the company just to buy her a pair of high heels and even presented such a momentous gift to granny.

"Hey, look here everyone! Darryl's expression is so funny, haha!"

William burst out laughing right away and pointed at Darryl, saying, "Look. He’s also holding a box in his hand! Haha! He’s got a gift for granny too!"

William's words spurred the crowd to start jeering.

Indeed, Darryl's expression was unnatural, though it was due to Ashton’s shamelessness! To think that Ashton would give the old lady a fake!

"Come on now, Darryl! Take out your gift and let us have a look!"

"Yeah, haha!"

Everyone saw the gift box Darryl was holding. The box looked far too shoddy as if it was picked up from the garbage.

Darryl was contemptible. Even if he could not bear to spend his money during ordinary times, did he have to skimp so hard with the old lady’s birthday celebration?

"Forget it."

Darryl waved his hand, having already seen through the expressions of everyone there. They would almost certainly mock him regardless of what gift he had, so it would be better to avoid all the troubles by not seeing the gift.

"Come on now, haha!" William leaped over all of a sudden. "It’s Granny’s birthday celebration today and we’ve already seen everyone else’s gifts. Yours is the only one left! Your wife is going to be snatched away soon too, so how will you redeem yourself if you don't reveal your gift!"

"Hahaha!"

His remarks elicited hearty laughter from everyone around him.

Lily's expression soured to the extreme and she was feeling slightly angry. She had told Darryl in advance to prepare a better gift, but he did precisely the opposite! Now, he was making an absolute fool of himself!

"Sit down right now. Stop standing!" Lily pulled Darryl's arm and reprimanded softly.

On the other side, Samantha also had rage written all over her face. She pointed to Darryl and shouted, "Hurry up and put your garbage gift at the door. Don't embarrass us here, you good-for-nothing loser."

"Oh," Darryl murmured. He held the box and walked to the door, where many gifts were placed.

He was just about to put the box in the pile of gifts when William ran over and grabbed the box by surprise!

"Haha, don't be so petty! What gift did you get for Granny? Show us!" William said excitedly and opened the box!

In a flash, the whole villa fell silent!

Everyone stared at Darryl's gift and gulped!

It was an antique hand fan with black ribs.

As the hand fan was unfolded, a landscape was painted in thick ink on the surface of the fan, depicting a snowy day. The brush technique was amazing, and it was likely painted by a great man of the time! It would be impossible to paint something like that without decades of knowledge and experience!

A poem was also written in a corner of the fan:

‘One flake, two flakes, snowflakes three and four; five six, seven eight, nine flakes, ten and more; gliding into plum-flowers, snowflakes were seen no more.’

There are more than a dozen seals on the fan, but the most striking aspect was the poem’s royal sign-off: Hongli!

Hongli?! Aisin Gioro Hongli?! The renowned Qianlong Emperor?!

"Hahaha!"

Someone burst out into uncontrollable laughter, triggering the rest of the people to laugh out loud too!

"Hahaha, you’re killing me! This fan is so fake, isn't it?! Hahaha!"

"True that. Would the fan used by the Qianlong Emperor appear here?! Haha!"

"Donghai City History Museum might not even dare to claim that they have it!"

William clutched his stomach as he rocked back and forth laughing hard. He laughed saying as he pointed at Darryl, "You’re hilarious, hahaha! Are you cuckoo? Couldn’t you have spent a bit of money for Granny’s birthday today? Haha, tell me, where did you get this fan? Hahaha!"

"A friend helped me buy it."

Darryl answered bluntly.

His initial intention was to gift Wang Xizhi's Ping’an Tie, but the scroll was given to him as a gift by Wayne and the others. A gift that one received should never be gifted to another person because that would seem disrespectful.

Therefore, Darryl had entrusted Emily to help him choose a gift.

Little did he know that Emily would help him buy that fan! She said that her friend happened to be one of the country’s leading antique collectors, and she had to beg him for a long time before getting the fan. It was said that the Qianlong Emperor had used that fan for an entire year. The fan even had a name, called the Boundless Universe Fan.

"A friend helped you to buy it?!" William clutched his stomach and tried hard not to laugh. "How much did you spend?"

"None. My friend doesn't want money," Darryl said. "She only asked that I treat her to some rice noodle soup in the future if she has some time to spare."

"Rice noodle soup?! Haha, you mean rice noodle soup from Yunnan?!" William had just come to his senses but was once again left completely unable to control himself. He barely stopped short of fainting after laughing so hard.

Hahaha! The audience burst into raucous laughter!

Darryl was a bloody joke whose shamelessness knew no bounds! Haha!

The old lady stared coldly at Darryl. "Do you still have any dignity? Lilybud was so unlucky when she married you! Can someone please throw this rubbish fan away for me!"

"Yes!"

Two servants nodded, picked up the fan and the box, opened the door, and threw it out!

The crowd’s laughter did not cease, and Darryl sighed as he returned to his seat and sat down.

Grandmother Lyndon was very happy at first, but she could no longer maintain her joyful expression after what happened. She waved her hand and said, "Alright, let me just say a few words."

"First of all, thank you all for coming to my birthday banquet despite your busy schedule." She nodded her head slightly and continued, "Please enjoy yourselves to the fullest today. Eat and drink as much as you like! Two gentlemen have proposed to our family, and I’ve already taken note of it. We shall discuss it after the banquet is over."

At that juncture, the old lady stood up. "Dear guests! You’ve all brought such amazing gifts today, and it's only right for me to show the same generosity. I’ve prepared good food and wine today!"

The old lady clapped her hands, signaling dozens of waiters to bring in many sumptuous dishes.

"Premium King Abalone, Buddha’s Temptation, Shark Fin Soup with Abalone and Birds’ Nest..."

Dish after dish elicited looks of wonder from the guests.

There were more than a dozen dishes on each table, each of which was a famous dish! It was estimated that the total price for the dishes per table would not be less than one hundred thousand!

Everyone was still in awe when an announcement was made!

"Old Madam, Miss Yvonne Young is here."

"Hurry up and welcome her!" The old lady said quickly.

The Young family had been in the antique business for generations. They had a good relationship with the Lyndon family, and Yvonne was invited to the celebration banquet that the old lady had organized for Lily.

Lily smiled. Previously, Yvonne had asked who gifted her The Worship of Crystal and even offered to buy it at double the original price. At the time, however, Lily had no idea that Ashton was the one who gifted it to her.

Perfect! She could ask Ashton about it and request his help to get a pair for Yvonne.

All the men began ogling at Yvonne when she appeared.

Her beauty was exceptional! She wore a pair of tight jeans and a white shirt that accentuated her sexy figure.

"Please accept my apologies, there was a traffic jam on the road." Yvonne flashed an apologetic smile as she walked in.

To everyone’s surprise, she halted her footsteps before she could finish speaking!

"This... This is..."

Yvonne looked down at the ground. It was the tattered fan that had been thrown out!

The fan was still in the shoddy box at the time. As someone whose family dealt in antiques for generations, Yvonne noticed that the box...was rather extraordinary...

"President Young, there’s no need to pick up the trash. Someone will sweep it away," The old lady said with a smile.