Chapter 18

"Trash?"

Yvonne found that description amusing. If she was correct, that box was probably used by the palace during the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong period. The box’s material was very valuable and highly likely to be Golden-thread Nanmu.

While it was evident that the box was weather-beaten and looked particularly wrecked, its workmanship was exceedingly exquisite upon closer inspection!

The box alone was worth hundreds of thousands, yet it was treated as rubbish?!

Perhaps driven by occupational habit, Yvonne opened her bag and took out a pastel green magnifying glass.

The Young family has been in the antique business for generations and often picked up valuable items on the roadside. It was imperative that a magnifying glass be carried along at all times.

"President Young, what are you doing?"

The old lady could not resist saying, "This is just some rubbish. The servants will come right away and toss this into the bin."

Yvonne kept quiet. As she analyzed the wooden box through her magnifying glass, drops of sweat formed on her forehead!

There was a golden dragon engraved on the box!

Despite going through years of battering, it was only under a magnifying glass that one could barely make out the undeniable fact that the box had been used by the emperor!

Back in the feudal era, there were only a few people who dared to create dragon carvings! It was a time when imperial power reigned supreme authority, and only the emperor’s engravers could create the box.

Her earlier estimation of several hundred thousand had been a severe underestimation. It was worth at least one million!

"President Young? Come and have a seat." William walked over and bowed respectfully to Yvonne. "President Young, the banquet is about to begin."

Yvonne put away her magnifying glass and whispered, "This box…? Whose gift was it?"

"No one!" William hurriedly waved his hand, "Don't get me wrong, President Young, all of our guests today are illustrious people. They wouldn’t give presents bought from a roadside stall. Haha!"

After all, the Lyndon family were equally prestigious and would never admit to accepting such a gift.

As William spoke, he brought the box over and was about to toss it into the bin.

The old lady glanced at William appreciatively. He was such a good grandson and she did not pamper him in vain!

"Wait."

Yvonne spoke again and took the box. She finally understood that everyone there was oblivious to the nature of the item! An item from a roadside stall? No one seemed to realize that it was a precious treasure!

Slowly but excitedly, she opened the box. Almost immediately, Yvonne was dumfounded and a chill trembled down her spine!

That... It could not be, could it?! Was she hallucinating?

The Boundless Universe Fan?!

How was that possible!

Yvonne bit her lip tightly and nearly drew blood from it!

It was common knowledge that the Qianlong Emperor had a fondness for two main things. The first was seal engravement. It was said that the Qianlong Emperor had created thousands of seals!

His second hobby was poetry and he had written more than 40,000 poems in his lifetime. Be that as it may, most of those poems were substandard and few people have memorized them well. However, there was one poem that everyone remembered clearly.

That poem was: ‘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.’

The first three sentences of the poem were written by the Qianlong Emperor, but the fourth sentence was written by Ji Xiaolan as a finishing touch.

Legend had it that the Qianlong Emperor had written the poem and was so happy with it that he immediately asked the best painter to paint a scene and used it to make a hand fan.

The Qianlong Emperor later inscribed that poem on the hand fan and printed more than a dozen seals on it, which he liked a lot.

The hand fan was also known as the best hand fan in the entire Qing Dynasty! Qianlong Emperor had named it the Boundless Universe Fan!

This fan has always been kept in the Forbidden City, but after the Qing Dynasty’s fall, the Forbidden City was completely wiped out by foreigners. Following those events, there was no longer any news about the hand fan.

At this precise moment, she was actually seeing it with her own eyes!

Yvonne was thrilled and her legs went soft. Her first instinct was to take out her cellphone and snap a picture of it for her father. He would be overjoyed to see it! The fan was a supreme treasure for any collector, who would certainly feel content simply by looking at it!

"President Young, I’ll throw this fan away. Don't dirty your hands," William said with a smile. "I know you’re an antique expert. You probably find it quite comical that a fake like this would show up in our Lyndon home."

"A fake?" Yvonne asked as she raised an eyebrow.

She had been exposed to antiques since the age of seven and had been in the business for more than a decade. Her judgment was always accurate, the item was authentic!

"You guys have gotten it wrong, haven’t you?" Yvonne asked softly. "This hand fan... "

"This hand fan belongs to me." Darryl stood up suddenly at that moment and walked to Yvonne to take back the hand fan.

Everyone knew that it was Granny's birthday that day, but how many people knew that it was also his birthday?

Darryl clenched his fists tightly. So be it then if no one knew about his birthday. Why the hell did he have to tolerate their insults there? If they could not tell chalk to cheese, he might as well not give that fan!

"It’s yours?"

Yvonne looked at Darryl.

‘Wasn’t Darryl the one who gave up his seat for me at the Oriental Pearl Hotel?’

She had heard that he was the live-in son-in-law of the Lyndon family and was a nobody. How could that hand fan belong to him?

"Yes, President Young, this broken fan belongs to him!" William exclaimed. "Apart from a loser like him, who else would have the decency to take such a broken thing!"

"No matter how tattered my gift is, it’s still better than your fake night-shining pearl," Darryl shot back coldly. "Granny loves you so much, yet you don’t even feel the slightest bit of shame for giving her that awful pearl worth only several thousand? You don’t appreciate the fan I gave, right? No problem, I’ll take it back."

Darryl pocketed the hand fan as he said that.

"Are you f*cking mental?!" William suddenly flew into a rage. "Who are you accusing of giving a gift worth only several thousand? If you keep making blind comparisons, I’ll get someone to kill you."

"Enough," the old lady finally interrupted. "This is supposed to be a happy day. Stop arguing. There’s something I’d like to say."

William spitted at Darryl’s direction and returned to his seat.

As one of the distinguished guests, Yvonne should be seated at the front, but she followed Darryl to his seat.

"Can I sit here, Auntie?" Yvonne looked at Samantha and asked.

"Yes, of course!" Samantha said with a smile. "Darryl, hurry up and move aside for President Young!"

"No, no, Auntie, don’t get me wrong." Yvonne smiled lightly. "What I meant was, can I…sit next to him?"

Yvonne pointed to Darryl as she made that request.

What?!

Yvonne's voice was not that loud, but the surrounding people heard her loud and cleary!

What was going on?! Why did that goddess want to sit next to a loser?

Other girls would run at the sight of him, but she wanted to sit next to him?

Samantha was equally stunned. Her first thought was that Darryl had offended Yvonne earlier.

"President Young, Darryl is a fool. Don't be angry with him," Samantha said. "Don't take offense with him."

"You misunderstood, Auntie." Yvonne's red lips curled up slightly. "I want to chat with him."

Hearing what she said, everyone around was even more stunned!

What was there to chat with Darryl? He was so poor that the sight of him was revolting! How could a goddess and a loser have a common topic!

Samantha hesitated for a while, then nodded. She gave up her seat and went to sit at the back.

At that point, Lily unconsciously looked to her side.

In her heart, she had always felt that Darryl was a loser who would never attract the attention of any girl. With Yvonne suddenly requesting to sit next to him, she could not help but feel a slight discomfort in her heart.

Her womanly instinct told Lily that there must be a reason for Yvonne to want to sit next to Darryl.

Now, three exquisite beauties were seated around Darryl -- Yvonne, Lily, and Elsa.

Half of the men there had their eyes fixed on his direction, shifting across all three women. Without a doubt, the three women each had their own merits.

"Hello... Excuse me... " Yvonne looked at Darryl and spoke, but she swallowed her words before she could end it. She discovered that Darryl did not even turn to look at her!

Yvonne felt a little angry deep down. She had taken the initiative to strike up a conversation with him but was given the cold shoulder instead.