Volume 1: The Return of the Divine Doctor Chapter 19: An Unexpected Encounter at an Antique Shop

  Although he was puzzled in his heart, Wang Zhi still quickly connected Lin Xueyan's phone call. After all, having a beautiful woman call is always an exciting thing.

  "Hey! Wang Zhi, I heard you're not working now. Do you have time to talk?" Lin Xueyan's sweet voice quickly came through the phone after it was answered. After getting familiar with Wang Zhi, Lin Xueyan no longer called him Dr. Wang, but directly addressed him by his name.

  "Ah! I just sent off a friend and now I'm at the airport, what's up?" Wang Zhi asked with a smile.

  "In two days it's my grandfather's 70th birthday, can you accompany me to buy some things?" Lin Xueyan asked with a somewhat pitiful tone.

  "No problem, where are you?" Wang Zhi looked at the time and it was just past 2 pm, so he had plenty of time to spare and agreed readily.

  "Oh, great! Then wait for me at the airport and I'll come pick you up." Lin Xueyan said excitedly before hanging up the phone.

  Wang Zhi could only stand at the airport entrance, slowly waiting. After about thirty minutes, a silver-white Ferrari sports car slowed down and stopped in front of Wang Zhi. The window rolled down, and Lin Xueyan's beautiful head popped out.

  "Can you drive?"

  "No way." Wang Zhi shook his head. His family was well-off, but they weren't wealthy enough to afford a sports car yet.

  "Cut! I thought you knew everything." Lin Xueyan looked at Wang Zhi with disdain and said, "Get in the car then, it seems like only I can be your driver now."

  Opening the car door, Wang Zhi sat in the passenger seat and looked at Lin Xueyan's lovely expression, smiling and saying: "I said beauty, I'm just a doctor, not an all-around person, what's so special about not being able to drive?"

  Lin Xueyan's face turned hot when she saw Wang Zhi staring at her, and she quickly stepped on the accelerator, giving Wang Zhi a fright. "Hey! I said I haven't fastened my seatbelt yet, are you trying to murder me?"

  "What's the benefit of killing you?" Lin Xueyan looked at Wang Zhi's embarrassed appearance and suddenly felt happy. For so long, Wang Zhi had always been a dignified figure in front of him, and it was rare to see him make a fool of himself today.

  Lin Xueyan took Wang Zhi to a street in Jianghuai that specialized in antiques. Lin Xueyan's grandfather, Old Man Lin, had no other hobbies except for liking ancient artifacts and calligraphy. To give his grandfather a surprise, Lin Xueyan decided to personally go out and pick an antique he liked.

  However, Lin Xueyan himself didn't understand this, and after thinking about it, he pulled in Wang Zhi. Wang Zhi was well-versed in traditional Chinese medicine and might have some insight.

  However, after arriving at the place, Lin Xueyan hesitated a bit. She wasn't afraid of spending money, but rather afraid of buying a fake item and being laughed at by her family members. Holding Wang Zhi's hand, she asked nervously: "Wang Zhi, do you understand antiques?"

  "This?" Wang Zhi thought carefully and replied: "It depends on what kind of antique it is. If it's from before the Qing Dynasty, I might be able to recognize a few pieces. But if it's from the Qing Dynasty, then no way." That makes sense, since Wang Zhi had lived in ancient times for so long, he naturally still had some understanding of things from that era.

  "It's really great, now I'm not afraid of being laughed at." Lin Xueyan said excitedly, pulling Wang Zhi quickly into the antique shop.

  Looking at Lin Xueyan's lively appearance like a child, Wang Zhi smiled and shook his head, looking at his hand tightly held by Lin Xueyan. He couldn't help but feel emotional, modern children are indeed late in maturing, Lin Xueyan is already 25 years old, yet still looks like a 17 or 18-year-old girl.

  As they walked into the antique shop, the owner's eyes lit up when he saw the two of them enter, and he hastily stood up to greet them.

  Today, Lin Xueyan wore a white pleated skirt with a blue tight-fitting jeans on the bottom. Her black silky hair was casually tied back with a pink hair clip, adding to her pure and innocent look. Wang Zhi, on the other hand, only wore casual clothes, but as an internal family expert and a legendary doctor, his temperament was naturally extraordinary. The shop owner naturally treated them as big customers.

  The two people were very young and looked like they didn't have any experience in antique appraisal, the kind of people who are often taken advantage of by shop owners.

  "What would you like to see, gentlemen? Our store has ancient artifacts and calligraphy from every dynasty." The shop owner was a man in his sixties, who looked very astute.

  "We'll just take a look, you don't need to entertain us." Wang Zhi said casually, pulling Lin Xueyan along slowly. Wang Zhi knew that this antique street was a mixed bag of good and bad, where many antique enthusiasts came to dig for treasures. The things here were genuine and fake, fake and genuine, and without a discerning eye, it was impossible to tell them apart. Moreover, you couldn't let the shop owner see your intentions, or else he would ask for an astronomical price even for an ordinary item.

  Lin Xueyan didn't understand this at all, picking up one thing and then another to take a look, just like a curious baby. Wang Zhi, on the other hand, was using his eyes to casually scan around, trying to see if he could find a few truly good items.

  Suddenly, Wang Zhi was attracted by a landscape painting hanging in the corner of the wall. It was an ordinary-looking calligraphy and painting, which was a bit rough in both style and craftsmanship. However, this painting was recognized by Wang Zhi as a genuine antique-level calligraphy and painting.

  Wearing a casual air, Wang Zhi inadvertently turned to the front of the calligraphy and painting, re-examined it, and saw a small ink mark in the upper right corner of the painting, confirming his own idea.

  The paper used for this painting is hemp paper produced in Sichuan, although it looks rough, but it is a genuine work by the famous Northern Song Dynasty painter Huang Tingjian.

  "Boss, how much for this painting?" Wang Zhi asked nonchalantly, pointing at the painting in front of him.

  "Wow, you have a good eye for this! This painting is one of our store's treasures, it's an invaluable antique." The boss began to introduce it non-stop.

  Looking at the boss's attitude that this painting is a treasure of our store and will not be sold to ordinary people, Wang Zhi waved his hand impatiently: "Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything. I just think this painting has some value to look at. For beginners who are learning to paint, they can refer to it casually and ask questions."

  "Haha." Upon hearing Wang Zhi's words, the shop owner smiled awkwardly and said: "Sorry to disappoint you, sir. Since you've taken a liking to it, I'll give you a flat price of 2,000."

  "Two thousand, just for this broken painting." Wang Zhi disdainfully curled his lip and casually pulled out five hundred-yuan bills from his pocket, slapping them on the table: "Five hundred, take it or leave it."

  "This, you add a bit more." The boss rubbed his hands together and said with a proud face, he also couldn't tell the origin of this painting, but from the workmanship it was absolutely not a famous artist's work, at most it had some age to it, but which era it was from was hard to say.

  "No sale." Wang Zhi said resolutely, and immediately picked up the money on the table: "Forget about selling it."

  "I'm selling, isn't that enough?" Seeing Wang Zhi about to put away the money, the boss also didn't care anymore and hastily snatched it over, greeting him warmly. Anyway, when he took it over, this painting was only sold for 20 yuan, and he had made a lot of profit from the 500 yuan."

  After buying the painting, Wang Zhi quickly pulled Lin Xueyan away. Looking at Wang Zhi's hurriedly departing back, the store owner said with some suspicion: "Could it be that there's something special about that painting?"

  At this point, Lin Xueyan also asked Wang Zhi again: "How did you like that painting? What's so special about it?" Earlier when Wang Zhi bought the painting, Lin Xueyan had wanted to ask, but she was smart enough to know that it wasn't a good time to speak up. If Wang Zhi really liked a genuine piece, he would inevitably spend a lot of money unnecessarily.

  Five hundred yuan bought a genuine work by Huang Tingjian, and Wang Zhi's mood was not bad. If this painting were to be given to someone who knows its value, it would absolutely sell for over four million yuan. This is one of Huang Tingjian's pre-celebrity works, with great collection value and research value.

  "Haha, today is a great find." Wang Zhi said casually, "Haha, don't look at this painting as ordinary, it's actually an authentic antique."

  "Really, how did you see it? Won't you be mistaken? I don't think so." Lin Xueyan said puzzledly.

  "I can tell by looking at it, I've seen it with my own eyes. This painting was specially painted for me by that kid Huang Tingjian, but at that time, the painting wasn't very good." Wang Zhi thought to himself with a bad intention, at that time Huang Tingjian was only 16 years old, and Wang Zhi had just saved his life, so he personally made a painting for Wang Zhi. The ink mark in the upper right corner of the painting was accidentally smudged by Wang Zhi.

  However, Wang Zhi did not dare say this out loud and simply perfunctorily said: "Luckily, luckily."