Chapter 355: There’s a Mole
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the main hall, Yan Yuan was showing Elder Mrs. Yan his birthday gift for her. It was a screen with the painting of a young boy wishing one happy birthday.
“Grandma, I’ve asked Master Xuan Jing to draw this, and it’s a double-sided painting.” As Yan Yuan spoke, he turned the painting in the center of the screen over.
“On the front, the little boys holding the word ‘longevity, and on the back it’s a longevity peach. I wanted to ask someone to make you a big longevity peach dessert to make you happy, but when I think about how you don’t like sweet things, and the dessert would eventually fall into the hands of us greedy young ones, so I might as well have the longevity peach drawn in the painting…”
The introduction made Elder Mrs. Yan very happy. It seemed like the entire banquet had put her in a good mood. People around her also laughed very cooperatively.
Elder Mrs. Yan had always loved these paintings and calligraphy. Yan Yuan’s gift could be considered to have touched her heart. Not only was it a custom-made double-sided painting screen, but the frame of the carved rosewood around it was also very exquisite.
Yan Ruo looked at Yan Ming, who was sitting on a chair and introducing the painting to Elder Mrs. Yan, the expression in his eyes was not clear.
If it was just to receive an important political official, Yan Ruo would not need to spend so much time to come back.
However, he was informed that the political official would be a little late and he had to wait a little longer after he went out.
In the few minutes that he was waiting, Yan-3 suddenly called and said that two groups of people had sneaked into the company’s headquarters and tried to steal the company’s confidential doc.u.ments and financial statements.
Fortunately, the two groups of people did not succeed. They fought with the bodyguards in the office building and escaped.
There was no trace left behind. The company’s internal surveillance cameras were shut down during that period of time, but they returned to normal afterward.
This meant that there was a mole.
There was someone controlling the surveillance system in the company and making Yan Ruo leave the banquet, causing him to be unable to care about the company’s situation.
However, that person did not expect that this political official would be a few minutes late. That was why Yan Ruo managed to receive the important call from Yan-3.
Yan Ruo quickly instructed Yan-3 the next steps. Then, he rearranged the manpower left in the manor, which took a lot of time.
Yan Ming had been in the banquet hall the entire time. He would not have used such a stupid method.
However, Yan Yuan had arrived so late and just had a conflict with Yan Ruo in front of the Yan family and guests. It was impossible for Yan Ruo not to suspect him.
The banquet became lively again. This was because Master Xuan Jing was a seclusive master. He was extremely good at fine brush, but he was also excellent at freehand painting of mountains, rivers, flowers, and birds. However, his paintings could not be bought with money.
He would only draw the subject matter that he was interested in.
It was said that he once drew fans for the old men who were playing chess in the evening at a park of a small town just because he lost to those old men. Later, many people offered a high price to buy those fans, but they were all rejected by those old men.
Only one of the old men agreed, but the fan had disappeared from the rich man’s house and never returned to the old man’s hands.
From then on, the rumor that Xuan Jings paintings could only be drawn to fated people spread.
After that, many imitations of Master Xuan Jings paintings appeared on the market. Even if they were not the real deal, it was already a highly appreciated painting when one could learn some of the essence of Xuan Jings skills. It was more than enough to fool people who did not understand calligraphy and painting.
It was because of this that Yan Yuan was able to get two of Xuan Jings paintings of such a large scale at once. It was clear that he had a special relationship with Xuan Jing.
Looking at the brushwork and the unique style of the blank s.p.a.ces on the painting, it was indeed the work of Xuan Jing.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Master Xuan Jings birthday painting. It’s rare. First, there’s the jade ornament, then it’s the Song Dynasty porcelain, and now, we’ve even seen Master Xuan Jings never-before-seen painting. This trip today’s really not in vain.” One of the guests clicked his tongue in admiration.
The other person snorted and said, “You should see whose birthday banquet this is first. The Yan family has more than a hundred years of foundation in City A. They’re even influential in the capital, City B. I don’t think I’ll be surprised if any rare treasures appear at Elder Mrs. Yan’s birthday banquet next..”