Given that Zhang Jingzhong and Huang Dazhong are equals, yet he drives a car worth tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan, his low-key approach is certainly not simple.
In the car, Zhou Xuan asked Lin Shilong, "Brother Lin, do you know where Zhang Jing is going?"
Lin Shilong shook his head and smiled, "I don't know. Boss Zhang is very influential in Jiangbei. Although he doesn't have a big name, his wealth is no less than Wu Xiulin's, but his influence is far greater. He has an incredibly deep network of connections in Jiangbei!"
In fact, many extremely wealthy people in China have even greater wealth than those on the list of richest people, but the source of their wealth is too dark and cannot be brought to light. Zhou Xuan understands this, and Zhang Jing is such a person.
Lin Shilong only knew Zhang Jing; they weren't really friends. Zhang Jing didn't take Lin Shilong seriously, let alone Fang Dacheng.
Zhang Jing drove ahead, leading the way, while Fang Dacheng followed behind in his car. Zhou Xuan would occasionally probe into Zhang Jing's affairs. Lin Shilong naturally didn't know about the secrets behind Zhang Jing's life, and could only talk about some of Zhang Jing's business dealings. Of course, even if he knew some of Zhang Jing's dark secrets, he wouldn't say them. Although Zhou Xuan could help him make a lot of money, he would absolutely not do anything behind Zhang Jing's back.
Zhou Xuan wasn't being unreasonable. He asked a few questions and then stopped. His approach was just right, showing his curiosity and concern for Zhang Jing, which was perfectly normal. Anyone would have such thoughts. Who wouldn't worry about someone carrying such valuable items and running around with strangers?
As the saying goes, "A common man is innocent, but he is guilty of possessing a treasure." If you are penniless, no one will care about you, but if you carry a priceless treasure, then you are guilty. The crime of making others envious may bring you death!
Lin Shilong comforted him, saying, "Brother Wei, you can rest assured about that. In our line of work, robbery is a serious crime. Boss Zhang is worth hundreds of millions; he wouldn't stoop to such despicable means!"
Zhou Xuan smiled, nodded, and didn't say anything more. Of course he wasn't afraid; he had come for this very reason. He turned his head and glanced at Wei Xiaoyu again. Wei Xiaoyu smiled gently, reached out and took his hand, slowly tightening her grip.
Although Wei Xiaoyu was wearing makeup and had an ordinary appearance, Zhou Xuan could still see the stunning beauty in her eyes.
Zhang Jing drove out of the city and onto a remote country road. He drove further and further away until he could only see mountains and forests, with green hills and clear waters. The place was quite beautiful.
The journey would take at least three hours. The sun was already setting. Wei Xiaoyu checked the time on her phone: 2:40 PM. The country roads weren't bad; they were all paved, but they were narrow, one-way streets, and had sharp bends, so the drive was slow. When she saw oncoming cars in the distance, she had to wait at the fork in the road to let them pass before she could continue. That's why it took so long. Two out of the three hours were spent on this narrow road.
Zhou Xuan hadn't expected Zhang Jing to bring him to such a far place. Not only had he not expected it, but Lin Shilong and Fang Dacheng hadn't expected it either.
After driving a few more kilometers, we finally arrived at a beautiful courtyard house with red bricks and green tiles. Someone came out and opened the gate, revealing a 200-square-meter open space with five or six cars parked inside.
Zhang Jing got out of the car with a smile, and then said to Zhou Xuan, "Mr. Wei, please come inside and sit down. I'm sorry to have brought you so far, all the way to the countryside!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "It's nothing. The air is fresh and quiet in the countryside. There's nothing wrong with it!"
Zhang Jing invited them into the living room. It was clear that this was one of Zhang Jing's favorite places. Most of the furniture in the living room was made of mahogany. Mahogany furniture is not cheap these days. Among them, there was a grand master's chair in the main seat that was actually made of sandalwood. This was a very good thing!
After Zhou Xuan sat down, his eyes were fixed on the sandalwood chair, which was antique and over four hundred years old. Of course, this was only the age of the craftsmanship; the sandalwood itself was over nine hundred years old.
Zhang Jing instructed the servants to bring tea up, while he chuckled at Zhou Xuan, "Mr. Wei, you have a good eye. Most people who come here don't stare at my chair as closely as you do. Hehe, can you see anything unusual?"
When Zhang Jing said this, there was a clear sense of pride in his tone.
Zhou Xuan knew this, of course. As soon as he arrived, he used ice energy to probe the entire courtyard. Although the ice energy could not reach fifty or sixty meters, sixty percent of the ice energy could still detect distances of thirty or forty meters. Moreover, if he wanted to probe, he could condense the ice energy into a bundle, which would increase the distance several times over. Therefore, the entire courtyard was within his detection range.
The courtyard was very spacious, totaling at least 1,500 square meters. There were at least fifteen strong men in the other rooms, some of whom were martial arts practitioners. It seemed that Zhang Jing was no ordinary man, and these men were clearly his henchmen.
Furthermore, Zhou Xuan also detected a secret room containing no less than a hundred counterfeit porcelain and bronze artifacts. It seems this is indeed a large operation, although it is most likely not the main base, because Zhou Xuan did not detect any counterfeiting tools or workers. Moreover, the porcelain still needs to be fired in a kiln, but no kilns were seen nearby. Therefore, Zhou Xuan concluded that this was just a small outpost of Zhang Jing, not the main base. It seems unlikely that he would find the main base so easily.
Zhou Xuan withdrew his gaze from the rosewood chair, also withdrawing the icy aura he had been probing, and then chuckled, "Mr. Zhang, this chair of yours is quite something, isn't it? Hehe, you wouldn't sell it for two million!"
Zhang Jing laughed heartily, gave a thumbs up, and said, "Impressive, impressive! I admire you!" As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhou Xuan with newfound respect. This person was not just someone with some hobbies as Lin Shilong had said. Now it seemed that he was definitely a master. He didn't use any other methods; he could tell the extraordinary nature of Zhou Xuan's chair just by glancing at it a few times. That was something that ordinary people couldn't see.
The value of sandalwood is so high that it's no exaggeration to say that every inch of it is worth its weight in gold. It's impossible to find mature sandalwood anywhere in the world now. Legend has it that sandalwood takes ten years to grow to an inch, but a hundred years to grow to a foot. The sandalwood we find today is mostly imported from abroad before the Qing Dynasty. Many wealthy families bought it to make the main beam of their houses. Sandalwood is the hardest of all hardwoods and has a faint fragrance that is extremely beneficial to health. Therefore, wealthy families in the past often bought sandalwood for their main beams. In modern times, many old houses have sandalwood beams. If an old house is demolished and that beam is removed, it can fetch tens of millions of yuan. Demolishing a house is nothing compared to that.
Volume 1, Chapter 362: The Masked Man Appears
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Zhou Xuan chuckled again and said, "This is a rosewood chair, two or three million is not excessive!"
Zhang Jing chuckled and asked casually, "Mr. Wei, I've heard that every inch of rosewood is worth its weight in gold. This chair shouldn't be worth this price, right?"
Zhou Xuan, intending to give him a piece of his mind, chuckled and said, "Mr. Zhang, are you testing me? Hehe, then I'll tell you. This rosewood chair is made from a 900-year-old rosewood branch, not the main trunk, so its value is slightly lower. Three million is a normal price, and at most a few hundred thousand. If it were the main trunk, it would be worth at least six million. Rosewood is more expensive than gold now because gold can still be mined, but rosewood can't be mined anymore. The two are different!"
Zhang Jing paused for a moment, a hint of regret on his face, but it vanished in an instant. On the surface, he didn't seem to care, but inside he was furious. Damn it, he was an expert in counterfeiting, yet he had fallen for someone's trick. A few years ago, he spent seven million to buy this rosewood chair. The item was genuine, but he was still fooled and wasted half of his money!
It seems that this guy named Wei Xiao is really not simple. However, Zhang Jing's wariness of Zhou Xuan has decreased a bit. If he were a policeman, you wouldn't find an antique expert with such experience and insight among the police. Zhou Xuan was able to tell at a glance that it was sandalwood and even knew the age of the sandalwood. This is really amazing!
Zhang Jing gestured and said, "Have some tea, have some tea!" He first took a sip of tea to conceal his expression, and then asked, "Mr. Wei, hehe, could you tell me how you determined the age of this sandalwood without using any other tools or instruments, just by looking at it?"
Trees are usually aged by their annual rings, but the rings on branches are definitely different from those on the trunk, making it difficult to tell. Moreover, this chair was already made; there were no exposed joints or cross-sections of the rosewood, so the annual rings were nowhere to be seen. Zhang Jing was very curious how Zhou Xuan could tell. When they bought it, the seller had said it was 900 years old rosewood. [The rest of the text appears to be unrelated and possibly machine-generated gibberish.]
One was rapidly consuming resources, while the other was continuously absorbing them. The difference in strength was clear, and Zhou Xuan was merely making a final struggle.
"Xiaoyu, take the Nine Dragon Cauldron out of that bag on my back, quick..."
Just when Zhou Xuan was about to despair, he suddenly remembered the Nine Dragon Cauldron he had obtained yesterday. He thought that if he activated the Nine Dragon Cauldron, he could freeze the horse tree and then buy himself a little time to escape!
Knowing the urgency of the situation, Wei Xiaoyu quickly opened the bag on Zhou Xuan's back, took out the Nine Dragon Cauldron, and Zhou Xuan took it from him and held it against his chest.
Ma Shu didn't know what Zhou Xuan was up to, but he wasn't afraid. Zhou Xuan was completely under his control. In just a few minutes, the massive supply of ice energy in the crystal would be enough to completely devour Zhou Xuan!
Zhou Xuan had no time to think further. His exposed skin was already strongly feeling the touch of the gold. He suddenly reached into the cauldron with his left hand, grabbed the bead, and forced some of the icy air onto the bead.
But the bead did not react. Suddenly startled, I realized that there was no water in the Nine Dragons Cauldron!
My God!
Zhou Xuan sighed, "Heaven is destroying me!"
His heart sank, his chest felt like it had been struck by a hammer, and suddenly he spat out another mouthful of blood, which sprayed into the Nine Dragon Cauldron. In an instant, the blood vapor rose!
Zhou Xuan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly overjoyed. Blood was like water, ice energy was on the bead, and blood stained the bead again. It had already activated the Nine Dragon Cauldron!
The blood contained Zhou Xuan's ice-qi ability, unlike clear water. The rising mist was almost tangible, and the nine dragons were frantically inhaling it.
Ma Cun was both surprised and suspicious, not knowing what Zhou Xuan was doing. However, the pressure and fear Zhou Xuan exerted on him were too great. He had to make sure the devouring disappeared no matter what, so he used his strength even more to transfer the energy from the crystal.
Zhou Xuan could no longer resist Ma Shu's icy aura, and his icy aura was also absorbed into the bead. Ma Shu was overjoyed to find that Zhou Xuan was powerless to resist, and he frantically channeled his icy aura to attack him, preparing to transform and devour Zhou Xuan in one go! Wei Xiaoyu was unaware of Zhou Xuan's surprise because she did not recognize Ma Shu!