Zhou Luming and Xu Yan simultaneously moved closer to the computer screen, their heads bumping together with a "thud." They glanced at each other in pain, Zhou Luming chuckled, and Xu Yan frowned and rubbed his forehead.
What are you laughing at?
"Your expression just now was cute. I found your sudden frightened look a bit silly." Zhou Luming continued to tease Xu Yan without any restraint, but Xu Yan didn't respond. "Boring."
Caught between the two, Wang Anjing's lips curled into a smile. She thought helplessly that the two of them were just like childish kids at this moment, always bickering and showing off.
Xu Yan walked around to the other side of Wang Anjing and saw two documents on the screen. Opening one of them, she found a message for Xu Yan: "Ms. Xu, I apologize for bothering you, but I hope that this time you can accept my commission to arrange my estate. You can receive 20% of my estate as a reward, and the remaining 80% will be given to witnesses who can provide key clues. Thank you."
Zhou Luming turned his head and stared intently at Xu Yan's profile. According to Lu Gang's document, he seemed to know Xu Yan? But Xu Yan denied knowing him. Could Xu Yan be lying? She didn't seem like the type to lie...
“I do not know Lu Gang personally, but I do know his daughter Lu Qi. When I was abroad, I received an email from Lu Qi, which was a letter asking for help. I was very busy at the time and did not pay attention to the letter. I gradually forgot about it. When I saw news about Lu Qi again later, she was no longer in this world.”
Xu Yan's expression remained calm as usual, without any fluctuation.
Zhou Luming frowned. "You were abroad at the time, why did Lu Qi contact you?"
“She was also studying abroad at the time, and she may have heard of me somewhere, so she wrote to me asking for help,” Xu Yan pondered.
Wang Anjing interjected, "Ms. Zhou, you may not know this, but Xu Yan has a very good reputation among overseas students. She obtained her law license abroad and performed exceptionally well in handling several major cases, so many overseas students like to seek her help when they have disputes. However, she is a very low-key person, and everyone only knows her name but has never met her in person. She also does not give interviews. People have investigated for a long time and only managed to find her public work email address, so they can only email Xu Yan. As for whether she will take on cases or when she will take on cases, they can only wait patiently and pray that Xu Yan will respond to their needs."
Wang Anjing smiled at Xu Yan and said, "I only learned a little about the situation after sorting through the emails between Li Li and Xu Yan and accepting Xu Yan's commission."
Xu Yan said, "What I am like is completely unimportant."
Zhou Luming smiled. "It's not important to the client, but it's very important to me."
Xu Yan looked up and glanced at her strangely. "Instead of wasting time discussing meaningless things, you'd be better off reading more books, so you don't end up like an empty-headed vase."
Instead of being angry, Zhou Luming smiled charmingly, "So you admit that I meet your aesthetic standards and you think I'm pretty?"
Xu Yan remained silent, indifferently shifting her gaze. "What's the other document?"
Wang Anjing listened to Zhou Luming and Xu Yan's back-and-forth banter and thought the two of them were like two clowns, one of them perfectly suppressing the other, which was very interesting. She only came back to her senses after hearing Xu Yan's question, and cleared her throat with a light cough, saying, "I'll open it for you to see."
The document was opened, but it looked like a string of gibberish.
Zhou Luming was taken aback, raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips, "Is the file corrupted? Why is it just a string of gibberish?"
Xu Yan asked Wang Anjing, "Is this string of characters—"
Wang Anjing nodded, "I think so, but it still needs to be transformed in detail, and it cannot be 100% certain at the moment."
"How much time do you need to decipher and convert this string of characters?" Xu Yan asked.
“It might take a few weeks for most people, but I need—” Wang Anjing was about to blurt out a timeframe when she saw Xu Yan shake his head slightly at her with his back to Zhou Luming, and extend three fingers from his hand on his trouser leg. So Wang Anjing changed her mind and said, “I need three days.”
"Okay, text me when you've finished cracking it," Xu Yan said. "I'm leaving now, contact me if you need anything."
Wang Anjing watched them leave, then rested her chin on her hand and muttered to herself, "Actually, I could have solved it in just three minutes, but Xu Yan seems to be wary of Zhou Luming..."
Zhou Luming followed behind Xu Yan. Xu Yan's pace was actually quite fast, but halfway there, he seemed to remember something and stood at the corner, hands in his pockets, waiting for Zhou Luming.
Zhou Luming quickened her pace. She looked at Xu Yan's hands and noticed that Xu Yan always liked to put her hands in her pockets, which was a sign that she was uneasy, refused to communicate with the outside world, and lacked a sense of security.
"I called a car to take you home," Xu Yan said.
Zhou Luming grabbed her sleeve, "I'm not going home. I'll go wherever you go." Then he grabbed Xu Yan's arm and clung to her like a sloth, "You can't shake me off."
Once she returned home, the Zhou family members came to take her back to the Zhou family's old house.
Xu Yan tried to break free, but Zhou Luming was very clingy, so Xu Yan eventually gave up, saying, "Follow me if you want, but don't slow me down."
"I promise I won't," Zhou Luming swore, pointing to the sky.
Xu Yan led her into the car, and on the way, Zhou Luming asked, "Where are we going now?"
Auction house.
"What's being auctioned?" Zhou Luming asked curiously. In her memory, Lu Gang hadn't left behind anything valuable, so it wasn't worth such a big deal as an auction house auction. He probably couldn't even afford the minimum commission. What was Xu Yan doing at the auction house?
"Lu Gang's inheritance." After saying this, Xu Yan closed his eyes and pretended to doze off.
Seeing her indifferent attitude, Zhou Luming felt awkward. He then noticed Xu Yan's hands resting on her lap—slender, long, and with well-defined knuckles; they were very beautiful hands. Such fingers could be used for writing, for playing the piano, or even—
Zhou Luming's ears inexplicably burned. He touched his cheeks, thankfully they weren't very red. Seeing the chauffeur looking at him through the rearview mirror, Zhou Luming nervously looked away.
The driver said, "Young lady, you're not filming a variety show, are you?"
Zhou Luming smiled gently, "We are working, not filming a variety show."
The driver chuckled and said, "You're all so pretty, and you're talking about auctions—things that are so far removed from ordinary people like us. I thought you were filming a TV show... You're working? What do you do for a living?"
Zhou Luming replied, "We are estate administrators."
"An estate administrator? What exactly does that entail? Does our country have such a job?"
"It mainly involves managing the client's estate..." Zhou Luming couldn't explain clearly.
It was Xu Yan who spoke up at this point, saying, "The profession of estate administrator is already very mature abroad, and it is usually held by lawyers who are responsible for distributing the estate according to the doctor's orders. my country's newly promulgated Civil Code has also explicitly stipulated the provisions for estate administrators for the first time, which is the legal basis for estate administrators. But everything is still in the initial exploratory stage, and we are all pioneers and practitioners."
The driver hesitated for a moment before saying, "I don't know, but according to our traditions, it's considered unlucky for someone to make a will while still alive..."
Xu Yan spoke at length, which was unusual for him. “Everyone is born, grows old, gets sick, and dies one day. If you don’t make a will, your estate will be distributed according to the statutory inheritance rules after you die. If the distribution of the estate is clear, it doesn’t matter. But if there is even a little bit of dispute, it can easily cause disputes among the heirs.”
She stared directly at the driver's face reflected in the rearview mirror. "Put yourself in his shoes," she said. "If there really are souls in this world, who would want to watch their relatives and friends arguing about the distribution of their inheritance in front of a funeral?"
The driver was silent for a while, seemingly recalling the past, and sighed, saying, "Young lady, you're right, but many older people with limited perspectives can't understand. You have a long way to go in this line of work."
Zhou Luming interjected, "I believe this road won't be long." She reached out and took Xu Yan's hand, "With me by your side, you won't be alone."
Xu Yan tried to shake Zhou Luming's hand to no avail. The car was cramped, and she didn't want to argue with Zhou Luming over such a small matter, so she let him take advantage of her.
"Why are your hands always so cold? Is it because you have poor blood circulation? I'll take you to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor to regulate your body when you have time. It's a national treasure..." Zhou Luming held Xu Yan's hand, slipped into her pocket to warm it, and snuggled up to her, wanting to cool her down.
Even if Xu Yan is a block of ice, she will find a way to melt her.
They soon arrived at the auction house, where Xu Yan and Zhou Luming were led inside to meet their manager. Upon hearing the commission, the manager hesitated. Their commission depended on the value of the auctioned items, but the items Xu Yan provided didn't seem to be worth much, so they couldn't take much commission, which put them in a difficult position.
He was originally going to try to politely refuse, but Xu Yan whispered a few words to him, which made the manager's shrewd eyes light up suddenly, and he immediately smiled broadly, "Is what Miss Xu said true?"
“I won’t lie,” Xu Yan said. “This can be written into the contract.”
The manager was overjoyed. "Great, we'll take on this commission. However, we live in the internet age now, so we'll be conducting the auction both online and offline simultaneously. Do you have any objections to that?"
“No,” Xu Yan said, “I couldn’t ask for it.”
Zhou Luming was genuinely curious, "What did you say to the auction house manager that made him agree to the auction?"
Lu Gang's estate currently appears to consist of only a USB drive and an old, dilapidated house. Neither of these items is worth much. So why would Xu Yan go to such lengths to find an auction house to hold an auction?
Xu Yan said calmly, "You'll find out tomorrow."
Chapter 30
===================
The following day, a slightly worn USB flash drive quietly appeared on an online auction platform in Shanghai. The official description was brief: "A blue USB flash drive with 4GB memory from a certain brand. Authenticity cannot be verified. It shows obvious signs of use. Starting bid: 10 RMB."
When the USB flash drive was first listed for auction, there were very few onlookers. However, in the 10 minutes leading up to the official auction time of 10:00 AM, a large number of people suddenly flocked to it.
Zhou Luming, who witnessed this bizarre scene at the offline auction, was speechless. She was with Xu Yan, and compared to her surprise, Xu Yan, sitting next to her, looked calm, as if this was something she had expected.
Xu Yan, dressed in a light grapefruit-colored suit, leaned comfortably back in his chair, his legs crossed and his hands folded on his thighs, his gaze languidly and casually fixed on the auctioneer on the stage.
Their price tags were in Zhou Luming's hands, waiting for Xu Yan's instructions to raise their tags and participate in the auction.
"Why do we have to participate in the auction?" Zhou Luming asked, puzzled.
"To be precise, it was you who participated in the auction, not me. I was commissioned by Lu Gang to become his estate administrator, and theoretically I shouldn't have participated in the auction of his belongings, as that could easily cause problems," Xu Yan said calmly.
"Why should I participate in the auction?" Zhou Luming felt as if he had been tricked by Xu Yan again without realizing it, so he sat up straight and asked Xu Yan seriously.
Xu Yan replied casually, "If you can successfully bid for this USB drive at a reasonable price, I think it's worth it." Xu Yan raised his eyelids and looked at Zhou Luming leisurely, "I can't reveal anything else, as it involves the professional ethics of an estate administrator. I'll tell you the secret of the USB drive after you actually win the bid."
Seeing her acting mysteriously, Zhou Luming decided not to press her further. She knew what was going on; she was present when the USB drive was opened and, upon seeing the string of characters, she clearly recognized it as a Bitcoin private key. A public key was generated from the private key to open an address, which would contain a Bitcoin balance. Although she didn't have time to memorize the private key address, judging from Xu Yan's demeanor, it must be worth a considerable amount of money.
I found an opportunity to tell Q all this, and Q was also interested in the USB drive. I guess he will participate in the online auction.
However, the news was leaked for some reason, and many onlookers flocked to the online auction, probably drawn by this mysterious USB drive.
Soon it was 10 o'clock, and the auction officially began, conducted simultaneously online and offline.
People kept bidding, quickly raising the price of the USB flash drive, which had a starting price of only 10 yuan, to 10,000 yuan. The auctioneer seemed quite surprised by this situation. He had originally thought it was a boring auction; what could a broken USB flash drive be worth? He had even told his manager that he didn't want to host such a boring auction, but his manager refused, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed.
But faced with the sudden enthusiasm of the crowd, the auctioneer's curiosity was also ignited. He couldn't help but glance a few more times at the USB drive placed in the wooden box, padded with red velvet, thinking that it probably contained something extraordinary that had caused such a frenzy among the people.
There were several electronic screens behind him and to his left and right. He glanced at the screens and noticed the constant stream of online comments reminding him that this USB drive was indeed something special.
Netizen A: This is eye-opening! Is there some inside story? Why are USB flash drive prices skyrocketing?
Netizen B: Let's open blind boxes! For tens of thousands of yuan, you might either get a 4GB USB flash drive or become rich overnight.
Netizen C: It's said that it contains Bitcoin private keys?
Netizen D: What? Is what the person upstairs said true?
Netizen E: You guys are really talking nonsense. I wonder which sucker bought this piece of junk.
Netizen F: Wait, why did the price suddenly spike again? Is there really something there?
Netizen G: I heard... it doesn't contain the Bitcoin private key...
Netizen A: What does the person upstairs mean? Is there some unspeakable secret?
Netizen G: What's hidden inside is more evil and more valuable than the private key...
Netizen C: Evil?! Is it the kind of evil I'm thinking of?!
Netizen Q: Stop joining in the fun, the prices are already sky-high, are you even letting people buy them?
...
The auctioneer quickly glanced at the comments from netizens. In a flash, he realized that the auction price had soared to 40,000 yuan. Just as he was about to call out the price, he noticed the manager gesturing vigorously to him to pause the auction.
The auction was therefore suspended.
Some people were uninterested, but many more developed a strong curiosity about USB drives. On the way back, Zhou Luming had already heard and seen a lot of opinions and speculations about USB drives.
Once in the car, Zhou Luming asked Xu Yan, "Is there really a Bitcoin private key on the USB drive? Wasn't Lu Gang just released? Where did he get so much money? Was he a hidden tycoon before he went to jail?"
Xu Yan looked down at the comments online and saw that the auction had become a trending topic, with a very high level of discussion under the hashtag, and it had also quickly made it onto various public accounts. She had achieved her goal and was now just waiting to see if the fish would take the bait.
“Before Lu Gang went to prison, he was just an ordinary company accountant and didn’t have much savings.”