Chapter 6: Give her the money for buying a car to buy cultural relics

The next day, Tong Zhongyuan arrived at work half an hour early and checked out the Chinese and Ancient Roman catalogs and supplementary materials from the library. John, the administrator, arrived with a small cart piled so high with books that the person pushing it was invisible, seemingly floating over as if by magic.

John leaned over and pouted at him. "Do you need me to help you push the car to the office? I recently bench-pressed 100 kilograms."

"Thank you." Tong Zhongyuan took the car. "I see. Yesterday, Lily said that you were only one stone away from Sisyphus."

Tong Zhongyuan pushed the books into his office and put them into the suitcase he had prepared. He had seen Qin Tian in the coffee shop that day. She had bought a bunch of books, stuffed them into her big backpack, and was still able to walk briskly.

When Qin Tian contacted Tong Zhongyuan, he told her to wait for him at the staff entrance for five minutes. While waiting, she was wondering whether to spend the day at the cafe or just borrow books from his office, when she saw Tong Zhongyuan coming out, pushing a huge suitcase, big enough for a six-month business trip to Antarctica.

Tong Zhongyuan handed the suitcase to her and said, "There's no password on the suitcase. Take your time to look through it. You can return it anytime."

Qin Tian looked at him gratefully. Ever since she'd learned he was Tong Zhongyuan, she'd already mocked him in her heart eight hundred times. All the good manners, politeness, punctuality, and grace he'd displayed these days seemed pretentious to her. She couldn't believe he'd changed his soul just by changing his surroundings. But at this moment, she was truly grateful to him. She was grateful that the cold British environment had given him the new qualities of respecting privacy and honoring his promises.

Qin Tian thanked him. Tong Zhongyuan helped her push the suitcase to the door, and after making sure she could handle it, he went back to work.

Qin Tian returned to the hotel and eagerly searched for ancient Roman catalogs, comparing them to the index on sultan1966's homepage. The moment the image of the glass relief of the Three Graces appeared in the British Museum's collection catalog, she was so shocked she closed her eyes. She'd guessed right... damn, she'd guessed right. She walked to the window to take in the air. This man called sultan1966 wasn't selling replicas at all; he was selling pieces from the British Museum!

What should she do? Tell Tong Zhongyuan? Tell Lily Brown? Say there's a thief in the museum? Then what? Since sultan1966 can sell the collection, his position must be high. Tong Zhongyuan is just a young employee, and he's Chinese. And Lily, she's a civilian in charge of foreign affairs, and she doesn't know anything about cultural relics. What's the point of telling them about this except adding to their troubles? Besides, it's the British Museum's business, and it has nothing to do with her. Britain still refuses to return cultural relics to other countries. What if sultan1966 sells Chinese cultural relics? She can then take the cultural relics home legally. When this thought came to her, she was shocked by herself. She closed the window and stood by the computer, holding the mouse and refreshing sultan1966's homepage again. No, there are no Chinese cultural relics, but these ancient Roman and Greek cultural relics, and even the reliefs from the Ptolemaic period of Egypt do not belong to Britain.

She slowly sat down on the chair, supporting her forehead with both hands. If she wanted to buy it, she would have to pay a higher price, a price that would not be judged as a false transaction. Reasonable purchases are allowed. With the transaction order and payment record, it would not be difficult to pass customs. Should she tell Ming Yuanxing about this? No, she immediately rejected the idea. This can only be her personal behavior. If she told Ming Yuanxing, the nature of the matter would change. With his identity and position, how could he let her buy what is suspected to be a collection of the British Museum. Besides, she was just guessing, wasn't she? This was just her own guess after reading the catalog. Who can guarantee that such an outrageous guess is the fact before seeing the real thing. No, even if she saw the real thing, there is no guarantee. She is not an expert on ancient Roman artifacts. It is normal to make mistakes.

She gradually calmed down, the sweat from the previous heat completely drying up. She moved her mouse to the name sultan1966, clicked it, and typed a line of words on the keyboard.

"Hello! Are you there?"

After a while, the other person's profile picture lit up, and a line of text appeared in the dialog box.

"Yes, I am."

She pursed her lips and stared at the words, then, like a pianist making final preparations before a performance, she slowly placed her fingers on the keyboard.

Tang Zhixu skipped work that afternoon to visit the Jaguar 4S dealership. Ever since he'd expressed his interest in buying a Jaguar, a saleswoman named Lu, whose information had been stolen through unknown sources, contacted him repeatedly. She finally persuaded him to come to the dealership for a chat.

Jaguar's customer profile isn't particularly young, so when Tang Zhixu walked in, Xiao Lu didn't expect him to be the client she'd booked. But as he casually walked toward the F-type, his tousled hair and radiant gaze, she suddenly felt a surge of interest. Jaguar is vying for a younger market, and the F-type is the car for this demographic.

"Mr. Tang, I think you already know about the performance of this car." Xiao Lu observed Tang Zhixu's expression and chose his words. "Would you like to test drive it today? I happen to have an appointment this morning."

Tang Zhixu, hands in his trouser pockets, tilted his head as he surveyed the black sports car before him. He already knew its performance, so a test drive wasn't a big deal. He was obsessed with looks; he wanted to buy it simply for its aesthetic. The only problem was, the man on a business trip to London had expressed his objections. He should have never told her he wanted the F-Type. If he went for it now while she was away, she would definitely blame him when she returned.

Xiao Lu pondered Tang Zhixu's body language. There was no eagerness in his eyes, only calm reflection. He was dressed simply but his expression was calm, as if visiting a 4S dealership like a supermarket. A saleswoman's intuition told her it wasn't about the money.

"Perhaps," she began, "you could bring your girlfriend along to test drive the F-Type? A lot of girls like it."

Tang Zhixu turned to look at her. The saleswoman had guessed what he was thinking. She was a woman, but not his girlfriend. If she knew he was worried about a female colleague not wanting him to buy the car, her perfect business demeanor would probably crack.

The look he gave her knew she'd guessed right. This handsome guy was concerned about his girlfriend's feelings. Their brand had its own answer to this question. Compared to some high-profile sports cars used to attract women, the F-type was more affordable and reserved. Singles often bought it for their own personal preference, with the opposite sex playing a relatively minor role in the final purchase decision. She was confident he'd get the car today!

Just as she was about to speak, Tang Zhixu's phone rang. He glanced down and couldn't help but laugh. Did she install a tracker on him? She'd been in England for almost two weeks, and apart from a few messages, she hadn't contacted him at all, and they were all initiated by him. And she called when he skipped work to go to the 4S shop.

He swiped to answer the call and walked to the French window. He said lazily, "Why are you looking for me so late at night?"

"Tang Zhixu," her voice came from the other end of the phone, "How much spare money do you have? Transfer 500,000 to me."

Tang Zhixu was stunned for a moment and lowered his voice: "Qin Tian, ​​are you okay? In the hotel or outside?"

"I'm at the hotel, it's safe. I bought some things and maxed out my credit card. You can transfer 500,000 to my card and I'll pay you back when I get back."

Tang Zhixu breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "You're not going to tell me that it was my shoes that maxed out your credit card, are you?"

"Stop talking nonsense," Qin Tian said, more impatient than usual. "Hurry up, we're waiting."

"Wait a minute," Tang Zhixu came back to his senses, "Did you find something good again?"

Qin Tian covered the microphone and rolled her eyes, forgetting that Tang Zhixu couldn't see her expression at all.

"Why do you care so much? Just tell me whether I'll be paid or not?"

"Sister, you asked me to transfer 500,000, and I can't ask a question, right?"

Qin Tian said helplessly: "It's not like I won't pay it back. Can't you just not ask? It's not good for you to know too much."

The more Tang Zhixu listened, the more he felt something was wrong. Qin Tian had asked him to transfer money before, but he had never been so secretive and tried to hide it.

"What do you mean it's not good for me? What did you do? My God, did you get into trouble while shopping in Italy?"

Qin Tian had never known Tang Zhixu to have such a rich imagination. She hadn't gone to Italy, but she did have some connection to Italy. It seemed that he wouldn't give up until he told her the truth today.

"Alright, alright, stop guessing. The UK doesn't have a Schengen visa, so I can't just run away. I was lucky, alright? A big one. But this is a bit complicated, and it's not convenient to tell Director Ming. I'll bring the things back first."

"Something that is not convenient to tell Director Ming, are you sure you can get it reimbursed when you come back?" After not seeing her for a few days, Tang Zhixu no longer understood her train of thought.

Qin Tian was speechless. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about this before. If the Shanghai Museum didn't accept it...

"If Director Ming doesn't accept it..." Qin Tian said firmly, "then consider it as me buying it for you."

Tang Zhixu fell silent. He used his money to buy something he didn't know about, and if it wasn't reimbursed, it would be considered his purchase. If someone else had said this, he would have immediately advised him to go to Huashan Hospital for a brain surgery. But Qin Tian, ​​he knew her abilities. It seemed like she had really gotten a great deal this time.

"Is 500,000 enough? You'll be staying there for a while."

Qin Tian thought for a moment and said, "Then give me 550,000."

"Give me ten minutes."

"Okay, I'll hang up first."

"Wait a minute, there's one more thing."

"What?"

Tang Zhixu turned around and looked at the F-type.

"You really think that Jaguar is boring?"

Qin Tian held her breath as he proposed his terms. Unexpectedly, he said something so revealing that it left her speechless. She said impatiently, "If you like it, buy it. I'm not the one driving it. After you buy the new car, sell the old one to me. I'm used to driving it."

Tang Zhixu hung up. Xiao Lu waited for him a few steps away, growing more confident as he heard about calls for half a million yuan. When he finished, he smiled and walked over, trying to pick up the conversation.

"Mr. Tang..."

"Sorry," Tang Zhixu turned around and walked past her towards the door, "I've thought about it and I don't plan to buy the F-type."

Xiao Lu was nailed to the spot by his words. When he came to his senses, Tang Zhixu had already walked out of the 4S store and drove away in his old car.

Qin Tian held onto his phone, waiting. Time ticked by, never having known ten minutes could last so long. Finally, with a "ding" sound, the bank sent a notification: 600,000 yuan had arrived in the credit card with the last number 8032.

Qin Tian was stunned and quickly opened Tang Zhixu's dialog box.

"How did you get 600,000?"

He replied immediately: "What? Is it illegal to be bad at math?"

"No, if you put the money into your credit card and can't use it, you can't withdraw it. Why don't you transfer it to me via WeChat?"

This time he didn't reply immediately. After several minutes, just when she thought he wouldn't reply, her phone lit up.

"I've already taken the shot, so take your time. Go to bed early, good night."