Upon hearing my reply, Su Jialiang became somewhat nervous: "The things were destroyed. How are you? Are you injured?"

"I'm fine. They were only after the item. Their goal was to stop me from participating in the treasure competition; they didn't intend to hurt anyone."

I sighed and said, "Mr. Liang, I'm really sorry about this. Since I borrowed the items, I should naturally take responsibility. I will compensate you for any losses caused."

Su Jialiang didn't stand on ceremony and went straight to the point: "Xiao Duan, although we are partners, since we're doing business, we need to act like business people. The batch of goods I brought you were all top-of-the-line, high-end products. Although they are very valuable, they are, after all, things we made ourselves, so it's fine if we lose money. However, that genuine piece was acquired from another competitor at a high price. It cost 35 million at the time. I won't include the premium over the years in your calculations; I'll just keep it at 35 million and deduct it from your profit share. Is that alright?"

The 200 million yuan that Jiang Tianyi provided to me is currently in the preparation stage. After listening to Su Jialiang's words, I said to him, "I will give you this money in cash. You provide an account and I will have someone transfer the money to you."

Su Jialiang didn't ask me where the money came from, but changed the subject and said, "Xiao Duan, I've been in the antique collecting world for half my life and I've come to a conclusion: money can be earned back slowly, but you only have one life. Remember, no matter what, you must protect yourself first."

"Don't worry, Mr. Liang, I understand."

After hanging up with Su Jialiang, I lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

I am now 100% certain that what happened tonight was done by Wei Shengnan and her group. Before we even clashed, they had already caused me to lose over 30 million yuan.

If I hadn't sold the imperial seal to Jiang Tianyi, this enormous debt alone would have been enough to crush me.

I lay there all night, and the next morning, just as dawn broke, I got dressed and got into the car that Jiang Man had prepared.

The monkey yawned, started the car, and asked me, "Young Master Duan, where are we going next?"

I reclined the passenger seat and lay down lazily on it: "Just drive around. First, drive into the city, then you and Lin Que can take turns driving. Refuel when you run out of gas, as long as the car doesn't stop."

Manjing scratched his head and asked curiously, "Brother, didn't we agree to go on a trip? What kind of trip is this, just wandering around aimlessly and not seeing anything?"

I didn't tell Lin Que and Man Jing about the treasure-fighting competition. I just said casually, "Let's take care of business first. After things are settled, I'll take you guys to have some fun here for a few days."

Manjing curiously leaned closer: "Big brother, we brought so many antiques this time, and we were attacked in the middle of the night, what important business are you planning to take care of?"

Lin Que immediately nudged Man Jing with his elbow: "Does my brother need to report to you about what he does? Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask!"

For the rest of the day, I stayed in the car catching up on sleep. We didn't even stop for lunch; instead, we bought food and ate it in the car.

It wasn't until 3 p.m. that Jiang Man called my cell phone: "I've received a call from Fengmen Village."

Upon hearing this news, I finally perked up: "What do you mean?"

Jiang Man responded, "The person who called me told us to go to the orchard halfway up Queping Mountain outside the town at four o'clock tomorrow morning, and stipulated that only six people could go. If the number exceeded the limit, or if there were any underhanded tactics, we would be disqualified from the competition."

I pressed further, "How will you bring that thing over?"

"Get there together with others."

Jiang Man squatted down slightly: "Of these six people, besides you and me, there are four spots left. Since you brought an assistant, bring all your people. I'll fill the rest, how about that?"

I hesitated for a moment: "Isn't this a bad idea? After all, Uncle Tian values ​​your safety very much."

Jiang Man took a very relaxed view of this: "We're entering Fengmen Village's territory. These people will ensure our safety. If they really want to harm us, we can bring a few bodyguards in, and they won't be a match for us."

"Alright, let's do it your way then."

I felt that Jiang Man's words made sense: "Since the matter has already been agreed upon, let's go back and prepare."

After we decided on the location for the competition, we didn't return to the house, but instead checked into a hotel directly opposite the local police station.

I believe Wei Shengnan's men are still watching us. Since we can't hide from them in the dark, we might as well expose ourselves to the light. At least the place where we live makes it difficult for them to have another chance to strike.

Shortly after I arrived at the hotel, Jiang Man sent someone to deliver the ten antiques that Jiang Tianyi had prepared to my room.

I turned on the timer on my phone and watched as the ten brocade boxes were opened one by one, and I unconsciously frowned.

When I approached Su Jialiang, the reason I asked for ten bronze artifacts was not only because his forgery skills were superb, but also because ten items placed together would most easily confuse people.

In contrast, the things Jiang Tianyi prepared were quite messy, with a wide variety of jade artifacts, calligraphy and paintings, bronzes, and rare ancient books. Among them, I could tell that three items were fake without even touching them.

After checking them one by one, I quickly eliminated nine fakes. I picked up one of the Tang tri-colored multi-legged inkstones and asked Jiang Man, "This one is real, isn't it?"

Jiang Man smiled and said, "It seems that my dad made the right choice by letting you represent Tianxia Group in the competition."

I picked up my phone and checked the timer. It took me a total of sixteen minutes and seven seconds to select the genuine item from these items.

I don't know how discerning the participants in this treasure-hunting competition are; I can only make a rough judgment based on my own standards.

This means that when I'm competing with others, I must strictly control the time to within fifteen minutes in order to have a chance of winning.

Of course, if you encounter a master like my grandfather, this time would probably be reduced by a third. I firmly believe that if he were still alive, he would be able to see the clues in five minutes at most.

To prevent any further accidents from happening to the auction items, Jiang Man sent all the bodyguards to the corridor to protect our room, which prompted complaints from guests in the surrounding rooms to the hotel. However, we did not violate any rules, and the hotel could not do anything about it. In the end, the police came, but they only warned us not to cause trouble.

We stayed up until 1 a.m. Jiang Man glanced at her watch and said to me, "We should probably leave soon. I've had twenty identical vehicles rented locally, with all the windows tinted dark. Once these cars are out, they'll circle around the city together. No matter how many people the other side has, they won't be able to keep an eye on us and disrupt our competition plans."