"Damn it! What are you doing?! Is there no law anymore?!"
The monkey, seeing the middle-aged man outside, strode forward menacingly, rolling up its sleeves: "Are you all mentally ill? First you tricked us into the mountains with fake artifacts, and now you've kidnapped us to break the formation! Do you think we're kindergarten teachers, playing house with you? Today, I, the Marquis, must make things clear with you..."
Before the monkey could finish speaking, four more burly men appeared outside, standing beside the middle-aged man and glaring at us menacingly.
These four burly men were all over 1.9 meters tall, and their strong physiques almost burst out of their suits, giving them a powerful and imposing presence.
Seeing that the monkey had swallowed his words, the middle-aged man frowned and looked at him: "What do you want to say to me?"
"I……"
Looking at the arms of the burly men, which were thicker than his waist, the monkey's arrogance diminished by three points: "I want to ask if there's a toilet here, I need to pee! I couldn't hold it in inside, but I was afraid of making your room dirty, so I didn't dare to pee!"
"Afu, take him to the toilet."
The middle-aged man gave an order to the burly man beside him, then smiled at me and said, "Young man of the Duan family, may I have a word with you in private?"
"Please!"
Seeing the middle-aged man staring at me and asking me a question, I hesitated for a moment, then stepped out after him.
Although this place made me feel uneasy, judging from the middle-aged man's attitude, he didn't seem to intend to hurt me.
Besides, I'm currently at their mercy, like a fish on a chopping board. I have no better option than to go with him.
I was more afraid that if I angered him, those burly men would beat me up, which was really not worth it.
Outside the office building was a long corridor. The middle-aged man reached the end and pushed open the door in front of him.
What came into view was the lobby of an office building; we had just come out of the fire escape.
At the front of the lobby was a screen wall. I saw the logo and name on the wall and looked at the middle-aged man in surprise: "Is this the office building of Changwei Group?"
"I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Wei Xiao, the general manager of Changwei Group. According to seniority, you should call me uncle."
As the middle-aged man was speaking, a burly man next to him pressed the button for the private elevator inside, and I went in with him.
Based on the principle that a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle, I asked in a very sweet tone, "Uncle Wei, I don't know anyone from Changwei Group. Why did you bring me here in this way?"
"You're quite the smooth operator."
Seeing that I changed my tune so quickly, Wei Xiao laughed and said, "Your grandfather wants to see you."
"My grandfather? Don't scare people like that! My grandfather hasn't even been three years old, I was the one who took him to be cremated!"
I was startled by Wei Xiao's words, and then I remembered the artifacts in the room. My eyes widened suddenly: "Holy crap! You can't have dug up my grandfather's grave, can you? He didn't have any burial items!"
"You... really are a filial son."
Wei Xiao looked at me speechlessly: "You'll know everything once we get upstairs."
After listening to Wei Xiao's words, I looked at the numbers on the elevator going up and my mind was filled with doubts.
I know about Changwei Group. It is the largest security company in the area, with business all over the country. Almost all celebrities and business tycoons who come to Shenyang are provided with security by this company. Its subsidiaries also have a wide range of businesses.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out what connection I had with Changwei Group.
What I can't understand is why a company would go to such lengths to kidnap someone as insignificant as me.
The elevator went up and quickly reached the twentieth floor.
Led by Wei Xiao, I entered the luxuriously decorated reception room.
The room is decorated in a Chinese style, with a complete set of mahogany furniture and various antiques displayed on the wall-mounted display shelves.
The quantity is small, but the quality is extremely high. Any one of them would probably be worth more than my life.
The only thing that didn't fit the style of the room was a portrait hanging on the painting table.
The person in the painting looks very young, wearing a long-sleeved robe, a white gauze hat, and holding a ruyi (a traditional Chinese scepter symbolizing good fortune).
Judging from the craftsmanship and style, this painting is not an antique. The clothing worn by the people in the painting should be the attire of an emperor during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Since there are no inscriptions on the painting, I cannot determine which emperor it depicts.
Could the owner of this room be a descendant of the royal family of a dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period?
I stood in the room looking around: "Uncle Wei, didn't you say my grandfather wanted to see me? Where is his urn?"
Wei Xiao led me to the seat of honor: "Wait a moment, we've already gone to invite them."
I stared at Wei Xiao with wide eyes: "You can't really dig up my grandfather's grave, can you?"
"Don't be nervous. The person you're meeting today isn't your grandfather, but my father."
Wei Xiao explained, "Our two families have been friends for generations. If you call me uncle, then you should naturally call my father grandfather."
"A family friendship?"
I looked at Wei Xiao suspiciously: "But I've never seen you before, and my family has never mentioned you as relatives."
Just then, an old voice came from the doorway: "Isn't it all because of your good-for-nothing father!"
Immediately afterwards, an elderly man dressed in a Tang suit, with white hair and beard, stepped into the reception room.
When Wei Xiao saw the old man enter, he said respectfully, "Dad, you've arrived!"
When I saw Wei Xiao get up, I stood up as well, but I didn't greet him.
The old man stood at the doorway, looking me up and down: "You're Duan Hongyu's grandson?"
I nodded: "Yes."
The old man took a few steps closer, his eyes fixed on me like an eagle's: "You do have a bit of Old Duan's look in your brows, but you look even more like your good-for-nothing father!"
Although I don't have much of an impression of my father, I was definitely not comfortable with this old man coming in and cursing at him, so I asked him in return, "Do you know my father? Do you know his story?"
"You bastard!"
The old man angrily cursed, "You little bastard! You didn't greet me or bow when you saw me. Is this the behavior and tone a junior should have?"
As the saying goes, even a clay figure has some earthy spirit. Wei Xiao had been quite polite to me before, and I called him "uncle" to get information out of him. But seeing that this old man was being unreasonable, I retorted, "You keep saying you're my family's old friends! First you tricked me with a fake antique, then you tied me up and trapped me in a broken formation. Is this how elders should behave?"
"You brat, you have the same temper as your grandpa!"
Hearing what I said, the old man laughed instead: "I arranged everything today, but not to make things difficult for you. It was to test you on behalf of your grandfather, to see how much of what you've learned from the Judge's Record, and whether you're qualified to be the successor of the Ghost Eye Judge! If you can't pass even one of these tests today, you're not qualified to come see me!"
This was the second time I had heard the name "Ghost-Eyed Judge." I frowned and looked at the old man in front of me: "What are these Ghost-Eyed Judges and Judge's Records you just mentioned? I've never even heard of them. You must have the wrong person."
"The method of distinguishing between old imitations from previous dynasties was taught to me by your grandfather! And that chain formation—if one is not well-versed in the Judge's Record, it would be absolutely impossible to break it in a single pot of sand!"
The old man squinted at me and asked, "Your grandfather never mentioned the story of the Four Gates of Fengtian and the Ghost-Eyed Judge to you at all?"
I shook my head blankly: "This is the first time I've heard of this."
"well……"
The old man sighed, a hint of sadness suddenly appearing in his eyes: "No wonder no one from your Duan family has been seen at the Confucian Temple for the past few years during the Double Ninth Festival... It seems that what happened to your father truly broke his heart!"
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