The first top lady

Meng Zishan asked, "Just met?"

Meng Baiyao nodded obediently, "Yes."

"Is she with the Thirteenth Young Master, the housekeeper?" Meng Zishan frowned.

"Right." Seeing that Meng Zishan didn't seem to believe it, Meng Baiyao had to suppress his dislike for Pang Du and elaborated, "They wanted to shoot a poster, so they found a photographer to take the photo for them." He really didn't want to mention Pang Du. "I thought that photographer was just average, and he argued back. Then I said something, and then he said something, and I said something and he said something. But in the end, I won the argument, hahahaha."

Lu Qiuhe ignored Meng Baiyao's chatter and asked Meng Zishan, "Do you think it could be Xiao Hui?"

"Why are you involved with the Guan family? The Feng and Guan families are not on good terms." Meng Zishan said worriedly.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Meng Baiyao asked angrily.

She finally wanted to say it, but no one listened?

"Okay, okay!" Meng Zishan coaxed with a smile, "My dear daughter, what kind of paintings did she come to see at home?"

Meng Baiyao lost his temper instantly. "She asked me if I could identify the calligraphy and paintings of the Gods and Saints of Painting. I said I wasn't an expert, but I have a collection of their paintings at home, so I asked her to come and appreciate it."

"Appraising calligraphy and paintings?" Lu Qiuhe was puzzled. "What does she do for a living?"

"Well..." Meng Baiyao scratched his head, "I didn't ask."

"Where is she from?" Lu Qiuhe asked again.

Meng Baiyao shook his head, "I don't know."

"What do they want to do after looking at the paintings?" Lu Qiuhe continued to ask.

Meng Baiyao pursed his lips and said, "I don't know."

"Look at you, kid. You don't know anything when asked. You didn't even ask the key question." Lu Qiuhe spread his hands.

Meng Baiyao said: "Ah, why are you asking this? We just met."

Lu Qiuhe waved her hand and said, "Alright, alright, there's nothing for you to do now. Go back to sleep."

"Oh." Meng Baiyao left with a pout.

"What should we do now?" Lu Qiuhe asked, "There are many people in this world who look alike. Besides, it's been over a decade. Who knows how much has changed."

Meng Zishan thought for a moment and said, "I'll send someone to secretly inquire about it."

Bian family.

The Bian family is a scholarly family, and their courtyard with white walls and green tiles is very elegant.

Guan Qian knocked on the door and said to the housekeeper in a long gown, "Hello, we are here to visit Teacher Bian Wang."

The butler, who had been smiling widely, gradually gave up his polite fake smile. "Please wait a moment, Mr. Bian is receiving guests. I'll go and inform you two."

"Okay." Guan Qian nodded.

Although the butler did not close the door, it was obvious that he did not mean to welcome them.

He came to Bian Wang's study. Bian Wang was concentrating on painting and there was no one else in the room.

"Entertaining guests" was obviously just an excuse for him.

"Master, Guan Dengrong's youngest son is here." He recognized Guan Qian, and from the look on his face, he seemed to dislike the Guan family.

"Hmm?" Bian Wang straightened up slightly, holding the brush in his hand, looking down at the painting he had just finished, "Let him in."

The housekeeper was somewhat reluctant, "You dislike Guan Dengrong the most."

"It's not my family's fault." Bian Wang has gray hair, glasses on his nose, and a knowledgeable and elegant temperament.

"Okay." The housekeeper had no choice but to invite Guan Qian and Song Yixuan in.

"Teacher Bian." Guan Qian said respectfully.

"Oh! The little brat who destroyed my painting has grown up." Bian Wang smiled without any intention of blaming him.

"I was ignorant when I was a child." When Guan Qian was five years old, he sneaked to the pond to play and saw an old man sketching on the shore. It was Bian Wang.

He climbed out of the pond covered in mud, holding a large carp in his arms, and saw Bian Wang painting a fish from a distance. He thought the fish was not realistic enough, so while Bian Wang was on the phone, he ran over and slapped the large carp onto the drawing board.

When Bian Wang turned around, he saw the painting board covered in black mud and a large carp lying on the ground. "Oh, you little bastard! My painting!"

Guan Qian thought Bian Wang was going to beat him up, so he ran away, "Old man, the carp is given to you as a model."

Bian Wang was not really angry, but he remembered such an innocent child.

"Come and take a look. Are the fish I'm painting now more lively?" Bian Wang gestured to Guan Qian to look at the painting he had just finished on his desk, which was a painting called "Fish Playing in the Pond".

"No, no." Guan Qian was flattered and quickly declined, "Just a critique."

"It's okay. I enjoy listening to your nonsense." Although Bian Wang disliked the Guan family, he didn't show any disgust after finding out that Guan Qian was Guan Dengrong's son. "Who is this..."

Song Yixuan said, "Hello, my name is Song Yixuan. I heard that you and Academician Cheng Xuexian are good friends?"

"Xuexian and I have been friends since we were little," Bian Wang said. "Why? You know him too? That's right! He just likes to play with young people. He really loves to have fun!"

"We've chatted, barely." Song Yixuan didn't want to admit it. They hadn't met in person, but Cheng Xuexian had already "toyed" with her. Every word of those "code words" was a play on her.

"Since we all know each other, there's no need to be polite." Bian Wang regretted Cheng Xuexian's departure and felt heartbroken every time he thought of it. Now that he could meet Cheng Xuexian's friends, it was like seeing traces of his good friend again.

"I'm not visiting you for no reason." Song Yixuan didn't beat around the bush. "I wonder if you have any paintings he's made? I'd like to see them."

"Yes." Bian Wang nodded and took out a collection box wrapped in several layers from the bookcase. After unpacking it, he said to Song Yixuan, "These are all."

It was as if the dusty memories were also unlocked at this moment, and Bian Wang's eyes gradually became moist. "Take it back... and take your time to look at it..."

He couldn't bear this sudden emotional collapse, so he thought of deceiving himself and pretending to be out of sight and out of mind.

Song Yixuan was afraid that there were some "horrifying" words hidden in these paintings, so as to avoid being upset by seeing them, so he did not agree to Bian Wang's "suggestion".

If that's a suggestion.

Seeing that Song Yixuan was immersed in studying the painting, Bian Wang did not disturb her and walked out of the study on his own.

"Master, why did Miss Song come to see Mr. Cheng's remains? Could it be..." the housekeeper asked worriedly.

"Hey?" Bian Wang's eyes turned red, and he waved his hand and said, "Let her be."

She didn't even want to take these paintings away, so how could she have coveted them?

Song Yixuan had a natural talent for painting, and now he was familiar with the styles of the ancestor of painting Wang Boxi, the god of painting Shen Zai, and the self-proclaimed saint of painting Cheng Xuexian. Combined with the identification techniques he had to learn because of Fen Sa's obstruction, this should be enough to successfully identify the one with a draft among the three "Su Wu Shepherding Sheep" paintings.

"Now we just have to wait for the success of Third Brother's plan." Song Yixuan calculated the progress in his mind.

G country.

Shang Ce found out the official who had taken the two paintings from the manor, and took the opportunity of attending an intergovernmental social evening to successfully get to know Stevens, the deputy director of the GIA Intelligence Department.

The two chatted happily, and he offered Stevens a lot of wine, successfully getting him drunk. He then hypnotized him while he was drunk and asked him about the whereabouts of the painting.

"In fact, you swapped those two paintings, right?" The reason why Shang Ce was sure with Yuan Jiashu that the paintings were not in Country G was because he had previously found out that the two paintings kept in Luo Palace were fake.

And it’s obviously fake!

He didn't believe that the people in Luo Palace didn't know about it, but in order to keep the secret of the missile hidden in the painting from being discovered, they could only pretend that nothing happened.

"Yes." Stevens' eyes were blurry and he stared at the pocket watch swaying in the air without moving. "After I found the painting from the Cher Manor, I secretly switched it along the way and found two fake paintings to send to the Luo Palace."

Over the years, he had never heard anyone from Luo Palace say anything like "There's something wrong with these two paintings", so he thought his actions had not been discovered.

Shang Ce doesn't think so, and the people in Luo Palace are not stupid.

Shang Ce sat on the sofa behind him and continued to hypnotize him, asking, "Is the real painting still in your hands?"

"It's gone," Stevens said mechanically. "I sold one of them to an antique shop five years ago. I also sold the second one last year. We did the transaction online, but the buyer wasn't confident about the courier, so he sent someone to pick it up. I've never seen his face in person."

"Do you still remember the name of the antique shop?" Shang Ce leaned forward a little and continued to ask.

"It seems to be... Fu, Fu Luomen."

"Fu Luo Men of Xiyangzhou," Shang Ce repeated in a low voice, and then instructed Stevens, "Send the invoice for the online transaction to this email address when you get back."

He slipped a piece of paper with an email address into Stevens' shirt pocket, stood up and walked out the door.

His pace did not slow down. The moment he walked out of the room, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and his figure disappeared from the party.

Stevens woke up slowly, but his consciousness was still lingering in the aftertaste of being "controlled". He took out the note from his pocket, thinking only of going home to complete this "task".