The Real Heiress Has an Appraisal System

She was relieved. The family’s collection room was a place Grandma Lu had always kept secret; few in the family even knew about it.

It wasn’t just the collection that the old master had poured his heart and soul into back in the day.

It was also where the methods for making money and trading crypto from those years were kept.

So, for Grandma Lu to take Gu Shengsheng there now meant she already thought of Shengsheng as her own flesh and blood.

But Madam Lu was worried, not knowing if this was a blessing or a curse.

When Grandma Lu reached the collection room door, she felt an inexplicable sense of unease. After opening it, she said, "Everything in here was left behind by your grandfather."

"But..." Grandma Lu just felt that something was off, though she couldn’t put her finger on what.

"I keep feeling like these artifacts are... not the same. Some of them seem different. I don’t know if it’s just my old eyes playing tricks on me."

Gu Shengsheng walked around, examining the items in each area.

Then, she frowned. "Grandma, were all these artifacts left by Grandpa before he passed away? Are there about seventy-some pieces?"

"Yes!"

"The third piece of blue and white porcelain on the second row is a forgery. The sixth item on the first row, the enamel turtledove, and the first item on the last row, the jadeite singing luan bird, have all been swapped out."

At first glance, even Gu Shengsheng couldn’t spot the deception. They even felt real to the touch; the forgery technique was superb.

She had a feeling it was the same forger who had faked that painting from the market—the one jointly preserved by the Hang City Museum and the Hanwu Museum.

’Interesting. Forgers these days... are so brazen,’ she thought.

Gu Shengsheng observed a subtle detail: the forger might be left-handed. The pressure applied was slightly off, and the final outline stroke was always a little too light. How could every artifact have the very same flaw?

Therefore, they had to be from the same person.

Grandma Lu was confused. "Then does that mean your grandfather was scammed when he was still alive?"

After all, the world of antiques was treacherous. She didn’t understand it, so it would have been normal for the old man to make a mistake and buy a fake.

"No," Gu Shengsheng said with certainty. "The forgery technique is very similar to the fake I saw at the museum. Besides, these are all recent works, created after Grandpa passed away."

Grandma Lu cupped her cheeks. "Your grandpa came back from the dead to buy more?"

"..." Gu Shengsheng was at a loss for words.

"..." Madam Lu didn’t know how to respond, either. ’The old madam certainly has a wild imagination.’

Then Lu Linlin, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "Doesn’t that just mean they were stolen!"

"I suspect it was Second Aunt, Wang Shufen." Although Lu Linlin had no proof, she just had a feeling it was her. Who else could it be?

Grandma Lu sank to the floor, suddenly looking much more haggard. "I think it was her, too."

"We let a thief into our own home. What do we do now?" Everyone turned their gaze to Gu Shengsheng.

Gu Shengsheng said, "Let’s keep an eye on Wang Shufen’s spending first. If she’s in a rush for cash, she’ll try to pawn the items. I know a lot of people in Beijing City who can help watch out for them. Don’t worry, Grandma."

"Mhm," Grandma Lu said. "The inanimate objects don’t matter that much. It’s Wang Shufen. She’s been the Second Madam for so many years, yet she doesn’t have a shred of dignity befitting her station. What kind of behavior is this, resorting to petty theft?"

Just then, Lu Linlin, who was scrolling through the trending topics online, exclaimed, "Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law!"

"The Lu Group’s stock really did go up!"

Before anyone had time to process that, Lu Linlin added, "But that was only trending for about three minutes. Right now... the number one topic is that the Lu Group has been acquired! It’s an official announcement. There will be a press conference in three days, and Ryan will be making an appearance."

Gu Shengsheng: "?"

"Mr. Ryan?" Grandma Lu was suddenly excited. ’That kid really works fast!’

Lu Linlin shook her head. "I don’t know. LG Company, right? I think so. I just saw someone mention it."

"Damn, we haven’t even made a move on them yet, and the company is already gone? Then what was the point of them coming back and causing all that trouble? They kicked up a fuss for nothing?"

Grandma Lu laughed so hard her stomach hurt. "They made a fuss, alright. It just pushed that stinky brat—ahem, it just made someone speed up the acquisition!"

Then she looked at Gu Shengsheng with pride. "They can’t just provoke anyone they please."

Just then, Gu Shengsheng noticed a fragment in the center of the collection room, protected under a glass cloche.

She was taken aback. It was indeed a fragment of the Ru Kiln Sky Blue Glaze Sunflower Bowl.

She quickly pulled up a photo on her phone and saw that the fractured edges were a perfect match!

A look of delight spread across Gu Shengsheng’s face. Grandma Lu said, "I knew we had a piece of it in the house. Back then, your grandfather treasured it like it was the most precious thing in the world, saying it would definitely be useful one day."

"See? He kicked the bucket before he even got to use it."

Gu Shengsheng then explained the whole story of the Ru Kiln Bowl to her grandmother.

Grandma Lu said, "See? I knew it would be useful to you. Hurry and take it. After you restore it, you can display it in your private museum."

"And all these dozens of artifacts in the house, you can put them in your museum, too. They can be its signature treasures."

"I couldn’t possibly!" Gu Shengsheng quickly refused. These items were priceless, worth well over a billion combined. They were the fruits of her grandparents’ lifelong efforts.

Grandma Lu sighed. "If they stay here, they’ll just collect dust and get stolen by unfilial descendants. There’s no point. With you, at least other people will get to see them."

"Take that fragment you mentioned. Your grandfather used it to propose to me. I was furious! Was he trying to say I was a broken bowl?"

Recalling these things, Grandma Lu still felt a sense of warmth. "I didn’t understand back then, so I always fought with him over it. It was only later, seeing how much he treasured it, that I realized it might actually be valuable."

"If you can piece it back into a whole bowl, I’m sure your grandfather would be happy in the afterlife."

Speaking of the old man, Grandma Lu began to feel a little sad.

She stood up and said with a sense of resignation, "The person is gone, but their things remain. In the end, seeing them only makes you miss the one who is gone."

Gu Shengsheng had to agree with her. You can guard against outsiders day and night, but a thief in the family is impossible to prevent. Rather than leave the collection here for those ambitious wolves to covet, moving it to her private museum wasn’t a bad idea at all.

Then, Gu Shengsheng looked at Madam Lu. "Mother-in-law, let’s pack up our things from the old residence and move them over as well. Our family can live there from now on. The courtyard house is much quieter, and the Second Madam and her crowd won’t be able to get in and cause trouble."

"Alright," Madam Lu agreed with a nod.

Just as she said that and they began making preparations to move, a call came from Ryan.

Gu Shengsheng answered the phone. The person on the other end was silent for a long moment, so she asked, "What is it?"

"I acquired the Lu Group," he said, his words succinct.

"I know," Gu Shengsheng replied.

Unable to gauge her emotions from her tone, he began to explain, "The Lu Group had already been taken over by the second branch of the family, and your branch no longer held any shares. This won’t affect you."

He hadn’t thought much about it before, but now he was afraid Shengsheng would misunderstand.

"Mhm," Gu Shengsheng acknowledged with a nod. She already knew all of this.

"If they’re pushed into a corner, I’m afraid they might try to hurt you. You have to protect yourself. On my end, I’ll also..."

"Don’t worry about it. I can handle myself," Gu Shengsheng said.

Lu Shijing paused for a moment. "Let’s find some time to meet. There’s something I need to tell you."