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nWhen Fu Chen returned to his hotel, it was already past one in the morning, and the information about Yan Wangchuan was already on his table.

n“Third Master, no wonder Song Jingren doesn’t know him. Yan Wangchuan did indeed study under Old Master Qiao, but he wasn’t an official disciple,” Shi Fang explained.

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n“What do you mean?” The stack of information was thick, and Fu Chen was too lazy to flip through it.

n“When Old Master Qiao chose his disciples, he didn’t look at their family background, only their talent. He wanted someone he could truly pass on his craftsmanship to, so those with money and power didn’t catch his eye.”

nFu Chen nodded. The reason was easy to guess.

nLearning craftsmanship depended on talent. Not only did you need god-given talent, but you also had to be interested.

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nLearning how to carve jades and stones was even more difficult. He had met Qiao Xiyan before, and the calluses on his hands were thick. They were all developed over the years, so it was evident how much hardship was involved.

nThe children of wealthy families weren’t able to bear much hardship. And it was very rare for someone to be able to work in this profession their entire life and help him pass on his craftsmanship.

n“Old Master Qiao’s disciples all have average family backgrounds. There’s even an orphan. He went overseas more than ten years ago, so I couldn’t find any information about him, and the rest are rather poor.”

n“What about Yan Wangchuan? What’s the matter with him?” Fu Chen rubbed the tassel on the Buddhist prayer bead bracelet on his hand.

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n“He asked someone to use their connections and learned some skills about recognizing and identifying jades and stones from Old Master Qiao, but he didn’t learn the craftsmanship. He stayed in the Qiao family for about six years. Although he was given the generation name, strictly speaking, he’s not an official disciple. Furthermore…”

nShi Fang cleared his throat. “After finding out that Ms. Qiao was in a relationship, he left the Qiao family and only went back once when Old Master Qiao passed away.

n“It’s said that Old Master Qiao wanted to matchmake them back then. At the time, marriages were basically arranged by parents. Old Master Qiao had even asked for Yan Wangchuan’s birth characters.

n“But when Ms. Qiao left home to study, she soon got together with Song Jingren, so this matter remained unsettled. Even when she got married, Yan Wangchuan didn’t appear at her wedding.”

nFu Chen sneered. “With this relationship, Yan Wangchuan definitely doesn’t want to see Song Jingren, so it’s normal for the Qiao family not to mention him.”

nAsking for the birth characters meant that both families had agreed to the marriage. But the Qiao family had backed out of it midway, so the Yan family felt uncomfortable.

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nWith this kind of relationship, it was awkward for them to meet. Qiao Aiyun and Song Jingren were already together, so one would deliberately mention the person Qiao Aiyun had almost gotten married to in the past. They would be purely looking for trouble if they did so.

nThe members of the Qiao family were all men. Moreover, these people were aloof and proud, and they were devoted to their profession. So naturally, there was no one who gossiped.

nNo wonder Qiao Aiyun didn’t dare to look at Yan Wangchuan the entire time they were at the hotel. Her family had matchmade her with him, and now she was in an unhappy marriage. It was most embarrassing for her to have him see this situation.

nShi Fang tugged at his hair. “Actually, Ms. Qiao can’t be blamed for this either. You’ve also dealt with Yan Wangchuan. He never reveals his feelings.

n“No one has ever seen him have a female companion all these years. I don’t know if I should say that he’s devoted or stupid.

n“But when he saw Song Jingren, he didn’t say anything and immediately almost beat him to death. He’s quite the man. When he was brought to the police station, he didn’t mention Old Jiang at all and just took on all the responsibility. He’s really formidable.”

nFu Chen chuckled. “Your evaluation of him is quite high, huh?”

n“At the very least, he’s a real man. He’s not like Song Jingren, who looks like a gentleman but secretly does many dirty things.” Shi Fang’s tone was full of disdain.

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n“Besides, Song Jingren doesn’t have a good relationship with the Qiao family, so no one mentioned Yan Wangchuan to him.”

n“Why doesn’t he have a good relationship with them?” Fu Chen casually flipped through the thick stack of information.

n“Around twenty years ago, the Qiao family had a compound and a reputation in Suzhou. Old Master Qiao had a high reputation, and Song Jingren had put in a lot of effort to court Qiao Aiyun. As you may have figured out, he used all sorts of methods.

n“Ms. Qiao had never been in a relationship before, so she fell for his gentle tactics very easily.

n“But Old Master Qiao had connections and was unwilling to help him. Later, he had designs on the Qiao family business and said that he wanted to go public with it. He also wanted to scale up and mass-produce some of the Qiao family’s unique craftsmanship. Old Master Qiao was instantly infuriated…

n“It’s said that his brother-in-law threw him out along with his gifts. The senior and junior brothers of the Qiao family were even more displeased with him.

n“It was just that Ms. Qiao was blinded by love at the time, and her family couldn’t stop her.”

nFu Chen chuckled. “Craftsmanship places a lot of importance on the inheritance of skills. If it’s scaled up and mass-produced, the original feeling and quality will be lost. That was stepping on Elder Qiao’s bottom line.

n“Therefore, the relationship between him and the Qiao family has always been tense. If anything happens to any of them, or if they know anybody, they naturally won’t tell him.”

nFu Chen sneered. “After Elder Qiao passed away, the Qiao family declined, and he also gradually became rich, so he felt that Old Master Qiao’s disciples were all poor relatives. They had conflicts before and couldn’t help him in any way, so naturally, they didn’t interact much.”

nShi Fang said, “Who knew that Yan Wangchuan would suddenly jump out? He’s probably so regretful that he wants to bang his head against a wall. He looked down on them before, but now they’re out of his league.”

nFu Chen picked up the prayer beads and stood by the window. “Yan Wangchuan doesn’t have a good temper. Song Jingren will likely suffer a lot this time.”

nBefore he could finish speaking, he heard loud, noisy music coming from next door.

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nThis floor was for VIP rooms. Not many people stayed here, and the only person next door was Duan Linbai.

n“Go see what he’s doing in the middle of the night.”

nShi Fang nodded and went out. He returned in less than two minutes. “Third Master, he’s livestreaming…”

nHe doesn’t stop and keep quiet for a single moment. He just came back from the ski resort, and he’s already acting unrestrained.

n“Get someone to cut the power in his room.”

nShi Fang held back his laughter and nodded. A few minutes later, Fu Chen heard loud shouts coming from next door.

n“… Let’s learn to meow together. Meow…1 What the f*ck? Why is the power out?!”

nFu Chen rubbed his ears. He hasn’t recovered from his cold, but his voice is still so loud. He’s not even afraid of losing his voice.

nWhen they met the next day, a certain someone’s throat was so hoarse that he couldn’t speak.

nFu Chen had only one feeling:

nThe world is so peaceful.

n1 English translation of the lyrics of the song ‘學貓叫’ (Say Meow Meow Meow)

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