Fu Yang looked at Shu Wan, and seeing her give a slight nod, he too nodded, "Don’t worry, a small matter. I’ll definitely bring you along next time."
"It’s getting late, we should also be leaving now." Shu Wan stood up and gestured with a nod towards Mr. Qi Yu.
"Why not stay a bit longer?" Mr. Qi Yu reluctantly glanced at the paintings and calligraphy on the table; he hadn’t finished admiring them yet.
Fu Yang, who was about to leave, was suddenly interrupted by the sound of his phone. He checked the message—it was from Shu Wan, "You say, give the painting to Mr. Qi."
Fu Yang wasn’t sure what Shu Wan was up to, and he wasn’t the type to be easily swayed by others.
But for some reason, deep down, he couldn’t bring himself to be wary of Shu Wan, and even more absurdly, he subconsciously felt that whatever Shu Wan asked him to do must be beneficial.
Quick to act over contemplation, Fu Yang stepped forward, "Mr. Qi, I don’t understand paintings and calligraphy."
Mr. Qi Yu looked up, confused and unsure of what Fu Yang meant.
"Since you like it, I’ll give you this painting."
"How can that be? It’s too precious." Mr. Qi Yu, a renowned figure in the art world, naturally knew the value of the painting.
"Here’s what we’ll do; I’ll pick out something from here to take with me. Think of it as a trade, alright?"
"This," Mr. Qi Yu pondered for a moment, ultimately unable to resist the allure of the painting, "You used a plate of pineapple cakes to trade for the painting, now I’ll also trade something for it, to be cultured just this once. Alright! Then you pick whatever you like."
Before Fu Yang could respond, Liu Yun immediately approached and grabbed Fu Yang, "Young Master, why don’t you ask Mr. Qi to take your sister as a disciple? She would surely be very grateful to you."
Fu Yang slightly furrowed his brows, shaking off Liu Yun’s hand, then turned to look at Shu Wan, raising his eyebrows at her with a hint of a smile in his eyes, "You pick."
Shu Wan appeared unsurprised. She briefly glanced at Fu Yang and then unceremoniously headed towards the garden.
Quickly, Shu Wan came out with a pot of pink tulips, "I’ll take this."
This was a flower Shu Wan had never seen before.
Compared to the others who highly prized the collection of paintings and calligraphy in Mr. Qi Yu’s house, Shu Wan preferred the flower pot, which she had never encountered before.
The choice of this flower pot had everyone present taken aback.
It felt as if, holding a hundred-billion cash voucher, one only bought a 20-dollar box of toothpaste.
Even Mr. Qi Yu felt it wasn’t fair, "Young lady, you only want this simple pot of flowers?"
Shu Wan nodded, "Just this one."
"Alright," seeing Shu Wan so sure of herself, Mr. Qi Yu didn’t say anything more. He laughed loudly, "You’re quite a character, young lady. I like that. If you ever want to come talk about art, you’re always welcome."
"Then I won’t be polite."
After bidding farewell to Mr. Qi Yu, Shu Wan left with Qin Lv and Fu Yang.
Liu Yun had finally made her way into the Qi Family and naturally didn’t want to leave just like that. She waited until Shu Wan and the others had left the Qi Family, then turned back to seek out Mr. Qi Yu.
Outside at that moment, looking at the tulips Shu Wan held, Fu Yang scoffed, "Sly and cunning, I bet you took this flower as a bait to win over the old man, hoping he would let you into the Qi Family."
"You’re getting cultured, using phrases like ’throw out a brick to attract jade’," Shu Wan turned her head, in a rare mood to tease Fu Yang.
"Cut it out," Fu Yang snorted lightly.
But Fu Yang was actually wrong this time. Perhaps for others, gaining Mr. Qi’s recognition was an extremely honorable thing.
But for Shu Wan, this pot of tulips truly moved her more than anything else.
The more she lived in modern times, the more Shu Wan realized how wonderful progress could be.
Even flowers had undergone so many changes.
In her previous life, Bailu Academy was situated atop Bailu Mountain, roughly in the area of Jiangnan today.
Back then, every spring, the academy inside and out would be filled with blossoming flowers.
Having grown up in the Capital, Shu Wan’s love for flowers rooted from that time.
Unfortunately, after returning to the north due to geographical and climate limitations, Shu Wan never saw such beautiful flowers again.
Now, even though she was still in the Capital, the flowers she could see everywhere were even more abundant than on Bailu Mountain in her previous life.