Chapter Forty-Three: The Young Consultant

  Lu Shaojie himself is a bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong. He knew that Qu Wen used to be a ruffian outside, far from being a good person. Just now, it seemed like he didn't use much force but almost dislocated his own shoulder, yet he still dared to follow up with a challenge, pulling his head back: "What's so great about having more strength? If you're capable, wait and see."

  If it were in the past, Qu Wen would have already left a slap mark on Lu Shaojie's face and wouldn't bother with him being so arrogant. Now, as time has passed and he has encountered more things and people, he knows when to endure and when to explode, no need to cause trouble for temporary satisfaction. To deal with someone like him, there are at least a hundred ways.

  "Having great strength is nothing impressive, as long as you can defeat me, go ahead and use any trick you want, I'm waiting."

  "Yé" is what old Beijingers call it, sounds very dignified and has a certain style. After being in Beijing for three months, I learned to say this "yé" character with flair, and when spoken, it has a very authentic old Beijing flavor.

  Su Ya Xin didn't expect Qu Wen to appear at this time, and she felt like seeing a lifesaver. She was both touched and happy in her heart. It had been three months since they last met, and he seemed like a different person now. There was an inexplicable feeling about him, with a hint of seven parts arrogance and three parts uprightness in his gentle demeanor, adding a touch of carefree spirit to his sunny and handsome appearance. She hastily followed Qu Wen's words: "Sorry, I really do need to have dinner with Qu Wen tonight."

  Those who are not good at lying will blush when they tell a lie. Su Yaxin's face turned bright red, looking shy and charming, unable to distinguish between shyness and embarrassment.

  The two people in front of them were affectionate and loving, but he couldn't do anything about it. Lu Shaojie was so angry that he almost bit his lip to bleed, giving Qu Wen a venomous glare before turning around and leaving in a huff.

  After Lu Shaojie left, Qu Wen habitually scratched his head, the domineering look on his face completely disappeared, replaced by a big boy's naivety. He looked at Su Yaxin and asked with some embarrassment: "Have you been doing well these past few months?"

  Simple words reveal a faint love intention.

  Like the other party, Su Ya Xin spent these three months in nostalgia. Rarely meeting someone she could open up to, she who had never truly been in love before was like a child tasting sugar for the first time. Now that she saw him in person, she didn't know how to respond and simply nodded obediently.

  After calming down a bit, Su Ya Xin looked at Qu Wen again and asked with concern.

  "Did Grandpa say you've been ill recently?"

  Qu Wen originally didn't have any illness, he just had a blocked spiritual awareness. His usually rosy cheeks turned into the appearance of an ordinary person, making Gu Quan feel somewhat unaccustomed to it. It seemed that being extremely healthy was the look Qu Wen should have. However, these words couldn't be said, at least not now, and definitely not to Su Yaxin, as she might not even believe them if they were spoken.

  Nothing much, just that the weather in the north is cold early on and I'm having trouble adapting for now. It's a lot better since I got back to the south.

  What Qu Wen really wanted to say was "I'm already more than half happy when I see you!" But he had never been in love before, and his heart was too shy, so the words got stuck on his lips and were all swallowed back.

  "Is that so......" Su Yaxin also looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself, not daring to look at Qu Wen directly, her head slightly lowered.

  The atmosphere suddenly became awkward again. Qu Wen secretly resented that as a big man, why did he become like a mouse encountering a cat when seeing a beautiful girl, his courage shrinking by half? It turned out that he had inherited from his father and had the potential to be controlled by his wife.

  After a while, he finally said something constructive: "Are you free tonight? I'd like to invite you out for dinner."

  The girl who was in love for the first time, like many others, had an IQ of zero when she saw the person she liked. Su Ya Xin was no exception. She sneaked a peek at Qu Wen and her heart skipped a beat, her mind in disarray. In a daze, she stammered: "I... I'm free..."

  "That's settled then! I'll come pick you up after work this afternoon!"

  Finally managed to ask Su Ya Xin out, Qu Wen was over the moon and couldn't stop staring out of the window in a daze, his mind involuntarily filled with visions of flowers, evening gowns, wedding dresses and church bells ringing clearly and melodiously, even a lovely double bed appeared, with two people happily snuggled up together.

  Buddy finally has hope to leave the pathetic life of a virgin!

  Unlike Bao Guoqiang's antique shop, Yuefeng Pawnshop had few antiques to appraise. The whole morning only saw two relatively valuable jade pieces being brought in for pawning. Moreover, with Liu Da around, it wasn't even his turn to take action.

  With nothing to do, Qu Wen simply took out an antique appraisal book and flipped through it on the side. Meanwhile, Gu Quan came over for a while, saw how hard Qu Wen was working, nodded his head in approval from afar, smiled with relief, and didn't disturb him again, turning around to head towards Chen QiFu's office.

  The book was only halfway through, and the bell rang for the end of work in the morning. Since Su Ya Xin had not been invited beforehand, it was also embarrassing to go over again at this time. So, along with Fan Yong Cheng, the three of them went to the nearest restaurant, eating and chatting about the interesting things they encountered in Beijing.

  To avoid being overly boastful, most of what was said at the banquet was about Gu Quan and Bao Guoqiang. As for himself, he just roughly glossed over it. Moreover, there really wasn't anything worth boasting about to begin with. Since his spiritual awareness was blocked, Qu Wen clearly realized one thing - without the help of spiritual awareness and divine powers, he was basically nothing.

  Chatted for half a day, after finishing lunch, looked at the phone and it was already time to go back to work in the afternoon.

  At this time, the staff of other departments had all taken their positions, but only Qu Wen and his three colleagues were still strolling slowly. Anyone who knew Yuefeng Pawnshop knew that the appraisal department was the boss, with a set of appraisal skills, and even if the East House didn't work, the West House could, so Chen Qifeng's rules for them weren't too strict.

  The more relaxed they work, the faster they make money, which is most suitable for them.

  As soon as he returned to the company, Chen Qifu called Qu Wen into the office, and Gu Quan was also sitting inside, sipping tea.

  "Director Chen, what can I do for you?" Qu Wen asked curiously.

  Chen Qifu looked at Qu Wen with a hint of reluctance, never expecting that after bringing him to Beijing to study for three months, he would give such an answer. He also didn't expect Qu Wen's intuition for antique appraisal to be so high, and in just over a month of studying in his own company, adding up to less than half a year, he had already made a small name for himself in the city of Beijing.

  It's too late for regrets now. I can only blame myself for not seeing Qu Wen's exceptional talent earlier and not being willing to sign a long-term labor contract with him. Turning his head to the side, he gazed at Gu Quan who was leisurely sipping tea and said in a slightly subdued tone: "Uncle Quan, you say something."

  Gu looked like he had just won a battle, with a light smile on his face: "Ah Wen, I've just discussed it with President Chen. Today is your last day working at Yuefeng Pawnshop. From tomorrow onwards, you will no longer be an employee of Yuefeng Pawnshop. However, I want you to sign a new cooperation agreement with President Chen as the appraisal consultant for Yuefeng."

  "I'm the appraiser!" Qu Wen's jaw almost dropped to the ground in shock. He was very clear about his own level of expertise, and even if he regained his spiritual awareness, he could still tell what was genuine or fake, but his knowledge of antiques was still severely lacking, and he didn't have much credibility when talking to others.

  "Master, you must be joking! I don't have that kind of ability!"

  Gu Quan slightly furrowed his brow: "When have I ever joked around, and I didn't tell you to come now. Three years, I'll give you three years' time, you focus on researching and improving your appreciation skills. Within these three years, I'll take over this consultant title for you."

  "Three years... that's enough." Qu Wen rubbed his head, in his opinion, three years was not a short period of time, and a university major was just like that.

  When he heard Qu Wen's words, Chen Qifu felt even more remorseful in his heart.

  Many people spend three years learning only superficial knowledge, and some can't even achieve that. To reach the level of Qu Yuan or slightly lower within three years is truly a blessing from heaven, with divine guidance, for someone to be born so intelligent and perceptive.

  Gu Zhong opened his mouth and said three years, he should have seen Qu Wen's talent early on, but Qu Wen didn't react much when he heard it, as if three years was a very reasonable period of time, and there was even some surplus.

  Chen Qifu was stunned for a moment, took out a contract-like document, and asked Qu Wen to read it over and sign it if he was satisfied.

  The content of the agreement is not much, two and a half pages clearly list various clauses, among which one clause makes Qu Wen particularly concerned. In addition to good commissions, for each item responsible for appraisal, once the transaction is successful, you can also get a slightly higher commission than business personnel.

  After carefully reading the entire agreement, Qu Wen signed his name with a slight curve of his lips, and from then on he transformed from an apprentice pawnshop to a connoisseur consultant at Yuefeng Pawnshop.