Chapter 94: Seeking a Master and Learning the Art (2)

  The words of Qu Wen surprised everyone, as the two people who were originally at odds with each other suddenly spoke well of each other.

  "Actually, Miss Tao and I just had some minor misunderstandings, nothing deep-seated. Last time she wanted to ask me to be her teacher in Guiyang but I refused, so there were some small unpleasantness between us. However, after thinking about it, I felt that a girl who likes antique appraisal should be something to be happy about. And I'm a grown man, what's the point of arguing with a beauty? Since she came today, it shows she has good intentions and is willing to make amends. Therefore, we can't reject someone who comes in good faith, otherwise others will think we're too petty and vengeful."

  The words were sincere and earnest, with a serious expression, causing Xia Junliang and Tao Yuanming to both reveal admiring expressions.

  Look, this is what they call magnanimity, this is magnanimity.

  After hearing Qu Wen's words, Tao Yuanming finally understood why the two of them would have conflicts. It turned out that he was the one at fault, and yet there were people who wouldn't even succeed in becoming apprentices but still dared to blame others.

  "Yingying, that's where you went wrong. It must have been your attitude back then that made Qu Mr. feel uncomfortable and unwilling to accept you as his apprentice. Since Qu Mr. is not willing to pursue this matter, why don't you hurry up and come apologize?" Her own daughter knew herself, Tao Jingying had been spoiled since childhood, her temper was not ordinary, sometimes she would offend people when speaking carelessly. If the other party was a nobody, it wouldn't have mattered, but unfortunately, she had offended her future master's junior brother this time.

  "I didn't do anything wrong, I won't apologize!" Tao Jingying pouted her small mouth, even her angry expression was particularly charming. She knew that her bust was very large, and when she went out on the street, all the men would look at her chest first instead of her face, which made her extremely angry. But then Qu Wen scolded her for being "big-breasted but brainless", unintentionally stepping on her taboo, so she couldn't help but quarrel with him.

  She actually didn't know that she had unintentionally hit the weak point of Qu Wen's writing.

  "Never mind, never mind. It's not glorious for a man to make a woman apologize and spread it out. Qu Wen shrugged his shoulders, looking very careless. "If you really want to be my apprentice, now is the best opportunity. If you think you will always be inferior to me, then it's better to leave now."

  "Who says I'm no match for you? If I'm going to be your apprentice, then so be it. What's the big deal?"

  Xia Junliang is a straightforward person, never bothered with trivial matters. Hearing Tao Jingying say this actually made him somewhat happy, as if he was forcing the other party to learn from him. However, he was very satisfied with Qu Wen's demeanor, just like what his senior brother said, a young and promising talent.

  "It's rare for you to be so sincere, so I'll accept you as my apprentice. However, let me make one thing clear: our sect doesn't have many rules, but there is one thing we emphasize - respect for the teacher and the way. If you think you can't do it, then regretting now is still not too late."

  Tao Jingying was originally only slightly interested in antique appraisal, but later she was stimulated by Qu Wen and insisted on learning some real skills. Being able to become more formidable than the enemy in their most confident field is a great way of revenge.

  With a sidelong glance, Qu Wen caught a glimpse of Quan Yu's slightly disdainful expression, and inwardly cursed the villainous commoner. Then, he turned to Xia Junliang and said, "I won't regret it, I must learn some real skills from Master."

  "Alright, from today on you are my apprentice. However, I have a lot of things to attend to over the next few days, so why don't you first follow your senior fellow disciple and learn some basic fundamentals? After this period of time has passed, I will personally instruct you and it will be easier for you to pick up."

  Xia Junliang trusted Qu Wen's character, with such a temperament, he wouldn't have any issues with a little girl, so even if there were some unpleasantness between them before, he wasn't worried about leaving the person in Qu Wen's care.

  "No, I'd rather not learn from him. I'd rather wait for Master to finish his work and teach me himself." Tao Jingying was extremely unwilling when she heard Xia Junliang's arrangement, who knew what tricks Qu Wen would play or if he wouldn't even be willing to teach her anything. If Xia Junliang asked about it later, it would seem like she wasn't willing to learn properly.

  "Hmph, you're not willing to learn and I'm not willing to teach. You really think I'd teach for free? You want to surpass me? Wait another hundred years."

  Qu Wen seemed to have grasped Tao Jingying's temperament, and said with a smile, "If you don't teach me the real thing, what should I do?" Tao Jingying couldn't help but retort, "Don't underestimate people!"

  "I'll call you 'grandma' three times in front of everyone, what can you do if you don't study well yourself?"

  "I'll call you three times..." Tao Jingying originally wanted to say something back, but thinking about it, if she called Qu Wen "grandfather", wouldn't her own father also become his son? She secretly smiled and thought, you're clever, I'm not stupid either.

  "I'll listen to you from now on."

  "Alright, you said it yourself!" Qu Wen said in a low voice, actually secretly laughing in his heart. Indeed, he was big-headed and brainless. After entering the sect, he had to call him "Shifu". With Second Master's temperament, he absolutely wouldn't tolerate anyone being presumptuous or disrespecting their elders.

  "Since that's the case, tomorrow you'll go to the International Jewelry Exhibition at Rui Lin Jewelry's booth and report for duty. They're short of a salesgirl there, I don't care what method you use, but by the end of the exhibition tomorrow, you must sell at least ten items."

  Tao Yuanming was still delighted that his daughter had successfully found a master, but upon hearing Qu Wen's words, he slightly furrowed his brow: "I'm afraid it's not quite suitable for Mr. Qu to do this, after all, Yingying is my daughter and it wouldn't be convenient for her to show off outside."

  Qu Wen turned to Tao Yuanming: "Mr. Tao, it's not that I don't give you face, but let's be real, what's the big deal about your daughter? Are you going to protect her for the rest of her life and make her a sheltered flower who doesn't understand the world? We're living in a new era now, young people need to learn to rely on themselves instead of their elders. And don't underestimate jewelry sales, if you want to be good at appraising, you need to know both professional knowledge and market trends, otherwise what's the point of being able to tell the authenticity and background of an item but not its market value? This international jewelry exhibition in Hong Kong is a rare opportunity, all the big jewelers are gathered here, if we miss this chance to understand the market, when will be the next one?"

  Xia Junliang nodded along with the conversation: "Ah Wen is right, I used to work in an antique shop for three years when I was learning from my master, which allowed me to accurately understand the price positioning of the antique market."

  Xia Junliang said, "Of course not. Ask my junior apprentice, he has been working in the antique shop at Liulichang for nearly five years!" Qu Wen said, holding up five fingers and making a strong gesture. "Now he can completely stand on his own, and even surpasses my senior fellow apprentice Bao Guoqiang."

  The words are not exaggerated. With Zhao Haifeng's infatuation and understanding of antique appraisal, given time, he will surely surpass Bao Guoqiang.

  Tao Yuanming heard that there was nothing more to say, it seemed that everyone in this line had come over like this, and if they wanted to blame someone, they could only blame their own daughter for choosing this profession.

  "It's just selling ten pieces of jewelry, I'll make a call to my sisters, and it will be done in half an hour at most." Tao Jingying said with great discontent, if even ten pieces of jewelry can't be sold, wouldn't Qu Wen look down on her.

  "No way, that would mean I'd have to penalize you. If you really have the skills, then try using your own abilities to sell all ten pieces of jewelry on your own." Qu Wen cut off Tao Jingying's train of thought, what a joke, do you think this is a game where you can use cheats? If anyone gets to cheat, it has to be just one person, everyone else has to play fair.