Bei Cheng Qiu

Chapter 67 The Chase, Boss Sun at His Wit's End

This night, Sun Yilang stayed awake, feeling for the first time in his life how close he was to death.

Three waves of over a dozen people had stormed into Bogu Zhai.

If Sun Yilang hadn't hidden in the storage room and escaped, he would likely have been killed countless times.

Only when dawn broke did these people leave in anger, and Sun Yilang finally breathed a sigh of relief, slumping to the ground.

The cold sweat had already soaked his clothes, a sweat born of sheer terror.

Struggling to get up, Sun Yilang stumbled away from Bogu Zhai.

Last night, he had already called Shen Shiyun and Zhou Youde, but the results were the same; they wanted him dead.

Moreover, several of his friends, who were usually quite close to him, now avoided him as if he were plague, simply not answering his calls.

As Ye Fan had said, he was at his wit's end.

The moment he pushed open the main door of Bogu Zhai, he saw several people blocking the entrance.

Seeing him emerge, these people immediately swarmed him.

“Sun Yilang, you should return the money you took from me by now, shouldn’t you?”

“Debt repayment is only natural. If you refuse, we’ll take your life.”

“Stop the nonsense and return the money quickly.”

Their clamoring caused Sun Yilang’s face to instantly turn ashen.

“Clang.”

The door was slammed shut, and Sun Yilang let out a sigh of relief, cold sweat flowing down like a spring.

“Damn it, Ye Fan, I’ll definitely kill you.”

While the incessant knocking at the front door continued, Sun Yilang opened the back door, poked his head out, looked left and right, saw no one, and then tiptoed away from Bogu Zhai.

Who would have thought that the owner of the once magnificent Bogu Zhai would now find himself in such a dire predicament?

At Tian Yin Pavilion, Ye Fan was examining an ancient painting he had just acquired.

Shen Tianyin sat beside him, her two fair hands continuously tapping against each other, her gaze fixed on the scroll in Ye Fan’s hand.

She had acquired it that morning and was waiting for Ye Fan’s appraisal.

The second daughter of the Shen family, she looked like a primary school student who had finished an exam and was awaiting her score, her face filled with anxiety.

After a full ten minutes, Ye Fan finally put down the scroll and looked up at Shen Tianyin, his expression unreadable.

This appearance made Shen Tianyin’s heart tremble.

“Is it a fake?”

She couldn’t help but ask, her heart already in her throat.

Ye Fan shook his head. “Not only is it not a fake, but it’s also by the hand of a master.”

A faint smile then appeared on his previously impassive face.

Realizing Ye Fan was teasing her, Shen Tianyin angrily clenched her small fists and punched Ye Fan’s chest.

“I knew you’d play tricks on me.”

After saying that, she seemed to realize her own flirtatiousness and a blush rose to her cheeks.

Such girlish behavior was never seen before in the second daughter of the Shen family.

For a moment, Ye Fan was also stunned, especially as Shen Tianyin’s exquisite face was now tinged with shyness, like the precarious evening clouds in the sky, or a flower bud opening in the morning dew.

Mature yet shy, graceful yet noble, she was like a beautiful landscape painting, captivating and endearing to behold.

“You, what are you looking at?”

Sensing Ye Fan’s intense, burning gaze, Shen Tianyin shyly lowered her head and murmured softly.

Her voice was so low it was almost inaudible.

Ye Fan quickly turned his head, took a deep breath, cleared his mind of distractions, and picked up the scroll.

“This is a painting by a famous artist from the Hui School of the Northern Song Dynasty. The Hui School emphasized the use of ink; its ink quality and characteristics were considered the best of the Northern Song. The ink in this painting is fine and smooth, feeling like silk to the touch. Despite having endured a millennium, there is no grittiness. Looking at the content, it depicts a scene of lush mountains after a fresh rain, full of vitality. Whether it’s the painting technique or the ink application, everything is perfectly balanced. It’s preliminarily estimated to be worth over two million.”

“It’s really worth two million?”

Hearing Ye Fan’s explanation, Shen Tianyin’s face lit up with joy.

In terms of antique appraisal, she was far behind Ye Fan.

During her time with Ye Fan, she often felt like a burden, a hindrance.

But she never expected to acquire a treasure today.

Watching Shen Tianyin beam with happiness, Ye Fan nodded heavily. “It seems like it’s time for me to step down as the chief appraiser of Tian Yin Pavilion.”

His jibe made Shen Tianyin both embarrassed and annoyed, and she shot him a few reproachful glances.

And at that very moment, Sun Yilang stumbled in.

“Ye Fan, you shameless scoundrel, you and I are irreconcilable.”

Upon entering and seeing Ye Fan, Sun Yilang began to curse, lunging at him wildly as if to fight him to the death.

But how could Ye Fan give him the opportunity?

He sharply raised his hand and grabbed his wrist. “What is the meaning of this, Boss Sun? Coming to my Tian Yin Pavilion to make a move on me, do you think we are easily bullied? Or does Boss Sun intend to burn his bridges, dragging me down with him?”

With a slight exertion, he flung Sun Yilang away and watched him silently.

Sun Yilang’s previous internal injuries had not fully healed, and he was no match for Ye Fan now.

After being thrown aside like this, he immediately collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

“Boss Sun, what exactly are you here at Tian Yin Pavilion to do? If you’re here to cause trouble, I’ll inform the authorities immediately.”

Recalling Sun Yilang’s previous despicable behavior, Shen Tianyin was furious.

Looking up fiercely at Shen Tianyin and Ye Fan, Sun Yilang, though angered, had no choice but to swallow his pride.

“Ye Fan, do your words from yesterday still stand?”

His tone, like that of a resentful wife, made Ye Fan very awkward.

“Boss Sun, it seems Ye’s words have come true. However, I, Ye Fan, am not a petty person like you. The conditions I proposed yesterday are still valid today, it just depends on whether Boss Sun is willing to cooperate.”

The reason for causing such a huge commotion was to force Sun Yilang into a corner, compelling him to seek him out.

Because once Shen Shiyun and Zhou Youde decided to kill Sun Yilang, in Jiang City, there would be nowhere for Sun Yilang to go, neither heaven nor earth, except here.

Moreover, with so many creditors blocking his door, Sun Yilang had no other choice.

Clenching his teeth, his body trembling violently, Sun Yilang finally spoke coldly, “Fine, I agree to hand over Bogu Zhai to you, but I want to increase the profit share from forty percent to fifty percent.”

Bogu Zhai was as important as his life to him; how could he be satisfied with just a forty percent profit?

But Ye Fan shook his head. “Boss Sun, I think you haven’t quite grasped the current situation. You are the one begging me, not the other way around. To put it bluntly, giving you forty percent profit is already considering that you’re halfway to the grave. If Boss Sun pushes his luck, then feel free to turn left and find another buyer.”

This was Ye Fan’s character; once he made a decision, no one could change it.

Besides, forty percent profit was already very high.

“You…”