Chapter 4 An Earthquake?

Returning to Zhou Yimin’s home, Zhou Yimin was already waiting. Hearing the sound of the key turning, he quickly stood up, holding a thin notebook in his hands, eagerly looking toward the door. When he saw Yan Zhen, his eyes immediately lit up.

“Master Yan!”

Yan Zhen waved at him.

Zhou Yimin smiled and opened the notebook, saying, “Look, I’ve found a few properties, all selected according to your requirements. You can pick one from these. If none of them suit you, I’ll go out and search again.”

Yan Zhen now knew what a laptop was and sat on the sofa, watching as Zhou Yimin opened the folder displaying pictures of the properties he had photographed.

There were many photos—dozens for each property—covering every detail.

Yan Zhen went through them one by one, his expression unreadable, which made Zhou Yimin nervous. *Could it be that none of them meet his standards?* Though he had said he’d search again if needed, he still felt he had done a decent job. If Master Yan was truly dissatisfied, redoing the search was a minor issue—what mattered was Master Yan’s approval.

Liu Xiaozi, standing nearby, also held her breath, feeling uneasy.

A few minutes later.

Yan Zhen finished reviewing all the photos and looked at Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin held his breath.

Yan Zhen smiled brightly, his slender, pale finger tapping the screen. “This one is excellent.”

Zhou Yimin exhaled in relief. Liu Xiaozi glanced at the screen—*Wow, it’s so classically elegant!*

Yan Zhen had chosen a traditional courtyard house, once owned by a descendant of a Qing dynasty prince. It had two courtyards, with architecture and furnishings steeped in classical charm.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty, the family had fallen into decline. Other properties were lost, leaving only this one. But clinging to the courtyard house couldn’t put food on the table, and back then, such houses hadn’t yet skyrocketed in value. The matriarch, struggling to make ends meet, converted the front courtyard and side rooms into a small restaurant, while the women of the household secluded themselves in the inner courtyard, keeping the ornamental gate firmly shut. The front courtyard was used to serve customers.

Later, due to various upheavals, the restaurant business collapsed, and the family grew even poorer. It wasn’t until after the founding of the new nation that their situation slowly improved, though they still hadn’t amassed much wealth. Now, one of their descendants, a promising scholar, had secured a project abroad and needed funding. The family was eager to sell the house quickly for a full payment, or they’d miss the opportunity.

Because of this, they didn’t inflate the price—asking only 120,000 per square meter. The entire property covered about 650 square meters, totaling just under 8 million.

Zhou Yimin had scoured the Inner Second Ring for courtyard houses on sale. Most were in poor condition, with only three or four well-maintained ones—this being one of them. It was the largest but also the least preserved, though the total price was similar to the others. Seeing Yan Zhen choose it, he was a bit surprised.

Yan Zhen gazed at the photos with a pleased smile. “The courtyard is spacious, and the front has already been modified—perfect for opening a shop.”

Zhou Yimin and Liu Xiaozi suddenly understood—*so Master Yan had planned to open a shop all along.*

Liu Xiaozi, momentarily forgetting her earlier awe of Yan Zhen, blurted out, “You’re opening a shop? What kind?”

Zhou Yimin tugged at his niece’s sleeve, and Liu Xiaozi quickly realized her mistake, about to apologize.

Yan Zhen had already answered, “A jade shop.”

Seeing that he didn’t mind, Zhou Yimin inquired further, “The jade you mentioned is—”

Yan Zhen flashed a bright smile. “The same kind as the ones I gave you.”

Zhou Yimin understood immediately and congratulated him, “Your business will surely flourish.”

Yan Zhen raised his delicate brows slightly. Making money was not his goal at all.

Zhou Yimin mentally calculated sending a gift on the opening day but didn’t mention it. Instead, recalling the courtyard house he had seen that day, he suggested, “Master Yan, what do you think about renovating that house first?”

Yan Zhen nodded. “I’ll leave that to you as well.”

Zhou Yimin had already prepared himself and replied readily, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s done perfectly. If you have any specific requests, just let me know. Also, I’ve found a channel for those gold bricks. They’ll send someone to collect them in the next couple of days. If you’d rather not deal with them, just stay inside and watch TV. My nephew and I will handle those people…”

·

Nanluo Street, with its dozen or so smaller alleys arranged like fishbones, was the largest ancient-style street in City B.

This street was lined with inns brimming with historical charm, furnished entirely with antiques passed down through the ages. Though modern conveniences had been discreetly incorporated where necessary, the details remained authentic, attracting countless tourists to City B each year. The prices were only slightly above average. There was also a lively snack street, home to many century-old or even older establishments serving traditional delicacies—crispy pastries, sweet bean jelly, donkey rolls, and all kinds of noodles—gathering renowned brands from across the nation, making it a major draw for visitors.

Of course, the street was also teeming with shops selling handicrafts, antiques, gold and silver jewelry, and other stores exuding ancient folk customs. Because of the high tourist traffic and the abundance of similar businesses, standing out required a unique touch. As a result, shops opened and closed every month, and the quiet addition of one or two new stores was nothing unusual.

This time, the courtyard house near the entrance of Zhenlong Alley had changed hands. A construction team was hired to renovate it thoroughly, especially the front courtyard and the row of reverse-facing rooms, which were meticulously restored and decorated in an authentically traditional style.

Now, the main gate stood wide open. Turning left after entering led to the front courtyard, where the middle door of the row of reverse-facing rooms had been removed, while the others were sealed off. Inside, the rooms had been completely opened up. Shelves lined the wall facing the courtyard, while opposite, beneath the windows, stood a row of exquisite bamboo couches covered with finely woven grass mats—soft, light in color, and perfectly complementing the interior.

Where walls had once connected the reverse-facing rooms, elegant wooden archways now linked them seamlessly. Each room had similar furnishings, but the innermost one featured a carved rosewood table with a high-backed wooden chair behind it—the owner’s usual spot for drinking tea, reading, and minding the shop.

The side-facing rooms totaled seven in all. The first five, from the outer to the inner, had wooden shelves where each compartment held pieces of jade—white, red, yellow, black, purple, blue, green… Apart from these single-colored stones, there were also jades with mixed hues—two-toned, three-toned, five-toned, even seven-toned. Most of these jades bore natural shapes: bells, gourds, Jade Pendants, Jade Swords, Jade Rings, and so on. Each piece boasted fine textures, crystalline clarity, and a lustrous sheen, clearly not ordinary goods. However, by the sixth room, the shelves on both sides no longer held jade. Instead, they were filled with flowers, herbs, fruits, and even insects, snakes, tree bark, and cicada molts. Some plants were freshly picked, while others were potted live specimens. There were also branches and rocks—some quite appealing, others looking as if they’d been haphazardly gathered from the mountains. All in all, they were rather peculiar.

A tall, slender figure stood before the innermost shelf, carefully placing the last small potted plant in the center before smiling in satisfaction. Then, he ambled slowly backward, passing through the festooned gate to enter the newly renovated inner courtyard. The surrounding three sides were lined with ancient-style houses, enclosing a vast, flat, and completely empty space.

The young man stood before the open ground, his mood buoyant.

Ah, this was his new nest.

He took two steps back, reached behind his back with his right hand, and then, as if grabbing something, flung it forward—

In the blink of an eye, an exquisitely crafted miniature mountain appeared right in the center of the courtyard, rapidly expanding until it occupied half the space!

“Thud.”

When the mountain landed, it seemed to raise no dust, yet the entire ground trembled almost imperceptibly.

The mountain’s shape was not particularly rugged. Its slopes were lush with verdant grass and dense forests, and faint sounds of birds and beasts could be heard—though upon closer listening, they seemed illusory, indistinct. At the mountain’s base stood an enormous stone gate, proportionally at least one-tenth the mountain’s height. A clear stream cascaded over the gate, rushing westward to form a small pond. Strangely, the water seemed to flow endlessly from the mountain, yet no source could be seen within. Despite the constant inflow, the pond never overflowed, its depth remaining a mystery.

The young man examined the mountain with satisfaction and stretched lazily.

Comfortable.

·

The moment the mountain landed, in a secluded mansion on First Street of City B, an old Taoist priest jolted upright as the Achillea Sibirica before him spontaneously burst into flames.

“What’s going on? An earthquake?” He scratched his wild, white hair, pacing fretfully. “No, that can’t be. I’ve divined multiple times—there shouldn’t be any earthquakes in Huaguo for years. So what just happened? Could it be… another strange phenomenon?”

After pondering fruitlessly for a while, the old priest hurried out the door. He needed to consult *that person*.

Once outside, he anxiously turned into a nearby alley, walked to its end, pushed open a small gate, and proceeded down a pitch-black path until he reached a room tightly veiled by bamboo curtains.

After taking a deep breath, the old Taoist first bowed toward the bamboo curtain before speaking respectfully, “Mr. Lin, today I noticed an abrupt, city-wide micro-tremor in B City. Though ordinary people wouldn’t sense it, I’m deeply concerned—could this be related to the strange phenomena that have been gradually emerging in recent years? My abilities are limited, so I humbly seek your guidance.”

Before the person behind the bamboo curtain could respond, hurried footsteps approached from a distance. A middle-aged man with an anxious expression jogged over, also bowing to the curtain, and quickly said, “Captain, a certain channel has received over a hundred gold bricks from an ordinary person. This individual was previously just a low-level clerk with some connections, yet suddenly came into possession of so many gold bricks. We suspect the origin of these gold bricks might be suspicious. Should we investigate this clerk?”

However, no matter how respectful the two men were, the next moment, an impatient voice erupted from behind the bamboo curtain: “Ask, ask, ask—ask my ass! You bother me with every trivial matter—what the hell are you idiots good for?! Can’t figure it out? Then calculate it a few more times! Need my permission to investigate someone? Are you still suckling at your mother’s tit?! Get the hell out, all of you! One more word and I swear I’ll shut myself off from the world!”  

The old Taoist and the middle-aged man exchanged bitter smiles upon hearing this. Neither dared to utter another word. They swiftly bowed, retreated, and then scurried away without delay.