Chapter 358: This Is The Qiao Family’s Treasure?
Maintaining the old house in such a pristine condition while retaining its original style wasn’t an easy feat. Qiao Feigong continued to explain that it was their ancestor’s final wish and they were bound by the request.
As for the reason why, Qiao Feigong had no idea. The family merely thought their ancestor just wanted to keep it around for the sake of remembrance.
Lin Jin stopped outside the yard and asked, “I heard this is a restricted area of your family’s and no one should enter casually. Wouldn’t it be inconvenient if I went inside?”
Qiao Feigong replied, “You don’t have to worry, Appraiser Lin. We do have such a rule but that is to keep our family members at bay. You’re our family’s honored guest and savior so it’s alright. We have decided to waive it due to the exceptional circumstances we have stumbled into.”
Qiao Feigong was a reasonable man. Rules were rules but they were rigid. Moreover, he had come to this ancestral house countless times but found nothing special about it. Qiao Feigong didn’t even think that their family treasure was anything special.
To him, being able to befriend a capable figure such as Lin Jin was much more important right now. Thus, he was willing to satisfy Lin Jin’s curiosity so as to demonstrate their family’s sincerity.
If they could befriend Appraiser Lin by doing this, what they stood to gain was even more valuable. Even more so compared to that impractical family treasure of theirs.
Since Qiao Feigong had put it that way, Lin Jin said no more.
While Lin Jin was granted special permission by Qiao Feigong, the others didn’t dare to step inside. Seeing the expectant look on his son’s face, Qiao Feigong decided to let Qiao Xing in as well.
Qiao Xing was thrilled. Being able to enter the family’s ancestral house was an honor. Moreover, it was a rule that only the Qiao family’s patriarch could enter this place. For his father to let him in, didn’t that imply that he was going to be the successor to his father?
Thus, Qiao Feigong let Qiao Xing push open the door open while he walked by Lin Jin’s side as they chatted.
“Back in the day, our ancestor was merely a normal person. It was said that he had achieved success thanks to this treasure and even got himself a Rank 4 pet beast, thus inspiring him to lay the first founding brick of the Qiao family,” Qiao Feigong explained with a hint of pride in his tone. After all, their ancestor’s glory days were something to be proud of.
“Father, I’ve heard about this before. But if our family’s treasure is that amazing, why couldn’t anyone else after our ancestor promote their pet beasts to Rank 4?” Qiao Xing couldn’t resist asking. It seemed like the question had been weighing on his mind for quite a long time now.
“Uhm…” Qiao Feigong had no answer to this question. Forget Qiao Xing, even Qiao Feigong was confused too.
It was what his father had told him. Even Qiao Feigong’s father had failed to uncover the true secret that lied in the treasure, despite the many years they had dedicated to researching the answer.
They couldn’t help but grow skeptical about it.
No, it went beyond mere skepticism at this point. They were sure that their ancestors never left them the truth, and that it was all just nonsense.
There may not even be a direct link between their ancestor getting a Rank 4 pet beast and this family treasure.
Moreover, their ancestor hadn’t left enough information for them. He only requested the family to keep the treasure safe and to never lose it.
Thus, three generations passed in the Qiao family.
Qiao Xing was their fourth generation.
Lin Jin raised his eyebrows as he listened. To think the Qiao family had once possessed a Rank 4 pet beast!
It was something he hadn’t expected. However, after doing a mental calculation, that should have been about a hundred years ago. It was no wonder the Qiao family was able to enjoy a century of glory. Their ancestor must have simply been that impressive!
Possessing a Rank 4 pet beast in that era would have made him an important figure within the Jade Dragon Kingdom.
The ancestral house’s interior was plain, and the floor was made of mud. Everything in here was old and quite run down but the place was still fairly tidy.
To Lin Jin, this was merely an older house that was slightly more rundown than where he used to live.
Qiao Feigong’s voice had lowered a notch after entering the house. He was evidently showing his ancestor respect and Qiao Xing did the same as well. Besides being extra careful, Qiao Xing had been looking around with great curiosity since entering the building.
The yard was quite small with only one house up ahead. There were still farming tools hung on the walls and they even saw a stone mill.
“Appraiser Lin, please give me a moment to retrieve our family treasure,” Qiao Feigong informed them before entering the house. Qiao Xing looked excited.
As a direct descendant, he hadn’t actually seen the treasure with his own eyes before. Now that he was able to, it was no surprise that he was this excited.
Lin Jin didn’t think too much of it. At first, he wondered why Qiao Feigong was generous enough to show their family treasure to an outsider, but after that conversation, he figured that Qiao Feigong must have thought nothing about their family treasure. Now that Lin Jin had saved their family, Qiao Feigong had a reason to show this treasure without any objections from their family members.
The house was very small so Qiao Feigong returned quickly. He came back holding a box, which was wrapped in luxurious brocade. An outsider would have easily mistaken it to be some valuable porcelain item.
But after Qiao Feigong put it down and opened it, what he took out was just a wooden plate.
The plate’s quality seemed average and had the word ‘three’ carved on it.
“Father, this… this is our Qiao family’s treasure?” Qiao Xing was visibly disappointed by how anticlimactic the treasure looked. He must have held the expectation that their ancestral treasure would be something extraordinary, but to think it was only a wooden plate with practically no uniqueness to it.
“That’s right. This is our family’s treasure. The one our ancestors passed down to us.” Qiao Feigong fully understood his son’s feelings.
To be honest, his reaction was the same when he first laid eyes on the treasure.
Furthermore, after years of research and practically coming here once every few days to touch the wooden plate, Qiao Feigong remained disappointed.
This was just a normal wooden plate.
For more than once, Qiao Feigong wondered if his father had accidentally misplaced the treasure so he replaced it with this. Of course, those were only thoughts that he dared not voice out.
As Qiao Feigong showed Lin Jin the wooden plate, before he could speak, he noticed Lin Jin staring straight at the plate in his hands with a peculiar look in his eyes.
This made Qiao Feigong swallow his words.
Instead, he asked, “What’s wrong, Appraiser Lin?”
He could tell that Lin Jin must have noticed something so he asked out of curiosity.
Lin Jin answered, “Lord Qiao, may I take a closer look at it?”
Qiao Feigong didn’t reject his request. To him, this wooden plate wasn’t of any use, and an expert as prominent as Appraiser Lin must have seen far more interesting pieces of art.
And so, Qiao Feigong handed it to him.
The instant Lin Jin accepted the item, he confirmed the strange assumption in his mind.
“So it’s true…”