Chapter 182: Private Museum

At this moment, another heavily built man of imposing stature, dressed in a sharp business suit, strode into the hospital room in a flurry of agitation.

"Dad, I've already tracked down that Lin Fan. He's currently at Huayi Media, and I've got people keeping a constant eye on him. When do we make our move?"

Hearing this, veins throbbed furiously on Wang Yu's forehead.

After a few seconds of silence, a trace of hesitation flickered across his face. "Hold on for a moment. We can't afford to act recklessly in the capital. Don't hire professional assassins; the relevant authorities are no pushovers. Go hire a few inner-martial-arts masters instead, capture him alive, and bring him straight to me!"

"Understood, I'll make the arrangements right away!"

Wang Bo nodded, and without another word, he turned and left the hospital room.

Glancing at his second son lying on the hospital bed, Wang Yu forced down the raging fury threatening to erupt at any second, gritting his teeth as he muttered, "Don't you worry, Dad will definitely get justice for you. Since that bastard cut out your tongue, I'll hack off all four of his limbs and make him wish he were dead!"

At seven o'clock in the evening.

As the neon lights flickered to life, Lin Fan and Lin Mu arrived at a manor located within a residential compound in the Fourth Ring Road of the capital.

From the outside, this residential area looked completely ordinary, but it harbored an entirely different world within.

Not only was each villa worth hundreds of millions, but more importantly, the compound was situated right next to a museum and a theater. Anyone capable of purchasing a villa here was either immensely wealthy or possessed extraordinary social standing; they were certainly no ordinary mortals.

The two of them had come here upon the recommendation of Wang Xiaojun to attend a private auction.

Lin Fan wanted to purchase a couple of valuable antiques to present to Su Yanmo and Young Master Zhou as tokens of gratitude.

Both of them had contributed significant effort and money during yesterday's exposure incident—especially Young Master Zhou. That morning, Lin Fan had only sent a single message to Zhou Jiayi, and by the afternoon, he had already received the three hundred million refunded by Tomson Real Estate. However, that three hundred million was quickly deducted from his bank account by the system, returning straight back to the simp fund balance.

After presenting the text message and QR code at the rear gate of the compound, Lin Fan drove his car directly to Villa Number Two.

Calling it a villa was an understatement; it resembled a sprawling manor complete with an outdoor parking lot.

As soon as he stepped out of the vehicle, Lin Fan noticed numerous luxury cars parked in the lot, making his modest Honda look exceptionally cheap by comparison.

After all, this was the capital; the concentration of wealthy individuals far surpassed even Shanghai.

The main gates of Villa Number Two were already wide open, though two security guards in tailored suits were stationed at the entrance to keep watch.

As the two approached, the guards actually requested that Lin Mu remove her face mask.

However, after scanning the QR code on their phones and verifying that their names were correctly listed on the roster, the guards gestured for them to proceed inside.

"Brother Lin, what kind of place is this? The security here is even stricter than the Forbidden City! And this villa has an entire world of its own—it's even larger than the Qunting Manor, just like a miniature park..."

Upon entering the villa and spotting security guards in suits patrolling along the base of the towering perimeter walls, Lin Mu expressed her astonishment with a series of appreciative gasps.

"This is the capital for you, a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers reside. There's a private museum inside this villa with a collection that outnumbers those found in external auctions and cultural relic appraisal conventions. You can only imagine what kind of person the owner of this manor must be."

Lin Fan sighed with emotion, equally filled with awe.

Initially, he had planned to try his luck at the auction houses and cultural relic appraisal centers, but after touring both places, he discovered that the variety of antique artifacts in those official establishments was remarkably scarce.

Clearly, due to geographical constraints and certain unspoken reasons, formal institutions held very few genuinely valuable items.

When Wang Xiaojun heard about this, he recommended that Lin Fan visit this private museum instead.

The only piece of information Lin Fan currently possessed was that the manor belonged to a private collector with the surname Wu; everything else remained a mystery. Even Wang Xiaojun only knew that the private collector's real name was Wu Jianghai, a figure of supreme political and financial influence in the capital.

Yet, Wu Jianghai rarely showed his face and remained extremely enigmatic, leaving his secretary to manage the estate on a daily basis.

Once inside the villa, the two were once again struck dumb by the opulent interior decoration and the displayed exhibits.

The villa spanned a total of five floors—two underground and three above ground.

The decor on the first floor above ground mirrored that of a museum. The glass display cases housed various ancient relics, cultural artifacts, calligraphy, paintings, porcelains, jade carvings, and golden utensils. Even more absurdly, there were actual Terracotta Warriors on display!

The second floor served as a banquet hall, providing a space for guests to wine, dine, and socialize. The third floor was designated as the trading area.

Lin Fan also observed that the guests arriving here were either prominent tycoons listed on various wealth rankings or influential officials and wealthy merchants—not to mention a fair share of wealthy second-generation heirs and major celebrities.

As for the underground levels, the sights there defied belief and completely overturned their previous perceptions.

The area of the two underground floors was even larger than the main villa above, styled more like a palace. The displayed items far exceeded those on the first floor in quantity, consisting largely of antiques rarely seen even on television or in the news.

For instance, there was a three-meter-tall gold-plated jade statue of the Thousand-Handed Guanyin, a centuries-old sandalwood folding screen, and a meticulously carved, massive rosewood elephant.

In short, countless antiques that could never be spotted in ordinary museums or commercial auctions were gathered here in abundance.

"Is this really just a private collector? This rivals a proper state-run museum entirely! Some of these items possess even greater research value than those in national museums. Just who on earth is this Professor Wu?!"

Lin Mu was so stunned she could barely form a coherent sentence.

While touring the second floor earlier, she had overheard several guests referring to the master of the villa as Professor Wu.

The two suspected that this person most likely worked within the relevant government departments, wielding immense power and serving as a heavyweight elite with connections reaching up to the heavens.

Lin Fan shared the exact same sentiment.

Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that such indescribably powerful figures existed in this world.

Many of the items here could truly be called priceless treasures; the combined total value of the countless artifacts housed on the third floor alone was already staggering, reaching hundreds of billions.

Even more frighteningly, every single item here was available for purchase and trade.

He even suspected that even the formidable aristocratic families backing Zhou Jiayi would find it difficult to rival Professor Wu.

They simply belonged to entirely different worlds!

No wonder that when chatting with Wang Si and Su Yanmo previously, the two had mentioned that above the first-tier aristocratic families stood the grand gentry clans, and above those gentry clans existed unfathomable, ultra-powerful super-families.

Today had truly opened his eyes!

This also fueled Lin Fan's ambition to climb even higher; merely reigning as the king of Hangzhou was far from sufficient.

At that moment, the two arrived at a corner dedicated to displaying ancient paintings, where more than a dozen sets of four-panel screen paintings were exhibited.

Lin Mu walked around, pointing at a set of color four-panel traditional paintings titled *Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter* with admiration.

"Brother Lin, what do you think of this set of four-panel traditional paintings depicting *Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter*? It's in full color, which looks so much more vibrant and pleasant than those monotonous ink-wash or landscape paintings over there..."

After all, Lin Mu lacked professional appraisal skills and was simply a young girl; she only felt that this colorful set of paintings representing the four seasons was brightly colored and richly detailed, covering the entire surface of the paper.

In contrast, the other paintings were either monochrome landscapes with sparse, minimalist compositions that offered little visual appeal.

Lin Fan stepped forward and glanced at the information plaque beneath the glass showcase.

It indicated that this artwork was created by a renowned master of traditional Chinese painting, holding immense prestige within the art circle—ranking comfortably in the top two. Professor Wu had acquired this piece directly from the master himself for a price of six million.

"Not bad. Quite a bargain, actually."