Seeing Jiang Tianlei’s arrogant demeanour, Xu Fei couldn’t help but smirk inwardly. The bloke must be brimming with confidence because of that cursed golden Buddha.
He wondered what the crowd’s reaction would be once he revealed the curse.
“Jiang Tianlei, what’s that supposed to mean? At my birthday banquet, didn’t you gift a fake diamond? And what gives you the right to call my vase fake?” Su Yu snapped.
Her fiery temper had only just been tamed by Xu Fei over the past couple of days, but that didn’t mean she’d give Jiang Tianlei an easy pass. She lost it right there in front of everyone.
“Well… even if your vase is real, it’s worth less than 100,000. You’ve got some nerve presenting it!” Jiang Tianlei shot back.
At this, even the elderly gentleman stepped in to smooth things over, “Now, now, let’s all calm down. The matriarch’s seventieth birthday isn’t about expensive gifts, it’s about the thought behind them!”
“I think Miss Su’s Pine and Crane Longevity Vase is splendid, symbolising the matriarch’s boundless fortune and longevity!”
But once Su Yu’s temper flared, she was unstoppable.
She glanced at the item in Jiang Tianlei’s hand and said loudly, “Since you’re so confident, Young Master Jiang, why don’t you show us what you’ve got!”
Jiang Tianlei, being young and easily provoked, opened his box on the spot, “Fine, since everyone’s here, I’ll let you all feast your eyes! Let’s see what true filial piety looks like!”
As he opened the box, the golden Buddha inside gleamed brilliantly, like a miniature sun cradled in his hands.
“Goodness, what’s that down there, so dazzling?” the Jiang family matriarch, who had been resting in her chair due to her advanced age, suddenly sensed the blinding golden light and opened her eyes.
Seeing his golden Buddha catch the matriarch’s attention, Jiang Tianlei beamed and hurried forward, “Matriarch, for your seventieth birthday, Tianlei went to great lengths to find this gift for you. Do you like it?”
The matriarch gazed at the golden Buddha in Jiang Tianlei’s hands, her face blooming into a smile like a chrysanthemum. She couldn’t stop admiring it, “Oh, this golden Buddha is wonderful…”
With the matriarch’s approval, the crowd below began to sing praises.
“Among the Jiang family’s new generation, only Tianlei stands out like a dragon among men. Such filial piety!”
“Exactly! Look at the others, always wasting their days on debauchery. On a day like today, they can’t even produce a decent gift. What a disgrace!”
“It seems when the current patriarch steps down, Jiang Tianlei is the clear choice to take over!”
The casual flattery from the crowd had Jiang Tianlei practically floating on air.
But the matriarch’s next question snapped him out of his reverie, “Tell me, Tianlei, where did you get this golden Buddha? The scriptures on it… what do they mean? Why can’t I understand them?”
A devout Buddhist well-versed in Sanskrit, the matriarch had studied the scriptures on the back of the Buddha through her reading glasses for quite a while but couldn’t recognise a single one.
Jiang Tianlei, who had only snapped up the Buddha in the ghost market that early morning in near darkness, had no clue about the scriptures. He quickly brushed it off, “Matriarch, this golden Buddha has a long history. I acquired it by chance. The scriptures on the back are likely faded with age, so it’s normal you can’t read them!”
The matriarch had just nodded when Xu Fei, who had been silent until now, spoke up, “I’m afraid these scriptures aren’t simply faded. There’s more to this than meets the eye!”
