Chapter 926: Good news! Confirmed return!
The following morning, at the National Theater rehearsal stage.
It was already nine o'clock, the official rehearsal time. Most of the actors had arrived and completed their warm-up activities. They began to nervously review yesterday's problems and earnestly prepare for the rest of today's rehearsal.
However, one person arrived late to the party.
"Sorry I'm late."
Xiao He walked to the audience seats below the stage, putting his things down while apologizing to the instructors in front of him.
This includes Yang Heng.
However, after what happened yesterday, they didn't mind Xiao He's lateness. Instead, they were concerned about his situation. After all, Xiao He had left in a hurry after receiving a phone call yesterday, and many people didn't know what had happened.
Yang Heng looked Xiao He up and down and quickly noticed that Xiao He hadn't changed his clothes and was still wearing the same outfit as yesterday. So he asked, "Is things going very complicated over there? You haven't been busy from yesterday to today, have you?"
"Yes, the matter has been resolved smoothly."
Xiao He responded, but didn't mention that he hadn't slept all night and had just rushed over from the repair center. He simply said, "This won't happen again. I will continue to cooperate with your rehearsal schedule."
"What exactly happened?"
Although Yang Heng knew that Xiao He wouldn't easily change his work schedule, he still asked with concern.
“Well, how should I put it—” Xiao He thought for a moment and explained, “Simply put, I bought a house in Beijing and it’s currently being renovated. However, some problems have arisen during the renovation, and I need to go back to deal with them.”
"Oh, you bought a house here."
Yang Heng nodded, "Then remember to invite us to your housewarming party later! I'm telling you now, don't forget."
Xiao He smiled helplessly and promised very seriously, "Okay, once my house is renovated, I will definitely invite everyone over."
Just don't be scared by his "house" when the time comes.
And that was the end of that topic.
Xiao He resumed his day of rehearsing with the theater troupe.
But at the same time, this matter is far from over.
-
At noon, Xiao He was eating lunch in the National Theater cafeteria when he overheard other people chatting.
"Hey, did you see that news today?"
"I saw it! I saw it! I never expected that there would be a sequel to Emperor Chen's original works!"
"Hahaha, this is amazing! So many people were discussing where that artwork ended up, but we never expected it! It didn't go anywhere in the end, it just stayed in Beijing! It really feels like a cycle of fate!"
"Yes, yes, I always thought it had been taken abroad by those traitors in China, and that it had been stranded overseas for a long time. I didn't know when it would come back. But I never expected that it would have been in China all along!"
"Hey, if that's the case, then weren't all those overseas auctions back then a complete scam?"
"Who knows?! Maybe they did it on purpose..."
While listening to the people next to him talk and eating, Xiao He casually opened his phone and checked the trending lists on various platforms.
Sure enough, by this time all platforms had exploded.
The popularity of Emperor Chen's authentic work is almost no less than that of the bronze heads of the twelve zodiac animals. Although netizens have not seen it with their own eyes, they must know that such an important historical artifact exists.
So when "Peace and Stability Under Heaven" was confirmed as a reality, several trending topics were immediately pushed to the top by the official channels.
【Confirmed Return! Emperor Chen's Calligraphy "Peace and Stability for the World"】
【Experts say: The cultural relics never left the country! An investigation team has launched an investigation!】
【The Emperor's true actions reappear! Past conspiracies surface】
These trending topics led to a surge in searches for the Yun family, "Following the Crowd," the "Imperial Ambition" drama crew, and "The Book of Ancient Kingdoms." While netizens were cursing the Yun family for their misfortune, they also started paying attention to the story behind "Peaceful World," and praised "Following the Crowd" as a true prophet of our time.
【I seriously suspect the author of *Following the Crowd* is a prophet! The story ends with the Yun family being arrested and everyone being punished—how satisfying!】
How can I not feel regret? Before "Peace and Stability" returned, so many people worked hard for it, so many people toiled their entire lives, never expecting that it would come full circle, right beside us. Fate really likes to play jokes! I feel so heartbroken.
【The efforts of our predecessors were worthwhile. Their tireless efforts were never for any one individual, but for the sake of Chinese civilization! We should naturally celebrate the return of *An Ding Tian Xia*, but many other cultural treasures have been lost overseas. They are protecting these treasures with concrete actions, paving the way for their return, and they deserve our respect. I don't think we should negate their other efforts just because *An Ding Tian Xia* was missed.】
【Yes! We hope the other cultural relics can return home soon too!】
Upon hearing this news, netizens were naturally delighted and shared their opinions in unison.
Xiao He watched for a while, and then another plate was placed next to him.
Yang Heng sat down directly next to Xiao He: "Did you know that the original copy of 'Peaceful World' has actually appeared?"
Xiao He silently thought to himself, "I know, of course I know, it was even dug up from my own land."
But he said aloud, "Yes, I heard. Didn't the official report already make it public? That's really good news!"
This is indeed a great thing. The previous controversy over counterfeit works had caused so much of a stir that many people had given up hope. Now that the genuine article has appeared, it has officially filled in the historical record of the period in Emperor Chen's calligraphy work "Peace and Stability of the World". This is a major breakthrough in both the academic and calligraphy circles.
In addition, Emperor Chen's popularity has been hyped up again in recent years, so it's normal that reporters and media outlets rushed to report on it after receiving the news.
What they probably didn't expect was that behind this incident, there was an even more explosive piece of news: this important national treasure was actually found in actor Xiao He's new house.
Yes, along with that, there was also a large amount of weaponry left over from the war.
—That was truly thrilling.
Xiao He sighed.
Fortunately, the authorities suppressed the matter, otherwise he would probably be besieged by paparazzi again recently.
Thinking about it that way, the National Theater is actually quite safe.
At least no one can come and go as they please, so Xiao He is happy to have some peace and quiet.
Yang Heng, who was eating nearby, was completely unaware of what was happening and was still chatting away with Xiao He about what he knew: "I heard that the original work is very well preserved. After the experts have authenticated it and collected the data, we might be able to see it in person in the future."
He then added with some emotion, "This is really great! The Yun family was so shameless, using a fake to pretend to be something they'd never seen before. It was absolutely disgusting! By the way, Xiao He, have you seen 'Following the Crowd'? That AI animated short film was so entertaining! This kind of shameless family still dares to dream of coming back to China to continue making money off Chinese people. It's laughable!"
"Uh-huh."
Xiao He didn't even look up, just kept nodding.
"But speaking of which, why has 'Peaceful World' remained in China all this time?"
Yang Heng rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought. "It doesn't make sense that the items sold at that auction were all fakes. The work publicly displayed in the news is almost identical to the fake that was exhibited earlier. If the people at the auction hadn't seen the real thing, how did they manage to create such a fake?"
Even if it was a copy of the calligraphy works left by Emperor Chen, it would be impossible for such an identical fake to appear out of thin air before seeing the real thing!
"Who knows? Perhaps the truth will be revealed to the public once the higher-ups have investigated the matter thoroughly."
Xiao He, chopsticks in his mouth, already had a person in mind—
Qian Congwen.
The Qian family elder, the one Qian Wenhao was willing to bear the stigma of arson to destroy the "original," was the relative he was determined to protect.
The Qian family still refuses to believe that Qian Congwen would collude with the Yun family to create a forgery to replace the genuine article.
If there's any secret behind this, or what happened back then that led to the current outcome, perhaps only Qian Congwen could explain it all.
After all, the forgery in the Yun family's painting was a copy by Qian Congwen—the last household name calligrapher in modern Chinese history...
Would they really do such a thing?
Those thoughts flashed through his mind, but Xiao He said nothing and just silently ate his rice.
After he finished eating his own food, he raised his hand and patted Yang Heng's head: "Hurry up and eat! Those things have nothing to do with us. You might as well continue thinking about the afternoon's rehearsal."
Yang Heng tilted his head: "Okay! Okay, I'll be right there!"
He then quickly stuffed another mouthful of rice into his mouth.
Even the King of Papers, how could he possibly compare to this one!