The Ultimate Husband (Darryl and Lily Lyndon) novel Chapter 17

"Come here, let me have a look at it."

The old lady was getting restless and ordered softly, to which all her juniors made way for her.

She adjusted her reading glasses and looked at it without blinking.

Such powerful strokes, so brilliant and smooth! It was simply a masterpiece!

"I’m quite certain that this isn’t an imitation," Claude gave a thumbs up and seemed rather excited. "I would never expect to see Wang Xizhi's original work here!"

"Yes! It’s usually seen only in museums!"

"So beautiful! His ability to create this piece makes him worthy of being the Sage of Calligraphy!"

Everyone lavished praise on it and Grandmother Lyndon was beyond thrilled!

"Alright, alright, alright!" The grandmother repeated three times before carefully putting away the scroll. She instructed her servants, "Put this in the box right away. Be sure to hold it gently and put it down carefully!"

"Yes,” The servants nodded in quick succession and were very cautious to not hold it using too much force. Everyone said that it was Wang Xizhi's work and was of immense value. If they destroyed it, would they be able to afford its compensation?!

On one side, Lily bit her lip tightly and felt touched for some reason.

Ashton had sold the company just to buy her a pair of high heels and even presented such a momentous gift to granny.

"Hey, look here everyone! Darryl's expression is so funny, haha!"

William burst out laughing right away and pointed at Darryl, saying, "Look. He’s also holding a box in his hand! Haha! He’s got a gift for granny too!"

William's words spurred the crowd to start jeering.

Indeed, Darryl's expression was unnatural, though it was due to Ashton’s shamelessness! To think that Ashton would give the old lady a fake!

"Come on now, Darryl! Take out your gift and let us have a look!"

"Yeah, haha!"

Everyone saw the gift box Darryl was holding. The box looked far too shoddy as if it was picked up from the garbage.

Darryl was contemptible. Even if he could not bear to spend his money during ordinary times, did he have to skimp so hard with the old lady’s birthday celebration?

"Forget it."

Darryl waved his hand, having already seen through the expressions of everyone there. They would almost certainly mock him regardless of what gift he had, so it would be better to avoid all the troubles by not seeing the gift.

"Come on now, haha!" William leaped over all of a sudden. "It’s Granny’s birthday celebration today and we’ve already seen everyone else’s gifts. Yours is the only one left! Your wife is going to be snatched away soon too, so how will you redeem yourself if you don't reveal your gift!"

"Hahaha!"

His remarks elicited hearty laughter from everyone around him.

Lily's expression soured to the extreme and she was feeling slightly angry. She had told Darryl in advance to prepare a better gift, but he did precisely the opposite! Now, he was making an absolute fool of himself!

"Sit down right now. Stop standing!" Lily pulled Darryl's arm and reprimanded softly.

On the other side, Samantha also had rage written all over her face. She pointed to Darryl and shouted, "Hurry up and put your garbage gift at the door. Don't embarrass us here, you good-for-nothing loser."

"Oh," Darryl murmured. He held the box and walked to the door, where many gifts were placed.

He was just about to put the box in the pile of gifts when William ran over and grabbed the box by surprise!

"Haha, don't be so petty! What gift did you get for Granny? Show us!" William said excitedly and opened the box!

In a flash, the whole villa fell silent!

Everyone stared at Darryl's gift and gulped!

It was an antique hand fan with black ribs.

As the hand fan was unfolded, a landscape was painted in thick ink on the surface of the fan, depicting a snowy day. The brush technique was amazing, and it was likely painted by a great man of the time! It would be impossible to paint something like that without decades of knowledge and experience!

A poem was also written in a corner of the fan:

‘One flake, two flakes, snowflakes three and four; five six, seven eight, nine flakes, ten and more; gliding into plum-flowers, snowflakes were seen no more.’

There are more than a dozen seals on the fan, but the most striking aspect was the poem’s royal sign-off: Hongli!

Hongli?! Aisin Gioro Hongli?! The renowned Qianlong Emperor?!

"Hahaha!"

At that juncture, the old lady stood up. "Dear guests! You’ve all brought such amazing gifts today, and it's only right for me to show the same generosity. I’ve prepared good food and wine today!"

The old lady clapped her hands, signaling dozens of waiters to bring in many sumptuous dishes.

"Premium King Abalone, Buddha’s Temptation, Shark Fin Soup with Abalone and Birds’ Nest..."

Dish after dish elicited looks of wonder from the guests.

There were more than a dozen dishes on each table, each of which was a famous dish! It was estimated that the total price for the dishes per table would not be less than one hundred thousand!

Everyone was still in awe when an announcement was made!

"Old Madam, Miss Yvonne Young is here."

"Hurry up and welcome her!" The old lady said quickly.

The Young family had been in the antique business for generations. They had a good relationship with the Lyndon family, and Yvonne was invited to the celebration banquet that the old lady had organized for Lily.

Lily smiled. Previously, Yvonne had asked who gifted her The Worship of Crystal and even offered to buy it at double the original price. At the time, however, Lily had no idea that Ashton was the one who gifted it to her.

Perfect! She could ask Ashton about it and request his help to get a pair for Yvonne.

All the men began ogling at Yvonne when she appeared.

Her beauty was exceptional! She wore a pair of tight jeans and a white shirt that accentuated her sexy figure.

"Please accept my apologies, there was a traffic jam on the road." Yvonne flashed an apologetic smile as she walked in.

To everyone’s surprise, she halted her footsteps before she could finish speaking!

"This... This is..."

Yvonne looked down at the ground. It was the tattered fan that had been thrown out!

The fan was still in the shoddy box at the time. As someone whose family dealt in antiques for generations, Yvonne noticed that the box...was rather extraordinary...

"President Young, there’s no need to pick up the trash. Someone will sweep it away," The old lady said with a smile.