Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 258 - 223: People with Unfathomable Motives!_2

Chapter 258: Chapter 223: People with Unfathomable Motives!_2

After all, he had witnessed with his own eyes the restoration of the bamboo slips that were initially almost decayed. Although most of the process was done by his disciple Blake Turner, it was Sean who taught him and felt gratified.

But when Sean’s facial expression suddenly changed, Dominic Ashford was somewhat confused and couldn’t help but ask:

"Mr. Knight, aren’t you satisfied with the results of this restoration?"

Seeing the dissatisfaction on Dominic’s face, Sean wondered whether this old professor was pretending to be confused or really didn’t know what had happened.

He then looked at Blake Turner.

Blake was putting away the tools and materials, bending over to not meet Sean’s sight.

Sean activated the Sky Eye again and scanned the box in Blake’s hand, then he understood what had happened!

So it was about this!

"It’s not a matter of satisfaction."

Sean walked over, took eleven of the thirty-four bamboo slips in the bag, and handed them to the servant waiting at the entrance:

"Take this to Kathy Lewis."

The servant left.

Watching Sean’s movements, Dominic was puzzled.

"Professor Nelson, you’d better ask your assistant what he has been up to. I trusted your character because Professor Reynolds recommended you, and because you are a domestic expert in this field. I haven’t supervised you in the past few days, but what you have done has made me very unhappy!"

"What’s going on?" Dominic sensed that Sean was angry and asked Blake when he mentioned him:

"Blake, what have you done?"

Blake Turner raised his head, and with a seemingly bewildered face, said:

"Teacher, I didn’t do anything wrong. All these days I have been assisting you in doing restoration work and haven’t done anything else."

Sean could tell that Blake had placed a subtle emphasis on the word "assisting."

If the listener didn’t know better, they would have been easily misled into thinking that Dominic was the mastermind behind this!

However, with Sky Eye activated, Sean could easily determine that this matter was likely done by Blake behind Dominic’s back!

He took one of the bamboo slips he had left behind and showed it to Dominic:

"Professor Nelson, look at the material of this bamboo slip."

Although Dominic was nearly seventy years old, he was an expert in this field, and Sean’s comment immediately led him to suspect what had happened. He put on his glasses and carefully examined the bamboo slip.

A hint of panic appeared on Blake’s face, and his hands trembled slightly while taking a box of materials out of the box. Sean grabbed his wrist just as he was about to make a move:

"You’d better not move, or you won’t be able to afford the consequences!"

"Let go of me! What are you doing? Teacher..." Blake screamed excitedly!

Dominic was interrupted from his examination. He looked up and saw Sean taking the box from Blake. With an unhappy face, he asked:

"Mr. Knight, what are you doing...?"

"Mr. Ashford, don’t worry, I’m not interested in your supplies. But I think you should be more interested in what’s really being held in this box!"

"Give that back to me!" Blake wanted to move forward and snatch it, but Sean pushed him away and opened the box in front of Dominic.

Inside the box was a half-filled liquid substance with a thick semi-transparent material soaked within.

An outsider wouldn’t be able to identify it, but Dominic only needed one glance to recognize it, and his face changed!

He put down the bag Sean handed him earlier, took the box with trembling hands - how could he not know what this was?

These were untreated bamboo slips, and they had the characteristics of genuine bamboo slips!

With so many slips in the box, then what were the things outside?

Did it even need to be said?

Dominic asked Blake with a trembling voice:

"Why, Blake? Why did you take Mr. Knight’s things? If we want to do research, we can apply to Mr. Knight. I think he wouldn’t refuse, as Professor Reynolds has said... Why did you use such a method?"

Blake Turner lowered his head and said nothing.

Sean sneered:

"Professor Nelson, you can’t really believe that your disciple stole these bamboo slips for research purposes, can you?"

Languard seemed a bit lost, his brows suddenly aging by several years.

He put the box down, trying to make his tone calm:

"Mr. Knight, I will personally restore these bamboo slips one by one, ensuring that there are no problems. Could you... could you let Blake go? He was just confused for a moment... he still has a great future ahead of him..."

Sean Knight looked at the elderly man’s pleading eyes, his heart softening. He thought for a moment and then nodded and said:

"Fine, but he can’t stay here. I can’t tolerate a cultural relic thief living in my villa."

Languard knew that this was Sean’s bottom line, and that Sean was being very generous.

"Thank you, Mr. Knight."

He turned to Blake Turner and said:

"Blake, you...sigh, never mind. Pack up and move out. I hope you can reflect on what you’ve done. This kind of thing can’t be done... it’s my fault too; I didn’t teach you right..."

Sean couldn’t help but retort:

"Professor Nelson, you’re not his father. He’s an adult, and if he’s bad, you can’t change him."

Blake Turner didn’t say a word, but Sean was a little uneasy, so he called Elijah Hastings to watch Blake.

He was afraid Blake would do something bad.

After Blake left, Languard became silent.

He began working overtime to repair the bamboo slips.

Fortunately, the bamboo slips were almost completely restored, and only took two days to complete.

"Mr. Knight, these bamboo slips need to be preserved under special conditions. I’ve written down the preservation requirements on this piece of paper. These are national treasure-level items, so I hope you can preserve them well."

Languard handed the bamboo slips and preservation requirements to Sean Knight.

Although Sean was a bit reluctant, he still said to Languard:

"Mr. Languard, there’s something I want to tell you. Blake’s theft of the bamboo slips wasn’t for research purposes, but for sale."

"For sale? That’s impossible!" Languard didn’t believe it at first, "He’s got a salary and a decent bonus. Plus, on this trip, he’s getting a cut too—plenty of money. Why would he want to sell?"

Sean Knight sighed.

Many experts and professors of the older generation had admirable integrity.

However, times have changed.

Some so-called "experts" would sell core technology for just a few thousand dollars! That was something worth billions, theoretically more advanced than what the Americans had!

What a pity.

The integrity of some scholars of the older generation was truly beyond reproach.

But in today’s society and environment, a money-driven atmosphere easily led some people astray.

Blake was probably one of them.

Elijah followed him and saw him meeting a Japanese-American. Although Elijah was far away, he could see that Blake was acting very humbly in front of the man, being scolded mercilessly.

After Sean got a photo of the man, he asked Robert to look into his background and found out that he was a cultural relic trafficker from Japan who primarily smuggled cultural relics from China to launder and then sell at high prices to Chinese people!

After pocketing $10,000 from Sean for the information, Robert also provided a piece of news: The Japanese man had contacted Blake only after learning through some channels that Blake would accompany his teacher to restore the bamboo slips and offered to buy the slips for one thousand dollars each!

Blake didn’t have enough boxes prepared; otherwise, he could have swapped all thirty-four bamboo slips!

When Sean told Languard about it, Languard’s face turned red with anger!

He thought Sean was lying to him, but when he saw the photos Sean provided, Languard stopped talking.

"Mr. Languard, I trust you as a person," Sean suddenly changed the subject. "As a fellow Chinese, I’d like to use my limited influence to help spread the word about these bamboo slips. Do you have an online platform?"

"Yes," Languard was immediately drawn in, momentarily forgetting that his carefully cultivated student was a traitor. "I have WeChat and Weibo accounts, which Blake used to manage for me..."

"Do you know the account passwords?"

"Yes. I need my ID card to change them."

"Alright, change them, and then post pictures of the bamboo slips online. I believe people will come to study them."

"Great! Great!" Languard excitedly sat down in his chair, the sudden ups and downs overwhelming him.