Although Madam Li’s tone was gentle, Tang Ruge could not help but start to feel nervous under her cold gaze. “Yes… Yes.”

Madam Li smiled. “Back then, after Mrs. Gu bought this calligraphy piece, she went straight to the Li family’s residence to give it to me. However, I didn’t accept it. Do you know why Mrs. Gu gave it to me?”

Gu Zheng looked at the indifferent Qiao Xi beside him. She must have arranged for the Li family to come at this time. She knew that Lu Yan would definitely make things difficult for them at the birthday banquet, so she made preparations in advance.

She really loved Gu Zheng. She knew that he was asleep, so she did her best to protect his reputation.

At this moment, everyone was puzzled. Why would Qiao Xi give this calligraphy piece to Madam Li? What did this have to do with Madam Li?

“The calligrapher of Thousand Words Life is Mr. Wang Qingming, my grandfather!” Madam Li’s voice suddenly rose. “Miss Qiao and Xing’er are good friends. After buying this calligraphy piece, she decided to return it to the Wang family. However, Miss Qiao didn’t know that this calligraphy piece was donated by Grandpa back then. Who gets their hands on it is naturally all up to fate. Our Wang family can’t accept it back.

“Back then, when Grandpa wrote these 1,000 words, I was standing beside him. I was young and naughty at that time, so I accidentally left a small ink spot on the paper. Grandpa said that even though it’s incomplete, it’s still a kind of beauty. Coincidentally, there’s an ink spot on Mrs. Gu’s calligraphy piece. Everyone in the Wang family has seen this calligraphy piece and is sure that Mrs. Gu’s calligraphy piece is the real deal! How did it become a fake after being appraised by Mr. Wu?”

Mr. Wu’s body trembled. It was true that he was an expert in calligraphy and paintings, but he had never seen Wang Qingming’s real work. He was just making things up. Now that the Wang family had come forward to say that Qiao Xi’s piece was real, how could he retort?

Everyone’s expression changed drastically. What Madam Li meant was that either Miss Tang’s calligraphy piece was fake to begin with, or the calligraphy piece in her hands was stolen from Mrs. Gu! In any case, Tang Ruge would lose all her dignity.

Tang Ruge clenched her fists so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palms. What should she do? If news of this got out, the good reputation she had built for herself would be ruined in an instant.

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Madam Li looked at Mr. Wu and said indifferently, “I heard that you’re a famous calligraphy expert, but you can’t even tell if something is real or fake. It seems that you still need to improve your ability to differentiate between real and fake. Otherwise, wouldn’t you be misleading others?”

“I… I was wrong.” Mr. Wu’s beard trembled. At this moment, he regretted his actions. He should not have agreed to help Tang Ruge for a sum of money. He was afraid that he would not be able to survive in the calligraphy industry anymore.

At this moment, Old Madam Gu suddenly said, “Lu Yan.”

Lu Yan’s eyes were filled with viciousness. When he heard the old madam call out to him, he immediately squeezed out a smile and said respectfully, “Grandma.”

Old Madam Gu said coldly, “You’re a filial child. In order to make me happy, you even specially invited Miss Tang over. Although I’m old, I can see some things very clearly. I can tell who’s sincere and who’s not.”

These words were a slap to Lu Yan’s face in public. Everyone suddenly reacted. How could there be such a coincidence in the world? Qiao Xi wanted to give the old madam Thousand Words Life, and Tang Ruge wanted to give it to her as well. Tang Ruge must have known about the news in advance and bought a fake. She then bribed Mr. Wu to deliberately embarrass Qiao Xi at the banquet.

Everyone knew very well that Lu Yan and Gu Zheng were not on good terms. He wanted to use the birthday banquet to ruin Gu Zheng’s reputation and use this opportunity to obtain the old madam’s favor.

At this moment, everyone from the Lu family was livid. Huang Lilan, who was at the side, also gritted her teeth and looked at Gu Zheng with resentment. If she had known that Gu Zheng would be so difficult to deal with, she would have steeled her heart and killed this little bastard back then!

The birthday banquet officially began, and no one mentioned the fake. However, everyone hurriedly distanced themselves from Tang Ruge and Lu Yan, afraid that they would be dragged down by the two.

Tang Ruge’s face darkened, and her eyes were filled with unwillingness. She had seen Gu Zheng when she was young. At that time, Gu Zheng was just an abandoned child who was locked in Maple Garden. Who knew that he would become the head of the Gu family and a famous rich businessman?

If she had taken the initiative to approach Gu Zheng back then, perhaps the woman standing beside him now would be her!

Tang Ruge suppressed the anger in her heart. She had to explain things to Gu Zheng now. Otherwise, Gu Zheng would misunderstand and think that she was Lu Yan’s woman.