InvincibleConnoisseur

Chapter 22 Rote Memorization

The second day when Wang Ke came to Changji was very rewarding. Even if he wasn't lucky enough to find any undervalued treasures, he still felt that it was a worthwhile day. In his eyes, Zhao Menfeng was definitely a talented and knowledgeable expert. He felt that he had benefited a lot from the content that he had explained to him throughout the afternoon.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Zhao Menfeng, who thought it was about time to wrap it up, looked at Wang Ke who was attentively listening to the lecture and smiled, "Well, as the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Let's call it a day! But I'm going to assign you a task."

Wang Ke had been fascinated by the lecture. When he heard Zhao Menfeng call it a day, he felt a little reluctant. But he could only agree.

"Mr. Zhao, what task?" Wang Ke asked curiously.

Zhao Menfeng said, "After you go back this time, on the one hand, you must carefully read the book I gave you, and on the other hand, you must also familiarize yourself with the Twenty-Four Official Histories and Draft History of Qing. Of course, if you want to identify magic weapons, you must have the energy for antique authentication at least. So you have to read books about the identification of various antiques. Do you remember what I said? The identification of antiques is the first step. Without this first step of identification, everything is nonsense."

Wang Ke rose from his chair respectfully, nodded and said, "Mr. Zhao, don't worry. I will follow your instructions and read all kinds of books seriously and strive to learn more."

Zhao Menfeng nodded, and after rising from his chair, he said, "Wait for me here for a few minutes, and I will go upstairs to get something."

Wang Ke looked at Zhao Menfeng's back, and his eyes slowly lit up.

Did Mr. Zhao have any good things for him? Was it a book about magic weapons? Or was it about other treasures?

A few minutes later, Mr. Zhao returned from the second floor. At this moment, he stood in front of Wang Ke with a stack of printed paper in his hand, and said with a smile, "Wang Ke, here are ten sheets of printed paper. There are ten thousand words. If you can memorize them within three days, you can come to learn from me again in three days. If you can't memorize them within three days, you don't need to learn from me or come back. Remember?"

Ten thousand words?

Wang Ke felt a little amused. While reaching out to take ten sheets of printed paper, he smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, no problem. Your words are the imperial edict to me. It's only ten thousand words, and let alone three days, I can do it in one day..."

He stopped abruptly, and the smile on his face froze.

At this moment, his gaze had fallen on the content of the top sheet of printed paper, and it shocked him.

After quickly browsing through all the contents on the ten sheets of printed paper, Wang Ke looked at Zhao Menfeng in bewilderment. Of the ten thousand words on these printed papers, not a single sentence was a complete one, and there was no punctuation or paragraph. The ten sheets of manuscripts were completely inconsistent as if someone had typed at random on the computer keyboard.

"Mr. Zhao, you, you are not mistaken? What is this?" Wang Ke asked hesitantly.

Zhao Menfeng resolutely said, "Yes, that's it. Three days."

After saying this, he waved his hand and said, "Okay, I'm tired. If you have no other questions, go back now!"

Wang Ke could see Zhao Menfeng's resolution and he had no choice but to agree.

Leaving the antiques trading market, Wang Ke found a bank and wired fifty thousand yuan to the landlord, which made him feel much relieved.

In a remote corner outside the bank, Wang Ke took out his mobile phone and dialed the mobile phone number of the middle-aged landlord.

"Hello, who is it?" There came the middle-aged landlord's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Hey, this is Wang Ke." Wang Ke smiled.

The landlord laughed, "Wang Ke! How is it? Have you arrived in Changji? Stay safe and take care of yourself. If you have any difficulties, call me."

Before Wang Ke said the purpose of this call, he was touched by the words of the landlord.

"Oh, I'm fine here. I got a job, and I learned knowledge from a senior. By the way, I'm calling you because I have something to tell you."

"Good for you. I knew that you're a promising young man, and I was right. It's only your second day away and you've found a job. Just go ahead!" The landlord laughed heartily.

Wang Ke said, "Do you still remember the incense burner I bought from you a few days ago? That incense burner is actually a magic weapon. I didn't know it at the beginning, but it turned out to be a magic weapon after I consulted an identification expert. I sold the incense burner for a total of a hundred thousand yuan. I just transferred fifty thousand yuan to your bank account. I couldn't give you all the money. Then I decided to split it equally!"

The landlord at the end of the phone was stunned. He had never dreamed that the shabbyincense burner that had been placed on the square table in his house for many years was actually a magic weapon.

A magic weapon!

It was a legendary object that he had only heard of before. He had never seen one before.

After being in a daze for a while, he came back to his sense and said categorically, "Wang Ke, I have already sold you that incense burner. It doesn't matter if it's a magic weapon or not. Even if it was a divine weapon, it belongs to you, and it has nothing to do with me now. So I can't accept the money. Give me your bank account. I have to wire the money back to you."

Wang Ke had long expected that the landlord would say so. He had thought about the countermeasures. He laughed and said calmly, "You should know what I'm like. If I took advantage of you like this, I'm afraid that my conscience would haunt me for the rest of my life. After all, the magic weapon incense burner belonged to your family and I'm already content I could make fifty thousand yuan from it. If you really don't accept that fifty thousand yuan, you're deliberately saddling me with a conscience for the rest of my life! So, anyway, you have to take the money even if you don't want it. I know that you're too good a man to make a notorious man of me."

The landlord was stunned. He hadn't expected Wang Ke to say so.

He knew Wang Ke well. He knew that Wang Ke was an honest young man, but wasn't he too earnest?

"Well, I..."

Wang Ke smiled and said, "Sir, I've said everything I need to say. If you really don't want the money, just throw it into the river. I gave you the money and how you deal with it has nothing to do with me. If there is nothing else, I will hang up. I have something to do later."

Without giving the landlord a chance to speak, Wang Ke hung up the phone.

After he came to Changji, his previous mobile phone number could no longer be used. He would waste a lot of money on long-distance calls. After finding a place to buy a new SIM card, Wang Ke called his parents to tell them that he had come to Changji and found a job, so they wouldn't have to worry about him.

Of course, Wang Ke also made an excuse for the fifty thousand yuan that he had wired to them a few days ago so that his parents could use the money with peace of mind.

Filial piety was the most important of all virtues, and it was not easy for his parents to have brought him up. Now that he had grown up, it was time for him to be filial to his parents.

On his way back to Li Ruoxi's villa, Wang Ke stopped by to buy daily necessities in a supermarket and hurried back.

Back at the villa, Mrs. Song was cooking dinner. Wang Ke greeted her quickly and then got into his room.

He couldn't afford to waste another moment. He must memorize the contents of the ten sheets of printed paper that Mr. Zhao had given him as quickly as possible. He had finally found a teacher with rich knowledge and great ability, so he didn't want Mr. Zhao to refuse to impart knowledge to him because of his incompetence.

The loud recitation sound echoed in Wang Ke's room.

Faced with countless words that were too irrelevant to make up a meaningful sentence, Wang Ke had a headache. But there was no way. This was his task and Mr. Zhao's assessment of him. This was nothing like a test to determine the authenticity of woodcarving as a magic weapon where he could cheat by relying on his extraordinary vision. Now, he must do it on his own and memorize the content of ten thousand words by rote memorization.

At dinner time, Mrs. Song came to call Wang Ke. But in order to hurry up and memorize the text, Wang Ke told Mrs. Song that he was not hungry now, and he would go out and get something to eat when he felt hungry later.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Li Ruoxi in a casual outfit came down from the second floor, stretching herself. She had already handled the company's affairs through online video. She had even arranged everything in the next few days properly. Unless something important or some emergent happened, she wouldn't need to continue working at all.

"It's weird. What's the matter with him today? I heard Mrs. Song say that he had been locking himself in the room to recite things after he came back. Is he learning English?" Li Ruoxi quietly came to Wang Ke's closed door with a puzzled expression and pressed her ear lightly against the door.

After half a minute, a strange expression appeared on her beautiful face.

What was wrong with the recitation? It was nonsense.

"Is he crazy?"

Li Ruoxi stayed for a while before leaving with a wry smile.

She didn't bother Wang Ke, because she knew that since Wang Ke was reciting something, it would be very useful to him as long as he was not stupid.

Time passed quickly.

At midnight, Wang Ke had managed to memorize the first two thousand words with his strong memory.

He stretched himself comfortably with a trace of confidence on his face.

Three days would be enough time for him to memorize ten thousand words.

That night, he did not eat dinner. He had consumed too much energy today. So after reciting the first two thousand words, he washed up and went to bed.

Early the next morning, when Wang Ke woke up, he felt that something weird had happened and he was completely devoid of confidence.

He had forgotten more than half of the first two thousand words he had memorized by rote last night after a good night's sleep.

"What kind of stupid assessment is it? Memorizing such meaningless things by rote, my head hurts!" Wang Ke rubbed his temples with a sad face. He helplessly grabbed the paper again and continued to memorize them by rote, and even skipped the spirit energy cultivation he had been doing for years.