Read Chapter 24: — A DIFFERENT KIND OF WEALTH

Cimo Hall became busier after receiving protected status.

Students came to draw its carvings. Craftspeople documented old joinery. Researchers argued over restoration methods. Tourists occasionally asked why the man sweeping leaves in the courtyard was also the artist whose works hung in Qinghe Gallery.

Mufeng usually told them they had mistaken him for someone important.

He still designed furniture, but only selectively. The Yifeng Collection continued under Huashi with Gu Cheng overseeing new iterations. Mufeng served as an adviser when the question interested him and ignored meetings when it did not.

Hua accepted this arrangement with surprising patience.

Jiazhen's health remained uncertain. Medicine gave the family periods of hope rather than a clean cure. Mufeng learned not to demand happy endings from bodies.

Li Mingtao recovered enough from the accident to complain about retirement.

Wang Jianglan finally married him.

At their small wedding, Mingtao whispered to Mufeng, "You see? Your old father still has market value."

"Don't let Aunt Wang hear that sentence."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to survive your honeymoon."

The old man laughed until he coughed.

Mufeng bought them a gold bracelet and pretended it had been Mingtao's idea.

For all his talk of wealth, Mingtao had never taught his son to measure life by property. That lesson had come from poverty more effectively than any moral lecture.

Mufeng had now known people who tried to kill for a company, betray colleagues for kickbacks, forge paintings for profit, and sacrifice friendships to ambition.

He also knew Qiu Bin, who gave away a priceless heritage house.

Dacheng, who wanted investment only so he could build something better.

Duoduo, who judged success by whether people returned to his restaurant.

Daidi, who turned a grandfather's humble candy into a proud profession.

Yonghe, who risked herself to protect paintings she did not own.

Mufeng decided wealth was simply power with a moral choice attached.

What mattered was what a person refused to buy with it.