"Oh, right, sis, I just remembered something. What kind of gift should I give a girl?"
After handing the Tibetan medicine to his brother-in-law, Zhuang Rui asked Zhuang Min a question. Since everyone in the family was family, Zhuang Rui wasn't embarrassed and directly asked the question that had been bothering him all day.
"Hey, Xiao Rui, which girl have you taken a fancy to? Do I know her? Does she like you?"
Instead of answering Zhuang Rui's question, Zhuang Min asked a series of questions.
Unable to withstand his older sister's interrogation, Zhuang Rui retorted, "Fine, fine, forget I asked. I just wanted to know what gift to give you. You have more questions than I do."
"How novel! If I didn't know whether the girl liked you or not, how would I know what to give her?"
Zhuang Min answered confidently.
"I'd say I have a crush on her. The girl comes from a good family, and she's pretty..."
Zhuang Rui answered hesitantly.
"Hey bro, is that the tall girl who came to our house last time? Tsk tsk. I didn't realize you'd finally figured things out. Not bad. I'll tell Mom the good news when she gets back."
Zhuang Rui's nickname "wooden blockhead" wasn't just for Liu Chuan. He was reserved and introverted from a young age, and only became less dull as he grew up.
"If it's the same girl who came last time, don't give her anything expensive. What she values is the sentiment behind the gift. Think about what she likes to exchange and just cater to her tastes. Why are you looking so worried?"
When Zhuang Min saw that her younger brother's expression had changed after she teased him, she quickly offered her idea. However, Zhuang Rui was even more conflicted after hearing it.
Qin Xuanbing does enjoy horseback riding, but a good horse can cost more than a purebred Tibetan Mastiff. Even if you have the money, there's nowhere to buy one. Can I afford to give it to her as a gift? She's a jewelry designer, so she probably likes things like diamonds, but those things have a special meaning. I can afford to give them as gifts, but if the other person doesn't accept them, I'll just be making things awkward for myself.
"Let's not talk about this anymore, sis. I have one more week of vacation before I have to go back to work in Zhonghai. You two shouldn't eat separately anymore, eat with Mom. I'll give you some money later, so buy some nutritious food. Mom is usually frugal, so don't be stingy with your money."
Zhuang Rui put the matter of Qin Xuanbing on hold. Anyway, there's always a way out. He wouldn't let a gift cause him so much trouble. He could just spend three yuan to buy a bottle of soda and give the pull tab to Qin Xuanbing as a ring. That kind of scene is often seen on TV, isn't it?
"No, Xiao Rui, don't worry about Mom. My older sister has enough money for food and will definitely take good care of her. If you need money while you're out, just take it with you."
Zhuang Min waved her hands repeatedly. She didn't know that Zhuang Rui had sold a manuscript for several million, but even if she did, she wouldn't want her brother's money.
Zhuang Rui didn't answer. He turned around and went back to his room. After he withdrew the 300,000 yuan, he never deposited it back into the bank. He took out 100,000 yuan and threw it to Zhuang Min.
"Take it. Don't live so frugally from now on. You're a rich man now, brother. See? Someone offered me 40 million RMB for this white lion, but I didn't sell it."
Zhuang Rui's words left his sister and brother-in-law speechless with surprise. They knew that Zhuang Rui never lied, and when they looked at the little guy who was entangled with their daughter, their gazes changed.
Since Zhuang Rui returned from Zhonghai, things have indeed changed a lot. However, Zhuang Min and her husband never expected that a multi-millionaire would appear right next door. Well, it should be said that his total assets are in the tens of millions. However, the shock was still quite great. Even after returning to their house next door, the two of them were still a little dizzy.
After seeing his sister's family off, Zhuang Rui lay back on his bed. A lot had happened recently, and things had gotten a bit chaotic. He wanted to calmly reflect on things and also figure out what his future would be like.
The little white lion, however, was full of energy, jumping around. When it saw that Zhuang Rui ignored it, it crawled under the bed and started fiddling with something, making a "rumbling" sound like stones rolling, which annoyed Zhuang Rui.
Chapter 103 Jade in Stone (Part 2)
"Xiao Rui, what are you doing upstairs? You little brat, are you trying to rebel?"
The sound of Aunt Wang calling from downstairs came from outside the window. They had lived in the same building for more than ten years. As the saying goes, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. They had also watched Zhuang Rui grow up, so they didn't hold back when they spoke.
"White Lion, come out, stop playing around."
Zhuang Rui called out to the area under the bed. Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's voice, the little white lion excitedly crawled out from under the bed, but its two front paws were still pushing a round stone. The stone collided with the floor, making a "rumble, rumble" sound.
Zhuang Rui guessed that the sound Wang Dama heard was the sound of the stone rolling. As friends who live in apartment buildings know, what might be a very small sound upstairs becomes very loud downstairs.
"Stop playing with this, I'll give you a bath later."
Zhuang Rui snatched the stone, opened the window, and called downstairs, "Aunt Wang, I'm sorry, the little guy is naughty. I'll discipline him later. I haven't had your dumplings in a long time. I'll come over to your house for a free meal sometime, haha."
When Aunt Wang learned that Zhuang Min's family had moved in, she thought it was just the little girl being naughty, and quickly said, "No...no, Xiao Rui, it's okay for a child to be naughty. I'll make dumplings tomorrow, come down and eat."
Zhuang Rui didn't explain, just agreed and closed the window. He held the dark stone in his hand, which was covered in dust. He put the stone on the ground and prepared to wash his hands.
As soon as he turned around, the little white lion started playing again. Zhuang Rui quickly snatched the stones away and placed them on the table. He vaguely remembered that these broken stones were found in a box left by his grandfather. There seemed to be four or five of them, which he had thrown under the bed. To prevent the little guy from causing trouble again, Zhuang Rui bent down, intending to find the stones. He would throw them away together tomorrow.
It was pitch black under the bed, but it immediately became bright after Zhuang Rui released his spiritual energy.
"Huh? What is this thing? Damn, it hurts so much."
After using his spiritual energy, Zhuang Rui suddenly discovered two places under the bed emitting a faint green light. At first glance, they looked like the eyes of a wolf, which startled Zhuang Rui. In his panic, he looked up but bumped into the bed board. Zhuang Rui grimaced in pain and crawled out from under the bed. The little white lion immediately pounced on him and affectionately licked Zhuang Rui's face with its tongue.
It shouldn't be the little thing's doing. Zhuang Rui remembered clearly that the two green lights were nearly a meter apart, so it couldn't be the little white lion's eyes. Rubbing his head, which was sore from the bump, Zhuang Rui pushed the little white lion away and went to the outer room to find a flashlight.
"That's strange. There's nothing there except these few broken stones."
Zhuang Rui shone a flashlight under the bed for a long time and found that apart from the few stones he had thrown in a few days ago, there was nothing else under the bed.
"Xiao Rui, what are you doing with your butt sticking out like that? Is there some kind of treasure under the bed? Come out quickly, kid, look how dirty you are."
Just as Zhuang Rui was about to take out a few stones, his mother returned. Hearing the noise in his room, she pushed open the door and came in, just in time to see Zhuang Rui trying to crawl under the bed again.
"Mom, you're back. I'm fine. There are a few stones under the bed, and this little guy keeps pushing them around. Aunt Wang downstairs is complaining."
Zhuang Rui replied to his mother, then used his flashlight to take out the remaining four stones from under the bed and placed them on the table.
"You silly child, why do you throw stones under the bed for no reason? Throw them all away tomorrow, and take off your clothes and put them in the washing machine later."
Zhuang Rui didn't dare to reply. Although his mother wasn't as nagging as Liu's mother, she was still quite skilled at disciplining people, as expected. Seeing that Zhuang Rui didn't argue back, Zhuang's mother left.
Seeing his mother leave, Zhuang Rui lay back down on the ground and released his spiritual energy to look under the bed again. This time, he didn't see the two green lights again. He stood up and looked at the five fist-sized stones placed side by side on the table. Zhuang Rui was a little suspicious. Could it be that the light was emitted by these stones?
Whether it is true or not, we'll know once we see it. Zhuang Rui was too lazy to think about it anymore and looked up at the stones.
"No, no, wait, what's this?"
After examining two stones, both of which were of ordinary stone structure, Zhuang Rui noticed a touch of green that, through the transmission of spiritual energy, clearly entered his eyes when he saw the third stone.
Zhuang Rui immediately perked up, ignoring the dust covering the stone, and cupped it in his hands before him, without using his spiritual energy. Instead, he carefully examined its appearance.
The stone was rather heavy, probably weighing two or three pounds despite its small size. The surface was dark and cold to the touch, and it was very uneven with many tiny patterns and black moss. At first glance, it looked like it had been crawled over by earthworms, making it look quite ugly and rugged.
"Could there be jade in here? But jade is always white."
Zhuang Rui's understanding of jade was limited to mutton-fat white jade. He was unaware that there was another gemstone in the world called jadeite, whose value was no less than that of fine jade.
Slowly, he infused spiritual energy into the stone. About three or four centimeters from the surface, the stone looked the same as before. But when Zhuang Rui looked deeper, a captivating green color suddenly came into view.
Zhuang Rui had never seen such a pure color before. In the middle of the stone, a part about the size of an egg yolk shimmered with a green light, which was evenly distributed. Within this light, Zhuang Rui sensed the presence of a spiritual energy, but it was different from the spiritual energy in antiques. The spiritual energy Zhuang Rui sensed in antiques was thick and solid, while the spiritual energy he sensed now was light and ethereal, and its color was exactly the green he had seen.
After trying to absorb it, Zhuang Rui discovered that although this spiritual energy was different from that in the antique, it could not be integrated with the spiritual energy he saw. At this point, Zhuang Rui gave up hope, realizing that he would no longer be able to absorb spiritual energy from objects.
Could this thing be jadeite? Zhuang Rui belatedly realized this only after he looked away. It's understandable that Zhuang Rui, although he worked in a pawnshop, was doing financial work and rarely came into contact with jewelry and luxury goods. He had heard of jadeite and even seen it with his own eyes, but he didn't know that jadeite was actually produced from this seemingly inconspicuous stone.
It's not just Zhuang Rui. Most people in this world can't distinguish between jadeite and jade. Even you, dear readers, probably only have a vague concept in your minds, let alone be able to differentiate between rough stones, ice jade, and emeralds. Even if you were given a rough stone from an old mine full of pine flower and python patterns, you would probably throw it away as a piece of trash.
Zhuang Rui knew that good jadeite was very valuable, but what he remembered most were jadeite pendants sold at street stalls or stores, costing ten or twenty yuan each. He was a little unsure about the jadeite in this stone, since he had never examined jadeite with his own eyes before and didn't know how much spiritual energy it contained. However, the captivating green color he had just seen made him subconsciously feel that the jadeite in his stone must be something valuable.
Moreover, this rock was the very one that the little white lion had been rolling around on earlier. Zhuang Rui looked at the little guy crawling beside him with a strange expression. "Could this little guy also see what's inside?"
Shaking his head, Zhuang Rui dismissed his ridiculous idea and picked up two more stones. After examining them, he discovered that one of the stones also contained a hint of green, which was the presence of jade. However, compared to the egg-shaped jade from before, it was quite different, only the size of a little fingernail, and the color was not pure.
"How did Grandpa get these things?"
Zhuang Rui was somewhat puzzled. It wasn't that he lacked knowledge; back in 2003, the internet wasn't particularly developed. Even Zhuang Rui, a seasoned internet user, didn't know that the jadeite originated from places like Myanmar, where his grandfather had conducted geological surveys.
"Mom, do you know where those stones Grandpa left behind came from?"
Completely baffled, Zhuang Rui left his room and asked his mother, who was watching television.
“Oh, I had forgotten. I think your dad mentioned that those stones were brought back from Myanmar by your grandfather. He worked in geology his whole life, so they were probably for research purposes. By the way, since they were left by your grandfather, don’t throw them away. Put them back in the box and don’t let this little guy roll around.”
The little white lion clearly knew who was the boss in this family. After following Zhuang Rui out of the room, it affectionately rubbed its big head against Zhuang's mother, looking quite innocent and cute.
"How do we get this thing out?"
After getting the answer, Zhuang Rui returned to his room and started having headaches again. The whole thing was covered by stone, and it wouldn't be easy to just take out the middle piece intact.
"Mom, I'm going to buy a pack of cigarettes. I'll be right back."
Zhuang Rui thought for a moment, ran to the room where the miscellaneous items were stored, found a hammer, put it inside his coat, held the stone with the least green color in his hand, opened the door and went out.
"This kid, his smoking habit is getting worse and worse. Xiao Rui, smoke less."
The voice of Zhuang's mother came from behind.
He waved his hand behind him and ran downstairs in a few quick steps. The weather in March was still a bit cold. It was only a little past nine o'clock, and there were hardly any people outside the community. Zhuang Rui went to the stone table and chairs where the old men and women usually played mahjong.
After looking around, Zhuang Rui stuffed the stone in his hand into the gap between two stone slabs, then raised the hammer in his hand and smashed it down hard.
Chapter 104 Picture within Picture (Part 1)
"Clang... clang clang... clang," the crisp sound of the hammer striking the stone carried far into the night.
But when Zhuang Rui picked up the stone again, he was disappointed to find that the few blows had only left a few insignificant dents on the surface of the stone, and had not even knocked off a piece of stone.
If someone with even a slight understanding of jade gambling saw this scene, they would definitely laugh their heads off. They've never seen anyone try to smash jade out of a rock with a hammer. It wasn't until several months later that Zhuang Rui realized how foolish and ridiculous his actions had been.
The little white lion, who had followed Zhuang Rui out of the house, looked at its owner with some confusion. It clearly couldn't understand why Zhuang Rui would take a hammer and hit its toy.
Picking up the stone from the ground, Zhuang Rui was somewhat troubled. This thing lived up to the old saying, like a stone from a latrine—stinky and hard. For the time being, Zhuang Rui was at a loss. Clearly, the idea of cracking it open with a hammer was impossible. At this moment, Zhuang Rui was unaware that there were over a dozen different types of stone-cutting machines in the world specifically designed for gambling on rough stones.
"Never mind, I'll just find a grinding wheel to polish it in a few days."
After calling out to White Lion, Zhuang Rui went to the supermarket at the entrance of the community, bought a few packs of cigarettes, and went home. He had a lot to do tomorrow. In the morning, he was going to visit the mounting master with Song Jun, and in the afternoon, he was going to visit the site of the dog kennel with Liu Chuan. He probably wouldn't be able to take care of these stones for the time being.
Although jade was found among the stones, Zhuang Rui didn't consider them anything special. Back in 2003, everyone understood the value of diamonds, but only a select few knew the true value of top-quality jade. ...
"Hmm, stop fooling around, I'm getting up now."
Zhuang Rui, fast asleep, suddenly felt something wet on his face. Opening his eyes, he saw the little white lion at the head of the bed, licking itself with its tongue and dragging the blanket to the floor with its little paws. Looking out the window, he saw that it was already bright outside. Zhuang Rui checked his phone on the bedside table; it was almost 7 o'clock. He quickly got up.
Since getting the white lion, Zhuang Rui's life has become regular again. Every morning, he has to take the little guy for a run because the little guy is very sensible and never poops or pees at home. He always holds it until morning and takes care of it outside. Then Zhuang Rui has to prepare breakfast for it, usually dog food made with corn porridge and a few dog calcium tablets. Only after taking care of this little darling does Zhuang Rui have time to wash up and eat breakfast.
"Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service. Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service."
As Zhuang Rui was preparing breakfast for the little white lion and sitting at the table drinking the porridge his mother had cooked, his phone rang. The little white lion's ears perked up immediately, and it ran into Zhuang Rui's room and grabbed the phone.
Zhuang Rui approvingly rubbed the little guy's fluffy head and took the phone from the white lion's mouth. He saw it was Song Jun calling.
"Hey, Brother Song, didn't we agree on nine o'clock?"
"Go early, the old gentleman called and said he has another guest at 10 o'clock, so he wants us to go early. I'm on my way now. You live on Zhongshu Street, right? Wait for me at the intersection, I'll be there soon."
Song Jun's voice came through the phone. Zhuang Rui quickly swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth, returned to his room, took the leather case containing the "Li Duanduan Picture" in his hand, told his mother, and hurriedly went downstairs with the little white lion.
"Let's go, get in the car."