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墨書 Inktalez
After spending a few days in Changsha, I ended up spending the New Year in the hospital. Fortunately, Hu Xiaoyi and Liang Xi were loyal friends and didn’t abandon me. With the company of the two of them and Second Uncle, I didn’t feel lonely. After being discharged, it was almost time to start school. Second Uncle said, “You guys shouldn’t go home; just head straight to school. It saves you from running back and forth and causing trouble. Especially you, Child; if you give your uncle any more trouble, watch out or I’ll break your legs!”
I laughed and replied, “If my legs are broken, then no one will accompany you to the bar to pick up girls.”
Second Uncle retorted, “Get lost!”
The year 2007 was a memorable one for me. So many events occurred that year that not only affected individuals but also families, countries, and even the entire world.
This was the year when the Financial Crisis began.
The Stock Market showed signs of decline, the Subprime Market was unstable, and the Real Estate Bubble was about to burst. The Financial Crisis that swept in from the European and American coasts gradually began to impact Asia. Second Uncle, stationed in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, was among the first to sense the danger. He returned to Thailand and shared some of his inner concerns with Grandpa. Grandpa decisively advised him to sell off most of his real estate and various bonds and stocks located outside the coastal areas of our homeland.
This was a very wise move. What impressed me even more was Grandpa's unwavering confidence in Mainland China. He didn’t allow Second Uncle to sort out any assets in Mainland China but let him ride the waves instead. Moreover, some of Second Uncle’s attention was drawn to Mainland China by Grandpa. It could be said that starting from that year, the Shen Family’s business began to shift its focus towards Mainland China.
I used to think that Second Uncle was like an adopted child. While he enjoyed a lavish life in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, he was hustling all over Mainland China. However, starting that year, Second Uncle’s power significantly increased. Many of his clients who moved into Mainland China were taken over by him. Those wealthy individuals from the Asian Financial Center and Asian Tigers brought substantial benefits to Second Uncle.
As the Financial Crisis deepened, people began to realize that this was not just a simple storm. More and more people turned their attention towards the more stable Mainland China, which naturally benefited Second Uncle’s business.
In times of crisis, people are more likely to believe in supernatural powers, even if they were once atheists.
However, this had little to do with me because that year I was just an ordinary college student.
After returning to school, life remained largely unchanged. Every day I chatted and joked around with Hu Xiaoyi and Liang Xi while gradually getting to know other seniors and juniors at school. At that time, World of Warcraft was very popular; we often skipped classes for our faction and felt quite proud about it. Even Liang Xi, who was a literary youth, got influenced by this behavior. However, what baffled me was that he played World of Warcraft with Qin Zhenzhen as a couple but in a completely different way than us.
While we were desperately running dungeons for various equipment and fighting for loyalty among friends, he would leisurely stroll through Azeroth with Qin Zhenzhen without a care in the world. They would climb mountains, watch sunsets, or swim in the sea until they nearly drowned—calling it a romantic sacrifice. I really wanted to throw salt water at them; don’t they understand that showing off their affection publicly while breaking up quickly behind closed doors is ridiculous?
It’s worth mentioning that the small Ice Type stone I brought back from Myanmar was polished into a Jade Ring by Second Uncle's contacts, who had Ajan engrave it with a blessing mantra on it. Although it wasn’t a spiritually imbued relic, wearing it still felt impressive. Especially since it was known that I earned it from gambling stones in Myanmar; its high value made many envious and somewhat overshadowed Hu Xiaoyi and Qin Zhenzhen’s spotlight. The material extracted from the ring was set into a gold necklace; Second Uncle said he would use it as a gift when he finds a girlfriend in the future.
It was precisely because of this ring that a certain event was triggered.
One day, Hu Xiaoyi came to find me, wanting me to accompany him to buy jewelry, saying he wanted to give it to Qin Zhenzhen. I told him to pay back the money he owed for the Amulet first before trying to win over his girlfriend!
Hu Xiaoyi chuckled awkwardly and said, "Good friends would go through thick and thin..."
"Go through your own troubles; pay me back!"
Even though I said that, I didn't really care about his little debt. When we arrived at the jewelry store, Hu Xiaoyi looked around but didn't find anything appealing. After wandering through many Jewelry Stores, I finally lost my patience and asked, "What exactly are you looking for?"
Hu Xiaoyi glanced at the Jade Ring on my hand and, feeling a bit embarrassed, said, "Qin Zhenzhen said your ring is beautiful and she particularly likes it, so I want to buy something similar."
I rolled my eyes and replied, "Are you out of your mind? Do you even know how much something like that is worth? Besides, real quality pieces won't be found in these ordinary Jewelry Stores. Those jade pieces priced at ten or twenty thousand are mostly just ordinary B-grade goods; if they're really shady, they might even pass off C-grade items as high-end."
Hu Xiaoyi gasped and said, "Then what should I do? I've already promised Qin Zhenzhen!"
I was about to say who told him to brag when I felt someone tugging at my clothes. Turning around, I saw a child of about eleven or twelve looking up at us and quietly asking, "Are you looking to buy good jade?"
I was a bit puzzled, thinking whose child is this? But Hu Xiaoyi seemed very interested and asked, "Are you from this store?"
The child shook his head and whispered to us, "My family has a particularly good piece of jade that we want to sell. Do you want it?"
I couldn't help but laugh; a child selling jade while the adults stay out of it? It must be a scam...
Hu Xiaoyi was desperate and said he was interested. I quickly stopped him and said, "We're not buying; you should look for someone else."
Hu Xiaoyi wanted to say more, but I shot him a glare and whispered, "Aren't you afraid of being scammed? What if he lures us somewhere with no one around? There could be a dozen tattooed men waiting to shake us down." After hearing this, Hu Xiaoyi came back to his senses and said maybe it was better not to. The child then insisted that the jade was on him and suggested we take a look first. If we were willing, we could buy it right there without going anywhere else.
"Oh? Now that you mention it, I'm a bit interested," I said, and asked him to take out the jade for me to see. The child suggested going outside, and since there were many people on the street, I wasn't worried about being scammed, so I agreed. Once we stepped out, a bit farther from the Jewelry Store, the child took out the jade. It was a bracelet, a light green color, and it looked quite nice. Hu Xiaoyi took it and examined it closely, asking me what I thought.
How would I know? I had hardly come into contact with jade throughout my life. The only piece I had was this Ice Type jade, which Zha Peng had told me about.
But for the sake of appearances, I could only force myself to say it looked good.
Hu Xiaoyi asked the child, "How much is this?"
The child held up five fingers and said, "Five thousand."
Hu Xiaoyi hesitated a bit; he thought the bracelet was quite nice and looked more comfortable than those priced in the tens of thousands at the store. However, I felt quite alert inside. If the bracelet was truly that good, why would a child be selling it? And selling it for only five thousand? Could it be fake? The child said, "You can have someone authenticate it; it's definitely a good piece."
After thinking for a moment, I called Second Uncle and asked him how to identify the quality of jade. Second Uncle said that only professionals could tell; there are so many fakes nowadays that even B-grade goods can look similar to A-grade ones. Fortunately, Second Uncle knew a boss at a nearby Jade Store and sent him over specifically. The boss took a look at the bracelet for a while and then whispered in my ear, "Good stuff, old jade; it's worth at least seventy to eighty thousand."
I was taken aback—so expensive? When I asked about its origin, the child told us that he had actually taken it from home without his parents knowing.
We didn't know if this was true or not, but it seemed he either stole it from his own home or from someone else's. I wasn't keen on buying something with such an unclear background, even though it was valuable. But Hu Xiaoyi liked it too much; if he could buy such good jade for five thousand, it would be like finding money from heaven. As for whether the person who lost it was anxious or not, he didn't care much about that to win Qin Zhenzhen's favor. What did conscience matter compared to love?
With that said, there wasn't much I could advise; people blinded by love are usually irrational. So Hu Xiaoyi took out five thousand and bought the Jade Bracelet worth seventy to eighty thousand.
I heard that Qin Zhenzhen was very happy to receive this gift; they didn't even come back all night. The next morning, I received a call from Hu Xiaoyi; he sounded almost in tears as he shouted into the phone, "The Jade Bracelet is gone!"
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