Chapter 368: Jade
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“You can keep it then.” w.a.n.g Yao got up and began to walk away.
“Hey buddy, don’t leave. Let’s talk this out. I’ll reduce the price by another 5000 yuan. You can have this book,” the vendor said.
“3000 yuan. It’s up to you.”
“Okay. 3000 it is. We’re friends here!” The vendor looked heartbroken over the loss of the money he could have gotten.
w.a.n.g Yao paid the money readily.
“Buddy, take a look. I have lots of good stuff here.”
“No thanks.”
He was just about to leave when he heard a voice.
“How much is that book?”
He was a man in thirties. He had a medium build with a square face. He was wearing a somewhat old-fas.h.i.+oned Chinese tunic suit.
“That book?” the vendor pointed at the book in w.a.n.g Yao’s hands.
“Yes.”
“It’s 3000 yuan. I’ve already sold it to this young man.”
“h.e.l.lo, can you please resell it to me? You can set the price,” the person said to w.a.n.g Yao after turning around.
“Sorry. I bought this for myself.”
“5000 yuan.”
w.a.n.g Yao smiled.
“10,000 yuan?”
The dealer who was by the side was dumbfounded. What was going on? He had just sold it in less than three minutes ago, but the price had tripled. He lowered his head and looked at the 3000 yuan in his hands. His feeling of complacency was gone without a trace.
“I really bought it for myself. Sorry.” He turned around and started walking away again.
“30,000 yuan?” the middle-aged man behind him hurriedly asked.
w.a.n.g Yao waved his hand without turning back.
“Sigh. What a pity!” The middle-aged man sighed. “Excuse me, this is my business card. You can contact me if you change your mind and you want to resell this book.” He caught up with w.a.n.g Yao with a few steps and handed him a business card with a simple name and a phone number.
Bo Jingshan.
“Alright.” w.a.n.g Yao took the business card and left with Chen Ying.
“Excuse me?” the vendor asked Bo Jingshan softly.
“Yes?”
“Is that book really worth 30,000 yuan?”
“Haha.” Bo Jingshan smiled. “In your eyes, it’s not worth 300 yuan. In my eyes, it’s invaluable. What a pity.”
After that, Bo Jingshan left with a smile. The vendor was left standing there.
Sigh!
After regaining his senses, he stomped his foot.
I’m really… If only I waited for a few more minutes!
This was a typical case of greed.
In fact, when he first got this book, it was an old book which was sold by its weight, so it cost him less than 30 yuan. His profit was already a hundred times greater when he sold it for 3000 yuan that day.
…
On the way back, Chen Ying asked somewhat curiously, “Dr. w.a.n.g, are you also interested in the techniques of Zhou Yi?”
“Yes,” w.a.n.g Yao answered with a smile.
When he was on the hill, he had also studied Yin and Yang energies, along with the five elements and things like the Eight Trigrams of Zhou Yi. He didn’t read as much about these things, unlike medicine, which he already had an understanding about. The next step was to reach a higher level in his studies. However, he was really very interested in this. Not to mention anything else, the incomprehensible magical uses produced by the five-line illusion and the Spirit-gathering battle array on the hill made him realize the profound meaning and magic in it, which made him take a great interest in it.
“Oh!” Chen Ying responded. At the same time, she remembered.
Under the arrangement of the Su family, she was responsible for all kinds of matters during w.a.n.g Yao’s stay in Jing City. Besides attending to his basic necessities, there was another very important thing, which was to understand his likes and dislikes, two of which she already knew. One was that he liked tea. This was actually a bit far-fetched. The other one was that he was keen in things related to pharmaceutical knowledge. This was an actual hobby. He had one more interest now. He was interested in things related to Zhou Yi.
The Su family’s purpose for asking these things was actually very simple. They wanted to cater to w.a.n.g Yao’s desires.
They had investigated w.a.n.g Yao secretly before. He did not like money and power. He was not fond of beauties as well. It was a bit surprising to place these on a young man. Young men like him were extremely rare in the present society, even if they were not extinct. However, he had superb pharmaceutical knowledge. If they wanted to seek medical attention and to have a good relations.h.i.+p with him, then they had to know what he liked and wanted. Then, they would have to provide him with these things.
This way of thinking was now a more universal view.
It was not to say that the way of treating people with sincerity was gone, but the perception had been changed.
After buying the book, the two of them walked around on the street and did not see anything else that they wanted.
“Oh right, is there a store here that sells jade?”
“Yes,” Chen Ying responded. “Do you want to buy jade?”
“Let’s go have a look.”
w.a.n.g Yao wanted to buy a piece of jade for his mother. He incidentally heard his mother mention that someone had a very beautiful jade bracelet.
He happened to have the chance now, so he wanted to buy a piece of jade for her in Jing City.
Then, Chen Ying took w.a.n.g Yao to a jewelry company which was quite large.
“Hey, Miss Chen! You seldom visit!” The manager there obviously knew Chen Ying. He smiled and said h.e.l.lo upon seeing her.
“h.e.l.lo, Manager Li.”
“Are you here to see some jewelry today?”
“It’s Mr. w.a.n.g who wants to see it.”
“Oh. Mr. w.a.n.g, which would you like to see?” the manager hurriedly asked. He was a shrewd man. He knew that Chen Ying had an unusual background. Now, she accompanied such an unremarkable young man to buy things. The ident.i.ty of the other party was definitely not easy to figure out. He paid more attention because such people related to Chen Ying had always been generous.
“Jade.”
“Jade? Okay. This way please.” He immediately led w.a.n.g Yao to the counter where the jade jewelry was placed.
“You can have a look and see which is suitable. Are you wearing it yourself or is it for your family?”
“It’s for my family,” w.a.n.g Yao replied. “It’s for my parents.”
“Oh. Are you after a jade pendant or a bracelet?”
“A bracelet and a jade pendant.”
w.a.n.g Yao had already thought about it. He would buy a bracelet for his mother and a jade pendant for his father.
“Okay. What do you think of this bracelet?” Manager Li then took out a bracelet from the gla.s.s cabinet.
w.a.n.g Yao glanced at it and stretched out his hand to try it on. There was a refres.h.i.+ng feeling when it was put on. Besides that, it had a unique air dynamic.
The bracelet was greenish white and it looked good, but he did not take a fancy to it.
He looked inside the gla.s.s cabinet again. His gaze fell on a bracelet which was entirely white with just a few green strands in it. It was like the water plant on the riverbed. It looked very vivid.
“What about that one?” He extended his hand and pointed at it.
“Hey, you’re an expert!” He took out the jade bracelet.
By touching, this jade bracelet seemed to be more or less the same as the one just now.
“This is an authentic nephrite!”
Manager Li introduced it professionally. He used many professional terms which w.a.n.g Yao did not understand. However, due to the feelings out of his practice, he was far more sensitive to these natural things compared to ordinary people.
“How much is this?”
“450,000 yuan.”
Huh?
w.a.n.g Yao hesitated a little. It was not that he thought that the price was too expensive, but he did not know much about the price of jade. He was not short of money, but he was not a person who bought a pig in a poke.
“Manager Li, we’re old acquaintances. Can it be cheaper?” Chen Ying, who was standing to the side, looked at the bracelet and asked.
“We’re acquaintances, but Miss Chen, look at the quality of this jade. This way, I’ll reduce the price by 30,000 yuan. It’ll be 420,000 yuan.”
w.a.n.g Yao looked at Chen Ying, who nodded.
“Okay. I’ll buy this bracelet.”
“Sure!” Manager Li responded with a smile.
He could earn quite a lot of bonus by selling this bracelet.
He hurriedly asked someone to pack it up.
“I’ll look at the jade pendants.”
He looked at a few pieces and took a fancy to a jade pendant. It did not look big, but its touch was even better than the bracelet just now. The quality of the jade was also even better. It was a top-grade Jue Suet. The words “felicity and longevity” were carved on it. Its sculpture was quite excellent as well.
“I want this.”
The size of this white jade was less than one-fifth of that of the bracelet, but its price was actually about the same as the bracelet. It was slightly more expensive.
In an instant, w.a.n.g Yao spent more than 800,000 yuan.
“This is my business card, Mr. w.a.n.g. If you need anything else, you can just call me,” Manager Li said with a smile.
“Alright.”
It was already past five o’clock in the afternoon when they left the jewelry store.
“Where else would you like to go?”
“Nowhere else. Let’s go back.”
“Okay.”
After returning home, Chen Ying was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen alone. w.a.n.g Yao was reading Zhou Yi References in his room.
This was an ancient book. According to w.a.n.g Yao’s judgment, what the vendor said might be true. This book might really be from the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty was implicitly mentioned in some of the text descriptions. This book was seemed to cover the author’s understanding towards the Eight Trigrams of Zhou Yi, as well as some other unique things, such as the techniques of divination.
w.a.n.g Yao was engrossed in it. The sky outside had gradually darkened. He only broke away from the contents of the book when Chen Ying called him for dinner.
“What a great book!” He exclaimed while closing the book gently.
This was an unexpected gain.
After dinner, w.a.n.g Yao sat in the courtyard with his eyes closed to refresh his spirits.
Buzz. He suddenly heard a subtle noise.
There was a mosquito.
He waved his hand and a stream of Qi surged out.
The mosquito fell onto the ground without a sound.
The sound of footsteps could be heard. A guest was here and he was a young man.
“Did he really come to Jing City?” His voice was bright and cheerful.
He was a handsome, young man.
He was Guo Zhenghe, the son of the Guo family.
“Mr. Guo,” Chen Ying hurriedly greeted.
“Tsk, Sister Ying. How many times have I mentioned this? You can be more polite in the way you refer to me,” Guo Zhenghe replied with a smile.
“I’ll go make some tea.”
“h.e.l.lo, Brother w.a.n.g.” Guo Zhenghe appeared to be very close to w.a.n.g Yao.
“h.e.l.lo, Mr. Guo.”
“Hey, are you kicking me out?” Guo Zhenghe was not pleased. “Call me Guo or Zhenghe. Otherwise, I’ll leave immediately.”
“Take a seat.” w.a.n.g Yao smiled while pointing at the stool by the side.
“When did you get to Jing City?”