Chapter 639: Gold Has Its Own Value, But Jade Is Priceless.
After waking up from his vegetative state and learning that he had a son, Tang Yunde had learned about the situation pertaining to his son, and never did he regard Tang Xiu as a child. It was said that the children of poor families were able to manage the household. He knew that his son and wife had gone through a hard life all these years, and was naturally aware of the fact that he had a very mature personality.
Upon hearing that his son just adopted a blind child, however, he still frowned and expressed his thoughts, “Do you have that much time and energy, Xiu’er? You should know that there’s a big difference in raising a blind child and a normal one.”
“I understand what you are saying, Dad,” said Tang Xiu. “But this child is very special. His eyes may be blind, but not his heart. He can see many things normal people can’t, and this is the very reason why I want to adopt him and take him as my disciple. It’s because I think that he can be molded. You should know that my vision won’t go wrong. Just look at Yinyin, isn’t she a very good example?”
“Oh, yeah! Master is right,” Gu Yinyin grinned. “Yinyin also wants a Junior Brother.”
Tang Yunde and Su Lingyun exchanged looks, and the tense atmosphere eased down. Both of them knew that Tang Xiu was no longer an ordinary human. Though they were oblivious as to when and how Tang Xiu became a cultivator, but they had witnessed his ability and were crystal clear about it. Hence, they did not speak about it any longer.
Mu Qingping asked in a low voice, “I’m going out to buy some daily necessities for children. Also, I’ll clean up the room next to Yinyin’s. How do you see it?”
“That’s great!” Tang Xiu smiled and nodded.
After the breakfast, Tang Xiu took his car and drove out. He originally planned to fetch Little Blind before the New Year, but the Dean of the welfare house called him later on, saying she wanted Little Blind to stay there to celebrate his last New Year in the welfare house, a request he consented. After the New Year he had to go to Beijing, thus delaying the matter.
At the entrance to South Gate Town, Long Xueyao, who got a call from Tang Xiu, was waiting there early and brought with her two large suitcases. Upon seeing Tang Xiu, who parked his car in front of her, she immediately knocked on the window and smilingly said, “Open the trunk, I bought some stuff for the children, so I’ll take them now while convenient.”
Tang Xiu opened the trunk and got off the car to help put two suitcases into the trunk. Then he smiled and said, “There are not many young women who have a kind and warm heart like you nowadays. I even suspect that nearly all of your money was spent on the children of the Bluestar Welfare House, you know.”
“Don’t praise me, will you? You made me embarra.s.sed for nothing.” Long Xueyao softly smiled. “Besides, my salary is very high, to begin with; tens of thousands yuan a month.”
Tang Xiu smiled in response and said no more. Long Xueyao indeed had a quite high salary. According to what he knew, she visited the Bluestar Welfare House a few times every month, and the gifts she sent every time amounted to quite a sum. For example, her visit last year when he was with her, she spent around 20-30 thousand yuan.
After getting on the car, Long Xueyao smilingly said, “Are you curious about it, Tang Xiu? Anyways, Long Hanwen is my uncle, and you know that he’s a rich and wealthy man. So I thought, why don’t I ask him to support the Bluestar Welfare House financially, too? Hence the effort.”
After starting the car, Tang Xiu nodded and said, “Yeah, I was quite curious about that. It’s reasonable to say that a mere drop of support from the bucket of wealth possessed by the Long Family can make a tremendous change for the Bluestar Welfare House, so the house won’t have to go through that kind of difficulty again.”
“As a matter of fact, this uncle of mine has his own charitable foundation, and he allocates hundreds of thousands of yuan every year for me, so I can spend the money on the children of the welfare house. It’s just that most of the children there have the poor physical condition and bad health. Nearly half of them contracted some illness, so I have to spend 200-300 thousand yuan to take them to the doctors for treatment every year!”
Tang Xiu nodded without speaking, but he too understood the situation. Most of the children in the Bluestar Welfare House were frail or were sick. Excluding Little Blind, one of the children there even had a congenital heart disease and needed to go through treatment every year, it was quite expensive. A major surgery that child had last year cost more than 200 thousand yuan.
Quickly, the two people had arrived at the Bluestar Welfare House. Tang Xiu accompanied Little Blind to pack up his stuff. He did not spend much time in the welfare house as he then took Little Blind to leave, while Long Xueyao had nothing to do today, so she stayed.
Inside the SUV Range Rover, amid the cla.s.sical music being played, Little Blind sat in the front pa.s.senger seat, listening to the music with a tranquil expression. After driving on the road for several kilometers, Tang Xiu stopped at a traffic light intersection and spoke while waiting for the red light to change, “The doc.u.ments for your adoption have been settled, but I haven’t listed your name in the family register. So, we’ll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau, and after we are done with your name registration in the register, you will become a member of my family.”
“Alright.” Little Blind nodded gently.
“Your family name later will be Tang, and I’ll give you a new name, Tang Xiaohan. What do you think?” Said Tang Xiu once again.
Little Blind thought for a while and suddenly asked with a smile, “How should I address you in the future?”
“We’re going to hold a disciples.h.i.+p ceremony after we return home,” said Tang Xiu. “You will be my fifth disciple in the future.”
“Understood!” Little Blind nodded. “That name is so pleasant to hear, Master. I like it very much.”
“It’s great that you like it.” Tang Xiu smiled. “Anyways, do you still remember what I’ve promised you? I’ll make your eyes able to see the light again in the future. I’ll take you to a certain place after a period of time and by then, you will officially embark on the cultivation path."
Cultivation path, a term that Little Blind couldn’t figure it out at all. But he had a faint feeling that his future would never be the same again.
The Civil Affairs Bureau was located in the Old River District of Star City.
After Tang Xiu arrived there with Little Blind, or was now Tang Xiaohan, he met Long Zhengyu at the entrance. At this time, the fella was wearing a down coat, and yet he kept moving his feet and warming his hands with his breath.
“We are not late, are we, Zhengyu?” Tang Xiu grabbed Tang Xiaohan’s hand and walked towards him.
“Nah, you’re not late,” said Long Zhengyu with a smile. “Anyways, is he Little Blind, the one you mentioned to me?”
“His name is Tang Xiaohan now,” corrected Tang Xiu.
“Alright, did you bring the adoption certificate with you?” Long Zhengyu nodded. “You’ll need that and your ID card for registering his name in the family register.”
“I’ve brought all of them. Let’s go inside!” Said Tang Xiu.
China was a country where the relations.h.i.+p between people and favor was important. There was even a saying that “one may be recommended and put in an important position if his relatives or friends have status and power, and the same goes if you want to get things done”. Long Zhengyu had a close relations.h.i.+p with someone of authority in the Civil Affairs Bureau, and his arrival made the second-in-command of the Bureau accompany him. The proceedings with the family register were quickly done, and the other party modestly invited them to his office and they stayed there for a while.
After leaving the Civil Affairs Bureau and while glancing at Tang Xiaohan, Long Zhengyu spoke with a hesitating expression, “I wanted to take you to a fun place, but now it seems you can’t go.”
“What exactly is this fun place?” Asked Tang Xiu.
“Several rich people got a batch of raw stones from the Southern region, and they are now officially selling them at the Star City Convention and Exhibition Center. Putting it plainly, it’s a kind of gambling on the stones,” explained Long Zhengyu.
Gambling on stones?
Tang Xiu’s expression moved and he looked at the yawning Tang Xiaohan. Yet his mind was lit up and already caught up in the net. He needed precious jades and stones, a ma.s.sive number of high-quality precious jades and stones to be precise. Whether it was used to craft magical tools or lay arrays in the future, or even to refine storage items, precious jades and stones were the best choices.
“Xiaohan, let’s not go home first. How about going out to play with Master?” Tang Xiu held Tang Xiaohan’s hand and asked with a smile.
“OK.”
Keenly sensitive as he was, though Tang Xiaohan was unable to see anything and disliked lively places, he was willing to follow Tang Xiu wherever he went. Because he believed that he would spend his life following his Master, Tang Xiu—the person that would be his closest family member in the future.
After boarding Tang Xiu’s car, Long Zhengyu took a seat in the front pa.s.senger seat. He turned back to glance at Tang Xiaohan, who sat conscientiously in the back seat, and then spoke to Tang Xiu, “Anyways, since you want to go with me, have you prepared some money? I heard that these rich people have gotten quite a ma.s.sive number of raw jades and stones with good quality. You’re gonna need a ton of money if you wanna play.”
“I do have some money in hands now.” Tang Xiu nodded. “I’ll buy those raw jades and stones if I find them satisfying.”
“Satisfying raw jades and stones?” Long Zhengyu shook his head and smilingly said, “There’s no such satisfying raw jades and stones in the world, mate. Whoever has an X-Ray vision and can discern clearly which are precious jades and stones among the lump of rough and raw stones, he will definitely become the richest man in the world quickly.”
“What you said is kinda exaggerated, don’t you think?” Tang Xiu smiled. “100 million yuan for those top billionaires in the world is nothing but a unit. How much money do you think I can get just by betting on some rough raw stones, huh?”
“That is if you don’t have a genuine knowledge regarding precious jades and stones’ attributes, mate,” said Long Zhengyu. “I’ll tell you something. In the past few years, there was a young man surnamed Zhuang that relied on his keen eyes and knowledge pertaining to precious jades and stones. He traveled to the southern and western regions and even ventured to Africa to bet on these stones. He bought those precious jades and stones and used them materials for his jade business. And you know what? He made a fortune from it. There’s someone hailed as the Buddha of Jade in the Western region, and he also holds this young man named Zhuang in high esteem. This fella now has a net worth of more than 10 billion. Listen to me clearly, what I’m talking about is U. S. D!”
Tang Xiu pondered for a moment, before nodding slowly and saying, “Gold is indeed valuable, but the jade is indeed priceless. Anyhow, if I can get so far as to really get tons of high-quality jades, obtaining tons of money is indeed feasible. Except that it’s a pity I have too little time to spare on the jade business, else I’d really like to meet this young man surnamed Zhuang.”
“I want to see him in person, too, but it’s h.e.l.la difficult to meet him. Besides, he’s also a very busy man!” Long Zhengyu smilingly said. “However, he should comply to your request to meet him given your ident.i.ty, though. I tell you, mate. That guy is my idol!”
“Hahaha.” Tang Xiu couldn’t help but break into laughter. “It’s so unlikely for you to go that far, no? Though your Long Family is not as rich as him, it’s unlikely for you to go so far as to make him your idol, man!”
“Hey, what I’m telling you is not about making money,” said Long Zhengyu while pouting his lips.
“Then, in what aspect are you talking about?” Asked Tang Xiu, astounded.
Long Zhengyu grinned and smilingly said, “This Zhuang fella’s techniques in managing chicks have reached the point of being perfect, mate. You know what? He has several wives in his house, and his wives get along with each other very harmoniously. Our country is not the likes of some foreign countries and only allows a man to have one wife. His other wives have no status as a legal wife by law, though, but those women willingly follow him as long as they can be with him.”
Ugh…
Tang Xiu was stunned and stared blankly. He immediately raised his hand and gave him a thumbs up as he praised, “That guy is so amazing.”