I Believe You

Shen Jingchuan was genuinely startled when he first heard "three hundred million."

He had expected the stone to be valuable, but he had never imagined it could fetch that much. He thought to himself that it was no wonder the stone's clarity had caught his eye the moment he saw it. It turned out to be a truly major find.

He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his head, his voice still tinged with surprise:

"It's worth that much? I really didn't dare imagine a number that big."

"Of course it is."

Meng Ke rolled her eyes at him and tapped the surface of the stone lightly with her fingertips, quickly returning to business:

"There are generally three ways to turn it into cash.

"The first is to sell the whole stone as gambling rough. That's the easiest option. You can negotiate a price today, and you won't have to shoulder the risk of the quality changing when it's cut open. But the buyer has to price in that risk, so you'd have to take less. Conservatively, it would top out at around two hundred seventy or eighty million.

"The second is to strip off all the skin first and sell it as exposed jade. Buyers could see the quality inside and out at a glance, so there'd be no gamble, and the price could go higher. If my estimate isn't wrong, you could count on at least five hundred million, but it's uncertain, and I can't guarantee it. If there are flaws or major cracks, it's hard to say.

"The third option would bring the highest profit and make the fullest use of the material. Find a skilled craftsman to cut it into pieces, carve out bangles and pendants, and polish cabochons. Put every inch of good jade to use, then sell the finished pieces separately.

"If half the jade inside turns out to be as good as the exposed window, it could possibly reach seven or eight hundred million. But it would take work—two or three years from start to finish—and you'd also have to bear the risks of material loss during processing and fluctuations in the market."

When she finished, she looked up at him:

"What are you thinking? Do you want to pocket the money quickly, or take your time and earn the bigger profit?"

"I have no use for this stone myself. I wanted to turn it into money in the first place, so I could feel more secure."

Shen Jingchuan smiled and looked at her face, a teasing note in his voice. "It'd be just the thing for buying a bigger place. Otherwise, if I really marry you someday, I can't have you squeezing into my family's tiny, rundown old place with me, can I?"

Meng Ke's cheeks grew hot. She raised a hand and smacked the back of his, chiding him gently:

"Oh, stop it. You're never serious. Don't talk nonsense."

The moment her hand brushed his skin, she hurriedly pulled it back. The tips of her ears grew warm, and she steadied herself before looking at him again, her tone serious once more. "I'm talking business. Which option are you choosing?"

"If you ask me, just treat the stone as yours. Do whatever you think is best."

Shen Jingchuan leaned back in his chair and gave her an open smile:

"Besides, I don't have any other use for the money I make. In the end, won't it all be for you to spend anyway?"

"All right, you're never serious. Stop joking."

Meng Ke's face warmed. Her fingertips brushed lightly over the stone, and she put away her smile and said seriously:

"If you don't need the money urgently, I'd recommend the third option. Find a craftsman to take his time cutting it and making finished pieces. That would bring the biggest profit, and it wouldn't waste such fine material."

"I don't need the money urgently."

Shen Jingchuan shook his head:

"I paid off everything I owed long ago with the five hundred twenty thousand from selling the seal last time. I have enough for everyday expenses, too. There aren't any holes I need to fill. Let's do as you say. Once it's been processed, just keep the pieces here and help me sell them."

Meng Ke looked up at him sharply, her eyes full of surprise:

"You trust me that much? This is worth hundreds of millions, and you're just leaving it with me, without even working out an agreement?"

Shen Jingchuan looked at her, his tone too serious to be a joke:

"Of course. You've already agreed to give me a chance to pursue you. If I can't even trust you this much, wouldn't my saying I like you just be a lie I tossed out to sweet-talk you?"

As soon as he said it, Meng Ke's face turned bright red in a flash, even the tips of her ears tinged pink.

She stared at the exceptionally translucent rough stone on the table, then looked up into Shen Jingchuan's candid eyes. It was as though something had gently bumped against her heart.

Over her years of working her way through the trade, she had seen plenty of people fall out over a profit of eight or ten thousand, let alone a stone worth hundreds of millions.

Anyone else would never have done it.

Yet Shen Jingchuan had handed her the authority to deal with it so casually, without asking another word about how much it could sell for or when the money would come in.

That weighty trust touched her more deeply than any sweet words.

She really had been right about him. He wasn't the sort whose eyes lit up at the sight of money or who cared only for profit. His steadiness and certainty were even rarer than this jadeite worth an astronomical sum.

She took a deep breath and raised her head to look at him solemnly, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly:

"Shen Jingchuan, honestly, I never expected you to trust me this much. Don't worry. I'll personally oversee this stone from start to finish, find the best craftsmen to cut it and make the pieces, and draw out every bit of its value. I absolutely won't let your trust go to waste."

Shen Jingchuan looked at her reddened eyes and smiled, his voice utterly certain:

"Of course I believe you."

The little studio suddenly fell silent. The desk lamp shone on the icy-clear rough stone, spreading a faint, pale halo of light.

They looked at each other across the table, neither speaking again. The temperature in the air seemed to be quietly rising.

Shen Jingchuan was the first to withstand the heat of the moment. He coughed lightly, picked up the white teacup on the table, and brought it to his lips for a large sip, using the dip of his head to hide some of his awkwardness.

Meng Ke also abruptly came to her senses and hurriedly looked away. Her fingertips rubbed absently against the edge of the table, her heart still pounding. It took quite a while for her to suppress the emotions surging inside her.

"Let's put the stone away first," Shen Jingchuan said, setting down his cup, his tone back to normal.

Meng Ke looked up at him for a moment and bit her lower lip, saying nothing more.

She knew full well that what had been said was enough. Any more sentiment would only make things feel distant between them.

He was willing to entrust a fortune worth hundreds of millions to her. Doing the job properly and well would mean more than any number of thanks.

She got up, brought over the dedicated storage box from beside her, and lined it with soft velvet. Then she carefully lifted the rough stone into it and locked it up, moving as gently as if she were afraid of breaking a pool of water.

She had just straightened up when she saw Shen Jingchuan take a cloth bundle out of his backpack. He unfolded it layer by layer and arranged more than a dozen softly lustrous seal blanks on the table, one by one.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. I picked up some other things too. Help me take a look at them."

Meng Ke glanced down, and her eyes went wide at once. She stopped in her tracks and even began to stammer: "H-heavens... Is this... is this Tianhuang? And this piece—chicken blood stone?"

She hurried to the table, grabbed a high-powered flashlight, and leaned in. Her fingertips trembled slightly as she felt each of the stones in turn, muttering to herself:

"These two are Tianhuang. The texture is so fine, and the radish patterns are perfectly clear. It's genuine jelly Tianhuang, too... And this chicken blood stone, there's so much red in it, it's almost up to Dahongpao grade..."

Shen Jingchuan leaned back in his chair and watched her bustle about without interrupting. He simply admired the lovely figure of the woman he loved so deeply, letting her shine the light on each stone and examine it closely.

Only after Meng Ke had gone over every stone did she abruptly raise her head. The shock had yet to fade from her eyes as she stared at him and asked:

"Where on earth did you find these?"