Chu Chen's Goal

"Xiao Chen, I miss you!"

This soft murmur instantly made the atmosphere between the two become ambiguous. Chu Chen found himself a little flustered by the situation and could only brace himself and softly reply, "Xiao Ke, I miss you too."

Hearing his words, Wu Ke on the other end of the phone seemed very happy. She didn't even care about the usual way she addressed him and said gently:

"Mhm, it's getting late. Go eat dinner. Remember to eat a lot, I'll be checking later. If you've lost weight... Hmph! Also, go to my dad's and write down my online contact information. We can just chat online from now on. Mmm... Mwah! Bye!"

Before Chu Chen could react, she hung up the phone.

"Bye... bye."

Chu Chen remained in the posture of holding the phone. Wu Ke's attitude made him unsure of what to do. It wasn't as if he didn't have any feelings for such a beautiful and cute girl like Wu Ke. However, at this moment, he truly wasn't prepared for any of this.

The crucial point was that relationships were a minefield for him, and it wasn't easy to accept them immediately. He pondered for a long time, unsure of how he should interact with Wu Ke in the future.

"Forget it, I'll take it one step at a time."

In the end, Chu Chen couldn't come up with any good ideas and could only embrace the idea of "the cart will find its way when it reaches the bridge," deciding to deal with it when the time came.

"Ah, it's really warm. So comfortable," Aunt Wu said with a look of pleasant surprise and contentment.

When Chu Chen came outside, Uncle Wu and the others were studying how to use the physiotherapy device that Chu Chen had brought earlier. It seemed they had already figured out the basic operation.

Seeing Chu Chen emerge from the room, Uncle Wu asked somewhat irritably, "Finished your call? What did you talk about with Xiao Ke?"

He wasn't angry about Chu Chen "recklessly" spending money anymore. He had thought it through; it was ultimately a gesture of filial piety, and it couldn't really be called "reckless" spending. However, because of this matter, Grandma Wu and Aunt Wu had ganged up on him, which made him lose face. That's why he spoke to Chu Chen in such a tone.

"We just chatted casually, and she also asked me to come to you to get her online contact information."

Chu Chen knew Uncle Wu's personality. Having heard Aunt Wu and the others criticizing him earlier, he knew Uncle Wu wouldn't give him a pleasant look later.

So, after noting down Wu Ke's online contact information, bank account, and the phone number of Uncle Wu's friend in security that was mentioned earlier, he seized the opportunity and flattered Uncle Wu profusely. Within a few minutes, he had Uncle Wu beaming with joy. Aunt Wu and the others watched the father-son duo's scene and chuckled, covering their mouths.

After pleasing Uncle Wu, Chu Chen explained some precautions for using the physiotherapy device and then happily took them to eat.

To avoid Uncle Wu and the others thinking it was too expensive, Chu Chen had booked a private room and ordered dishes in advance. Although Uncle Wu and the others knew from the mouth-watering aroma of the dishes that the price must be considerable, they had no idea that the dishes he ordered today, even with a discount, would cost over four thousand.

Everyone ate to their heart's content. As they were parting ways, Uncle Wu said to Chu Chen, "I forgot to tell you, last time I went to Old Liu's place, I mentioned you. He's quite interested in you."

Upon hearing this, Chu Chen eagerly asked, "Uncle Wu, are you saying that Old Liu has agreed to let me visit him?"

Seeing Chu Chen's impatience, Uncle Wu smiled and said, "Alright, he did ask me to bring you along on Sunday. However, you need to be mentally prepared. Old Liu will definitely test you then. Also, when you go, bring those Tang Sancai shards of yours. Old Liu wants to see them with his own eyes."

Chu Chen nodded excitedly. As for tests, with his special ability, he certainly wouldn't be afraid. However, he couldn't help but grumble inwardly, wondering why a fake Tang Sancai piece was so popular, with almost every senior in the antique collecting circle he knew wanting to see it.

This was nothing, but now almost everyone knew he had been fooled by this Tang Sancai piece. This made him feel quite embarrassed.

But thinking about it from another perspective, this was actually quite good. With his special ability, his future collecting career would undoubtedly be colorful. Fakes would basically have nowhere to hide from him. With the previous experience of being fooled, people wouldn't find it too abrupt.

After all, if someone could become a great collector without ever being fooled, it would be too far-fetched and might even arouse suspicion from some ill-intentioned individuals.

Seeing his excited demeanor, Uncle Wu felt like teasing him. So he said, "Our antique business values exchange the most. If you have any impressive collections, it's best to bring them along as well. That way, you'll appear well-prepared. Alright, it's getting late, you should head back. Be careful on the way."

Seeing Chu Chen's conflicted expression after hearing that he had to bring a collection, Uncle Wu felt secretly delighted, thinking, "Serves you right for making me lose face today."

After parting ways with Uncle Wu and the others, Chu Chen thought, "Uncle Wu is really something, giving me such a difficult task. Where can I find any impressive collections around me now? Let alone impressive ones, I only have one real collection." (The black and white jade and the bird feeder are for sale.)

Actually, Uncle Wu knew a little about what collections Chu Chen had. If Chu Chen had seen the smug smile on Uncle Wu's face when he left, he would have known that this request was simply to get revenge for Chu Chen making him lose face today.

However, this matter also made Chu Chen reflect on his future goals. If it was about making money, with his special ability, earning money would be extremely easy. As for the life of having a wife, children, and a warm home, it would also be relatively easier to achieve once the material conditions were met, and such matters primarily depended on fate.

What else? Finding his parents?

This was a question that truly troubled Chu Chen. He had always believed that his parents had abandoned him, yet he couldn't sever the deep familial bond in his heart, making him very conflicted.

He thought for a while and finally stopped dwelling on it. It would still depend on fate, just like before. If he found them and could forgive them, then they would acknowledge each other. If he couldn't find them, although he would surely feel regret, life would go on as usual.

As Chu Chen walked, he thought that his only hobby now was antiques. Since he wanted to set a goal, he would make himself a collector. With his special ability, he already had an advantage in appraising antiques over others, making collecting them undoubtedly much easier.

Moreover, antiques were the crystallization of ancient people's wisdom, with much content worth studying. His photographic memory would be perfectly suited for this.

As for the money needed to collect antiques, others might worry, but he didn't at all. If he ran out of money, he could go gambling on stones. Besides, he only wanted to collect exquisite pieces among antiques, and some that he didn't care much about could be used for exchange.

In this case, opening an antique shop would be just right. He could both sell and acquire items, and he could also process the jade he won from gambling into finished products to sell in the shop, which would make it easier to accumulate capital.

Furthermore, with the development of antique collecting and the jade business, Chu Chen's special ability could also be continuously upgraded. Since he obtained his special ability, not to mention other aspects, his physical changes had been significant. Not only had his body become much stronger, but it had also helped him break through the Minor Heavenly Cycle.

Chu Chen guessed that his special ability might eventually help him break through to the Innate realm, at which point he could live to at least 150 years old. He felt incredibly excited just thinking about it, as longevity was humanity's most primal desire.

Moreover, after his special ability upgraded today, he felt a stream of energy in his left arm constantly circulating along his meridians. As it circulated, the strength in his left arm slowly increased. Although the increase was minuscule, it would be very considerable over time.

He speculated that after the next upgrade of his special ability, new meridians might be incorporated. Eventually, when the spiritual energy circulated throughout all the meridians in his body, he couldn't imagine what kind of changes his body would undergo, and he was full of anticipation for it.

However, upgrading his special ability was still quite difficult. Today, the spiritual energy from that double-eared vase only increased the progress by less than 1%. He wondered if this value would be calculated after a reduction. If it was calculated normally, how could he bear it?

But since he had set his goal, Chu Chen believed that it would eventually be filled. And even if calculated at normal values, it would be equivalent to at most a hundred million worth of antiques or jade. If calculated in terms of jade, achieving this amount wouldn't be that difficult.

Upon returning home, Chu Chen took out Wu Ke's contact information and studied it. He hadn't encountered the email and chat tools mentioned there before, but that wouldn't be difficult for him, given his current abnormal learning ability.

After creating accounts for the email and chat tools and sending them to Wu Ke, Chu Chen began to search for information on antiques online to study. With a goal, he found reading books much more interesting than before. In the blink of an eye, he was immersed in the ocean of knowledge.

The next day, Chu Chen woke up at four o'clock. The first thing he did upon waking was to marvel at his energy. He couldn't believe that after chatting with Wu Ke online until two in the morning and sleeping only two hours, he still had such abundant energy and felt no fatigue at all. It was truly hard to believe.