Since she had to help Chu Chen manage his business, Wu Ke now knew gemstone prices quite well. Seeing Ning Kejing's astonished expression, she smiled and said, "It isn't expensive at all. Hetian jade of this quality is becoming increasingly rare, and it has a lot of room to appreciate. It may double in value within just a few years."
Ning Kejing immediately took the jade hairpin with a delighted look and began turning it over in her hands, unable to bear putting it down. As for calculating the price, she had completely pushed that to the back of her mind.
"Hem!"
At that moment, Madam Ning cleared her throat and then said with a beaming smile, "Xiaojing, did Xiaoyu really give this to you? How come we've never seen it before?"
Ning Kejing froze when she heard that. Then she gave a few sheepish laughs and backed away as she spoke. "This... well, Mom, I'm going to do my homework!"
With that, she turned around and prepared to run to her room.
"Stop right there!" Madam Ning immediately let out a lion's roar. "Ning Kejing, have you forgotten our family rules? Go ahead and try running today!"
Ning Kejing could only turn around with a miserable look. Then she shuffled step by step back to where she had been standing.
"Explain yourself. What exactly happened?" Madam Ning said flatly.
"This... it was the day before my fifteenth birthday. Xiaoyu said that fifteen was already adulthood in ancient times, and that some kind of ceremony had to be held... Oh! I remember now. It was called the 'coming-of-age hairpin ceremony.' Then she gave me this jade hairpin. At the time, I really thought it was only worth a few thousand yuan, so I accepted it." Ning Kejing spoke somewhat incoherently.