Zeng Shen was admiring Master Kuo's craftsmanship when he noticed someone watching him. He raised his head slightly and met Ms. Liu's gaze across from him.
He gave her a faint smile, then went back to admiring Master Kuo's work.
However.
What Zeng Shen did not know was this.
That simple, casual smile of his.
Made the beautiful young woman's heart inexplicably tremble. She had a powerful intuition.
If she asked this young man before her for help.
He would surely help her.
Suddenly, it was as though she had caught sight of hope. The thought of inviting him out for a meal and telling him about her troubles welled up inside her. She even blushed slightly and reached up to tug at the neckline below her collarbones, opening it a little to reveal pale skin...
Soon.
The fist-sized green-dew imperial jade was fully revealed in Master Kuo's palm.
Holding the green-dew imperial jade, he felt the energy within it faintly stirring, as though about to flow into his body. He gazed at it in utter fascination for a long time before reluctantly handing it to Shi Mingqiang.
"Mr. Shi, the outer layer has been removed."
"Thank you for your hard work, sir." Shi Mingqiang thanked him and reached out to take the green-dew imperial jade.
In an instant, he felt revitalized. All the fatigue in his body vanished, giving him a firsthand sense of the value contained within this rare piece of green-dew imperial jade.
Then.
He turned to Zeng Shen with a smile. "My dear nephew-in-law, you've really struck it rich this time. If you let my company promote and develop this fist-sized green-dew imperial jade, we only need to bring it to the attention of scientific institutions in America, Britain, and Russia to auction it for at least a billion."
"Sure. I'll leave the arrangements to you, Uncle Shi." Zeng Shen nodded calmly, then added, "But I want to sign a risk indemnity agreement for a billion."
Shi Mingqiang immediately looked troubled.
Seeing this, Li Yuqing turned to Zeng Shen. "Shen, Uncle Shi probably can't sign that agreement with you."
"Why not?"
"Because an agreement like that requires his funds on the books and total assets to amount to a billion."
"I see." Zeng Shen nodded. "Uncle Shi, what's the highest amount you can sign for?"
Shi Mingqiang thought for a moment. "Counting my company's liquid funds and all its fixed assets, plus my own villa, houses, and cars, a little over seven hundred million."
"Seven hundred million? That works too." Zeng Shen nodded without giving it much thought.
"Ah, well..."
Shi Mingqiang was completely won over by the sheer trust Zeng Shen had shown him.
This was a billion-yuan deal.
If anything happened to this piece of green-dew imperial jade, or if he secretly kept it and claimed it had been lost, he would only have to pay seven hundred million in compensation.
Of course, he would never do something so disgraceful and ruin his own reputation.
"Thank you for trusting me, nephew-in-law." Shi Mingqiang called over a clerk to print two sets of agreement documents.
One was a risk indemnity agreement for seven hundred million, and the other was for ten million.
Then he had someone call in a lawyer to notarize them.
Half an hour later.
Zeng Shen and Shi Mingqiang finished signing the agreement on the spot.
They each kept a copy.
Holding his copy of the agreement, Shi Mingqiang was exceptionally excited. He was immensely pleased with his niece's boyfriend and felt that this young man was the god of wealth in his life.
And so.
He had staked his entire fortune on signing this risk indemnity agreement without bringing in any other institutions to share the risk.
He carefully placed the agreement in his safe, then took out a dark-gold card and handed it to Zeng Shen.
"Nephew-in-law, under the terms of our agreement, the hundred million on this card is now yours. As for the rest, I'll transfer it to this dark-gold card after I auction the green-dew imperial jade."
"All right."
Zeng Shen accepted the dark-gold card without hesitation, then left with the agreement and Li Yuqing.
The beautiful young woman, who had witnessed everything from the side, also quickly signed a ten-million risk indemnity agreement with Shi Mingqiang before hurrying out of the company to catch up with Zeng Shen and Li Yuqing.
But Zeng Shen and Li Yuqing were already nowhere to be seen in the twentieth-floor corridor.
She hurried toward the elevators on her long legs, her high heels clicking against the floor.
There was no sign of Zeng Shen or his companion in the elevator area either.
She anxiously looked at the six closed elevator doors. The second-basement button was lit on one of the elevator displays.
They went to the second basement.
With that thought, the beautiful young woman quickly called another elevator and headed down to the second basement.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened on the second basement. She ran out of the elevator area and stared blankly at the cars parked throughout the vast parking garage, looking quite out of place.
"Where are they?"
The beautiful young woman murmured in bewilderment, lowering her head slightly with a dejected expression. She turned around, intending to go back to Shi Mingqiang and obtain the young man's information and home address.
"Ms. Liu."
A clear voice suddenly rang out behind her.
Her heart jolted. She quickly turned around in excitement and saw Zeng Shen standing alone behind her, looking at her calmly with a faint smile.
It was almost as though he had been waiting there for her.
"Were you looking for me?" Zeng Shen asked with a smile.
Instinctively, the beautiful young woman wanted to deny it.
But as she looked into his eyes, which seemed to see through everything, her intuition told her not to. Otherwise, she would lose her chance to keep talking to him.
For an instant, her lips stilled. Then she nodded.
"Yes. I was looking for you."
"What did you want?"
"I need money."
"If you need money, you can borrow from a bank."
The beautiful young woman smiled bitterly. "They won't lend to me without enough collateral."
"So you want to use this risk indemnity agreement of mine as collateral for a bank loan." Zeng Shen raised his hand and waved the agreement he was holding.
"That's right."
"Sure. Take it."
Back in the elevator area, shortly after the beautiful young woman headed down to the second basement, Shi Mingqiang also took an elevator down.
Although he had not brought in other institutions to share the risk, he still wanted to be cautious and planned to visit an insurance company to insure both pieces of rough jade.
Ding.
He arrived at the second basement.
Shi Mingqiang walked out of the elevator in high spirits.
Only to overhear Zeng Shen's conversation with Ms. Liu.
His face darkened instantly, and his good mood vanished.
That was his entire fortune, painstakingly built over forty years!
"You really want to give it to me?"
Outside the elevator area, the beautiful young woman suspected the young man was joking with her.
"Of course."
"You're not joking?"
"I'm not."
"There's no such thing as a free lunch. What do you want from me?"
"I want to beat you up every day."
"Huh?" The beautiful young woman froze in surprise.
"Hahaha, that part was a joke. Don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously." Zeng Shen laughed heartily. "Actually, I haven't decided yet. Let's add each other on WeChat first. Once I've figured it out tomorrow night, I'll tell you."
"All right." The beautiful young woman nodded and took out her phone. "Should I scan yours, or will you scan mine?"
"I'll scan yours. By the way, what's your name?"
"Liu Miao."
"Liu Miao, as in 'aim'?"
"Miao, the character made of three 'water' characters."
"Thank you so much for being willing to help me with this risk indemnity agreement. Once I get through this crisis, just say the word if you need help with anything," Liu Miao said with complete sincerity.
"Sure." Seeing Liu Miao's sincere expression, Zeng Shen smiled faintly.
To her, this agreement was worth a great deal.
But to him, it was just a scrap of paper.
After all, the cataclysm would strike in a year. And he knew that any random piece taken from his small jade mine could be worth a billion.
His perspective, understanding, and mindset had become completely different from those of ordinary people.
After all, once someone knew that whenever they wanted money, they could have more than they could ever spend.
Most people would subconsciously stop caring much about things that others considered terribly important but that they could simply buy.
And right now, to Zeng Shen, that risk indemnity agreement was less valuable than the vast amounts of survival points he could keep earning from Liu Miao afterward.
Yet most people were still trapped in their old ways of thinking and had not adjusted.
Just like Li Yuqing's uncle, Shi Mingqiang, at this very moment. He could not understand Zeng Shen's actions at all and was gradually retreating into himself.
In the elevator area.
Shi Mingqiang listened to what Zeng Shen said to Liu Miao afterward.
Suddenly, he regretted not bringing his sworn rival upstairs into the deal as well.
That was the company and fortune he had built from nothing!
In his mind, it was like an innocent maiden he had temporarily entrusted to Zeng Shen.
Only for the brat to turn around and sell her.
No.
He had lent her out.
He had been far too hasty.