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"Wonderful. Simply wonderful." Su Yan grinned, coldness and resentment flickering through his eyes before vanishing in an instant.

"Heh heh, the rebirth was a success. When will you begin doing what you promised me?"

Su Yan fished around in his pants, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and lay half-reclined on the fresh grass. Only after a long while did he say, "Tell me exactly what you want me to do. Since I've already promised you, I won't go back on my word. Any price is fine."

The Red Mist churned excitedly, its laughter growing even more unrestrained. "Heh heh heh heh, this cave abode has now been consumed by the Red Mist by more than half. Fortunately, the spirit spring remains intact. What you need to do is increase the spiritual energy here until it completely destroys the Red Mist..."

Su Yan quietly listened as that wild voice rambled on. It did not stop until two hours later, by which point Su Yan had basically understood his task.

Su Yan dusted off his backside and got to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he said, "The air here is spiritual energy? It's really clean. Stay here long enough, and it feels like I'll be purified. Fine, I'll go do the first thing you told me to do now."

Su Yan left the cave abode and went out with the bank card his father had left behind.

The first thing Su Yan did was buy a cellphone. He was fifteen this year and would enter high school on September 1. In his previous life, only a few people in his high school class had cellphones. At the very least, he had not had one, only buying one after he got to university. Back then, he had not dared spend the money his parents left him carelessly. He had simply hoped that one day they would return.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar streets, Su Yan was slightly dazed.

Over there was still a row of short, rundown buildings, but in a few years, it would become the busiest pedestrian street.

And over there, commercial housing would eventually stand in rows. Ordinary people could work their whole lives and still never hope to live there.

This and that, here and there—everything would ultimately be replaced by time.

Su Yan stood blankly in the sweltering street as people and vehicles streamed past. He had truly been reborn, reborn at the age of fifteen.

He hailed a taxi, and Su Yan headed straight for the jade market.

Across both his lives, Su Yan had never handled jade. He knew absolutely nothing about it.

This was also the first time he had seen what C City's jade market looked like.

Su Yan curled his lip and scanned the various jade items around him. Just looking at the prices killed his interest.

Some shops looked respectable, while others were no different from roadside stalls. To Su Yan, all the jade pieces looked much the same.

A familiar voice echoed in his mind. "Go forward and turn left. There's something with a decent scent there."

It was a respectable jade shop. Seeing that the person entering was just a teenage kid, the owner continued reading his magazine without so much as a grunt.

Su Yan walked directly to the designated jade item. Through the glass, he saw the tiny jade cigarette holder and its price tag with all those zeroes. "Boss, what's the lowest price you can offer for this jade cigarette holder?"

Without even raising his head, the owner said, "The lowest price is the listed price. Six hundred thousand."

Su Yan turned around and walked out. The voice in his mind cackled, "Yan Yan, you're being disobedient. That jade is very good. Why didn't you buy it for me?"

Su Yan smiled. "Even if you sold me right now, I wouldn't be worth six hundred thousand. I don't have the money."

"No money? You still want money for something I've taken a liking to? Couldn't you just smash the glass and rob the place?"

Su Yan chuckled. "I never said being reborn meant I had to become a robber. Be patient. We'll think of something slowly. Hurry up and point out whether there's any other jade that feels good. Preferably cheap stall goods."

The voice said listlessly, "Go forward. Keep going forward. Good, right here."

Su Yan took one look at the storefront. It was so shabby that he immediately entered with a beaming smile and pointed at an inconspicuous little single-fish jade carving. "Boss, how much for this?"

"Five thousand, and you can take it."

"This jade looks fake at a glance, and you're still asking five thousand? Will you sell it for two thousand?"

"No."

Su Yan shrugged. "Forget it, then." He turned to leave.

"Hey, hey, hey! Why are you such an impatient little brat? Two thousand, then. I'm selling it to you at a loss."

That tiny thing, no bigger than two fingertips, still cost two thousand. Su Yan got into the taxi unhappily as the voice nagged, "That jade is far inferior to that cigarette holder. Hurry up and find a way to get it back for me."

Su Yan laughed. "Sorry, but when I was reborn, I forgot to memorize the lottery numbers, and I don't know anything about stocks. There's really no sign of your six hundred thousand."

"Is six hundred thousand a lot?"

"It's a lot to me. These days, if a family has six hundred thousand in spare cash, they can be considered millionaires."

"How much spare money do you have?"

"The two elders left behind three hundred and fifty thousand, and that rundown house is probably worth another hundred-something thousand."

"Heh heh heh heh, you're really poor."

Su Yan then went to the flower and bird market. The so-called flower and bird market was a place that sold living things.

There were very few customers at the flower and bird market on that scorching afternoon. Su Yan moved through it, buying two or three thousand yuan worth of flower and grass seeds, along with birds. Then he went to the agricultural market to buy vegetable seeds, fish fry, earthworms, crabs, and shrimp. His final stop was the pet market. Dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits, snakes, insects, rats, ants—he bought every living thing he could think of and put them into the cave abode.

By the time he finished and returned home, it was already dark. Su Yan was so tired he did not want to move at all. He crawled into the cave abode, lay down on the grass, and fell into a deep sleep.

He slept until he woke naturally. Looking at the vastly changed cave abode before him, Su Yan was slightly surprised. "You finished it so quickly?"