A Five-Hundred-Thousand-Yuan Birthday Gift

"May I take a look?"

The old man raised an eyebrow and addressed Zhang Yang. Cheng Hai had been trying to break into the antiques trade for years, so when he saw the old man ask to examine the White Jade Hairpin, he immediately realized there might be something about it he had missed.

"Of course!"

Zhang Yang agreed readily.

"Elder Chu, is there something special about the White Jade Hairpin?"

Cheng Hai knew Elder Chu. Elder Chu had offered him a few pointers before, but the Antiques trade ran deep. Cheng Hai lacked the skill and had suffered setback after setback.

"I don't know yet. Let me take a look first."

In truth, Elder Chu had stepped forward because he had noticed something unusual. Besides, Zhang Yang, who had given the hairpin, had been watching with a confident sneer.

"Please, Elder Chu," Cheng Hai said respectfully.

Only then did Elder Chu take the White Jade Hairpin from the box Zhang Yang held and begin examining it closely.

Elder Chu's full name was Chu Yaotian. He was a well-known figure in Gong City and a guest professor at Gong City University. He had extensive knowledge of Antiques and loved collecting them. Rumor had it that the display shelves in his study were packed with Antiques he had acquired over the years.

Elder Chu studied the hairpin with growing surprise. He kept glancing at Zhang Yang, and he examined the hairpin's pair of wings with particular care.

He even reached into his pocket and took out a handheld magnifying glass.

Watching him, Cheng Hai grew extremely nervous. Yang Su was puzzled too.

Could this White Jade Hairpin really be something special? Was it valuable? Had Zhang Yang found a bargain at the secondhand market?

Elder Chu truly loved Antiques. He even carried a magnifying glass with him.

After a long while, Elder Chu grinned at Zhang Yang. "How did you get hold of this, Zhang Yang?"

"Oh, Elder Chu, I happened upon it on Antique Street. I thought it looked nice, so I bought it." Zhang Yang did not tell him the truth.

"You must have paid quite a bit for it, then?" Elder Chu sized Zhang Yang up. Though he was dressed smartly today in a suit, he did not look like an Antiques expert. At most, he had stumbled upon an incredible bargain.

Zhang Yang grinned. Five hundred thousand yuan was nothing to him now.

"Not much. Just a little!" Zhang Yang replied with a foolish smile.

At that, Cheng Dongyu cut in again. "Ha! As if you could afford to spend much. You're a broke freeloader who needs a woman just to feed you."

Elder Chu shot Cheng Dongyu a sideways glance. It was not his place to interfere in someone else's family affairs, but when he looked back at Zhang Yang, he suddenly found the man's eyes impossibly deep.

"Let me see, let me see..."

Jeweler Ling Juntian pushed through the crowd and headed toward Elder Chu.

"Well, would you sell it to me for five hundred thousand?" Elder Chu wanted to find out what Zhang Yang had paid, but Zhang Yang had not taken the bait. So Elder Chu tried a more direct approach.

"Five hundred thousand? What's worth that much? Let me have a look. No fine piece of jewelry gets past my eyes." By the time Ling Junsheng finished speaking, he had reached Elder Chu.

"Five hundred thousand..."

The crowd was stunned. How could a live-in son-in-law with no job, who even relied on his wife for spending money, afford a five-hundred-thousand-yuan hairpin? Unless the stall owner who sold it to him had been a complete fool.

Cheng Dongyu and Xia Shiying exchanged a look, their brows furrowing. If that was true, the birthday gift they had brought today was not the most expensive—it was the cheapest.

If so, Cheng Dongxue and Xia Shiying's pride would take a serious blow.

Every eye turned to Zhang Yang.

Cheng Dongxue was the first to be surprised. Elder Chu had a keen eye indeed. He had named the exact price Zhang Yang had paid for the hairpin.

"Five hundred thousand? Ha..." Zhang Yang looked at Elder Chu in apparent shock and admiration, then continued, "Elder Chu, you're an authority in this field—certainly among everyone here. But this is a birthday gift for my mother-in-law. I wouldn't sell it for five hundred thousand, or even five million. I hope you understand."

Zhang Yang had been quick on his feet. He had avoided confirming Elder Chu's guess about the price without offending his mother-in-law. Otherwise, the Cheng Family would probably have spent the rest of the banquet tearing him apart.

"Zhang Yang..."

Cheng Dongxue tugged at Zhang Yang's arm, annoyed that he had spoken so absolutely. How could the price possibly reach five million?

"Five hundred thousand?" Yang Su could no longer stay seated. She rose abruptly and came over to inspect the White Jade Hairpin, but she still could not see anything special about it or understand what made it valuable.

"Stop pretending and tell the truth. Did you buy some shoddy thing for fifty yuan and pass it off as a priceless piece of jade?"

Cheng Dongxue felt her desire to outdo the others had been dealt a blow, and her vanity would go unsatisfied. She promptly piled on, mocking Zhang Yang to put more pressure on him.

"How could a freeloader afford a gift that expensive? Even I couldn't."

Xia Shiying suddenly chimed in. "There's no shame in not being able to afford it. Just don't make a clown of yourself by lying. Then it's not only a matter of being poor and useless—it's a matter of character. What good is a man who's both incompetent and dishonest? Divorce him. Cheng Dongxue, divorce him."

Xia Shiying's words were harsh. Perhaps everything that had happened had left him seething.

"Exactly. What good is a man like that? You'd be better off with a big dog," Cheng Dongyu added, completely disregarding her younger sister Cheng Dongxue as she compared Zhang Yang to a dog.

Chu Yaotian and Ling Junsheng glanced at Cheng Dongyu and her husband, shaking their heads.

The onlookers still looked down on Zhang Yang, but someone had clearly lost his temper, and now the talk had turned to divorce.

Some of the guests did have their eye on the beautiful Cheng Dongxue. They could not understand why she had passed over everyone else to choose such a good-for-nothing.

But divorce was a serious matter. Though some thought she ought to leave him, none of them were children, and no one said it aloud.

"You've gone too far. Zhang Yang is your brother-in-law. Who urges her own sister to divorce her husband?" Even Lin Xiaofei could not bear to listen anymore. They sounded less like family than enemies.

Cheng Dongxue's chest rose and fell. She was furious and hurt, with resentment beginning to take hold. Then she turned her gaze on Zhang Yang. It was all because he had failed to make anything of himself that people looked down on her too.

Zhang Yang, by contrast, gave a cold smile.

"Cheng Dongxue, don't let them upset you. They aren't worth it. And I want you to know you didn't make the wrong choice. I'm not the useless man you once thought I was. I promise I'll give you the happiness you want."

Zhang Yang spoke softly to Cheng Dongxue, his warm lips almost brushing her earlobe. A shiver ran through her, and she could not help remembering that they had, in fact, consummated their marriage.