Top-grade Glass-Type Imperial Green Jade?

Morning sunlight filtered through the old window frame and fell across Chen Lin's face.

His eyelids twitched. His eyes flew open, and he sat up in bed.

The first thing he did was reach beneath his pillow for the rusty keys and unlock the creaking drawer of his bedside cabinet.

The milky-white spirit jade bottle.

Two fragments of imperial green jade whose beauty soothed the soul.

All three lay quietly in the dim drawer.

Chen Lin let out a long breath, the tension draining completely from his back.

It wasn't a dream.

It was all real.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked gently on his door.

"Xiao Lin! Breakfast is ready!" His second aunt, Liu Shuqin, called warmly from outside.

"Coming!"

Chen Lin answered, carefully returned his three treasures to the drawer, and made sure to lock it before getting up to dress.

At his second uncle's breakfast table, the millet porridge was thick and golden, served with several small dishes of refreshing pickles and large white steamed buns.

Chen Lin gulped down the porridge. Warmth spread from his stomach, leaving his whole body at ease.

"Sleep all right last night?" Chen Guofu asked casually, picking up some pickles with his chopsticks.

"Great. Nothing beats sleeping in a bed back home." Chen Lin grinned, showing his white teeth.

Liu Shuqin smiled in relief as she watched him. "That's more like it. Smile more. When you came back yesterday, your face was longer than Changbai Mountain."

Chen Guofu and Liu Shuqin exchanged a glance, each seeing reassurance in the other's eyes.

After just one night, the boy had his spirit back.

It seemed the pressure of the big city really had been too much. A little rest back home was all he needed.

After breakfast, Chen Lin told his uncle and aunt, "I'm going out for a walk. It's been ages since I wandered around the village."

"Go on, then. Let me know what you'd like for lunch."

"Anything's fine!"

In high spirits, Chen Lin walked out of the little courtyard.

The morning air in the village carried the fresh scents of earth and plants. Roosters crowed and dogs barked, filling the place with life.

Along the way, he met plenty of familiar villagers, most of them older men who had watched him grow up.

"Oh, Xiao Lin's back?"

"The eldest Chen boy! When did you get back?"

"Doing pretty well for yourself in Magic City, eh?"

Chen Lin answered each of them with a smile, greeting them warmly.

Yesterday, he had felt abandoned by the entire world, his future bleak.

Today, the Myriad Worlds Garbage Transfer Station had given him confidence.

This felt so fucking good!

He wandered around the village for over half an hour. The familiar field ridges and old trees lifted his spirits even further before he turned toward his own house.

As he passed a half-collapsed mud wall, faint mewing caught his attention.

He pushed aside the waist-high weeds and found two tiny bundles of fur beside a broken earthenware pot at the base of the wall.

They were two newborn kittens, their eyes still closed. Their pink noses twitched as they huddled together, trembling, their cries thin and pitiful.

They looked only a few days old, already abandoned by their mother.

Chen Lin's heart melted.

He remembered finding a kitten in middle school. Afraid to bring it home, he had secretly kept it in a derelict house in the village. He hadn't known any better then. After two days of feeding it whole milk, the kitten had gone stiff. He had been heartbroken for a long time afterward.

Only after starting university had he learned that cats were lactose intolerant and could die from drinking milk.

He crouched and cradled the two little creatures in his palms, their warm bodies warming his heart.

Back home, he found a cardboard box, lined it with a few soft old T-shirts, and settled the kittens inside.

I need to get them some goat milk formula.

The village convenience store certainly wouldn't have anything like that.

After a moment's thought, Chen Lin took the two fragments of imperial green jade from the drawer, carefully wrapped them in a tissue, and slipped them into his trouser pocket.

He went over to his second uncle's house.

"Uncle, can I borrow your motorized tricycle? I need to go into the city."

"What for? It's a long way." Chen Guofu was crouched in the courtyard, oiling a handcart.

"To buy a few things."

"Sure. The keys are hanging behind the door. Drive slowly."

Although Yicheng was a second-tier city, its thriving tourism industry had given it a healthy economy. Chen Lin's village was thirty kilometers from the city proper, connected by a newly paved asphalt road that was broad and smooth.

The tricycle rattled and puttered along for an hour before finally reaching the outskirts.

Any farther in, and the traffic police would surely tow the thing away on sight.

Chen Lin hadn't saved much money over the years.

His salary at Changfeng Securities had been good-over twenty thousand yuan a month. Unfortunately, living costs in Magic City were far too high. On top of that, living with Li Wei meant everyday expenses, social obligations, and countless occasions throughout the year when women expected gifts...

He had a paltry thirty thousand yuan left in his account.

What could I do with that?

Chen Lin hailed a Dada ride by the roadside and headed straight for Zhou Xiaofu Jewelry in the city center.

The gleaming, lavish storefront and uniformed sales assistants made everything look polished and glamorous.

"Hello, sir! What would you like to see?" A young sales assistant approached him enthusiastically.

Chen Lin glanced around and said quietly, "Is your manager here? I have something I'd like to discuss with someone who can make decisions."

The young woman paused, but still replied sweetly, "Of course! Please wait a moment!"

Their service certainly left nothing to complain about.

Soon, the crisp, rhythmic tapping of high heels approached.

Click, click, click.

Each step seemed to land in time with a heartbeat.

A short-haired woman in a black business skirt suit walked over. She had a graceful figure and delicate features, and her professional air carried a hint of cool reserve.

Song Qiuya.

What a commanding presence.

The thought crossed Chen Lin's mind.

The woman stopped before him and gave a slight nod, her practiced smile maintaining a professional distance. "Hello, sir. I'm Song Qiuya, the manager of this store. How can I help you?"

Chen Lin met her appraising gaze without a change in expression.

"Do you buy jade?"

A flicker of displeasure passed through Song Qiuya's eyes.

He went to all this trouble to ask for me just to ask that?

She immediately classified Chen Lin as one of those tiresome men who used excuses to strike up a conversation with her. Jewelry stores saw no shortage of them.

Still, her professionalism kept her smiling. "Sir, Zhou Xiaofu does buy jade pieces. Do you have something you'd like to sell? Our purchase prices are among the fairest in the jewelry industry."

"Good."

As he spoke, Chen Lin casually pulled the tissue bundle from his trouser pocket, unwrapped it, and handed over the larger fragment of imperial green jade.

Watching him pull what looked like a "glass shard" from his pocket, Song Qiuya could barely contain her impatience. She was about to ask him to leave.

But the words caught in her throat.

Her professional smile froze instantly.

That green!

That green seemed alive, flowing, capable of drawing a person's very soul into it!

She snatched the fragment from Chen Lin's hand and stood transfixed.

The next second, she looked up sharply, seized Chen Lin's wrist in excitement, and turned toward the VIP room inside.

"Come with me!"

There was even a barely perceptible tremor in her voice!

Every employee in the store stared in disbelief.

What was going on?

Their manager Song, famous for being an "ice queen," was actually holding a man's hand?

And she looked so frantic that she had practically lost her composure?

Murmurs immediately filled the store, countless gossip-hungry gazes following the pair.

Once they entered the VIP room, the door shut, cutting off the noise outside.

Only then did Song Qiuya realize how she had behaved. A blush rose in her cheeks, and she released Chen Lin's wrist as though shocked by electricity.

"I'm sorry, sir... your jade is simply so valuable that I got carried away..."

"It's fine."

Chen Lin waved it off and sat on the sofa, his expression calm. "Manager Song, just call me Chen Lin. Will you buy this piece of imperial green jade?"

Song Qiuya steadied her breathing and forced herself to calm down. "Yes! Of course! But Mr. Chen, please give us a little time. We need to bring in a professional appraiser to assess its quality."

"Of course." Chen Lin nodded.

Half an hour later, the VIP room door was flung open.

An older man with gold-rimmed glasses and graying hair hurried inside. Without even stopping to greet Chen Lin, he asked Song Qiuya urgently, "Where is it? Where's the icy imperial green jade?"

Song Qiuya handed him the fragment.

Only then did she introduce him to Chen Lin. "Mr. Chen, this is Mr. Zhong Wentai, Zhou Xiaofu's chief appraiser for central China."

Zhong Wentai took the fragment. One glance left him looking as though he'd been struck by lightning. His hand trembled, and he nearly dropped it.

"What a waste! What an unforgivable waste!"

He was obsessed with jade. Seeing such exquisite material reduced to a broken fragment pained him beyond measure.

Chen Lin shook his head helplessly. It's not like I was the one who broke it.

Zhong Wentai pulled a powerful flashlight from his pocket, switched it on, and carefully aimed the beam at the fragment.

The light passed through instantly, without the slightest obstruction.

The entire fragment became a pure green source of light, translucent throughout. That rich imperial green filled every corner evenly, its interior so pristine that not a trace of impurity could be seen.

Zhong Wentai's breathing stopped. The hand holding his flashlight began to shake violently. His eyes widened, and his lips trembled as he uttered a few words.

"This isn't ordinary icy jade... this is top-grade... glass-type imperial green jade!"