He returned to the car with Shang Ni'en. The driver had yet to arrive, leaving just the two of them inside.
Shang Ni'en took the opportunity to voice her suspicion. "Qu Bao, you actually knew what was inside that stone, didn't you?"
Whenever no one else was around, Shang Ni'en would keep calling him Qu Bao. If she hadn't really been three years older than him, he would have found it rather hard to accept.
Shang Ni'en had just done him a huge favor, so Qu Nanzhu had no intention of hiding it.
"Yes. These jades take hundreds or thousands of years to form. Every valuable piece of jade is a natural reservoir of Spiritual Qi."
Shang Ni'en suddenly found this familiar, rather like something out of a novel. She picked up where he left off. "So the better the jade, the more Spiritual Qi it contains!"
Qu Nanzhu said, "Exactly, but I can only roughly tell how much Spiritual Qi is inside. I don't know the jade's size or shape."
Shang Ni'en griped, "Being able to see it at all is already heaven-defying, okay!"
Qu Nanzhu chuckled. "Are you angry?"
Shang Ni'en said, "What would I be angry about?"
"This counts as taking a shortcut, doesn't it? You just said it would be worth two hundred million if we cut it all open," Qu Nanzhu said, watching her expression.
Shang Ni'en fell silent for a moment before asking, "Be honest. Did you pick out the best piece I had?"
The thoroughly honest Qu Nanzhu replied, "I picked the one with the most Spiritual Qi."
How was that any different from what she'd said?!
Two hundred million had just been her price for a friend! If it really was such a huge piece of imperial green jadeite, it could sell for billions, okay?!
Seeing Shang Ni'en wrestling with this, Qu Nanzhu took a folded protection talisman out of his canvas bag.
Shang Ni'en looked at the yellow triangle that appeared before her and took it.
"What's this?"
Qu Nanzhu said, "A protection talisman. It keeps you safe."
Shang Ni'en instinctively took it for the sort of fake sold at tourist attractions, but then she remembered that this was from Qu Nanzhu. Qu Nanzhu was a master who could even command little paper figures!
At that thought, she gripped it tightly and blinked at him. "Is there anything special about it?"
Qu Nanzhu said, "It keeps you safe." Before the light in Shang Ni'en's eyes could completely fade, he added, "It can save your life."
Shang Ni'en said, "Really?!" Something that could save your life at a critical moment mattered more than anything else, okay!
Qu Nanzhu stressed, "But only once."
Shang Ni'en carefully put it away like a treasure and thanked him solemnly. "Once is enough. Thank you. For people like us, our lives matter most."
She would give the talisman to her dad when she got back. She came from a single-parent family; her mother had died when she was three.
Afraid she would suffer from a lack of motherly love, her dad had always stretched his time to cover two roles, managing an enormous company while also spending as much time with his child as possible.
That was why Shang Ni'en had never felt she lacked love. On the contrary, she had lots and lots of it.
The two had lunch together, and Qu Nanzhu picked a hotel at random and stayed the night.
At noon the next day, he received a message from the processing factory saying the stone had been cut as requested and asking when he would have time to collect it.
At one that afternoon, Qu Nanzhu collected the rough jadeite. In both appearance and texture, it was top-grade imperial green jadeite, and everyone around looked on covetously.
Without lingering, Qu Nanzhu booked a flight back to S City that afternoon. The jadeite was shipped as a valuable and would arrive the following morning.
Qu Nanzhu had it addressed to the shop that had made his safety pendants last time.
The young shop assistant was delighted when she received his message saying he would be sending over a piece of rough jadeite, but the photo he sent left her dumbfounded.
She coveted such a huge piece of rough imperial green jadeite, but she didn't dare sign for it. Trembling, she tapped the manager's profile picture and explained everything.
The manager only replied half an hour later, asking him to confirm whether it was real.
The young woman replied cautiously, explaining that it was the customer who had commissioned the bracelet last time, and forwarded their chat history.
Qu Nanzhu's request was the same as before: make a jade carving the size of a human infant, with everything else left to the shop.
The manager replied: [We'll discuss everything once it arrives tomorrow.]
The young woman replied with an okay. She was destined to get no sleep that night.
At eight that evening, Qu Nanzhu started his livestream in his pajamas. Since it was a little chilly, he had draped a blanket over his shoulders.
As soon as the stream began, over three hundred thousand people flooded in.
[Good evening, streamer]
[Eveninggg]
[Waaah, baby, I haven't seen you for a day and I miss you so much]
[Is baby wearing pajamas? Hehe, he really doesn't treat us like strangers]
[Isn't that a good thing? Baby looks so sweet in pajamas]
[Hehehe, such pale collarbones, I want to lick them]
"Good evening." Ignoring the lewd comments, Qu Nanzhu enabled the call-in feature as he said, "I just got back from out of town, and I'm a little tired. Let's get straight to it."
The fans were frantic. They wanted to ask what their beloved streamer had been doing today, but also had to fight a bunch of lunatics for a chance to call in. They wished they could grow eight hands.
The first to get through was a young woman. When she saw that she had successfully connected, she grabbed her friend's hands and squealed with delight.
Her friend reminded her to hurry up and greet the master. The girl nodded vigorously, sent three thousand yuan in gifts, and introduced herself.
"Hello, Master. My surname is Zhong, and I'm twenty this year."
Qu Nanzhu murmured an acknowledgment. "Hello, Miss Zhong. What would you like a reading on?"
Zhong Mianyi said, "Well, here's the thing. In two months, I'm going to Country Y to see my idol's concert, but public safety over there is really bad, and I'm a little scared. But I can't bear to give up the ticket I worked so hard to get, either, so I wanted to ask whether I can go."
[I know, that male celebrity overseas, right?]
[Public safety in Country Y is kind of... Actually, does that place even have public safety?]
[I've seen who knows how many crime stories about that place. These celebrity chasers are too much. If something really happens, won't the country have to step in?]
[I support your freedom to follow celebrities, but love yourself before loving someone else]
[Everyone who loves you tells you not to go. Only those who don't love you tell you to charge ahead for love]
Reading the reproachful comments, Zhong Mianyi's spirits instantly sank. She badly wanted to argue that it wasn't like that. Their love was nothing to be ashamed of, and the person they loved deserved everything they gave.
Seeing her press her lips together dejectedly, Qu Nanzhu made no attempt to comfort her. Instead, he tapped his fingers on the desk. "Lift your head. Let me take a look."
Zhong Mianyi raised her head, her eyes red.
Qu Nanzhu went straight to the point. "If I tell you not to go, will you stay?"
Zhong Mianyi hadn't expected this outcome and couldn't hold back her tears. Her friend immediately comforted her and explained to Qu Nanzhu, "Sorry, Master. She just loves that idol too much. I thought it was too dangerous for her to go alone, so I told her to try calling in."
Qu Nanzhu didn't mind. Instead, he praised her. "You're right. You care a lot about your friend, but she doesn't seem to appreciate it."
Her friend said nothing.
That was indeed the case. Not only she but Zhong Mianyi's parents had vehemently opposed her going to Country Y as a girl on her own, but Zhong Mianyi wouldn't listen.
She had stubbornly talked back. "I told you I'm not going alone! There are several of us going together! And the organizers said they'd keep us safe!"
Her parents had been so angry that they kicked her out of the house.
That was why she was still staying at her friend's place.
Her friend knew she couldn't talk her out of it, so she had come to Qu Nanzhu's livestream to try her luck.
When they told her not to go, it was advice given out of concern for her safety. But if Qu Nanzhu said she couldn't go, that meant something would definitely happen if she went.