Work Begins
"Listen to me. When it comes to drinking, you really can't hold your liquor," Second Uncle told Dafa.
"Bullshit. Listen, I won't brag about anything else, but when it comes to drinking, there's nobody in Ye Family Village I'm afraid of," Ye Dafa said.
Ye Huan watched their drinking contest with a smile. He was drinking with his grandfather too, though his grandfather drank slowly. He had been drinking beer and had already put away seven bottles, so he stopped. Feeling as though he could never get drunk was actually pretty unpleasant.
Once his grandfather had finished drinking, Ye Huan took Second Uncle home, then returned, went upstairs, showered, and got into bed. Tonight, he cultivated in the space again. As long as he had time, he never stopped. Seeing his grandfather in action today had given him even more confidence.
He wanted strength. He wanted to grow stronger...
Three days later, all the renovation work on Ye Huan's house was done. The simple repainting and tiling were finished too. Looking at his home, fresh and new, Ye Huan nodded. Now that was more like it.
Living in the countryside didn't mean everything had to be shabby.
Today, the crew went to Bai Jie's housing plot. The foreman had already shown Bai Jie and Ye Huan the plans, and Ye Huan was quite satisfied. Work began today with digging the foundations.
After Bai Jie finished picking vegetables that morning, Ye Huan's mother had her come over. Although she wouldn't need to handle things personally afterward, work was starting today, so she still came to hand out cigarettes and give the workers red envelopes.
Everything afterward was left to Ye Huan. Meanwhile, work had also begun on the mountaintop safe house he had designed. While the tiling was being done at home, the workers who weren't needed there had already come over to work on it. A tiny bedroom with a bathroom was all too simple.
In three days, it was already nearly ready for the roof. Today, the construction company's boss happened to be delivering materials for Bai Jie's house, so he also brought over the thick steel bars, tempered-glass windows, and skylight for Ye Huan's safe house. Once those were installed, the only troublesome part would be the roof that could open automatically. Ye Huan's design would let him gaze at a sky full of stars.
At the site he had chosen at the foot of the mountain, the pigpen, cattle pen, and chicken coop had also been built, all in brick and stone. Ye Huan's father's cousin, Ye Dajun, who ranked thirteenth in the family, and Sixteenth Grandpa, who was in charge of the chickens and ducks, had already started work too.
Neither of their homes was far from here. Ye Huan had no intention of making them eat and sleep on the mountain. They only needed to close the doors to the pigpen, cattle pen, chicken coop, and duck shelter every evening.
It was only simple work for 3,500 yuan a month. Expecting people to sell themselves to you for that was hardly realistic. Ye Huan wasn't a capitalist; there was no need for that at all. Once these animals were sold, he also planned to give his uncle and grandpa a big red envelope each every quarter as a bonus.
After he finished talking with the boss, work officially began on Bai Jie's house, leaving Ye Huan with nothing else to do. On his way home, he received a WeChat message from Ye Yingying.
"I showed that photo you gave me to a friend. Her family is in the jade and jewelry business. She wants to know if it's yours. She'll buy it for 80 million."
"It's mine. That price?" Ye Huan was a little stunned. He had thought this piece of glass-grade imperial green jadeite would be valuable, but he hadn't expected it to be worth this much. Eighty million? What the hell did that even mean? He could just lie flat.
"Oh, my friend said that if you want to auction it, it'll definitely fetch a bit more in the current market, but after the fees, the difference probably won't be much. You'd also have to wait at least three months or so. She said she can introduce you to the biggest auction house in the country if you want to go that route." Ye Yingying thought Ye Huan felt the price was too low.
"Oh, there's no need for that. I just didn't expect this lousy rock to be worth so much," Ye Huan hurriedly replied.
"A lousy rock?" Ye Yingying suspected Ye Huan was showing off, but she had no proof.
"If you're willing to sell, she'll be in your county town tomorrow morning. Do you have time to make the trip? Payment and goods exchanged on the spot."
"Sure. I've got nothing much on tomorrow," Ye Huan replied.
"All right, I'll share your WeChat with her, and you two can talk. Don't worry, her family's jewelry business is a big company. If you're still worried, you can ask around before replying to her," Ye Yingying told him.
"Okay, thank you." Ye Huan nodded. This price differed quite a bit from what he had found in his research over the past few days. It was considerably higher than the figures he had looked up.
Presumably, that was because high-end jadeite rough was so scarce now. So much gambling-stone rough was cut open every year, but apparently glass-grade jadeite was extremely, extremely rare, especially in the past two years. As a result, whenever a piece appeared, people fought madly over it, driving the price sky-high.
Ye Huan's piece was completely outside the market, and Ye Yingying had helped inquire about it herself, so this young heiress had offered a very high price. First, there was Ye Yingying's face to consider. If she learned that someone had lowballed her friend's jade, she certainly wouldn't be happy. A friend who knew Ye Yingying's background wouldn't do that. The loss would outweigh the gain.
Second, with current jadeite prices, asking a few major jewelry firms would give him a rough idea of its value. There was no need for her to create so many competitors for herself.
Quietly securing this fine piece of rough was the way to go. Wouldn't it be better to astonish everyone when the finished pieces emerged?
Soon, Ye Huan saw a friend request from someone with a beautiful woman's profile picture and the screen name Brilliant Starlight.
"Hello, is this Mr. Ye Huan?"
"That's me. Are you Miss Zhou?" Ye Huan replied.
"Yes, hello. I'll wait for you at Maokong Coffee House beside China Construction Bank in Ping'an County town at ten tomorrow morning. Would that work?" It seemed she had already done her homework.
"That works. See you tomorrow," Ye Huan agreed.
"Great, thank you, Mr. Ye. Also, please bring your ID card and bank card," Miss Zhou said.
Ye Huan replied with an OK hand gesture and ended the conversation.
After returning home, he told his grandfather about it. His grandfather nodded in acknowledgment, then said, "You have to pay tax on that, don't you?"
"Of course. Twenty percent personal income tax. Sixteen million." Just thinking about it hurt. Since when could I pay this much tax? The tax bill alone was a figure he would never even have dared imagine before.
"It's a windfall. There's nothing to regret." His grandfather took it in stride. "Give me five million when you get back."
Ye Huan nodded. He knew this was money his grandfather would later give his aunt's family. Although it wasn't much, it was a gesture from his grandfather, and Ye Huan had no objections. His grandfather already doted on him enough.
"Also, don't tell your parents about this. I'm afraid they won't be able to handle it," his grandfather said.
"Uh... all right." Thinking about it, Ye Huan agreed and nodded to his grandfather. He would dare give his parents a few million, but too much would become a heavy burden on their minds.
And with those oddballs on his maternal grandmother's side of the family, heh... So he felt his grandfather had thought of that too and secretly gave him a thumbs-up. His grandfather smiled faintly.
Word simply hadn't spread yet that Ye Huan's family was growing vegetables that sold for thirty yuan a jin. If those people on his maternal grandmother's side found out, just watch-his mother would have another headache. The thought alone made Ye Huan's scalp prickle. He had no idea how his mother had managed all these years.