Chapter 252: Jadeite

But when Yun Jiao spoke up, everyone’s gaze fell back on Wang Qiang, who was being held down.

Wang Qiang’s expression was vicious. "You bitch, you dare betray me!"

The woman averted her eyes guiltily. Although she was quite fond of the strong and sturdy Wang Qiang, she wanted a life of wealth even more.

Clearly, Wang Qiang couldn’t satisfy her material desires.

Ah Cai might be a bit of a pushover, but he was a grade-six fitter, after all. His monthly salary wasn’t small, and he even had this apartment assigned to him.

Wang Qiang sneered. "Zhao Cai, I’ve slept with this bitch plenty of times. You don’t still want to spend your life with her, do you? Ha, you probably don’t know, but I was with her even before you two met. In fact, I was the one who told her to get close to you."

"You son of a bitch, you’re just a fucking idiot! Why does someone like you get a good job? We’re brothers! Couldn’t you just give me some money when you saw me suffering? Ptooey... What kind of damn brother are you? You never gave a damn about me!"

He was just jealous. The two had grown up together. Zhao Cai’s entire family was gone; he had been raised by his grandmother, but she passed away when he was twelve.

A poor, pitiful wretch who used to follow him around like a puppy back in the village.

But later, for some reason, an old fitter took a liking to Zhao Cai and accepted him as an apprentice. The next time they met, one had a job and an apartment, a promising young man in everyone’s eyes.

The other was still loafing around the village, thoroughly disliked by the villagers. The disparity made the already petty Wang Qiang wish he could snatch away everything Zhao Cai had.

That was what led to him setting up this scheme for Zhao Cai.

Who would have thought that idiot Zhao Cai would actually fall for that bitch?

The crowd of onlookers was stunned by his shamelessness.

’Seriously? Just because you’re brothers means he has to support you?’

"What’s with your judgment? What kind of brother and girlfriend did you find?"

The unlucky Zhao Cai wore a bitter smile.

"We grew up together. We’re from the same village."

"You grew up with him and still couldn’t see what kind of person he was? Your brain really doesn’t work right."

In the end, Zhao Cai insisted that they pay back the money.

After this whole ordeal, no matter how much Zhao Cai liked his girlfriend, he knew she wasn’t someone he could marry.

Figuring it was better to rip the bandage off quickly, he became a blubbering mess and took the two, who couldn’t produce the money, to the police station.

Everyone gave him a thumbs-up.

"My heart hurts so much. I think I need to see Doctor Xu."

Yun Jiao, who had tagged along: ...

Following him back to the clinic, Yun Jiao greeted her master, then went back to watching them treat patients.

As for Zhao Cai, Elder Xu gave him acupuncture to relieve his pent-up frustration and then prescribed some medicine to help his body recuperate.

"Maybe you should just find another girlfriend."

Zhao Cai was completely dejected. "I’ll see."

After Zhao Cai left, Yun Jiao’s senior brother and sister immediately called her over.

"Jiaojiao, hurry and tell us! What happened? Did you guys catch them?"

Second Senior Sister had a gossipy look on her face.

Fourth Senior Brother also perked up his ears.

Elder Xu was in the middle of treating a patient. He just shot them a glare before getting back to work.

Yun Jiao sat on a small stool and, although slowly, described what had happened with those people.

It’s just that her telling of it lacked the exciting ups and downs of a good story.

Second Senior Sister said with a hint of disdain, "Your storytelling skills aren’t very good."

They turned to listen to others tell the story instead.

The cacophony of voices was much more lively than Yun Jiao’s account.

It was getting a little late, so Yun Jiao decided to just stay the night at the clinic.

The next day, after having breakfast, she went out for a walk to buy some more, and only then did she realize that word of what had happened to Zhao Cai yesterday had already spread to so many people in such a short time.

She even heard people discussing it while she was buying soy milk and fried dough sticks.

’You really can’t underestimate people’s love for gossip.’

"Master, I’m heading back."

"Can you make it on your own? Have your senior brother take you back."

Yun Jiao, full from her meal, let out a small burp and patted her chest, guaranteeing with great confidence.

"Don’t worry, I’ll be totally fine."

After saying that, she slung on her small bag, said goodbye to her master, and ran outside.

Elder Xu was giving acupuncture to an old acquaintance and didn’t have time to stop her. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

"Fourth, go see where that little girl ran off to. How can someone so tiny be so bold?"

Song Chengyou went out to look for her but quickly returned, looking dejected.

"I couldn’t find her. That girl runs way too fast."

Elder Xu sighed.

Meanwhile, Yun Jiao didn’t head straight back. Instead, with her small backpack on, she went and bought a stick of tanghulu.

The hawthorns were quite large; one stick of tanghulu was enough to hide the lower half of her small face.

Licking the sugar coating off the tanghulu, she wandered around aimlessly. Her main goal was to simply go wherever her feet took her.

As she passed a bicycle shop, she was suddenly drawn to something small inside. Without hesitation, she lifted her short little legs and toddled in.

When she came out again, Yun Jiao had the tanghulu stick dangling from her mouth and was riding a small, tricycle-style bicycle, her short legs pedaling furiously.

"DING DING DING..."

She would flick the little bell on the front from time to time.

The sight of this tiny person riding a bicycle and zipping around the street attracted quite a few stares.

The children, in particular, looked on with envy and longing.

’They wanted one too!’

Yun Jiao rode her little bicycle, ding-ding-dinging all the way, boredly chasing a stray dog into a deserted alley.

But after passing through the alley, she found a whole other world inside.

Behind the alley was an open-air market. The stray dog had vanished somewhere, but she didn’t care. She just rode her little bike in a slow loop around the marketplace.

The market wasn’t very crowded at the moment, neither with sellers nor buyers.

Many of them looked like they were selling what people called antiques.

Following her intuition, Yun Jiao stopped in front of an old man’s stall.

In front of the old man, a clean, old, floral-patterned cloth was spread on the ground. Resting on the cloth was a pair of bracelets—Jadeite bracelets.

Yun Jiao got off her little bike and squatted down.

"Little one, how did you get here? Where are your parents?"

Yun Jiao stared at the pair of bracelets. "Pretty."

The old man’s lips curved upward. "Yes, they are. This pair of bracelets is ice-grade. Not only is the translucency excellent, but the key is this purple—it’s a pure blue-violet. Most importantly, they’re a pair, which is very rare..."

The old man didn’t seem to care that he was talking to a child. He spoke eloquently about the Jadeite bracelets, and it was clear he knew a lot about Jadeite.

"It’s a pity."

At the end of his speech, he sighed, carefully picking up the pair of bracelets and wiping them again and again with a clean handkerchief.

"If my family weren’t in urgent need of money right now, I wouldn’t be willing to sell this pair."

’Yun Jiao really liked them too!’

She had been drawn to this pair of bracelets at first sight.

’Such a beautiful color, such beautiful stones.’

’They’re even prettier than a lot of other gems.’

"So, Grandpa, how much are you selling them for?"

The old man smiled and said, "These? For the pair, I won’t sell for less than a hundred thousand."

A single one wouldn’t be that expensive. At current market prices, one would be over twenty thousand, thirty thousand at the absolute most.

But a matching pair of ice-grade, blue-violet Jadeite was incredibly rare. A hundred thousand wasn’t an exorbitant price, but very, very few people could afford it.

Yet, the old man would be unwilling to sell them for less than a hundred thousand.