Chapter 267: Chapter 199: Peerless Jadeite Treasure Exhibition

Although the Jiang Family and the Li Family were distantly related—Jiang Jianguo’s grandaunt had married into the Li Family—it wasn’t Li Xiang’s branch. Besides, that was a long time ago, from Jiang Jianguo’s grandmother’s generation, and the old woman had long since passed away.

Jiang Cai’Er and Li Xiang shared no blood relation whatsoever.

While Jiang Jianguo and Aunt Jiang were chatting quietly in bed, around one in the morning, Jiang Cai’Er secretly snuck out through her window again to meet Li Xiang. It wasn’t convenient during the day, and the night had a better atmosphere anyway.

"My mom talked to me today," Jiang Cai’Er said, her voice brimming with a smile as she nestled in Li Xiang’s arms high up in a tree in the Primeval Forest.

"Oh? What did they say?"

"What else could they say? They agreed, of course."

"That’s great!" Li Xiang was also deeply moved.

"My mom also said that after I finish my college entrance exams, when we have the celebration party, we can hold our engagement ceremony at the same time."

"Then we’ll have to plan it properly. We can’t have it be anything less than grand."

"Mhm."

"How much should the betrothal gift be?" Li Xiang asked.

Jiang Cai’Er replied, "Doesn’t that depend on you? I don’t really want a betrothal gift, but my parents would probably worry about gossip if there wasn’t one."

"How about 18.88 million?" Li Xiang said. He could afford that much. "On top of that, we’ll add a few chests of gold and jadeite, plus a luxury car worth several million. And we’ll buy all the diamond jewelry and everything."

"Sigh..." Jiang Cai’Er suddenly let out a long sigh.

"What’s wrong?"

"Li Xiang, tell me I’m not dreaming, am I? How did I suddenly become an Extraordinary Being, and get so rich? And my grades are so good now?" Jiang Cai’Er gazed at the stars in the sky, feeling like it was all a fantasy.

"Silly girl, of course not." Li Xiang pinched her cheek. "Does that hurt?"

"Mhm, it hurts." Jiang Cai’Er smiled. ’It really isn’t a dream.’

Li Xiang stroked her delicate hand. "Since your parents have agreed, let’s get married and have kids early. After the engagement ceremony, once you reach the legal age, we can have the official wedding."

Jiang Cai’Er said in surprise, "Huh? Does that mean I’ll be having a baby while I’m in college?"

"Yeah. We can rent or buy a place on the Qingbei Campus and have your parents come help with the baby. The child can grow up on a prestigious university campus, attend the affiliated kindergarten, the affiliated elementary school... wouldn’t that be great?"

With Jiang Cai’Er’s abilities, getting a doctorate early and staying on as an associate professor, or even a full professor, wouldn’t be a problem. Having her child attend the affiliated schools would naturally be an expected perk.

Li Xiang had told Jiang Cai’Er before about the coming of the Apocalypse.

If that was the case, then they really did need to have children early.

Because after the Apocalypse arrived, a very young child would be difficult to raise. Moreover, a child born after the Apocalypse would never even see the Sun, which would be too pitiful.

If she got pregnant in three years, the child would still be able to enjoy about five years of beautiful sunshine and peaceful, happy days. For a child’s life, that would be an incredibly precious childhood.

"Li Xiang, don’t tease me. My head is already spinning from all this," Jiang Cai’Er said coquettishly.

"Haha, my head is spinning a bit too." Fantasizing about a future with a wife, a child, and a warm home, Li Xiang also got carried away, hugging the little beauty in his arms even tighter.

’Thinking back, what a miserable life I had in my past life.’

"Oh, but there still isn’t enough time. If it’s like you say, our child probably won’t get to enjoy elementary school."

"It’s fine. We’ll set up a school in the Underground City. With a super genius like you teaching them personally, would we need to worry about their education?"

"That’s true. It’s just a shame they won’t get to enjoy the sun at such a young age."

Li Xiang said with a straight face, "The population will plummet during the Apocalypse. We have to have more children to contribute to the continuation of human civilization."

"You’re so bad~"

Strange, delicate pants and low moans suddenly echoed through the Primeval Forest, causing some of the small animals nearby to peer in that direction.

Both Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er were very self-controlled and naturally did not cross the line.

The next day, Li Xiang delivered two cases of Feitian Maotai, six cartons of fine cigarettes, 80,000 in cash, two pairs of gold bracelets, and two pairs of glass-type imperial green jadeite bracelets to the Jiang Family.

In the past, Jiang Jianguo and Aunt Jiang would have certainly refused, but this time, they accepted everything calmly.

Li Xiang had lunch there, joining Jiang Jianguo for a few drinks.

As for the betrothal gift for the future engagement, Jiang Cai’Er had secretly told her mother about it, which naturally put Jiang Jianguo and his wife at ease. In any case, it was just a formality for the engagement banquet.

Aunt Jiang secretly told Jiang Cai’Er that they wouldn’t keep any of it; it would all be sent along with Jiang Cai’Er as part of her dowry.

When Granny Li Xiang found out, she was also very pleased.

When Jiang Cai’Er visited their home again, the way Granny Li Xiang looked at her was different. It was the look one gives a granddaughter-in-law, and the more she looked, the more she liked her.

Of course, since Jiang Cai’Er was still a student, both the Jiangs and Li Xiang kept a very low profile, not broadcasting the news everywhere to avoid affecting her school life.

When people asked, Jiang Jianguo would even wave his hand dismissively and tell them not to spread rumors.

After a few days of fun, it was time for Jiang Cai’Er to return to school. It was safe to say she had no summer vacation at all. With her senior year of high school just around the corner, what vacation was there to talk about?

At the school gate, Jiang Cai’Er got out of Li Xiang’s car and opened the trunk. A robotic dog leaped out lightly and landed steadily on the ground.

"I’m off, Li Xiang! Don’t you dare go fooling around with other women behind my back," Jiang Cai’Er said. She placed her suitcase on the robotic dog’s back, waved goodbye, and entered the campus with her "dog."

The campus erupted in a commotion.

...

Over at the Jade Processing Factory in Ruili, Li Xiang’s Little Aunt called him almost every day to give him an update.

After much hard work, a continuous stream of jadeite products had begun to be distributed.

Li Xiang also found time to restock the rented warehouse a few times, ensuring his Little Aunt and her team had a sufficient supply of raw stones.

He also inspected the Jade Processing Factory a few times. His Little Aunt was doing a great job there, and even his cousin was learning very diligently.

The only thing was, his cousin’s "old habits died hard." Not long after arriving, he’d already hit it off with a local girl and brought her home.

Li Xiang couldn’t be bothered with such matters, as long as his cousin worked hard. You couldn’t manage someone’s personal life. That was his own skill, anyway.

"Your cousin isn’t really a player," his Little Aunt explained, "Several times, he was serious about getting married, but our family was poor back then. The girls’ parents looked down on us, mother and son, and forced them to break up." As she spoke of this, she couldn’t help but wipe away a tear before smiling. "Now, thanks to you, Xiaoxiang, our lives should get better. We won’t be looked down on anymore."

His Little Aunt was very motivated now. She felt she needed to build up some savings for her son’s future marriage.

To the surprise of their peers in the industry, Li Xiang’s Jade Processing Factory consistently produced top-grade jadeite. Since its opening, they had already created over a hundred pieces of top-grade jadeite jewelry.

The master craftsmen at the factory were thrilled. Items they would rarely encounter once in a blue moon were as common as cabbages here—every cut was a guaranteed success.

However, these top-grade jadeite pieces were difficult to sell in regular, directly-managed stores because ordinary people lacked the purchasing power. Thus, each store would only display one or two pieces as their "crown jewels."

The rest of the top-grade jadeite was sent to Xu Xuan’s auction house to be sold.

It had to be said that Xu Xuan’s channels and connections were incredibly effective. Both Xu Xuan and Zhang Youyou did their utmost to help manage things. So far, they had already auctioned off more than ten pieces of top-grade jadeite. Most sold for prices ranging from over ten million to seventy or eighty million, and one piece even fetched a sky-high price of over two hundred million.

Li Xiang had never done big business in his past or present life, so his foundation and business acumen were actually quite weak. Therefore, Xu Xuan and Zhang Youyou’s help was immense.

But Li Xiang had too much inventory. Just the stock in his system’s warehouse could probably produce several thousand pieces of top-grade jadeite, which would take years to slowly liquidate. And the number of lower-grade pieces was countless, also requiring time to be absorbed by the market.

As for his online livestreaming channel, it mostly sold ordinary jadeite. Although the prices were relatively cheap, the sheer volume meant he still earned a lot of money.

Whenever Li Xiang went to the Jade Processing Factory, He Zhixiang would accompany him; his coffee plantation and hotel were not far from the factory. Under the operation of this coffee merchant, the several directly-managed stores in Yunnan Province were also thriving.

Due to the large quantity of high-quality jadeite, Li Xiang had He Zhixiang and the Jade Processing Factory recruit more reliable security personnel. Referrals from acquaintances were preferred, and veterans were given priority. It was crucial to guarantee the security of the warehouse and local logistics.

The auction house also had a partner security firm, which was one of Xu Xuan’s companies. They would regularly liaise and use an armored vehicle to transport the top-grade jadeite back.

Xu Xuan suggested creating some hype around a sky-high priced jadeite piece.

And so, a meticulously planned and sensational publicity campaign was launched.

In the most luxurious district of Rongcheng City Center, the newly opened "Nine-colored Deer" jadeite store grandly unveiled its "Exhibition of Peerless Jadeite Treasures."

The event had been promoted for a week in advance. On the day of the exhibition, a total of twenty-eight top-grade jadeite pieces, said to be worth a staggering 2.08 billion RMB, arrived at the exhibition hall under the escort of nine fully-armed special forces soldiers.

A number of beautiful hostesses carefully placed the exhibits on the display stands before covering them with tempered glass cases and locking them.

Countless citizens came to spectate, and many news media outlets arrived to report on the event.

"That necklace is actually worth over 300 million? Oh my god, poverty really does limit my imagination."

"The money I’ll earn in my entire life couldn’t even buy a single stone here."

"This kind of thing is just for us to look at. It’s not for sale to people like us."

"Just getting to see it up close is enough for me. It’s breathtaking!"

"But seriously, it’s just so beautiful!"

"If I could get one of the necklaces or bracelets here, I could trade it for so many houses."

Many citizens were busy taking photos and discussing among themselves. Some even tried to touch the priceless jadeite through the glass.

But when Luo Feifei, the popular actress known as "Little Celestial Immortal" and the brand ambassador for "Nine-colored Deer" jadeite, made her appearance, the crowd absolutely erupted.

In truth, Luo Feifei’s schedule was packed, but when Li Xiang asked, she immediately canceled another event and flew over.

Luo Feifei herself was adorned with top-grade jadeite, though her pieces were not part of the exhibition. They were other products from the "Nine-colored Deer" Jade Merchant House.

Of course, these jadeite pieces were too precious to be displayed for long. The exhibition only lasted for half a day before the nine special forces soldiers escorted them via armored vehicle to the auction house’s vault, where they would be auctioned off later.

Thanks to the huge amount of traffic generated by the hype, the auction went very smoothly, and everything was sold out within three days.

When the citizens heard the news, they were stunned!

"Holy crap, over two billion worth of jadeite, and it’s already sold out?"