Who would be sending a letter?
Jiang Ci walked over and took the envelope, turning it over with a puzzled expression to take a look.
The return address was that of a shipping company, and the sender was simply written as “Director Qin.”
It immediately occurred to Jiang Ci that this must be the invitation to the charity gala sent by Qin Yanting.
Third Master Qin had married the only daughter of the Shipping King, and it was said that the entire empire eventually fell into the hands of his granddaughter, Qin Yanting.
However, before she could open it, the foreign oil painting teacher walked in. Jiang Ci had no choice but to tuck the letter into her bag, take her seat, lay out her supplies, and spend the entire morning painting Western-style works alongside her classmates.
“Miss Jiang, we’re heading to the café for sandwiches. Want to come with us?”
“No thanks. I got into an accident yesterday, and the rickshaw puller was hurt pretty badly. I need to go see the doctor to check if he’s going to be okay.”
“Which way are you going?”
As they exited the school gate, Jiang Ci pointed in a direction. One of the girls said, “Perfect, that’s my way too. Let’s walk together, and you can tell us exactly what happened.”
So they decided not to take a carriage and walked side by side for a while.
“So you’re saying the guy was high on opium and out of his mind when he crashed into your rickshaw?”
“Exactly! Looking at his state, he probably didn’t have a penny to his name anyway, so in the end, I just let it go. But you guys have no idea—the horse’s hoof grazed my puller, taking off a huge patch of skin, and even the brand new body of the rickshaw got smashed in.”
As they reached a fork in the road, Jiang Ci waved to the group. “I go this way. See you this afternoon.”
“See you!”
Turning onto the other street, a faint smile played on Jiang Ci’s lips.
The ladies in her class were notorious for gossiping. It wouldn’t be long before they realized the truth about the “accident” was quite different from what she had told them.
Just around the corner was Longchang Jade Shop. As soon as Jiang Ci stepped inside, a shop assistant rushed over with a beaming face.
“Congratulations, Boss! Congratulations!”
Jiang Ci was taken aback. “What nonsense are you talking about? People will think we’re celebrating someone else’s misfortune. How is A-Jin doing?”
“A-Jin is fine!” The clerk quickly corrected himself. “Where did you think my mind was? Those scoundrels getting what they deserve isn’t worth celebrating. It’s something else entirely—”
He walked alongside her, leading her toward the back courtyard. “Yesterday, when A-Jin was brought back covered in blood, the whole shop was in chaos. Nobody paid any attention to that jade slab you brought back. It wasn’t until later, when you mentioned the crash, that Old Ge went to take a look. You should have seen his eyes—they practically popped out! But he wouldn’t tell us why. He just ordered the young masters to polish it immediately…”
Before he could finish, Old Ge emerged from the cutting room and laughed. “Asked you to pass on a message, not to tell a story!”
He turned to Jiang Ci and said bluntly, “Boss, this jade… it’s Dragon Stone Grade!”
“Dragon Stone Grade?”
Jiang Ci repeated the term and walked into the workshop.
A large slab of jade sat on the central table, its surface already roughly polished smooth. She stepped forward, ran her hand over the cool surface, and examined it closely.
Old Ge followed eagerly, unable to contain his excitement. “Dragon Stone Grade is even rarer than Imperial Glass! Glass grade is transparent, sure, but it still has tiny internal flaws or ‘cotton.’ This one? The flaws have completely dissolved into the texture, becoming one with it. Look closely—it looks like egg white, or like lake water under the moonlight. When jade reaches this level, even a colorless piece is worth ten times its weight. And this one… it’s a ‘Spring with Color’ variety!”
Jiang Ci thought to herself, No wonder. With Glass grade, the energy lines are dense like a wall. Even though Dragon Stone is superior, with my X-ray vision, I couldn’t tell the difference at first glance.
But…
“There were so many people at the gambling house. Manager Yu from Jubao Zhai called it Ice grade. Even if they didn’t recognize Dragon Stone, they should have known Glass grade. Why didn’t anyone correct him?”
Old Ge waved his hand. “Color hides the quality. With clear glass jade, you see right through it. But colored jade needs careful inspection to tell Ice from Glass. Nobody wants to offend a big name like Jubao Zhai unless they are 100% sure.”
He picked up a scrap of clear glass jade and held it over a piece of paper with drawings on it. “See? The lines show through clearly.”
Then he placed a purple glass jade cabochon over the same spot. “Same grade, but the purple blocks the light. You have to use other methods. The standard way is to hold it under the sun and look at the reflection—the better the grade, the brighter the shine. This Dragon Stone grade… it has a unique gelatinous glow in sunlight. You really have to see it to believe it.”
“So that means Yu wasn’t sure either?”
“Jubao Zhai handles tons of jade, and Yu has a good eye. He was probably eighty percent sure, so he made that bold offer. But when you didn’t even blink, that confirmed his suspicion. That’s when he got greedy and decided to take it by force.”
Jiang Ci let out a cold laugh. “I never thought even the top jade shop in the city would have such shallow vision. I heard places like that handle millions of dollars worth of stone every year. If they all act like this, Shanghai might as well be called a den of thieves!”
Old Ge shook his head. “It wasn’t just greed. It was pride. You bought the piece they rejected and walked away. In this business, doubling or tripling the value is normal, but ten or twenty times? That’s a scandal. Especially since you found Dragon Stone ‘Spring with Color.’ Once this is cut and polished, your name will be everywhere. And everyone will know that Jubao Zhai let the treasure slip through their fingers. They’d be the laughing stock of the city.”
Jiang Ci looked at him, a thought suddenly striking her. “In my opinion, he didn’t just misjudge the stone. He misjudged the person too.”
Thanks to Manager Yu’s interference, she now knew exactly what she would donate to the charity auction.
***
A few days later.
A vintage silver car pulled up in front of the Richard Hotel.
The chauffeur opened the door. First to step out was Qin Yange, dressed in an elegant ivory suit. Then came Jiang Ci.
Since it was a Western-style event, Jiang Ci wore a silk qipao in the color of neem flowers, trimmed with pearlescent piping and embroidered with white magnolias along the hem, perfectly matching her white knitted shawl.
Two strands of hair were curled back from her temples into a gentle princess style, tied with a lavender ribbon. To add a touch of sparkle, she wore pearl earrings dangling with mint-green tourmalines, and a simple pearl necklace around her neck.
She stepped down in white satin heels embroidered with irises, linking her arm with Qin Yange’s as they walked into the grand lobby.
Qin Yange suppressed a laugh and whispered, “My fault, I forgot to warn you that Tao Yiru makes her heels incredibly thin. Good thing I insisted on picking you up myself, or you might still be struggling to get out of the car!”
“It’s fine, I’ll get used to it after walking a bit.” Jiang Ci looked around. “Who’s here today?”
“Representatives from all three branches of the Qin family. Your father-in-law is coming straight from the office. As for Huai’an… who knows if he’ll show up. The Lu, Zeng, and Liao families are all here. The rest are tycoons and socialites from all over. Too many to list, you’ll see soon enough.”
The event was a mix of reception and auction. Guests would first mingle at the cocktail party, then move to the main hall for the bidding, and finish the night with a ball.
By late afternoon, the venue was already bustling.
In the crowd, Zeng Juemi stood beside Qin Yanchi, dressed in a tuxedo. He couldn’t stop glancing toward Jiang Ci, his expression unreadable.
Over the past few days, he couldn’t get what his subordinate, Cao Mengxuan, had said out of his mind.
“Sir, I don’t know if I was seeing things, but during the crash… I swear the rickshaw was right under the horse’s hooves. But in the blink of an eye, Mrs. Qin was already standing on the street, and somehow the puller and the cart had shifted several feet away to safety.”
Lost in thought, Zeng Juemi barely heard the person talking to him.
The other man teased, “Second Young Master, you look like you’re miles away. Lovesick, perhaps? Which lady has captured your heart?”
Zeng Juemi snapped back to reality and forced a smile, changing the subject abruptly. “Have you guys heard about the strange thing that happened in the city recently?”
“Are you talking about Jubao Zhai?” the man replied. “Honestly, I think they must have messed with the wrong person. I was at the police station yesterday, and they confirmed everything in the newspapers is true. The jade they sold matched exactly the raw stones they bought. They wouldn’t have reported it unless they were forced. Someone powerful must have set them up. Who else could pull off something so perfect?”
Zeng Juemi stared into space, murmuring, “Exactly… who else could do it…”
Qin Yanchi noticed his strange demeanor.
When they were alone, he asked, “What’s wrong with you lately? You look so troubled.”
Zeng Juemi looked at him cautiously. “Ninth Brother… Do you believe there could be two stones that are exactly identical?”
“Completely identical? Probably not. But the workers at the gambling house don’t have photographic memories. If they look seventy or eighty percent similar, it’s easy enough to fool them.” Qin Yanchi paused, then looked sharply at his friend. “Don’t tell me you think… Jiang Ci is behind this?”
Zeng Juemi jumped slightly, looking guilty. He pulled Qin Yanchi into a quiet corner of the garden, checking to make sure no one was listening before whispering, “I’m only telling you this, keep it secret. You know my men were tailing her that day. At first, she was furious and insisted on going to the station. She looked like she would make them pay. But when I arrived, she suddenly said ‘forget it’ and let everyone go. And that very night… Jubao Zhai was hit. Don’t you think that’s…”
It sounded absurd, and normally Qin Yanchi would have laughed it off. But instead, he fell silent. “Why would you suspect her? Maybe she just realized it was useless to fight them.”
“Call it intuition! And don’t be mad, but…” Zeng Juemi hesitated. “The way she smiled that day… it was exactly like the look you get when you’re plotting something. Thinking about it now… it actually gives me the chills.”
***
Meanwhile, inside the ballroom, one of Jiang Ci’s former classmates, Mrs. Pan, spotted her immediately and hurried over.
“Miss Jiang! There you are! I have to tell you something. If I don’t, I’m afraid you’ll be kept in the dark!”