Hearing the estimated auction value, An Feng nearly broke into a victory dance right there in the private room.
He caught himself just in time.
‘This is a serious place, and I’m sitting on a small fortune.
Calm down.’ Still, the number far exceeded what he had hoped for.
He would have been thrilled with twenty million yuan for the two pink diamonds.
The fact that the manager quoted in US dollars made his heart beat faster.
In addition to the two main pink diamonds, An Feng agreed to send the remaining six stones to the United States for exhibition.
It wasn’t just for publicity.
Larger diamonds were risky to carry around.
Letting the professional auction house handle transport felt much safer.
A lawyer was brought in, and An Feng carefully read through the consignment agreement before signing.
The manager, Tony, smiled and asked, “Mr.
An, would you like to travel with the collection?” An Feng shook his head.
“I still have some personal matters to handle back home.
Just keep me updated after the auction.” “No problem.
It should take about a month.
Please keep your phone on,” Tony replied warmly as they shook hands.
An Feng had planned a quick sightseeing day in the capital, but the heavy gray smog and everyone wearing masks quickly killed that idea.
He stayed in the hotel, booked a flight home, and reflected on why he had declined the invitation.
If he wanted to go abroad later, he would need to apply for a passport from his hometown anyway.
His hometown was a quiet southern town.
After landing, he took a crowded minibus for over an hour.
Listening to the familiar local dialect around him brought a wave of warmth he hadn’t felt in years.
‘Been too long since I came back.’ The May weather was hot and sticky.
When the bus arrived, An Feng ignored the motorcycle taxi drivers calling out and walked home.
His family lived in a typical three-story rural house.
No one was there when he arrived.
‘They must be out in the fields.’ He cooked a simple meal—his skills were nothing special—but when his parents returned in the evening, they were shocked to see the door open.
They had thought someone had broken in.
An Feng felt a little embarrassed for not calling ahead, so he quickly changed the subject.
That night he gathered his sister’s family and told them the story he had prepared: he had won a big lottery prize.
He offered to give his parents one million yuan outright, plus money for new furniture and a car.
His parents, honest and frugal as always, insisted on saving most of it.
“The money is for you to enjoy,” An Feng said.
His mother smiled gently.
“We’re doing fine.
Your sister is married, and you’re still young.
Old people like us don’t need much.” An Feng had expected this.
His parents were simple farmers whose biggest wish was for their children to do well.
He also gave his sister’s family five hundred thousand yuan as a no-pressure loan and set aside three hundred thousand yuan for his five-year-old niece, Xiaoyu, for her education and clothes.
Xiaoyu, a lively troublemaker in kindergarten, cheered and tried to kiss her uncle.
His sister laughed and said she would hold the money for her.
“No!
Don’t!” Xiaoyu protested, knowing exactly how “holding money” usually worked.
“Okay, okay,” her mother teased.
“Do you want three hundred thousand yuan or one hundred thousand yuan?” The little girl counted on her fingers and innocently chose “one hundred and five yuan.” The whole family burst out laughing while Xiaoyu looked confused.
An Feng picked her up and grinned.
‘Kids are the best.’ He teased her, “Want to come with uncle to America?
We can go to Disneyland, see the underwater world in San Diego, and ride a hot air balloon over the Grand Canyon.” Xiaoyu immediately became a little traitor and agreed.
An Feng casually mentioned he was planning to visit the United States while he was still young.
The family fully supported the idea—especially since he was currently unemployed and could use a break.
The following days were peaceful.
An Feng helped his father with farm work, loading grain and vegetables onto the small truck for wholesale.
He hadn’t forgotten how to drive the winding mountain roads from his younger days.
As an agriculture graduate, he also helped neighbors with fertilizer questions and crop advice.
One night, while thinking about fertilizers, new information suddenly surfaced from the machine brain.
He got up in the middle of the night and wrote down the formula and steps.
The next morning, testing it in the familiar fields felt natural.
‘My background helps narrow the search.
The machine brain translates much faster when I have context.’ He wondered if the same method could work for man-made diamonds.
After some quick online research on high-pressure and high-temperature techniques, the machine brain rapidly absorbed and organized the information.
In just one day, he became something of a half-expert.
‘This changes things.’ Instead of blindly searching the garbled data, he could study current technology first, build a foundation, then zero in on the advanced stuff.
It turned a needle-in-a-haystack problem into something far more manageable.
He also discovered that current man-made diamond technology could already produce excellent stones.
His own diamonds, however, were likely far beyond anything modern methods could achieve.
‘If I master the future tech, I could produce top-tier stones every few years and auction them in the high-end market.
No need for low-end volume.’ The future process sounded complex—requiring precise high-pressure equipment or advanced 3D printing—but it was still too early for his current machine brain capacity.
He focused instead on the water-soluble fertilizer formula.
After polishing it into a proper paper, he contacted his old college classmate Wang Le.
“Wang Le, you still alive?” A reply came quickly.
“What does the ghost want?” An Feng explained he had a paper on a new water-soluble fertilizer and wanted to pass it to the relevant professors since Wang Le was still on campus.
“You wrote a paper?” Wang Le replied, surprised.
“Send it over.” Half an hour later Wang Le called.
“This is actually pretty good.
Some parts I don’t even fully understand.
I’ll help submit it.” “Thanks, man.
I’ll send you a red envelope after graduation,” An Feng joked.
A few days later, Wang Le called back with less cheerful news.
“It got rejected.” An Feng was confused.
“No one was interested?” “They looked at it.
The problem is… there’s already a big research team here working on the same topic with heavy government funding.
Your version is better, but after spending tens of millions, they can’t admit some random guy’s paper is superior.
It’s not purely about the science.” “Face and connections,” An Feng said, understanding immediately.
“Yeah.” An Feng went quiet for a moment, then thanked his friend.
‘Academic world has its own rules.’ He wasn’t too discouraged.
There were always other paths—private companies or patent sales.
While waiting for his passport, he kept an eye on the jewelry exhibition news.
The two pink diamonds, now named “Gemini,” had created quite a stir.
They were scheduled for auction in New York the following week, with strong interest from serious collectors.
As departure day approached, An Feng felt a mix of excitement and calm.
‘One chapter closing, another about to begin.’