Chapter 29 Grandpa in the Military CompoundLin is off today. Just before noon, Baojia tells Lin to prepare for her first visit to Baojia’s grandpa. There’s still plenty of time, but Lin feels a little nervous.
Lin Luoran doesn’t want to visit Baojia’s grandpa without a gift. In fact, medicines in her mysterious s.p.a.ce are the best gifts for seniors. However, the ginseng is barely “thirty years old” and it would be a waste to pull them out since this kind of good seeds are hard to find.
Lin thinks for a moment and figures out another gift. She asks Baojia to drive to one of Sister w.a.n.g’s stores, in the name of having issues to discuss.
Knowing that Lin and Sister w.a.n.g have always been in contact recently, Baojia does not doubt. After getting off the car, Lin Luoran picks a random jade pendant over 10,000 yuan in the store, instead of going to find w.a.n.g Miao’e.
Minus the operating costs, this small piece of jade pendant is made of real jade, but not so fancy.
The pendant Lin Luoran bought has imperfect color and is made of ordinary material. Nevertheless, the carving craft is nice and it will become a decent gift after she refines it.
Seeing Lin Luoran coming out of the store with a smile, Baojia asks casually, “What did you talk about? You look so cheerful.”
Lin Luoran chuckles, “It’s a secret!”
Having gotten rid of the burden of Li Anping’s tuition fee and living costs, Lin Luoran becomes more confident and sometimes even naughty for she lives a fulfilling and rea.s.suring life now with savings, mysterious s.p.a.ce, work and cultivation.
“Look at yourself…” Seeing that Lin Luoran gets to know more friends, Baojia is happy for her, instead of feeling upset about being ignored.
While Baojia concentrates on driving, Lin Luoran uses the ability of the bead to probe the jade pendant she just bought—As expected, there is only a little bit of Reiki in it!
The bead has become picky. After probing the pendant only contains a little bit of Reiki, the bead puts away its greediness, starting to s.h.i.+ne and absorb Reiki from the jade pendant quite slowly. Looking at its slow action, Lin cannot help feeling that the bead has its own consciousness, which makes it surprisingly smart!
Yet, Lin Luoran isn’t meant to “feed” the bead today. On the contrary, she needs it to give away peaceful Reiki to the pendant. After realizing Lin Luoran’s intention, the bead acts more unwillingly—If it does have consciousness, it will definitely curse its master secretly.
Although made of ordinary material, to Lin’s surprise, the pendant can store much more Reiki than it contains. Instilling a lot of Reiki into the pendant, the bead withdraws its glow and fakes to be dead, no matter how Lin Luoran urges it.
After scolding the cunning bead, Lin Luoran peaks at the jade pendant in her pocket while Baojia is driving, and she is pleased with the result.
Lin Luoran is so concentrated in her refining work that she doesn’t even notice where Baojia is driving to. Until Baojia says “we are here”, Lin Luoran realizes that they are in a quiet compound downtown.
Lin Luoran rolls down the car window and looks at the place they are going to.
Several guards with guns are standing by the gate. Lin Luoran can feel danger from them and she speculates that these guards are real soldiers. Seeing the sign which reads “XX military compound”, Lin quickly realizes where she has arrived at.
“Military district in R City? Baojia, you never told me that your grandpa lives here.” Lin Luoran pops up the question right away.
Baojia blushes, “I’m going to tell you later.”
The guards only do a routine check on Baojia’s pa.s.s since she always comes here. Then they register Lin as a visitor and let them in.
The car goes slowly into the gate. With the car window wide open, a man in sneakers happens to see Lin Luoran’s side face. He is stunned and takes a picture by his cellphone instantly.
The man’s cellphone has an 8-megapixel camera, and the photo shot is very clear. He is so excited that he almost bursts into tears…
“Pal, who is in the car that just went in?” The man tries to cotton up to one of the guards. Seeing the guard looking at him with alert, the man slips away with a hollow laugh.
About a block away from the compound, the man takes out an exquisite character sketch and compares it with the photo he just took. After confirming that they are of the same person, he dials a number and sends the photo out.
The t.i.tle of the message is “I found her”, still, the man is thrilled.
Thinking of the reward Mr. Mu promised, the man feels that his life is going to change. He can’t stop giggling after sending the message, and he is about to drool, just by imaging himself taking an important position.
…
Mu Tiannan, who used to be elegant and charming, is going through a hard time.
He is laughed at by the peers in his family and his friends for being dispatched to manage a small seed company in R City. Besides, he lost the precious ginseng seeds, which makes his “prison term” even longer.
It may be alright if that is all. Since R City is full of beauties, Mu Tiannan is quite satisfied with his easy life of hanging out with cute girls while searching for the lost seeds.
He used to be anxious, then he gives up and starts to indulge himself in pleasure.
But the life only lasts until the birthday of his grandpa. Mu’s father phones him and scolds him as a “black sheep” and “unfilial son”. Then, his father gives orders that he is not allowed to attend his grandpa’s birthday party before finding the seeds. Mu Tiannan finally starts to panic.
It’s not that Mu Tiannan is so filial that he wants to go to his grandpa’s birthday party. His father has suspended all his cards and forbids him from messing with the accounting of the seed company. Therefore, Mu Tiannan’s life becomes a tragedy… He may die for not having girls around, but living on the girls around him is more unbearable.
Mu Tiannan thinks over and over again and realizes that his father has to listen to his grandpa, so he must find a way to please his grandpa. It is well-known that Grandpa Mu loves jade. Hence, Mu Tiannan pulls strings and buys a raw jade stone from Fatty Cui. Besides, he hires a skilled craftsman to carve the stone into a “birthday congratulation from the eight immortals” shape, and keenly asks people to deliver it back home.
Of course, the money used to buy the raw jade stone and hire the craftsman is borrowed from his gloating brothers. And Mu Tiannan signs “IOUs” with extremely high interests.
This concerns his life or death! Mu Tiannan sits by the telephone. According to the message he received early, grandpa has got the gift. Why hasn’t he responded yet?
“Ring…” The telephone in Mu Tiannan’s office rings. The area code is “010”, so the call must come from home. Mu Tiannan is on the brink of laughing out loud, “Heaven will always leave a door open!”
“h.e.l.lo, grandpa…” Before Mu Tiannan even starts to pretend to be an obedient grandson, he is interrupted by Grandpa Mu’s resonant voice.
“Where did you get that jade?” Grandpa Mu asks.
His tone is fiery. Doesn’t grandpa like it? Mu Tiannan wonders. He then tells in terror the entire process about how he gets the jade. Grandpa Mu listens carefully in silence. Just before Mu Tiannan starts to give up, the hearty laughter of his grandpa almost breaks his eardrums,
“Ha-ha, good job! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d have finally done something right! You deserve to be my grandson!”
When was the last time that Mu Tiannan was praised by his grandpa? Perhaps it is when he was nine or ten years old. At once, Mu Tiannan feels like he just ate a ginseng fruit which makes him comfortable from head to toe. He says keenly, “Grandpa, do you like the ‘birthday congratulation from the eight immortals’ decoration I sent you? Ha-ha, only this kind of jade could match my grandpa, ha-ha…”
Grandpa is furious, “‘Birthday congratulation from the eight immortals’? Don’t you know I hate it when people put Ho Hsien-Ku and Lv Dongbin together?!”
Gos.h.!.+ Mu Tiannan forgets that grandpa always considers himself the offspring of Ho Hsien-Ku… Since TV shows make up stories that Ho Hsien-Ku likes Lv Dongbin, Grandpa Mu starts to hate Lv, saying that the guy tarnishes his grandmaster…
Mu Tiannan starts to sweat. So it is possible that grandpa doesn’t like the gift. But why is he so happy? Mu Tiannan feels puzzled.
Grandpa Mu says sonorously, “Tiannan, do you know what kind of jade it is you sent me? It contains pure and peaceful Reiki! I haven’t seen such peaceful Reiki since I was a little boy… The health condition of your Grandpa Guo is stable, thanks to the jade!”
Although Mu Tiannan never cultivates himself, he knows about “Reiki” for he grows up listening to stories about it. Mu Tiannan is aware that Reiki is the thing that strong people like them live by. Only that grandpa always says Reiki is raging and furious across the world, and he doesn’t want the younger generation of the family to endure the hards.h.i.+p of cultivation. This is the first time that Mu Tiannan hears his grandpa using the word “peaceful” to describe Reiki.
Thinking that Grandpa Guo may have a chance to be saved, Mu Tiannan can finally relieve a bit of the guilt of losing the ginseng seeds. “Does it mean that Grandpa Guo can be saved if I keep searching for this kind of jade?”
Grandpa Mu remains silent for a while and says seriously, “If the jade is possessed by normal people, you must buy it with appropriate price and extortion is never allowed! However… I suspect that this jade comes from a high-level cultivator. You should be careful not to offend the person behind.”
After hanging up the phone, Mu Tiannan remembers the original owner of the jade, Fatty Cui, and he becomes speechless. How can a person who likes wearing a luxurious golden necklace be a cultivator?
Just then, his cellphone vibrates. It is a message from an unknown number. He checks the message and becomes pleasantly surprised!
Finally! I got you! The thief that stole my seeds!