Tang Xiu disliked Yang Hui"s att.i.tude and was even disgusted with the way Qi Changxing pursued girls, especially due to him pursuing such an impolite girl. Still, he lamented that the world was indeed so small—to think that he would b.u.mp into his old acquaintance Qi Changxing right as he came to visit Hong Kong again.

"You…"

Just as Qi Changxing spoke, he clearly saw Tang Xiu"s face. The words he was about to say were swallowed in a flash while even his legs s.h.i.+vered.

"This fiend… the evil star?!!"

Regrets and remorse filled Qi Changxin"s whole being. He never once dreamed that the man would be his evil star, Tang Xiu. What frightened him the most was that he just gently kicked this very fiend.

"What"s wrong with me? You don"t like my answer?" asked Tang Xiu coldly, "Or do you think your kick at me was too light or something?"

Qi Changxing instantly s.h.i.+vered inside. If it wasn"t for him being in front of his G.o.ddess, he could"ve knelt and pleaded for Tang Xiu"s forgiveness. He squeezed out a difficult smile to make a respectful face, then bowed and said, "This Changxing dares not harbor such dislike towards you, Mr. Tang. I wouldn"t have dared kick you if I was able to recognize you just now; not even if I were to be bestowed 10,000x more courage! Please don"t stoop to my level of ignorance."

"Sigh. How come you always have such a short memory?" Tang Xiu shook his head and sighed, "Was the lesson before too light?"

"I"ve never done anything outrageous ever since you previously left Hong Kong, Mr. Tang," replied Qi Changxing bitterly. "It"s just that I like Little Hui, so I just wanted to show her… well, a good impression."

Tang Xiu actually knew about his idea, but it didn"t mean that he approved his means of picking up girls, so he lightly said, "You don"t need to rely on material means, nor money, to pursue girls. What you need is love, to be each other"s suns.h.i.+ne. Only a couple who loves each other can stand the test of time and spend their lives together. You better try your best this way."

Having said that, Tang Xiu no longer wanted to get in contact with Qi Changxing again, so he just shut his eyes and waited for Hao Lei to arrive.

Yang Hui observed Tang Xiu with a weird yet curious expression and occasionally gazed at Qi Changxing who looked scared yet respectful. She suddenly became curious about this handsome young man whose deeds and words looked very mature. She knew Qi Changxing"s ident.i.ty, so the person he treated with fear and respect was definitely someone with an extraordinary background.

"Who exactly are you?" Yang Hui couldn"t help but ask.

Tang Xiu didn"t reply; he was even too lazy to speak with her. His actions, however, made the pretty staff member at the side quite surprised. The way she looked at Tang Xiu now was different than before. Even the two big men standing next to the elevator door glanced at each other with confused expressions.

Shwoomp! Swis.h.!.+

The elevator door slowly opened and Hao Lei came rus.h.i.+ng out. Her eyes swept over from Qi Changxing and Yang Hui before finally landing on Tang Xiu. She paced forward and then respectfully called out, "Why did you come here, Boss?"

Tang Xiu opened his eyes, then stood up and replied, "Well, I was looking for you to deal with something. It just happened that I pa.s.sed through Hong Kong and was having a stroll, so I came here. But, I had to call you here to get me a work card. I tried to come up but got shut out."

Hao Lei abruptly turned around and glared at the pretty lady at the counter before shouting harshly, "He"s the Big Boss of our Grand Fortune Jewelry. Did you just shut him out?"

The beauty"s pupils contracted while all the fine hairs on her body stood on end. She was both shocked and scared, so she hastily replied, "I-I am sorry… I didn"t know that you were our Big Boss."

"Don"t mind it. I can"t blame you since you don"t know me and your duty is to stop people who aren"t employees." Tang Xiu then waved and said, "Hao Lei, you don"t need to blame her either. Well, alright then. Let"s find a quiet place to talk about some matters."

Hao Lei quickly nodded and no longer paid attention to the pretty employee. She walked Tang Xiu into the elevator and then pressed the b.u.t.ton for the 33rd-floor. As the elevator rose, Tang Xiu asked, "How"s the business of Grand Fortune Jewelry recently? Got any troubles?"

"Our business is quite good as of late," answered Hao Lei. "But the sales volume has been reduced by 20% compared to the first two quarters of last year. It has nothing to do with our funds, gold, or silver, it"s mainly because…"

"What"s the chief reason?" interjected Tang Xiu.

"I have yet to figure out the specific cause, but there has been a sudden large-scale acquisition of raw jade by domestic forces. This has led to the scarcity of jade raw materials on the market," explained Hao Lei with a forced a smile. "We originally had our own supply channels, but the sudden skyrocket in price recently significantly decreased the number we can purchase, resulting in us having a low stock. Shortly put, the price increase greatly affects the sales volume."

Tang Xiu grinned since he naturally knew which force in the country would want to buy jade raw materials in the dark. Yet, he never thought that the price of raw jade would skyrocket due to this reason and even impact his own business.

"Is it only our Grand Fortune Jewelry"s business that got affected? Or…"

"It"s not just us. All the major jewelry businesses in the country were impacted," answered Hao Lei quickly. "There have been businesspersons in the jade business who are now regretting not stockpiling raw jade materials."

"Since everyone is affected, it"s not because of the internal problems of our Grand Fortuned Jewelry," said Tang Xiu with satisfaction. "You have this need, so I"ll solve it for you. That"s right; how much raw jade materials do you need to solve our low stock issue?"

Hao Lei was stunned. She didn"t expect that it would be Big Boss himself offering to help solve the lack of jade. She pondered for a moment and then answered, "We can solve the urgent need of jade raw materials if we can obtain at least one ton of it. If it"s too much, half a ton should be sufficient, albeit barely."

"If I give you five tons, can you make use of it to earn more profits?" asked Tang Xiu with a smile. "Additionally, when there are enough raw materials, can we buy more of them by making use of the profits we"ve earned?"

Hao Lei was at a loss whether to laugh or cry upon hearing Tang Xiu. She smilingly replied, "Boss, you don"t understand the scarcity of jade raw materials, do you? Although the world"s major jadeite mines produce a lot of materials each year, the total output is not necessarily more than five tons annually. Yet, you actually have… good, that"s just great. Well, don"t stare at me like that, Boss. If you really can get five tons of high-quality jade raw materials, I can guarantee that the price of immediately selling them will be at least enough to buy two more tons of jade raw materials. Also, it"s only natural that if we process and sell the finished products, we"ll even be able to buy at least five more tons."

"You can double it?" Tang Xiu"s expression changed and he asked in surprise.

"That"s right; we can definitely double it," answered Hao Lei with a firm nod.

Tang Xiu nodded and followed Hao Lei coming out of the elevator. After he came to her office, he took out an interspatial ring to hand to her and said, "Take this interspatial ring. It"s for you—the future reward for the profits you will earn for the company. There are five tons of jade inside. Use a drop of your blood to imprint your owners.h.i.+p over the ring. Once you do so, you can take out the jade and take a look at their qualities."

Interspatial ring?

Hao Lei felt like she was being struck by a lightning bolt as she stood dumbfounded on the spot. Her eyes sparkled with excitement while her hands that cautiously received the interspatial ring were slightly trembling. She then bit her finger and dripped her blood on it.

Whoosh…

A fist-sized jade appeared in her hand out of thin air and she controlled it to be stowed away again inside the ring. After repeating the test several times, she excitedly said, "Boss, I just observed the inside with my spiritual sense; there is indeed a lot of jade raw materials inside. This is great! With these jade raw materials, our Grand Fortune Jewelry"s reputation will definitely go through the roof. It will make it possible for us to obtain more profits in the short term!"

"The quality is really that good?" asked Tang Xiu with a smile.

"They are of excellent quality." Hao Lei firmly nodded and said, "They might not be comparable to the best jade raw materials, but they are of top quality nevertheless. I"ll immediately contact all the jade carving masters we have to produce the finished goods 24/7!"

"You"ll take care of the following works, then!" said Tang Xiu. "I"ll give you 3 months to give me the money from the jade sales and then buy me a batch of jade raw materials. Keep in mind, the current market price is very high, so find a way to limit the price and maximize the profit."

"No problem," replied Hao Lei with all seriousness.

Tang Xiu suddenly recalled something and asked, "What"s the most valuable item in the VIP area of the 18th floor of our Grand Fortune Jewelry? How valuable is it?"

"It"s an aqua crystal christened as "The Heart of the Ocean". This aqua crystal is just the size of a baby"s fist and it has an aquatic color all over its body. After the most outstanding carving master in Hong Kong spent 16 years to carve it, it has become the treasured object in the advertis.e.m.e.nts of Grand Fortune Jewelry. As for its price, it"s 1,888,888,888 yuan. There have been some super-rich people in Hong Kong who wanted to buy it but flinched upon facing such a high price before finally getting discouraged."

Tang Xiu secretly was a bit surprised. He didn"t expect that an aqua crystal would be set at such a high price. After he thought over it, he then said slowly, "Take me to see it."

"Alright," agreed on Hao Lei and walked Tang Xiu to the VIP area on the 18th floor. After clearing several security doors, the duo arrived at a transparent gla.s.s cabinet.

"This is the aqua crystal?" Tang Xiu"s eyes were full of wonder after seeing the crystal-clear and flawless "The Heart of the Ocean" inside the tempered gla.s.s cabinet.

Hao Lei didn"t see Tang Xiu"s unusual expression since she couldn"t take her eyes off of the Heart of the Ocean. She gently nodded and said, "Yes. This is the Heart of the Ocean. Rumors say that it was a British man who fished it out of the ocean. Though I don"t know exactly how it was fished out. Boss, you can take it and gift it to your beloved woman if you like it. I"m sure every woman would like it."

"Gifting it to a woman I love?"

Tang Xiu almost spurted out a mouthful of blood. He glared at Hao Long but didn"t vent his vexed mood at her. Those who have eyes but fail to see Mt. Tai are truly reckless if they were to waste such an incredible precious object.

What exactly was this thing?

It was a treasure that immortals could only have in their dreams! A very precious object that countless top immortals could only wait in hope for. It could be foretold that tempestuous waves of b.l.o.o.d.y struggles would happen in the Immortal World when this object appeared there.

And yet, this precious treasure was actually treated as… jewelry here?