Chapter 144: Imperial Green of the Icy Variety
Zhuang Cheng narrowly escaped death, and the Zhuang family threw a banquet to celebrate his safe return.
Zhuang Feixue sat on the sofa, sighed while looking at her phone. “What’s wrong?” someone asked.
Zhuang Feixue replied with a hint of disappointment, “I sent Chu Feng an invitation and even booked plane tickets for him and Illya. But Chu Feng said Illya gets airsick, so they’re not coming.”
Zhuang Cheng thought, Airsick? Illya didn’t even blink when he killed someone. He looked like a total badass. Doesn’t seem like the type to get motion sickness. What a lame excuse.
Zhuang Cheng’s expression turned strange. “Sis, you booked them flights?”
Zhuang Feixue nodded. “Yeah, first class. They’re heading back to the countryside. If they drove, it would take a long time.”
Zhuang Cheng thought, Chu Feng has teleportation powers! He could be here in an instant. First class flights? Compared to space-warping abilities, that’s nothing!
“Sis, if they don’t want to come, just forget it,” Zhuang Cheng said gloomily.
Zhuang Feixue put down her phone and looked at Zhuang Cheng. “Brother, do you dislike your second brother? He’s still your brother, after all. He’s suffered a lot out there over the years. You shouldn’t look down on him just because of that.” If what happened back then hadn’t occurred, Second Brother might have become a top businessman by now.
Zhuang Cheng muttered, “Who’s looking down on him? It’s clearly Chu Feng who’s looking down on me. That guy said I was a burden and even threatened to chop me up. Even if I were willing to get along with that so-called second brother, it’s not like he’d feel the same! That guy even enthusiastically recommended to me a movie where a big brother kills his little brother…”
“By the way, sis, how are those medicines Chu Feng gave you?”
“The Beauty Elixir is already sold out. I still have a bit of the Health elixir, but not much left,” she replied. “I did call Chu Feng to restock, but he said he’s not short on money right now and wants to go the scarcity-marketing route — after this batch sells out, we’ll have to wait.”
Zhuang Cheng nodded. “That guy’s made a lot, huh?”
Zhuang Feixue also nodded. “Yeah.”
Zhuang Cheng looked at her, hesitated, and asked, “Sis, what kind of person do you think Second Brother is?”
Zhuang Feixue glanced at him in surprise, wondering: Is Zhuang Cheng finally acknowledging Chu Feng as his brother?
“Him? He’s optimistic, cheerful, open-minded, and always calm and unbothered. He’s a confident, easygoing person,” Zhuang Feixue said. She always felt Chu Feng had a unique aura about him — something mysterious.
Zhuang Cheng pouted to himself: Why does Chu Feng come off so positive in front of Sis, but act so horrible around me? Sis has worked in the entertainment industry for so long, and still doesn’t know how to read people. If it weren’t for the family backing her, she would’ve been blacklisted a long time ago.
“What’s with that face?” Zhuang Feixue scolded.
Zhuang Cheng frowned and said, “It’s hard to truly know a person, Sis. Be more careful. Chu Feng’s not who you think he is.”
“Watch your mouth,” Zhuang Feixue replied unhappily.
“I’m telling the truth, but no one believes me. How tragic,” Zhuang Cheng muttered.
Just then, a few of Zhuang Cheng’s friends came over.
“Zhuang Cheng, those people who grabbed you — was it because of a rock?”
Zhuang Cheng nodded. “It’s a stone I bought from a stall.”
“What kind of stone would make people go that far?”
Zhuang Cheng frowned. “It’s a raw jade stone.”
As soon as he said that, everyone expressed curiosity and wanted to see it. Zhuang Cheng hesitated but went to his room and brought out the raw jade Chu Feng had told him about.
“This is the stone?” a teenager asked.
Zhuang Cheng nodded, thinking: No idea where Chu Feng picked this up — maybe even found it by the roadside. But the shape does look similar to that expensive one I bought at the antique market before.
“Zhuang Cheng, you sure this is jade? Looks more like a random pebble from the street.”
Zhuang Cheng forced himself to sound confident. “Don’t underestimate this rock. Who knows what’s inside?”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“Well, let’s cut it open and find out! Come on, Young Master Cheng, let us see!”
“Yeah! Cut it open!”
With everyone clamoring, Zhuang Cheng hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded — he was curious too.
His father was into jade, so the house had stone-cutting tools. When Zhuang Cheng said he was going to cut the rock, many people in the hall turned their attention to him.
“It’s green! It’s green!”
“It’s icy jade — imperial green!”
“This jade is so pure and translucent, with excellent water content. A rare and top-quality piece!”
“You’ve really got an eye, Xiao Cheng!”
“A piece of top-grade jade this size won’t go for less than eighty million!”
Zhuang Cheng stared, dumbfounded, at the jade that had just been cut open. How is this possible? It actually turned out to be green!
No wonder Chu Feng wasn’t interested in rejoining the Zhuang family. That guy casually pulls out a stone, and it turns out to be such high-quality jade!
Zhuang Feixue looked at Zhuang Cheng, surprised. “So it really is imperial green. No wonder you were kidnapped.”
Zhuang Cheng muttered, “…That’s not even why I was kidnapped! Chu Feng only swapped this stone with me — maybe he misjudged it, or maybe the one I had was even more valuable than this one.”
“What do you plan to do with this jade?” Zhuang Feixue asked.
Zhuang Cheng thought for a moment. “Auction it off.”
Zhuang Feixue nodded. “Sounds good.” Even though the jade turned out amazing, the fact that Zhuang Cheng was kidnapped because of it made her feel uneasy — maybe this stone was unlucky.
News that Zhuang Cheng had cut out an imperial green jade at the banquet quickly spread and became a hot topic.
Zhuang Ming sat on the couch with his arms crossed, looking sulky.
“Bad mood?”
Zhuang Ming frowned. “Didn’t expect Zhuang Cheng to be so lucky — actually bought a piece of top-grade jade.”
Zhuang Zhiming nodded. “Yeah.”
“One piece of jade doesn’t mean much to the Zhuang family, but it does show Zhuang Cheng’s eye for value. The fact that this story is spreading is quite a boost to the family’s reputation. The jade has already been sent to auction. Second Uncle says the proceeds will be left for Zhuang Cheng to handle himself.”
Zhuang Zhiming estimated the jade would fetch over a hundred million at auction. The idea of that much pocket money made him a little jealous.
“I thought for sure Zhuang Cheng was a goner this time,” Zhuang Qiao said through gritted teeth.
Zhuang Zhiming narrowed his eyes. The people who kidnapped Zhuang Cheng were ruthless repeat offenders — two ability users had already died at their hands. He also thought Zhuang Cheng wouldn’t survive.
“How did he escape, anyway?”
Zhuang Zhiming shook his head. “Apparently he ran into some kind of hero.”
Zhuang Ming scoffed. “That so-called hero really likes sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
Zhuang Zhiming nodded. “Total busybody.”
In his mind, Zhuang Zhiming thought: Chu Feng is a hopeless loser, Zhuang Feilei is a fraud, and if Zhuang Cheng had died, the second branch would’ve been left with just Zhuang Feixue the celebrity — no real threat. What a shame some do-gooder had to show up out of nowhere and ruin everything.
Zhuang Ming said sourly, “If only I were the one who bought the jade stone.” Recently, Zhuang Ming had her eye on a set of jewelry worth twenty million, which was still beyond what she could afford with her pocket money.
“Second Uncle has a grudge against us. He suspects that Zhuang Cheng’s kidnapping is somehow our fault,” Zhuang Ming said.
Zhuang Zhiming narrowed his eyes. Zhuang Cheng getting kidnapped so easily? It seemed Big Brother played a role in that. He even hired people to steer the narrative online, and now many are saying it was Chu Feng’s doing. Second Uncle doesn’t have evidence, so he can’t make a big fuss.
After resting at home for a few days, Zhuang Cheng returned to his academy. As soon as he arrived, several classmates surrounded him, “Zhuang Cheng, we heard you got kidnapped?”
Zhuang Cheng nodded. “Yeah.”
“Did you actually sneak off to play somewhere and just didn’t want to tell your family, so you made up the kidnapping story?” a purple-haired teen asked.
Zhuang Cheng scowled. “Bullshit. Do I look that bored to you?”
“I heard your dad offered a fifty million reward, but no one claimed it and then you just came back home. Isn’t that weird?” the purple-haired teen said.
Zhuang Cheng frowned. “That’s because a chivalrous hero saved me out of righteousness. He didn’t care about the money.”
The purple-haired teen raised an eyebrow. “Nowadays people won’t even get out of bed without a profit. Where are you going to find such noble heroes?”
Zhuang Cheng secretly nodded, thinking: Chu Feng really didn’t seem like a noble, righteous person… Maybe this “cheap” older brother of mine will come ask me to repay him later.
“Speaking of which, I heard something. In the capital, there was once a research organization that captured some ability users for human experimentation, and a heroic figure reported them. So heroes like that do exist.”
“I heard about that too. They say the one who reported it… was a ghost.”
Zhuang Cheng rolled his eyes. After what happened with Chu Feng, he had someone quietly investigate him. He found out quite a few things.
Zhuang Cheng suspected the “ghostly hero” that purple-haired guy mentioned might also be his so-called second brother.
There was no footage of the whistleblower on surveillance, likely due to some invisibility ability. That act may have been motivated by the fact that Chu Anzhi was also dragged into that mess. Several people were mistakenly captured by the lab, including Chu Anzhi. The lab probably never expected their base to be exposed because of one ordinary person.
“Zhuang Cheng, I heard your kidnapping this time had something to do with your second brother.”
Zhuang Cheng rolled his eyes. “What nonsense are you spouting?”
The kidnapping did have something to do with his second brother, but not in the way these people assumed.
Zhuang Cheng took a deep breath and thought: Something feels off about what’s being said online. At first, there were just vague rumors tying this to Second Brother, but recently a few “insiders” have posted supposed “proof.” Second Brother’s reputation has taken a massive hit. This could make it very difficult for him to return to the family.
Even if he doesn’t want to return, letting public opinion snowball like this is bad for him.
