Chapter 17 - 13 [It’s You]
Chapter 13 [It's You]
At Chen Yan's age, he normally wouldn't be interested in jade and such objects. All he remembers is that near East City University City, two streets away, there is a traditional folk tourism area planned by the government.
There's an Antique Street there, with several Jade Artifacts shops—during his college days, he occasionally went there with classmates on holidays.
Calling a ride-hailing car, Chen Yan headed to Antique Street. Sitting in the car, Chen Yan thought to himself, should he consider buying a car?
His living situation is sorted—a huge mansion. Comfortable as it is, the location is actually quite remote. Wealthy folks in the neighborhood all have their private cars.
Money gives courage; with seven digits in his bank account and eight digits worth of gold in Port City's vault, Chen Yan's itch to buy a car grows.
However... just before reaching near the tourism area two streets away, the ride-hailing car got stuck in traffic... After all, it's almost the end of the year, with plenty of tourists.
Chen Yan instantly dropped the idea of buying a car.
Like now, stuck in a traffic jam on the road, caught in a deadlock.
If he were driving, he would inevitably become anxious and frustrated.
If he's being chauffeured, he can just sit in the back and play with his phone.
Moreover, he wouldn't have to worry about parking everywhere he goes.
Actually, Chen Yan is pretty lazy.
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The tourism area was bustling with people.
Approaching the end of the year, there were many tourists, coupled with the upcoming Western Christmas and New Year, nearly all businesses were running various holiday promotions and discounts.
Nearby university students with nothing to do before the winter holiday also love to wander around here.
It was afternoon; Chen Yan entered the tourism area with the crowd, first casually buying a sugar-coated hawthorn stick—he's always liked sweet and sour things ever since he was a child.
Unfortunately, he took a bite and spat it out immediately.
The unscrupulous merchants at the scenic area put poor-quality hawthorns inside the sugar-coated sticks, which were both sour and astringent.
Nonetheless, the festivity of year-end still filled the street with lively vibes; the enthusiastic slogans and banners of merchants, the noisy tourists...
For a moment, Chen Yan almost forgot why he came here.
Walking past a popular milk tea shop he had seen online, there was a long line at the door.
Just as Chen Yan walked by, he suddenly heard a familiar voice calling him.
"Bro! Bro!"
Chen Yan stopped and turned around, seeing a tall, skinny guy waving at him, and then quickly running out from the queue.
"Bro!" The guy smiled and patted Chen Yan on the shoulder: "Indeed, it's you! I thought I was mistaken for a moment."
"Yo! President Zhao!" Chen Yan greeted with a smile.
"No president, just Xiaozhao!" The guy nodded and bowed.
This Xiaozhao was a junior to Chen Yan in college, they were quite familiar during school.
"Bro, what brings you here? No work today?", Xiaozhao asked enthusiastically.
Chen Yan shook his head, not wanting to explain the details of leaving his internship prematurely, he vaguely replied: "Just resting today.", then asked back: "You? No classes?"
Xiaozhao chuckled, he was slim with no flesh on his face, which made him look slightly unscrupulous when he laughed: "No classes, here for some work."
Saying so, he pointed at the milk tea shop behind him.
Chen Yan laughed: "Hired to queue?"
"Yep, I brought a dozen classmates, fifty bucks per person."
Xiaozhao did not hide anything, and Chen Yan nodded knowingly.
Many popular shops are actually artificially inflated, hiring people to queue to create a façade of bustling business, and then hype it up.
And the nearby university students are cheap labor, easy to recruit.
Such jobs, Chen Yan used to do several times during school to earn some pocket money—with Xiaozhao.
The difference is, Chen Yan occasionally did it for pocket money, while Xiaozhao was the leader of a campus freelance group.
Xiaozhao was clever, though he looked unscrupulous, he had a good character with a kind heart—most importantly, he always found jobs others couldn't.
He never cheats his classmates, even his cut is less than others, which makes many students willing to follow him.
Initially, Chen Yan was curious why Xiaozhao had such a knack for finding work.
Later, as they got closer, it turned out Xiaozhao's parents were leaders in Hengdian.
No wonder, hereditary skill.
During his time in school, Xiaozhao had expanded his business to levels unreachable by other campus freelance groups.
Business ranges from posing as shoppers to distributing flyers in neighborhoods, varied jobs.
He even leveraged his hereditary skill, leading his classmates to expand business into the entertainment industry.
Durng a past summer vacation, he led dozens of classmates to Hengdian, utilizing his parents' network, letting classmates be extras—morning army, afternoon bandits, day Nazis, night eunuchs.
Two female classmates with clean looks and good temperaments even got a few lines in a film.
One said, "Sir, this isn't right..."
The other, "Master, you can't!"
Chen Yan couldn't imagine what kind of chaos the film's plot was in!
Anyways, Xiaozhao's business range was wide, always securing paying gigs for classmates, and negotiating the best prices, earning him the nickname: President Zhao.
With such skills, naturally, Xiaozhao was popular on campus, often surrounded by junior students flattering him.
But he always respected Chen Yan, addressing him as "Bro."
They initially met through freelance work, maintaining a general friendly but not close relationship. But once during a group job in Jiangbei, they chose to take a ferry to save money.
As the ferry approached the dock, Xiaozhao leaned over the railing enjoying the view. Somehow, he was pushed and tumbled into the river.
Being a non-swimmer, he flailed helplessly. Though people on the ferry clamored, no one dared to jump in to save him.
Chen Yan dove directly into the water, lifting Xiaozhao swiftly, nearly dragging him by his hair to the shore.
Children growing up in Jiangnan rural areas mostly have good swimming skills.
Since then, Xiaozhao respected Chen Yan immensely, never calling him by his name, always addressing him as "Bro."
Gradually, their friendship grew closer.
Xiaozhao respected Chen Yan due to the life-saving grace.
Chen Yan valued Xiaozhao for his gratitude.
From his grandmother's teachings, Chen Yan believed a grateful person wouldn't go too astray.
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After exchanging pleasantries, Xiaozhao grabbed a student who had just "bought" milk tea from the shop, took the milk tea and handed it to Chen Yan.
"Bro, have this. It's decent, I've had several cups these past days."
Chen Yan didn't particularly like milk tea, but since it was offered by Xiaozhao, he accepted it with a smile: "Let's have dinner together this weekend."
"Alright! But not this weekend though. I've got a gig, leading people to the airport to pose as fake fans for a celebrity."
Indeed, President Zhao had varied business.
Chen Yan and Xiaozhao chatted for a few minutes by the roadside. Before leaving, Chen Yan discreetly opened the Celestial Eye, using the Qi Observation Skill to check Xiaozhao's fortune.
Seeing Xiaozhao's fortune was good recently, no signs of bad luck, Chen Yan left reassured.
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After parting ways with Xiaozhao, Chen Yan strolled a few hundred meters to Antique Street.
After visiting several shops, Chen Yan felt a bit disappointed.
What real artifacts could be found in a scenic area's Antique Street?
Most Jade Artifacts shops there mainly sold crafts.
Forget top-tier authentic materials, most so-called ordinary jade materials, over 80% were fake.
Using techniques learned from the Artifact Identification Chapter, Chen Yan casually scanned around, realizing many stones displayed in cabinets were merely quartz—commonly used for fake jades.
Genuine jade materials were exorbitantly priced, even the most basic white jade. A matchbox-sized jade token cost thousands at least.
Such is this business.
Even knowing he was being fleeced, Chen Yan begrudgingly bought two jade tokens: one white jade, one green jade.
Tucking them into his pocket, he walked out of the Jade Artifacts shop, passing the milk tea shop, noticing a crowd gathered there, with someone loudly rebuking.
Chen Yan sensed something was up and saw a few people looking like students from his school, likely those recruited by Xiaozhao.
Quickly stepping forward, he parted through the crowd to see Xiaozhao sitting on the ground, holding his forehead.
"What happened?"
Chen Yan squatted and reached to pull Xiaozhao's hand.
"Should be fine..." Xiaozhao waved his hand and removed his palm, revealing a small cut near his eye, with a few drops of blood trickling out.
The injury wasn't severe, but seeing it, Chen Yan frowned: "Who hit you?"
"No one, didn't get hit." Xiaozhao shook his head helplessly.
Chen Yan felt suspicious—just moments ago, before parting, he specifically used the Celestial Eye and Qi Observation Skill on Xiaozhao, who should have smooth luck without illness or disasters.
Reusing the Qi Observation Skill secretly on Xiaozhao, Chen Yan couldn't help but utter, "huh?"
Under the Celestial Eye, Xiaozhao's forehead faintly showed a trace of black gas.
However, probably due to blood dispersing the disaster, the black gas rapidly dissipated, vanishing within several breaths.
Chen Yan was dumbfounded: According to the Destiny Cycle, a person's fortune generally doesn't change abruptly without reason.
Unless committing despicable acts, there's a small chance of sudden fortune change.
But in the brief ten minutes, Xiaozhao couldn't have bullied someone or dug up graves, right?
Or... did he just encounter something sinister?
Chen Yan's face turned solemn.
"I was standing here when something suddenly flew down from the upstairs window and hit me."
Xiaozhao had already gotten up: "I'm fine now. When it hit me, my vision blacked out, I thought I was blinded, it scared me to instinctively sit down."
Touching the cut near his eye, Xiaozhao winced, taking hissing breaths.
Students who came with Xiaozhao were angrily pointing at the upstairs window.
It seemed to be a second-floor restaurant facing the street.
The "culprit" was found: a broken phone scattered in pieces on the ground.
At that moment, a figure quickly dashed down from the restaurant's steps.
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A slim girl, anxious with guilt written all over her delicate face.
She hurried over, apologizing profusely: "Sorry, really sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Before finishing, she saw Chen Yan beside Xiaozhao. Her words halted, revealing a shocked, slightly fearful look.
Chen Yan stared at her, then smiled: "Oh, it's you."
Reacting, the girl instinctively covered her nose.
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[Today's two updates finished.
Please add this book to your bookshelf~]
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