Su Qing felt this trip to Da Hu Mountain was more than worth it. Although she still hadn’t found the century-old Chicken Blood Vine, she had obtained a Vine Seed.
The Vine Seed now rested quietly in her Bagua Pool. It would surely be a great asset to her in the future.
Su Qing was in an excellent mood. She humd a tune as she continued her search for the century-old Chicken Blood Vine deep in the old-growth forest. The thought that the scars on her face could finally begin to heal once she found it made her feel even happier.
An Zhiqian, however, was in a far less pleasant mood.
"Jian and his n still haven’t returned?" An Zhiqian frowned, his expression darkening.
"That’s right, Young Master." An Huai, An Zhiqian’s confidant, was standing beside him. "We still have no word from Jian or his n," he said hurriedly. "It’s been nearly ten days since they left. Logically, they should have sent a ssage by now, no matter the situation."
If you subtracted travel ti, they’d had four or five days. How could several grown n not handle one little girl in that ti? Even if they followed her deep into the mountains, it shouldn’t have taken more than two or three days.
But now, there was nothing. Not a single word. An Huai had a sinking feeling.
"Young Master, do you think... Jian and his n could have run into so large beast in the mountains? Or so other danger?" An Huai asked uncertainly.
"I’m afraid Su Qing might have turned the tables and killed them," An Zhiqian said, his brow furrowing even deeper.
"What? That’s impossible," An Huai said quickly. "Even if Jian and his n aren’t as skilled as Su Qing, they were ard. If push ca to shove, they could have used their guns deep in those mountains and no one would ever know."
There was no way several grown n with guns could lose to a little girl.
"Who knows," An Zhiqian said, his lips a thin line. "I just fear that it *is* the worst-case scenario. If so, things could get very troubleso for us."
"Young Master, we’re in Xiangcheng, and Su Qing is from the mainland. How could she possibly track us all the way to Xiangcheng to get revenge?" An Huai thought it was impossible. For one, Xiangcheng was a completely foreign environnt for mainlanders. And even if Su Qing did show up looking for payback, the An Family’s army of bodyguards were no pushovers.
"And taking a step back, even if Su Qing tried to report this to the police, she’d need solid evidence, right? Who could prove the An Family sent Jian and his three n? For all anyone knows, the four of them disliked Su Qing and went after her on their own initiative. We’re the ones who are down four n, and we haven’t said a word."
After laying out his analysis for An Zhiqian, An Huai concluded, "Young Master, I really don’t think it will be a problem."
"Let’s hope so." An Zhiqian still felt uneasy.
’He just had a feeling Su Qing wasn’t soone who played by the rules.’
"By the way, how are we doing with that batch of raw stones we brought back from Laxian?" An Zhiqian pushed the matter of Su Qing aside and turned to business.
A few days ago, right after returning to Xiangcheng, the Cheng Family’s company announced they had acquired a valuable piece of raw jadeite. They planned to craft it into high-end jewelry, which would be sold in their stores at a future date.
The news sent the city’s socialites and matriarchs into a frenzy, all eagerly awaiting the sale. The montum instantly put the Cheng Family’s jewelry company a step above the An Family’s, and the Cheng Family’s stock went skyrocketing.
And just yesterday, he’d heard they’d cut a high-grade, ice type, apple-green jadeite from one of the semi-windowed raw stones they’d purchased.
In contrast, the An Family’s situation was just depressing.
At the raw stone market in Laxian this ti, while the probability of finding jadeite was higher than usual, most of what they’d cut turned out to be low- to mid-grade jadeite, like bean or glutinous rice types. High-grade ice types were rare, to say nothing of anything better.
The thought of that tricolor *Fu Lu Shou* jadeite in Su Qing’s hands made An Zhiqian’s blood boil. ’So all the good stones from the market this ti ended up with the Cheng Family and that Su Qing, is that it?’
When An Zhiqian asked about the cutting, An Huai pursed his lips. "I went to check this morning. The best we’ve found so far is a glutinous rice type. As for that semi-windowed raw stone, the one that looked like a high-grade ice type... it’s..."
"It’s what?" An Zhiqian demanded.
"It was only skin-deep," An Huai said, quickly lowering his head.
SMASH! The sound of An Zhiqian hurling the cup in his hand to the floor.
He was starting to wonder if he’d been too indulgent with An Zhiwei, spoiling her to the point that she had beco completely unruly. If it weren’t for An Zhiwei’s ugly spat with Su Qing in Laxian, would Su Qing really have refused to even consider the An Family and sold that raw stone directly to the Cheng Family instead?
If he had managed to buy that stone from Su Qing, it would be the An Family, not the Chengs, who would be riding high and putting their rivals in their place.
Most importantly, he was in charge of the An Family’s jewelry division. If the Cheng Family continued to outshine them like this, his grandmother would surely be disappointed in him and would take the division away from him. That would undoubtedly affect his standing within the An Family.
"Young Master, don’t worry. We haven’t finished cutting all the stones yet. Maybe we’ll still find sothing good," An Huai said quickly, seeing how angry An Zhiqian was.
"I know. You can leave now," An Zhiqian said, taking a deep breath.
"Yes, sir."
After An Huai left, An Zhiqian closed his eyes and composed himself for a mont before getting up and heading downstairs.
An Zhiwei was downstairs, throwing a tantrum. She slapped a servant across the face, snarling, "Who do you think you are? You dare ignore ?"
The servant clutched their face, saying in a small voice, "Young Miss, I’m sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose. I really didn’t hear you."
"Didn’t hear ?" An Zhiwei stalked forward and twisted the servant’s ear. "Are you deaf?"
"I... I..." The servant’s ear throbbed with pain, but they didn’t dare protest. They could only cry and beg for rcy. "I’m sorry, Young Miss."
"I see what it is. You have no respect for , the Young Miss of this house." Annoyed, An Zhiwei slapped the servant again. She had been in a foul mood for the past two days. There was still no news from Jian and the others who had gone to deal with Su Qing, and she felt a fire of frustration flaring up inside her.
"Xiao Wei, what are you doing!" An Zhiqian’s brow furrowed when he saw her. "Where is your upbringing as a proper young lady? Hitting and cursing at the staff—what kind of behavior is that?"
Their grandmother valued etiquette above all else. His second uncle’s daughter, Zhiyun, was a model of good behavior and had won their grandmother’s affection. If their grandmother found out about Xiao Wei’s actions, she would only dislike her even more.
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