Chapter Fifty-Four On the Train (Part Two)

  "Moreover, look at Chu Ge, he's handsome and has a good temper, and his age is just right. The two of you together are a perfect match. And I saw your expression earlier, when you saw Chu Ge, you looked a bit shy and coy, isn't that what you wanted? Haha..."

  "Shut up..."

  Chu Yulan was also somewhat annoyed and embarrassed after hearing this, and she started scratching against Wen Yuting, but Wen Yuting didn't show any weakness either, immediately counterattacking, filling the car with silvery laughter.

  Everyone watched the two of them frolic, full of youth and vitality, smiling as they looked on, without stopping them. However, in a moment of carelessness, Wen Yuting accidentally broke the cord that tied Chu Yulan's hand pendant, and it flew out instantly.

  "Be careful!"

  Chu Chen reacted quickly and with a swift grab of his left hand, he caught the falling object, thus avoiding any unexpected loss.

  As soon as the pendant fell into his hand, Chu Chen's left-hand ability reacted immediately. He took a rough look and unexpectedly found that this pendant was actually a Buddha statue carved by Tian Baiyu, small but exquisite. However, it was someone else's girl's thing, so he didn't examine it carefully and returned it to the other person.

  Chu Yulan saw his movements and smiled: "Brother Chu, what do you think of this jade?"

  "Miss Chu, this pendant should be a piece of Hetian jade, it looks like it already has the appearance of sheep fat jade. The carving work also looks very fine, specifically I didn't take a closer look just now, so I'm not too clear about it." After smiling, Chu Chen said what she had seen earlier truthfully.

  Chu Yulan gave him a smile of appreciation, then said: "Brother Chu, the way you addressed me just now is a bit too formal. You can call me Yulan or Xiao Lan. This pendant was made for me by my mother a few days ago. I'm not very familiar with Hetian jade either. Can you explain it to me in detail?"

  "That's okay."

  After taking the pendant, Chuyan smiled and said: "But Xiaolan, you don't have to use honorifics when speaking to me either. It sounds strange and distant, and calling me Brother Chu makes it seem like I'm a lot older than you. If it's convenient for you, just call me by my name or Brother Yan."

  After finishing speaking, Chu Chen began to carefully observe this pendant. First of all, the jade material of this pendant was indeed what he had just said, made from Hetian white jade seeds with sheep fat jade carving, and it felt extremely delicate, smooth and dense in his hand.

  Then he looked at the package's wrapping, carving and other aspects, basically already knowing the characteristics of this pendant. Later, with the style that even a small mosquito is meat, he also used his ability once, verifying his judgment.

  After observing it, Chu Chen returned the pendant to her and said: "Xiao Lan, the material of this pendant is indeed a piece of sheep fat jade. Although it's small, its origin is not ordinary. If I'm not mistaken, judging from the packaging and craftsmanship, it should be a work carefully carved by the Imperial Workshop during the Qianlong period, extremely rare."

  Wen Yuting was surprised and said: "I didn't expect this small pendant, only two or three centimeters in size, to have such a great origin. How much is this thing worth?"

  Chu Chen smiled and said, "It's a pity that this piece of sheep fat jade is not the highest grade, there are some flaws in the material, so the price has been discounted. Based on current market conditions, it's estimated to be around 200,000 yuan."

  "Ah!"

  Wen Yuting was extremely surprised after hearing this, and when she saw Zhou Wenping nodding in agreement on the side, she scolded Chu Yulan: "Good grief, Yulan, how could you wear something so precious on your hand like that, and not even be careful about it? If it wasn't for Brother Chu catching it just now, I would have been ruined."

  Chu Yulan said with some embarrassment: "Yuting, I'm really sorry. I didn't know this pendant was so valuable either. When my mom gave it to me at the time, she just told me to be careful when wearing it, and I didn't think much of it."

  "Hehe, Yulan, I just said that, you'd better wear it as a pendant in the future, it's safer this way. Besides, if someone with ulterior motives sees it on your hand, it could be quite dangerous." Wen Yuting saw her embarrassed expression and quickly continued to persuade her, and before long, the two were chatting and laughing again.

  "Why don't we play cards?" suggested Li Guodong at this time.

  Many people take the train, it's lively. This proposal was agreed upon by everyone, and the game started immediately. They played a game of "Fight the Landlord". The six of them were divided into four sides: Chu Chen and Li Guodong were alone, Zhou Wenping and his wife formed one side, and the other two female classmates formed another side.

  For Chu Chen, being smart and having a good memory gave him an innate advantage when playing cards. The other two sides had two people each, but Li Guotong still didn't show any courtesy as the host. The result was predictable. By the time he went to sleep that night, he had lost over 500, his face turning green from the loss.

  This is still Chu Chen seeing him lose too miserably helping him block a few rounds, otherwise I'm afraid he would have lost his clothes.

  It's about time, everyone stopped and at this moment, Chu Chen calculated that he had actually won 400 yuan, the most on site. Seeing this, Li Guotang said with a sad face:

  "I said Xiao Chuan, you're already a rich guy, yet you still want to rob someone as poor as me, is there no justice in this world?"

  Chu Chen smiled and replied, "What can be done? Who let a certain poor person not have that much land, yet still want to be a landlord? In that case, I can only thank him for showing off his style."

  Everyone burst out laughing after hearing that, but since they were a couple, Wen Yuting spoke up and said: "Chu Ge, you're still a rich man, so can't you at least treat us to some midnight snacks?"

  "I'm telling you, Xiaochun is a complete and utter rich kid. Last time I gambled with him, he won 600,000 to 700,000 yuan. You don't know that the next day, he actually won tens of millions more. What do you call this if not being a rich kid?"

  Li Guodong and two girls were introduced at the time, with exaggerated envy, jealousy, and hatred written all over their faces, causing everyone to burst out laughing.

  After laughing, Wen Yuting said with some envy: "Chu Ge, I didn't expect that you are so good at guessing the quality of jade, let me tell you a secret, Yu Lan also likes jade very much. Speaking of jade and related guessing games, they all have their own set of rules."

  "None of you should listen to Yuting's nonsense," Chuyu Lan said with a wave of her hand. "I just read a few more books, that's all. I'm only good at talking on paper."

  Zhou Wenping smiled and said, "Everyone starts by talking on paper. Since you like it, go ahead and have a good chat with Xiao Chuan. He's been playing Go for almost five years now. When the time comes, let him take you to practice a few times, and you'll gradually get the hang of it. However, this line of work is just a hobby, remember not to get too caught up in it."

  Chu Chen also smiled and said, "It's late today. If you're willing, Little Lan, we can exchange tomorrow. I've also arranged to meet a friend in Xijing whose family is in the gambling stone business. After we finish our business, we can take you there to have a look."

  The friend he mentioned was indeed Hou Yuanming. After exchanging a few more times, Chu Chen only knew that his family was also in the jade business, not just finished products, but also involved in raw materials.

  "Oh? Xiao Chen, when did you also have friends in Xijing?" Li Guodong asked with some surprise after hearing this.

  "Haha, met online."

  Chu Chen smiled and told everyone about how he got to know Hou Yuanming, then took out the black and white jade and handed it over for everyone to admire.

  Li Guodong looked at the black and white jade and smiled: "Okay, Xiao Chuan is also keeping up with the times, even using a computer. Let's exchange our online contact information later, it will be more convenient for us to communicate in daily life."

  "That's no problem, now let's first settle the midnight snack, but the things on the train are really not good to eat. I had already prepared some simple cooked food before, so we'll just make do for now and when we arrive in Xijing, I'll treat you guys to a good meal."

  After finishing speaking, Chu Chen took out big and small packages of pastries and cooked food from the bag. Once opened, a mouth-watering aroma wafted out instantly.

  Seeing this, Li Guodong handed out chopsticks to everyone and said: "This is a rare thing, we are lucky today, Xiao Chuan, with such good food, why didn't you bring some good wine over?"

  Wen Yuting heard this and lightly hit him a few times, scolding: "You're still thinking of drinking, have you considered our female comrades and the two children?"

  "Slip of the tongue! Slip of the tongue!"

  Li Guodong was instantly deflated by her words, and everyone who saw Li Guodong's expression couldn't help but secretly laugh.

  Nothing happened that night. The next day, Chu Chen woke up early and saw that Chu Yulan was also getting out of bed. They exchanged a smile when they saw each other.

  While washing his face, Chu Yulan asked him: "Chu Ge, I still don't know where you're from?"

  Chu Chen smiled and said: "I am from Shunde Mountain in Yan Province."

  "That place I also know, isn't it very tough?" Chu Yulan asked with some surprise.

  "It's really tough there, but my family is a bit better off, many kids don't even have shoes to wear."

  Chu Yulan heard this and had an expression of disbelief: "I used to hear that it was very tough over there, I didn't think it would be tough to this extent! Are your parents still over there?"

  "My parents are both gone." By this time, Chu Chen's face had a hint of helpless smile.

  "Ah! I'm really sorry!" Chu Yulan didn't expect it to be this way and apologized repeatedly.

  "It's nothing, I'm used to it."

  Chu Chen smiled indifferently: "I saw your mother give you that pendant yesterday, it seems she cares about you a lot. You should cherish this kind of feeling."

  "Hmm!"

  Chu Yulan nodded heavily.

  When the two returned to the train carriage, the train happened to be arriving at a station, and everyone was already getting up. Meanwhile, Wen Hui was making a fuss about going to the toilet, so Zhou Shu led her there with a drowsy expression.