Chapter Eighty-two: Tracking

  Du Haoran is just a commoner, with some talent for mining, yet he dares to look down on the eldest daughter of the Nie family. What kind of family is the Nie family? Many wealthy and aristocratic families in the capital want to marry into their family but don't have the qualifications, now the younger sister of the next head of the family is being despised by a commoner.

  However, thinking of his father's instructions to get along with Du Haoran and facilitate this marriage, as well as his sister's infatuation with Du Haoran, Nie Bowen had to suppress the discontent in his heart, humming a sound from his nose and muttering discontentedly: "What's wrong with my sister?"

  Du Haoran didn't bother with him anymore and focused on listening to Old Man Yun introducing the jade carving in an astonished tone.

  Although this jade carving is ingenious in design and exquisite in craftsmanship, its price is naturally lower than that of the golden Buddha's hand due to the inferior quality of the jade. However, this low-priced item happens to be more to everyone's liking - after all, there are only a few wealthy people present, and most people do not have the spare money to buy something worth several thousand taels of silver. But a jade carving worth several hundred taels is still affordable. Moreover, because its design is even more intricate than that of the golden Buddha's hand, and it was also carved by the same jade carver, its potential for appreciation in value is not smaller than that of the golden Buddha's hand.

  That customer named Wu Yu, I don't know where he came from again, opened his mouth and said 400 taels of silver, making those who wanted to buy this jade carving at a low price hate their teeth. They had no choice but to raise the price to compete with him, and Wu Yu always raised the price again during the stalemate, triggering a new round of bidding. In the end, under his stimulation and provocation, this piece of jade was bought by a customer for 720 taels of silver.

  "Autumn Moon, sneak down from the side and take a look. See if Brother Wei who drives the carriage is there, and if he is, ask him to quietly follow Wang Chengdong later and tell him that this person is very important. I want to know everything about Wang Chengdong in Nanshan Town, and for any useful information, I'll pay him five silver coins. In addition, if possible, let him also call a reliable brother from the carriage company to follow behind the guest surnamed Wu and see who he will meet after dispersing." Ye Zhuo whispered to Autumn Moon.

  At this time, she deeply resented that there were too few people at her disposal. When Ye Yuqi and Luo Jingsheng went to handle the household registration earlier, there was only Qiuyue by her side, a young girl with no strength to bind a chicken, who had not even gone out of the house several times. She couldn't send her to keep an eye on Luo Jingsheng at all. Later, she asked Li Dashi to send his attendants to rush to the government office and wait for Luo Jingsheng to come out and follow him to investigate his situation. Otherwise, there was no way to find out about Luo Jingsheng's background. This was the first time she felt regretful that she had no one at her disposal.

  The second disappointment. Ya-Wen's first attempt at auctioning off the Golden Buddha's hand ended in an awkward silence. At that moment, Ye Zhuo had hoped that someone would pretend to be a customer and bid on it to liven up the atmosphere. If not for this customer named Wu Yu, those two jade carvings of hers wouldn't have sold for such a high price.

  Now, she wants to send someone to keep an eye on Wang Chengdong and find out if Wu Yu is someone else's agent sent to secretly help her. As for Wang Chengdong, let's not mention him for now. In the auction room, both jade carvings were sold at such high prices only after being stimulated by Wu Yu, but he himself made a must-get gesture yet didn't take away any of the jade carvings. If he was indeed an agent, who would be helping the Ye family? Is it Cloud Old Master or Li Big Uncle, or is it Ye Yuzhang? Whoever it is, she has to have a clear conscience.

  Fortunately, after reaching an agreement with Tang ShunGui that time, he had to go and supervise Gong Shi, so he recommended a driver surnamed Wei to Ye Zhuo to help her drive. This Wei brother was over 30 years old and also a very steady and reliable person, sending him to supervise Wang ChengDong was the most suitable. As for Wu Yu, it would be best if he could know his identity; if there really was no one else available, then they could only not investigate this further. After all, that person helped the Ye family out of kindness, unlike people like Wang ChengDong who were like venomous snakes, biting you unexpectedly when you weren't on guard.

  Qiu Yue responded with a sound, took a deep look at Wu Yu, memorized his attire and appearance, and hastily squeezed out from the side.

  Both jade carvings were sold, and Ye Yuqi went on stage to say a few words of gratitude to everyone for their help to the Ye family. Then he quickly stepped down from the stage and invited Nie Bowen and Du Haoran to sit in the Jade Carving Workshop. What he did was actually trying to test Nie Bowen's reaction after seeing Ye Zhuo's jade carving skills. If he really thought Ye Zhuo's skills were excellent, he would definitely go to the Jade Carving Workshop to try again.

  However, Nie Bowen disappointed him, and only said a sentence "don't be polite", then returned to Nie's house; Du Haoran also didn't show any expression, followed behind Nie Bowen and left, leaving Ye Yuqi standing there in a daze.

  "Grandfather, let's go back." Ye Zhuo naturally knew what Ye Yuqi wanted to do. The old man had a proud bone, no matter how poor he was, he would not bow down to ask for help. But today, with such an attitude, he went to fawn on Nie Bowen, such a noble young master, and it was clear that he wanted to send her to the Nie family to learn jade carving, fulfilling her wish. This made her feel both heartbroken and warmly moved.

  "I clearly saw the astonishment in Master Nie and Master Du's eyes, so why didn't they want to give you a chance and recommend you to Master Nie?" Ye Yuqi muttered.

  "Grandfather, if I have the ability, I can naturally win in the competition and openly learn jade carving from Master Nie. We don't need to ask anyone for help."

  Ye Yuqi turned around, looking at Ye Zhuo with a growing smile on the corner of his mouth, his face full of pride: "Yes, neither of us needs to beg!" He reached out and touched the silver ticket in his pocket, sighing emotionally, "Zhuo'er, if it weren't for you, our whole family would have had to sleep on the streets today."

  Ye Zhuo tilted her head and said with a mischievous tone, "If it weren't for my grandfather teaching me jade carving, how could I have such skills? So, tracing back to the source, it's still my grandfather's credit that he can teach a granddaughter like me who has such great skills."

  Yeh stroked his beard and burst into hearty laughter. After laughing, he walked to the side of Yun Lao Yezi, who was directing people to collect case tables and other objects, and bowed his hands: "Yun Gege, Wu Xiongdi, Li Zhidi, thanks to your help today, the Ye family can get through this difficulty. Later at the Moon Building, I will treat you all to a good drink."

  Yun Lao Ye Zi was also a very decisive person, and he responded promptly: "Alright, let's just say that today's wine is indeed courtesy of Brother Ye. A great disaster turned into a great joy, it's really worth celebrating." He leaned in close to Ye Yu Qi and whispered, "Now you should tell me, who exactly crafted those two jade carvings? Wasn't it Zhuo Yatou?"

  "To be honest, it was my granddaughter." Today's matter, as long as the people present, can guess seven or eight parts, those two pieces are carved by Ye Zhuo or Qiuyue. Ye Yuqi knew that he couldn't hide it, and it wasn't right to hide from these good brothers who truly helped the Ye family, so he admitted it straightforwardly.

  Everyone stared at Ye Zhuo, their eyes somewhat dull. They were all people who had spent their lives in the jade carving industry and really couldn't imagine how a soft and weak 15 or 16 year old girl could learn such good jade carving skills? After a long time, Uncle Li asked again: "How long has your niece been learning jade carving?"

  Ye Yuqi glanced at Ye Zhuo and smiled: "Less than a year." In fact, Ye Zhuo had only been studying jade carving for three months. Ye Yuqi was afraid that if he said it out loud, it would be too shocking, and people would spread rumors that he was a freak, so he gave such a vague answer.

  Even so, it still scared everyone, and the gaze towards Ye Zhuo became even more strange.

  "Uncle Yun, Uncle Wu, Uncle Li, can you please not spread this around? My craftsmanship is actually still unrefined. Today's carving was just a temporary measure, a helpless move. If those who bought the jade carvings find out that I'm the one who carved them, they might come knocking on my door demanding refunds. After all, people's psychology is strange. If they know they're holding a masterpiece, even if it's not well-carved, they'll grow more fond of it; on the other hand, if it's something created by someone with low status and no reputation, even if it's exquisitely carved, they'll find many flaws and think it's not worth it."

  Yun Lao Ye nodded: "Zhuo Yaotou's words make sense. However... He furrowed his brow, "Everyone saw what happened today. Only you took the jade material into the house and came out with a different appearance. If you say it wasn't carved by you, I'm afraid no one will believe it."

  Ye Zhuo smiled slightly: "Guessing is one thing, acknowledging is another. This matter, it's better to be vague and mysterious. If someone asks, you only need to smile and not say anything, if pressed hard, just say you don't know."

  "That's the best." Cloud Old Master pondered for a moment, then shouted. He turned to face Ye Yuqi and said: "Brother Ye, with such a granddaughter, you'll be blessed in your later years."

  "That's it. My granddaughter is just as good as two grandsons for me, I wouldn't trade." Ye Yuqi's mustache was almost standing on end.

  Ye Zhuo couldn't help but laugh to himself and said, "Grandfather, Grandmother is still worried at home. You two go to the Moon Building to drink, I'll head back first, so as not to worry Grandmother."

  "Invite your grandmother and the others to come to De Yue Lou, we can set up another private room. This matter today is worth celebrating." Ye Yuqi said.

  "Alright, I'll head back first and bring Grandma and the others to De Yue Lou." Ye Zhuo had no objections.

  Nie Bao Wen and Du Hao Ran returned to Nie's residence, Xie Yun Feng naturally wouldn't let go of this opportunity, following them as he said: "As the sky is already darkening, it's almost time for dinner. Would you two gentlemen be willing to give me the chance to host a meal? Recently, a new restaurant called De Yue Lou opened in Nanshan Town, with chefs from the capital who make excellent dishes with novel styles. Why don't we head over there and have a few drinks?"

  Nie Bowen recently took over some of the family's industries and came to Nanshan Town today to inspect the Nie family workshop and the shops on Jade Street, not in a hurry to return to Nan Yun City. Just now, he had an unpleasant argument with Du Haoran, feeling a bit awkward. At this moment, hearing Xie Yuntian's words was quite agreeable, so he said: "Good."

  Thank you for the rewards from Yu Hanxi, Shang Qiushui, Na Yunhuan and Mao Maolai. Thank you also to Shuiyang and Bao Bei You Liang Ge for the pink votes, especially Shuiyang who gave Lingshui four pink votes at once, I'm really grateful.

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