Jiang Changgeng had retired from his position as deputy director of the Provincial Health Commission and still lived in the residential compound of the Health Department.
When the car reached the compound entrance, Jiang Tian looked towards a small building deep inside the yard and said lightly, “Let’s not go in. Grandfather is sleeping; we shouldn’t disturb him.”
“You haven’t even gone in, how do you know…” Ye Ziwei looked incredulous but still parked by the side as instructed.
“Grandfather’s condition is already quite serious, showing signs of the ‘Five Decays of Heaven and Man’…” Jiang Tian fell silent for a moment, then sighed softly.
“How can you see that? That’s strange; it’s exactly what Grandfather himself said.” Ye Ziwei couldn’t believe it.
“Heavenly Eye. Do you believe it?” Jiang Tian laughed.
“Pfft, you’re just bragging!” Ye Ziwei rolled her eyes at Jiang Tian, thinking he was joking.
Qing’er just smiled without saying a word.
Ye Ziwei asked again, “Jiang Tian, Grandfather said the same thing. He said he’s not sick but that his time is up, and there’s no way to treat it. What do you think?”
“Child’s play for me! Let’s go!”
Jiang Tian waved his hand dismissively and called Ye Gufeng, asking them to prepare some things.
…
The Confucius Temple is a massive group of ancient buildings that has weathered the vicissitudes of time, rising and falling several times. It’s a place for worshipping and offering sacrifices to Confucius, one of China’s four great Confucian temples, with profound historical depth and cultural accumulation.
The Confucius Temple, celebrated as a Qinhuai landmark, forms a distinctive scenic area of the ancient capital Jinling and is a world-renowned tourist destination. It is also China’s largest traditional antique street market.
In the antique world, Jinling’s Confucius Temple and Beijing’s Liulichang, one in the south and one in the north, gaze at each other from afar like twin stars in the sky. They are sacred grounds no antique enthusiast should miss.
The Confucius Temple has many attractions. Just the Academy, the Dacheng Gate, and the Dacheng Hall are enough to explore for half a day. Adding nearby places like the Zhan Garden, Zhonghua Gate, and the Qinhuai River scenic belt makes it even more captivating and memorable.
Here, pedestrians were as dense as a woven fabric, shoulder to shoulder. Many tourists followed guides holding small flags, viewing the scenery and taking photos together.
In the crowd, Jiang Tian, with his merely somewhat handsome face, didn’t stand out. But having two stunning beauties like Zhao Xueqing and Ye Ziwei by his side attracted quite a few envious and jealous glances.
After wandering around for a while and having some snacks, Jiang Tian, led by Ye Ziwei, arrived at the Antique City of the Confucius Temple.
This was a complex of antique-style buildings imitating Ming and Qing architecture located behind the main hall of the Confucius Temple, housing nearly twenty antique shops of varying sizes.
The antiques traded here were diverse. In terms of material, there were wooden antiques, ceramic antiques, jade antiques, jewelry antiques, metal antiques, etc. In terms of usage value, there were classical furniture, scholar’s study items, utensils, dressing accessories, ancient coins, books, newspapers, cigarette card posters, and so on.
“Huh? Ziwei-jie, what’s this? ‘Strange Stone Hall’? Are they selling stones? Landscape stones?”
While strolling, Zhao Xueqing suddenly pointed to a storefront and asked curiously.
“Tsk, you don’t even know this? Such a country bumpkin…”
Next to them, a young man with a sloppy demeanor got out of a Porsche Cayenne and said disdainfully.
Jiang Tian found the voice somewhat familiar. Looking up, he couldn’t help but chuckle and say, “Jiang Chao, daring to talk to us like that, do you want a beating?”
Jiang Chao was the illegitimate son born from Jiang Tian’s second uncle, Jiang Yangming’s, mistress. The second aunt was a mistress who rose to the position, but the old master, kind-hearted, still insisted he be entered into the family register.
However, with his status, it was inevitable that he faced exclusion, cold shoulders, and suppression within the family.
This fostered a perverse and rebellious personality in him. Since childhood, he bullied men and women, committing all manner of wicked deeds.
But Jiang Chao had always been afraid of Jiang Tian. Back then, Jiang Tian was the crown prince of the Yaowang Group, the demon king among demon kings. After being thoroughly disciplined by Jiang Tian a few times, he became completely docile, avoiding him like the plague.
“Oh, it’s Tian-ge! When did you come back? Is sister-in-law back too?” Jiang Chao shivered slightly upon seeing Jiang Tian.
But then he secretly despised inwardly: I’m an illegitimate son, you’re a discarded son. You’re not even as good as me.
“Do I need to report to you when I come back?”
Jiang Tian couldn’t be bothered with him. Seeing Zhao Xueqing seemed somewhat interested, he led the two women into the Strange Stone Hall.
“The family doesn’t allow Jiang Tian back in Jinling, right? How did he come back? I’ll find out the situation later and tell big brother!”
At the entrance, Jiang Chao watched Jiang Tian’s retreating back, his eyes darting around for a moment, then followed them in.
“The three of you are here for the first time, right? Have you played jade gambling before? No? Let me introduce it to you!”
Seeing Jiang Tian and the two women enter the courtyard, a shrewd clerk in a traditional buttoned jacket hurriedly came forward and launched into an introduction and sales pitch.
When jade or jadeite is mined, it’s wrapped in a layer of weathered skin. With current technological means, it’s absolutely impossible to know the quality inside; you have to cut it open to see what’s hidden within.
A piece of jadeite raw material might have color on the surface, looking very good. The first cut might reveal green, but the second cut might show no green at all—this is a common occurrence.
This kind of jadeite raw material is called “rough material.” In the jadeite trading market, rough material is also called “stone.” Buying and selling this raw stone, because the risks and rewards are extremely high, is full of gambling implications, hence it’s called “stone gambling” or “jade gambling.”
Compared to jade gambling transactions, risky ventures like stocks and real estate seem gentle and pale in comparison.
Gambling successfully on one piece of jade can earn you ten or a hundred times the investment, making you rich overnight. But gambling wrong on one piece can also lead to bankruptcy overnight. Countless people have jumped off buildings after losing at jade gambling.
Jade gambling can be described as “one cut hell, one cut heaven.” So there’s a saying in the jewelry industry—gambling on jade is like gambling with your life!
Those who dare to gamble on jade often possess strong risk tolerance. In short, you have to have money!
You have to be able to afford losing eighty or a hundred thousand, even millions or tens of millions, without it breaking you!
“Wow, these stones are so expensive! Look, a fist-sized piece costs twenty or thirty thousand!”
Zhao Xueqing held onto Jiang Tian’s arm, looking at the stones on the shelves and exclaiming in amazement.
“Sister-in-law, coming to a place like this to play is all about throwing money around. With me here, what are you afraid of? Whatever stone you want to buy, it’s on me!”
Jiang Chao came over, patted his chest, and laughed.
He was uneducated, barely getting into a third-tier university and dropping out halfway through out of impatience. But Second Uncle doted on him, giving him five or six million to open an antique shop. He could earn a million or so a year.
Although he appeared very enthusiastic, there was a hint of disdain at the corners of his eyes and brows.
He heard the Zhao family’s strength was quite average. Seeing it today, it’s indeed true. Jiang Tian’s really fallen low.
From the looks of it, just the raw stones in the Strange Stone Hall were worth over ten million. But Jiang Tian didn’t care at all. Compared to the hundreds of billions in assets he now controlled, this was nothing worth mentioning.
He focused on admiring the sparkle in Zhao Xueqing’s beautiful eyes and the gentle lines of her face.
If it could bring a smile to his beloved wife’s face, what did it matter if he bought the entire Antique City?
The clerk was sharp-eyed. Seeing this, he quickly said, “How about this gentleman Jiang trying his hand?”
“I won’t play. If Ziwei-jie and Qing’er want to play, you can gamble a bit!” Jiang Tian smiled.
He came mainly to accompany Qing’er and Ziwei-jie, to let them have fun.
This jade gambling held no challenge for him. He had opened his Heavenly Eye at the Body Refining stage, able to see through all things. He could gamble with absolute accuracy. Besides, he wasn’t short of money.
Seeing Jiang Tian refuse, the shrewd clerk was momentarily stunned.
Generally, men had a high propensity for gambling. How could a man come to a jade gambling place and not gamble himself, letting his female companions gamble instead?
He tried to explain, “Sir, we also have some semi-gambled rough materials here—ones that have already had a ‘window’ cut and shown green. The probability of a win is quite high. Would you like to give it a try?”
“I said I don’t play this…” Jiang Tian said lightly.
Seeing this, the shrewd clerk curled his lip, a flash of disdain deep in his eyes.
Judging by his attire, he didn’t look like a very poor person. How could he not even afford to gamble on jade?
Seems like a silver spearhead that’s actually wax—a poor person trying to show off. What a waste of breath.
Working in such a place, he was accustomed to wealthy young masters spending thousands at a throw. His heart had long been corrupted to be extremely money-worshipping. In his view, poor people had no right to enter such places.
“Ziwei, you’re here too?”
Suddenly, a surprised voice called out. At the entrance walked in a young man of extraordinary bearing.
Behind him followed several young people dressed in brand-name clothes, clearly from wealthy or influential families, clustering around him like stars around the moon.
“Young Master Qiang! You’ve come! Please come in, please come in! I’ll go call our boss!”
The shrewd clerk hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, bowing and scraping, then took out his phone as if to make a call.
“Don’t make a fuss. I’m just here to look around!”
The young man addressed as Young Master Qiang smiled faintly and waved his hand, giving a feeling of approachability, like a spring breeze.
He had a scholarly, refined temperament, an air of nobility that couldn’t be faked, cultivated only in families of great wealth and status.
Moreover, his manners were proper, polite, low-key, and reserved, different from the typical show-off personality of second-generation heirs.
“Young Master Qiang, I never thought I’d run into you here! I’m your loyal fan!”
Jiang Chao scampered over like a loyal dog seeing its master, his face full of flattery, nodding and bowing.
Yu Qiang, a top-tier young master of Jinling, someone who could overshadow Chen Bo, Sun Hao, and others.
His father had served in the military, and after retiring, took a position in the Jinling Politics and Law Committee, overseeing hundreds of thousands of police officers in the province. How powerful was that background?
And Yu Qiang’s own capabilities were no less. He graduated from a famous art academy and opened an art product trading company. In a short time, he amassed billions in wealth. His personal achievements rivaled the entire Yaowang Group.
“Jiang Chao, what fan? I’m not a celebrity. Are you here with your cousin?” Yu Qiang smiled gently, making Jiang Chao feel overwhelmingly honored, nodding repeatedly in agreement.
Yu Qiang approached Ye Ziwei and smiled, “Ziwei, since when are you interested in jade gambling?”
“Oh, I’m just looking around casually.”
Ye Ziwei just smiled faintly, then linked arms with Jiang Tian and pretended to look at stones, walking to one side.
Seeing this, a flash of severity passed deep in Yu Qiang’s eyes. He said lightly, “This is your… younger brother, Jiang Tian, right?”
