Chapter 23

The next morning, before Wu Di went to work, the old lady called him over, confiscated the check, and ransacked his bank account as if a rat had licked it clean. After a few interrogations, seeing that there was nothing more to gain, the old lady waved her hand and said:

"Our Zhong family children, before they have their own families and careers, can only manage their own salaries. All other income must be turned over. Xiao Wu, from now on, your commissions will be kept by me. If you need to make any large expenditures, submit a report to your sister. Now, go to work."

Seeing the situation was not good, Zhong Qi quietly moved towards the room but was stopped by the old lady.

"Can you cash this thirty million? If you can't, I'll make you pay!"

Zhong Qi broke into a sweat and said hurriedly:

"No problem, no problem, absolutely can be cashed. No one dares to write a bad check these days."

The old lady glared at him, turned around, and went into the room to sort through her loot. Wu Di sat in the car, smiling bitterly. Mothers are the same everywhere. Yes, he would take Oudoudou to visit Aunt Song in the evening to find some comfort.

This family meeting became Wu Di's Waterloo, marking the beginning of the underground work of our party. Wu Di was already prepared for a long and arduous struggle.

That evening, Wu Di and Oudoudou spent the night at Principal Lu's place. The old couple lived in a retirement center for senior officials, with a separate courtyard and plenty of rooms. Oudoudou came over to stay at least two days a week. After hearing Oudoudou's intermittent description, the old lady understood the situation and smiled:

"Wu Di is a good boy."

Principal Lu clearly still had some grievances against Wu Di and said smugly:

"Hmph! He brought it upon himself!"

Wu Di smiled bitterly. Indeed, his little tricks were nothing in front of these experienced elders. Anyway, he had already let it go. In the future, he would accept what was given and hand over what was demanded. As for the income that wasn't discovered, well, hehe.

With no heart for work, Wu Di decided to practice driving first. He found a coach and learned for two hours. Then he ran back to the mountain, secretly drove the Range Rover away, and ran off, making Zhong Qi, who had wanted to go out with him, curse him for being ungrateful.

By the weekend, Saturday was the usual meeting day, which conveniently allowed him to avoid shopping with Chang Liling and the others. Now, Wu Di didn't dare let Zhong Qi follow him, otherwise, even if the money from selling the glass-type jade wasn't confiscated, Zhong Qi would have a hold over him.

Wu Di paced around the house, finally enduring until ten o'clock. He jumped into a taxi and headed straight for Panjiayuan. On the way, he called Wen Yaru, saying he wanted to open the small stone and asking if he would come.

Wen Yaru laughed:

"Your lousy stone, I don't even need to know the result after it's opened! Come for lunch at noon."

Wu Di shrugged and walked straight through the stone city's exhibition hall to the back yard. There weren't many people in the back yard, only about a dozen. Wu Di immediately noticed a girl standing in front of a row of cabinets, looking at the stones.

There were two girls, one tall and one short, with their backs to Wu Di. One was wearing a blue floral dress, and the other a simple white T-shirt and shorts. As if sensing someone was looking at them, the shorter one turned around and glanced at Wu Di, who was just moving his gaze away. She pouted and huffed. Wu Di heard the sound and turned to see the girl's face. The word "elf" instantly came to mind. The girl was no more than sixteen years old but was exquisitely beautiful. Wu Di couldn't find the words to describe her.

Seeing Wu Di dazed, the girl became even more displeased, turned back, and whispered to the taller girl, ignoring Wu Di.

Wu Di found a helper and said he wanted to open the stone. The helper wasn't sure if he had bought the stone from their store and asked if he had a receipt. Without a receipt, the stone couldn't be opened for free. Wu Di smiled bitterly and shook his head. As they were communicating, Qian Puzi accompanied two elders into the yard. Seeing Wu Di, he smiled:

"Little brother, where's Old Wen?"

"He heard I was opening the stone I bought last time and was afraid of being embarrassed, so he hid."

Qian Puzi had forgotten what stone Wu Di had bought from him. Hearing this, he became interested:

"What stone? It can make Old Wen hide? Show it quickly!"

When he saw the stone Wu Di took out, he couldn't help but laugh:

"If it were me, I'd find a place to hide too! But it's still a piece of rough material. Xiao Liu, use the grinding wheel to help Brother Wu clean it!"

Hearing that Wu Di was opening the stone, the two girls turned around. When they saw the stone in Wu Di's hand, the shorter one huffed and whispered to the taller one, just loud enough for Wu Di to hear:

"Second sister, that guy was just peeking at you!"

Wu Di was instantly speechless, then smiled bitterly and shook his head. Why get angry with a child? Besides, beautiful girls have some privileges. When he accidentally saw the taller girl, he was stunned. All he could see were her large, cartoon-like eyes; nothing else mattered.

"Hmph! Pervert!"

A cold huff woke Wu Di. He saw the taller girl had turned around, and the shorter one was pouting and waving her little fists at him. Wu Di was puzzled. He had seen four beautiful girls in just a few days, and all of them had some interaction with him, good or bad. Was it his spring? Unfortunately, none of them were within his reach. Wu Di suddenly remembered Li Qinglong's words and thought to himself that this wasn't called spring, but rather "spring fever," commonly known as "itching."

Wu Di found a stone bench and sat down, declining Xiao Liu's help. He clumsily used the grinding wheel to create a window on the stone. Before he could take a closer look, he heard someone say:

"Sir, can I take a look at this stone?"

Wu Di looked up and saw one of the elders who had come in with Qian Puzi. He quickly stood up and said:

"Sure, old sir. I don't know anything about it, so I'd be grateful if you could take a look."

Qian Puzi and the other elder also came over. The elder blew off the dust from the cut and examined it carefully, then passed the stone to the other elder. Qian Puzi leaned in to look and was frozen in place, his mouth agape.

The first elder smiled at Wu Di and said:

"Little brother, your stone has already shown its quality. Do you have any intention of selling it? I can buy it."

"Really? Old sir, what kind of quality did I reveal?"

The elder smiled bitterly, looked back at the other elder holding the stone, and said:

"It's glass-type, imperial green."

The people in the yard, upon hearing the elder's words, rushed over to Wu Di. Some even tried to grab the stone from the elder. The elder glared at the person and returned the stone to Wu Di. Wu Di, secretly praising the elder's integrity, felt someone trying to take the stone from his hand and quickly raised it. Turning around, he saw the girl who had called him a pervert trying to grab his hand. Wu Di quickly turned and hugged the stone.

The girl, seeing her attempt fail, whispered:

"Hmph, miser, pervert!"

Wu Di smiled bitterly:

"Isn't it just two looks? Can you drop the last two words?"

Qian Puzi, while arranging for the store to close and preparing fireworks, said to Wu Di:

"Brother, from your technique, it seems you haven't opened a stone before. If you trust this old man, let me help you?"

Wu Di hesitated, saw Qian Puzi nodding at him, and handed the stone to the elder, saying loudly:

"Everyone, don't crowd. After this old gentleman opens the stone, I'll let everyone see. Please step back to avoid any accidents, okay?"

The elder took the grinding wheel from Wu Di and started to open the stone. Wu Di called Wen Yaru:

"Old brother, come quickly, I've opened a glass-type stone!"

Wen Yaru didn't hear clearly and asked:

"What? Opened a glass-type stone?"

"Yes, glass-type imperial green!"

Then he heard Wen Yaru apologizing to someone and panting on the phone:

"Wu old brother, quote a price, don't let anyone snatch it away!"