Chapter 25

Mr. Shao laughed and said, "Then download it yourself, I'll go make lunch."

"Okay!" Yang Kang nodded. Mr. Shao seemed to have a very strong sense of leadership. Whatever he said, Yang Kang could only listen. He wanted to argue a bit, but it seemed he couldn't win against him.

Then, Mr. Shao hummed a little tune and strutted towards the kitchen. Yang Kang reached out and picked up the phone from the desk, thought for a moment, and decided not to rush installing the software. He then walked towards the kitchen.

"Huh? Is there something?" Mr. Shao was busy cutting the washed loofah and saw him standing at the kitchen door, so he asked immediately.

"No, I just came to see if there's anything I can help with," Yang Kang said.

"What can you do?" Mr. Shao asked.

"Um..." Yang Kang thought seriously, but he really couldn't cook...

"My kitchen is small, don't mess around here, go out!" Mr. Shao said, "Is your computer software installed?"

"Downloading..." Yang Kang said somewhat guiltily. He had downloaded a few games, which were quite large, so the download speed was a bit slow.

"I bought today's newspaper. If you really have nothing to do, go read the newspaper. Don't mess around here; I really don't like having someone watch me while I cook," Mr. Shao said.

"Okay!" Yang Kang nodded and turned to leave the kitchen. Sure enough, today's newspaper was on the coffee table outside.

He felt that Mr. Shao wasn't just hiring a helper to look after the shop; it was more like he was inviting a master to be served—providing accommodation, buying clothes, and cooking for him... and not letting him do anything.

For the whole morning, Yang Kang read the newspaper, downloaded his game software, and installed some other applications. Around 11:30, Mr. Shao had already prepared lunch and called him to eat.

Yang Kang had to admit that Mr. Shao's cooking was really good. The dishes were delicious. Fortunately, he was leaving the country the next day; otherwise, if he lived with him for a while, he would surely become a big fat guy.

Mr. Shao watched him eat and was very happy, smiling all the time. After lunch, Mr. Shao cleaned up the dishes and still didn't let him help, saying the same thing: his kitchen was not to be invaded. So Yang Kang just sat in the chair, spacing out.

"Akang, do you have anything else?" Mr. Shao asked, looking at Yang Kang after he finished cleaning the dishes and came out of the kitchen.

"Huh? Nothing!" Yang Kang shook his head. He really had nothing to do. This job was so easy that he felt he didn't deserve the salary Mr. Shao gave him.

"If you have nothing to do, why are you still sitting here?" Mr. Shao said, "Go upstairs and take a nap, I'll go play mahjong."

"Ah?" Yang Kang was stunned. After a while, he said, "Boss, what about the shop?"

"Close the door, do you think, in this hot weather, we'll still have customers?" Mr. Shao said, "You, do you need me to teach you such a simple thing? Go take a nap until 3 PM, I'll finish mahjong around 5 PM, then we'll go out for dinner, as a send-off for me. I have an early flight tomorrow morning, and I'm leaving from Shanghai, so I won't come here tomorrow. Ruyi Workshop will be in your hands."

"Okay!" Yang Kang nodded, agreed, and went upstairs with his phone, again feeling that Mr. Shao wasn't hiring a helper but a master.

On his first day of work, Yang Kang didn't do anything. Out of curiosity, he couldn't help but ask during dinner, "Boss, what's in your storage room?" After his nap, he had nothing to do, so he looked around and found a few machines, oxygen tanks, and some thick, old books, as well as handwritten notebooks. Since they were Mr. Shao's things, he didn't dare to flip through them, but he felt he needed to ask.

"Didn't I tell you I like to tinker with some handmade things when I have nothing to do?" Mr. Shao smiled when asked, "Those are tools for making gold jewelry."

"Boss can do that?" Yang Kang was instantly curious. He really didn't know Mr. Shao could do that.

"This isn't hard to learn," Mr. Shao smiled, "It's easy to get started, but to master it is hard. My skills... aren't that good."

"Really?" Yang Kang asked.

Seeing Yang Kang's curious face, Mr. Shao looked at the time, it was still early, only 6:30 PM, and said, "Why don't we go back and play around? I'll teach you?"

"You have an early flight tomorrow, let's skip it!" Although Yang Kang was very curious, he didn't want to trouble Mr. Shao, who had an early flight the next day. He smiled and said, "When you come back from abroad, teach me?"

"Haha... It's still early, I won't be able to sleep at this time. Let's go—back to the workshop." Mr. Shao said, called over a waiter to settle the bill, and took Yang Kang back to Ruyi Workshop. They closed the door and went straight into the storage room.

"This isn't hard to get started with," Mr. Shao said, explaining how to use the machines.

Yang Kang found that, as Mr. Shao said, many things were digitally controlled, such as the furnace temperature, which was controlled by a computer. It was clear that Mr. Shao's tools were quite advanced.

The jewelry to be made also had plaster molds. First, the gold was melted and poured into the plaster mold. After a short wait for the gold to cool, the plaster mold was placed in cold water to wash it out, and the rough jewelry could be taken out. Then, some fine processing or setting could be done. As long as it wasn't purely handmade, the craftsmanship wasn't too complex.

Seeing his great interest, Mr. Shao immediately demonstrated by making a small, fancy women's ring.

When Yang Kang took the ring, a thread of spiritual energy wrapped around it. Although he had long suspected that the Taiyin Treasure Mirror didn't just react to antiques but also to other treasures, he had never verified it. Now, seeing the threads of spiritual energy spread out, he could confirm that his original hypothesis was correct.

However, he didn't quite understand what the criteria were for the Taiyin Treasure Mirror to react to treasures. Was it based on his values?

For such a profound question, Yang Kang only thought about it briefly and decided not to delve into it, as he couldn't figure it out.

"If you're interested, you can try following the steps in the book," Mr. Shao pointed to a large book on the side, "I just found it interesting and bought a set of tools to study."

"Haha!" Yang Kang couldn't help but laugh. He really didn't expect Mr. Shao to have such a hobby.