Gu Xiqiao held the piece of ancient jade in her hands, the natural energy around her so thick that it already materialized into mist as she looked at the piece of jade that had become even more stunning after the array had been embedded into it.
[Beauty Qiao, the most precious part of this piece of jade isn’t its chi-converging properties, but that it can protect the user from all harm, essentially another life! Jiang Shuxuan better be worth 1500 points!] The system spirit spoke with a somewhat jealous tone. Those points could have been used to upgrade it!
“You’ve only just been upgraded, so wait for a while okay? I promise I’ll upgrade you again soon!” Gu Xiqiao smiled as she knew what the system spirit was thinking of, the natural chi around her illuminating her with an ethereal glow.
[You’re really the prettiest person in the world Beauty Qiao!]
This piece of jade was already perfect in the first place, so Gu Xiqiao didn’t make any modifications to it. She kept it in her inventory, before taking out the two other pieces of jade that she bought earlier.
A normal-tiered array would already be more than enough for Tang Yanling and Yin Jinian, so Gu Xiqiao used 100 points each to embed said arrays into their pieces of jade. This time around, nothing special happened except for the air rippling slightly.
These pieces of jade were still unsculpted after all, so Gu Xiqiao made the system polish and refine them because she was already too tired to do it.
The system used up 1 point each to sculpt them into a pair of earrings and a thumb ring.
The system was good at its job, of course, and the pair of earrings looked like two teardrops that had intricate designs on them when looked at closely, and it had an ethereal glow to it. This wasn’t an effect caused by the jade and the natural energy in it, but the masterful craftsmanship of the system in sculpting it so that it could refract light in a myriad of ways when light was shone on them.
These two earrings seemed like a work of art from the heavens itself that couldn’t be designed by the most experienced designers in the world, and even Gu Xiqiao was amazed by their beauty.
After getting done with everything, her mental power reserves had already reached rock bottom, and her mind felt if it was going to explode. Under such pain, however, she still looked as calm and collected as ever.
Gu Xiqiao had already gone to bed when Jiang Shuxuan got home, and he hastily finished the meal that Mrs. Zhang had prepared for him before going into his study.
The window to the study was open, and the curtains flapped in the breeze. Jiang Shuxuan switched on the lights before he took out a random old book from the shelves and sat onto his chair comfortably. This was his habit, no matter how busy he was.
The pages of the book he was reading were already yellowed with age, and the words on the paper was ancient small seal script. He was extremely focused as he read it, and he seemed even more handsome as his face was illuminated by the dim lights.
He had barely flipped two pages before his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and a glint of astonishment flashed through his cold orbs.
Jiang Shuxuan set down the book and walked over to the sandalwood table, and placed on it was a piece of perfect white jade with an old-looking design and enough spiritual energy that it seemed to be pouring out into the room, and this was the first time that an expression of shock made its way onto the man’s face in a long while.
He hadn’t detected this piece of jade in the slightest when he entered the room… Did this piece of jade already birth its own intelligence?
Even though he had read that spirits could be birthed from jade, this was the first time that he saw such a piece of jade in person.
As he held the piece of jade in his hand, he felt a familiar presence from it and smiled. “This kid…”
But then again, he had already guessed that Gu Xiqiao was the one that gave him this piece of ancient jade. As he exclaimed internally on the value of this gift, a tender smile made its way onto his face as he got a red string and used it to hang the piece of ancient jade on his neck.
As he sat back onto his chair, he couldn’t focus anymore, continuing to unconsciously rub the piece of jade on his neck with his fingers. While he knew that it was a special piece of jade, as soon as it was hung onto him, he realized that the natural chi was flowing in his direction many times quicker than before. If it continued like this, he would probably be able to level up again quite quickly, wouldn’t he?
Jiang Shuxuan sighed softly as he put down the book again and walked over to the window, letting the cool breeze soothe his nerves before he walked out of the room, switching off the lights behind him. As he walked by Gu Xiqiao’s room, his steps stopped for a moment in front of a certain girl’s door, and he stood there for a while, listening to the calm and steady breaths of someone that was asleep before walking away.
The next morning, Gu Xiqiao came back to the mansion right as Jiang Shuxuan walked downstairs.
He was wearing a white shirt, and from the single button at the top that wasn’t buttoned, one could see a thin, red thread.
Gu Xiqiao looked at it in surprise for a few moments. She knew that Jiang Shuxuan didn’t like wearing too many accessories on his person to the point where he was too lazy to even wear a watch, so she didn’t bother to thread it with a string, only expecting him to bring it around in his pocket at most.
But he threaded it up by himself?
She hadn’t pinned him for someone that liked these sorts of antiques, and she trailed over to the table as she started eating breakfast.
Then, she remembered a question that she had forgotten to ask earlier. “Hey, Brother Jiang, did you really pick the color for my car?”
“You mean the one that Yin Shaoyuan gifted you, right?” Yin Shaoyuan raised an eyebrow as he looked over at her. “Yes, is there a problem with it?”
Normally, one would choose the color pink for a girl because it was a widely accepted girlish color, but in Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes, all colors had their own meaning in correspondence to the natural laws of the world. While Gu Xiqiao’s fate had been starting to shift as of late, and she had heavenly merit and luck on her side, there had always been a presence of Yin-Chi attached to her soul.
Within all of the colors that brought luck and prosperity, pink was the only one that suited her the most.
“Not really.” Gu Xiqiao downed the bowl of soup in one go, before looking back at the tall and aloof man that was in front of her. “Can I interview you on why you chose this color for me, Mr. Jiang?”
Jiang Shuxuan knew that she was half-joking at the moment, so he put down his bowl and wiped his hands with a napkin. “It depends on the person I’m choosing for. It would be another color if it were another person.”
Gu Xiqiao didn’t quite believe this explanation of his, but she only nodded and replied: “…As long as you’re happy.”
“Quite. Are you going outside today?” Jiang Shuxuan got up from his seat and asked.
As she held a boiled egg in one hand, she scrolled on her phone with the other and replied, “Tong Tong is going to have chemotherapy today, and her nurse is on leave, and Uncle Mu is still out on a business trip, so I’ll go look after her.”
Jiang Shuxuan grabbed his keys, and while he didn’t know why Gu Xiqiao was so concerned about that child, he didn’t ask any further. “The city hospital, right? Want me to give you a ride?”
“Give me a second!” Gu Xiqiao scarfed down the egg and quickly downed her cup of milk, before calling out to Mrs. Zhang that was in the kitchen, “Aunt Zhang, I won’t be back for lunch!”
“Aren’t you going to change your clothes?” Jiang Shuxuan glanced at her sports attire before asking.
What kind of girl didn’t take a shower nor change her clothes after coming back from a morning jog?
Gu Xiqiao scrunched her nose and sniffed at the air, before replying, “It’s fine, I didn’t sweat a lot today.”
Jiang Shuxuan smiled and nodded, then drove her to the city hospital. The girl got down from the car and waved at him in goodbye, and only stepped into the hospital after the car disappeared from her line of sight.
She had come to the hospital before, so she knew where Mu Jiatong’s ward was, and she went to the sixth floor where the hematology patients were hospitalized, and there were many other patients that had similarly severe sicknesses as Mu Jiatong did, so the air itself was filled with despair.
The eldest patient in there seemed to not even be over thirty years old, and all of their lives had to be cut short because of their sickness.
Gu Xiqiao stood there in the hallway for a while, before she made a decision to herself.
Mu Jiatong stayed in a double-ward with another boy that had been transferred there recently, and from the looks of it he was only around the age of a middle-schooler. When Gu Xiqiao walked in, the two children were sitting there on a bed and watching television. Mu Jiatong was getting an IV drip, and the gaze of the boy beside her kept alternating between the screen and the medicine drip vigilantly, as if he were her nurse.
“Tong Tong.” Gu Xiqiao stepped into the ward and glanced at the screen of the television that was broadcasting news, and from the looks of it, it was about her.