JOS Chapter 131
Jade Pendant
The male student conducted a preliminary inspection and felt that the autofocus was somewhat strange, but he would need to test the images on a computer to know the specifics.
“I need to go repair it first. This kind of human damage isn’t covered by warranty, and I don’t know how much it will cost. This lens is completely ruined.”
The teacher said, “Here’s what we’ll do – after you get it repaired, give me the invoice and bring it to my office, then I’ll transfer the money to you.”
The male student frowned, and his friend beside him gave him a meaningful look.
Four years of university, and graduation prospects were still uncertain – offending an associate professor wasn’t worth it. Who knew if they might encounter each other in the future, and what kind of character this teacher really had.
Judging from his son’s behavior, it was somewhat worrying.
Jiang Feng took the opportunity to say, “I know a repair shop with relatively cheap prices. Would you like to try it?”
The male student resisted, “Those random repair shops outside? If they’re unreliable, the parts might get switched out. They make money from exactly this kind of thing.”
Jiang Feng said, “You can watch him repair it.”
The male student was surprised, “That’s possible?”
Jiang Feng replied, “Go take a look and you’ll know. They also have genuine lenses there, slightly cheaper than buying online. Whether they’re real or fake, as someone who plays with cameras, you should be able to tell for yourself. If you feel it’s unsafe, then go to an authorized repair center.”
Zhang Yangyang jumped in saying, “That’s right, that’s right! Our classmate Jiang Feng has wide connections. He’s a senior about to graduate with great reputation – give it a try!”
A group of roommates gave him genuine praise, showing their neat white teeth.
The male student looked skeptical, feeling like he had encountered a group of idiots.
****
In the end, with mutual compromises from all parties and the associate professor’s tacit consent, they still followed Jiang Feng to the repair shop.
The place Jiang Feng took them to was a street where he used to deliver food during summer vacation.
This street had quite a few counterfeit goods, but also plenty of genuine items – it depended on whether customers had good eyes.
Even if customers didn’t have good eyes, it didn’t matter… after all, there were sharp-eyed ghosts around.
The shop owner took the item, examined it thoroughly, then quoted a price to the group.
The male student asked, “Do you need to replace components?”
“No need, I’ll just repair it for you,” the shop owner said. “At this price, you think I’m trying to sell it to you if I replace components?”
The male student replied, “No, then please repair it.”
The shop owner didn’t avoid suspicion and really began repairing it in front of him.
The male student wandered around the shop, saw the inventory in his storage, and immediately opened his eyes wide.
“Damn, what a great place! Such complete stock!” The male student compared the website prices with the prices here, “Everything’s several hundred cheaper.”
Although this several hundred was just a fraction compared to good lenses worth tens of thousands. But the prices marked in this kind of shop could definitely be bargained down, and even if the price didn’t drop, there would be some freebies.
Jiang Feng said, “Don’t come here alone.”
The male student was stunned for a moment, then understood and patted his shoulder, “I get it. Brother, thanks.”
The male student began selecting lenses. There happened to be a computer nearby, so he took some test shots to check the effect while waiting for the shop owner to finish the repair.
The teacher stood in a corner of the shop, silent and sullen. His complexion was poor, but not obviously so.
After the male student picked out lenses and haggled with the shop owner for a long time, they finally settled on the total price.
“Altogether… I’ll give you a discount, 8,500 yuan.”
The teacher walked over at this point, took out his phone and said, “What’s the account number? Should I scan your code?”
The male student quickly said, “Let’s go half and half.”
The teacher glanced at him, remained silent without refusing, so the male student proactively paid half.
When they had finally sorted everything out and were preparing to go their separate ways, the glass door was pushed open and a familiar face walked in.
Still wearing the old-style blue shirt with white long beard, holding a palm-leaf fan in his hand.
The antique shop owner smiled cheerfully, “Jiang Feng, long time no see. I heard you came over, and indeed you did.”
Jiang Feng nodded in acknowledgment.
The antique shop owner asked, “Not delivering food recently?”
Jiang Feng nodded, “I’ve stopped delivering.”
The owner said, “That makes sense. I heard you inherited several hundred million from Boss Liu. You couldn’t earn that much interest delivering food for a lifetime, so why deliver?”
The shop instantly fell silent, everyone turned to look at him in unison, their eyes full of shock.
Beyond shock, they couldn’t process any other emotions for the moment.
Even the teacher’s footsteps paused.
“Holy sh*t?” Zhang Yangyang carefully poked his arm, “Are you still my good friend Jiang Feng?”
“Why didn’t I notice there was a hidden stingy tycoon beside me?”
“Hey? Who are you?”
Jiang Feng said without changing expression, “I didn’t accept it, I donated it.”
This time everyone let out a collective “Holy sh*t!”
“Brother, who are you!”
“Jiang Feng, don’t you know there’s an impoverished senior in class who needs rescue?”
“Next time you have such intentions, please contact me. To be honest, charity is my lifelong career.”
The group looked at each other and burst into “hehe” laughter.
The owner nodded approvingly, “That’s right. If it were me, I wouldn’t dare accept it either. In our line of work, we don’t even dare buy lottery tickets.”
Zhang Yangyang asked, “Why?”
The owner gracefully waved his fan, “Everyone has their own fate. If someone with no wealth in their destiny suddenly gets a windfall, what do you think would happen?”
Zhang Yangyang replied, “But how do you know you don’t have wealth in your destiny?”
The owner clapped his hands, “Exactly! So no one can say for sure. Those with the fortune to handle windfalls are still a minority after all. Someone timid like me, working in this field, might as well be a bit more superstitious.”
Everyone thoughtfully said “Oh.”
The owner smiled, “Come, come, Jiang Feng. I heard before that you’re also half an expert. I just acquired something and was thinking of asking someone to appraise it. Do you have time?”
Jiang Feng asked, “What is it?”
“A piece of jade.” The owner opened his palm, from which hung a jade carving on a silver chain. “I acquired this jade from a couple. Looking at the craftsmanship, it’s got some age to it.”
Zhang Yangyang and the others were laymen who stared for a long time without seeing anything.
In fact, they couldn’t even make out what was carved on the jade. They only felt the patterns were chaotic, but the whole piece was very smooth.
The camera repair shop owner leaned against the counter and snorted, “Even I can tell this jade isn’t very good. And it’s so small, how expensive could it be? Your shop isn’t lacking treasures, so why have someone appraise this inferior product? Isn’t this damaging your own reputation?”
The antique owner replied, “You don’t understand the trade, what are you talking about? Let the expert take a look.”
Jiang Feng asked, “Where did you get it?”
The antique owner said proudly, “From a couple in this city. They were preparing to move and couldn’t take large old furniture with them, so it was collected by cleaners. The cleaner took the still-good items to a second-hand market for auction, and I happened to see it and bought it in advance. This jade was embedded in a dressing table.”
“Holy sh*t, then you made a profit!” the camera shop owner said. “This piece could probably sell for tens of thousands if you polish it up. No flaws or cracks, right?”
The male students heard this and started exclaiming “wow wow wow.”
Zhang Yangyang said, “Don’t think you can trick me into collecting furniture! Don’t think such dirty profits can tempt an upstanding youth about to graduate! I want to make academic contributions to the motherland, my will is firm and unshakeable!”
His roommate said, “Hey, mine can be shaken!”
The antique owner laughed twice at this, “Haha.”
“Old Ma, when it comes to jade, you don’t understand.” The antique owner wagged his finger, “As they say, ‘A mountain need not be high if it has immortals, it will be famous; water need not be deep if it has dragons, it will be spiritual.’ The same goes for jade. At first glance, the material doesn’t seem remarkable, but actually it’s not so. It’s very complete and has great spiritual energy, obviously not chipped during processing which would affect quality. When we talk about matching jade, we’re not matching some rare stone, but this rare spiritual energy. Look.”
He turned sideways, holding the jade up to the light to let it pass through.
Jiang Feng saw white mist flowing in the jade pendant, sometimes gathering, sometimes dispersing, with air currents surging, vivid and lifelike.
However, Zhang Yangyang and the others’ expressions showed they were impressed but didn’t understand, as if they couldn’t see this scene.
The owner said, “When I first touched it, I knew it was a good thing. It’s like it’s alive, and like a drop of water – hard to describe. These hands have been working for decades, I trust them. What do you think, Jiang Feng?”
Over there, the teacher moved closer to the door. A cloud of white mist drifted out from the jade toward the teacher.
But the mist didn’t cling to him, nor did it show obvious malice – it just wandered around in a circle before finally stopping around him.
Zhang Yangyang pushed him and shouted, “Jiang Feng? What are you looking at?”
Jiang Feng withdrew his gaze and said, “This belonged to a dead person.”
Zhang Yangyang and the others felt somewhat creeped out and couldn’t help shivering.
“Damn…”
The antique shop owner smiled, “In our antique business, we don’t worry about such things. Which ancient object didn’t belong to a dead person? If we were superstitious about this, we couldn’t do business.”
Jiang Feng said, “Violent death is different from natural death from old age or illness.”
“Is that so?” The owner weighed the jade in his hand, “I don’t care who the jade’s owner was or how they died. I just want to ask whether its origin and composition are authentic. Will the person wearing it be affected?”
Jiang Feng said, “This jade pendant indeed has spiritual properties.”
The owner asked, “A good thing?”
Jiang Feng replied, “A good thing.”
The owner was very pleased to hear this, “Good! Your word is enough!”
Jiang Feng said, “We should go now. We still have papers to write when we get back.”
The owner replied, “Then I won’t keep you. Next time you come, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
The large group then left the shop in a mighty procession.
The teacher hurried past everyone and left first.
Zhang Yangyang leaned over and said, “Hey, just now you looked like…”
Jiang Feng raised his hand to stop him, “It’s fine.”
Zhang Yangyang then fell silent, “Oh…”
On the way back to school from the antique shop, Jiang Feng received a phone reminder from Yama, telling him to call the little Mountain God.
Jiang Feng wanted to say they had just left not long ago, what was the necessity of making contact? It would disturb the other party’s patience. But since Yama had said so, he made the call while in the car.
The ringtone had barely sounded once when it was immediately answered.
The little Mountain God carefully covered the phone, “Hello?”
Jiang Feng replied, “Hello.”
“Hello hello hello?” The little Mountain God couldn’t suppress his excitement and giggled, “Daddy! Hello hello hello!”
Jiang Feng said, “Hello.”
The little Mountain God replied, “I’m very good!”
Zhang Yangyang said sourly from the side, “So nice, even a randomly picked up son is this well-behaved.”
His roommate said, “Indeed, good children are all picked up from trash cans.”
Zhang Yangyang declared ambitiously, “Tomorrow I’ll go pick through trash and reach the peak of life!”
His roommate warned, “Be careful you don’t pick up the same model as today’s brat.”
Zhang Yangyang immediately deflated, “Damn, then forget it. I’m scared too.”
Originally thinking that after helping his advisor with this favor, Jiang Feng’s thesis signature should be a sure thing and he could just prepare well for the defense. Unexpectedly, things developed in the completely opposite direction.
On the third day, when Jiang Feng had finished polishing his thesis, completed the plagiarism check, and was preparing to take it to his advisor for signature, the advisor found him first at the dormitory entrance.
This person tried to grab Jiang Feng’s collar as soon as they met, but Jiang Feng nimbly dodged.
Zhang Yangyang stepped between them and shouted, “Teacher, what are you doing? This is a public place!”
The advisor breathed heavily, his forehead hair wet with sweat, hanging messily in front of his eyes.
He said, “My son… my son encountered a ghost, right after we separated from you that day! Did you do something?”
Zhang Yangyang glanced at Jiang Feng and said, “Advisor, say that again? Even if you’re going to suspect someone, you shouldn’t suspect our Jiang Feng. What would be his motive?”
The advisor pushed Zhang Yangyang aside and walked up to Jiang Feng, “My son, he… he climbed onto the stair railing at school and fell down. Fortunately it was only the second floor – he was knocked unconscious but wasn’t seriously injured. His classmates all said he seemed abnormal at the time! Why? Tell me why!”
Jiang Feng said, “You shouldn’t ask me about this. You should ask him.”