20: Chapter 20 Crystal Jewelry Shop and Specialties of Kas Town

With things on his mind, he slept lightly; as the horizon turned the color of a fish's belly, Zhang Mu opened his eyes.

He got up to wash, first took a trip to the Other World to ask Potter for half a day off, and upon returning, checked his inventory to prepare for heading out.

"Specialties?"

Seeing the small cloth bag in a slot, he remembered this was the Kas Town specialty the Shop Owner of the general store had given him yesterday.

Untying the hemp rope at the opening, he found it was filled with sparkling gemstones.

He pinched one out and examined it against the morning light; its transparency was extremely high, and he could see yellow and green colors reflecting off each other.

Unfortunately, the gemstone had no magic fluctuations; it was just ordinary crystal ore. No wonder the Shop Owner said it wasn't worth much.

In the Other World, high-value items were those imbued with magic.

As for the real world, Zhang Mu didn't know much, only that a gemstone's value seemed to depend on its certification in addition to its inherent quality.

Tossing it back into the bag, he put the cloth bag back into his inventory, took his phone, and headed out, hailing a taxi at the neighborhood entrance to go to the pedestrian street.

Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, his thoughts drifted.

He had just chatted briefly with Potter about learning new magic.

After all, it was a transcendent power that didn't exist in the real world; it would be a lie to say he wasn't interested. It was just that recently his mind had been entirely focused on solving his lung cancer, so he hadn't considered magic for the time being.

Now that the lung cancer was preliminarily under control and his mind had relaxed, his interest in magic naturally piqued.

Regarding this, Potter refused, using the excuse that the Mental Energy limit from the Meditation Method was insufficient for learning new magic.

Even though his own Meditation Method had successfully broken through the theoretical limit with the support of his status panel, Zhang Mu didn't show it.

Because he keenly sensed that while Potter's reason was sufficient, the real cause was something else.

Potter seemed to be worried about something.

He couldn't figure it out.

So he stopped thinking about it for now.

Because he had arrived at his destination.

The taxi stopped at the entrance of the pedestrian street. Zhang Mu paid and got out, put on his mask, and first went to a gold shop to sell four gold coins.

Four coins was just right; it wasn't so many that it would attract attention, and twenty-some thousand yuan was enough for now.

Zhang Mu didn't plan to sell the rest; he needed money in the Other World as well.

Although he could exchange them for mutated rare herbs, the principle of not flaunting one's wealth applied wherever there were people.

Especially in the Other World, where the law of the jungle prevailed and order was chaotic.

Coming out of the gold shop, Zhang Mu recalled the address Song Lan had given him yesterday and turned toward the end of the street on the right.

This pedestrian street was quite prosperous but not very long. He followed the sidewalk and arrived at his destination in about ten minutes.

Glancing left and right, her shop wasn't on the main street; he had to walk twenty meters into an alleyway between two rows of storefronts.

Zhang Mu complained inwardly; this was already the end of the street where foot traffic was sparse, and there wasn't even a sign at the alley entrance. Could this godforsaken place even have business?

Shaking his head, he walked into the alley.

...

Inside the jewelry shop of about thirty square meters, glass display cases were arranged along three walls.

Song Lan sat behind them, her phone pressed to her ear.

"I know!"

"You silly girl, don't just agree with your mouth. I really don't understand what you young girls are thinking.

When picking a man, you have to look at his ability. What's the use of just having a face? After thirty years, won't it just turn into tree bark?"

"Zhang Mu is very capable," Song Lan said defiantly.

"Capable?" Su Biqing sneered on the other end of the phone. "If he's so capable, have him pay you back the money and have him revitalize your shop."

"He didn't study jewelry marketing..."

"Still talking back, are you!"

"Sister Biqing, I have something to do here, gotta hang up now." Song Lan's scalp felt numb from the scolding, so she found an excuse to hang up.

Tossing her phone onto the glass tabletop, she slumped onto the desk like a wilted flower, listless.

Before, when Su Biqing said Zhang Mu wasn't good enough, she could argue back a bit, but last night Su Biqing had gone to find Zhang Mu and actually met him.

This left Song Lan with no confidence to talk back.

Especially when Su Biqing said, "You say he has good character, so why did he take your money and then refuse to even see you?" It directly left her speechless.

Song Lan pursed her lips and muttered, "Always calling me a fool. I'm not a fool. Brother Mu is a good person; he must have other reasons for avoiding me."

"Knock knock—"

The glass door was knocked on. She hurriedly looked up to see a man wearing a mask standing at the door.

His temperament was profound, like the only light in a dark forest, unconsciously drawing one's gaze.

"What kind of jewelry do you need? For yourself or as a gift?" She received him using the sales scripts she had studied.

The man's gaze became a bit strange, then turned into realization in an instant.

He raised his hand to take off the mask, and a familiar voice came through: "Don't recognize me anymore?"

"Brother Mu?!" Song Lan cried out, rounding the counter from the right and grabbing his sleeve, hopping up and down. "How could I not recognize you? I have photos of you I secretly took before on my phone... uh."

"You've changed so much, hehe." Song Lan let go of his sleeve, acting silly and scratching her hair.

Waving his hand, Zhang Mu looked around: "I thought you were just joking; you really came here to open a jewelry shop?"

How's business?

He forcibly swallowed that question; given the situation in the shop, saying it would be a bit inappropriate.

"Just to satisfy myself."

Song Lan brought over two high stools. The two sat down against the display case, and Zhang Mu pulled out two bank cards from his pocket and handed them over:

"The world really is small; the doctor I registered with actually turned out to be your dad."

"It's not that strange, actually." Song Lan pretended not to see the bank cards, talking to herself, "My dad is the best lung cancer doctor in Su City.

Since you're treating lung cancer, you'd find your way to him sooner or later."

"Alright, stop pretending. Take them."

"Oh..."

Understanding Zhang Mu's character, Song Lan obediently took the bank cards. "Brother Mu, I heard from my dad that your condition is under control and there's a great hope for a cure.

Why don't you keep the money for your own use first?"

As she spoke, she secretly observed Zhang Mu's face, confirming in her heart that it really had become much more refined.

And this temperament of his was like an amethyst hidden among a pile of junk stones; one's eyes would immediately catch the dazzling brilliance.

"I have enough money for now." Waving his hand in refusal, Zhang Mu looked at the crystal necklaces in the glass display case and asked, "Xiao Lan, does a gemstone's value have anything to do with its color?"

"Of course." Song Lan followed his gaze. "For the same color, if there are Inclusions, the value will be even higher.

Exactly how much depends on the shape of the Inclusion."

Zhang Mu knew a bit about Inclusions; they referred to various oddly shaped mineral aggregates inside the crystal.

There were hair-like patterns, mountain-like shapes, river-like shapes, and so on; they were the best representation of nature's uncanny workmanship.

Zhang Mu stood up and walked around the display cases, finding that they were all ordinary colored crystals. There were only a few with Inclusions, and even those had very common shapes.

Pondering while rubbing his chin, he used the excuse of going to the bathroom to run out of the shop, hid in a deserted corner, and took out a crystal gemstone reflecting a deep blue light from his inventory.

It was about the size of a kumquat.

In the specialties given by the Kas Town general store Shop Owner, almost every stone had an Inclusion. Most importantly...

Zhang Mu wrapped the gemstone with magic, and the Inclusion changed into the shape of a rabbit according to his will, even showing its eyes clearly.

"This shouldn't be cheap, right?"

Turning back to the shop, he pretended to pull the gemstone out of his pants pocket. "Take a look at this."

Song Lan pinched it between two fingers and held it up. "Heavens! What a cute rabbit!"

"Brother Mu, where did this come from?!"

"By chance," Zhang Mu brushed it off. "Help me check the quality. If the price is high, I have more."

"Really!"

Hearing there were more, Song Lan was very excited.

Besides the poor location of the shop, her bad business was mainly due to a lack of supply for high-quality crystal gemstones, making it impossible to build a reputation.

"Yeah." Zhang Mu nodded and checked his phone. "It's past ten already. I have things to do, so I'll head out first. Let me know if you have any news."

After saying that, he got up and left.

He moved very quickly; before Song Lan could even say she wanted him to stay for lunch, he had already disappeared outside the door.

Her gaze fell back onto the gemstone, and she was mesmerized. "I've seen many pictures of out-of-print crystals, but I've never seen such a perfect Inclusion.

It's... it's almost like it was carved by a master."

After admiring it for a long while, she quickly picked up her phone and dialed Su Biqing's number.

"Hello, Sister Biqing, do me a favor!"