129: Take something from my house and give it to me?

When Ye Su had just started with the paper material and analyzed the discrepancy between the Ming Dynasty painting and the Qing Dynasty paper, Li Shanhai had already trusted him thirty percent.

Now that Ye Su had used the paper to guess where the painting was forged, Li Shanhai's trust in him had risen to eighty percent.

The remaining twenty percent would have to wait until tomorrow, when the painting was sent to a professional testing agency, to finally determine if Ye Su was truly that capable.

However, judging by Ye Su's eloquent performance, even without sending the painting to a professional testing agency, Li Shanhai already considered it a fake.

He had just been doubting the young man's character, but now it seemed he had wronged Ye Su.

"I never expected this. It's not just the painting; even a single sheet of paper has so many intricacies. If it weren't for you, Little Su, your Uncle Li would have been swindled."

Wang Lijuan was currently looking at Ye Su like a mother-in-law looking at a son-in-law—the more she looked, the more pleased she was. Aside from his family background, he was a perfect match for her daughter in every other aspect.

"Your aunt is right. Fortunately, you reminded me, which helped me avoid a loss of a million."

Li Shanhai's opinion of Ye Su was similar to Wang Lijuan's.

Family background wasn't important; he had started from scratch himself back then. Now that Ye Su had his own skills, if he added his own help, he would surely be able to achieve something in the future.

With a trustworthy person like Ye Su around, Poyun Group could even plan to expand its business into the antique industry.

The jewelry and antique industries inherently had a high overlap in their customer bases, so expanding into the antique business could further tap into customer potential.

"Alright, you two, stop praising him. If you keep going, I think he's going to float right up to the sky."

Both Li Shanhai and his wife were satisfied with Ye Su; only Li Mengyao, watching her parents' reactions, felt a bit worried.

Before coming home, Li Mengyao had been worried that Ye Su wouldn't meet her parents' approval, leading them to demand she break up with him and insist she meet some second-generation jewelry heir from another province.

Now that her parents were so satisfied with Ye Su, Li Mengyao began to worry that the ruse of Ye Su pretending to be her boyfriend would get out of hand, and they would start pestering them about when they planned to get married.

"Sigh, what a miscalculation. I forgot to tell Ye Su to tone it down beforehand!"

"Mengyao is right. I just happened to run into this, which is why I could spot the problem. Maybe if it were a different object, I wouldn't even have looked at it twice. So, Uncle and Auntie, please stop praising me. If you keep going, I'm going to blush."

"Hey, if a young man has talent, why be afraid of praise?" Li Shanhai's eyes were full of smiles.

He even knew how to follow his daughter's lead; this young man was indeed quite good.

"Then, in your opinion, how much is this forged 'Suzhou Production' painting worth?"

"That's hard to say. No matter how well it's forged, it's still a fake painting after all. It only has some value in terms of craftsmanship and age. If it were me, I'd pay at most a few tens of thousands."

"Alright, I have a better idea now."

Li Shanhai rolled up the painting and stopped talking about professional matters, simply asking Ye Su to join him for tea.

"I have been planning to make the name of 'Poyun Jewelry' go beyond Guangdong Province and become a nationwide jewelry brand. Unfortunately, expanding business to other provinces hasn't been very smooth. I wonder if you, as a young person, have any good suggestions?"

This question from Li Shanhai touched upon Ye Su's blind spot.

"In this regard, I really can't offer any advice. All I can think of is coordinating celebrity endorsements with online promotion to let more people know about 'Poyun Jewelry'."

"What you've mentioned is something our group is already doing, but unfortunately, the results haven't been very significant, and the customer conversion rate isn't high either."

"How about representing the company and participating in a well-known jewelry design competition? As long as you can achieve a good ranking, you can leverage the competition's influence in the industry to promote 'Poyun Jewelry'."

"Participating in a jewelry design competition? That is a method, but those authoritative competitions are all being eyed by both companies and individual designers. It won't be easy for 'Poyun Jewelry' to break through the siege."

This won't work, that won't work—what else can I do?

Ye Su complained internally, but his face wore a sheepish smile: "That's all I can think of for now."

Li Shanhai smiled and placed the freshly brewed tea in front of Ye Su: "It's fine, I was just asking casually. Drink your tea."

"Okay."

The group sat and drank tea for a while longer. Seeing that the act had gone on long enough, Li Mengyao caught Ye Su's eye when her parents weren't paying attention.

Ye Su understood immediately. He finished his tea in one gulp and stood up: "Uncle, Auntie, it's getting late, so I'll head back now. I'll come visit again next time."

"Leaving so early? Won't you stay a little longer?"

"Yes, I'll come over next time."

"Alright then."

There was a guest room in the house, but since it was his first time visiting, Wang Lijuan felt it wouldn't be appropriate to ask him to stay the night.

"Mengyao, see Little Su out."

"Okay."

"You two sit."

After signaling to Li Shanhai, Ye Su followed Li Mengyao out of the villa.

"How was it? Did I perform well tonight?"

"Too well." Li Mengyao glanced at Ye Su out of the corner of her eye: "It would be best if you weren't *that* good next time."

"Fine, I'll tone it down next time."

Ye Su was chatting with Li Mengyao, but his eyes were fixed on the glittering Burmese stone on the rockery to the right of the gate.

There was surveillance in the yard, so he couldn't have swiped the stone anyway, and now with Li Mengyao following him, that piece of stone was even further out of Ye Su's reach.

If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know when Li Mengyao would let him return again.

With no other options, when they reached the gate, Ye Su turned around and went to the rockery, staring straight at the Burmese stone under the light.

Ye Su's unexpected action left Li Mengyao bewildered: "Why are you looking at these stones?"

"Are there any Feng Shui implications for the way these stones are arranged in your home?"

"I haven't heard my dad mention it." Li Mengyao asked suspiciously: "Why, do you know about Feng Shui too? Do you think there's a problem with how these stones are arranged at my home?"

"That's not it. I don't know anything about Feng Shui." Ye Su confidently picked up the stone: "Let me give you a gift."

Finding an excuse to take a stone from someone's yard seemed too strange no matter how he put it. If it was discovered that this was a jade-encrusted stone, it might even make him look like a swindler.

Ye Su had to gamble on it and see if Li Mengyao would share half with him after she had someone cut it open.

"Huh?"

Looking at the stone Ye Su was handing her, which weighed at least several jin, Li Mengyao's brain hadn't quite processed it, but her hands had already subconsciously taken the stone.

"What are you doing?"

Her brain reacted a step late, and Li Mengyao chided Ye Su: "Who gives a girl a stone as a gift, especially one picked up from my own home right in front of me?"

"This is a good thing. You'll know once you find someone to cut it open."

This time, Li Mengyao reacted quickly: "Are you saying there's jade inside?"