149: Chapter 149 Unable to Return Home

The next morning, Uncle Duan called a man named Old Zhao directly to the shop.

"Rest assured, with me here, you won't lose out," Uncle Duan said, speechless at Hao Hong's anxiety.

Old Zhao was a thin, tall man in his fifties; his fingers were stained yellow from smoking, and while he didn't talk much, his eyes were sharp when looking at stones.

"Old Duan," Old Zhao nodded at Uncle Duan, who was making tea.

Then, without wasting words, he looked directly at Lin Ning and Hao Hong. "Where are the stones?"

Lin Ning placed his backpack on the counter and took them out one by one.

Old Zhao put on his reading glasses and picked up the first one—the one Lin Ning had yesterday; he turned it over and over, examined it, and weighed it in his hand. "Forty-five thousand."

Hao Hong gasped from the side.

For the second one, the smaller one from today, Old Zhao took a look. "Twenty thousand."

The third one, the other small one: "Twenty-five thousand."

The fourth one, medium quality: "Thirty thousand."

The fifth one, the other medium one: "Thirty thousand."

The sixth one, the smallest one; Old Zhao picked it up, turned it over and over for a full three minutes, then took out a magnifying glass and examined it against the light for a long time; finally, he looked up at Lin Ning. "This one is high quality. I'll offer eighty thousand. Sell or not?"

Lin Ning saw Uncle Duan sitting calmly to the side and nodded. "Sell."

Old Zhao didn't say another word and took out his phone to transfer the money.

Every time Old Zhao quoted a price for a meteorite, Hao Hong would gasp; Lin Ning felt that he had to take some responsibility for global warming.

Watching Old Zhao transfer the money so decisively, Hao Hong counted on his fingers from the side. "Forty-five plus twenty plus twenty-five plus thirty plus thirty plus eighty... Holy crap, two hundred and thirty thousand?!"

He turned to look at Lin Ning, his eyes wide. "Lin Zi, two hundred and thirty thousand in two days?!"

Lin Ning stopped pretending and grinned. "Heh heh..."

Uncle Duan laughed from the side. "You can't stop luck when it comes."

Old Zhao looked at Hao Hong. "What about yours?"

Hao Hong took his own piece out of his bag and handed it over; Old Zhao took it and looked at it for a moment. "Forty thousand."

Hao Hong was stunned. "Don't... don't you want to haggle?"

Old Zhao gave him a look. "Haggle what? This is the price. If you sell, I'll transfer the money. If not, take it back."

Hao Hong gritted his teeth. "Sell!"

Transfer completed, forty thousand arrived; Hao Hong stared at his phone for a long time, then suddenly jumped up and started kissing the phone.

"Holy crap!! Forty thousand!! I 'picked up' forty thousand too!!"

Uncle Duan laughed and scolded. "Alright, alright, stop jumping around, it's embarrassing."

Hao Hong patted his pocket happily. "I've never earned forty thousand in two days in my life; I'm going to tell my mom and my wife, stop saying all I know is how to play..."

After leaving Uncle Duan's shop, the two returned to the car; Hao Hong was still excited, and Lin Ning estimated it would take him a few days to calm down. Who could resist the happiness of "picking up money" like this?!

Lin Ning sat in the driver's seat, staring at the transfer record on his phone—two hundred and thirty thousand; adding it to what he had before, he was almost back to one point five million. Roughly speaking, it was like the house came for free?!

He was originally just happy, without a concrete feeling, but now—yeah, he had it!

What do you do when you earn money? Spend it! Hey! This experience told him that if you spend money, it will come back on its own!!

Without another word, he directly dialed Lin Jing's number.

The call connected, and Lin Ning let out two silly laughs.

"Sis, I'm done here in Erenhot; I'll be heading back in a bit. I earned a little pocket money these past two days. Do you want anything? I'll buy it for you! My treat!"

There was silence on the other end for two seconds. "Don't come back yet."

Lin Ning's smile froze on his face. "Huh???"

Lin Jing sighed. "Your reputation as a 'big shot son-in-law from the capital' is resounding throughout the town; they all say He Changcheng was arrested just because he offended you. Now there are even rumors in the town government that someone from above has warned them not to provoke you."

Lin Ning knew the first half before he left, but was the town government part serious? Lin Ning was dumbfounded.

Lin Jing continued, "You are now the center of discussion, the 'top influencer' of the whole town; people are popping up from nowhere, coming to our house to give gifts and curry favor. People are asking your brother-in-law out to dinner every day."

"Don't come back yet, lie low for a while."

Lin Ning got anxious. "It's affecting our family, why should I hide? I should go back and handle it!"

Lin Jing's tone was full of helplessness. "How are you going to handle it? They greet you with smiles, they don't ask you to do anything, they just use the pretext of visiting the elderly and making friends. Are you going to refute the rumors or beat them up?"

"Mom is very annoyed right now, so don't come back and add fuel to the fire; wait for things to cool down."

Lin Ning opened his mouth; he really didn't have the experience to handle this, but the key was, it was a rumor that sounded incredibly fake; it should have just been passed around for a laugh and that would be it. How could there be idiots who actually believed it, and even came to give gifts?!

He hemmed and hawed for a long time, then squeezed out, "Am I unable to return to my own home?"

"If you can handle the harassment and Mom's beatings, then come back."

Lin Ning shrank his neck. "...Alright then."

Hao Hong had heard the gist from the side and laughed until he couldn't stand straight. "Hahaha... Lin Zi, you probably won't be able to get rid of this 'Dragon King son-in-law' title! Hahaha... it's killing me!!"

Lin Ning was irritated, lunged forward, pressed his head down, pinned him under, and gave him a beating. "Mount Tai Crushes the Top!"

"Ah~~"

"Dragon Claw Hand!!"

"Ow~~~"

"Monkey Steals the Peach... One Thousand Years of Death... Death-dealing Scissors Kick..."

"Ah... Holy crap! I'll fight you, you son-in-law..."

The scuffle ended; Hao Hong tidied up his messy hair and clothes, still looking as cheeky as ever, and proudly tossed his head.

"You can't go back, but I have to leave; forty thousand, I'm going to go back and show off properly. My wife said she's missed me."

Lin Ning sneered. "Is she missing you? Once you go back, the money will be confiscated!"

Hao Hong's face stiffened, then he waved his hand. "I'll be happy even if it's confiscated! I'm off!"

He patted Lin Ning on the shoulder. "You stay in Erenhot for a few days, wait for the heat to die down before you go back. Hahahaha—"

Hao Hong left; Lin Ning stood alone by the roadside, looking desolate.

Beijing, CBD, a certain office building, Ningqiao Investment Company.

Jiang Yu answered Lin Ning's video call.

On the screen, Lin Ning was gazing into the distance, looking as melancholic as Tony Leung.

"???" Before Jiang Yu could ask, Wang Qiao leaned over from the side.

"Did you sleep with a stiff neck?!"

Lin Ning broke character in a second and started cursing. "Do you have any manners? A couple is talking, why are you butting in? You dog!!"

Wang Qiao calmly said to Jiang Yu, "He's just bored and acting up; don't pay attention to him! He went off to enjoy himself alone, leaving us to work like horses and oxen to make money for him, and then he wants the horses and oxen to comfort his bored self. You can't spoil someone like him, he'll get cocky. Explain this graph formula to me again, I didn't understand it just now..."

As he spoke, he hung up the phone for Jiang Yu.

"Wang Qiao, you motherf***er..."