Upon opening the box, it was filled with multi-colored coins. There were one yuan, five yuan, ten yuan, twenty yuan, a couple of fifty yuan, and two one hundred yuan notes.
Little Ke gleefully looked at his treasure, picking out one ten yuan note and three one yuan notes.
He then closed the small metal box and gently put it back in its place.
After cleaning up, the sun completely disappeared from the horizon.
Night fell, and the whole city braced for its liveliest moments.
The dazzling magical town began to show off its prosperity!
Ke was out and about the streets, looking incredibly excited, glancing around. Among the crowd he passed, there were expressions of disdain, with some people purposely distancing themselves; there were those who disregarded him, others treated him kindly.
He had grown accustomed to it and did not feel uncomfortable at all.
With a skip and a hop, he started to run off towards the north.
After ten minutes, he finally arrived at his destination.
It was a small stall selling boxed meals, run by a kindly old grandmother.
The stall was populated with quite a few customers, as the meals were cheap: at an average price of twelve yuan, it attracted many of the less fortunate "poor people"
"Grandma, I would like rice noodles with stir-fried meat, and a cola!"
Ke waved and handed over the thirteen yuan he had from his pocket to the grandmother.
This was his favourite boxed meal, and the grandmother always gave him a little discount.
"All done, Ke. Did any uncles or aunties give you some money today?"
The grandmother handed over the meal and the cola, patting Ke on the head.
"A kind sister gave me fifty, and a beautiful sister gave me two hundreds, yay."
"Wow, that's quite a lot! People must really like you, Ke. Good boy, eat more."
Little Ke expressed his gratitude, cheerfully took his boxed meal and went on his way.
The nights in the bustling metropolis were full of glamour, but that glamour was reserved for only a select few.
As he walked past a Kentucky Fried Chicken, Little Ke pressed his face against the glass window, his eyes fixated on a happy family of three enjoying their meal.
The little girl inside was about seven or eight years old, smartly dressed and munching on a big drumstick, her mouth greasy from the oil.
The mother affectionately pinched her daughter's chubby cheeks and placed a milk tea next to her.
Before he knew it, Little Ke felt a droplet of saliva trickling down from the corner of his mouth.
"Ouch!"
A startled cry was heard as Little Ke was knocked to the ground by a stout woman.
The stout woman seemed unharmed but swore loudly.
"Where did this wild brat come from, standing here like an idiot!" Her loud exclamations attracted many curious by-standers who began murmuring amongst themselves.
Little Ke gazed at the woman who was a few times larger than him, quietly picked up the meal and soda that fell on the ground, and hastily ran out of the crowd's sight.
What he didn't know was that the blue jade pendant around his neck had rolled off during his fall and landed right at the fat woman's feet.
"I am an unwanted child, everyone else has a mom and dad, mine didn't want me."
"No one cares about me, pays attention to me, they all bully Little Ke."
Xiao Ke ran to a dark corner of the park, unable to keep his tears from flowing.
Scrawny as he was, he curled up and trembled uncontrollably.
He dared not cry too loudly for fear of blame from the uncles and aunts in the park.
No one knew how wronged Xiao Ke felt, or how helpless.
Nobody knew about the hardship he had to endure in the past.
After a while, Xiao Ke managed to pull himself out from his agony. Just when he sat on a park bench, he noticed something was off.
"Where's my precious jade pendant?" He felt his chest only to find it empty.
A shock ran through Xiao Ke, his jade pendant was gone!
It was still there when he left the house in the evening. Did he drop it when he fell just now?
Without delay, Xiao Ke ran towards the KFC store, prompting pedestrians to scatter.
"Hehehe, tell me, boss, what's your price? I have already asked for the lowest bid, give me a number if it's appropriate, I'll sell."
"It's just an ordinary blue jade. The quality is good, but it already has an engraving on it. The trade-in price has to be lower."
"Thirty thousand."
"Deal!"
Outside the jewelry store, a plump woman walked out of the shop, excited.
She really didn't expect that the jade pendant on the little beggar would be so valuable.
Glancing at the 30,000 Yuan just deposited into her account, a sinister smile appeared on her oily face.
Inside the jewelry store, as the store manager was about to put away the blue jade, an old man pushed the door in from the back.
"How's it going Xu these days, did you come across any special acquisitions?"
"Master, what brings you here? Do take a seat,"
The store manager replied with a smile,"There's nothing special really, just some regular buying and selling of jewelry and raw materials."
"Oh? Can I see the materials you bought recently?"
The store manager respectfully took out a tray full of loose jade from the safe, then brought out a tray of gold jewelry, pearls, etc., and placed them in order in front of his master.
"Gold jewelry, without any dated collections, they're pretty much the same, nothing interesting."
"The quality of the pearls is mediocre."
"The jadeite is pretty common..."
"The quality of this tray of jade is good, with a bit of blue jade, pretty fine."
"Hmm?"
The old master picked a jade pendant from the pile of jade, its color an interplay of blue and purple, smooth and exquisitely delicate.
Holding a magnifying glass and shining a flashlight on the jade, the old master's expression gradually transitioned from puzzlement to astonishment.
"Imperial Blue Jade! How is this possible, how could this... How could such a precious jade appear here?"
This old master is a director at the Pearl River Group, an experienced jade-lover and a connoisseur.
"This kind of jade can easily be mistaken for Blue Water Jade, but Blue Water Jade has a rough texture and lacks spirit."