Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Young Master Si, the Sucker

“There are three courtyards,” Si Jin Nan explained as they walked. “The front yard has scraps and waste stones. The second has mid-grade pieces. The third has top-grade—some with windows already cut.”

He gestured toward the deeper courtyards. “We should go straight to the second.”

Qiao Qing Yan waved a hand. “I’ll take a casual look here first.”

The front yard was filled with older men who wandered in as part of their morning routine. Most came to watch for fun, occasionally buying one or two stones.

Even if they lost, it didn’t hurt.

Qiao Qing Yan wandered once through the rows.

In the end, she picked three rough stones with ugly skin and uneven pits—pieces most people would’ve glanced past without stopping. She dropped them into a basket, then headed toward the second courtyard.

By the time she reached it, Si Jin Nan was already standing beside a half-meter-tall stone, staring at it so intensely it looked like he expected it to blink.

“What do you think about this one…?” he asked without turning, as if she’d been beside him the whole time.

Qiao Qing Yan tossed the basket into his hands and glanced at the boulder.

Her tone stayed calm. “So-so. Not great.”

The stone weighed around sixty kilograms. At fifteen thousand per kilogram, it came out to a little over a million.

And what was inside—if she read it right—would probably be worth about the same.

Even if someone tried to drive up the price, there wouldn’t be much profit.

Qiao Qing Yan suddenly understood why Brother Hong had been so generous earlier.

Ten percent off wasn’t a loss when he’d already priced the yard to win.

As soon as she spoke, several old men who’d been circling the stone for ages turned, faces tightening.

“Young girl,” one snapped, “if you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense. What do you mean, so-so?”

“We’ve been looking at this for a long time,” another added, bristling. “If this young man hadn’t come first, we’d have taken it already.”

“Exactly,” a third chimed in. “This piece is good. It might yield something nice.”

Qiao Qing Yan calmly brushed windblown hair away from her cheek. “Oh.”

Then she nodded toward the stone. “Then you can have it.”

The old men fell silent, not expecting that.

Qiao Qing Yan’s gaze drifted past them. She lifted one finger and pointed.

“I think that one looks good,” she said. “Pick that one.”

Everyone followed her gesture.

A one-meter-tall boulder sat there like a stubborn monument.

It had been in this yard for years. No one wanted it.

Laughter rippled immediately.

“This girl really is treating Young Master Si like a sucker.”

“That rock’s been here five or six years, hasn’t it?”

“More than that. Even Master Qu said it should be moved to the front yard.”

“Four or five million for that? She’s doing it out of spite, and Young Master Si really is the sucker…”

Si Jin Nan didn’t bother with the voices.

He looked at Qiao Qing Yan.

There was no real reason. No logic. Just a quiet certainty that he should believe her.

So he did.

He turned to the old men and spoke with easy politeness. “If you like this piece so much, take it.”

Then he pointed at the huge boulder beside it. “I’ll take this one.”

He did it for two reasons.

First, to cut off the gossip aimed at Qiao Qing Yan.

Second… because if that massive stone really yielded something good, he’d feel wrong taking the profit as if he’d earned it alone.

Four or five million meant nothing to him.

Qiao Qing Yan’s gaze shifted.

Tucked behind the giant boulder, half hidden by its bulk, was a smaller stone—brick-sized, overlooked simply because it didn’t stand out.

She tilted her chin toward it. “Add that one too.”

Si Jin Nan’s lips twitched. “Fine.”

Qiao Qing Yan nodded once, satisfied. “Then I’ll pick you one more.”