Chapter 268 - 200: Trip to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand

Li Xiang picked out a few bracelets for Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui to reward them for all their hard work lately.

The girls had also participated in the Peerless Jadeite Treasure Exhibition in Rongcheng, running around busily. On top of that, they had to find time for their sales livestreams. They were working from morning to night, putting in more than ten hours a day without complaint.

"You’re not trying to make me your kept woman, are you? If you want to, just say the word. I’ll be your secret lover!" Yao Yao said jokingly as she stroked the bracelet on her wrist. Having sold jadeite for so long, they all knew its value.

It was worth at least five million yuan. If it went to auction and a bidding war started, it could go for even more.

"It’s just a material object. If you like it, wear it. If you don’t, give it back to me!" Li Xiang said with a laugh, holding out his hand.

"As if I’d ever give it back! I love it! Thank you!" Yao Yao replied, her tone playfully resentful.

Since they spent most of their time working at the scenic area in Li Family Village, it was inevitable that rumors would spread about Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er being an official couple, despite Li Xiang’s efforts to be low-key and secretive. So, the girls all knew.

The three of them had been a bit downcast in private, but they never let those feelings affect their work.

After Li Xiang left, Yao Yao said to Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui, "He must want us to be his mistresses, don’t you think?"

"Ridiculous!"

"You’re insane!"

Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui ignored her and walked away.

"Tch, as if! I don’t believe you two aren’t thinking the same thing!" Yao Yao pouted. She stroked the bracelet on her wrist, and the sadness in her heart eased a little. At the very least, Li Xiang had been willing to give her a bracelet worth millions.

’Whatever. For a bracelet worth millions, I’ll save myself for you. I’m all yours!’ Yao Yao whispered to herself.

In reality, Li Xiang didn’t think much of the bracelets at all. It had cost him almost no effort to obtain them, and he had plenty more in his system’s inventory. Just as he’d said, they were merely material objects, simple accessories to be worn if liked.

The three girls, however, didn’t see it that way. What if they dropped or scratched something so expensive? So, by a tacit understanding, they all put the bracelets away for safekeeping.

When Li Xiang asked why they weren’t wearing them, they told him the truth. Li Xiang couldn’t help but find it amusing. After a moment’s thought, he had them each pick out a bracelet worth around twenty thousand yuan from the "ordinary stock."

’They won’t be too afraid to wear a twenty-thousand-yuan bracelet, will they?’

There were cheaper ones, of course, but Li Xiang couldn’t bring himself to give those away, feeling they weren’t worthy of the three girls’ beauty.

And so, the three girls happily picked one out for themselves.

The reason Li Xiang gave them the gifts was purely because he felt these three were real treasures, his most capable aides.

He had hired three streamers, and all three were fantastic and very capable.

If any of them hadn’t been up to the task, Li Xiang would certainly have marginalized them, reassigning them as regular servers or firing them outright.

This was inseparable from Zhao Xueqing, Yao Yao, and Lei Xiaohui’s own hard work. They were all studying hard and growing. Moreover, they were all adept at seizing opportunities.

Since he was in the jadeite business, Li Xiang also picked out some pieces to give to his maternal grandparents.

He gave his grandfather a handheld piece, his grandmother a deep green bracelet suitable for an older woman, and his uncle, aunt, younger cousin Shen Wenqian, and younger cousin Shen Zimo all received gifts as well.

His aunt and Shen Wenqian both received bracelets. Since Shen Zimo was a boy, he got a Jade Guanyin pendant.

His uncle received a jadeite bead bracelet. The beads were large, creating a look that was both rugged and refined—perfect for a middle-aged man.

However, his uncle and aunt were working out of town and weren’t home, so he gave their gifts to his grandmother to pass on to them later.

As for his Little Aunt and her son, they worked at the processing factory, so they certainly weren’t lacking for jadeite Accessories. Li Xiang let them each pick out three pieces.

’As the deputy factory manager, she couldn’t look shabby, could she?’

Six pieces for his maternal grandmother’s family and six for his Little Aunt’s family, so there was no favoritism.

At his grandmother’s house, Li Xiang helped make a meal. When he went to help wash the mushrooms, he secretly added a few Spirit Fungi to the mix and watched as his grandparents ate them during dinner.

Of course, his cousins ate some too. Besides, they had already unknowingly consumed a good deal of Spiritual Medicine when they had stayed over at his house before.

Li Xiang had also wanted to teach them some body-strengthening exercises, but his cousins weren’t very interested. His male cousin, in particular, was more interested in mobile games.

’Anyway, they’re still young,’ he thought. ’I’ll just have to wait.’

As for his grandparents, they were old and frail, making it highly unlikely they could ever step into the Extraordinary realm.

For older people, unless they were the type who had practiced martial arts and self-cultivation for many years—like temple monks or Daoists from monasteries who had trained in traditional internal martial arts and possessed true skill—only they had a certain chance of becoming Extraordinary when the Extraordinary Particles emerged. For ordinary people who hadn’t trained, it was basically impossible.

Traditional Chinese martial arts had a lot of depth; the only reason they currently lacked real power was simply due to the absence of Extraordinary Particles.

...

The long-awaited ten-day trip to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand for Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui had finally arrived.

Their passports had been ready for a while, and visas weren’t necessary, as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand all offered visa-free entry for citizens of China. All the plane tickets—flights to major cities like Bangkok, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, as well as the return flights—and hotels at each location had long been booked. After all, they had spent a long time preparing for this. In the age of the internet, arranging such things was very convenient.