Chapter 644: Gender Equality
Chapter 644: Gender Equality
Previously, Tang Xiu had already circled around the sheds inside out and had already memorized the stones he wanted to buy. After further observation, however, he learned that the price of those stones was not subject for bargaining. He could only buy them or go elsewhere if he did not agree with the price. But he could bargain for the jade materials taken out from the raw stones.
“Hi Boss, I want these two stones.”
After Tang Xiu came to the nearby shed, he pointed to the two stones he had inspected before, and the total price of these two raw stones was 28,000 yuan. After paying it by swiping his bank card, he then looked for a cart driver and put the two stones onto the cart.
“Mr. Tang.” Xue Yu walked in lotus-like steps and leisurely came to Tang Xiu’s front. Her eyes swept through the cart as she lightly smiled and said, “Do you like gambling on stones, Mr. Tang?”
Tang Xiu did not want to have more contact with this woman, because the dozens of jades and stones he had his eyes on contained fine quality jades and jadeites. Furthermore, he had decided to let Master Huang cut the stones, and once those jades and jadeites were revealed, his identity would be the subject of suspicion by this particularly strange woman.
“I just play at random,” replied Tang Xiu in a perfunctory manner.
“I also want to gamble on the stones, so my visit here to play will be worth it,” said Xue Yu with a smile. “Anyways, would you mind if I accompany you in choosing the stones, Mr. Tang?”
Tang Xiu furrowed his brows slightly and pondered for a moment before replying, “I’m sorry. I’ve already chosen some good stones previously, so I won’t stay in each shed for a long time. If Miss Xue wants to pick stones, please feel free to do so as you will.”
Having said that, he simply did not give Xue Yu a chance to speak and headed straight to the next shed. Annoying troubles could be avoided if he avoided it, more so that he could not let anyone learn about the special method he employed. And naturally, the fewer people who knew it, the better.
Xue Yu was dumbfounded. She had never encountered a person who spoke to her in such a perfunctory manner, and even so bluntly and flatly refused her request like this. He… he did not even give her a chance to speak at all?
From her childhood to now, Xue Yu had met many people and experienced many things, but never once had anyone ever rejected her, more so with that repelling attitude.
He definitely has something strange on him.
Xue Yu steeled her heart. That intense aura haunted her, so she chased Tang Xiu’s back. Regardless of whether he did not want her to follow him, she wanted to see and comprehend the methods Tang Xiu used to gamble on the stones.
Tang Xiu, who had entered another shed, was keenly aware that Xue Yu was following him. Though he felt annoyed that this woman was insensible, he could not straightly drive her out since the woman did come to talk to him again. After spending 1.6 million yuan in this shed to buy several stones, Tang Xiu led the cart pusher away.
As for Xue Yue, she kept maintaining a distance of seven-plus meters away from Tang Xiu. She did not intervene in Tang Xiu’s purchases nor did she talk much. There was a curiosity in her eyes as her vision paced back and forth between Tang Xiu and the stones.
For nearly an hour, Tang Xiu hired a total of six cart drivers and spent more than 42 million yuan to purchase dozens of stones. The biggest of these stones, however, was priced at 28 million yuan and fully occupied a small cart that could hold a few chunks of stones weighing 200-300 kilograms.
“Aren’t you tired of following me for nearly an hour already, Miss Xue?” Tang Xiu finally stopped and looked at Xue Yu with an annoyed expression.
As though being unable to see that Tang Xiu was annoyed, Xue Yu smirked and said, “I’m just very curious about you, Mr. Tang. That’s why I want to get to know you more. Besides, the way you chose the stones looks very casual, and I admire that.”
With an indifferent expression, Tang Xiu replied, “Do you think I must feel honored because of what you told me?”
“Well, needless to say, just let me see whether the stones you picked contain jades or jadeites,” said Xue Yu, shaking her head.
Tang Xiu thought for a while and asked, “Will you leave if ask I to leave now?”
“I will leave and go to chat with Master Huang,” said Xue Yu with a nod.
“Let’s get to the point here, shall we? What do you really want?” Asked Tang Xiu.
“I really just want to know more about you. I don’t have any other intention,” said Xue Yu. “I heard from Master Huang previously that you’re the Young Divine Doctor from Star City Chinese Medical Hospital. For someone so young such as you to achieve such admirable accomplishments in the Chinese Medical field shows that you are an extraordinary person. Perhaps, you’re highly likely the same type of person as I am.”
Tang Xiu’s brow stretched out. He faintly smiled and said, “Then I’d like to ask you what type of people you are, and from where you came from?”
For a moment, a hesitating look appeared on Xue Yu’s face. She gently raised her hands and made a series of gestures. Then, she said, “If you can understand these gestures I just showed you, you’ll know who I am and where I come from.”
Tang Xiu stared blankly since he did not know all the hand signals showed by Xue Yu at all. After thinking about it, he eased down his vigilance and said, “Maybe we are not the same type of people you suspect we are since I can’t understand those gestures you showed me. Neither can I guess where you are from. You want to follow me and I can’t drive you away, either. Follow me if you want! But…”
There was somewhat disappointed expression in Xue Yu’s eyes, but she still asked after hearing that Tang Xiu permitted her to follow him, “But what?”
“You know, in the society where men and women are equals, don’t you feel ashamed to see these cart drivers working so hard? Take a look at this cart driver, he’s pushing a loaded cart weighing 200-300 kilograms. Isn’t it quite exhausting?”
Xue Yu was utterly dumbfounded and stared at Tang Xiu in disbelief. She opened her mouth but could not even speak out anything since she did not know what to say at all. He… did he want her to help the cart driver to push the cart?
Tang Xiu’s face looked cold. He intentionally showed an impatient expression, waved his hand and said, “Push the cart if you want to follow me, but please do leave otherwise. I still can cut the stones without going to Master Huang, but I don’t want any idlers to follow me around.”
Just as his voice faded away, he turned his head and directly left.
Dumbfounded and tongue-tied, Xue Yu watched Tang Xiu walk for more than ten meters before coming back to her senses. She shook her head with an expression of being at a loss whether she had to cry or laugh. After watching the cart driver push the cart strenuously, she quickly caught up to him and helped him push the cart.
At the intersection tens of meters away.
The ordinary-looking Chu Yuan that gave off a vibe of superior nobility was coming out from another aisle along with two people, a young man and a woman. Behind them were two carts loaded with stone materials pushed by its two drivers at a moderate pace.
Umm?
Chu Yuan’s pace suddenly came to a halt when he saw the cart convoy on the left side. His eyes finally fell on a woman wearing suede mink fur attire and a beige veil, Xue Yu.
Dumbfounded and baffled!
Never once in his dreams Chu Yuan ever expected that the famous Jade Beauty—Xue Yu would help a cart driver one day, pushing the car under the watchful eyes of many people.
She… since when did she need to do something by herself?
“Boss, she’s the Jade Beauty.” The young man behind Chu Yuan wore a disbelieving expression and spoke in a toned down voice.
“I see her, too,” said Chu Yuan with a nod.
At present, Tang Xiu had already spotted Chu Yuan as well as the young man and woman behind him, and two carts being pushed by its drivers. His eyes swept over the two carts and remembered the words Long Zhengyu told him: Chu Yuan, the heir apparent of Shanghai’s Imperial Garden, the owner of Imperial Effulgent, and the founder of Imperial Wherewithal Ventures.
“Perhaps he and Xue Yu are people of the same path.”
Tang Xiu turned his head to glance Xue Yu, who was helping push the cart behind him. He immediately wore an unfazed look as he continued walking forward. As he brushed past Chu Yuan, his eyes swept over the scarlet jade ornament hanging on Chu Yuan’s waist. It was made of Blood Jade, a very precious fine jade; any piece of ornament made of Blood Jade was a priceless treasure.
Behind, the Jade Beauty also saw Chu Yuan and her brows raised. She released the cart and stopped her pace in front of Chu Yuan and spoke in a toned down voice, “Paying respect to the Imperial Garden’s Young Master.”
Chu Yuan let out a faint smile. He glanced at the six carts and said, “It’s been two years since the last time we met, right, Jade Beauty? I did not expect that I would meet you here in Star City when I left Shanghai previously. Did you come here to gamble on stones?”
“You misunderstood, Chu Yuan,” said Xue Yu. “I didn’t buy these stones, but Mr. Tang in front of me. I’m only helping him.”
Mr. Tang?
There was a strange expression on Chu Yuan’s face. He followed the direction of Xue Yu’s gaze and narrowed his eyes as he saw Tang Xiu’s back. He then knitted his brows and asked, “Who exactly is this Mr. Tang?”
While pointing to the front, Xue Yu started walking forward again and said, “He has very deep knowledge of medicine, and is also a very interesting man.”
Very interesting man?
Chu Yuan slightly furrowed his brows, the revelation raising vigilance inside his heart. He liked Xue Yu, and all the people in the Imperial Garden knew his feelings toward her. Although he had never seen Xue Yu’s true appearance, the cold and chilly nature of this woman concealed the gentleness and warmness she had beneath, just like the character possessed by jades.
He was a proud man and had beaten hundreds of outstanding peers in the Imperial Garden by virtue of his true abilities, eventually becoming the first in line successor of the Imperial Garden. He had met too many women to count, but only Xue Yu could attract him. Now that he saw her unexpectedly interested in another young man, it made him wary of him.
“Would you mind introducing us?”
Though it was a seemingly casual inquiry, Chu Yuan’s eyes were completely fixated on Xue Yu. He believed that “the eyes were the window of the soul” and he wanted to see more information in her eyes.
Xue Yu hesitated for a moment before replying, “Mr. Tang has a… strange disposition. If I were to take you to see him rashly, I’m afraid that he will be annoyed and repel us. As a matter of fact, I must thicken my face to barely be able to follow him because that… he said that he doesn’t like any idlers following him around, so I can only help by pushing the cart.”
Chu Yuan’s eyes squinted, and the revelation piqued his interest toward this Mr. Tang. For an ordinary young man seeing Xue Yu, even if they couldn’t see her appearance clearly, yet her body’s figure, bearing, and beautiful eyes would make them salivate. And yet, this Mr. Tang… seemed to play hard to get? Did he really not have any interest in Xue Yu at all?
“Then, where are you heading now?” Asked Chu Yuang.
“To Master Huang’s place. He has rented his shed,” answered Xue Yu.