Fu Baozhen left, and Yueyue tightly gripped Bai Shuang's collar, leading it into the house.

"Mom, it wasn't Bai Shuang's fault today. Nor was it my fault." Yueyue stared at her mother with her round eyes.

"You think Bai Shuang is right?" Song Yan asked.

"That's right, she broke in."

Bai Shuang is there to protect her family, so of course she'd catch whoever broke in. Bai Shuang did nothing wrong. You can't take Bai Shuang away," Yueyue said sternly.

Song Yan felt only relief.

If a child doesn't know fear, she won't have any scruples about her behavior in the future. That could lead to her becoming a lawless person, ruining her life.

However, Song Yan was worried that the parents' strict control might make Yueyue's personality timid.

This is truly a situation where neither left nor right is acceptable.

Now, Yueyue looks so cute when she's arguing her point!

Song Yan couldn't help but kiss Yueyue: "I've realized that what Yueyue said is right. Mom will listen to you."

Only after receiving affirmation did Yueyue happily continue leading Baishuang and Heizai to play in the yard.

…

Old Zeng mentioned his desire to buy another courtyard to live in to Wei Aiguo. Wei Aiguo then went to Aunt Ji and asked her to keep an eye out for it.

Before Song Yan started school, Aunt Ji and her husband, Uncle Ding, had the raw stone carved into a beautiful finished product and delivered it to her.

After the rough stone was peeled, it turned out to be a very high-quality imperial green.

The largest diameter part of the rough stone is enough for a medium-sized bracelet.

The bracelet features a plum blossom relief carving. This is because it's located right on the outer skin of the raw stone. The outer skin is deeply embedded here; if it were all polished away, the bracelet would become very thin, and the polished-away portion would be high-quality jadeite with excellent translucency. It would be a real shame.

Grandpa Ding had already polished away the rough outer layer of the raw stone, leaving the rest very smooth. He then carved a plum blossom, using the original stone's color as a base. The plum branch was brown, with the reddish areas of the outer skin being carved into the blossom.

The exquisite carving concealed the flaws in the jade and made the entire bracelet very beautiful.

Grandpa Ding carved a jade plaque from the core material of the bracelet.

Half of the core material was a beautiful imperial green, while the other half had mixed colors. Grandpa Ding used the mixed-color parts to carve a lifelike dragon.

A beautiful dragon coils around the emerald green jade.

Exquisite and beautiful.

The areas with mixed colors can no longer be considered flaws; on the contrary, they make the jade pendant even more exquisite.

There are also two jade plaques carved with foals.

With the remaining material, I made two more safety buckles.

Aunt Ji also used silk thread to braid a very beautiful cord to string the jade ornaments on.

Song Yan: "Aunt Ji, your cousin's family can repair houses and do carpentry. Uncle Ding's carving skills are so good. Look, the rope you braided has patterns on it."

"Your family members all have skills in cooking?"

Aunt Ji chuckled, "Our whole family are truly skilled craftspeople. We used to be looked down upon, but things changed in the new society!"

"Your family is full of talented people!" Song Yan praised sincerely.

Song Yan never expected that one piece of rough stone would yield so many items. She immediately put on the bracelet.

Yueyue was born in the Year of the Dragon, and the two babies in her belly are born in the Year of the Horse. Was Grandpa Ding's jade pendant carved according to their zodiac signs?

Yueyue is too young, and this imperial green jade is of such high quality that it might attract the attention of someone who knows its value. Song Yan should put it away for now!

"Uncle Ding, how much would be a reasonable fee for the labor of these items? I'm a layman and don't know anything about this, so please name your price!" Song Yan said.

Aunt Ji: "What's with all this talk about price? He's got nothing better to do all day. Seeing such good material, it's a good opportunity for him to have some fun."

Song Yan: "Aunt Ji, that's not how it works. To be honest, I have some information I'd like to ask for your help, but if you don't ask, we can't have any more contact in the future."

After some back and forth, Grandpa Ding asked for thirty yuan for the six items.

Song Yan: I honestly think it's incredibly cheap.

Grandpa Ding was overjoyed. He had something to do and wouldn't be idle every day. And this was almost a regular person's salary. Who wouldn't want to earn extra money?

Song Yan then took out a few small rough stones and one larger one. He wasn't sure if the material was usable given its small size, so he asked Grandpa Lin to cut it and see if it could be carved into small items for the children.

When Aunt Ji left, Song Yan gave them some flower tea and wood ear fungus.

The elderly couple were too embarrassed to accept it.

Song Yan: "These are all mountain products, not worth much. I have to thank Aunt Ji for braiding such a beautiful rope for me."

After returning home, Aunt Ji praised Song Yan, saying she was beautiful and generous. She took the inquiry about the house very seriously.

Song Yan thought that Aunt Ji and her husband were really kind people.

Song Yan was a complete novice when it came to jade. The next day, Grandpa Ding brought him several rough stones with windows cut into them.

Let her know what kind of materials can be obtained from the raw stone, and estimate how many finished products can be made.

Song Yan hadn't thought of any of this; if Grandpa Ding hadn't mentioned it, she wouldn't have known about it at all.

Grandpa Ding muttered, "I've never seen such a small rough stone yield imperial green jadeite before."

Several of these stones contain valuable material! Wow! I'm so lucky!

Song Yan listened with a smile.

A few days before Song Yan started school, Aunt Ji inquired about two houses for her.

These are all returned private properties.

It's about the same size as the courtyard that Song Yan bought, but it's been badly damaged. There are all sorts of sheds in the courtyard, and they're all in a terrible state.

However, the house's structure is fine; it's very sturdy. If you want to clean it up, dismantling all these things would be easy. Aunt Ji said the two homeowners wanted to sell the house because the residents wouldn't leave. Therefore, the asking price wasn't high.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!