Uncle Fang looked at Ning Yuan and smiled meaningfully: "It is said that the Sheng family's wealth can only be unlocked with the token of the Sheng family's young lady, who is also the old lady of the Ning family. It is said to be worth more than 30 billion!"
Ning Yuan and Rong Zhaonan were both stunned—over 30 billion? That's also 10 billion US dollars!
This year, the national foreign exchange reserves are only a little over a billion US dollars. If the Sheng family really has this amount of money in a Swiss bank.
That's really... incredibly wealthy.
Ning Yuan pondered for a while. It seemed that her cheap grandfather hadn't gotten his hands on her grandmother's childless family, otherwise the Ning family wouldn't still be looking for this money. Her grandmother was quite clever!
Uncle Fang looked at them, and suddenly a mysterious smile curled his lips—
"If this jade chili pepper in your hand was once Madam Ning's prized possession, could it have been the token she used to open the Swiss bank's vault?"
An eerie silence hung in the air. Uncle Fang's enigmatic smile left everyone wondering what he was thinking.
Ning Yuan stared at him for a moment, then suddenly grinned wickedly, took out the jade chili pepper, put it on the table, and said with a pained expression—
"Uncle, I'm having some cash flow problems in my business lately. Give me one million RMB and I'll sell you this jade chili pepper. How about that? Isn't it a great deal?!"
Uncle Fang was stunned, not understanding what was happening: "What? What, one million?"
One million could buy Huanghe Road right now!
Ning Yuan held Uncle Fang's hand with a sincere expression: "When you collect all three jade chili peppers and go to Switzerland to unlock the 30 billion treasure, you'll be set for life. What's a million? It's just a drop in the ocean!"
Uncle Fang suddenly pulled his hand away: "Have you ever seen what a million looks like? Just open your mouth, isn't that how you cheated Old Liu out of two thousand yuan with that plum vase?"
Ning Yuan refused to give up: "How can business be called deception? Here's what I'll do—I'll give you a 50% discount, 500,000!"
She then counted on her fingers: "In addition, for the next ten years, you will provide us, the Heart of the Era, with coffee beans, cream, flour, sugar, and... flavorings and other raw materials for free!!"
Uncle Fang laughed in exasperation, then grabbed a feather duster and tapped her hand: "Ten years? And for free? Let go! Why don't you just rob me? You little brat, coming here to freeload!"
Ning Yuan grimaced as she let go of his hand, rubbing it: "Uncle, you said this thing is very valuable, why didn't you trade it?!"
Uncle Fang retorted without hesitation: "This kind of gossip, like Qin Shi Huang's treasure or Chiang Kai-shek's gold in the Federal Reserve, is 99% fake. You dare to spout such nonsense? Are you just being shameless?"
Ning Yuan was about to argue her point: "But you said the jade chili pepper was a token..."
Uncle Fang rolled his eyes: "That was just my own guess. Putting aside whether the Sheng family's treasury is true or not, Madam Guangning has countless priceless jewelry. Who knows if the jade chili pepper is the legendary token?"
He said irritably, "Even if it were true, where would I go to collect three jade chili peppers?"
After a noisy argument, Ning Yuan grabbed him and demanded that he buy jade chili peppers, but Uncle Fang firmly refused.
This thing isn't even worth half the value of the agarwood bracelet that Ning Yuan brought out, let alone the market price of jadeite!
Finally, after Ning Yuan's persistent nagging, Uncle Fang agreed to give her a 15% discount on the next batch of cream and coffee beans as a New Year's gift.
But I would never buy this jade chili pepper.
Then--
Ning Yuan and Rong Zhaonan were rudely chased out of the tailor shop by Uncle Fang, who was holding a feather duster.
"Bang!" The tailor shop door was slammed shut.
"What bad luck! A debt collector has come knocking on our door during the New Year!" Uncle Fang cursed.
Rong Zhaonan watched as Uncle Fang locked all the wooden doors inside in a huff, then looked at Ning Yuan.
The two exchanged a glance, pushed the cart, and headed towards the exit of the alley ahead.
Rong Zhaonan said calmly, "After all that charade you put on, Uncle Fang probably realized he can't cash in this, so he shouldn't cause you any trouble because of this jade chili pepper."
This curly-haired rabbit is getting more and more cunning.
Ning Yuan frowned her delicate brows and sighed, "I also didn't want Uncle Fang to have his eye on this. He's a connection I worked so hard to build, and I don't want to fall out with him."
She certainly wouldn't sell the jade chili peppers, but she also didn't want to be targeted by someone as powerful as Uncle Fang.
Working with Uncle Fang is more profitable than turning your back on him.
Ning Yuan couldn't help but complain, "What kind of mess is this?"
After listening to over an hour of all sorts of messy gossip about the Ning family, the most important piece of news, pieced together, is—
The jade chili peppers left behind by the old lady of the Ning family were indeed related to a large amount of gold and silver wealth.
"But even if the Sheng family really does have 30 billion in Swiss banks, the Ning family is already among the top three richest families in the Asia-Pacific region, definitely richer than the Sheng family. Why are they in such a hurry..."
Ning Yuan frowned as she recalled Ning Bingyu's eagerness when they were in Guangzhou, asking if she could bring back the jade chili peppers.
Rong Zhaonan said calmly, "That's hard to say. First, as you said, no one dislikes having too much money. Second, they may want more than just money; they may have other motives."
A gust of cold wind blew, and Ning Yuan couldn't help but sniff her reddened little nose—
"Who cares? I've learned enough about the Ning family's background and affairs today. This family sounds ruthless, even from the grandfather's generation. Aren't they coming after the New Year? We'll deal with them then!"
There's no point in thinking about it anymore. Let's just wait for those people to slip up and see what they're up to!
Talking about feelings is expensive, but if the price is right, she might as well sell the jade chili peppers to them and make a big profit!
Consider it a buyout fee for family ties!
Ning Yuan gave a cold laugh.
But they can forget about using her to get anything else out of her!
Rong Zhaonan looked at the petite girl beside him.
She kept putting off acknowledging her relatives because she wanted to keep a memory of her blood relatives in her heart and hoped that her family would simply remember her.
But in the end, he was heartbroken in Guangzhou.
Her impression of the Ning family is now extremely bad.
Rong Zhaonan suddenly reached out and ruffled her hair: "Let's go, Grandpa Tang and Grandma are getting impatient, we still need to go buy groceries."
Ning Yuan was startled and quickly put her bad mood aside. She glanced down at her watch and exclaimed, "Oh my god, it's 10:40! Let's go buy groceries!"
The two of them quickly got on their bicycles and headed towards the market.
Rong Zhaonan smiled and hurriedly rode away with her on their bicycles.
...
Fortunately, the market hadn't closed yet.
Ning Yuan led Rong Zhaonan to the vegetable market to pick and choose, buying fresh tomatoes, eggs, a pound of pork, and leeks.
She noticed a woman selling fresh river shrimp and bass at the entrance of the market.
When Rong Zhaonan saw Ning Yuan looking at the item, he asked about the price in Shanghainese to avoid his mother quoting an inappropriate price.
"River shrimp are 60 cents a pound, and bass are 55 cents a pound, both without coupons!" the mother asked.
Ning Yuan simply bought a pound of small river shrimp and a pound of bass.
Rong Zhaonan continued to offer to pay, since he had nowhere else to spend the money.
Seeing that Ning Yuan wasn't haggling over the price, the old woman smiled and tied the fish with a straw rope, saying, "The young couple is a perfect match. We Shanghai men love our wives so much. Men like this are destined for success."
Ning Yuan couldn't help but glance at Rong Zhaonan, whose cool and aloof eyes were also looking at her.
Her bad mood suddenly lifted, and she couldn't help but smile sweetly: "That's right."
In unfamiliar places, she can openly admit that he is her man.
The two went home together, all sweet and happy.
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