The old man chuckled wickedly, caressing the point of sales machine he just used to receive payment from Alex, a few minutes ago.“Fortune pagoda's reputation can never be destroyed. Those fake artifacts are a test of the buyer's expertise. It's a thing of pride if you can distinguish the real from the fake, no matter how fancy the fake looks, or rusty the real looks. If they can't discern if the treasure they're going for is real or not, it means that they are idiots who did not deserve to handle such precious treasures. You should know the value of what you want, before going for it,” Pa James explained, making Alex roll his eyes at him.“It's just an excuse if you want to be sincere with yourself. Why not screen out the untalented ones at the entrance? But no, you can't do that because it won't benefit you. You usher them in with delusions of grandeur, just to encourage them to spend more money here. Or is it your stupid policies? You can't let people leave without paying the full
Alex immediately smiled at him, noticing how guarded he was.“How can I fight you? I know not to do such things with elders. I was already going away because I'm rushing to go elsewhere. Furthermore, I was merely trying to make you see reasons with me,” Alex said with a wide smile, trying to soothe the angry old man.“I can't see any reasons with you. That silk was not meant for sale, it's just to fill up the spaces. So, kindly give it back,” Pa James said, making Alex to chuckle heartily.“You didn't tell me at the initial stage that it wasn't meant for sale. I already marked it as mine, you can't take it away. This was not the agreement. You asked me to make sure that what I took was less than ten percent of the total goods, and I did just that. Taking even less than ten percent. Why then are you trying to renege on the agreement and cause a silly scene in here? I have already taken and marked it, sending it back will not be possible." Alex said authoritatively, pulling the cart aw
Alex stared steadily at the punctured vehicles and shook his head wryly.“Change the tires with the spare tires in the boot. I will fill it with air when you're done,” he whispered and turned around to enter the good sedan.“Why don't some of us follow you in the good vehicle, while the rest join us after repairing it? The jade market closes by 10p.m, it's already 7.20pm. We need to get there as soon as possible,” Tajana said anxiously, trying to stop Alex from going to relax in the car.“Daddy, I'm hungry,” Luz, who had been quiet all along, finally said, obviously unconcerned about the vehicle or any stupid jade they were talking about. His own concern was keeping his stomach happy and warm at all times.“You're already hungry? Okay, wait, let me look around for where to buy you food,” Alex quickly said, pulling Luz into his arms.“Boss!” Tajana called impatiently, obviously upset that Alex was not paying attention to him when he had something important to say, rather choosing to at
Alex frowned, quickly circulating his internal energy to protect his heart.“It's nothing, let's go. We don't have much time to waste,” he quickly said, pushing them away.“Dad, are you sure?” Luz asked, trying to hold him back.“I'm fine, let's go!” Alex quickly said, entering the car.“Wait, take this bag to those in the other car. I'm sure they're hungry too,” Alex said, giving Luz one of the paper bags.He quickly went to the sedan and offered it to Emrys, Shadow and Ikaris who were in the other car, before quickly rushing back to the SUV.He met Alex removing the shells of the eggs, before slashing them into two equal parts with his fruit knife.“That knife, Dad, I hope you have never used it to kill people. I don't want to eat particles of human flesh or blood,” Luz immediately rattled, making Tajana chuckle from the driver's seat.However, Alex wasn't finding it funny at all.“Are you an evil child? Why will you refer to your father as a murderer?” Alex asked unhappily, making
Alex and his group saw Ikaris, Shadow and Emrys being harrassed by touts, making something inside Alex's head just snap."What the fuck are they doing?" Tajana growled, just in time for Alex to shove Luz to Tajana and angrily march towards them."Why the fuck are you attacking them?" Alex growled, clutching the collar of the man holding a big stick to bar Shadow's way, while his five friends were equally surrounding Emrys and Ikaris who had gotten down from the car.Alex looked at the half eaten egg and bread that was thrown on the floor and his rage immediately intensified as he quickly realized what happened.One of them was still eating leisurely when the thugs came, making him step down with the food in hand to settle it, only for them to attack him and stomp on the food he was enjoying."I can see you all have balls to attack my men," Alex growled, throwing the person he was holding hostage on the floor before angrily kicking him.He walked to the others with a menacing glare. Bu
To everyone's surprise, Alex remained quiet, diligently picking jade stones from various boxes.Soon he stopped selecting from the box with the cheaper stones, signaling to one of the attendants to come.“Yes sir, how may I help you?” She asked with a calm smile, looking at him with a professionalism that belied her inner thoughts.“Please cost these stones so that my assistant here can pay for them,” Alex whispered, standing up from the boxes to shove the cart to Tajana.Tajana silently accepted it, not needing further words to obey his instructions.Alex moved to the row housing the high-quality stones and took a deep breath, enjoying the energy abundant in the high-quality jades. He closed his eyes and went to the area with the highest cluster of energy, picking out the best. He repeated this process many times till all the high-quality stones that had something good in them got exhausted.At this point, people watching him became confused because he was carefully selecting those o
Alex ignored her and picked up the stone, lightly cutting it like one peeling an apple.To everyone's surprise, the outer shell, which was extremely thin, thinner than expected, fell off.“Don't tell me all that is actually jade. That massive stone is actually filled with jade instead of debris? Impossible,” someone whispered, making everyone rush towards the cubicle where Alex was squatting, looking at the heavy piece of green, shiny jade before him.“That jade must weigh at least 500g to 1 kg. Didn't they say that big for nothing is always filled with debris instead of real jade? I have never seen a jade as big as this before,” another whispered.Alex peeled off the remaining egg thin shell which was as hard as the strongest rocks, carefully placing the massive jade into a basket.He picked up another huge stone and repeated the process, revealing a shiny pink jade.“Impossible. When did pink jade become so easy to find? Didn't they come out only in the past fifty years? And it's al
Alex opened his eyes, and yawned, pretending to feel sleepy. He had noticed people monitoring him.“There are resentful spirits and evil talismans in the so-called jade city plaza. There's another space and tunnels below the plaza, and secret entrances, nefarious things are going on here, very dirty things. I wonder if I can find the entrance and break in,” Alex thought, his brain working like a clock.*****An old woman was in a secret chamber, watching Alex through the screen.“I can't see through that young man and his group. Even his little son has a shield around his seemingly weak body. Neither can I see his destiny. He seems suspicious, no matter how innocent and unsuspecting he looks. Go down there. I want you and your sister to eat him at all costs,” The woman said, a serene smile on her face, the smile that never seems to fade. “Yes mother, right away. We will eat him and bring his seed to you,” the young woman said, leaving the room.*****Alex continued moving around, and