After Marrying the Officer

"Brother Shi Qian, actually, I'm not scared of your stepmother," Xia Chuyi paused briefly before continuing, "I'm just worried that after meeting her, my uncle and aunt might be concerned that I'll be subjected to idle gossip when I'm with you."

Xia Chuyi understood her uncle and aunt well; if they were harassed, they themselves wouldn't be too upset, but they would worry about her.

So, to put it plainly, her uncle and aunt worried about her, and she, in turn, worried about her uncle and aunt's "worry"—she did not want her uncle and aunt to be concerned about her.

After a few seconds of silence on the phone, Huo Shiqian responded indifferently, "I'll tell my father that if he wants to meet with your uncle and aunt, he should go alone."

"Ah?" Xia Chuyi was somewhat surprised to hear Huo Shiqian say this and asked, "Is that, okay?"

Huo Shiqian said, "I have it under control."

Hearing Huo Shiqian's confident and low voice, Xia Chuyi felt a warmth inside her and said, "Thank you, Brother Shi Qian."

"Chuyi, remember, I've got everything covered," Huo Shiqian said.

A radiant smile suddenly blossomed on Xia Chuyi's face, and she answered, "Mm."

After arranging for her uncle and aunt's visit to Capital City, the two of them reluctantly hung up the phone.

After the call, Xia Chuyi thought about the words Huo Shiqian had said earlier.

At this time, since it was easy to purchase good original stones, might it also be possible to find good antiques?

Since the stone cutting wouldn't be finished anytime soon, Xia Chuyi, with a playful mood, took a stroll through the market.

After all, Capital City is the center of the entire country, brimming with talents and visionaries who are the first to grasp the essence of top-level directives.

Therefore, Beijing's antique market was the first to recover from the disturbances.

All sorts of items: bowls used by Qianlong, alms bowls of Xuanzang, jewelry left behind by Cixi among the commoners, and so on.

Because she arrived quite late, many stalls had already packed up, but even the remaining items were enough to make Xia Chuyi's head spin.

Xia Chuyi was not proficient in antiques and dared not buy anything at random.

Thinking about Fan San, who knew about jade, she spent a few modest sums to buy a few items said to be ancient jade to play with.

Xia Chuyi had just finished buying the jade when she overheard someone rushing to a vendor, speaking in hushed tones, "Did you hear? Mr. Fan helped someone cut a stone today, and they struck green!"

"It's said to be top-quality ice jade!"

"What?" The vendor's eyes practically turned green, "Ice jade?"

"Oh my God! Mr. Fan did the cutting? For whom? Does that person know their stuff?" The vendor asked, "Do we have a chance..."

The vendor's sentence was cut short when he noticed Xia Chuyi was still there and hastily said, "Miss, is there something wrong with the ancient jade you just purchased?"

It was clear he was trying to give her the brush-off.

Xia Chuyi smiled and shook her head, "No."

Then, playing with the "ancient jade" in her hands, she went back to find Fan San.

Walking back, she noticed that for some reason, the news of Fan San helping with the jade cutting had spread, and everyone at the market knew about it.

"Who's got such good fortune, eh? Ice jade!"

"Who did the cutting? Fan San!"

Amidst these loud or whispered conversations, Xia Chuyi returned to the courtyard where Fan San was located.

But by then, there was already a crowd, three layers inside and three layers outside, of people who had gathered.

Everyone was clustering around, trying to get a look inside.

Xia Chuyi wanted to squeeze through, but the crowd was too thick, and she was quickly pushed back out.