The next morning, Guo Xuyang was jolted awake by Li Minxi.
"Yangzi, wake up. Everyone's waiting for you to cut the stones."
"What time is it? Let me sleep a bit longer."
"The sun is already high in the sky. Get up. It's past ten."
Guo Xuyang opened his groggy eyes and glanced at the time. It was indeed past ten.
But he really didn't want to get up. He didn't know what time he had fallen asleep.
Guo Xuyang mumbled as he got out of bed.
He opened his room door and turned to walk into the bathroom.
"You guys wait downstairs. I'll be down shortly. Didn't the stone-cutting masters come today?"
"They're here, waiting for you to mark the lines. Fatty insisted that the stone-cutting masters not cut them. He said what if they ruined millions worth of jade. I've never seen someone so obsessed with money."
"Got it. You go down first. I'll be there soon."
"Hurry up," Li Minxi said before heading downstairs.
By the time Guo Xuyang arrived at the stone-cutting room, two stone-cutting masters were busy removing the outer shells of the raw stones that had been cut yesterday, extracting the jadeite in its complete form. Most of them had been extracted, with only two stones left to be fully cleaned.
"Brother, you're finally here. My heart has been racing like a cat scratching at a door, I'm so anxious. Help me mark these few stones," Pi Xiaoqian hurried over to Guo Xuyang as soon as he saw him come down.
"You have to trust the stone-cutting masters. They're all the same," Guo Xuyang said as he picked up a pen and drew a line on each of the ten stones.
"Masters, cut along these lines. One cut should do it," he instructed.
As soon as he said this, Pi Xiaoqian's face fell.
"Brother, is my luck really that bad?"
"What are you thinking? Don't you see what kind of stones you picked?" Guo Xuyang pointed with his hand.
Pi Xiaoqian was not one to suffer a loss. He had jumped into the swimming pool and picked out all the largest stones. He knew that the quality of the raw stones Guo Xuyang selected was absolutely fine, so he had only picked out the biggest ones. Bigger meant more jadeite inside. Even if the quality was questionable, the quantity alone would guarantee a substantial profit.
Pi Xiaoqian chuckled, "You told me I could pick any stone under fifty kilograms. I'm an honest person, aren't I?"
"Scammer," Li Minxi spat from the side.
"What can we do? We're from humble families. We can't compare to the well-bred ladies."
"Fatty, are you looking for trouble? You always bully me."
"Heaven and Earth, I'm more wronged than Dou E. You're the one who caused all this. I'd rather avoid it, yet you still dare to bully me."
"Alright, stop messing around. We have an agreement: if we find something good today, you're treating."
"No problem. Whatever you want to eat, I'll get it immediately. Anything that flies, runs on land, or swims in water, you pick."
"Oh, you're that confident you'll cut out something good?"
"I may not believe in myself, but I can't not believe in my brother. That's just laughable."
While the two were bickering, the stone-cutting masters had already cut open the two stones.
"Big profit," the stone-cutting master shouted.
These two stone-cutting masters were already accustomed to it, numb to the sight. Finding good jade was inevitable; not finding anything was the rare occasion. For outsiders, finding a good stone was difficult. But for the stones here, not finding a good stone was the real challenge.
A few people gathered to take a look. One was a high-ice imperial green, though not very large. It should be worth about one billion. The other was a spring-colored jade, and the cut had precisely followed one edge of the entire spring-colored jade, causing no damage to the jadeite. No wonder Fatty had insisted they not cut the stones earlier. If they had cut them, they truly wouldn't have been able to avoid damaging the jadeite to some extent. One stone-cutting master couldn't help but marvel, it was as if the lines were drawn while looking at the jadeite inside.
After a while, everyone left. It was too exhilarating, like picking up money.
"Yangzi, while you were sleeping, Yangyang's identification documents arrived. She's your sister now. But the issue with her accent, is there any way to resolve it?" Lu Liang came over and said.
"It's fine. We'll just say she lived abroad since she was little, so her accent is quite pronounced."
"Then you'll need to find a foreign relative or friend, otherwise it won't hold up. Anyone who investigates thoroughly will find out."
"Mm. I'll handle this. It won't be a problem."
Guo Xuyang found the idea of finding someone abroad troublesome. He planned to work on Yangyang's language center in her brain. The human brain is like a sophisticated instrument, divided into different areas such as the motor cortex, gustatory cortex, somatosensory cortex, visual cortex, and language cortex. Each area manages different parts of the body. The visual cortex manages the eyes, providing feedback on what the eyes see and transmitting it to the brain. The language cortex, on the other hand, manages the tongue and oral muscles, allowing people to produce different syllables through the coordinated work of their tongue and oral muscles. If his abilities could change a person's skin and eyes, then modifying their language would be a piece of cake. He simply hadn't paid attention to it before. If he had thought of it, he could have resolved it in one go.
As the two were talking, Guo Xuyang's phone rang. He picked it up and saw it was an international call. He must have dialed incorrectly, so he hung up. However, the caller was persistent and the phone rang again.
"Hello," he answered, asking.
"Mr. Guo, hello. I am Abdullah. Do you know when you might have time to visit? I will be waiting for your esteemed presence here." Abdullah's voice came through the phone.
"Hello, Your Highness Abdullah. I am very much looking forward to meeting you. However, I still have some matters to attend to. I will call you in advance when I come," Guo Xuyang said.
"Very well, my friend. I look forward to your visit. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Your Highness Abdullah." Guo Xuyang hung up the phone.
"Abdullah has invited us to visit him."
"That's good. How was your communication with Qi Fan Kun last time?" Lu Liang asked.
"I haven't been in touch since then. I don't know what his opinion is."
"When do you plan to go to Alabama?"
"After I get in touch with Qi Fan Kun. I'll contact him tomorrow and then decide. Today, I need to visit President Cheng's home. I promised President Cheng a few days ago that I would visit his grandfather."
"Then you go. I'll go keep Xiao Yu company."
"You're prioritizing love over friendship."
"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to go with you, so you go by yourself."
"Alright, you go ahead with your business. Aim to win your lady's heart soon."
Guo Xuyang then called Cheng Xiuping.
"President Cheng, shall we go visit the old man?"
"Sure, I'll head back to pick you up right away," Cheng Xiuping said.
"I'm on my way to the King's Villa right now."
"Don't come back, I'll go there directly. Is the old man still staying at Songshan Villa?"
"Yes," Cheng Xiuping replied.
"I'll drop Xia Li off and then head back. See you in a bit then."
"Okay." Guo Xuyang hung up the phone and prepared to leave.