Chapter 616: Chapter 190: It’s Alive
"After entering university, the problem I faced was money! The thirty to fifty thousand was not enough for my four years of tuition and living expenses.
So after much deliberation, with no other options, I planned to sell the item my father gave me the night before he died.
I hadn’t sold it because I thought that since my father desperately brought it back, it was likely more valuable. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I shouldn’t sell it cheaply.
I kept that thing with me all the time, even carried it with me to university."
Chen Yan frowned and asked, "What... is that thing?"
"A piece of jade."
Lu Xiuting answered simply.
But she quickly added: "Half the size of a palm, not thick, and irregular in shape. It’s the kind of uncarved jade, raw jade."
As she spoke, her expression seemed strange, and her tone carried a hint of uncertainty, "But... it’s a bit odd."
"Is the item still here? Can you show it to me?" Chen Yan asked.
"The item is no longer here." Lu Xiuting shook her head, "I’m not lying, the item truly isn’t here."
"Then you mentioned it was a bit odd. Specifically, what’s odd about it?"
Lu Xiuting thought, reminisced, and softly said, "It has a seal on it."
"A seal?"
Chen Yan was taken aback.
"Yes, I’m not sure, but it seemed like some kind of embossed mark."
As she spoke, Lu Xiuting suddenly took out a pen from her bag, and quickly started drawing on a piece of paper.
A moment later, she pushed the paper in front of Chen Yan.
"I studied this mark many times back in the day. I’ve drawn it out, consulted ancient text teachers at school, and later asked some museum artifacts experts.
But no one could recognize what this seal was.
To be honest, my intention was to determine which dynasty it might belong to, to estimate how much it could be worth... but unfortunately, I asked numerous experts, yet no one recognized it."
This thought process was something Chen Yan could understand.
He took a couple of glances at the paper, and his eyes lit up.
It’s an oval mark, and Lu Xiuting had drawn some peculiar patterns on it.
It seemed to be some kind of writing, but he couldn’t recognize it at all.
Yet, as Chen Yan looked at the patterns on this mark, as if they formed some characters, he was struck with a sense of familiarity!
A few seconds later, he suddenly realized!
The kind of characters, similar to those on the black stone he previously obtained that opened the Mirror World, the characters on it...
Are very similar!
When he first obtained the black stone, Chen Yan had tried to complete its broken characters, and by sheer luck, he managed to do it right and thus discovered the way into and out of the Mirror World.
And the character Lu Xiuting drew, while different from the Mirror World’s characters, was stylistically very close, probably the same language.
After a brief contemplation, Chen Yan put the paper into his pocket and then looked at Lu Xiuting and asked, "The jade piece, you said it’s not here anymore. What do you mean? Did you sell it?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiuting’s expression grew even more peculiar, and her eyes turned very complicated.
She remained silent, seemingly caught in an internal struggle or weighing something.
Finally, as if making a resolution, Lu Xiuting raised her head, her tone carrying a hint of the absurd.
"If I told you that the jade is alive, would you believe me?"