Mind reading saves the whole family; I'm firmly in the role of a charlatan.

Chapter 232 That's exactly what I've been waiting for.
Du Bixiao suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Regardless of whether the dog man's words were true, this running wild boar definitely had ulterior motives towards their little cabbage!

Du Bixiao wanted to be the butcher, but she had important business to attend to today, so she could only keep a straight face and remind him, "Didn't you say that your great-uncle wanted to see you? You need to go home early after dinner. It's getting late, so go home early and don't linger outside."

Du Anrao, who was also thinking about the stone at home that hadn't been uncut yet, nodded in agreement: "Okay."

Seeing her like this, Du Bixiao frowned and added with concern, "Send me a message when you get home."

Xi Jingyue: "..." These relatives of the little guy really treat him like a thief!

Du Anrao had no suspicions and assumed that Du Bixiao was worried that she had gone out and hadn't come home in time, so he nodded again and obediently agreed.

No sooner had Du Bixiao left than Xi Jingyue drove Du An back to Du Desheng's house.

Upon arriving at the door, Xi Jingyue learned that Du Anrao had asked Du Desheng to arrange for a stone-cutting master. He immediately thought of the large rock from last night that supposedly contained a treasured raw stone, and shamelessly followed Du Anrao inside.

When Du Desheng heard that Du Anrao had returned, he greeted him with a big smile. But when he looked up and saw Xi Jingyue standing next to Du Anrao, his smile vanished instantly.

"What are you doing here?!" How come you're everywhere?!
Xi Jingyue understood the disdain in Du Desheng's words and awkwardly touched his nose.

Seeing this, Du Anrao quickly explained for him, "Grandpa, Mr. Xi drove me back."

"You can even deliver someone to their home." Du Desheng's cane twitched as if he were about to knock the person out at any moment.

Du Anrao: "..." Help! Grandpa's attitude towards Mr. Xi changed way too fast! Wasn't he fine yesterday? Grandpa, you actually have two faces!
Du Desheng: "..." You brat, who are you doing this grandfather for!
Xi Jingyue was amused by Du Anrao's inner monologue and struggled to suppress his laughter.

Du Desheng immediately saw what he was thinking and glared at him with sharp eyes.

“An’an said you asked Master Du to help her find a stone cutter to see if any other treasures could be found in the rough stone left over from last night. I happened to be there when this stone was being cut yesterday, and I was quite curious about it, so I came in with her. I hope Master Du is magnanimous and won’t mind.”

The subtext is that I was there last night and knew there were other treasures hidden inside the stone, so I don't need to hide it from you anymore.

Du Desheng was perfectly aware of his implied meaning, and now he was even angrier!

Although Du Anrao didn't know what conflict the two had, he could sense that the atmosphere between them was not right, so he quickly changed the subject to smooth things over.

"Grandpa, where is the stone-cutting master you hired? Let's take care of business first."

Du Desheng saw Du Anrao's intervention as her deliberate protection of Xi Jingyue, which angered him so much that he glared at her with a look of disappointment and said irritably, "In the backyard."

Without waiting for their reaction, he turned and walked back.

Du Anrao, caught in the crossfire, blinked in confusion, pointed to himself, then to the direction Du Desheng had left in, looking utterly bewildered.

"What did I just do to upset Grandpa?"

Xi Jingyue couldn't help but chuckle: "No, he probably just woke up groggy and accidentally took the wrong medicine."

Du Anrao: "!!!" Mr. Xi, you'll really get kicked out by Grandpa if you keep doing this!

The stone-cutting master that Du Desheng found for Du Anrao was surnamed Qi. He was older than the one from the auction house last night, and had a square face that made him look very honest. Even though he didn't think that a rough stone that had already been cut into a rough stone could contain other treasures, he still smiled and asked Du Anrao for his opinion.

"How does Miss plan to cut this stone?"

“Well, you’re the experienced one, so you can cut it as you see fit,” Du Anrao said, then added as if he had thought of something, “Be a little more careful near the bottom.”

This sounds like confirmation that there's definitely something down there, and it is indeed true.

Last night, while looking at the stone at the auction house, Du Anrao vaguely noticed that under the light, the stone had a faint glow at both the top and bottom, with the bottom part even showing a larger glow.

At first, she thought it was just an illusion caused by the bright lights in the store. But when the entire piece of the "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity and Happiness" raw stone was taken out, Du Anrao suddenly realized that the light was probably where the spiritual essence was located. The light underneath was even brighter, which meant that the raw stone underneath was likely to be larger than the one taken out first!

Master Qi didn't discourage her when she said that. He picked up the stone and examined it carefully. Only after he had examined it thoroughly did he begin to process it.

The process of cutting the stone was dusty and debris flew everywhere. Considering Qin Yanqing's physical condition, the group didn't let her come out and waited inside the house.

Du Desheng felt that he was in great shape, so he stood next to Du Anrao with his cane, peeking at Master Qi's work, curious about what the remaining treasures looked like.

Master Qi cut five or six centimeters down the same length as the craftsman at the auction house, and layer after layer of waste fell away, his heart sinking with each passing moment.

Just as he was about to conclude that there was no treasure inside the stone, his knife suddenly seemed to cut something different. The unusual sensation was very subtle, but Master Qi was experienced and immediately noticed it, causing the knife in his hand to veer off course.

Even so, it was still inevitable that a corner of the jade underneath was cut off.

"It's...it's green! It's really green!"

Upon hearing this, Du Desheng quickly stepped forward and gossiped, "Really? What's the quality? How big is it?"

The cross-section of the uncarved raw stone is somewhat dark, as if covered with a layer of dust, making it difficult to discern its quality.

Master Qi washed the stone with the clean water that had been prepared in the basin, and the emerald green raw stone, which was obviously no ordinary stone, came into everyone's view at a glance.

"This is a pure green jadeite, a high-grade jadeite that's only slightly inferior to imperial green, but..."

"Just what?"

"However, even the best and worst pieces of bright green jadeite can vary. Some pieces are just white jadeite with a touch of bright green in the middle. If the texture and clarity are good, they're still worth something, but if the texture and clarity are poor, they're not worth much. On the contrary, the more and purer the green, and the better the texture and clarity, the higher the value."

"You mean you can't judge anything from just this little bit; you have to look at the whole thing. The more green like this, the better, and it's best if it's not mixed with other colors. If the whole piece is this green, and it's especially translucent and has excellent texture and water content, then..."

"Then it will be infinitely close to Imperial Green, and even if it is slightly inferior, it will still be priceless!"

Du Desheng: "..." That's exactly what I was waiting for. It's all settled now!

(End of this chapter)