"Achoo!"
Early that morning, Chen Mo sneezed several times in a row—a decidedly ominous sign.
Moments later, as his eyes fell on the Luck Ring on his finger, he nearly toppled off the sofa in shock.
"Wait, what on earth is going on?" He blinked in confusion at the needle, which had shifted to the pitch-black region.
Last night, he could have sworn it was hovering near the middle line—how had it moved into the black zone overnight?
A shiver ran down his spine. He instinctively glanced toward the corner of the room—where a few household appliances were huddled together with Xun'er, whispering conspiratorially and occasionally letting out bone-chilling chuckles.
"I have a very bad feeling about this..."
The moment Chen Mo turned his head, the F4 group scattered nonchalantly like startled birds, leaving only Xun'er absentmindedly gnawing on her thumb.
Chen Mo eyed them with suspicion but, seeing nothing amiss, hesitated a moment before picking up the morning paper. As a typical small-time citizen, he never bothered with politics; the gossip column was his true calling.
"Mine! That's mine!"
But before he could even glance at the headline, Guo Guo shrieked and soared across the room, snatching and devouring the entire newspaper.
Chen Mo stared at it, utterly dumbfounded. Since when had Guo Guo taken to eating newspapers? Did it believe this would elevate its cultural literacy?
"Um... Boss, actually, Guo Guo's recently decided to go vegetarian—starting with paper!" Nuo Nuo leapt out with a noble expression, offering a swift excuse.
Though still suspicious, Chen Mo chose not to press the matter. He picked up the remote instead.
But before he could even power on the television, Che Che lunged over and yanked out the power cord, gazing at him with solemn disapproval.
"What is it now?"
Under Che Che's intense stare, Chen Mo instinctively touched his own face, exhaling with relief when he found it still intact.
Then, with great gravity, Che Che sighed and declared, "Boss, I've misjudged you. In this hour of national crisis, while the restaurant teeters on the edge, you still find the heart to lounge about and seek idle entertainment instead of offering comfort to Sister Rong?"
"You've lost your mind! It's only six in the morning—Sister Rong's still asleep, naked, might I add!"
Chen Mo glanced helplessly at the clock, muttering that his appliances had clearly lost it.
Yet before he could reinsert the plug, the appliances shook their heads in unison and heaved a melodramatic sigh.
"No loyalty, none at all! Boss, you've truly let love cloud your judgment. You're running off to join that Jiadie woman, aren't you!"
To add fuel to the fire, Ben Ben immediately played a clip from A Chinese Odyssey, where the demoness softly murmured to Sun Wukong, "When we used to watch the moon together, you called me Sweetie… Now I'm just Old Lady Ox…"
"I give up!" Chen Mo rubbed his chin, defeated, and finally stood up. If this kept up, history would surely remember him as the greatest heartbreaker of all time.
Seeing him abandon the television, the appliances nearly burst into celebration, clearly ready to set off firecrackers in jubilation.
But before they could rejoice, Chen Mo opened the door again.
"Hold on—why should I go out alone? All of you are coming with me!"
"Huh?" The appliances looked at one another in dismay, their cheers dying in their throats.
Under Chen Mo's suspicious glare, they dared not protest and had no choice but to obediently follow him out the door.
Nuo Nuo, ever the quick thinker, took the opportunity to whisper to Xun'er as they passed, "You go sell it yourself. I've already sent you the address."
"Okay!"
Xun'er nodded without hesitation, though she soon bit her thumb again and asked in confusion, "But… how much should I sell it for? Is thirty thousand enough?"
"Thirty thousand? Are you joking?"
Nuo Nuo looked at her in disbelief. This girl clearly has no concept of value.
After weighing bad luck against the restaurant's needs, he whispered, "It could easily fetch a few million, but we can't have the Boss jinxed... Alright, start at three hundred thousand as a base price—then see if you can push it a bit higher."
At that moment, Chen Mo turned around, and Nuo Nuo walked away nonchalantly, as though nothing had happened.
"Oh... Raise the price a bit!"
Xun'er repeated the phrase, nodding as though struck by sudden enlightenment.
"But..."
After a pause, she couldn't help but bite her thumb again, blinking her large innocent eyes.
"But… how much is a bit more?"
Chang Jinya's spirits were soaring this morning. After watching the early news, he was so delighted he nearly broke into an operatic rendition of O Sole Mio.
As a black-market antiques smuggler in South City, it wasn't often he encountered such grand opportunities.
Last night at ten, he had received a call from a man who identified himself as "Nuo Nuo." The caller claimed he would deliver two flawless jadeite stones today—yes, those exact gems currently featured at the heavily guarded South City jewelry exhibition.
At first, Chang Jinya had suspected the man had a screw loose.
What a joke—this was the most secure exhibition in the city's history, enough to deter even renowned international thieves.
And yet this complete unknown dared claim he'd already laid hands on them?
But after waking up and watching the morning broadcast, Chang Jinya began to believe. The news confirmed everything.
That alone was enough to lift his mood.
Still, one thing troubled him—the culprits didn't appear to be human, but rather some kind of bizarre monsters...
"Whatever! If he's willing to sell, that means we have a deal."
After years in the trade, he had seen his fair share of unexplainable phenomena. Chang Jinya took a slow drag from his cigar and signaled to his bodyguards.
"Stay sharp. Once this deal is done, we're boxing up the jade with the rest of the antiques. If I don't squeeze a few million out of that bastard Thomas, I might as well quit this business..."
But before he could finish the sentence, his face froze.
Before him, as if materializing from thin air, a little girl in a pink nightgown slowly emerged, her form shimmering into reality.
The bodyguards instinctively backed away, startled, then immediately pulled their pistols—aimed not at some martial arts master, but at a sweet-faced child.
"Phew! Found you at last!"
Ignoring the weapons, Xun'er peeled the invisibility charm from her forehead and skipped over to the desk.
Though his expression darkened slightly, Chang Jinya remained composed, speaking with the poise of a seasoned criminal:
"May I ask... your name and your business with me?"
"Eh? Aren't you the one buying the jade?"
Xun'er tilted her head in confusion, then plopped a small wooden box onto the desk and popped it open.
"It's heavy! Uncle, Nuo Nuo said you'd offer a good price—don't even think about cheating me!"
The moment the box opened, a brilliant green radiance flooded the room.
Chang Jinya's breath caught in his throat. For a moment, he thought it might be plastic—it was simply unfathomable that such priceless jade would be entrusted to a little girl, magic or not.
But a closer look dispelled his doubts. The brilliance, the depth, the texture—these could not be faked.
With trembling fingers, he reached out to caress the jade.
"You... How much do you want for them? Oh, wait—would you like some tea first? Or perhaps... coffee?"
"No thanks! I want Häagen-Dazs!"
Her reply nearly caused him to choke, and his men scrambled to fetch the ice cream.
Fifteen minutes later, as Xun'er licked melted dessert from her cheeks, Chang Jinya cautiously asked again,
"So... how much are you asking for the two jade pieces?"
"Umm... Nuo Nuo said, 'raise the price a bit'!"
Still engrossed in her battle with a fruit-flavored scoop, she answered casually.
The phrase made Chang Jinya's heart skip.
Still, he bit the bullet and extended two fingers. "How about this much?"
"No way!"
Barely glancing up, Xun'er immediately shook her head.
"That's already a high price!" he protested, pained. "These are stolen goods, you know—I'm taking a risk here!"
"Minimum three hundred thousand!"
Xun'er was unmoved, puffing her cheeks in indignation.
"Three hundred thousand? That's outrageous!"
Chang Jinya groaned. "Wait—did you say three hundred thousand... US dollars?"
In that instant, he was completely petrified.
Three hundred thousand USD?
Even jade of much lower quality fetched tens of thousands!
But what stunned him even more came next—Xun'er blinked and murmured,
"Dollars? What are those? Nuo Nuo said he wants the money with the grandpa on it!"
Pfft!
Chang Jinya spewed tea everywhere.
Abandoning all pretense, he lunged for the jade and examined every inch—only releasing them after confirming their authenticity.
But the more real they seemed, the more baffled he became.
None of this makes sense—unless...
"Um, I do have one condition!"
Sure enough, Xun'er raised her hand with a hesitant look.
Rather than anger, this brought him relief. Ah, finally, a catch. This makes sense.
As a roomful of anxious eyes fixed on her, Xun'er's bright voice rang out:
"I want more ice cream. Twenty banana splits!"