Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"Heh heh, all right." Yang Hengye laughed and continued, "If we're talking about really making money for the first time, that was in Yunnan. Zhang Bin, Uncle Zhang, and I were cutting stones in a rough jade shop in Tengchong, Yunnan. I told you, didn't I, that little Lan Ling's sixth sense is especially sharp?"

"No." Chen Shutang pouted and shook her head.

"Heh heh, don't be angry. Lan Ling is just a child—why are you jealous of her?" Yang Ce consoled her. "Lan Ling picked out a rough stone at the time, and jadeite came out of it."

"Jadeite?" Chen Shutang said in surprise.

"Mm, jadeite—the finest of all jade, extremely expensive." Yang Yanzhou said, "In the end, out of that batch of rough stones, I got three pieces of jadeite."

"Three pieces? No way!" Though Chen Shutang did not know exactly how much jadeite was worth, she at least knew that such high-grade jewelry could not possibly be cheap. And she also knew the odds of jadeite coming out of rough stones were not very high—yet Yang Ce had gone there once and come back with three pieces of jadeite. It was nothing short of terrifying.

"The money from selling those jadeites is what started the companies we have now," Yang Yanzhou said.

"So how much did the jadeite actually sell for?" Chen Shutang was astonished. Valuable, yes, but no matter how valuable, it couldn't possibly have funded this many companies.

"At an auction in Hong Kong, it went for over three hundred million," Yang Ce said slowly.

"Over three hundred million?" Chen Shutang's eyes went wide, an expression of sheer disbelief on her face. "I thought a few million would already be a lot. I never imagined it'd be over three hundred million—is that even real?"

"The prices that auction house sets are all denominated in US dollars," Yang Ce dropped another bombshell.

"US dollars?" This time Chen Shutang simply could not keep her feelings in check. It was utterly unbelievable. Just minutes ago, a few million had been a distant figure to her, let alone hundreds of millions—she had never once imagined that one day she would have that kind of money.

And yet Yang Ce had just told her he had over three hundred million US dollars. Wasn't that just a little too shocking?

"Mm. US dollars." Yang Ce's face was serious. "These businesses actually didn't cost that much to build up, so your husband here is still a billionaire in the truest sense."

"Billionaire?" Chen Shutang sank into a daze. At first, learning that Yang Moyi had this much money had brought her boundless delight, but afterwards, she found herself growing a little worried.

To be continued

686. Buying a House

Originally, the two of them had been classmates, and affection had grown between them over time—that pure, untainted kind of love, with not a trace of self-interest mixed in. Chen Shutang loved Yang Ce, and not because he had money or anything else; back then, Yang Shuoxuan had had no money at all, and was a bad student who got into fights and skipped class.

But now, all at once, Yang Ce had become a billionaire, and Chen Shutang found it a little hard to accept. The gap between them had gone from being barely perceptible at the start to being utterly out of reach.

By comparison, Chen Shutang felt she was rather ordinary. She had been confident enough before—at least she was very pretty and did well in her studies—but in that instant, all of it was shattered.

She wasn't the only pretty girl who did well in school. Right now, in university, it might not seem to matter, but once they stepped out into society and Yang Juehuan's field of vision grew wider, would he stop liking her then? Especially since she was prone to the occasional tantrum and fits of jealousy—given enough time, might Yang Ce come to look down on her?

"What's the matter?" Yang Ce saw Chen Shutang's expression shifting unpredictably as she muttered to herself nonstop, and he found it rather strange.

"Yang Ce, all those things you just told me—are they true?" Chen Shutang lifted her head and looked at Yang Ce, asking as though she were reluctant to believe it.

"Mm. What's wrong? Your husband's rich now—are you that excited?" Though Yang Ce could see something was off in Chen Shutang's expression, how could he know what she was thinking? He assumed she had simply been startled.

Chen Shutang shook her head woodenly, sighed, and said softly, "I'd actually rather you didn't have that much money."

"Hm?" Yang Juehuan had always had keen hearing, and at that moment there were only the two of them in the car, so he heard everything Chen Shutang said clearly. Puzzled, he asked, "Mengyan, what are you saying?"

"Nothing," Chen Shutang said, naturally unwilling to repeat herself.

"You just said you'd rather I didn't have money. What did you mean by that? I heard you," Yang Ce pressed.

"If you heard me, why ask?" Chen Shutang frowned, then said, "Now that you have all that money, will you still like me?"

"Ah?" Yang Xutang froze at her words, then said in bewilderment, "Mengyan, what are you thinking? Do I look like that kind of person?"

"How don't you? Right now you've already got other women besides me. Once you get out into society and see more and better girls, you definitely won't like me anymore." Chen Shutang's heart was in turmoil, so her words came out a little incoherent.

"I have Lan Ling and Lin Yanhe now, and I still love you just the same, don't I?" Yang Lanxu was secretly delighted, though he kept his expression neutral. Telling Chen Shutang about his affairs today had clearly been a very wise move—she was actually so flustered by it that she didn't know what to do. This was a good sign.

"But I lose my temper with you and get jealous," Chen Shutang said.

"Heh heh. You're the original wife—you've got that privilege." Yang Hengye smiled. "Feeling better now?"

"Original wife?" At that, a smile appeared at the corners of Chen Shutang's mouth. "You said it yourself, Yang Ce. No matter what happens to you from now on, you can't ever abandon me."

"Don't worry, Mengyan." Yang Ce spoke with righteous conviction. "If I ever let you go, just go complain to my mother—she'd beat me to death."

"Mm." Chen Shutang nodded hard. That was true—no matter what, she was the official girlfriend acknowledged by Yang's mother, and she even carried the Yang family's heirloom on her.

Chen Shutang touched the jade pendant at her collar and smiled.

The area around Songjiang Engineering University was a high-tech hub, crowded with electronics and computer malls, and property prices there were exorbitant. So few people could actually afford to buy a home here—generally only the bosses of the tech parks and the like.

Yang Ce parked the car at the entrance of the sales office for the newly built Huasong Wenyuan, then got out with Chen Shutang.

This was a high-end high-rise residential development, priced very dearly, so the sales office was done up in proper style, complete with greeters and security guards at the door.

Everyone who worked here was sharp as a tack. Though Yang Ce and Chen Shutang looked very young and weren't wearing especially famous brands, the fact was they had arrived in a BMW X5.

So the moment Yang Puqi stepped out of the car, a greeter came forward with a smile. "Hello, you two. Are you here to look at the properties?"

"Mm." Yang Yuting nodded.

"Please follow me." The greeter led Yang Ce and Chen Shutang into the sales office.

In the very center of the office stood a large scale model of the development, and under the glow of the lights it looked quite beautiful.

"You two can take a look at the model first. If anything interests you, we can go see it on site," the greeter said, leading Yang Ce and the others over to a free salesperson.

"Mm. We'll have a look first." Yang Yuting nodded.

The greeter whispered a couple of words to the salesperson. Though it was too quiet to hear, Yang Jiyan could see it—what the greeter said was, "They came in a BMW X5."