Back in the principal's office, Long Xiao told Yuan Beidou that he needed to go to the antique market tomorrow to buy some items to make magical artifacts.
"Principal Yuan, my strength is not enough yet to completely resolve the situation in the forest."
"Long Xiao, we're not asking for a complete resolution right now, just to temporarily control it so no one gets hurt."
Long Xiao nodded and said, "It's easy to prevent injuries. We also need to guard against the Luo family and the Tsuchimikado clan, and we can't let them take away the things inside."
"Exactly. Those things are ours, from China, and we absolutely cannot let the islanders take them away," Hua Xianfeng said.
Because Long Xiao was worried about something happening, they stayed at the school that night. The next morning, Long Xiao, Xiao Ming, and Luo Tianshui prepared to go to the antique market.
Yuan Nandou found a professor from the archaeology department who understood antiques and went with Long Xiao and the others as their guide.
Professor Che, named Che Baotian, was in his early fifties. He was kind and amiable, with rosy cheeks that often carried a smile, giving people a feeling of being easy to get along with.
Professor Che took Long Xiao and the others directly to Panjiayuan. It was Saturday, and the place was bustling with stalls and people.
The four of them browsed for a whole morning, but Long Xiao couldn't find anything suitable for making magical artifacts.
Magical artifacts are generally best made with ancient jade, but for Long Xiao, as long as the spiritual energy contained was suitable, anything could be used to craft a magical artifact.
Since they couldn't find suitable items at Panjiayuan, after lunch, Professor Che took Long Xiao and the others to Liulichang.
Liulichang had many antique shops. They went into each one and looked around.
After visiting several shops, Long Xiao still hadn't found anything he liked.
"Little Long, what kind of antique are you actually looking for?" Professor Che asked.
When they arrived, Yuan Nandou had told Professor Che that Long Xiao was a junior of his who liked antiques and asked him to take him to buy some.
When they left, he gave Long Xiao a bank card with ten million yuan and told him to buy whatever Long Xiao liked, not to be stingy with money, and to call if it wasn't enough.
Yuan Nandou was cautious and didn't tell Professor Che the purpose of buying antiques.
"I don't have any specific ideas, just whatever I like."
"I'll take you to the old Ji family shop. The antiques there are expensive, but there are many good items."
Following Professor Che into the old Ji family shop, Long Xiao's eyes lit up. The antiques here were all quite old, and there were very few fakes.
"Get me that piece of jade, that porcelain bowl..."
Long Xiao selected five antique items in a row and placed them on the counter.
After looking closely for a while, Long Xiao said, "Pack them all up, let's go to the next place."
Long Xiao didn't ask for the price. After they were packed, Professor Che went to swipe the card. After the transaction, less than a million yuan remained in the bank card.
"These should suffice for now. Professor Che, do you know where I can find raw jade?" Long Xiao asked.
"Tianbaoge, they have the largest raw stone market there."
After saying this, Professor Che regretted it. He only had a few hundred thousand left, and if Long Xiao wanted to buy more expensive raw jade, he would have to call Yuan Beidou.
Long Xiao didn't pay attention to Professor Che. After asking, he left the old Ji family shop with Xiao Ming and Luo Tianshui.
Tianbaoge was about a hundred meters away from the old Ji family shop. Soon, Long Xiao and the others entered Tianbaoge's raw jade market.
The courtyard was large, and it was filled with jade rough stones of various sizes and types.
Long Xiao spread out his spiritual energy, and soon he sensed the spiritual energy emanating from these raw jade stones.
With his two previous experiences of buying raw jade, Long Xiao knew he wouldn't lose money. So, as he walked, he picked out the raw jade stones he thought were good.
Long Xiao's speed in selecting raw jade stones was too fast. He walked and selected without even looking closely. Professor Che was completely stunned.
Professor Che thought to himself, what kind of person is this? He doesn't understand raw stones but buys blindly, and he wants to buy whatever he wants without spending his own money.
"Little Long, buying raw jade isn't done like this. You have to look carefully, this requires professional knowledge," Professor Che hurriedly grabbed Long Xiao and shouted.
"I don't have time to look carefully. Hurry up and have someone cut the stones I've selected. I need them tonight."
"Little Long, the school's money doesn't grow on trees. You can't spend it like this."
Long Xiao turned his head and shook off Professor Che's hand that was holding him. "You don't have to pay for these raw stones, but don't regret it later."
"Why should I regret anything? I'm just worried you'll waste money and buy useless stones."
"You don't need to worry about that. Waiter, make Professor Che a cup of tea and have him watch the stone cutting."
Calling the cutting of raw stones "sawing stones" clearly indicated he was an amateur. No matter whose money it was, you couldn't spend it like this.
Professor Che tried to stop Long Xiao again. Long Xiao shouted at the waiter, "Waiter, do you still want to sell these raw stones or not?"
The waiter who was looking after Long Xiao and the others quickly stepped forward with a smile and said, "Of course, we want to sell. Which ones have you chosen? I'll have someone pick them out for you right away."
Long Xiao casually walked forward and pointed to which raw stones he wanted. Xiao Ming and Luo Tianshui immediately marked the stones.
After selecting more than twenty pieces, Long Xiao found a chair and sat down. "Alright, cut them. Cut them all before dark."
The waiter accompanying Long Xiao was uneasy. These raw stones were worth over a hundred million yuan. If Long Xiao didn't have the money and these stones were all cut in vain, he would surely lose his job.
"Sir, according to the rules, we need to verify funds before cutting stones," the waiter said with a smile.
Long Xiao took out a bank card and threw it on the coffee table. "Verify it."
The young man took the bank card to verify the funds. Soon, tea, pastries, and fruit platters were brought to the four of them.
"How can this be? Why are they being so polite to us?" Professor Che asked in surprise.
Long Xiao smiled and said nothing. A few minutes later, the waiter returned with the bank card in both hands, a beaming smile on his face.
"Sir, please take your bank card back. I'll arrange for someone to cut all the raw stones immediately."
Long Xiao nodded and said, "Find me a marker pen. I'll draw on them, and you can cut according to the marks I draw."
The waiter brought the marker pen, and Long Xiao started drawing.
Long Xiao drew very casually. In a short while, all twenty-odd raw stones were marked.
Professor Che stared blankly at Long Xiao making marks on the raw stones. He had never seen anyone buy raw stones like this or make marks like this.
To speed up the cutting, the waiter also arranged for four cutting machines to be brought over.
With five cutting machines operating together, the roaring sound of the machines filled the entire courtyard.
Long Xiao turned to chat with Xiao Ming and Luo Tianshui, not even looking at the raw stones being cut in the courtyard.
Soon, they heard the workers shouting that they had a good cut. The waiter also ran in excitedly to tell Long Xiao.
Long Xiao's expression was calm, as if he had already known. He said, "Don't be so surprised. Hurry up and cut them. We're in a hurry."
As one piece of jade rough stone after another was cut and found to be valuable, the waiter became restless. He quickly took out his phone and called the owner of Tianbaoge.
Seeing the waiter making a phone call, Long Xiao worried that Tianbaoge might be owned by someone from the Luo family. He said in a low voice, "Xiao Ming, go and ask what the owner's surname is."
Xiao Ming nodded, stood up, and walked towards the waiter.
After the waiter finished his call, Xiao Ming asked, "Waiter, who is your boss?"
The waiter was stunned for a moment and said, "Our boss's name is Xue Hong, he's the second master of the Xue family."