June 26th, 11:12 am.
At the Qi Yang Community, Building 9, Unit 1, Room 1206, Li Shi was seated at the desk next to his bed, ready to start the exchange.
Just in case, he deliberately placed a pillow on the table with an A4 paper on top, featuring a one-to-one drawing of a bracelet, and the small ring surface was placed next to it.
He held his breath, concentrated his mind, took five deep breaths, then summoned the learning panel. With the precise concept of the jade bracelet in his mind, he chose the best part of the jade on the ring surface and initiated the exchange.
The next moment, a full green round bar bracelet, weighing 81.999999999999 grams and with a 56 inner circumference, suddenly appeared out of thin air on the paper!
Meanwhile, the learning panel returned a message confirming that 0.081999999999999 wealth attribute points were consumed for a successful exchange.
Li Shi laughed, realising that this method of exchange was indeed possible. He succeeded in using approximately 0.082 wealth attribute points to directly exchange for a finished product that had been carved and polished!
Before and after carving and polishing, it remained in the physical state, and for the learning panel, there was no difference.
Upon careful examination of the bracelet in front of him, it was pure green, as crystal clear as an ice cube emitting cold light, or like transparent green glass - somewhere in between glass and ice, pure with hardly any traces of impurities. It was simply too beautiful.
He couldn't resist picking it up with both hands to admire it.
"It's much more beautiful than the jade bracelets I saw in videos. Seeing it with the naked eye is indeed different. There's a hint of a shining pearl. Imagine how it would set off the beauty of a gorgeous woman's slender hands."
Influenced by traditional culture and martial arts and fantasy novels, Li Shi has always had an affection for jade. When he had no money to buy it in the past, he often watched related videos on Bilibili and Douyin.
Now he has seen the high quality of top-grade jade firsthand, and he suddenly develops a new fondness for it. Thinking about selling it, he unconsciously generates an emotion of "indecisiveness".
However, this sentiment lasted only two seconds before he discarded it.
"Gold, silver, pearls, diamonds, and beautiful jade are all material things. As long as I have wealth attribute points, I can exchange for them whenever I want!"
With this thought, Li Shi couldn't help but grin.
Suddenly, he thought of the need to have some impressive items for his interactions with people from the auction company. He immediately decided to design a jade ring for himself, so that people would feel he was extraordinary at a glance.
"With the quality of this bracelet, an equivalent ring would be worth at least several million yuan. If it were auctioned, a selling price of tens of millions is also likely."
He immediately measured his left thumb's size and drew a pattern on a new piece of A4 paper.
With the experience of exchanging the bracelet, Li Shi used 0.030 wealth attribute points about ten minutes later and successfully exchanged for a full green jade ring weighing 30 grams.
Because it was completely customised according to his thumb size, he tried it on, and it was perfect.
"I will just exchange for these for now."
Li Shi checked the learning panel-
Name: Li Shi
Physique: 11.5
Wealth: 0.888 [Exchange?]
Currently learning: Chinese (Proficient)
Completed Learning Library: None
"I can still exchange with 888 grams of any substance I have owned."
He checked the learning panel and continued his work: pulled out the prepared tools, cleaned the desk, took out the mobile phone, and started to take various pictures and video resources of the jade bracelet.
He first took photos and videos from all angles. Then he added vernier callipers and took more photos...
He used a technique he learned from some videos to write a note about sending items for appraisal at Dejia Auction House, which he placed next to his work.
After more than an hour of work, he put the two pieces of jade into jewellery boxes, stored them in a safety deposit box, then sorted out the data with a tablet, logged onto his QQ email, and began to write the email.
"Dejia Auction House Collection Department: Hello, I have a full sun-green translucent natural jade bracelet that I would like to provide for your August jewellery auction in Xiang Jiang. The relevant materials are attached. Please reply as soon as possible. Thank you."
After checking everything, without any hesitation, he clicked send.
He quickly received an automatic feedback email from the other party's mailbox, stating that they would reply as soon as possible.
After wrapping up everything, Li Shi got up, took a deep breath, went out to find food, had a big meal at a restaurant at the entrance of his community, returned, and resumed his studies.
There are many courses in majoring in Chinese Language and Literature, including obligatory courses such as Introduction to Literature, Introduction to Linguistics, Ancient Chinese, Modern Chinese, Ancient Chinese Literature, Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature, Foreign Literature, and College Composition, etc.
Because Li Shi attended a normal university, he also had additional education-related courses.
He had already purchased the textbooks online, and this time he would be studying from physical books.
He opened "History of Modern Chinese Literature" and began reading.
After several years, reading the college textbooks again felt much more unfamiliar than those from primary to high school.
He read half a page and thought about the email he had just sent.
"It's such a short time, they definitely won't reply so soon."
Although he thought so, Li Shi still couldn't help but pick up the tablet, logged into his QQ email, and as expected, there were no unread emails.
After a while, he finished reading one page of the book, then checked his email again, and still, there were no new emails.
After flipping through his inbox several times without finding any new emails, he noticed that he wasn't focusing on his studies. He turned off his tablet, readjusted his attitude, and concentrated on studying.
Gradually, he immersed himself in his book.
During this period, he found that relearning from primary to high school Chinese textbooks has brought different experiences. After having the experience of social life, reading the articles which he had read countless times brought a completely different feeling.
Because he could now deeply understand the feelings of the author when they were writing, he often had new insights and feelings.
Now, he had similar feelings while studying university courses.
At 5 pm, Li Shi closed the book, feeling very sentimental, he opened WeChat Moments and typed, "The development of literature cannot be separated from the surging current of history, a new era calls for new literature, new literature should have new …"
He intended to write the word "mission", but felt that the term was too "profound" for someone like him, so he deleted what he had written after the word "new".
"The development of literature cannot be separated from the surging current of history, a new era calls for new literature."
He took a picture of the book's cover and posted it.
He switched on the tablet and checked his email. Dejia Auction House hadn't replied yet, but he wasn't overly concerned. He thought he'd wait and see; if it didn't work, he'd switch auction companies. And if that didn't work, he would go straight to a trading fair.
There are many general truths in this world. In business, as long as the goods are good and rare enough, they will always sell.
He moved around a bit, went out, and decided to go back to the small restaurant he dined at earlier, their sweet and sour carp, freshly killed and prepared with live carp, was delicious and not expensive. It cost thirty yuan per serving. He didn't get enough of it in the morning, so he decided to go back for more.
As soon as he reached downstairs, his WeChat buzzed twice. He unlocked it and saw that Chen Qiu Ye had messaged him.
"Are you studying university courses again? (Surprised)"
"I saw your Moments post. That book looks like a university textbook."