Wei Lan expressed his confusion, "It's just a bit odd..."
"Is something odd?" Qin Yu asked.
Wei Lan handed the pearl over to him, "Well, if I am to say there's something, there actually is. Take a closer look. Can you see a moving gas inside it, like blood?"
Qin Yu held the pearl up to his eye but saw nothing. "No."
Wei Lan spread his hands, "Alright, my eyes are a little different from normal people. Specifically, this pearl is not quite like the natural pearls we usually see. I can't quite put my finger on how it's different, but it seems to have something extra."
Qin Yu frowned, pinching the pearl, "So what's special about it?"
"Nothing special, just an ordinary pearl." Wei Lan picked up the Zisha teapot to pour himself some tea, "It's a pity that there's only one of this quality and size. If it could be strung into a necklace and a little marketing was done, it could fetch at least two or three small goals."
"Jewelry, in plain terms, sometimes the most valuable thing is not the item itself but the meaning assigned to it by people or history. There is a lot of room to manipulate that meaning."
"Who says I only have one?" Qin Yu said lightly.
Wei Lan paused in the act of drinking his tea, his eyes widening, obviously surprised. "You have more? How many?"
Qin Yu tipped his chin, gesturing toward the couch. Wei Lan saw the pile of pearls on the table, hastily set down his tea cup, and ran over to grab a handful.
"Holy cow, Third Young Master, this is incredible! Where did you get all these?"
If Wei Lan weren't an expert himself, he might have suspected that these were products of an industrial production line. It was rare to see even one natural pearl of such quality, let alone so many all at once. If turned into a necklace, Wei Lan felt it would not be inferior to the royal symbol worn by the princess of the M country.
Concerning the size of the pearls, Ah Da felt she had the most say because she had discarded all the lesser ones; naturally, the best remained. Originally, since her tears vary in size when crying, the pearls they turned into were uneven as well.
It took Ah Da a whole day to sort through a box of pearls, after which she was so exhausted she just fell asleep.
In the evening, Uncle Wen was called upstairs by Qin Yu, and upon seeing the hill of pearls piled up in the room, he was as if struck by lightning.
Shocked to the point of disbelief.
"Young Master... this..."
Qin Yu remained calm as ever, saying nothing else, merely commanding, "Get two people to come up and tidy this up."
After speaking, he picked up the incense burner and walked to the other side of the room. Full of confusion, Uncle Wen picked up a pearl and held it in his hand. It was warm and smooth as jade, seemingly with a temperature, "This one is quite large."
Uncle Wen originally thought there was only one pearl and had even interrogated all the villa's servants and workers. The conclusion was that no one had seen anything, leading Uncle Wen to suspect they were simply unwilling to admit it. Now, however, the situation had suddenly become clear.
The strange part was where all these pearls had come from, how they had gotten into the room. Uncle Wen kept a close watch over the villa's daily goods and was certain such a massive oversight could not have happened.
Nevertheless, without the Young Master saying anything, Uncle Wen could only temporarily keep his doubts to himself.
When Qin Yu went to sleep, he placed the incense burner by the bedside. Since the pearls had appeared out of nowhere, he could confirm there was something strange about the incense burner, and he needed to keep a constant watch if he was to catch the fox's tail.
Before Wei Lan left, he kept asking about the source of the goods. Ha, as if there were any real source. Qin Yu found the matter too magical and only maintained his composure out of habit. Of course, other than waiting, there wasn't much he could do.
This feeling of being beyond comprehension, beyond control, Qin Yu did not like it.
...
When Ah Da awoke, there was no one else in the room. Other than the man coming back to sleep at night, it was silent at all other times. Ah Da thought that it should be safe for her to go out and play now. Since her last outing, her mindset had changed; she no longer liked staying in the incense burner space.
No matter how beautiful the place, a thousand years there can make one weary.
With that thought in mind, Ah Da acted accordingly.
However, this time after she jumped out, her body began to change slowly, and eventually, she returned to normal size.
Ah Da touched her arms and hair, her smile blooming like a flower, "It's great, finally, I can revert to my original size."
With such tiny arms and legs, even walking was difficult; Ah Da couldn't understand why her Spiritual Power deficiency would turn her into a miniature person, too small to even reach someone's knee when jumping, truly useless. Once she found the Bronze Sword, they would definitely have to clarify this.
A voice came from outside the window, and Ah Da crept over, peering out with half her head out, her dress trailing behind her like a mist, her black hair blown by the wind.
Her pink and white face was barely the size of a palm, with perfectly proportioned features, as exquisite as a porcelain doll in a shop window.
Ah Da's round, black eyes rolled around, filled with curiosity and excitement.
Outside the window was a large open space with lush green lawns and artfully sculpted stone fountains. In the middle ran a broad avenue, ending with a pair of luxurious black cars parked at the far end, guarded by solemn and dignified men in black.
It wasn't long before a man in a suit emerged from the villa, tall and imposing, even just from his silhouette, Ah Da could recognize him; he was the man who slept in the room every day.
Such grandeur, where was he going?
The man got into the car, suddenly turned his head and looked towards the villa; Ah Da squatted down in fright, her pale fingers twisted together as her heart pounded chaotically.
Scary.
He shouldn't have seen her, should he?
It was only after quite a while that Ah Da dared to peek out with one eye. Outside, the cars were gone, leaving only a few uniformed servants tending to the plants and trees.
It seemed he had left.
This man looked very wealthy, with attendants accompanying him on outings, just like the nobility of ancient times.
Ah Da got up, intending to pull the curtains closed, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move them and had to give up. According to her observations, aside from that man and the cleaning staff, no one would usually enter this room.
Thinking this, Ah Da relaxed considerably.
She looked around left and right, running about; everything in the room piqued her curiosity.
To the right was a cabinet as tall as the wall, laden with many books, half locked up and half accessible, but those at Ah Da's height were out of reach. She jumped up a few times, but aside from the books, there was nothing else.
Ah Da wasn't persistent; she quickly got distracted by other things. The room was large, filled mostly with everyday items and devoid of flashy decorations, it emitted a cool vibe, just like its owner, Ah Da muttered under her breath.
After a few turns around the room, Ah Da's gaze fixed on the bathroom. She ran over barefoot, pressed down the handle, opened the door, went in, and then closed it behind her.
Soon after, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.
Ah Da scooped up water and splashed it on her face, the chilly sensation felt so delightful that she couldn't help but close her eyes to enjoy it. It felt so comfortable, the familiar sensation from her body telling Ah Da that she liked water.
Worried about being discovered, Ah Da didn't dare to linger. She wiped up the water spills around her and left the bathroom swiftly, closing the door behind her in one smooth motion.
Who would have known that just after a few steps, with a "snap," Ah Da shrank back down to a miniature person. She wobbled and tumbled to the ground, all energy seemingly drained from her.
Why did this happen again?!