Chapter 325: Receiving a Treasure

He Yuzhu didn't wear his overcoat when seeing off the Secretary, and as soon as he returned from the entrance of the hutong, he realized how cold it was; the Northwest wind felt chilly against his body.

He wrapped his thin cotton-padded jacket tighter, hummed a little tune, and trotted toward the courtyard.

Just as he turned the corridor, he nearly bumped into a dark shadow; looking closely, it was actually Zhao Yingzi.

"It's freezing out, what are you hiding here for? You scared me!" He Yuzhu asked, exhaling white mist.

Zhao Yingzi blew warm air into her palms and lowered her voice: "Thank you."

He Yuzhu raised his eyebrows, feigning ignorance: "I didn't help you with anything, what are you thanking me for?"

As he spoke, he lifted his feet to walk into the courtyard, pretending to be completely indifferent.

"Don't try that with me!" Zhao Yingzi took two quick steps to block his path. "Do you think I can't tell that letter was written by you?"

He Yuzhu smiled: "Don't go telling anyone. Once you find that piece of jade you promised me, we'll be even!"

"My godfather's shop opens tomorrow; I'll get it done for you first thing in the morning!" Zhao Yingzi promised, rubbing her hands, her nose tip frozen red.

"Good, I'll wait for your news!" After saying this, He Yuzhu ran into the study in a few strides.

Under the dim electric light, He Yuzhu looked at the pile of blueprints, which had formed a small mountain, and felt troubled.

Manually assemble eight sets of Computer? Forty days? This was simply harder than ascending to heaven.

"System," he called out in his mind, "is there any way to make one day count as ten for me?"

"The host can build an exclusive Time Cabin within the space."

"How exactly do I do that?"

"It requires consuming one and a half tons of gold to build a twenty-square-meter Time Cabin within the space. Ten days inside the cabin is only one day in the outside world."

"One and a half tons of gold? System, aren't you being a bit too greedy?" He Yuzhu nearly jumped up.

The two and a half tons of gold in his space were obtained by braving a hail of bullets from the Japanese invaders and the Bald Party; that was his nest egg kept as startup capital for the eighties.

The system seemed to see through his thoughts: "The host can contribute jade of equivalent value, and the effect will be the same."

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment, thinking of the piece of jade Zhao Yingzi mentioned: "Then I'll wait two days before deciding."

Exiting the System Space, he got busy in the study. For the next two days, he barely stepped out, and even his meals were prepared by his mother, Shen Guizhi.

At noon on the third day, the study door was lightly knocked.

Opening the door, he saw it was Zhang Shuying, whom he had saved a few days ago.

The young woman was wearing a plain cotton robe, and her red scarf was still dusted with unmelted snow, making her look delicate and lovely.

He Yuzhu slapped his forehead: "Look at my memory! I asked you to come teach piano, but I haven't even bought a piano yet!"

"It doesn't matter," Zhang Shuying smiled gently, "I'll just get to know the place and meet the students today."

He Yuzhu called over He Yushui, who was jumping rope in the courtyard.

The little girl ran over, covered in sweat, her eyes fixed firmly on Zhang Shuying: "Brother, what do you want with me?"

"This is the music teacher I found for you. You're seven years old now; you can't just play wildly every day, you need to learn some piano."

He Yushui shook her head like a rattle-drum: "I'm busy! I have to learn Kung Fu in my spare time, no time for piano."

"Twice a week, you have to learn!" He Yuzhu put on a stern face.

"Then can I learn singing instead?" He Yushui's eyes suddenly lit up. "Our school is going to hold a singing competition!"

Zhang Shuying replied softly: "That's no problem, I can teach you that."

He Yushui rolled her big eyes a few times: "Teacher, if we learn, all four of us have to learn together, okay?"

"Of course!" Zhang Shuying readily agreed.

He Yuzhu smiled helplessly: "Don't mind them, Teacher Zhang; these four children are inseparable all day long."

"Teaching four at once is quite good; I'm not sure I'd know how to teach just one child," Zhang Shuying said.

He Yuzhu settled them in the East Cross Courtyard living room.

At dusk, Zhao Yingzi arrived silently, a mysterious expression on her face.

"Something up?" He Yuzhu lowered his voice.

Zhao Yingzi leaned in and whispered: "It's settled over there, but the asking price isn't low!"

"How much?"

"One hundred million!"

He Yuzhu gasped: "That much money? I have to inspect the goods first."

Zhao Yingzi nodded solemnly: "Then let's go now."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment: "Wait until I let them know." He turned to the East Cross Courtyard and saw through the window that Zhang Shuying was patiently correcting the children's vocalizations.

"Teacher Zhang, I have to go out. When class is over, please call a rickshaw to go back, and I'll cover the fare then," He Yuzhu said through the window.

Zhang Shuying looked up and smiled gently: "Go ahead with your business."

He Yuzhu followed Zhao Yingzi out of the Siheyuan and got into the Jeep.

"Where did you get this thing?" He Yuzhu asked.

"There's a Manager He at the Qianmen Xiaojiu Guan; he was caught watering down the liquor, and the Bureau of Industry and Commerce fined him a lot of money, so he had no choice but to sell this stone."

He Yuzhu thought to himself: "This is truly fate; even the heavens are helping me."

"What are you laughing at?" Zhao Yingzi asked.

"I was the one who reported that Old Man He. If this gets out, it'll look like I framed him with premeditation—though you never actually told me who the seller was."

"That is quite a coincidence! We must both keep it a secret!" Zhao Yingzi said.

The Jeep drove slowly along the snow-covered streets and finally swayed to Qianmen.

Under Zhao Yingzi's direction, He Yuzhu parked in front of an antique shop called "Hutong Yi".

The shop was a world of its own; the shelves were filled with various porcelain vases and jade ornaments, rosewood tables and chairs were piled in the corners, and the air was filled with the scent of aged wood.

The shopkeeper, Hu Yunbin, came out smiling: "Zhuzi, thanks to your tip last time, otherwise I'd still be in jail chewing on corn buns right now!"

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "Just a small favor."

Hu Yunbin led him into the inner room, where a dusty, grey rock sat on the Eight Immortals table, faintly emitting the smell of pickled vegetables.

He Yuzhu secretly activated the Scanning System and immediately heard a prompt: "High-energy jade discovered, do you wish to collect it?"

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and reached out to stroke the surface of the stone: "Sister Yingzi insists on one hundred million? Can you lower the price a bit?"

Hu Yunbin gave a bitter smile: "The owner is only willing to part with it because they have fallen on hard times; not a single cent can be shaved off this price."

"Fine, I'll buy it," He Yuzhu agreed readily.

Hu Yunbin's face immediately beamed with joy: "The stone cannot be discounted, but you may pick any other item in this shop as a bonus!"

"Hu Ye is too kind, I don't have a use for anything right now! I'll come back to patronize your shop when I have time!" After paying, He Yuzhu carefully cradled the tens-of-pounds-heavy stone and hurried home.

Once the door bolt dropped, he immediately placed the stone on the table and asked with focused attention: "System, can this piece of jade build a Time Cabin?"

"Host, a fifty-square-meter Time Cabin can be built."

"Build it now!" Before He Yuzhu's voice had even faded, the stone vanished in a flash.

He slipped into the space and saw a wooden house with mortise-and-tenon joints erected above the pond.

After working in the cabin for half a day, he flashed out of the space and discovered that the large grandfather clock had only moved by two minutes.

From then on, He Yuzhu lived a life with his days and nights reversed: he slept during the day and worked in the Time Cabin at night. Fearing someone might suddenly break in, he specifically called Ershuan to guard the study door.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and all ten Ballistic Computers were finished. With the foundation of the previous Computer, the new ones were much smaller in volume, measuring only two cubic meters each.

When Secretary Liu inspected them, he was so excited he rubbed his hands together: "He Yuzhu, thank you so much, the front lines are waiting to use these!"

"Let me go to the battlefield for field testing, shall I? I'm afraid they won't know how to use them properly!" He Yuzhu took the opportunity to volunteer.

"That won't do, you must learn to let go. No matter how great your skills are, how many planes can one person shoot down? But if you leave, who will manufacture the Computers!"

"But our vacuum tubes have run out!"

He Yuzhu truly wanted to go to the battlefield to fight the United States devils' planes; although that feeling was dangerous, it was very exciting.

"The vacuum tubes from the Soviet Union will arrive soon, you still need to focus on production. Besides, you cannot be the only one who knows how to make them; you must train a few Apprentices for me," Secretary Liu said.

"If you want me to train Apprentices, you have to issue me a university diploma!" He Yuzhu said.

"That's easy to arrange, I have already discussed it with the relevant leaders; they want you to teach a Computer course at Huaqing University," Secretary Liu said.