The man immediately introduced himself. "My name is Wang Rui Feng. I own a large gemstone trading company, and Chicken Blood Stones are one of our core businesses. I was wondering if President Li brought his piece with him today?"

Li Xiang gave a faint smile, took the rectangular Chicken Blood Stone from his pocket, and placed it on the lazy Susan on the table. He then gave it a gentle push, sending it spinning across.

By this time, everyone was seated. Over a dozen people were gathered around a large table, and the man was sitting diagonally across from Li Xiang, a bit far away.

Wang Rui Feng’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the Chicken Blood Stone. When it spun over to him, he picked it up for a closer look. ’Holy crap!’ He was instantly thrilled. It was a top-grade specimen among top-grade stones, a "Full-Red."

This rectangular Chicken Blood Stone had the "blood" coloring on all six of its faces, and it was evenly distributed, making the entire gemstone glow a brilliant red. Furthermore, the blood-red patterns on each of the six faces were unique and beautiful—truly a rare masterpiece.

There is a myth surrounding the Chicken Blood Stone. According to legend, it is a beautiful, vermilion stone formed from Phoenix Blood and a Phoenix Egg after being buried for millions of years and then enchanted by the Jade Emperor.

While the legend may be unbelievable, it lends the Chicken Blood Stone a mysterious and romantic air, enriching its cultural significance. The belief that it can bring a family prosperity and ward off evil spirits continues to be passed down to this day.

The many colorful, ordinary Chicken Blood Stones placed in the Li Family’s backyard weren’t just for looks; they were also arranged according to the principles of feng shui.

Chicken Blood Stone should have originally been called Phoenix Blood Stone. However, when it was first mined, its color was found to be very similar to fresh blood from a slaughtered chicken dripped onto a stone, so it came to be known as "Chicken Blood Stone" out of habit.

During the Qing Dynasty, Chicken Blood Stone was most frequently used for carving the imperial seals of emperors and empresses, including Qianlong, Jiaqing, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Xuantong, and Cixi. For a time, it even replaced coral and agate as the gemstone on official hat finials.

"This is a true treasure among treasures. A similar piece appeared in Rongcheng last year and sold for 3.8 million. I’ll add a bit more and offer 4 million. What do you say, President Li?"

Li Xiang nodded. The price was reasonable. While a Chicken Blood Stone had once fetched 4.83 million at auction, auctions are a special environment. Sometimes people intentionally drive up the price, either to show off, or because they genuinely love the item and are determined to win it. In short, auction prices are typically higher than market prices.

An auction’s results aren’t guaranteed to be replicable. Besides, Li Xiang had too much inventory. If he went the auction route, he couldn’t possibly sell multiple pieces at once, as that would negatively impact the bidding. This meant it would take a long time to sell his stock, requiring more effort and introducing more uncertainty.

"Since President Li agrees, and you were introduced by Young Master Xu, then here’s to a pleasant partnership. We don’t even need to sign a contract. I’ll have my finance department wire you the money this afternoon." Wang Rui Feng caressed the Chicken Blood Stone in his hand, clearly smitten. With his expert eye, he knew it was authentic without needing a formal appraisal.

Li Xiang said, "Hold on."

"Huh?" Wang Rui Feng was taken aback. ’Does he think the price isn’t high enough?’ He had only offered 4 million as a favor to Xu Xuan. If an ordinary person had brought this to him, he would have haggled the price down to under a million, at least.

’Anyway, the goal is to bluff as much as possible. If that doesn’t work, I can just add a bit more to the price. I’ll get my hands on it eventually. Offering 4 million right now is already very generous. Even if I resell it after some processing, I might not make that much of a profit.’

Li Xiang just smiled. "This is just a sample. I have plenty more."

"What?!"

Wang Rui Feng was even more astonished. ’This kind of supreme-quality Chicken Blood Stone is just a *sample*?’

Then, under everyone’s astonished gazes, Li Xiang stood up and dragged over an unremarkable suitcase from the corner of the private room.

He had bought this suitcase back when he worked in the big city. It had only cost a little over two hundred yuan and he’d had it for a long time. It was a perfectly ordinary suitcase. But when he opened it—holy crap!—all they could see was red.

The private room was illuminated by a large overhead light and several spotlights. Li Xiang’s suitcase happened to be right under one of those spotlights, and when the light hit its contents, it erupted in a brilliant red glow.

Everyone stood up and crowded around. Even Xu Xuan was clicking his tongue in amazement.

There wasn’t just the "Full-Red" type; there were also "Mountain-Reflecting Reds" and many other beautiful shades. The blood-red patterns on each stone were unique. These patterns seemed to float within the stones—vivid, dazzling, and utterly captivating.

The sight of a large suitcase filled to the brim with precious gemstones was incredibly striking.

Wang Rui Feng was utterly dumbfounded. He glanced at Li Xiang several times in disbelief, thinking, ’Brother, did you excavate an entire mine? Where else could you possibly get so many high-quality Chicken Blood Stones?’

’Chicken Blood Stone mines usually have low yields, and most of what they produce is ordinary-quality stone. To get this many top-tier pieces, it would have to be an entire mine, wouldn’t it?’

And as it turned out, he had guessed correctly. Li Xiang had secretly excavated a mine.

A small-scale mine, to be precise.

Of course, this was also a matter of good Luck.

’This is the collective property of Li Family Village, and I’m just handling it on their behalf. In any case, when the Apocalypse comes, everyone in Li Family Village will need my protection. Taking it a step further, this technically belongs to the country. But in the future, it won’t just be the people of Li Family Village under my protection. My Underground City will have to accommodate at least a hundred thousand people, right?’

’This little bit of money is just a drop in the bucket.’

Li Xiang knew he couldn’t do it all on his own. But if he wanted to cooperate with the government, he had to find the right moment. The Apocalypse was still a long way off, so there was no rush.

"This... this quantity is too large. I’ll have to get my people to take it in for a formal appraisal and re-evaluation," Wang Rui Feng said very seriously after inspecting Li Xiang’s merchandise.

Initially, he had thought it was a small deal. Since Young Master Xu had made the introduction, he planned to just buy it on the spot. But then Li Xiang produced a supreme-quality Chicken Blood Stone, which already exceeded his expectations.

And that wasn’t the end of it. He then brought out a large suitcase containing several more pieces of the same quality, plus ten-odd kilograms of stones that were just a single grade lower.

The amount of money involved was too great. It required a proper appraisal and valuation. He was a businessman, after all.

"That’s fine," Li Xiang nodded.

Wang Rui Feng made a call to have his people come over. He explained that his gemstone trading company wasn’t far from their location and had its own dedicated appraisal and valuation departments. He assured them he would offer a fair price.

At that moment, Xu Xuan ordered the staff to start bringing out the food. They were all Rongcheng specialties, the hotel’s signature dishes. Everyone began to eat as they waited.

It was Xu Xuan’s treat, and since he had personally given the instructions, the quality of the dishes was naturally superb, all of them gourmet delicacies. There was both red wine and hard liquor. Xu Xuan had brought his own alcohol instead of using the hotel’s.

After about ten minutes, three of Wang Rui Feng’s subordinates entered. They, too, were astonished to see the suitcase full of Top-Grade Chicken Blood Stones.

"Take this case of Chicken Blood Stones back, appraise them properly, and give a reasonable price. This is President Li, a friend of Young Master Xu, so don’t cut any corners," Wang Rui Feng instructed his men. The implication was clear: they were not to play any of their usual little tricks.

Li Xiang glanced at Xu Xuan, who gave a slight nod, so he agreed as well.

He Zhixiang finally saw an opportunity to make his presence felt. He quickly instructed his driver, "Qiangzi, you go with them. Cooperate fully with whatever they need."

He Zhixiang hadn’t known Li Xiang was planning to sell Chicken Blood Stones and was completely shocked. Just that one small sample had been priced at 4 million; he could only imagine the value of the entire case.

’How can we let them just casually haul away something so valuable without a reliable person keeping an eye on things?’

’Although Young Master Xu is trustworthy, this is my first time dealing with the other party. Besides, it’s not Young Master Xu who’s buying them, but another boss. Sending one of my own men along is perfectly understandable.’

’Li Xiang is here by himself and has no one to send. But *I* brought a driver.’

The driver immediately stood up, looking alert, and followed them out. He was excited too. ’Holy crap, tens of millions worth of stuff, and President Li was just carrying it around so casually. No wonder he didn’t let me touch it earlier.’

He Zhixiang, on the other hand, was lost in thought. He had seen Li Xiang digging that cave before. He thought to himself, ’There was a flash of red light back then... could it be that he really did hit a mine? Brother Xiang has such incredible Luck. Is he a true Child of Fortune?’

Of course, he wouldn’t say any of this out loud. He mused that he should get much closer to Li Xiang in the future. After all, if you hang around someone with good Luck, maybe some of it will rub off on you.

No one wants to get close to a jinx, right?

Some bad luck is contagious, and the same goes for good Luck.

He wasn’t the only one who had guessed. Someone in Xu Xuan’s group had figured it out too—Zhang Youyou. She had been in the livestream at the time, and now she leaned close to Xu Xuan’s ear and whispered a few words.

Xu Xuan shot her a glare, warning her not to spout nonsense or spread it around.

"I know," Zhang Youyou said, secretly pinching Xu Xuan’s thigh. In truth, Zhang Youyou’s family background was also extraordinary; otherwise, she would never have been with someone like Xu Xuan.

The elders of both families were very keen on them becoming a couple. The two had also secretly slept together, but they hadn’t yet reached the stage of discussing marriage.

Zhang Youyou felt that Xu Xuan didn’t love her enough, while Xu Xuan found her too wild. She was exciting in bed, but she ultimately lacked a certain degree of grace and wasn’t his ideal type for a partner.

The drinking and feasting continued, and the atmosphere grew lively.

Xu Xuan hadn’t come alone; he had brought several friends who were good at livening things up. One of them, who prided himself on his incredible tolerance for alcohol, challenged Li Xiang to a drinking contest.

The drink of choice was, of course, strong spirits, while Zhang Youyou and the other young women drank red wine.

In the end, after downing three bottles of Feitian Maotai, Li Xiang’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest. He was still chatting and laughing as if nothing had happened. His challenger, however, could no longer take it and had collapsed onto the table, begging for mercy.

Xu Xuan was completely exasperated. ’You useless oaf.’ He also hadn’t realized that Li Xiang could drink so much.

Li Xiang laughed. "I usually drink 58-percent alcohol. This 53-percent Maotai is a little on the mild side."

Everyone was speechless. "..."

Wang Rui Feng’s people were remarkably efficient. Of course, this was mainly due to his connection with Xu Xuan and the fact that the big boss, Wang Rui Feng himself, had given the order. The relevant staff at the gemstone company skipped lunch and worked overtime, completing the appraisal and evaluation with maximum efficiency. The final price they came back with was 32 million yuan.