A threadfin was one thing, but talking about a star-spotted snapper in that casual tone—was that really appropriate?

Wei Jianguo promptly kicked all three of them out. The fish, however, stayed behind!

Being a worldly man, he understood Chu Mingcheng's meaning perfectly.

He stashed the threadfin in his freezer, then took the star-spotted snapper over to his old friend's place. Looked like he'd be enjoying premium wine tonight.

As Wei Jianguo drove, he pondered what other fine liquors Shi Weiyuan had hidden away.

After getting kicked out, Chu Mingcheng and the others headed straight home, not wanting to linger in the rain.

That evening, with large prawns and star-spotted snapper on the menu, the four set up the flat-pan grill for another round of teppanyaki.

Tonight's meal was rather extravagant—valued at over seven thousand yuan.

But honestly, the star-spotted snapper was just okay. Chu Mingcheng personally felt most fish from the snapper family were equally good. Like large yellow croaker, it was delicious but not really worth the premium price.

After dinner, he abandoned his two brothers and drifted over to Jiang Luoluo's place.

Chu Mingcheng wasn't ditching friends for a girl, he told himself. He was helping Chen Yang find a wife.

"Luoluo, any word on Zhou Jiayi?"

"What do you mean, 'any word'?" Jiang Luoluo didn't catch his meaning initially.

"Weren't we setting her up with Yang? Did you invite her over?"

"She needs a visa to come here—it's complicated. I did invite her, but suggested visiting Hangzhou at year's end. We haven't even set a date yet—how could she possibly come in the next few days?"

Jiang Luoluo didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even for matchmaking, there was no need to rush!

They weren't professional matchmakers trying to earn fees.

"Uh..." Chu Mingcheng finally got it, feeling slightly embarrassed.

He felt the country should hold military exercises during every fishing moratorium until visas were no longer needed between both sides.

Yeah... and if it made it easier for him to fish for bluefin tuna off the east coast, that would be even better.

The next day brought continued rain, though the downpour had eased to moderate showers. Weather forecasts showed temperatures dropping, with the next five days overcast and rainy.

Fortunately, mostly light rain. Cold, but it wouldn't affect fishing.

Chen Yang and Zhang Wei had planned to stay another two days, but the weather killed their enthusiasm. They booked high-speed rail tickets and left at ten that morning.

Chu Mingcheng had no choice but to return to his daily sea fishing routine. With the cold snap, he stopped spearfishing entirely.

Time flew by, and soon it was December's last day—New Year's Eve.

Since the cold front dropped temperatures, Chu Mingcheng's daily net income rarely broke ten thousand. Most days yielded four or five thousand, bad days one or two thousand. He even lost two thousand once.

The only good news was that the little sea lion had indeed taken up residence on the deserted island.

Now that weather had turned cold, it could adapt to the environment there. Plus, with Chu Mingcheng's occasional feedings, the sea lion had visibly grown larger in just half a month.

The little sea lion was now very attached to him. Every time it saw his boat, it would swim over independently, hop aboard, and sprawl on the deck.

If it was mealtime, it would rummage through boxes to see if there was fish to eat.

Chu Mingcheng had been eaten out of over a thousand yuan by it. Fortunately, he always hid the valuable fish, so they remained safe.

Today was the last day before New Year's. He didn't go fishing again—he had very important business to attend to.

He drove to Wei Jianguo's house for tea with the old man.

Mainly, the old man asked about his recent situation and when he planned to go home for New Year's.

After finishing a pot of tea, Wei Jianguo finally got up and brought over two wooden boxes.

That's right—the jade pendants and hairpin were ready.

Originally, Shi Weiyuan had wanted to meet this junior personally.

The day Wei Jianguo brought the star-spotted snapper, he'd thought he'd gotten a great deal. But after drinking a prized bottle of his yellow wine, he suddenly felt shortchanged.

This made him guess that the fish Wei Jianguo received was very likely a gift from that junior he'd mentioned.

He'd originally wanted to deliver the jade pendants and hairpin himself while meeting Chu Mingcheng.

But Wei Jianguo stopped him, saying he wasn't welcome. He even kept the pendants and hairpin for three days without notifying Chu Mingcheng.

During this period, Shi Weiyuan made uninvited visits but failed to see him. In the end, he could only give up.

Today was the fourth day since completion. Knowing his old friend wouldn't be coming, Wei Jianguo finally called Chu Mingcheng over.

He'd originally hoped the other party might bring another premium fish.

He himself hadn't had much fishing success recently—even got skunked twice. He'd hoped Chu Mingcheng would bring a surprise, but was ultimately disappointed.

Though considering recent fishing conditions, he could understand.

After Chu Mingcheng took the wooden boxes, he found them quite heavy—solid wood construction.

Opening one box revealed an exquisite lotus-white jade hairpin.

Chu Mingcheng didn't know how to judge jade quality, but this hairpin was uniformly mutton-fat white, its surface fine and warm to touch, with lustrous shine.

He picked it up and found the hairpin heavier than it appeared.

Then he opened the other box containing a pair of matching jade pendants.

Currently fitted together, they formed a Taiji symbol. [TN: The Taiji symbol, also known as the yin-yang symbol.]

What was impressive was the left pendant carved with a mountain peak, the right with a snow lotus.

When joined, they created the image of a snow lotus standing proudly on a solitary peak.

The pendant material clearly matched the hairpin.

They also had red strings attached, tied in lover's knots.

"What do you think? Satisfied?" Wei Jianguo asked.

"More than satisfied!" The pendants completely met his expectations—even exceeded them.

He also thought the hairpin was beautiful. Making a hairpin had been spur-of-the-moment, but the finished product exceeded expectations.

Seemed he could hold onto that gold piece longer and have a chain made later.

After saying goodbye to Wei Jianguo, Chu Mingcheng didn't go straight home. Instead, he bought cotton and several light paper gift boxes, then ninety-nine roses.

Though roses were practically useless, if you considered every life purchase in terms of utility, life would be too boring.

Occasionally, you had to be extravagant and use these things to achieve what you wanted.

Back at the complex, after exiting the elevator, Chu Mingcheng first checked Jiang Luoluo's door.

Seeing it closed, he slipped into his own place with his purchases.

Closing the door, Chu Mingcheng chuckled and put the gifts in his room first.

Just as he'd stored everything, he heard noise from the stairs. Startled, he quickly went out and closed the door.

He saw three adorable kittens struggling to climb the stairs—Mimi's children.

Now her children could run and jump and were exceptionally mischievous.

If they got into his room and accidentally knocked over the wooden boxes, he might have the urge to send these little kittens back to the factory for recalls.

Mimi had mostly stopped watching her children during the day recently. She found it troublesome and would sneak out daily to who knows where.

When tired of playing or wanting quiet, she'd think about returning.

Of course, her return time was fixed. Chu Mingcheng or Jiang Luoluo would go down to collect her every day at five in the afternoon.

At this moment, the three kittens had climbed to mid-stair. He went down, gathered them in his arms, then headed to Jiang Luoluo's house.

She hadn't been resting recently. She'd turned down even small commercial performances, spending all her time practicing dance and filming videos.

She wanted to save enough videos before going home, so she could enjoy year-end properly.

Chu Mingcheng's videos didn't need such worry. He had enough stock to last through year-end, even posting every three days, let alone his fixed five-day schedule.

"Luoluo, how long have you been practicing? Take a break!" Chu Mingcheng entered the dance studio and set the three kittens down to run around.

"Oh, you brought Nainiu, Snowy, and Big Orange over?" Seeing the three cuties, Jiang Luoluo's heart melted. She stopped practicing and immediately went to hug them.

When Chu Mingcheng wasn't around, she cared for these kittens, so the names were also her creation.

As for why the orange kitten was called Big Orange—according to her, the little orange cat would eventually become a big orange. To avoid confusion when the name changed later, it was settled now.

For the first few days, she'd kept the kittens with her, then became addicted to petting them and couldn't concentrate on choreography and practice.

Therefore, for a period afterward, she could only bear to leave the cuties at Chu Mingcheng's house to avoid delaying her work.

Only when tired and resting would she go play with the kittens.

"Luoluo, have you confirmed timing? When are you going back?"

"I'll leave after New Year's Day tomorrow!" Jiang Luoluo had arranged her schedule. Tomorrow, she'd film the year's last dance, then take a boat back.

Mainly because Chu Mingcheng needed to drive his boat home. During the pre-New Year period, he could fish for large yellow croakers.

How expensive were large yellow croakers at year's end!

If he didn't earn this money, he'd be letting down his profession.

After dinner, Jiang Luoluo rested briefly then returned to the dance studio for final practice, while Chu Mingcheng began his plan.

He took out the three small gift boxes he'd bought, lined them with cotton, then placed the jade pendants and hairpin respectively, lined with more cotton, and packaged them.

Then he tied the gift boxes to the three kittens' backs and secured them.

The kittens weren't used to having things on their backs.

But they were forcibly stuffed into a pet backpack by Chu Mingcheng, so they had no choice.

Mimi seemed tired from playing and was sleeping in her bed.

Chu Mingcheng didn't need her today, so he didn't wake her.

Holding the backpack in one hand and roses in the other, he entered Jiang Luoluo's house and approached the dance studio door.

He carefully opened the door slightly, without startling Jiang Luoluo inside.

Then he released Big Orange first and put it inside the door.

Though Big Orange wasn't used to the gift box on its back, it was too familiar with the dance studio. After entering, it immediately ran toward Jiang Luoluo.

Jiang Luoluo naturally saw it in the mirror, immediately stopped practicing, turned around, and squatted to hug it.

She'd originally wondered how Big Orange had gotten in alone, but seeing the gift box tied to its back, she instantly understood.

A smile touched her lips. She untied the long gift box and opened it.

"A jade... hairpin?" She'd originally thought Chu Mingcheng had prepared a small surprise, but it turned out to be surprise plus shock!

Jiang Luoluo's knowledge exceeded his. She could tell at a glance that this white jade was high quality and not cheap.

"This fool, why did he buy something so expensive?"

Jiang Luoluo carefully returned the jade hairpin, planning to persuade Chu Mingcheng to take it back for a refund.

She actually loved this hairpin, but knowing her boyfriend still owed a large sum for the boat, wouldn't the pressure be even greater after buying this hairpin?

When they were well-off in the future, she'd be thrilled to receive such gifts.

But just as she'd put the hairpin away, Snowy ran over, also with a small gift box on its back—square-shaped this time.

Jiang Luoluo felt helpless and could only continue unpacking. If the gift was cheap, she'd accept it.

But after opening it, her brow furrowed even tighter. White jade of the same material, with a solitary peak carved on it.

She didn't quite understand this pendant's meaning, but knew it was also very expensive.

Before she could think much, Nainiu also joined the party.

Only after opening the gift box and taking out the pendant did she suddenly realize the previous pendant was only half of it.

She put the two pendants together and immediately understood the meaning.

At this moment, she was indeed deeply moved.

But moved was moved. This man was too wasteful with money—she had to talk to him properly.

But Jiang Luoluo hadn't expected that as soon as she walked out of the dance studio, a bouquet of roses would suddenly appear before her.

Dazedly taking the roses, she looked at Chu Mingcheng, wondering if today was some important occasion. Why were her boyfriend's surprises coming one after another?

"Do you like the gifts I prepared for you?"

Chu Mingcheng saw she was completely stunned and thought she hadn't recovered from the big surprise.

"I love them, but..."

Jiang Luoluo looked at the roses in her hand and gift boxes in the other, her expression complicated as she pulled him to the sofa.

Chu Mingcheng also noticed something was wrong. The excitement in his heart instantly cooled, and he was pulled to sit on the sofa, confused.

"What's wrong? You don't like these gifts?"

Jiang Luoluo shook her head and said softly, "I love the gifts! It's just that, Cheng, it's not easy for you to make money. These gifts are too expensive."

"If I accept these gifts, it will undoubtedly add to your burden. You should return them! When you don't have financial pressure, I'll be thrilled to accept your gifts."

So that was it. This girl was too considerate of him.

Chu Mingcheng, who had originally wanted to move his girlfriend, was instead moved by her.

He set the roses aside, then took the jade hairpin and pendants from her hands and explained with a smile, "You've misunderstood. I didn't buy these."

"Then these..." Now it was Jiang Luoluo's turn to be confused.

"It's like this. When Yang and the others were here, I borrowed a bass boat from Agong to fish for mandarin fish in a small lake, but accidentally hooked a wooden board..."

Chu Mingcheng told her about hooking the wooden board, then diving and accidentally discovering the Chicken Blood Stone, and explained about exchanging the stone for white jade, which finally eased her concerns.

"So you went diving and picked up several million?" Hearing that the jade pendants and hairpin were basically found treasure, Jiang Luoluo's heart suddenly relaxed.

Just facing the fact that Chu Mingcheng had picked up several million, she still felt dizzy.

After all, she'd been filming videos and working for so many years, and her income and savings were only so much—maybe even less.

And the person who'd found it was her boyfriend, which made her feel like she was dreaming.

"Exactly! Ever since I got together with you, I've found my luck keeps getting better and better. Tell me, do you have a 'prosperity-bringing wife' attribute?"

"Whose wife are you talking about? Who are you taking advantage of!"

"Whose wife could I mean but yours? Or would you rather I belong to someone else?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"So, since I'm your husband, doesn't that mean you, as my wife, should..."

That night, Chu Mingcheng was very happy—he had finally taken another step forward and broken through her second line of defense.