“What are you thinking about?” The young tour guide was still immersed in the joy of getting twenty thousand yuan, completely unaware of the sympathy in Henry Foster’s gaze toward him.

“If I’m not mistaken, it should be that while you were shopping in the mall, you encountered an old man who wanted to sell a blood jade bracelet. Then Mr. Brooks’s cousin took a liking to the bracelet. After you all left the mall to make the transaction, Mr. Brooks realized he didn’t have enough cash. The old man insisted on cash and was in a hurry. In the end, Mr. Brooks probably borrowed thirty thousand from you to pay the old man first, then handed the blood jade bracelet to you for safekeeping, saying he’d take his cousin to the bank to get cash to pay you back. Am I right?”

“Huh, how did you know?”

Henry Foster’s guess was spot on. At first, the old man they met in the mall claimed something had happened at home and he urgently needed money, so he wanted to sell a blood jade bracelet. But the pawnshop offered too low a price, and the old man was unwilling to sell, so he came to the mall hoping to find someone who knew the value of the piece.

The young tour guide scoffed at the old man’s story, but he couldn’t resist when Mr. Brooks’s cousin liked it. Everyone followed the old man out of the mall to a corner to discuss the price.

“Three hundred thousand, not a penny less!” The old man was very firm, his face showing a pained expression. He said the bracelet was a family heirloom, and if it weren’t for trouble at home and the urgent need for money, he wouldn’t sell it even for a million.

When the young tour guide heard the price, he gently tugged at Mr. Brooks’s sleeve and pulled him aside to advise, “Mr. Brooks, there are too many scammers these days. Just because the old man says it’s a blood jade bracelet doesn’t mean it is. He could be a con artist. Let’s just take a look, but don’t buy it on impulse.”

To be honest, he had no idea what kind of jade a blood jade bracelet was, but he knew that three hundred thousand was no small sum. However, Mr. Brooks just smiled and handed him a business card.

“General Manager Jason Brooks, Shanghai Xuanyu Jewelry Co., Ltd.” The gold-embossed characters left him dumbfounded. So the guy was in the jewelry business—he’d been worrying for nothing.

Mr. Brooks smiled and told him that the blood jade bracelet was genuine, and based on current jade prices, its market value wouldn’t be less than a million. Buying it for three hundred thousand wouldn’t be a loss.

Chapter 3: First Encounter with Emily Bennett

Since the man was a professional, the young tour guide didn’t say anything more. But during the transaction, Mr. Brooks discovered there was only two hundred seventy thousand in his briefcase. Helpless, he asked the old man to go to the bank with him, but the old man was stubborn and refused, saying if there wasn’t three hundred thousand in cash, then forget it. He said selling a family heirloom depended on fate, and if you couldn’t produce three hundred thousand in cash, it meant you weren’t destined for the bracelet.

Henry Foster could imagine what happened next. Seeing that the bracelet couldn’t be bought, the so-called Mr. Brooks asked the young tour guide to lend him some cash for the time being, promising to pay it back soon and even offering extra compensation.

“I wonder if I could take a look at the bracelet in your hand.” The key now was the bracelet. If he was right, this bracelet was probably a fake.

“Look at the bracelet?” The young tour guide hesitated for a moment, but still handed the box to Henry Foster. For some reason, after recounting the story, he vaguely felt that something was off.

The packaging box was exquisite, with a yellow silk cloth at the bottom. On top of it lay a brilliantly colored red jade bracelet, dazzling and radiant.

At first glance, Henry Foster frowned. Jade is a symbol of a gentleman in ancient times, valued for its subtlety and restraint, with its brilliance kept in check. Blood jade, in particular, is a top-grade jade, and any craftsman carving blood jade would carefully polish and wax it, making it smooth and lustrous, not like this.

Picking up the bracelet, Henry Foster gently stroked its surface. The jade felt rough, not smooth at all. Jade is meant to be handled and played with; a good piece becomes smooth and glossy after years of handling. But this one felt obviously rough to the touch. If it were a family heirloom passed down for generations, it would naturally be smooth and comfortable to hold.

“This bracelet is fake. It’s not blood jade at all. You’ve been scammed. That old man and the so-called Mr. Brooks are in it together.” Henry Foster told him honestly.

“Fake? Impossible! What do you know at your age? Mr. Brooks is in the jewelry business—how could he not recognize blood jade?” The young tour guide was agitated by Henry Foster’s words and immediately retorted loudly.

“What’s going on?”

“What happened?”

The young tour guide’s loud voice attracted some tourists returning from shopping. They gathered around, and the young tour guide recounted the story, then pointed at Henry Foster and said, “He says Mr. Brooks is a scammer and that the bracelet is fake. Look at the quality of this jade—how clear and pure the color is! How could it be fake?”

“This jade doesn’t look fake. It should be real, right?”

“Real? I think this young man is right. Things don’t happen so coincidentally. This is clearly a setup.”