As had been pointed out before, Cultivators were not a selfless bunch. Yet, gifts were not a foreign concept to them. In a long-held tradition, the origin of which was thought to date back to the Immortal God Emperor's Court, The Festival of Gifts was held in the first month of every Winter, a week following the first snowfall.
The Shan family had always lived comfortably, but they were not a particularly well-off family. This was why Kai Lan was used to getting perhaps a new jumper or scarf or pair of shoes for the Festival, and giving small gifts in return. This year however, thanks to the revenue generated from The Golden Bridge, Kai Lan had more money to spend on his gifts to his family and Clan, and he didn't see a reason not to splurge.
He had an idea, and therefore when he went out shopping with Wan Long, asked his friend to take him to stone market. Wan Long was perfectly familiar with such places because his family frequently brought jade for high quality Talismans from these places.
Wan Long had no idea how Kai Lan would afford such jade though. The stones were another thing, seeing as most of them were mostly just stones, it wasn't a loss for them to be cheap. Perhaps one in 20 or 30 possessed some tiny pieces of low-quality jade, but it was more like 1 in a 2-300 to possess some high-quality jade.
Wan Long walked along with Kai Lan, Wan Long's 2 bodyguards trailing the boys as Wan Long pointed out the different vendors, and those more likely and less likely to have jade based off of previous records.
"Are you really sure about this, Kai Lan? The odds of getting any jade are pretty low, and I'd feel bad if you didn't get anything…"
Unbeknownst to Wan Long, the spiritual sight blessing was doing all the work for Kai Lan. After all, the energies of the spiritual plain were more drawn to materials that could hold or cultivate them.
Suddenly, Kai Lan stopped at an elderly man's stall on the side of the street between two shops. The man had 5 stones of varying sizes laid before him. Kai Lan barely paused before he pointed to one about the side of an apple, the 2nd smallest among the five.
"How much for this one?" asked Kai Lan.
"Kai Lan…" Wan Long spoke softly. The old man simply smiled.
"10 spirit dollars, young man," said the old man.
Kai Lan handed over the money, "Thank you".
"You are welcome".
Wan Long watched the whole exchange before Kai Lan walked off happily with the stone in hand. Wan Long caught up to his friend in confusion, "You know that old man has never had a sale that produced jade, right?"
Kai Lan held up the apple-sized stone before him, "Let's just say I've got a good feeling".
Wan Long raised an eyebrow at Kai Lan, but said nothing.
In the hour that followed, Kai Lan purchased 6 more stones of various sizes, some from vendors that Wan Long approved, others not. Finally, Kai Lan reported to the cutting station near the exit of the market and paid for the stones to be cut and buffed.
"You're too confident," said Wan Long, his eyes suspicious.
"Am I?" asked Kai Lan, then he looked thoughtful for a moment, "I should probably act surprised then, shouldn't I?"
Wan Long looked legitimately concerned before he heard a cry of surprise from the man currently cutting one of Kai Lan's stones. Looking over, the man proclaimed with astonishment as he looked at the boys, "It's a high-quality Frosted Meadow Jade".
Wan Long's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak before Kai Lan spoke first.
"Really? Is that good?"
"Good?" choked the man.
Wan Long sighed, "It's a pale green coloured jade of high purity, depending on the size cut out of that stone, it could be worth anything from 8-15,000 spirit dollars".
Kai Lan's eyes widened as he looked at Wan Long then back at the man, "So how big is it?"
The man jolted, then went back to cutting in order to answer that question.
Kai Lan watched eagerly, and to anyone else he looked like a kid who'd just realised he'd won a jackpot, but to Wan Long, who knew him well, he could tell that Kai Lan was putting on a show.
Wan Long remained quiet as the jade was fully cut from the stone. The cutting man valued it at around 12,000 spirit dollars. Kai Lan had paid 15 spirit dollars for it.
One after the other, the remaining stones were cut. With each cut revealed another Jade stone except for the 2 smallest ones that revealed nothing at all. One was even a tiger stripe jade.
Kai Lan was hammered with offers from jade scouts, but Kai Lan turned with his five prizes to Wan Long who indicated to his bodyguards to push back the rabble as the two left the Stone Market.
"…How did you do it?" asked Wan Long in the car on the way back towards his house.
Kai Lan smiled, "I don't know what you're talking about".
Wan Long frowned, reaching over and punching Kai Lan in the arm, "Don't play that game with me".
Kai Lan huffed, "Remember that 9-sided primary formation I showed you?"
"Yeah," said Wan Long, sounding annoyed that Kai Lan was implying he'd forget about it.
"Well, a rare few have the ability to see the world like that all the time," said Kai Lan, "It's called the spirit sight blessing".
"And you have this?" asked Wan Long.
Kai Lan shrugged, "The Spiritual Energies tend to collect around materials that can either harbour or aid them. Wasn't hard to pick the fakes from the real ones".
Wan Long frowned, "That's practically cheating".
"No, it's using my advantages".
"You'd make a killing out of selling jade".
"I would," said Kai Lan without a hint of shame.
Wan Long sighed, "For my present next year, you're taking me shopping at a stone market and I get to keep all the jade you pick out".
It was a demand, not a suggestion.
Kai Lan rolled his eyes, "I give you a limit of 10".
"But-"
"You know what'll happen if someone notices," said Kai Lan.
Wan Long sighed, "So what are you going to do with all of that Jade?"
"Well, I was going to offer your dad these three for a price, and I'd get him to make some pendants for necklaces out of the others," said Kai Lan.
"Pendants?" asked Wan Long.
Kai Lan nodded.
"Shouldn't be hard," said Wan Long with a smile, "He's going to freak when you show him though".
"Ah, but he'll have no reason to look down on me anymore now that I'm giving him 3 high quality jade stones".
Wan Long frowned, "He's going to say that I suck at stone gambling, isn't he?"
Kai Lan gave a smile at his friend as he shrugged, "Not my problem".