Stepdaughter of a wealthy family? The little darling of a Beijing tycoon

"Oh? What is it that requires your personal trip?"

"It's in the back seat. Open it and see for yourself when we stop," Lu Jingxing replied casually.

Shen Jingshu belatedly realized what was happening and hurriedly asked, "By the way, where are we going now?"

"Have a meal."

"But I promised to come back to the Li family for dinner..."

"Just the two of us?"

"Or perhaps you're planning to bring someone else along?"

Shen Jingshu choked for a moment, then conceded softly, "No... okay, you're the boss, so if you say we're having dinner, then we'll have dinner. By the way, there's something I want to tell you during dinner."

"Um."

Lu Jingxing drove her to the familiar Banshanlu Restaurant. The restaurant manager was already used to it and no longer showed the surprise he had when the two of them came together. With a knowing smile in his eyes, he led the two into the private room with ease and bowed respectfully before leaving.

The private room was quiet and elegant. Lu Jingxing pushed a plain-colored box in front of Shen Jingshu.

"Open it and take a look."

Shen Jingshu hesitated before opening the box.

A lustrous, emerald-green rough stone lies quietly in the velvet. It is not a carved bracelet or pendant, but a jadeite rough stone that has just been cut open and has not yet undergone any polishing or carving.

At a glance, Shen Jingshu could tell that it was a glass-type jadeite of excellent quality.

Startled, she quickly closed the wooden box lid and hurriedly pushed it back in front of Lu Jingxing.

"Mr. Lu, this is too valuable, I cannot accept it."

Lu Jingxing raised his brow slightly, his voice low and husky: "What did you call me?"

Shen Jingshu paused for a moment, then quickly corrected herself, "Brother Lu... Brother Lu."

The gentle "Brother Lu" reached Lu Jingxing's ears, and his heart skipped a beat. He secretly longed for the day when she would call him by his name without any restraint.

"What's wrong with accepting it? Don't you like it?"

"It's not that I don't like it! It's just that this piece of jade is too valuable. Such a large piece of glass-type jade is worthless."

Lu Jingxing calmly raised his eyes: "Do you think I'd be short of this little bit of money?"

"I know you don't need anything, but I can't accept something so valuable without having done it right. I really dare not take it."

Lu Jingxing gently tapped the wooden box with his fingertips and explained the reason:

"I'm not asking you to accept it for free. If you feel bad about it, I'd like to ask you to use this raw stone to carve a protective talisman for my grandfather."

Shen Jingshu was taken aback: "But you can't use such a large piece of raw stone to make a talisman."

"The rest is all your reward."

"So generous?" Shen Jingshu was somewhat taken aback.

Lu Jingxing's gaze fell heavily on her face, his tone serious:

"Hmm. The amulet you made yourself is imbued with powerful spiritual energy, its effects far surpassing those of ordinary magical artifacts. Don't you realize that?"

Speaking of this, Shen Jingshu scratched her head sheepishly. She rarely made amulets on a regular basis, and had never really considered the weight of her magical artifacts.

"Since Brother Lu has said so, then I will accept this piece of material without hesitation."

She lightly touched the edge of the wooden box with her fingertips, her mind already racing with calculations.

This piece of top-quality glass-type jadeite is so large; first, a small piece should be cut out to carve a jade talisman for Old Master Lu. The remaining material is considerable, and she silently considered the situation of the Li family: the four brothers Li Hanting and Li Beichen, plus Li Wenqian. If there was enough material, each of them could have a protective jade pendant; if there wasn't enough, then priority would be given to Li Wenqian, Li Hanting, and Li Beichen, who were truly kind to her.

Even she herself didn't realize that in her heart, Li Hanting and Li Beichen were even subtly ranked ahead of her biological mother, Lin Wanqing.

Over the course of their time together, her two older brothers genuinely treated her like their own flesh and blood, showering her with affection. While Li Wenqian was also kind and generous to her, Lin Wanqing's long-standing neglect and favoritism as her birth mother had ultimately created a subtle barrier in her heart.

Shen Jingshu was lost in her own thoughts about how to distribute the jade tokens, completely unaware that Lu Jingxing's gaze was quietly fixed on her face.

Lu Jingxing recalled a scene from the past—when the current leader of the Xuanmen sect, Master Lingxu, accidentally glimpsed the lightning-struck wood amulet on his body, he was greatly surprised and pestered him for a long time, insisting on finding out which reclusive master had personally crafted it.

Master Lingxu holds a revered position within the Xuanmen sect, and his standards are exceptionally high; ordinary magical artifacts would never even catch his eye. The fact that he would frantically praise her is enough to prove that the protective magical artifact personally crafted by Shen Jingshu is a rare treasure in the world.

Lu Jingxing slowly spoke, breaking the brief silence in the private room:

"Master Lingxu has seen the lightning-struck wood amulet you made and kept asking me who the maker was. As the head of the Xuanmen sect, he highly praises your techniques."

Shen Jingshu snapped back to reality, slightly surprised: "Master Lingxu? I don't know him."

"Master Lingxu said that the spiritual power and talismans you infused into it are too rare." Lu Jingxing's eyes were deep. "That's why I dared to entrust this raw stone to you. Giving it to someone else would be a waste of the material."

Shen Jingshu looked down at the lustrous and translucent jadeite rough in the box, her heart stirred slightly.

She used to think that she could just casually draw talismans for protection, but now she belatedly realized that the talisman she held in her hand was probably not bad.

"Oh, right."

Shen Jingshu suddenly remembered something important and looked up at him seriously:

"I want to ask you, did you invest in that wilderness survival reality show on Zhejiang TV?"

Lu Jingxing paused slightly upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, as he wasn't entirely clear about the matter himself.

"Please wait a moment."

Without hesitation, he immediately took out his phone and dialed his secretary's number.

"Secretary Liu, has the company recently invested in any outdoor survival reality show on Zhejiang TV?"

On the other end of the phone, Secretary Liu quickly checked the information and replied promptly: "Mr. Lu, yes. After evaluation, we believe this program has good market potential and have already invested. Is there some problem with the program?"

Lu Jingxing turned his head to look at Shen Jingshu beside him, silently signaling for her to explain the reason.

Shen Jingshu understood and slowly opened her mouth, her voice clear enough to reach the receiver:

"Here's the thing, I can tell from your face that you're likely to suffer financial losses recently. The root of the problem lies with this program. There's a major accident that might happen during filming, with severe weather causing danger. If we want to minimize the risks and losses, we must double down on logistical and security preparations and not relax our efforts according to the original plan."

Secretary Liu on the other end of the receiver immediately recognized the familiar female voice and respectfully replied, "I heard you, Miss Shen."

Lu Jingxing calmly gave the order: "Do exactly as she said, and make sure everything is implemented."

"Yes, Mr. Lu."

After giving a brief explanation, Lu Jingxing hung up the phone.

Shen Jingshu tilted her head slightly, her clear eyes scrutinizing him:

"You believe what I say so easily? Aren't you afraid I might be wrong?"