From rejecting the beautiful female CEO to becoming extremely powerful

This brooch cannot be found in the database in Chapter 198!

Tang Shaoyu stood at the bottom of the steps, with two bodyguards blocking his way.

Hundreds of eyes in the main building were fixed on him, and no one even accepted the gift box he brought.

If he took another step forward, he would lose face in front of the Tang family elders and guests from all walks of life.

He handed the wine glass to his attendant, straightened his sleeves, and walked up to Mu Qingying.

The bodyguard didn't move aside; he stopped two steps away, forcing a smile.

"Miss Mu, I was wrong about the projection outside the complex earlier. I apologize in person. Tonight I'm here on behalf of the Tang family to deliver a gift. I'm only here on official business and won't bother you anymore."

Tang Shaoyu suppressed his anger, his palm pressed against his cufflinks.

Mu Qingying handed the bouquet to her assistant, her gaze falling on his face.

"Remember what you said today."

Su Qingwan raised her hand to signal the bodyguards to step back, then looked at Tang Shaoyu: "Leave the Tang family gift box. You can come in, but stay away from Qingying."

Tang Shaoyu gritted his teeth and walked sideways into the banquet hall.

The smile on his face didn't fade, and he turned around to look at the dark blue gift box on Mu Qingying's table.

There was no brand mark on the box, and Lu Yunzhou stood to the side, holding only a glass of ordinary champagne.

Tang Shaoyu reached out and tapped the lid of the box, the sound carrying to several nearby tables.

"The box is beautifully made, but if it contains ordinary jewelry, Mr. Lu will be in a bad mood tonight. Do you dare open it on the spot?"

Lu Yunzhou put down his wine glass and pressed his palm against the edge of the box.

"Open it if you want. If it's over a million dollars, you'll have to admit in public that you misjudged it."

Tang Shaoyu raised his chin: "Fine. If it's one yuan less, you can take this cheap trinket back."

As soon as the bet was placed, several people at nearby tables turned around.

Some people put down their glasses, while others raised their phones, waiting to see what would happen.

Mu Qingying held the gift box in front of her, her fingers pressing on the clasp.

She waited six days, and as soon as she received the gift, Tang Shaoyu set his sights on her, which made her heart feel choked up.

Lu Yunzhou nodded to her.

"Qingying, open it."

Mu Qingying pressed the latch.

A soft sound rang out as she pushed open the box lid.

A brooch was placed in a black velvet cushion.

The bracket is an old silver color, with eight-petaled patterns arranged along the edge, the lines of which are distinct in depth.

A translucent crystal is embedded in the center, with tiny specks of light scattered across its gray-silver background.

The points of light moved along the inside of the crystal, gathered in one place, and then scattered in all directions.

When the light shines on the surface, the changes inside the crystal are still clearly visible.

The people nearby fell silent.

This brooch has no extravagant design and no big brand logo.

But the central inlay was so strange that no one could immediately tell its origin.

Mu Qingying's fingers stopped at the edge of the box, her gaze falling on the eight-petaled pattern on the stand.

She recognized it as the pattern on the wax seal of an envelope.

"You did as instructed in that letter?"

She looked up at Lu Yunzhou, her eyes glistening with tears.

Lu Yunzhou looked at her: "I remember what I promised you."

Mu Qingying pursed her lips and took the brooch out of the cushion.

She didn't put it on immediately, but gently tucked it into her palm.

Tang Shaoyu stared at the crystal and let out a laugh through his nose.

"They put a few loose pebbles inside and dare to sell it for millions? Even if you send this to a jewelry store, they might not accept it."

After he finished speaking, he raised his hand to a middle-aged man next to him.

"President Zhou, your Fengming Group also does material testing. Could you take a look and tell us what this is?"

Feng Qianyi remained silent.

The man behind her stepped out; his name tag read "Zhou Yan, Head of Materials Laboratory, Fengming Group."

Zhou Yan put on white gloves and took the brooch from Mu Qingying's hand.

He first looked at the bracket, then placed the brooch on the white cushion and took out his magnifying glass.

After looking at it for about ten seconds, he adjusted his glasses.

"I've seen this engraving technique in the Feng family's old collection."

Zhou Yan took out his tablet, accessed the mineral database of Fengming Group, and then entered the color, translucency, and internal structure of the crystals one by one.

Sapphire, spinel, tourmaline, beryl.

As the data was scrolled through, the matching results on the screen remained unchanged.

Zhou Yan tried several different search methods, his brows furrowing even lower.

Tang Shaoyu stood beside him and urged, "If you can't find out, just say so. Don't pretend to be a professional with that tablet."

Zhou Yan ignored him and continued to pull up the materials and records of Fengming Group for the past ten years.

The sample images on the screen kept changing, but the central crystal could not find the corresponding data.

Finally, the tablet displayed a line of results.

No matching records found.

Zhou Yan turned the screen towards Feng Qianyi, then looked up at Lu Yunzhou.

"The pattern on the bracket does indeed belong to the Feng family, but the corresponding mineral for the central inlay cannot be found at the moment."

Tang Shaoyu seized upon this statement and immediately followed up.

"Did you hear that? There's no record of it even in the Fengming Group's database. Its origins are unclear, yet they dare to tout it as a million-dollar treasure?"

Lu Yunzhou looked up at him, his hand resting on the edge of the table.

"The database having no name only means there are no similar samples. You don't even understand the identification process, so why are you rushing to draw conclusions for the experts?"

Tang Shaoyu's face darkened.

"Stop pretending. Does the bet from earlier still stand?"

"Of course it counts."

Lu Yunzhou pushed his wine glass aside and said bluntly, "Wait for the experts' results. If it exceeds one million, you'll kneel down and admit your mistake."

Tang Shaoyu clenched his fist and immediately agreed.

"If you can't produce results, you'll admit to everyone tonight that you lied to people with a broken stone."

Just as Zhou Yan was about to put the brooch back into the box, the sound of a cane hitting the ground came from the crowd.

An elderly man with completely white hair stepped out of his seat, wearing a dark gray Zhongshan suit.

Someone recognized him as Han Bonian, the executive director of the Geological Materials Association, and the voices in the banquet hall fell silent again.

Han Bonian walked to the table, pressed his cane, and looked at the crystal.

"Don't accept it yet."

Zhou Yan stopped what he was doing.

Han Bonian bent down and looked at it for a moment, then pointed to the brooch holder.

"The eight-petal flower is the old engraving method of the Feng family. Several of Feng Dekun's prized items also have this mark."

He looked up at Lu Yunzhou and said, "I've known Mr. Feng for decades. I've never seen this inlay material before, and I can't determine its value just by looking at the data on the tablet. We need to borrow the association's equipment to test it before we can make a decision."

Tang Shaoyu frowned: "Director Han, today is a birthday banquet, not a materials exhibition."

Han Bonian turned his face away, his expression darkening.

"You made the bet yourself, and now you're saying it's too much trouble?"

Tang Shaoyu's cheeks twitched as he was silenced. He picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and his Adam's apple bobbed several times.

Zhou Yan closed the tablet: "The association has a portable spectrometer and a density testing kit. We can send them over and we can take measurements."

"Then let's test it."

Lu Yunzhou put the brooch back on the velvet cushion and pushed it in front of Han Bonian.

"The equipment has arrived, let's begin."

Mu Qingying stood beside him and gently touched his sleeve with her arm.

"Will there be any problems?"

Her palm was still pressing against the edge of the gift box.

Lu Yunzhou turned to look at her: "If there's a problem, it's on my side. No one can use it to bully you."

Mu Qingying looked at him for two seconds, then hugged the gift box tightly.

Han Bonian took out his phone and dialed the association's assistant's number.

"Deliver the testing kit to the manor, along with the spectrometer and densitometer. Also, bring the complete mineral database."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yan looked at the tablet again.

The result in the bottom right corner of the screen remains unchanged.