Chapter 50: System Update Complete
Looking at the astonished expression on Zhou Siwei's face beside him, Su Xiaofan felt rather helpless.
Zhou Siwei had paid for dinner tonight, and he had also paid for the singing afterward. Su Xiaofan genuinely hadn't intended to steal his thunder. Besides, Zhou Siwei was actually a pretty decent person.
Su Xiaofan barely knew anyone in Yanjing. The only person in front of him whom he knew was Tong Dongjie, whom he had met only once yesterday.
And yet, of all people, he had happened to run into him here.
“President Tong, these are all my classmates.”
Su Xiaofan wanted to introduce everyone, but Tong Dongjie waved his hand.
“Put all of their expenses tonight on my account. Manager Zhang, come over for a moment.”
“President Tong, what can I do for you?”
The club's manager had originally been standing nearby attending to them. Upon hearing Tong Dongjie's call, he hurried over.
“Register Xiao Su's phone number and get him a gold membership card.”
After giving Manager Zhang the instruction, Tong Dongjie looked at Su Xiaofan.
“Xiao Su, I still have some business to attend to, so I won't accompany you guys today…”
“President Tong, you're too kind.”
Although Tong Dongjie hadn't asked about the situation at all and had simply waived their bill and given him a membership card, it was ultimately a kind gesture, so Su Xiaofan could only accept it.
“All right, brother, you're actually that close to President Tong?”
After Tong Dongjie left, Zhou Siwei, who had sobered up considerably by now, looked at Su Xiaofan completely differently than before.
Others might not know, but Zhou Siwei knew very well that the highest-level card at this club was the platinum card. Holders of a platinum card could have all their expenses waived when spending money here.
Normally, only Tong Dongjie's important business partners and certain special individuals were entitled to platinum cards.
Below the platinum card was the gold card Tong Dongjie had mentioned.
Gold-card members could have the minimum spending requirement waived. For example, the 16,888-yuan private room they had used for singing tonight could be completely free of charge.
“An elder of mine knows President Tong. I'm just benefiting from that connection.”
Su Xiaofan gave a bitter smile as he explained. Whether the others believed him or not was beyond his control.
“Xiaofan, President Tong is the major boss of our company.”
Wu Xiaobo's eyes also lit up.
“Xiaofan, if you ever get the chance, you have to put in a good word for your old classmate.”
The company where Wu Xiaobo was currently interning was a subsidiary of Tong Dongjie's listed company. Tong Dongjie didn't know him, but Wu Xiaobo had recognized his company's big boss at a glance.
“Sure. If I get the chance, I'll definitely introduce you to President Tong.”
Su Xiaofan knew that if he said he wasn't actually close to President Tong, he would definitely offend people. If they weren't close, why would Tong Dongjie waive his bill and give him a gold card?
Relationships between people often changed in subtle ways without anyone realizing it.
Before Tong Dongjie appeared, Mo Zixuan had been the center of attention, while Zhang Ji and the others had deliberately been trying to curry favor with Zhou Siwei.
But after Tong Dongjie appeared, almost everyone's attention began revolving around Su Xiaofan.
“Mr. Su, if you have a moment, I can help you register.”
After seeing Tong Dongjie inside, Manager Zhang appeared beside Su Xiaofan.
“Brother, let's get together again sometime. I've had a little too much to drink tonight, so I'll head home first.”
Seeing Manager Zhang coming over to help Su Xiaofan process his gold membership card, Zhou Siwei wasn't angry at Su Xiaofan, but he still felt somewhat embarrassed. He immediately announced that he was leaving.
……
“Not bad, Su Xiaofan. You've really been keeping a low profile.”
Sitting in the commercial vehicle arranged by the club, Qi Rouyun laughed.
“Isn't this exactly the kind of plot you see in novels? Some big shot quietly pretending to be ordinary, then slapping everyone in the face?”
“Come on. I just happen to know someone. Is it really such a big deal?”
Su Xiaofan said helplessly.
“There isn't any big shot, and I wasn't pretending to be low-key. I'm genuinely nobody. And I didn't slap anyone in the face either. We're all classmates, so don't make things so complicated.”
“Hmm, Su Xiaofan is right.”
Mo Zixuan, who was sitting beside Qi Rouyun in the back seat, spoke up.
“Yun Yun, knowing certain people doesn't mean you've reached their level. Only after you yourself reach that level can you make use of those people's resources.”
Mo Zixuan understood this very clearly. As the current president of Yanjing University's student union, she knew most of the university's previous graduates.
As one of the country's top universities, many of Yanjing University's alumni had risen to prominent positions or become business magnates. Mo Zixuan had contact information for almost all of them.
But that didn't mean she could stand on equal footing with them. After stepping down as student union president, her relationship with them would merely be that of fellow alumni.
Of course, having the alumni connection as a link meant that whether Mo Zixuan wanted to pursue a career in government or business in the future, she would have far more advantages than an ordinary person. That was an undeniable fact.
“Miss Mo, I'll have to trouble you to look after Xiaoxiao in the future. If anything happens, please contact me directly.”
Thinking of Mo Zixuan's position as the counselor of the special-admission class, Su Xiaofan spoke up.
“Sure. Don't mention it.”
Mo Zixuan nodded in agreement. She had a fairly favorable impression of Su Xiaofan.
Usually, classmates who hadn't gotten into university would feel awkward and uncomfortable at gatherings like this.
But from dinner through singing, Su Xiaofan had remained calm, neither arrogant nor inferior, and had behaved naturally and generously.
On the contrary, observant Mo Zixuan had noticed that when Su Xiaofan looked at them, there was something resembling an adult looking at students in his eyes.
This suggested that although Su Xiaofan had only graduated from high school, he wasn't doing badly in society.
The appearance of President Tong at the end had also proved this point.
Based on Mo Zixuan's understanding of the special-admission class, she knew how much potential these students possessed and how much influence they might be able to wield in the future. Thus, she was also very polite toward Su Xiaofan.
……
Su Xiaofan returned to the guesthouse at one in the morning.
He checked his phone and saw an unanswered video call from his younger sister. He didn't call her back. After taking a shower, he collapsed onto the bed.
“When is this update going to end?”
He looked at the progress bar in his mind. It had increased by one percent, but it was still only at five percent.
Su Xiaofan was practically about to cry.
If it only updated by one percent a day, wouldn't completing the entire update take three or four months?
[Warning! Warning!]
[Insufficient energy! Insufficient energy! Update progress: six percent…]
[Universal Restoration System update stopped!]
Just as Su Xiaofan was staring at the progress bar, several lines of information suddenly appeared in his mind.
“Huh? What's going on? Did the update stop halfway?”
Su Xiaofan discovered that the progress bar had disappeared and immediately concentrated on the information in his mind.
[Universal Restoration System: Update stopped!]
[Universal Restoration System: Everything in the world can be restored.]
[Remaining Restoration Points: 135]
“What difference does this make compared with before?”
Looking at the information in his mind, Su Xiaofan was somewhat confused. Apart from the addition of the name “Universal Restoration System,” there seemed to be no difference from before.
“Right. Let's see how many restoration points it takes to repair the jade pendant now.”
With a thought, Su Xiaofan focused his attention on the dragon-shaped jade pendant on his chest.
[Universal Restoration System: Everything in the world can be restored!]
[Restoration Points: 135]
[Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant (Mid-Grade Damaged Magical Artifact), Restorable!]
[Restoration: Requires 50 Restoration Points. Restore?]
[Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant (Mid-Grade Damaged Magical Artifact), can be placed in the Nourishment Pool!]
[Nourishing Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant: Requires 5 Restoration Points.]
[Nourishment Duration: 72 hours. Nourish?]
“Nourishment Pool? What does that mean?”
Su Xiaofan immediately noticed something different.
Compared with before the system update, there was now something called a Nourishment Pool in his mind.
Repairing the dragon-shaped jade pendant required 50 Restoration Points.
But nourishing the dragon-shaped jade pendant in the Nourishment Pool required only 5 Restoration Points.
The cost had been reduced by a full ten times.
“Does nourishing it mean using a longer restoration time to reduce the amount of Restoration Points required?”
Looking at the information in his mind, Su Xiaofan made a guess.
As for the function of this Nourishment Pool, Su Xiaofan was still completely confused. He had no idea what would happen to the dragon-shaped jade pendant after the 72-hour nourishment period was complete.
“Why think so much about it? It only costs five Restoration Points anyway. I'll give it a try!”
“Nourish the dragon-shaped jade pendant!”
Su Xiaofan activated it with a thought.
[Restoration Points deducted: 5!]
[Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant (Mid-Grade Damaged Magical Artifact): Cannot be used!]
[Dragon-Shaped Jade Pendant (Mid-Grade Damaged Magical Artifact): Nourishment in progress. Countdown: 71:59:59…]
[Remaining Restoration Points: 130]
“Huh? The jade pendant can actually enter my mind?”
Su Xiaofan suddenly felt as though something was missing from his chest. He looked down and discovered that the dragon-shaped jade pendant that had originally been hanging around his neck had disappeared.
Instead, it had appeared inside his mind.
The dragon-shaped jade pendant inside his mind looked somewhat illusory and ethereal, floating in a pool of water.
Su Xiaofan knew that this must be the Nourishment Pool of the restoration system.
“I wonder what the jade pendant will become after the nourishment is complete. Will it become a complete mid-grade magical artifact? Or will its grade increase and turn it into a high-grade magical artifact?”
Su Xiaofan was very glad that after the system update, the Restoration Points he had previously obtained by absorbing the glass meteorite and Martian meteorite were still there, allowing him to conduct experiments.
[Broken Song Dynasty Ding Kiln porcelain: Cannot be restored!]
“Fortunately, I can still use the restoration system while the jade pendant is being nourished.”
After placing the dragon-shaped jade pendant into the Nourishment Pool, Su Xiaofan took out the bag containing the broken Ding Kiln porcelain fragments. Information about the broken porcelain immediately appeared in his mind.
“Hehe. Tomorrow I'll go to the antique market and pick out a few items. I need to hurry up and pay Uncle Jing back.”
Seeing the information about the broken porcelain, a smile appeared on Su Xiaofan's face.
Actually, whether or not there was a Nourishment Pool didn't matter much to Su Xiaofan. As long as the restoration system's identification and dating functions were still there, that was enough.
During the day and a half that the restoration system had been updating, Su Xiaofan had actually been quite tense the entire time.
Only now did he finally relax.
“But I still need to figure out how to turn antiques into cash.”
A worried expression returned to Su Xiaofan's face.
With the enormous antique market in Yanjing, Su Xiaofan believed that finding ten or eight valuable pieces would definitely not be a problem.
But how to turn the antiques he found into cash was troublesome.
He couldn't keep selling them to Jingxin Hall, could he?
Finding one valuable antique occasionally could be attributed to good luck.
Finding two valuable pieces in a row could still be explained as unbelievably good luck.
But if he kept finding valuable antiques again and again, even an idiot would know that something was wrong.
Even Uncle Jing had spent several years searching for valuable finds in the market.
Moreover, Su Xiaofan knew that although Yanjing's antique market was enormous, there were only a few famous antique shops and well-known collectors who could afford to purchase high-end antiques.
Selling directly to collectors was impossible because Su Xiaofan didn't know anyone and had no connections.
As for selling directly to antique shops, there was a good chance Uncle Jing would find out.
Whenever a major find or a genuine antique appeared in the market, the news would spread very quickly.
It was entirely possible that when Su Xiaofan went to sell an antique, the shopkeeper might take the item to Uncle Jing for authentication.
Therefore, Su Xiaofan wasn't currently thinking about 'how to find valuable antiques'.
What he needed to consider was 'how to establish a channel for turning the antiques he found into cash.'
(End of Chapter)
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