The Real Heiress Has an Appraisal System
Chapter 21: Exquisite Design, Not a Single Wasted Move

Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Exquisite Design, Not a Single Wasted Move

Still, she just smiled. "Give it to you?"

The moment she asked, one of the men beside her pointed a gun at a foreigner who was speaking up. "It’ll belong to whoever is strong enough to take it!"

Gu Shengsheng laughed. "We’re giving it away willingly. Now we’ll just have to see which of you is actually the strongest."

"It’s just me and an old man. The two of us have no backup. So... we won’t be fighting you for it."

’In front of these desperadoes, the best strategy was to back down immediately.’

Zhao Dehai was already past his breaking point. He had no idea what Gu Shengsheng’s plan was.

But he trusted the young woman, so he followed her lead.

When Gu Shengsheng saw that no flight attendants were coming over, she knew something had gone terribly wrong...

The men around them were getting restless, each one itching to make a move.

Gu Shengsheng deliberately stepped on one man’s foot, instantly plunging them into chaos. Taking advantage of the confusion, she quickly threw the Luminous Pearl onto the floor.

A loud THUD echoed through the cabin. It wasn’t just the men fighting for the jewel who were stunned—even Zhao Dehai himself was scared out of his wits.

’No... why would she smash it?!’

In Zhao Dehai’s mind, they could die, but the artifact absolutely could not come to harm!

Gu Shengsheng clutched a small piece of amber that had popped out. It wasn’t very large.

She quickly slipped it into her pocket. She was deft and calm, and no one noticed.

Then she announced calmly, "The treasure is destroyed."

"I don’t know who bumped into me. Now no one can have it."

Of course, the most grief-stricken person there was Zhao Dehai.

He dropped to his knees, sobbing his heart out.

"It’s ruined... How could it be ruined?!"

The men around them seemed to have forgotten how to react. Just as they came to their senses and were about to kill Gu Shengsheng, the plane’s automated announcement chimed. They had arrived in Beijing City.

Those words snapped the frenzied men back to reality. If they killed someone now, none of them would be leaving Huaxia.

They’d failed to get the treasure, and they’d be throwing their own lives away. It wasn’t worth it.

"..." Gu Shengsheng’s face remained impassive, but inwardly, she was counting every second. ’I have to survive. You have no idea how terrified I was when all their killing intent was focused on me.’

But she had pulled through.

When she heard the automated announcement for Beijing City, heaven knew how relieved Gu Shengsheng was. ’Thank you, my country. Thank you, Huaxia.’

In the eyes of these outlaws, since no one had gotten the treasure in the end, they could just about manage to report back to their superiors.

So, as they watched Zhao Dehai pick up the fragments from the floor, each of them took a piece.

What if someone else got ahold of the pieces and restored it? They couldn’t risk being put at a disadvantage.

After all, a restored artifact could still be profitable.

Gu Shengsheng had known this would happen. If everyone took a piece, it could never be put back together. And they would never know that she had taken the most important part—the amber from its center.

When Gu Shengsheng threw the Luminous Pearl, she had calculated the perfect angle, even predicting the direction the amber would bounce.

’Thank goodness... Thank goodness my parallel-universe self studied physics and math so hard...’

Gu Shengsheng and Zhao Dehai walked out of the jet bridge, both looking composed and not the least bit weary.

But when they emerged and Gu Shengsheng saw a large group of police officers standing before them, all looking at them with grave expressions...

...she almost burst into tears.

She and Zhao Dehai went over, and their legs gave out from under them, leaving them sitting on the floor, unable to get up.

Gu Shengsheng even picked out the most handsome officer, walked over, and started sobbing while clinging to his leg.

Zhao Dehai joined in, wailing about their ordeal.

Meanwhile, the flight was placed under a thorough investigation.

After the two had calmed down, Gu Shengsheng looked up at the handsome, six-foot-tall police officer.

His voice was pleasant, with a crisp, clear quality. "Miss Gu, Mr. Zhao," he said directly. "You’re safe now. You’re both alive."

At these words, Zhao Dehai was once again a blubbering, tear-streaked mess.

"Shengsheng! I played along so perfectly with you, so why did you have to smash the jewel! That was a Luminous Pearl! One that hadn’t even shown any strange phenomena yet!"

"Now that you’ve smashed it, who knows what you’ve broken or revealed."

Then he continued, "When they question you later, don’t say you had anything to do with it. Just say I did everything."

Gu Shengsheng found his attempt to take all the blame rather amusing.

"Uncle Zhao, what are you talking about?" she said.

Gu Shengsheng pulled him to his feet, then took the amber out of her pocket. "This is the truly valuable part."

"This was inside the Luminous Pearl. During your analysis, didn’t you find parameters indicative of amber about a quarter of the way into its core? That’s why it seemed so strange."

"The reason is that there really was amber inside. It’s an extremely rare phenomenon. So... the real treasure was the amber."

Zhao Dehai took it and examined it from all angles. "Exquisite! Absolutely exquisite!"

"The creature inside this thing... it’s 450 million years old. I knew something was strange about it."

He’d only figured it out after it was smashed to pieces, but Gu Shengsheng had known just from that brief glance on the plane...

Zhao Dehai sighed in admiration. "You’re a true genius! You should come work for the Bureau of Cultural Relics!"

"The annual salary is 100,000."

Gu Shengsheng: "...That’s not really my ambition."

"Two hundred thousand, and not a penny more. It’s good for young people to be a little frugal. My own annual salary is only 250,000."

Generally, salaries for government jobs were low. 250,000 was already considered quite high.

Otherwise, a salary of 70,000 to 80,000 would be the norm.

Gu Shengsheng smiled. "That’s not the reason. I just enjoy appraising treasures, wandering through different markets, and I can even do live streams. It’s a pretty good life."

Hearing that, Zhao Dehai knew he couldn’t press the issue any further.

"Speaking of which, what brings you to Beijing City? Let me see if I can help."

Gu Shengsheng shook her head. "I’m here for a propitious marriage. To get married."

"..." Zhao Dehai was suddenly speechless, as if he’d swallowed a fishbone. "You kid... you’re really the type to quietly pull off something major, aren’t you!"

"Are your parents out of their minds, marrying you off for money like this? Do you want me to talk to them? I’ll tell them to call it off!" he said, filled with righteous indignation.

Gu Shengsheng laughed. "I might be able to avoid this propitious marriage, but there will be countless others in the future. Not all parents love their own children."

"So it’s fine if I get married. At least I can leave Rui City and have some freedom."

Just as Zhao Dehai was about to ask which family she was marrying into, he was led away. There were many matters at the bureau that required his attention.

He was simply too swamped.

Gu Shengsheng stood in the police station and took a sip of water.

The handsome police officer was still beside her.

"Miss Gu, we’ve been fully briefed on the situation and the specifics of what happened. You’ve been through a lot."

"This is a confidential matter, so we’ll need to trouble you to sign a non-disclosure agreement."

Gu Shengsheng understood. ’Of course I can’t tell anyone about this.’

As she nodded and signed her name, the handsome officer spoke again. "My name is Zhang Lianqing. Miss Gu, I’ll be your point of contact for this matter."