Chapter 52: A Month Without Washing His Hands

The four of them nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

"Uncle Zhang, there's nothing else, so we'll head back now." Qiao Wenbo and the three others didn't want to stay with these heavyweight figures for even another minute; the pressure was simply immense.

Zhang Huaiming waved his hand.

The four of them briskly grabbed their luggage and headed back.

Inside the Qiao family villa, the four young men gathered around the leather sofa, their faces still flushed with unswerving excitement.

Qiao Wenbo impatiently dialed a video call, and Jiang Kai's face instantly appeared on the 100-inch LCD TV.

"Kai, we met the Ancestral Dragon!" the four of them shouted in unison, their excited and booming voices piercing enough to shatter eardrums.

Jiang Kai dug his finger into his ear, grinning with utter smugness. "How is it? Didn't I tell you so?"

At that moment, he was wearing pajamas, lazily leaning against the head of his bed. "Isn't it unforgettable for a lifetime?"

"Unforgettable? It's way beyond that!" Geng Cang bounced off the sofa like a carp leaping out of water, whipped out his phone, and shoved it right against the camera lens. "Look! We even took a photo with the First Emperor!"

In the photo, Ying Zheng looked majestic and awe-inspiring, while the four of them stood behind him making V-signs with their fingers.

Jiang Kai's face slammed straight against the screen. "Holy shit! You guys actually managed to take pictures?! Last time, we only dared to snap them secretly."

"Hehe, that's not even the half of it." Feng Yiming smugly stretched out his hand and raised it before the camera. "Look at this hand. Do you know? This hand here is that of a man who has shaken hands with the Ancestral Dragon himself."

"My god, my god, holy crap!!!!!!" A piercing, shrieking howl erupted from the other end of the video. "Ahhhhh, why on earth did you guys get to shake hands with the Ancestral Dragon? No, you guys must be lying to me."

Qiao Wenbo chuckled mischievously. "We have photographic proof, you know."

Feeling that the stimulation wasn't enough yet, Geng Cang continued to gloat. "Hehe, the Ancestral Dragon actually shook hands with every single one of us."

Wu Jie leaned closer to the screen and boasted, "I'm planning not to wash this hand for a whole month!"

Geng Cang shook his hand back and forth with a proud expression. "Oh gosh! This is a hand that has been blessed with dragon aura. I must take good care of it and absolutely not let it touch water, lest the water wash away the dragon qi."

On the other end of the screen, Jiang Kai pounded his chest and stamped his feet in frustration. "Ahhhhh, you bunch of heartless bastards!"

With a mysterious air, Qiao Wenbo opened his suitcase right in front of the camera, revealing the contents inside.

"Look at what this is!" He carefully poured out several gold cakes and a variety of jade artifacts.

Upon seeing those items, Jiang Kai's eyes bulged straight out of his head.

"Hehe, these were all given to us by Brother Zheng." Qiao Wenbo gloated with an expression that begged to be punched.

"Damn it!" Jiang Kai wailed, leaning backward with a look of utter despair on his face.

He didn't want to speak another word to them anymore.

His state of mind had completely shattered!

After having their fun and joking around enough, seeing Jiang Kai's face twisted in extreme envy on the video, the four of them finally burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore." Qiao Wenbo reined in his laughter, turned around, and opened another suitcase. "This is a gift the Emperor specifically instructed us to bring for you."

Jiang Kai on the other end of the screen instantly sat up straight, his eyes wide as saucers. "Re-really?"

Geng Cang and the others helped take out the wooden boxes from inside and opened them one by one. Inside lay neatly arranged exquisite gold utensils and jade ornaments, glittering brilliantly under the lights.

"These were all bestowed upon you by His Majesty," Feng Yiming added, "saying it's to thank you for bringing him so many good things that benefit the country and its people."

Wu Jie retrieved a jade pendant from a cloth bag. "This is from Meng Yi, thanking you for the night-vision device you sent."

The jade pendant was carved with intricate cloud patterns, with the character 'Meng' engraved on the back.

On the other end of the screen, Jiang Kai suddenly fell silent. His fingers unconsciously touched the screen, and his voice turned somewhat choked with emotion. "Sob, the Ancestral Dragon still remembers me, and Lord Meng remembers me too."

"Remember you? Far from it!" Qiao Wenbo said with a smile. "He still has a very deep impression of you."

Clutching his phone, Jiang Kai looked at the photos of the gifts sent by his friends, the expression on his face slowly shifting from jealousy to deep moving gratitude.

Through the screen, he gently stroked Meng Yi's jade pendant, as if he could feel the warmth of the Xianyang Palace's sunlight right through the cold glass.

"Sob, sob, sob. The next time Director Jiang opens a tour group, I must go to the Qin Dynasty again," Jiang Kai silently resolved in his heart.

When the sun was at its blazing peak, Jiang Ye pushed open the glass door of the "Yiye Travel Agency," just as Auntie Wang, who ran the small supermarket next door, happened to be passing by carrying a bag of fruit.

"Oh my, little Jiang!" Auntie Wang grabbed him by the arm. "Several customers came to sign up this morning, but seeing your door closed, they left!"

She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "Auntie knows that your parents passing away was sudden, but life still has to go on."

Jiang Ye's hand paused on the keys, a helpless smile touching the corner of his lips.

He knew Auntie Wang had misunderstood again.

Ever since his parents passed away, this warm-hearted neighbor had always worried that he would remain dispirited.

"You're right." Jiang Ye nodded gently, turned the key to unlock the shop door, and said, "Next time, I will definitely open on time."

Auntie Wang followed him inside, casually picked up a feather duster from the side to flick the dust off the counter, and continued chattering away. "It's not that Auntie is nagging, but look at that newly opened travel agency across the street—they hand out flyers every single day."

Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a piece of a bronze sword tassel sticking out of Jiang Ye's backpack. "Huh? What is this..."

Without changing his expression, Jiang Ye zipped up his backpack. "Travel souvenirs."

He turned around, took a box of tea leaves from the shelf, and handed it to her. "Take this home to drink; it clears heat and dispenses internal fire."

"Oh my, I shouldn't be taking this." Although Auntie Wang declined verbally, her hands had already accepted the box of tea. "Young people just need to look on the bright side. By the way, there's a matchmaking event in the community tomorrow. While you have some free time, you should..."

Smiling, Jiang Ye escorted Auntie Wang to the entrance, and only let out a long sigh of relief once her chattering voice vanished at the stairwell.

He locked the door, went up to the second floor, took the bronze sword gifted by Meng Yi out of his backpack, and gently placed it in front of his parents' memorial portrait.

The couple in the photo wore gentle smiles. Jiang Ye picked up a bundle of incense from the side, lit three sticks, and muttered to the portrait, "Mom, Dad, I will run the travel agency well. I will live a good life, so you don't need to worry about me. Perhaps your son will even attain immortality one day."

Thinking of the system's rewards, such a possibility wasn't entirely out of the question.

After finishing his chatter, Jiang Ye kowtowed three loud times to the portrait, stood up, and inserted the three sticks of incense into the censer.

"System, settle the rewards."

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the mission.]

[The reward has been distributed.]

Following this prompt, an extra 400,000 appeared in his bank account.

In less than a week since the system appeared, he had earned 700,000 in cash, not to mention acquiring skills like [Basic Combat Mastery] and [Archery Mastery].

Now, yet another skill—[Firearms Mastery]—was being added to his repertoire.

[Does the host wish to redeem the tour mission reward?]

"Redeem."

As the redemption succeeded, various kinds of knowledge regarding firearms flooded into Jiang Ye's mind. It was a pity he didn't have a gun in his hand right now, otherwise he would have really loved to test out this skill.