Chapter 136: Connecting with a Geologist
"What should I do..."
"How could this have happened because of me?"
She sat on the ground, tears streaming down her face. She never imagined a single stone could cause such a huge disaster.
The viewers in the livestream chat were all skeptical:
"I really don’t believe it. I grew up in the mountains. There are rocks everywhere. How come I’m not dead?"
"Are rocks really that poisonous? Is anyone going to dare to even collect stones anymore?"
"My god, is this Gu Shengsheng for real? Is she trying to be funny?"
"..."
Just then, a user with a lotus flower avatar suddenly appeared in the chat and typed: What she’s saying is true.
Everyone started flaming him.
"Who the hell are you! You think you know more than the streamer?"
"Yeah, you sound so sure of yourself. You’re not some big shot, are you?"
"To my fellow treasure hunters above, he actually is a big shot."
And so, the chat started flooding with messages: "Welcome, Huaxia geologist Zhang Zhengyi."
"Welcome, Huaxia geologist Zhang Zhengyi."
"Welcome, Zhang Zhengyi, author of 8 SSCI papers."
"Hello, Professor."
"Hello, Professor."
"..."
The livestream chat was in complete chaos, yet at the same time, it was uniformly orderly.
Then, this Zhang Zhengyi requested a video call connection.
Gu Shengsheng accepted. ’Zhang Zhengyi really is incredible,’ she thought. ’I knew about him in the parallel world. He’s the kind of idol you can only look up to.’
Her undergraduate degree was from a low-tier university, while Zhang Zhengyi was a doctoral advisor at the prestigious Qing University and a top talent in the field of geology.
Once they were connected, he patiently broke down Gu Shengsheng’s words, ultimately proving that everything she had said was true.
He also turned to the young girl who was selling the item and said, "You should have your mother go for a check-up right away. If you run into difficulties, seek help from social services."
After that matter was settled, while they were still connected, the white-haired Zhang Zhengyi said to Gu Shengsheng, "Child, I’ve watched your stream. You’re truly very good."
"How about we exchange contact information? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you."
Gu Shengsheng nodded, preparing to privately message him her number.
But to her surprise, a WeChat friend request popped up immediately.
Just as she was marveling at how fast it was, Zhang Zhengyi said with a smile, "The Bureau of Cultural Relics gave me your contact information. Child, I’ll need your cooperation with something later on."
"Of course, Mr. Zhang." Gu Shengsheng was very respectful.
Only after Zhang Zhengyi disconnected from the stream did the fans in the chat dare to let loose.
"Oh my god! Who was that?! Zhang Zhengyi, a living document, a walking thesis!"
"He’s the guy who studies rocks, a top talent in our field of biochemistry, environmental science, and materials. SOB, he’s literally my idol."
"If you want to see stars, you have to come to the streamer’s channel! Help, I really just saw my idol."
"Sister Gu, you’re amazing, I could just die! Zhang Zhengyi actually wants to work with you. It’s not going to be a joint stream, is it?"
"We think you’re about to hit the big time!"
"..."
Seeing how excited everyone was, Gu Shengsheng felt the same. Zhang Zhengyi was a truly excellent professor, the kind who frequently appeared on the evening news.
He was also a heavyweight in the academic world.
’But what could it be about?’ she wondered.
She sent a message on WeChat to ask, but Zhang Zhengyi didn’t reply, only saying that she would find out when the time came.
’Looks like it’s a confidential project,’ she thought.
The little girl she had been dealing with got up and hurried away.
She said, "Streamer, thank you so much for today! I’m going to take my mom for a check-up right away."
"This can’t be delayed."
"Mhm, it’s alright. Take care of yourself. Don’t work yourself to the bone."
"Thank you." As she spoke, the little girl’s tears started to well up again.
Having only visited one stall in the market wasn’t enough, so Gu Shengsheng continued walking.
She walked up to a street stall and saw the seller eating instant noodles with his son.
There was bedding next to them, but no camping tent or anything of the sort.
In front of him, a few items were simply laid out on an open shoebox lid.
Gu Shengsheng was curious.
She asked, "Are all of these for sale?"
There was a gold bracelet, a few pieces of jadeite jewelry, and a man’s ring.
He quickly put down his instant noodles and greeted Gu Shengsheng, "These are all good items."
"I was just over there watching the excitement. You’re a streamer, right?"
"You’re always appraising treasures. Why don’t you check mine out? If you think they’re good, you can buy them!"
The display wasn’t great, but the items did have some value. Still, she wasn’t interested in buying.
She shook her head. "I’m not buying things like this recently. Sorry!"
"No problem, no problem." He was very frank. "Just tell me if my stuff is valuable, then. My wife bought all of it. She gave me this wedding ring, and the rest are her things."
"This ring of mine cost a hundred thousand, and her jadeite jewelry pieces aren’t expensive either, just ten thousand yuan each."
Then he addressed the audience in Gu Shengsheng’s livestream. "Everyone, look how good my wife is to me."
"I see so many viewers in your chat talking about whether to get married or not, about bride prices and what not. A wife, a child, and a warm bed—what could be better?"
"..."
Gu Shengsheng glanced at the bedding behind him.
She said, "You call this a warm bed?"
He looked a little embarrassed. "My son and I made a little mistake and got kicked out by the wife. No chance of going back tonight."
"These are her things, too. I figured since they’re not that expensive, I’d sell them to make enough for a hotel room."
"My ring was bought for a hundred thousand. How about I sell it to you for twenty thousand?"
"My wife’s jadeite set... each piece is over ten thousand. I’ll sell the whole lot to you for just ten thousand. Streamer, will you buy it?"
The livestream viewers commented:
"Even though he’s embarrassed to admit his wife kicked him out, and he looks pathetic with his son, he seems really sincere."
"Yeah, he looks like an easy target. Streamer, his things are probably real."
"Hahaha, well my wife would never tell me to get lost. My wife loves me. All you other people, stop flexing about your relationships."
"My wife loves me too +1"
"..."
Sure enough, the viewers’ tone started to get weird, and then it was just a whole lot of showing off.
Someone even asked, "Streamer, what does your husband do? How come we’ve never seen what he looks like?"
Gu Shengsheng thought for a moment. "I don’t know, but he’s probably kind of handsome."
Her tone was uncertain.
The viewers were getting more and more confused. It felt like the streamer wasn’t very familiar with her new husband.
But they knew not to ask too much about the streamer’s private life.
Then the instant noodle man asked, "Streamer, do you think the price I’m asking is fair?"
"Are you sure you want me to say?" Gu Shengsheng seemed to hesitate.
He also had a bad feeling, but he still said, "I’m sure."
"This set of jadeite jewelry is worth around eight hundred thousand in total. As for your ring... you said it was a hundred thousand, but it’s actually a 9.9 yuan, free shipping deal from Pinduoduo. I just found the same listing."
The instant noodle man was so shocked, he dropped his noodles on the ground.
Suddenly, they didn’t smell so good anymore!