In a park near the high-speed railway station, at a small roadside stand.
Wu Dong was squatting on the ground, scrutinizing a so-called piece of amber in his hand. The amber was flat and about the size of a peanut. It was faintly yellow, within which was enclosed an insect the size of a soybean. Golden in color, it glistened under the sun, utterly enchanting.
The sneaky glint in the eye of the middle-aged stall owner squinted as he chuckled, "Young man, I'll sell it to you for a thousand yuan. This is real amber, it's worth hundreds per gram in the market!"
Wu Dong chuckled in amusement, "Boss, can real amber really be bought for a few hundred? Don't lie to me. I can give you a maximum of a hundred for this, and I'll take it if you're willing. If not, let's forget it."
Wu Dong's decisiveness seemed to make the stall owner hesitate a bit; his eyes darting around as he prepared to say something else. Nevertheless, Wu Dong suddenly stood up, looking as if he was about to leave.
"One hundred it is, at a loss to you," the stall owner quickly asserted. He had bought this piece of amber for ten yuan. Selling it now for a hundred, he had made nine times his investment!
Seeing the owner agree so easily, Wu Dong had an inkling that he could have haggled the price lower. However, since things had reached this point, he had to dig out a hundred yuan, pick up the "amber", and head to a nearby fast-food restaurant.
As lunchtime was approaching, and knowing full well the train's lunch was not only expensive but also unpalatable, Wu Dong opted to dine out.
Wu Dong was twenty years old this year, having joined the workforce right after high school.
This trip was to visit his girlfriend, Zhou Meizhu, in Jiangcheng. The amber he just bought was a gift for her.
Zhou Meizhu was his high school girlfriend and currently a sophomore at university. A girl from the countryside, her family preferred boys over girls and wouldn't support her education. Therefore, for the past two years, her tuition and living costs were all covered by Wu Dong.
Recently, his parents had been pressuring him to settle down and were eager to meet Zhou Meizhu. Left with no option, he decided to discuss it with her.
After finding a seat, he ordered a simple bowl of beef noodles which he finished quickly. With nothing much to do, he looked closely at the amber.
Just then, the restaurant door opened, and an extraordinarily beautiful woman walked in. She was dressed in a white business suit, with short hair, red shoes - all perfectly professional and neat.
The woman's eyes were dazzling, her eyebrows perfectly shaped like a painting, light makeup on her skin and her complexion being so clear and fair that she easily filled all of Wu Dong's imagination of a beautiful woman. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," indeed.
Wu Dong was playing with an amber piece when he noticed the appearance of a stunning beauty; he couldn't resist taking a few more glances.
There were no other available seats in the café, which left the beauty with no choice but to sit across from him, sharing the same table. As she sat down, she gave him a slight smile and nodded her head gently.
Startled, Wu Dong reciprocated the nod and took the opportunity to appreciate her from up close. Although it was good to have a close view, he didn't want to be caught ogling; after stealing a few glances, he quickly lowered his head and pretended to be using his phone.
Her beauty made his heart flutter, and he thought to himself, “She’s so beautiful. It would be worth it to die being her boyfriend!”
The woman set down her belongings, ordered a fruit juice, put on her noise-cancelling headphones, leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes to rest.
Seeing her close her eyes, Wu Dong immediately felt bolder, letting his gaze wander appreciatively over the beauty in front of him. The scent of her high-quality perfume was intoxicating, and he couldn't help but breathe it in.
Being in close proximity with such an attractive woman, he couldn't control himself. Hence, as he kept on looking, his imagination ran wild. Suddenly, he felt an itching in his nose and a nosebleed started, a drop of blood landing on the amber.
“Damn it!”
Wu Dong jumped in surprise and hastily pulled out a tissue to stop the bleeding. What he didn’t notice was that after the amber got stained with blood, the drop was surprisingly absorbed by the peculiar tiny bug inside it.
A few seconds later, the tiny bug turned into a golden beam and shot into his right eye.
He grimaced, no longer caring about the uncleaned nosebleed, and instinctively covered his eyes.
Suddenly, his right eye began to sting and itch. Soon after, a refreshing breath transferred from his right eye to his left one, causing the latter to also start itching.
“What's going on!” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes vigorously.
After a few more rubs, the itching sensation disappeared. When he lifted his head, his vision transitioned from blurred to crystal clear, almost unbelievably so!
"Huh? Is my eyesight back to normal?" He froze in disbelief and quickly rubbed his eyes once more.
He had been nearsighted since high school with a prescription between eighty and ninety degrees, making his vision blurry. But at this moment, everything he saw was incredibly clear! He could even see the tiny dust particles floating in the air a few meters away!
"Strange, what's going on?" He muttered to himself with a touch of astonishment.
He quickly wiped off the nosebleed while inadvertently casting a glance at the piece of amber. A surprised “eh” escaped him.
"Where is the insect inside?" He widened his eyes in shock. The golden insect that had once been encased within the amber was now gone, leaving behind only a faint trace.
It seemed as if that light had been emitted from the amber; could the insect have come alive and flown into his eye?
"No way, could this amber piece be real? But even if it is real, the object inside has been there for hundreds of millions of years, so it couldn't possibly be alive, could it?" He mumbled.
Then, a twinge of regret hit him. The amber was intended as a gift for Zhou Meizhu, but now that it had mysteriously transformed, it looked like his hundred dollars had gone down the drain.
As he pouted, he subconsciously glanced again at the beautiful woman. She was still in meditation, completely oblivious to his nosebleeding incident, for which he secretly felt relieved.
Yet, soon his eyes flashed a faint blue light, allowing him to see through the woman and witness an incredibly beautiful scene!
"Damn!"
With a low curse, he quickly covered his nose with a tissue as blood trickled down again. His eyes revealed an incredulous look, and his heart pounded wildly.
"No way, can I actually see through things?"
He turn his head to try again. Initially, everything looked normal, but after some time, the beautiful scene reappeared!
Stunned, he continued looking at her. The woman opened her eyes at that moment. Upon eye contact, he was startled and quickly turned his head away.
The woman took off her headphones, smiled slightly as if she was accustomed to such attention, and asked with a laugh, "Do you need something?"
Her gaze swept across the room, landing on the boy in front of her. His prominent eyebrows and large eyes emphasized his towering height, nearly 1.8 meters tall, with a strong physique. His clothes were the only destitute element about him, clearly street market bargain-bin attire.
Wu Dong was incredibly embarrassed, stuttering as he spoke, “Ah…It’s nothing. I just wanted to ask if you like cherries. They're really delicious.”
Under pressure, he scrambled for a reason. During his recent trip to Jiang City, he had brought back a lot of cherries from his hometown, sweeter than the imported ones.
The woman gave a light smile and replied, "Sure, thank you."
Wu Dong was dumbstruck, thinking, She's really going to eat them?! I was just making polite conversation.
Without any choice, he took out a glass bottle from his bag. It contained about two pounds of cherries, each the size of a grape and alluring in their color. These cherries were rare, he had personally picked them from an orchard, costing over a hundred per pound.
He took off the lid with a slight wince and handed the bottle over, trying his best to display a generous demeanor.
With another subtle smile, the woman picked up a cherry and tasted it, her beautiful eyes widening with delight. She nodded slightly, “Delicious! They’re seriously sweet.”
Wu Dong thought to himself, Of course they're delicious. They're over a hundred per pound!
He forced a chuckle, saying, "These are honey cherries, if you find them tasty, please have more."
"Thank you!" She took the jar without hesitation and began to eat with relish.
Watching the number of cherries steadily diminishing, Wu Dong couldn't help but silently grieve over the loss of more than two-hundred bucks.