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Chapter 389: Testing the Waters 4

Qi Qingyao could not tell Lu Yan what was going through her mind, but she still needed someone to organize the plan with her. After thinking for a while, she went and looked for the three kids. The three little ones were surprised when she entered. They hurriedly sat up straight on their bed, watching their mother eagerly.

Qi Qingyao was unaware that the kids had been discussing Mo Yang for a long time. She closed the door, walked over, and sat down. She licked her dry lips and then started talking about the keepsakes and how she was not the Qi family’s biological child.

The children were shocked for a long time but said nothing.

Because they felt…it was reasonable.

If she was not their biological child, that would explain why their grandfather and grandmother did not treat them well. In fact, it would have been weird if they actually treated their mommy well when she was not actually theirs.

Dabao and Erniu were a little stunned; they were still trying to digest what their mommy had told them.

Xiaobao managed to catch on quickly and he immediately said, “So what does Mommy plan on doing now?”

Qi Qingyao rubbed her chin and her dark eyes twinkled. “Lu Yan gave me a suggestion; he said I could test the waters. I think it’s a good idea.”

“What does ‘test the water’ mean, Mommy?” Erniu finally asked in a childlike voice.

Qi Qingyao caressed the kid’s head. “The origin of the phrase refers to when one would stick a toe into the water to test the temperature before going in. Now, it’s a metaphor to mean carrying out an action to assess a situation.”

Xiaobao reacted fast and shook his head, asking weakly, “Oh~~ but this probably isn’t the same as attracting jade by casting stones, right?” (T/N: Idiom meaning to offer ordinary remarks and hoping for valuable suggestions)

“We’re not throwing out stones, we’re throwing out a good piece of jade.” Qi Qingyao pondered for a bit then brought out the two keepsakes from the clothes in the chest. She gave them to the kids to have a look. “These are the keepsakes.”

The three little ones all came over and touched the jade tablet and jade ring.

After touching it.

Xiaobao blinked his round eyes. “But there is a problem here, Mommy.”

“Tell me,” Qi Qingyao said as she put away the keepsakes.

Xiaobao said, “It’s not a bad idea to test the waters but that jade doesn’t look cheap—it’s even nice to touch. If you’re going to ask Uncle Lu to forge them using similar materials, how many kinds of materials can you find that are like it? If you draw attention when you’re just looking for the materials…”

Qi Qingyao was a little stunned. She said, “I didn’t think of that. It’s a good thing that Xiaobao reminded me of it.”

Dabao looked at Xiaobao with admiration.

Qi Qingyao contemplated for a bit. Then her expression lit up and she smiled and said, “Then we’ll catch fish in troubled waters (T/N: Idiom meaning to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain). We could just buy a bunch of ordinary nephrite, carve them up with many similar patterns, and then carve the real patterns in too. That way, we won’t be exposed because of the material, but the unique pattern will capture the attention of some people. In the meantime, we still keep the real keepsakes.”

Xiaobao nodded his agreement.

Dabao and Erniu looked impressed despite not understanding.

After Qi Qingyao said that, she said with an air of praising herself, “This is not a bad suggestion. I really like this kind of operation where we mask the truth with lies and vice versa!”

They would use the pattern to catch fish in troubled waters. The pattern would be authentic but the material would be fake. That way, she could protect herself and also lower the chance of them exposing themselves when they searched for materials for the forgery.

After obtaining this solution, Qi Qingyao went and searched for Lu Yan.

She immediately said, “Help me look for a master forger and a pile of nephrite.”

Lu Yan, “…”

Had she decided to test the waters?