Chapter 1202 Origin of the Jade
Sonia found it absurd as she facepalmed and said, “My bad. I just realized that you might think hundreds of millions is a small amount of money since you are filthy rich. That’s why you would say that this box is only somewhat valuable.”
To him, having a few dollars is equivalent to having hundreds of millions. However, this is an enormous amount for me, she thought. Hearing her words, Toby averted his gaze and looked at the screen again. “Do you like this box?” he asked.
“No.” Sonia shook her head hastily. “Although this box is quite valuable to me, it also scares me.” “It scares you?” Toby raised his eyebrow, unsure why she would be afraid of a box.
Hence, Sonia explained to him. “This box has been in the world for quite some time, and by the looks of the carvings, it seems mysterious. Looking at it, I can’t help but recall specific scenes from horror movies. There are many antique objects like this in horror movies. It gives me an eerie feeling, so I don’t like it.”
When Toby heard her words, he laughed because he didn’t expect this to be the reason she was afraid. Only now did he know that she was scared of this.
“I was just thinking of giving it to you if you like it.” He chuckled deeply. “It looks like I can’t do that now.”
Hearing his words, Sonia quickly declined and said, “Don’t give it to me. I think I’m going to have nightmares from having it. Why don’t you just keep it?”
“I won’t give it to you if you dislike it,” said Toby as he nodded. Only then did Sonia sigh a breath of relief. Then, she looked at the box curiously and asked, “That’s great. What’s in the box, though?”
When Tom heard her words, he placed his phone on a stand. Then, he held the box with one hand and opened it with another. At that moment, the thing inside the box was revealed and exposed under the camera. It was an emerald jade without any impurities. No wonder it was being kept in such an expensive box. After all, the jade was more expensive than the box.
When Sonia saw the jade, she couldn’t help but exclaim as she covered her mouth, “It’s beautiful.”
The jade was carved into the shape of a plum, and the petals and buds of the plum were ethereal. If it weren’t an emerald green jade, it looked just like a real plum, which was mesmerizing enough.
Although Sonia had no knowledge about jade, she also knew it would be pricey. Not only that, even someone as amateur as her could tell that an expert did the carving. When such top-level carving and rare jade were combined, the price of the jade would be exorbitant. If she guessed it correctly, the jade’s price would be a few thousand million.
Unlike Sonia, who was astonished by the jade, Toby frowned when he looked at it. There was a hint of shock flashed across his eyes. “I can’t believe this is the relic,” he said.
When Sonia heard his words, she looked at him curiously and asked, “Do you recognize this jade? No, that can’t be it. This jade was given to Connor by your mother when they were dating. How would you recognize it when you hadn’t even been born yet?”
When Valerie was dating Connor, she was not married to Homer yet. Thus, Toby was not born. That meant that he shouldn’t have known about the existence of the jade. As a woman, Sonia didn’t feel that Valerie would tell Homer and Toby about something she had given to her first love.
However, Toby slowly nodded as Sonia looked at him. “I know about this,” he said.
“You do?” Sonia was shocked by his words.
When Tom heard their conversation, he was also shocked, but then he assumed that Valerie had told Toby about it.
From the looks of it, one could tell that there was a difference between a man and a woman’s mindset. While Sonia thought Valerie wouldn’t tell Toby about this, Tom assumed she would. This was the difference between a man and a woman’s way of thinking.
When Toby saw that the red lights had turned green, he started the car and drove as he spoke. “The Johann Family used to be big and ancient. In fact, its history is older than the Fullers.”
“Even older than Fuller Family?” Sonia was in disbelief. “Yes.” Toby nodded. Hearing his words, Sonia exclaimed, “I thought that the Johann Family was just a family that stayed for about tens of years. I didn’t expect it to be so ancient.”
The Johann Family was also a family from Westsanshire, but it was a low-ranked family. Right now, the Johanns could only squeeze their way to the line of a top-ranked family, but they were due to fall out from it any time.
After all, the heir of the Johann Family was a collateral branch from the Johann Family and not the same as Valerie’s family branch. Hence, the heir had nothing to do with Toby other than bloodline. The Johanns also knew that Toby would ignore them. Therefore, they didn’t ask for help even if the family would fall any time soon.
Considering this matter, Sonia felt they knew their place, but she had always thought that the Johann Family was the same as the Fuller Family, which started from Valerie’s grandfather. Never did she expect that the Johann Family’s history was longer than the Fullers.
“The current Johann Family isn’t the same branch of the family as it used to be. That’s why many past events of the family have been buried deep down and were unknown. Thus, it’s normal if you don’t know about it,” Toby explained softly.
Hearing his words, Sonia nodded and said, “So, what’s going on with that jade?”
After turning the steering wheel, Toby said, “The ancestors of the Johanns were first-rank officials, but they were corrupted and had taken money from the citizens. When the dynasty perished, the Johanns hoarded many treasures from the palace. At that time, the Johann Family was the strongest out there.
However, everything has an end. After some time, the generations of the Johann Family became ordinary. They couldn’t earn back their money other than spending it, which was why their family had become a middle-rank family after about three generations. Even half of the possessions that their ancestors hoarded had been spent.”
When Sonia heard his words, she sighed and said, “I guess it’s true that a big family company would not be able to stand being spent if the generations are not hard-working enough.”
Toby didn’t comment on her opinion and continued, “During that decade, the Johanns became the most impacted family, and their properties were being snatched. However, some of them were smart enough to secretly hide a part of their possessions, which became the startup of the Johann Family.
This jade is one of the possessions that had been hidden. Due to its cost, the heir of the Johann Family, which was also my grandfather, didn’t sell the jade and gave it to my mother.
As the representative of the Johanns, my grandfather was an ambitious man. He tried to turn the family into what it used to be, so he kept the rule of having a token representing that family member. I know this because my grandfather told me about it.”
“I see.” Sonia raised her chin in realization. I knew it. There’s no way he would’ve known about the jade’s origin from his mother, she thought.
On the other end of the phone, realization struck Tom when he heard Toby’s words. It looks like I have guessed it wrong again, he thought.
At this moment, Sonia suddenly remembered something and looked at Toby. “I remember that Toby Fuller wasn’t always your actual name, right?” she asked.
