Chapter 1: Tears of Hope

  The Crowne Plaza Group is located in the city center, at a prosperous stage, and also has a landmark building - Laurel Building. Zheng Hanfei easily arrived at the entrance of the building.

  However, this time's gem exhibition seems to have invited many world-renowned figures, causing a stir in the country of Hua Xia, resulting in many unrelated personnel gathering at the entrance of the building, making it impossible for Zheng Hanfei to squeeze in.

  "Excuse me, would you mind moving aside?" Zheng Hanfei said very politely, "I'm here to attend the exhibition, and standing in the middle of the road like this is causing me a lot of trouble."

  "What are you, a scallion!" The disturbed man was very annoyed, took a glance at Zheng Hanfei and said disdainfully: "With your shabby appearance, you still want to participate in the exhibition? Don't be ridiculous! You're lucky if people don't take you for a beggar!"

  Zheng Hanfei was left speechless by the man, and although he and Wang Bo were dressed in a suit to attend the exhibition, compared to those famous figures, they indeed looked a bit shabby, no wonder others didn't believe what he said.

  Zheng Hanfei thought of taking out the invitation letter to show that man, and then letting him give way. But thinking again, for this kind of person, even if you take out the invitation letter, he will still mock you a few words, and won't give way. Moreover, whether he recognizes this invitation letter or not is also a problem.

  "Hello, are you Mr. Zheng Hanfei?" Just as Zheng Hanfei was at a loss for what to do, a gentle and delicate female voice sounded in his ear.

  At the sound of his voice, he saw a blonde-haired blue-eyed woman standing beside him, wearing a professional office attire, with a tall and slender figure, and at first glance, she was an absolute beauty.

  "Excuse me, are you Mr. Zheng Hanfei?" Seeing that Zheng Hanfei didn't respond, the beautiful woman looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked again.

  "Cough! I am!" Zheng Hanfei replied with a red face, thinking to himself that he was actually mesmerized by the beauty, this time he really lost his composure.

  But speaking of embarrassing, Zheng Hanfei inadvertently glanced at the man behind him, his eyes wide open, mouth agape, and from time to time drooling on the ground, a complete pig-like appearance.

  It seems that his willpower is still pretty good. Zheng Hanfei kept comforting himself.

  "Great! I thought I'd mistaken you for someone else! My name is Linda." Linda stretched out her right hand, warmly introducing herself. "I'm the one who wrote that invitation letter to you. The manager knew you might not be able to make it, so he specially sent me to pick you up."

  "Hello!" Zheng Hanfei warmly shook her hand, "I've also brought someone to attend this exhibition, won't it cause any inconvenience for your company?"

  "No!" Linda shook her head and then stretched out her hand in a gesture of invitation, "The manager may have been waiting for a long time, please follow me."

  Zheng Hanfei nodded, took a last look at the stranger who was staring at him with a surprised expression, and then followed Linda into the building with a triumphant smile on his face.

  ……

  "Hello!" Looking at the tall and imposing figure in front of him, wearing a black tailcoat, resembling a Chinese man, Zheng Hanfei knew that this was the famous manager of the Klauses Group - Sterling, and he politely extended his hand.

  "Hello!" Sterling, with a smile on his face, shook Zheng Hanfei's hand and said excitedly: "So you're Zheng Hanfei! You really do look like your father. At first glance, I even thought you were him."

  "Mr. Sterling, do you know where my dad is?" Zheng Hanfei's voice was trembling, and Wang Bo could even see a few sparkling tears at the corners of his eyes.

  "Has your father returned yet?"

  Zheng Hanfei was disappointed and from the tone of the other party, he knew that they didn't know anything about his father's whereabouts.

  At that moment, he felt as if the sky was about to collapse. He had spent ten years searching, but hadn't found a single useful clue. How much longer could this go on? Even if he did find something, would he be able to see his parents again? Zheng Hanfei didn't dare think any further.

  "Don't worry! Don't worry!" Sterling also knew he had misspoken, and hastily comforted him, "Rest assured, I'll send someone to look for your father's trail right away. As soon as there's any news, I'll let you know."

  "Yes, young master!" Wang Bo also comforted Zheng Hanfei on the side, "The boat will naturally go straight to the bridge head, and you can't rush now. Let's listen to what Mr. Sterling has to say first."

  "Alright!" Zheng Hanfei let out a breath, staring at Sterling with a detective's gaze. "Mr. Sterling, what exactly is this matter you want to discuss with us?"

  "It's like this! Linda, bring it over!"

  "Yes! Manager!"

  A few minutes later, Linda reappeared in everyone's sight, only with an envelope in her hand.

  "I actually wanted you to take a look at this and hear your thoughts." Sterling handed over the envelope, passing it to Zheng Hanfei, his face filled with worry.

  Zheng Hanfei first took a look at the envelope's exterior, confirming that it was an ordinary envelope before opening it and taking out the light yellow card inside. The content on the card read:

  Those who are unhappy do not deserve to own "Tears of Hope". On the evening of April 5th at 8 o'clock, I will personally take it away and let you experience pain. If you want to use ordinary people to stop me, I don't suggest letting you live in pain!

  Spirits in Acheron

  "Is this... a threatening letter?!"

  "Yes." Sterling nodded, "About two days ago, Linda found this letter at the door of my office and informed me of its contents, so I rushed back from England."

  "So you're saying celebrating your child's birthday is just a lie?"

  "No! Today is indeed my child's birthday, I just used it as an excuse." Sterling said with some annoyance, "I'm really too busy, if not for this threatening letter, maybe I'd still be in England today."

  "That's no excuse." Zheng Hanfei put the card back in the envelope and handed it to Linda, saying seriously, "For work, you don't even care about your family, Mr. Sterling, it seems that you are indeed an unhappy person as mentioned in the letter."

  "Master..." Wang Bo reminded him from the side, "Pay attention to your image."

  "Wang Bo, you don't have to be like this!" Sterling waved his hand and admired Zheng Hanfei with a look of admiration. "He's absolutely right. You're indeed his child, I'm getting more and more impressed by you."

  "Never mind that for now!" Zheng Hanfei lowered his head and thought for a moment, then asked, "The 'Tears of Hope' mentioned in the letter refers to..."

  "Oh! It's this one!" Sterling hastily pulled out a delicate small box from his pocket, placed it on the table and opened it. Inside, a thumb-sized emerald quietly lay there, clear and bright, crystal transparent, shaped like a water droplet. The green surface seemed to be displaying the vibrant vitality of spring. In the center of the gemstone, there was a blue-green spot resembling a seed, but this spot did not affect the beauty of the emerald, instead adding a touch of radiance to it.

  "Beautiful! It's too beautiful!" Zheng Hanfei couldn't help but applaud, he wasn't an expert in gems, but facing this gemstone, he had to say that it was the best one he had ever seen so far.

  "This gemstone is called 'Tears of Hope', weighing 50.3 carats, and its shape was formed after a long period of polishing. Due to its resemblance to a water droplet, combined with the blue-green spots in the middle that resemble seeds and the olive green color, both symbolizing hope, it was named 'Tears of Hope'."

  "But doesn't the jade also symbolize life? Why isn't it called 'Tears of Life'?"

  "I heard that those who obtained this gemstone saw hope in times of trouble, so it's called 'Tears of Hope'."

  "Ah!" Zheng Hanfei nodded and smiled, "Acheron seems to be the River of Sorrow in ancient Greek mythology? And the implication of Grandma Green also includes happiness. The spirits in the River of Sorrow are going to take away the Stone of Happiness, interesting, really interesting!"

  "Master..."

  "It's nothing!" Zheng Hanfei interrupted Wang Bo's words and turned his head to ask Sterling: "When does the exhibition start?"

  "At 7 o'clock in the evening, at exactly 8 o'clock is the time to show 'Tears of Hope'."

  "Alright!" Zheng Hanfei took a glance at the time, "It's 6:30 now, Mr. Stirling, would you mind if we went to investigate where 'Tears of Hope' is being kept?"

  "Not at all! Let's go!" Sterling burst out laughing and led Zheng Hanfei, Wang Bo, and Linda to the exhibition.

  What a sprite in Acheron! Zheng Hanfei's eyes flashed with excitement, let me see how you take away this gemstone symbolizing hope from the detective's eyes, don't disappoint me!