New habits

Whether the jade is good depends on its color.

Wang Hongmei looked at the jade bracelet in her hand and frowned, "Son, does this jade bracelet costs a lot of money?"

"It's okay. It's just a little over 50,000."

"50,000?" Wang Hongmei gasped in exasperation.

Seeing his mother's worried eyes, Arthur smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mother. I bought this at the Yu Yuan Jewelry Store. It is not that expensive."

"Oh, that's okay."

The couple, of course, absolutely believed that Arthur would not do anything illegal just for extra superficial money.

What she really worried was her son got cheated out of money. Yu Yuan Jewelry Store's reputation is not bad.

 But Wang Hongmei still couldn't help but say: "Don't buy such an expensive gift next time. If I accidentally break it, it will be distressing!"

David Farlier played with the lighter with satisfaction, and then nodded and said: "This lighter is not bad. What brand is this?"

"Cartier lighters are worth more than six thousand." Arthur smiled.

"What?!"

Wang Hongmei stopped what she was doing as soon as she heard Arthur. "A lighter cost more than 6,000? Why did you buy such an expensive one? It just lights a fire. You can just buy one for one to two yuan!"

"Old lady, what do you mean?" David Farlier raised his brows and retorted: "How can a plastic lighter for one or two yuan be the same as this one?"

Contrary to the endless worries of his mother, Arthur's dad was rather delighted by the thoughtful gift of his. He was also quite proud that Arthur could be independent right after finishing his high school.

After the usual bickering of the old couple, David Farlier returned back to the kitchen to cook two dishes for Arthur, and then went outside with a cigarette in his mouth.

Arthur has eaten the Western dishes for two or three days in Shanghai, and he will once again eat the Sichuan dish made by his father which feels very warm.

David's craftsmanship is naturally very good. Don't look at his appearance, but his native Chinese dishes are no jokes.

The dishes are spicy and delicious, not to mention the mapo tofu, even the white rice, Arthur can eat three to four bowls.

After eating, Arthur planned to clean the dishes and the chopsticks he used.

Upon seeing Arthur's actions, Wang Hongmei said: "I'll deal with that later. You can go back home and rest."

"It's okay. I'm not tired." Arthur waved his hand.

After cleaning the table and washing the dishes, he picked up his backpack and said, "Mom, I'm going home first."

"Go."

…

Arthur didn't head home immediately, instead, he went to the stationery store and bought a pen and a few copybooks.

This is the first skill he plans to learn, calligraphy!

Most non-Chinese would perhaps not get the charms of calligraphy. But growing up in China since birth, Arthur could see the mesmerizing side of this arts.

As the saying goes, observing calligraphy is like observing a person.

Whether a person is good or not, through his calligraphy, you can roughly tell what personality he has.

An elegant, free, and clean handwriting will undoubtedly make people feel good, which is why Arthur wanted to master this skill.

What's more, with a Westerner-like face of his, but his calligraphy skills surpassed many native master? Isn't it cool?

Of course, that day is still quite faraway…

After returning home, Arthur turned on the air conditioner and sat at his desk.

He then spread out the calligraphy pad and began to practice calligraphy.

Beginners learning hard pen calligraphy start from the most basic imitation.

You will be able to show your own calligraphy style at least when you reach the expert level.

The style that Arthur chose to imitate was the works of Master Ren Ping. He has won the highest award in the National Calligraphy Competition for three consecutive years.

Practicing calligraphy is very boring but when you want to relax, you will find joy in it.

Especially when you see beautiful words out of your own writing, the sense of accomplishment is beyond measure.

Before he realized it, an hour had already passed.

After Arthur finished his last word, he put down his pen and did some stretching.

In the initial stages of practicing calligraphy, 'practice makes perfect'. There aren't any shortcuts. If you want to reach the expert level, all you have to do is to write and write!

Arthur set a task for him to practice his calligraphy at least for one hour every day.

Arthur then picked up his phone only to realize that Feng Yang had several attempts to call him.

After reaching Feng Yang's phone, Feng Yang asked first: "What were you up to just now?!"

"I bought a few copybooks to practice calligraphy!" Arthur replied.

"Hard pen or brush calligraphy?" Feng Yang suddenly became interested.

After chatting for a while, Feng Yang reluctantly hung up the phone while Arthur picked up his guitar from a corner.

To be honest, if it hadn't been for his trip to Shanghai, he would have forgotten about this guitar.

Arthur sat on the floor and slowly plucked the strings with his finger to clean up the dust on the guitar.

Suddenly, a series of beautiful music gradually sounded and echoed in the bedroom.

Arthur felt excited after playing a piece of music.

What he just played was 'Paganini's Caprice 24' which had the most difficult guitar score. If it were the past him who played it, he would have inevitably made mistakes. But this time, his playing was extremely smooth and there weren't any flaws.

At present, the grade of folk guitar is divided into ten grades from 1 to 10, lowest to highest.

At this point, Arthur felt that his current level is at sixth, whilst the next level would be the professional level.

After playing a few more songs, Arthur put down his guitar and turned in his computer to play some games with his bros.

…

In the following days, Arthur maintained a good routine.

He gets up at 7 o'clock in the morning and goes for a half-hour jog within the community park.

He then comes back home to eat breakfast, practice his hard pen calligraphy for half an hour, and then goes to the restaurant to help.

He goes home in the afternoon to play his guitar and play games.

….

Time had passed so fast and came September 1st in a flash. The Jinlin University of Finance and Economics classes will start tomorrow so he had to board the train today.

"Son, don't you really not want us to accompany you?" David Farlier asked.

Arthur waved his hand and said, "It's really not necessary. It's just the opening of classes. It's not like I'm getting married or something."

As Arthur insisted, David Farlier nodded and said, "Then so be it. Pay attention to your safety."

After so many years of free-range education in Buddhism, Arthur has cultivated his independence and self-reliance.

"After arriving in Jinlin, remember to call us to inform us you've arrived safely." David also trusted him very well, so after some reminders, he went out and rushed to the restaurant.

The start of classes at Jinlin University of Finance and Economics will be on September 2. The reason why he went to Jinling one day in advance was naturally to spend some money.

During this time, the system earned him 150,000, plus the remaining money from before, totaling 195,000.

And the road to LV4 is only 140,000 experience points short.

The system shop has also refreshed the night he returned from Shanghai but embarrassingly, Arthur could not afford the system merchandise.

...

[Professional Chess Skill Book]: After using this item, the host will immediately obtain first-level chess skills. If the host already possesses first-level chess skills, then there will be a 50% chance of upgrading the existing skills to master level!

Price: 1.8 million!

...

A lot of money!

But 1.8 million in exchange for first-level chess skills is definitely worth it!

In China, there are five professional levels in chess.

From highest to lowest: Grand Master, Master, First Class Chess Player, Second Class Chess Player, and lastly, Third Class Chess Player.

If someone excels in chess tournaments. The best among the best is given the honor and title of a chess master.

A first-class chess player should not be underestimated as it is extremely difficult to even reach this level.

You need to make it to at least the 32nd place in the national individual competitions, make it to the top 6 among individual competitions of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, top 3 of the national industry sports association, and then the top 3 from national youth individual competitions.

Only if you pass one of these can you be regarded as a first-class chess player. It is obvious how difficult it really is.

And now, he only needs to spend 1.8 million to easily get the results that others can't attain for more than ten years or even decades.

Only fools won't buy it!

The problem is that he has no money so he can only drool over it.

He needs to raise his level to LV4 as soon as possible and quickly accumulate funds.

According to the recent increase, after upgrading to LV4, he should earn 0.8 yuan per blink, and 450,000 in income a month.

In addition, if he reaches LV4, the system will also reward him with a gift pack. He had kept the LV3 gift pack and decided to open it after the upgrade to LV4.

/////

The prototype of Mr. Arthur-of-All-Trades has officially taken shape...