Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi could not believe their eyes. They had seen their fair share of cutting that made or broke people at Hpakant, and even lost a fair bit after cutting their own rocks. Just yesterday, Li Du had lost a bundle because of the cutting. Even so, they could not believe their eyes.
However, this time the rock was worth a million dollars! Just like that, they wasted all that money. Both of them were heartbroken. To them, this was not just money. It was thirty, forty thousand catties of rice. It was hundreds of brand-new stone houses.
Someone prompted from the side, “The stone’s still big. Keep cutting.”
Zhong Dapao chimed in, “That’s right, Young Master Li, keep cutting. There might be something worth uncovering.”
Li Du shook his head. “I made a bad call. This rock really isn’t worth much.”
The teenager piped in callously, “That’s right. This rock is garbage, and I said as much before.”
“Shut your mouth, you brat. No one’s gonna think you’re mute if you don’t speak, you know?” Liu Zi elbowed him in the ribs.
Li Du noticed that Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi looked like they were reluctant to believe the rock was worthless, so he pushed another piece forward. “Cut it all, as quickly as you can.”
The polishing master got down to work. In a few strokes, tens of kilograms of the rock became fist-sized pebbles. As expected, there were no traces of jade. Li Du pushed forward two more pieces that were cut open as well. Like the previous pieces, they contained no jade either. The crowd sighed.
“This was a complete loss.”
“A million dollars! I could think of so many ways to spend that.”
“Damn, this rock is all show and no go. It’s really not worth much, huh!”
“Hmph, this is just an eighth part of the rock, and many parts have not been cut yet. I wanted to buy one myself but it’s a good thing I didn’t. It would definitely have been a loss.”
“This goes beyond just a loss.”
When they were down to the last piece, Li Du looked like he was finally on the brink of collapse. He kicked the rock and said solemnly, “Don’t cut this one. Leave it as it is.”
He let Godzilla collect the cut rocks, then said, “Throw all of it away, don’t trouble the man any more than we already have.”
The polishing master gave Li Du a thumbs up. “Good man!”
Zhong Dapao was visibly upset. “A million dollars gone just like that.”
Li Du laughed. “You seem like you hold some sway here, and everyone here gives you face. You are, arguably, someone who’s seen how big the world is, so surely a million dollars isn’t that much to you?”
Zhong Dapao shook his head. “I’ve seen the world, but this isn’t that. The losses I’ve seen before were never mine.”
Liu Zi laughed derisively. “Dude, we need to earn a million dollars before we can blow it like that.”
Zhong Dapao rubbed his hands together. “We’ve just lost everything we earned yesterday.”
Though he had some sway in the open auctions hosted in Hpakant, he was still broke. As they used to say, a man with no money is no man at all. Following this saying’s logic, Dapao wasn’t much of a man.
“No worries, I’ll take responsibility for this loss. You two split the profits amongst yourselves,” Li Du said.
Zhong Dapao rejected him flatly. “You’re looking down on us if you do that. It’s true I have no money, but I’m not going to go against the code just because of that. We’re in the same boat; one for all and all for one. This isn’t up for debate!”
Li Du burst into laughter when he heard what Dapao said. He muttered, “You’re loyal, but I really don’t need you to shoulder this with me this time, because I dug this grave myself.”
Zhong Dapao was surprised. “Huh?”
Li Du ushered them out, where people were pointing at him. “He’s the one who bought Abakar and made a huge loss!””You can’t rely on that rock!”
The Japanese merchant Yoshida looked severe. Li Du angrily told him, “The rock I bought from you completely tanked, there wasn’t even the faintest hint of green or low-grade jade. F*ck, did you play me?”
This angered Yoshida. His loss was comparatively bigger. Not only had his bodyguard been sent off to the hospital because he was crippled in the fight with Godzilla, but the value of the rocks he had on hand was also plummeting because of Li Du’s stunt.
Before the fiasco, he had still been adamant about recouping his losses by refusing to budge on his asking price, but now that Li Du bought a piece and proved that his rock was garbage, it was unlikely that anyone else would buy his remaining stock. Yoshida would definitely have to pay, but the amount he would lose hinged on how much the jade cut from the stone was worth.
Li Du kicked up a huge fuss, pointing at Yoshida and claiming that the man had scammed him.
Yoshida only spoke Japanese and English, but the tongues most commonly spoken in Hpakant were Burmese and Chinese. Between Li Du bellowing in Chinese and Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi clamoring in Burmese, the crowd quickly learned about how the huge Abakar fell in profit cut after being cut.
Once he accomplished what he had set out to do, Li Du quickly left. He gathered the rocks that Godzilla had disposed of and threw the only uncut chunk into the black hole when no one was looking.
That rock housed one Sun Wukong , which was capable of becoming translucent jade. Li Du could not confirm ahead of time how much it was worth, but what he knew for sure was that Yoshida would be extremely angry if he found out about its existence.
However, he could not allow that, or he would run the risk of losing his life. Never mind the fact that he would have had to split the profits with Zhong Dapao, the more pressing issue was that there were people who would go as far as killing him if they could lay their hands on jade of such high quality.
He resorted to another stunt instead, which allowed him both to guard the jade and retaliate against Yoshida who had cheated him. He was striking down two birds with a stone.
Out in the street, there were cairns made of rocks stacked on top of each other. Li Du threw the chunk into one such pile and a bunch of kids swarmed forward to retrieve it.
One of the children asked, “English, Chinese, Burmese, or Japanese?”
Li Du paused. “What?”
The child had spoken to him in English, but he responded in Chinese. At his response, the child perked up. “Good day, sir. Would you like some jade? I have a yellowish-green piece. I’ll sell it to you for a good price if you’d like.”
“I have one here that’s red as a bayberry with a slightly waxy skin. It’s good stuff, sir, won’t you buy it?”
“Let me show you this one! It’s a thunder rock from the bigger markets. I have a few more at home, and if you want, I can sell them to you.”
Li Du was soon surrounded by the children. Some of them were still hurriedly digging through the piles while others fished out rocks that had already been cut from their satchels to show him, aggressively promoting their stock to him.
Li Du had initially thought there was something he could buy here, but he took one look at the stones they had in their hands and realized otherwise. Even without releasing the little bugs he knew those were merely worthless leftovers.
Liu Zi saw that Li Du was surrounded by the kids and shooed the youngsters away. “Go! Don’t cause a ruckus here, or I’ll whoop your butts!”
Some of the kids ran away giggling while others lingered around Li Du with their hands stretched out. In a pitiful tone, they asked, “Spare us some food, brother.””I’m not a beggar, but I’m hungry.””Can you buy me some bread, please?”
