Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Seeing the agitated crowd, Li Du sighed. “I finally understand why people are so obsessed with stone gambling. To the poor, if they get it right once, they would not have to worry about their expenses for the rest of their lives. For those who are rich, this is just exciting.”
Da Mao said, “However, stone gambling is only for people who are truly skillful or have strong self-control. Otherwise, regardless of whether you are rich or poor, you will fall sooner or later!”
Zhong Da Pao said, “That’s right. The Chinese Village is full of such people.”
The cut on the stone had caused the price to rise sharply. Li Du’s group would be able to make at least three million RMB. Such circumstances were definitely worth setting off the firecrackers for.
Previously, they had not had the opportunity to set off the firecrackers. Liu Zi had been fretting over that. Now that he knew they were preparing to celebrate, he shouted, “One hundred thousand worth of firecrackers, I want no less than that!”
Zhong Da Pao gave him a kick and said, “Go to hell, what’s wrong with you? Spending ten thousand on firecrackers is enough!”
Knife smiled. “I will give you guys ten of those worth ten thousand. Treat it as a red packet from me.”
The boss of the private field where the jade that was revealed had come from would also give out a red packet. It was considered a sort of promotion effort and was very effective. For a long time, those who would come to pick stones would parrot what Li Du’s group did.
As for Old Liao’s big loss? The stone gamblers would not care about that. They only cared about who made money, big money. Nobody cared about losers.
The firecrackers were brought out. Da Mao lit up a cigarette and went over to help. Then, Zhong Da Pao organized them. He had yet to give the command when the two rolls of firecrackers started to set off…
Everyone else who happened to see that the firecrackers on their end had been lit up, also started to light up the one they were holding. Suddenly, the booming of the firecrackers shook the ground like thunder.
Zhong Da Pao started to get agitated. He asked, “Who lit it up just now? Who did that?”
Da Mao rubbed his nose awkwardly and said, “Nobody did. It’s like this. There were two strings from the two rolls of firecrackers. They were tangled up and I did not untie them. I wanted to use my cigarette bud to break them up…”
“D*mn it, are you acting stupid?” Zhong Da Pao was upset.
Having seen Arukan’s private field, their journey there was coming to an end. They would have to go to the next field for a look.
After visiting a few fields, Li Du realized that there was no opportunity to make a huge profit in the private field. The element of gambling in private fields was the smallest. That was because all the stones there were precious!
Later, when they entered the next field, Li Du got Zhong Da Pao and the rest to follow Da Mao to the private field for a look. He strolled along outside, trying to find an opportunity.
Da Mao first studied the stones in the private field. He picked a few before Li Du came over for a final look.
Apart from milling one stone from the fields at Arukan and Balin, they had not milled the rest of the ore purchased from other private fields. Instead, the stones had been safely kept in a bamboo basket.
The reason for that was simple. They now drew quite a lot of attention. They were an early bird. The frequency of their successful stone cutting was too alarming. They have now attracted the attention of many people. The information on them had spread like wildfire across each of the field areas!
In the afternoon, they went to find a restaurant. Life in the field was very tough. Some Chinese people who came to purchase the stones would bring along food like salted duck eggs, chili, salted fish and some preserved meat.
Although Hpakant was rich, it was not easy to live there. Previously, the field that Li Du and his people visited was near the town. The food there was still considered quite sumptuous. However, in Damakan, everything changed.
The food offered in the few restaurants that they visited was too simple.
To Zhong Da Pao and Liu Zi, it was sufficient to have food to fill their bellies. They didn’t care much about anything else.
However, Li Du was highly displeased with the sanitation of those restaurants, as he was with the food offered to him. It was true that he had traveled far and wide to make more money, not to wine and dine. However, he wanted to maintain a high standard of living as much as possible.
Finally, Zhong Da Pao found a family farm. He paid a large amount of money for two chickens and a lamb. They then steamed the chickens and grilled the lamb meat to eat.
The family farm was located at the borders of the field. There was a bunch of stones placed at the door too.
While the people in the house were preparing the food, Da Mao squatted in front of the door to check out the stones.
After some time, he found a piece of stone as big as his palm. Then he waved for Li Du to come over and look.
“The water is turned over, the shell is thin, and there is a line that twists. I’m guessing that there is jade inside. However, it should be typical, nothing extra special. I’m thinking of gambling on it,” he said.
Li Du did not let out the little bug. That piece of stone was too small. Besides, it appeared at the door of a regular farmhouse. It was pretty certain that they had picked up the stone from the dump. Even if it had missed the eyes of the experts there, the value of the stone would not be high.
Seeing that Da Mao was interested, he said, “If you wish to gamble on it, then buy it.”
Da Mao waved his hand and the owner came out to ask, “What’s up?”
“How much do you ask for this piece of stone?”
The owner glanced at it and said, “Ten thousand dollars.”
Da Mao got a shock and jumped. “Sh*t, ten thousand dollars for this? Are you crazy?”
The owner laughed. “You don’t know this trade. Foreigner, the stones here come from Kaqiu. I brought them after much effort. The stones from there will turn imperial green!”
Imperial green was practically the cream of the crop amongst jade. Such jade was also known as ‘Emerald Jade’. The share of green was exceedingly pure and deep.
Although jade was fundamentally green, most of it was rather pale green. Imperial green was similar to the shade of emerald. It was the purest and most vivid of green, and the price of such jade was very high.
However, not all imperial green was valuable. Some of the imperial green would have cracks or streaks of green. For such stones, the price would dip sharply. To fix a price for jade was not easy. There were many factors to consider.
Although Da Mao had some money on him at the moment, he was used to living a modest life. He felt that ten thousand dollars were a huge sum. Hence, he hesitated.
Li Du laughed. “If you are thinking of buying it, then do. Previously, some of the stones were worth a few hundred thousand or millions. You supported the purchase then.”
Da Mao smiled sheepishly. “That was because you guys were paying for it, not me. If I’m buying it, then it’s better for me to be more cautious. Didn’t you teach me to be cautious? Oh yeah, boss, come over for a look, help me to decide.”
Li Du had to release the little bug if he was to check out the stone. He looked at the stone briefly. It was not a big piece. There was indeed some good jade inside. The line-markings on its surface looked okay. It was worth buying that stone.
Li Du pretended to ponder for a while. Then he said, “Ten thousand is too expensive. How about eight thousand?”
The farmer said decisively, “Alright. You guys can continue to browse. There are so many stones here, and many of them are good. Perhaps there will be imperial green ones here.”
A bunch of stones of different sizes was lined up on the ground. Li Du felt that since the little bug was already released, it might as well check out the other stones.
As a result, when the little bug entered a stone that seemed to weigh around two or three kilograms, Li Du suddenly looked like he was struck.
Most of the stones he had seen previously had just a layer of jade and were not valuable. However, this piece of stone had a lot of jade inside. In fact, the deeper it went, the greener the jade was. Finally, it looked like it was greener than jade!
Perhaps the owner had only said what he did casually, but he had been right. That was imperial green here!
Li Du had checked out each of the fields and had never seen imperial green before. He had seen Jadeite, Ice Jade and Glass Jade. However, he had never seen Imperial Green Jade!
Li Du looked at a stone beside it without moving and asked, “Owner, how much is this?”
The owner said, “This is a piece of good stone. Do you see how symmetrical the shell is? Do you notice that this sand is rounder and tighter around it? There are even pine flowers scattered on the surface. It will be twenty thousand.”
Li Du put down the stone and pursed his lips. “Twenty thousand? I can buy two of such stones out there for twenty thousand.”
Saying that, he pointed to a triangular-shaped stone and the imperial green stone.
The owner turned to look at it and started laughing.
