Chapter 48 Turning Stone into Jade
What the owner of stone that the Burmese host announces later leaves Elly no choice but to bid on the huge raw stone!
Wang Miao’e has revealed the truth that Elly has sent someone to eavesdrop on the price other traders may offer. She informs those traders. They just raise the price a little bit and she smoothly wins the stone—Except two men who suspect Wang Miao’e. The two of them do not raise the price so Elly manages to win the stone, or else Fortune House will come away empty-handed.
What is more unacceptable for Elly is that both of the raw stones she snatches from other traders only contain a fist-size egg-white jade which is full of cracks. Among a dozen of raw stones she buys, there is not even one good jade…
“Are these raw stones from an old field? You dare to sell these stones to us at such high prices without opening a window on them. How can they be like this?”
Elly has spent almost 20 million yuan and all she has got are two pieces of glutinous jade which are not enough to make bracelets and a piece of cracked egg-white jade. Elly is actually having bad luck so she can’t help blaming the Burmese host.
The two traders whose stones have been won by Elly are now wiping sweat on their forehead. They are grateful that Elly has taken away their bad choices.
The Burmese man’s skin is dark. Now his expression is even darker.
If he knew that Miss. Elly of Fortune House was so unlucky today, he would never cut open her raw stone. It is now a question whether he can sell the huge stone or not, and the Burmese host starts to worry.
“Wu Dan, how about you cut open the raw stone of Liu’s?”
Lin Luoran calls the Burmese man in a different title from Elly. Liu Zheng has just filled her in with the special naming system of Burma. She knows that the host is much older than her and he must be a person of standing in Burma since he can smuggle out raw stones. Therefore, she feels that it is appropriate to add a respectful “Wu” in front of his names.
Burmese people have no last names. Before a Burmese boy becomes an adult, he adds the word “Mao” before his name to express the modesty. Sometimes, in order to show intimacy, elders will use the word “Mao” before calling the name of their male junior. Besides, people will add the word “Ge” before the name of a young man or the man in their peer. For instance, a Burmese couple has named their son Juewen. When Juewen is a juvenile, people will call him “Mao Juewen”; When he becomes an adult, he will be called “Ge Juewen”; When he gets old or if he obtains certain social status, people will respectfully call him “Wu Juewen”.
The Burmese host is pleased by Lin Luoran’s judiciousness, “Beautiful lady, may you have good luck! I’ll do as you say!”
“Stone No. 163 of Liu’s Treasure House. Price is 590,009 yuan. Begin to cut it!” While the host calling out, his men load the raw stone on the cutting machine.
“The stone looks ordinary. Will it contain jade?” Hearing that the stone only costs 500,000 yuan and it looks so ordinary, a jade trader from Fujian Province lowers his expectation.
“You are so ignorant. Miss. Lin here is the new Magical Hand in the industry. The stone she likes must contain nice jade even it looks plain!” The guy from Guangzhou says then smiles obsequiously to Lin Luoran, which makes her laugh.
The guy from Guangzhou is not complimenting her. He is obviously belittling the raw stone Elly bought with 2.5 million yuan for being a waste. It appears that Elly has lots of enemies.
“Miss. Lin, how do you want to cut the stone?”
The host has asked Elly the exact same question and Elly answers to cut it randomly. Lin Luoran pretends to think about the jade trend in the stone then draws three crossed lines on it after a while. She says with a smile, “I only want this piece in the middle. Sorry to bother you, Wu Dan.”
The host says, “My pleasure.” Then he personally operates the cutting machine and cut through the stone according to the lines Lin Luoran draws.
After the stone is cut open, the guy from Guangzhou screams, “Wow! It is an emerald green jade! The color is so nice! Miss. Lin has made a great pick again!”
Mr. Zhang who has only met Lin Luoran once feels happy for her, let alone Liu Zheng and his uncle as well as Wang Miao’e and Fatty Cui— They are all from R City. Lin Luoran’s good choice will bring all of them honor!
“Fatty Cui, you are so fortunate to recognize Lin Luoran as your sister.” Mr. Zhang is jealous. If he knew Lin Luoran had such magical hands, he would have recognized her as a sister when the raw stone she bought with 2000 yuan contained two pieces of jade!
“Yuck! Old Zhang, you don’t have the ability to tell good from bad. Why are you jealous now!” Wang Miao’e says with her hands on the waist. She vigorously replies him and makes Mr. Zhang speechless. Mr. Zhang always feels that Fatty Cui’s fierce wife is dreadful.
Mu Tiannan has been listening closely and he asks with curiosity, “Why do people call Lin Luoran Magical Hand? What has she done?”
Speaking of this, Fatty Cui is exultant, “This is the sore spot of Old Zhang. There were some discarded raw stones in his yard for years and Luoran bought them… Eh…”
Fatty Cui suddenly remembers that this foppish man beside him can actually bend a steel bar with bare hands, and he chocks on his words. He is targeted because of jade. Does this mean he just leads the danger to Lin Luoran? Fatty Cui shuts up immediately.
Mu Tiannan has already seen through Fatty Cui, and he can understand Fatty Cui’s concern. Mu Tiannan asks the same question to Wang Miao’e instead of pursuing further.
Wang Miao’e is so happy for Lin Luoran. She doesn’t hide things from Mu Tiannan since he does offer a decent price to buy jade from them. Wang Miao’e tells Mu Tiannan everything about how Lin Luoran spends 2000 yuan on a raw stone which contains 8-million-yuan worth of jade. Mr. Zhang confirms Wang Miao’e words.
“Turning stone to jade? Is she really so magical?” Mu Tiannan is curious. He has also investigated Mr. Zhang who sells the raw stone to Fatty Cui. The information he got was that Mr. Zhang was a decent trader and there was nothing odd about him. This trail went cold, which made Mu Tiannan angry so he went to bend a steel bar in front of Fatty Cui. Mu Tiannan didn’t expect Fatty Cui to be so scared, which exactly gave more convenience to him.
“Of course! The Purple-green Mix you bought from us used to be Luoran’s!” Wang Miao’e glares at Mu Tiannan while saying, and she fails to notice Fatty Cui who keeps blinking to her.
It’s not strange for a girl to make one or two good choices. However, she deserves his attention when the stone she picks contains a Purple-green Mix.
Mu Tiannan turns his eyes on the so-called “emerald green” jade in the center of the yard and becomes interested all of a sudden.
“Turning stone into jade”? It seems that the girl who steals his ginseng seed is more suitable than Fatty Cui to help him find jade.
Lin Luoran is telling the Burmese host how exactly she wants to cut the stone, and she somehow feels thrilled as if she is targeted by a serpent.
Who is making evil conspiracy on me? Lin Luoran is alarmed!
