Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The bodyguards put down the bamboo basket and started to tidy up the stones inside. The store owner saw that and realized that Li Du was a customer with huge potential. Hence, he started to promote the cut stones that he peddled.
“Bro, these stones are so beautiful, look at them. Direct the beam of your flashlight on them, gosh, look how lovely they are. There must be jade inside. Perhaps there might even be imperial green in there. Aren’t you buying them?”
“I’m not buying.”
Li Du walked to the next store down the street and asked the same, “Excluding those that have been milled, how much for the rest of the stones?”
The owner licked his lips and said, “This, it goes for eleven million.”
Li Du said, “Eight million, are you selling?”
The owner shook his head. “Eight million is too low.”
Without saying another word, Li Du went to the next store and asked, “Excluding those that have been milled, how much for the rest of the stones?”
The owner said, “Jadeite is not a pile of potatoes, you won’t be able to afford it all.”
“How much?” Li Du asked as he pushed aside those stones that have been milled and pointed to the remaining ones.
The owner put a finger up and said, “Ten million.”
Li Du said, “Eight million!”
The owner nodded. “Deal!”
They had bagged yet another batch of stones.
The owner of the previous stall started to get anxious. He said, “Hey, hey, hey. Bro, you are not like others. I will sell mine for eight million too. I’ll treat it as making a new friend. Eight million and it’s all yours.”
Li Du returned to that store and swiped his card. The bamboo baskets that the bodyguards were carrying were laden with another new batch of stones.
With the purchases he made along the way, after passing a few more stores the forty million were almost fully used up. They had been exchanged for a bunch of stones of varying sizes.
Seeing that, many people started to look at them, wide-eyed, and began to talk:
“D*mn, where is this filthy rich person from?”
“Filthy rich? He must be a mega idiot!”
“You’re an idiot yourself. Did you see those people around that chap? One of them is a local from another place. His name is either Mao or Gou. He’s very capable, he’s a stone gambling genius!”
“No matter how much of a genius he is, who would buy stones like that? All those that he bought are raw stones that have not been milled or cut open. He did not even try to take a peep and he bought them. Is he just trying his luck?”
Da Mao could not understand either. He asked quietly, “Boss, what is this about?”
Li Du laughed. “Keep your eye on this. You will soon understand.”
The King and Tulsi’s expressions looked terrible. They asked Zhong Da Pao, “What is this about?”
Zhong Da Pao kept his cool and said, “Nothing much, just gambling on the stones.”
The King howled angrily, “Who would gamble on stones like this? Why did he buy a bunch of uncut stones? Besides, he did not do any further analysis of this. This is like throwing money away!”
Zhong Da Pao managed to stay calm and said, “Don’t worry and just keep an eye on what happens next. Didn’t we agree on this? We’d fork out the capital equally. And our party is supposed to be in charge of buying the stones, right?”
The King raised his voice. “Yes, split equally. But why are you guys only spending our money?”
Just as he finished his sentence, Li Du had located a store and was about to ask for the pricing. The owner immediately pointed at the stones and said, “You can take them all for five million.”
Li Du said, “I want the milled stones from your store.”
There were five stones that had been cut or milled. They looked to be of similar size, as big as basketballs. They had the shape of semi-circles. The parts where they had been cut revealed either green or pale blue. They looked to be of good quality.
The owner asked, “Hmph, you are not buying raw stones anymore?”
Li Du said, “I’m interested in the cut stones from your store.”
Hearing that, the owner instantly perked up. He said, “Hey, buddy, you are an expert, definitely an expert. My goods here are not the regular sort. Let me tell you…”
Li Du said, “No need for elaboration. I see what I’m buying. Just tell me your price.”
The owner drew a huge circle with his arms and said, “You can buy all these five stones. I will give you a special discount. How about thirty million?”
Li Du said assertively, “I will buy them for twenty million.”
The owner shook his head. “Nobody bargains the way you do, brother…”
“Then forget about it,” Li Du turned to walk away. Then he pointed to some stones at the next store and asked, “How much are the cut stones here?”
That owner folded his arms and giggled, “You can make an offer.”
Li Du said, “Same, twenty million.”
The owner hesitated and said, “Add another two million. If it’s just twenty million, not only I have no profit to make, I also have to top it up with some sympathy for you.”
Li Du said, “Alright!”
The owner from the previous store waved, “Two million and two hundred thousand is fine with me. Two million is too low.”
Li Du no longer looked back at his store and asked at another store, “Will you sell all your stones here for twenty million?”
The owner said eagerly, “Yes!”
Li Du threw out another twenty million. Then he said to Zhong Da Pao, “Continue to ask them for money. We have forked out forty-odd million. Bring fifty million more here!”
Da Mao finally understood Li Du’s intention. He laughed and said, “You are really wise, boss. You want to spend a lot until the King can’t keep up with us? However, in that way, we’d lose quite a bit.”
Li Du revealed a secretive smile but did not answer him.
He had not spent a lot. Previously, the material he had bought were stones that had not been milled. There would be some amount of jade inside. Furthermore, the quality was pretty decent. Huika indeed produced high-quality stones.
As so much had been bought so quickly, no one noticed when Li Du secretly stashed some of the stones in the Black Hole.
As for those stones that had been milled, he did not buy them randomly. Those milled stones had a chance of producing jade, but the value was not high. Only the last two dozen had good quality jade in them. One would even be icy-green.
There were few cut stones in stock. Hence, he was unable to buy more. However, he had an idea.
Zhong Da Pao stood up sluggishly and stretched out his hand. He said, “We ran out of money, bring more here.”
The King was extremely angry. He pointed at Li Du and said to Zhong Da Pao, “Who is that man? D*mn it, what’s the meaning of this? What lousy rocks have you guys bought with my money?”
Zhong Da Pao put on an innocent face and said, “Are we gambling on the stones now?”
The King waved his hands and said, “Go to the fields. Tulsi, go queue up first. Let’s first mill those stones. D*mn! If there is no jade from that eighty million worth of stones, I will teach you guys a lesson!”
There were not many high-quality stones left in the stores out there. At least, there was not one store with many good-quality stones. Hence, Li Du followed them to the field.
On the journey there, he bought a few more raw stones. He handpicked those after some analysis. However, he acted casually, as though he was just buying whatever his eyes happened to land on.
Someone laughed. “What an eye-opener for me today. Turns out that there are people who gamble on stones this way.”
“Is this stone gambling? Sh*t, this fool just has a lot of money.”
“Don’t spout nonsense. People don’t get rich by accident, and our comrade here is really rich!”
The few store owners that Li Du bought from were ecstatic. They had managed to sell off so many stones at a decent price. The speed at which they earned money made them extremely happy.
The bunch of them then underwent some security checks before entering the field. Li Du got two of his people to stand guard at the car to look after their belongings. The local security was not good. There were many thieves around who would steal motorcycles.
Just as Da Mao was about to enter the field, someone stopped him and said, smiling, “Mr. Mao, welcome. Hope that you will have fun here. I hope that you will be able to find some nice stones.”
Da Mao decided to continue his act as a deaf-mute. “Ahh baa, ahh baa…”
