“Stop!”
The street seller blocked Li Mo’s path with the thousand RMB.
Li Mo looked back at the red lady, who winked back in pride, pissing him off.
With a slight frown, he returned the pendant without a second thought.
This broken pendant hardly looked to have any value. He only noticed it because it contained a jade core.
Even a top refining grandmaster would have to rely on luck to draw out its trickle of essence.
Having something so negligible wasn’t that important anyway, so Li Mo didn’t try to argue back.
‘That’s that.’
“Beauty, I have brought the pendant!”
The man put it in a bag and presented it to the red lady.
“I don’t want it. I changed my mind.”
The woman snorted.
The street seller’s smile froze.
“Y-you…”
“Me what? I didn’t pay for it so of course I can still decide. What, are you going to force me to buy it?”
The red lady mocked as she walked away.
“Ahhh!”
The seller was wailing his remorse. He glared at her back and chased after Li Mo.
“Buddy, friend, pal, I thought it over and this pendant, I w-will sell it to you!”
The seller gasped frantically.
“Don’t want it.”
Li Mo’s blunt reply came that almost reduced the man to tears.
This 50 RMB pendant hadn’t caught anyone’s eye for a month. Now that he got himself a buyer, his greed had to spoil it all.
‘It’s all that damn wench’s fault, how despicable!’
But he didn’t dare curse, only grumble.
“How does 900 sound?”
Li Mo was browsing the stalls away, not a care in the world.
“800! I am already losing here, but I will give it to you!
“How much then?”
Seeing Li Mo unresponsive, the street seller panicked.
Li Mo rose one finger, “100.”
The man shivered.
“Alright, just take it!”
Li Mo was already walking and the street seller had to begrudgingly settle for a hundred.
This pendant sold after a month with a measly price, but at least he did earn something.
Li Mo took a hundred and gave it to him as he took the pendant.
“Blame your own greed.”
The seller grabbed the bill and was even more depressed.
To others, the pendant was worthless, but in Li Mo’s hands it was more valuable than a real antique.
A trace of jade core was as pricey as ten thousand jades. For a jade to form such a rare core, it wasn’t an item money could buy.
“Gather around, gather around, and strike it rich! Don’t let this chance slip by!”
The shout caught Li Mo’s attention and turned to the crowded stall.
The stall had yellow rocks on display, of different shapes and sizes. Some people took a stone and began knocking on it, inspecting, smelling, and even tasting.
They were stone-betting.
These yellow rocks may or may not contain jadeite. One strike made a cleancut difference between losing and winning. It could make one rich beyond measure, or sink in debt.
Stone-gambling was thrilling and no matter where it happened, it was bound to attract customers.
“This, and this, and this! Scrape them for me!”
A slender young man with glasses picked three rocks.
Stone-betting happened in three ways: scraping, cutting, and grinding.
Scraping was the safest. Making a hasty cut on a jaded rock would render one losing much of the bet. That was why peeling a bit of the outer layer would help determine the jadeite’s shade, depth, and amount by shining a strong light inside.
Cutting was easy. One slice and a rock became two, easy to split the good from bad. In the case of scrapping and grinding, the difference laid in the former being more delicate.
The stall owner called out, “Three stones, each valued at 300,000 and the scrapping costs 3,000 per stone. Friend, are you sure you want them scrapped?”
The glass wearing youth had bought twenty rocks from him already. Each time he was shouting for people to watch all so he could prove this was all fair,
“Scrape!”
The youth pushed up his glasses, his eyes flashing.
The stall owner shouted, “First the money, then the scraping! We are running a legitimate business!”
“Haven’t I always paid?”
“You have, but this is a basic rule in stone-betting.”
“Here!”
The youth took out his cellphone and transferred the money.
Then the scrapping began.
The youth was out of luck it seemed. Of all his previous 20 rocks, only one rock barely earned him enough to wave off that rocks price.
After the three stones were scraped, it followed with grinding, then cutting. The three rocks became six in the end yet none had any trace of jadeite.
“Huge loss…”
“He must’ve lost everything.”
The youth went pale, bringing a trembling cigarette to his mouth and lighting it.
“It’s fine if you stone-gamble, but don’t get too greedy.”
“This man lost so much today.”
“Since morning he’s been at it and lost 6 millions RMB.”
“Heavens, if I had 6 millions, why the hell would I gamble?”
“Again, this time take out your largest rock!”
The youth’s voice was horse as he pointed to the most conspicuous and biggest stone.
The rock reached his waist and weighed more than 5 tones.
The stall owner smiled, “Friend, that rock is worth 100 million, and it’s already spoken for. In a few days it will reach the Priceless Auction to be bidded on!”
The crowd was shocked at his words.
Buying such a pricey rock was definitely done with style.
The glasses youth was ashen. He puffed a couple of times as he stared at the stones there, never to shout buy again.
“Boss, scrape this one for me!”
A white-haired old man in a Chinese suit picked a fist sized stone.
“Oh, Old Yu.”
The stall owner was smiling at the newcomer, taking the rock to the man next to him, “Old Yu picked it. Be careful with it.”
The glasses youth jumped, “Why isn’t he paying? Why did I have to?”
The crowd broke out in laughter, someone already explaining in the stall owner’s stead.
“He is Old Yu, Yu Boyan. How can you compare?”
“Yu Boyan, Old Yu, the nation’s number one appraiser. The name alone is worth millions. Boss Wei would be disrespectful if he made him pay first.”
“Ha-ha-ha…”
The crowd laughed and the glasses youth crouched next to a pile of yellow rocks, his eyes roaming over them.
When he came up with a decision, Yu Boyan’s stone came out with a result.
“Elder Yu’s stone was priced at 5,000 and resulted in a top-grade jade with a value of 900,000!”
The crowd exclaimed in shock.
