I don’t know anything about stone gambling, so I really struggled to translate this chapter. Sorry >,<
Oh, and Happy Holidays in advance (^o^)/
I’m taking this chance to take a break, seeya in January
“Stone gambling? It’s the kind of game in novels where you cut a stone to see if there is any jade in it?”
Bai Ling hasn’t seen that one yet, thinking it was absolutely fascinating to cut out beautiful jade from the stone.
“That’s right, that’s one. My little uncle said there would be three types of stone gambling at the scene that day. One is semi-gambling, where the stone has a window cut open to confirm that there is jade in it, but it’s unknown how big the jade is and what its quality is. This kind of price is high, depending on the display. Another kind is calculated by weight, ranging from 6,000 to 120,000 per kg. Also, the last kind of bad-looking leftovers from the mining cost 200 yuan. It’s for the female companions or the family’s younger generation brought by the guests to play with. We can’t afford expensive ones and can always play the 200 yuan for a stone one.”
Zhang Zhi knew that the Yan family and the Bai family had opened a braised meat shop with good business, so the breakfast cart of the Yan family had been closed long ago, and the supermarket of the Bai family had been traded out early in the morning. Now the two families were concentrating on the braised food shop, earning a lot of money, so they did not lack money.
In the past, she would never talk to Bai Ling about this kind of money-burning game, but now that with Ling and Yan Chu’s current situation, it did not hurt much to cut a 200 yuan stone.
Besides, stone gambling was so exciting. It was also quite interesting not to play but to watch others cut for them.
These days, studying was so tense every day, and they needed to relax.
“Yan Chu—”
Hearing Bai Ling’s protracted tone, Yan Chu knew that the other party was excited. Those who had never been in contact with stone gambling would be curious about this activity. Yan Chu knew that Bai Ling’s temperament was definitely not the kind of person who would be addicted to this gambling game type, so he agreed without hesitation.
The originally scheduled New Year’s Day holiday was to go to the city library. Yan Chu put all the carrots in his bowl into Bai Ling’s bowl as compensation for breaking the promise.
In fact, he did not truly like carrots either.
“Is this the place for stone gambling?”
Bai Ling took Zhang Zhi’s hand and looked at this big empty room with only people and stones.
The gambling stone happened in a factory. The semi-gambling’s unprocessed jade was already carefully placed on the shelves, and the other unprocessed jades got piled on the ground according to the price. It looked no different from ordinary stones.
Yan Chu had also come into contact with stone gambling before, but most were because of social interactions and entertainment. He was not familiar with gambling stones at all. After entering this factory, he always stood behind Bai Ling on the left, and the two people did not express any opinions.
When they arrived, many people began to choose the stone they liked. It was not a bidding rule. When they liked it, they picked it out. Other people could no longer pick that stone unless the person who originally picked him chose to give it up according to the stone gambling’s rules.
“You are Zhizhi’s friends, and that means my juniors. You can pick any stones worth 200 yuan and treat them as gifts from Uncle. If you like other stones, you will get a 20% discount. Don’t be polite to Uncle.”
Zhang Zhi’s little uncle was a chubby middle-aged man who looked like Maitreya Buddha. His eyebrows and eyes were curved, his big nose, thick lips, his hanging earlobes were long and round, and he was still twirling a string of Buddhist beads in his hands and wearing a Tang suit. This kind of look made people feel very close.
However, those engaged in the stone gambling business had some skills, and he would never be as harmless as he showed.
“It’s green!”
Just when Bai Ling was about to refuse, a burst of exclamation suddenly came from the stone-cutting place.
“Looks like a jackpot. Let’s go and see it with Uncle.”
Not long after this started, someone had already cut out the green, which proved that the quality of this batch of stones was high. It seemed they could definitely make a lot of money today.
Zhang Zhi’s uncle rubbed his beer belly, and his eyes narrowed into slits with a smile.
The three children curiously followed Zhang Zhi’s uncle into the crowd, and the stone got excavated more than half.
“Dig it all out.”
The owner of this stone was also in a good mood. He spent 200,000 yuan on this stone. Although the quality of the jade was not the best, just the Peas Jadeite-deviated Icy Jadeite, judging from the current display, the color was good, and the jade was big. An experienced master should be invited to take out jade ornaments and rings on the table. It was always available to sell for 600,000 to 700,000 yuan.
“I’ll give you 500,000 yuan. Please sell me this jade.”
“You’re not ashamed to say that. I’ll pay you 550,000 yuan. Please sell me this jade.”
Before the entire jade dug out, the onlooker jewelers had already started bidding.
“I still want to see the jade after being cut out. I’m sorry, everyone.” The owner of the jade cupped his hands in salute to everyone. Anyway, he had already cut so many pieces of jade. It was absolutely impossible to lose money. He also wanted to gamble to see how big the jade was.
“Yo, it’s Icy Jadeite.”
The jade was cut out of the stone entirely, and near the end, it became more transparent, the impurities inside were reduced, and it had a vague glass texture.
Icy Jadeite was more valuable than Peas Jadeite. That Icy Jadeite’s size was as big as a fist. Just such a big jade was enough to double price this jade.
“I’ll offer 800,000.”
“1,000,000.”
“1,100,000.”
The bidders immediately began to bid. Now that good jade was becoming rarer and rarer. Such a large piece of Icy Jadeite was a must for many jewelers.
In the end, this jade got auctioned off by a jeweler in the neighboring province for 1,100,000 yuan.
Bai Ling felt it was already a big deal when she sold a jade hairpin for 180,000 yuan, but after people cut a stone and sold it directly for 1,000,000 yuan, it was nothing short of trivial.
She did not plan to buy a stone to play with today, but suddenly she had an impulse to follow Zhang Zhi to the pile of stones worth 200 yuan.
“We’ll buy a piece together, and it won’t be so distressing if we lose.”
Bai Ling was still a budget-conscious girl at heart. Although her family’s financial level had skyrocketed and her pocket money had risen from 200 yuan a month to 1,000 yuan a month, she still maintained her previous spending habits.
Bai Ling could not even dream of buying a stone for 200 yuan. But the atmosphere was too infectious, and the temptation of the example that earned more than one million yuan just now, she could not help being excited.
She knew it was more likely that these stones were only rocks. If both of them bought one stone, they would lose 400 yuan. It would be better to buy them together. Even if they lost, each of them would lose 100 yuan, which seemed acceptable.
Bai Ling dragged Yan Chu to discuss this question, and from the beginning to the end, she had no intention of taking what Zhang Zhi’s uncle said just now to cut 200 yuan stones at will.
“After all, this is gambling. You can’t be addicted, you know. We will play this time no matter whether we cut jade or not.”
Bai Ling said this to Yan Chu and also to herself.
“Bai Ling, hurry up and choose.”
Zhang Zhi just came to have fun, so she did not go to the expensive stones but also rummaged through the pile of ordinary 200 yuan stones.
They also could not understand anything like the emerald-ness, ribbon, skin, crack, and such. They looked at the stones by hand and eyes.
The experience of buying a stone for 200 yuan was still very magical to Bai Ling. She was a little confused when looking at the pile.
“What do you think of that piece? It’s as round as a watermelon.”
Bai Ling pointed to a stone and asked Yan Chu.
“It’s not good. It’s so cold now. It’s not the time to eat watermelons. It’s not the right implication.” She said to herself again and rejected her own proposal.
“The gourd-shaped one seems good too.”
“And that one, it looks like a banana.”
This one was good, and that one was wonderful. Bai Ling hesitated for a while.
“Why don’t we buy more?”
Except for purchasing textbooks, Yan Chu saved all his pocket money given by his parents, so seeing that Bai Ling could not choose which one to buy, he asked which piece to buy.
“How can that be?”
Bai Ling stared at Yan Chu thoughtfully: “It’s not good to be addicted to gambling. Let’s buy only one. And just this time, you’re not allowed to play these things secretly in the future, you know? Otherwise, I’ll confiscate your private fund.”
Gambling was a terrible thing. Bai Ling felt that Yan Chu’s willpower was a bit weak, so she must take good care of his small treasury in the future.
Yan Chu, who got despised by his little girlfriend again, touched his nose. He’d better keep silent.
“Or just that one.”
After struggling to and fro, Bai Ling still pointed to the watermelon-shaped stone she first liked because that one was the largest in the pile of 200 yuan, which made people feel that it was worth buying for 200 yuan.
With Yan Chu’s consent, Bai Ling walked through the gap between the stones and planned to pick the stone. Who knew that her hand turned inexplicably and put it on a square-ish stone beside the watermelon-shaped one?
Bai Ling always felt that such a thing had happened before. At first, even when she bought the hairpin, she did not go for it.
As a result, Bai Ling picked the stone up and thought it might be her fate with the stone.
“I want this stone.”
With a somewhat unfamiliar yet familiar voice, Bai Ling raised her head and saw a man in a suit and leather shoes talking while pointing at the stone in her hand.
Zhang Zifan did not recognize Yan Chu and his party. To him, they were just passers-by in his life. He did not need to remember them.
Today, his nominal fiancée, Miss Perfect Jiang Qiao, one of the former members of the male protagonist’s harem, finally agreed to his invitation to participate in this stone gambling with him. Zhang Zifan had already decided to show his strength today.
In the past six months, he had picked up a lot of valuable antiques at low prices with that ability. But he was not like the protagonist when everything was all national treasures every time he picked up things. Most of the antiques he picked up were worth only around 100,000, which was not much wealth.
However, he did have a good reputation in the antique circle. This time, he got introduced by an old-timer in the antique circle.
Zhang Zifan’s number of treasure appraisals per day had increased from 6-7 times in the beginning to 12 times now. It was not a skill to extract jade from high-quality stones. He firmly believed that the real protagonist found treasures from those worthless materials.
Therefore, before coming, Zhang Zifan decided to use 8 of 12 precious opportunities to identify a pile of jade materials worth 200 yuan. If he could produce precious jade and give them to Jiang Qiao on the spot, he would certainly make the other party interested in him.
The one Bai Ling picked up was just identified by Zhang Zifan. However, it was held by Bai Ling before he could get the jade.
Not only the voice but also the appearance was familiar.
Bai Ling thought carefully. Wasn’t this the stupid rich-second generation who insisted on buying their hairpin last time? Seeing the other party appear, Bai Ling felt more and more that the stone in her arms was a treasure for some reason.
