Return Of The Soldier King Chapter 148 Risky Gamble

"I know of her. She's the chairwoman of the Ya Lai Group! Her father, Lin Hongyuan, is a business legend. Compared to his empire, my business is a lemonade stall…" Xu Tongda muttered enviously.

In Qin Xiaogang's mind, the image of Ye Fei suddenly changed from a dangerous terrorist into a petty perpetrator. "Lin Hongyuan... I know the name. What's his daughter doing with Ye Fei?"

Xu Tongda walked away while Qin Xiaogang was thinking to himself. "Miss Lin? Come, have a look."

Qin Xiaogang quickly switched gear and flatteringly said, "Miss Lin, there are many of stones in this courtyard; some can be worth hundreds of millions! If you don't know which one is real jade, I can help you."　

Lin Qingwan hated sn.o.bs like Qin Xiaogang, but she was very interested in gambling on stones.

The large courtyard was very open, a hundred square meters, with a sunshade drawn above it. When the group went to join the gathered crowds, they saw many fenced-in areas filled with large or small stones. The smaller ones were the size of fists, while the largest were as tall as a man. The largest piece of rock looked like it weighed a good several tons.

In each area, stones were stacked according to size, quality and appearance, with a sign indicating their price.

Qin Xiaogang took out a flashlight and promptly jumped over the wooden fences to pick up one stone after anther and inspect them closely with the air of a true expert.

Someone near the stone-cutting area cried, "Aw, this stone looked so good! Turns out it's just red s.h.i.+t… Such a shame. Old Xie lost so much money on it..."

Qin Xiaogang jumped back out of the fenced-in enclosure and waved to Ye Fei, "Let's go to have a look. Seems something interesting's happened."

Lin Qingwan and Ye Fei followed him to the cutting area hand-in-hand.

The whole courtyard seemed illuminated by her appearance. Her beautiful and elegant visage silenced everyone they pa.s.sed. Even the cutting master could not help but look up from his delicate work.

Women came there all the time, of course, but most of them were the fat and intimidating kind. Charming and beautiful ladies like Lin Qingwan were rare.

At the sight of a shabby-looking man like Ye Fei holding her arm, people shook their heads disapprovingly and went back to minding their own business.

"Bro, what is 'red s.h.i.+t'?" Qin Xiaomeng asked.

Qin Xiaogang laughed, "You see that stone? That green hue means it is likely to be jade. When a stone looks expensive and pure on the surface but turns out not to contain any jade, people call it red s.h.i.+t."

"So he lost his money? How much did he lose?"

Qin Xiaogang looked toward the center of the court, where an old man in a wrinkled suit was holding a sizeable piece of stone in a daze. "About three or four hundred thousand Yuan, I'd say."

The stone had been cut from three sides and still there was no jade to be seen.

A seasoned gambler proudly said, "Old Xie, I told you it was just a stone, but you didn't believe me. Told you so!"

Old Xie's face turned red. He held up the stone and loudly said, "No, I know there's jade in it! Cut it in half right down the middle!"

Many of the onlookers sighed and shook their heads. The stones were usually only carefully polished with sandpaper or a grinding wheel to reveal their core. Chopping the stone in half could shatter it to pieces, even if it was real jade.

Clearly, Old Xie had completely lost his confidence in his stone.

"Don't," said the cutting master. "If I don't cut this stone, you might just lose three or four hundred thousand Yuan, because someone else could buy it. But if I cut this stone and the green still doesn't show up, you will lose more than a million Yuan!"

"Do it! If I don't see green, I'll go and jump into the river!" Old Xie bellowed.

The master reluctantly began to cut the stone again, very cautiously turning it around in his hands to check for cracks.

The stone was getting smaller and smaller, but the green still wasn't appearing up. Old Xie's eyes turned red. "Master, cut it right in the middle!"

The cutting master sighed and put a chisel to the center of the stone.　

Clink. Clink. Clink.

The crowd gasped.

Green!

The master quickly shaved off the remaining crust, revealing a block of jade the size of a fist.

"My G.o.d, he won!"

"It's not much, but still more than enough to double his money!"

"What a thrill! He just made at least a million Yuan!"

Gambling on stones was like that. Not only the gambler was excited, but even the spectators would go wild with every win.

Old Xie giddily fished out a bottle of heart medicine and threw a few pills down his throat with a shaking hand, just in case he fainted.

After a quick appraisal, a middle-aged man in a suit handed Old Xie a check for 2.5 million Yuan to buy his jade. Old Xie excitedly shoved the check into his pocket and ran off to the bank.