Chapter 9: Gambling Stone Market
The next stop was Rongcheng’s largest jade gambling market, where countless uncut jade stones were piled high.
Zhang Yanyan had come to try her luck. After all, money was the one thing she had plenty of now.
If she really couldn’t figure out the ins and outs of the trade, she could always buy stones that had already been cut open. That would lower the risk. Otherwise, if she spent a fortune on a pile of worthless rocks, she’d be completely screwed.
The moment her car drove into the market, the place exploded with noise.
Voices, hawkers’ shouts, haggling, and cries of surprise all blended into one deafening cacophony.
Raw stones of every size were piled into little hills, stretching so far that she couldn’t see the end of them.
As soon as she got out of the car, the stone-cutting area nearby caught her attention.
A cutting machine stood in the middle, surrounded by layer upon layer of spectators. It was even livelier than a marketplace.
With nothing better to do, Zhang Yanyan joined the crowd and stood at the outer edge to watch.
Standing in front of the cutting machine was a middle-aged man in a dark navy jacket. He was Boss Wang, a regular at the market. His face was tense as he gripped a moderately sized raw stone in his hands.
“Master, please cut it carefully. Just follow the line I drew!”
Boss Wang patted the stone and called out to the cutter, his voice trembling slightly.
The cutter was a seasoned hand in his fifties. With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he nodded.
“Don’t worry, Old Wang. You still don’t trust my skills?”
The machine began to roar. The blade pressed into the stone, sending white stone dust spraying in every direction.
Everyone around held their breath, craning their necks forward and staring fixedly at the stone that was about to be opened.
“Look at that—green! It’s Imperial Green! And the water quality is excellent!”
The cutter was the first to shout. The crowd erupted in thunderous cheers.
Boss Wang lunged forward, clutching the newly opened stone. His hands were shaking.
“It really has green in it! I’ve finally hit the jackpot for once!”
A jeweler wearing a thick gold chain immediately pushed to the front and gestured with his hand.
“Brother Wang, I’ll take this piece. Three hundred thousand yuan! Cash or transfer, either works!”
A longtime customer who specialized in jade processing quickly chimed in from the side.
“Three hundred and ten thousand! Judging by the material, it should produce at least two bangles. I’ll pay three hundred and ten thousand!”
“Three hundred and twenty thousand! I’m short on this kind of material at my shop. Don’t fight me for it!”
“Three hundred and thirty thousand! Old Wang, we’ve worked together for so many years. Do me a favor!”
The bids came one after another, rising by ten or twenty thousand yuan at a time, while the onlookers shouted and egged them on.
Boss Wang grinned from ear to ear. He didn’t rush to accept any offer, simply letting them continue bidding.
“Three hundred and seventy thousand! That’s my final offer. Any higher and it won’t be worth it for me!”
The gold-chain jeweler gritted his teeth as he called out the price, then wiped the sweat from his forehead.
After two seconds of silence, a female owner of a high-end jewelry business spoke up.
“Three hundred and eighty thousand.”
No one else raised the bid.
After all, only a small opening had been cut, and there was still plenty of uncertainty inside. Three hundred and eighty thousand was already the highest reasonable price.
Boss Wang immediately made the decision.
“Sold! Three hundred and eighty thousand to Sister Li!”
The two of them scanned the payment code and completed the transfer on the spot, quick and efficient.
As soon as the money arrived, Boss Wang pulled a two-thousand-yuan red envelope from his wallet and stuffed it into the cutter’s hands.
“Master, let me share in your good luck. Thanks a lot! I’m buying drinks tonight!”
The stone-cutting master tucked the red envelope into his pocket, his eyes crinkling with a smile. “Thank you, Boss Wang! You’re far too generous. More importantly, you picked good rough stones—you’ve got a sharp eye and great luck.
“I only put in a bit of effort and happened to catch the right moment. I wish you smooth sailing ahead and profits overflowing your coffers!”
As Zhang Yanyan watched, Old Li, dressed in a gray shirt, squeezed through the crowd toward the stone-cutting machine with a large rock in his arms.
“Master, it’s my turn, it’s my turn! While the good luck from just now is still around, help me cut mine too!”
He rubbed his hands together, his face full of anticipation. Clearly, he had been waiting for a long time, hoping to ride this wave of good fortune.
Someone nearby teased him, “Old Li, that stone of yours doesn’t look very promising. Think it has a chance?”
Old Li waved dismissively. “Don’t talk nonsense. I picked this one out carefully. It’s definitely going to yield green!”
The stone-cutting master nodded, secured the rough stone, and switched on the machine.
The blade sliced through the rock with a piercing screech, sending stone dust flying everywhere.
Everyone watched intently. But the blade cut straight through, revealing a dull gray interior without even the faintest speck of green.
It was a worthless rock. The cut had been a bust.
Old Li’s face fell at once. He crouched on the ground, stroking the stone as he sighed in despair.
“It’s over, it’s over! I paid eighty-eight thousand for this, and it’s all gone down the drain! What rotten luck!”
Someone beside him tried to console him. “Old Li, that’s stone gambling for you—one cut can send you to heaven, the next to hell. Just accept the loss.”
Old Li slapped his thigh, his face full of regret. “I never should’ve gotten greedy. Now look at me—I’ve practically lost my entire savings!”
Honestly, stone gambling was exactly that: one cut could make you rich, another could leave you poor. Anything involving gambling was never a good thing.
Zhang Yanyan grumbled inwardly. This was worse than buying lottery tickets.
At least lottery tickets cost only two yuan each. If you lost, you were only out two yuan—not enough to hurt.
But with rough stones, even a random piece could cost several thousand, or tens of thousands. If it turned out to be worthless, the pain was immediate. Plenty of people had even lost everything over it.
She wandered around the stone-cutting area, listening to the chatter around her and seeing more than enough scenes of joy and sorrow.
Some people splurged on rough stones, only to cut open one useless rock after another, their faces turning ashen.
Others casually picked out a small piece and ended up uncovering premium jade, making a fortune in one stroke.
“Do you think there’s any real method to this stone gambling business? To me, it all looks like luck.”
“What method could there be? It’s all guesswork. Nine out of ten gamblers lose—it’s just for the thrill.”
“Exactly. Just yesterday, someone lost several hundred thousand and burst into tears right on the spot.”
The onlookers gathered together and murmured among themselves, sharing the bitter realities of the stone-gambling trade.
In this business, everything depended on skill and luck. Without real expertise, no one should dare get involved lightly.
Zhang Yanyan rubbed her chin, making up her mind. If worse came to worst, she would just buy stones with the jade already exposed.
It wasn’t as though she lacked money. There was no need for her to take blind risks along with everyone else.
When Boss Liu, the owner of the stone-gambling yard, heard that the Zhang heiress had arrived, he immediately rushed out of his office.
He was a somewhat plump middle-aged man, his face covered in a shrewd yet polished smile.
He hurried over, his manner exceedingly respectful.
“Miss Zhang! Your presence in my humble little establishment truly brings it great honor!”
Boss Liu bent at the waist, his tone brimming with ingratiating warmth, terrified of giving offense to such an important patron.
Zhang Yanyan was not an ill-mannered person, so she smiled and replied,
“Boss Liu, you’re too kind. It’s my first time here, so I’m just looking around and broadening my horizons.”
Her tone was easygoing, without the slightest hint of a wealthy heiress’s arrogance.
Hearing this, Boss Liu smiled even more eagerly and quickly waved his hands.
“Please, take your time looking around and choose whatever you like. All the rough stones here are shipped directly from the old mines in Myanmar—completely genuine!”
“If you take a fancy to any of them, I’ll give you my absolute lowest price. I guarantee it’ll be thirty percent cheaper than elsewhere! We never overcharge our customers, so you can rest assured!”
He knew exactly how things stood. With the Zhang family’s power, he would be crazy not to curry favor with them.
Zhang Yanyan nodded and said with a smile, “Then I’ll trouble you, Boss Liu. I’ll look around on my own for now.”
With that, she headed toward the largest pile of rough stones.
Her bodyguards, A-Li and A-Hu, followed closely behind, never leaving her side.
Uncle Li, the driver, waited beside the truck, ready to load the stones at any moment.
Several nearby stall owners who had gathered to watch the spectacle huddled together and whispered among themselves.
“That’s the Zhang family’s eldest daughter? She looks so young, and she’s here to gamble on stones too?”
“She’s not short of money. She’s probably just here for fun. Unlike us—we depend on this to make a living.”
“Exactly. A wealthy heiress can make more from playing around with a few stones than we do in a whole year.”
Zhang Yanyan pretended not to hear them. She walked over to the largest pile of rough stones, crouched down, and put on an expression of curiosity.
She reached out and lightly ran her fingers over the rough, jagged stones, merely groping around at random.
After all, she knew nothing about this business. She had not even brought a flashlight for examining the stones.
The moment her fingertips touched a black-skinned rough stone, her mind suddenly gave a low buzz.
A surge of energy so rich it seemed almost ready to spill over shot through her palm and entered her soul.
The sensation was incredibly clear, like being jolted by electricity, and she froze on the spot.