Chapter 78: Foolish and Silly
"This stone has been unwanted for half a year, didn’t expect you to fancy it today!"
"You seem to have a connection with it. How about this, I’ll give you a 30% discount, fourteen thousand, take it if you like!" The store owner was startled because the stone’s appearance was so poor that no one was interested.
Now with someone who doesn’t know the trade wanting to buy it, he had to quickly close the sale!
"Fourteen thousand is still a bit expensive!" Lin Tian didn’t have that much money.
"Why don’t you give me a reasonable offer, and I’ll hear it out?" The store owner genuinely wanted this sale, even if it meant earning less, to sell off this burdensome stone.
"How about ten thousand?" Considering the stone’s size, Lin Tian thought that offering a single-digit price definitely wouldn’t work.
"Okay, twelve thousand... Don’t make me lose money!"
"Deal!" This price was satisfactory to Lin Tian, but being short on funds, he could only look pleadingly at Bai Shishi.
"No money?" Seeing Lin Tian’s expression, Bai Shishi immediately understood the situation.
"Please help me buy it first!"
"You say you have no money and yet you want to gamble!" Bai Shishi was in a dilemma, buying was wrong and not buying was also wrong.
If she buys, she’s afraid Lin Tian, being an outsider, might have misjudged, and she’d end up losing ten thousand.
If she doesn’t buy, she’s afraid he’ll be unhappy.
With the previous incident with Durant, Bai Shishi highly recognized Lin Tian’s capability.
"Don’t worry, Miss Bai, I’ll definitely repay you. If necessary, you can deduct it from my salary!" Having guessed what Bai Shishi might be thinking, Lin Tian assured her by patting his chest.
"Alright!" Bai Shishi handed her bank card to Lin Tian.
"Oh! You’re buying this stone?" Xia Jianren, who had already chosen a stone, came over and, seeing the ugly jade stone in front of Lin Tian, sneered.
"Yes!" Lin Tian nodded.
"How much?" Xia Jianren asked.
"Twelve thousand!" Bai Shishi answered quickly.
"You are definitely an outsider!"
"You didn’t even think, such a big stone is surely worth over twenty thousand, the store owner is selling it cheap probably because no one else wants it, but you fancied it!" Xia Jianren bragged.
"Jianren, you mean this jade stone isn’t good?" Bai Shishi frowned. She was already prepared for the twelve thousand to go down the drain, but didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
"Otherwise, why sell it so cheaply?" Xia Jianren was confident, his expression implying they were being deceived by the store owner.
"Lin Tian!" Hearing Xia Jianren’s words, Bai Shishi became anxious.
"Owner, it’s not good to fool me like this, I don’t want this stone anymore!" A fleeting smile appeared on Lin Tian’s lips.
"Don’t!!" The store owner was about to swipe the card, but with Xia Jianren’s words exposing the truth, seeing the deal about to fall through, he couldn’t help but panic.
"How about you knock off another two thousand?" Lin Tian was determined to buy what he wanted, just played a little trick to get the store owner to lower the price.
"Alright then! Ten thousand it is!" Profiting is better than nothing, the store owner had to reluctantly accept while glaring at Xia Jianren, and swiped the bank card.
"Foolish! Silly! Idiot!" Xia Jianren cursed Lin Tian internally and walked over to the cutting machine with a sneer.
With the stone loaded onto a small cart, Lin Tian and Bai Shishi headed toward the cutting machine as well.
"Why did you insist on choosing this stone?" Bai Shishi caught up, unable to comprehend Lin Tian’s persistence despite knowing he was being tricked.
"It’s like when you see a beautiful woman and you instantly want to sleep with her! That’s how I felt when I saw this stone!" Lin Tian spoke unreservedly.
"You..." Bai Shishi was left speechless.
At the cutting machine, the stone Xia Jianren picked was already being cut. Lin Tian was curious about the type of stone Xia Jianren had chosen, his black eyes observing. Compared to the two stones Xia Jianren had chosen earlier, this time the stone had a large green chunk inside.
However, compared to the stone he selected, it wasn’t green enough and not big enough...
"Isn’t it true that the greener the jade, the more valuable?" As he couldn’t judge which of their selections was more valuable, Lin Tian spoke up.
"That’s right!" The cutting machine operator smiled and said, "Young brother is new to stone gambling, huh? The jade must have a rich color; imperial green is the best color and the most expensive in jade."
"It’s the Green that flows generously, almost dripping out!"
"I see!" Lin Tian nodded thoughtfully, seems like he made the right choice...
"Seeing green!" Just as the two were talking, Xia Jianren suddenly spoke.
Sure enough, looking at the place where the cutting machine sliced the stone, a large piece of jade was shining with green light.
"Good quality!" The experienced cutting machine operator concluded with just a glance.
"Cut again!" Xia Jianren, almost dropping his cigarette in excitement.
No wonder Xia Jianren was so excited, being a stone gambling expert who had lost twice. Seeing green this time proved his gambling skills, also securing his win against Lin Tian.
"Are you cutting again? What if..." The cutting machine operator said worriedly, "With its current quality, its value has doubled at least, better to sell it now!"
"Continue cutting!" Xia Jianren was aware of the operator’s good intention, but believed with his expertise, there must be even more green inside the stone.
With the second cut, another large green area appeared, drawing even more people to gather around.
"Not bad, this jade stone is quite large!"
"The color is also very rich, estimating it’ll be worth several times more!"
"Truly impressive, why can’t I find such jade stone?"
The envious voices rose one after another, Xia Jianren’s pride growing ever stronger. "How about that, Shishi? Look at this stone of mine, bought for twenty thousand, probably worth two to three times now!"
"Congratulations!" Bai Shishi also envied, thinking to herself, "Xia Jianren is indeed talented in stone gambling, maybe the previous failures were really because of Lin Tian’s unlucky remarks...!"
"Cut again!" Facing the acclaim, Xia Jianren’s excessive confidence was undeniable.
"Still cutting?"
"Don’t cut anymore, sell it to me for fifty thousand!"
All the surrounding voices tried to stop Xia Jianren from continuing to cut.
"Cut! Seeing more green this time and I’ll boom!" Xia Jianren, looking at the similarly head-sized stone in front, if another cut showed more green, such a large piece of green jade could sell for more than a million.
This time, the operator did not stop and obediently continued cutting.
But once the cut was made, Xia Jianren’s face darkened, the surrounding praise turned into sighs.
"Too bad~ The stone inside is black, though its sides have nice green, could make a few jade rings!"
"Good thing I didn’t buy it earlier, otherwise I’d lose everything!"
"Greedy... Greedy! Shouldn’t have cut this third time!"
The rapid switch of opinions left Lin Tian dumbstruck, Xia Jianren stomping his feet in anger.