BXBX NOVEL Chapter 180: Young Master of the Shu Family (the Fifth Update)
“Feiyan, didn’t we agree that I would help you make money? Why are you being so formal? Here, take this, I still need to go make more money.” Huang Xiaolong firmly pushed the check into Cui Feiyan’s hand, taking the opportunity to caress her palm, acting a little cheeky.
Cui Feiyan’s face flushed as she glanced at Huang Xiaolong before pocketing the check. “Little Long, consider this a loan from you.”
“Oh, Feiyan, don’t be so distant. What’s this about a loan? It’s harming our relationship.” Huang Xiaolong said casually, walking out of the store.
Watching Huang Xiaolong’s retreating figure, a hint of sentiment flashed in Cui Feiyan’s beautiful eyes before she quickly followed him.
‘Heh! Little Huang is interesting, a couple of tens of millions, and he didn’t even blink, just gave it to President Cui… Heh, he’s got guts! Capability! Looks like Brother Dong is going to send out wedding invitations for his daughter soon…’
Boss Miao chuckled and carefully rolled up his painting before following them.
“Ah…I’ve earned 50 million. Still lacking 450 million though.” Huang Xiaolong wasn’t pleased about his windfall. Instead, he was already thinking about how to continue earning money.
Huang Xiaolong and Cui Feiyan, walked together down Antiques Street, with Boss Miao following, grinning from ear to ear. “Hahaha, Little Huang, I’ve truly seen it today, your eye for value, it’s top-notch. Little Huang, if there’s a chance in the future, you must help me appraise items.”
Boss Miao was a great lover of antique collecting. Now that he had met an expert like Huang Xiaolong, he naturally wanted to ingratiate himself.
“Oh.” Huang Xiaolong noncommittally replied.
At this moment, there was a grating, rumbling noise coming from around the corner.
It seemed like the sound of a cutting machine.
It was mixed with the excited shouts of a crowd.
“Ah? What’s going on over there?” Huang Xiaolong wondered aloud.
“Hahaha ?Little Huang, President Cui, have you played jade stone gambling before?” Boss Miao asked, smiling.
“I’ve heard of it.” Cui Feiyan nodded. “But it is said that nine out of ten times, you’d lose instead of win, so I’m not really interested.”
Seeing Huang Xiaolong remained quiet, Boss Miao took the initiative to explain. “Jadeite gambling involves buying jadeite stones still covered by skin layers, where it’s impossible to know the quality of the jadeite within without cutting it. If you guess right, you can make a fortune overnight. But most people fail – that’s what they mean by ‘nine out of ten times, you lose.’”
“It’s hard to tell just by looking at the exterior. Even with today’s scientific advancements, we still don’t have an instrument that can look through this layer and determine whether the stone inside is a ‘jade’ or ‘trash’. Because the trade is very risky and exciting, it’s called gambling. If you win, you make a lot of profit, so this practice has not declined throughout history.”
“In the past 50 years, the biggest betting win was from mainland China, a jewelry merchant bought a jadeite stone for 3.8 million and cut out jadeite worth 1 billion.”
“Goodness 3.8 million to 1 billion? Is that… is that just a ploy?” Cui Feiyan was astounded.
Truthfully, the Cui Group, despite being a large private enterprise in Binhai with broad interests, struggled to achieve a total annual profit of 1 billion.
“You can make money from jade stone gambling?” Huang Xiaolong perked up. “Can you make a lot of it?”
“Ahem…” Boss Miao coughed a few times, his face a bit embarrassed. “Little Huang, theoretically, you can make money. But more people have gone bankrupt doing it.”
“Let’s go! Let’s take a look over there!” All fired up, Huang Xiaolong followed the sound!
“Still lacking 450 million…still lacking 450 million…still lacking 450 million…” Huang Xiaolong murmured as he walked.
“Err…President Cui, why does Little Huang keep repeating ‘still lacking 450 million’?” Boss Miao asked, confused.
“He…he said he wants to help me make 500 million, and he’s still short 450 million…” Cui Feiyan awkwardly explained. “Oh, he means he wants to help me make 500 million within 24 hours.”
“What?” Boss Miao was taken aback before laughing. “Little Huang is really good. Not only does he have a keen eye, but he’s also rather humorous.”
Of course, Boss Miao didn’t believe that Huang Xiaolong could reliably make money from jade stone gambling.
On the contrary, he might even lose the tens of millions he made from selling paintings if he got too carried away!
Appraising treasures is one thing, jade stone gambling is another, the two should not be conflated.
Many people say that jade stone gambling is a technique that requires a keen eye, experience, and skill, and that they can make judgments based on the outside of the raw stone. However, the cruel reality is, no matter how sharp the eye or experienced the person, they probably have only a 10% chance in jade stone gambling, the rest is all fucking luck!
Yes! Jade stone gambling is gambling luck! It’s about the thrill of the game!
Legend has it that when Burmese jade merchants gamble on stones, they dare not be present when the stone is cut. Instead, they burn incense nearby, praying for divine blessing. If there is a lot of clear, bright green inside the cut stone, they could become rich overnight. But if the inside of the stone is just white sand after being cut, they could go bankrupt overnight.
After a short while, Huang Xiaolong, Cui Feiyan, and Boss Miao turned the corner and arrived in the plaza ahead.
There, several large trucks were parked, filled with raw jade stones of various sizes. Some jewel merchants or jade stone gamblers were carefully selecting stones. Cutting machines were rumbling, the dust flying up in the plaza.
The crowd in the plaza was particularly excited, occasionally shouting out. “Green! Green! Green! Green—”
“Dammit, I’ve lost! I’ve gone bust!”
“It’s increased!”
“Ah This cut alone cost a whole house.”
This scene was no different from a casino!
Huang Xiaolong and the others stood in the plaza.
“Err ” Huang Xiaolong looked around, a flash of excitement in his eyes, muttering to himself, ‘If I just recite the perspective spell, won’t I be able to see whether there’s jadeite inside these stones? Ah gambling like this is too easy, making money is really easy.’
“Feiyan!”
Just then, an excited voice sounded.
A handsome, tall young man in his twenties was walking towards them, brimming with confidence and a bright look in his eyes.
“Shu Jie ” Cui Feiyan sounded surprised.
“Is…is that Young Master Shu…” Boss Miao’s face turned serious.
“Ah, Feiyan, do you know this guy?” Huang Xiaolong asked curiously.
“Little Long, this is Shu Jie, one of the Binhai Four Young Masters, and also a young master of the Shu Family, one of Binhai’s four major families.” Cui Feiyan quietly explained.
“Oh, Gao Tianxiang also claims to be one of Binhai’s Four Young Masters. Seems like this Shu Jie is the same kind.” Huang Xiaolong instinctively felt a distaste for these so-called Binhai Four Young Masters, perhaps because of the previous conflict with Gao Tianxiang.