Chapter 122: Carrying a Sack of Jade
Although Zhang Jiefang was forthright, it was hard to guarantee that he wouldn’t have bad intentions for money. One or two pieces of jade were still fine, but one big sack, what logic was that?
Yang Ming didn’t want to quarrel with Zhang Bing over such external things like money. As the saying goes, close brothers keep a careful accounting. This way, he wouldn’t cause too much unnecessary trouble.
“If you come out with Uncle Zhang, how will he let you spend your own money?” Zhang Jiefang tapped on Yang Ming’s shoulder. “What? Do you have any opinion of Uncle Zhang?”
“No, Uncle Zhang, you misunderstood me. I’m just trying to earn some money through gambling for rock. Only if the capital is mine that I will have a sense of achievement after earning the money!” Yang Ming made up a reasonable excuse.
“En, you’re right. Only our own money will be appreciated!” Zhang Jiefang nodded his head and thought the same.
When he looked at the warehouse’s mountain of rocks, Yang Ming was dumbfounded. He was hoping to pick out a sack of imperial jade, but now it seemed complicated.
Yang Ming could look for rocks that contained imperial jade through x-ray vision, but most of them were at the bottom. He couldn’t push away all rocks on top and pick only the middle one. If he did that, it would be strange to not be doubted by others!
There were a few customers who came to the warehouse. They surrounded the stacks of rock and started picking. Sometimes they discussed lightly. This time, Zhang Jiefang didn’t bring any Eyes [1], because the Eyes were with Wu Facai. The goods that the Eyes picked weren’t so good. It became a break even trade. It was a waste of energy and returned nothing.
So Zhang Jiefang was trying his luck this time. The middle-aged Zhang Jiefang believed deeply in luck. If not, why would there be so many people who had gone through similar experiences but lived such different lives? Some were at the top of society, while others were still struggling to make ends meet.
The difference caused by human IQ is just between genius and mental retardation. Most people have similar IQs. As for Zhang Jiefang, he thought that he wasn’t smarter than others, so his success was based solely on luck.
Back in the days, he and another laid-off employee went to the South and prepared to do business on accessories. Both of them simply took some items to sell. Zhang Jiefang’s items sold well, but the items of another man were stacked on the vendor’s stand without anyone asking for it. In the end, he had to sell them at a loss. With such an experience in failure, the man honestly bought a tricycle and did hard work. As for Zhang Jiefang, he only picked his items, but they all sold fast. If this wasn’t luck, then what was luck?
Zhang Jiefang and Zhang Bing, Yang Ming and Lan Ling. They split into two groups and started gambling for rock.
Yang Ming scanned in a big circle the rocks on the surface. There was only one imperial jade. The others were primarily nephrite, but there were still some gemstones with better quality.
After the previous conversation, Yang Ming knew the net price of a rock was five hundred yuan. He estimated that ten thousand yuan could buy twenty kilograms of gemstones. Even if there wasn’t much imperial jade, one bag of good quality gemstones could still earn a lot.
As he thought about this, Yang Ming felt briefly relieved. Currently, there was one imperial jade on the surface. Yang Ming wouldn’t let it get away of course. It was just that the position of the jade rock was near another group of people who were picking rocks. If I purposely squeeze through, why does it feel like I was taking the bread out of someone’s mouth?
Surely, Yang Ming was overthinking it. A business like gambling rock was a dog-eat-dog business. If you preferred this rock, then you should grab it in your hand as soon as possible. If others took it before you, then you could only look. As long as the rocks weren’t in anyone’s hand, anyone could grab it.
Yang Ming was afraid that it was impolite to do so as he didn’t know the rules. Therefore, he was waiting for them to leave, then he would go. But, when Yang Ming was hesitating, one of them picked up the rock with imperial jade!
Yang Ming had a heartache and regretted it. If I knew it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t care so much about politeness. This imperial jade was much bigger than the imperial jade that he lost!
Lan Ling looked at Yang Ming’s regretful expression. She couldn’t understand. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Yang Ming shook his head. Money! It was as if Yang Ming saw the money grow a pair of wings and fly away.
Lan Ling was far away, so she couldn’t feel the quality of rock. Her intuition power only worked in a limited range. If it was too far, then it would be ineffective. Therefore, she didn’t know that Yang Ming had missed a chance to earn a fortune.
En? Yang Ming froze. The man who picked up the imperial jade didn’t put it into his bag, but he threw it on the ground instead! It looked like this person had dismissed the rock.
Yang Ming was delighted. Looks like this guy is another newbie! Since he had missed his opportunity once, Yang Ming didn’t care about politeness this time around. He broke into the group right away.
Yang Ming had a sturdy figure, so he easily shoved those people to the side.
“Why are you pushing? There are so many places. Why must you come here!” One of the people who got pushed complained with a boss’ look.
Yang Ming didn’t bother with him. He was afraid that someone would grab the rock again. He immediately bent down and took the imperial jade in his hand. Only then did he settle down and put the stone into his bag like a precious treasure.
Ha, there goes few hundred thousand! Earning money is so easy! Thinking back on what he read on Qidian International in the past, Yang Ming was proud of himself. It’s so cool to use special abilities to earn money!
Watching Yang Ming picked up the rock under his leg, those bosses who got pushed aside couldn’t refrain from mocking him, “Picking up a rock that Master Wang discarded, this guy has too much money to spend doesn’t he?”
Of course, Yang Ming understood what he was saying. He was scolding Yang Ming for his bad choice in a euphemized manner! The person who rejected this rock was probably Master Wang.
Yang Ming scolded a word idiot in his heart! What is being overly optimistic? This guy is a typical example of it. He threw a few hundred thousand yuan piece away, and still acted cool!
Yang Ming didn’t have the heart to strike this idiot down, so he pretended to hear nothing and left.
Lan Ling went with Yang Ming, so she naturally heard them. But she knew that Yang Ming had picked up a good rock, so she couldn’t keep herself from laughing. “That boss is really stupid!”
“En, he’s only moderately stupid. I have seen people dumber than him!” Yang Ming nodded his head.
Yang Ming patrolled around the rock stacks a few times and picked out the rocks with better quality. Of course, he didn’t forget to put some defective stones in it, if not, it would surely be too fake.
After picking out a small sack, the proportion of good and inferior jade was about half and half. After they sealed their bag, they weighed it. It was twenty-three kilograms, so the total was 11,500 yuan. Yang Ming paid immediately.
He noticed Zhang Bing hadn’t finished picking rocks, so Yang Ming decided to help them. Yang Ming picked a few rocks with better quality and put them into Zhang Bing’s sack. Of course, it was just a few pieces. He didn’t want it to be too ridiculous.
Zhang Jiefang didn’t specialize in these either, so two hundred kilograms of gemstones was enough for him. He didn’t do any unnecessary actions. He sealed, weighed, and paid, then he left.
“Yang Ming, what about your sack of rocks? Are you opening it here or going back first?” Zhang Jiefang said.
“Uncle Zhang, how about you?” Yang Ming didn’t know what to do.
“I’m preparing to consign them for shipment. I’ll deal with them after I go back to Song Jiang.” Zhang Jiefang said, “I have my own factory. It’s easier to go back and do it.”
“Then I’ll ship my sack to Song Jiang as well!” Yang Ming nodded his head. Yang Ming didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. Before the imperial jade was polished, it was no different than other rocks. So he wouldn’t worry about losing it during shipment. Therefore, for safety purposes, he will wait until he got back to Song Jiang.
After all, Yang Ming earned quite a lot this time! If the other businessmen heard this, they would probably be stunned.Using ten thousand yuan to gamble for an imperial jade and you say this was a large investment?
As for the previous imperial jade, it had vanished. The police didn’t make any progress. The police had checked the hotel staff as well, but there were no new developments.
Although more time was needed to solve the case, Zhang Jiefang and Yang Ming had already stayed here for about a week. They haven’t yet gone to other places in Yunnan. After Zhang Jiefang asked for Yang Ming’s opinion, they decided not to wait for it. On the second day, they checked out of their rooms and went to Lijiang.
Lijiang is located on the border between the Yungui plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in the northwest Yunnan province. The altitude is about 2400 meters. It is also known as one of the four most well-preserved ancient cities together with Sichuan Province’s Langzhong, Shanxi Province’s Pingyao, and Anhui Province’s Shexian. They are the second batch of famous national historical and cultural cities.[2]
If you come for a tour in Yunnan but didn’t visit Lijiang, it is almost equivalent to not visiting Yunnan at all.
Although Zhang Jiefang was in his middle years, his interest in traveling wasn’t diminished at all. The four of them visited these famous sites: Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Old Town of Lijiang, Lashi Lake, Spruce Plateau, White Water River, Ganhaizi, Yufeng Temple, Baisha Murals, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yangtze River First Bay, Lugu Lake, Yak Plateau, Laojun Mountain, and Serac Forest. After that, they set foot on the return journey. [3]