NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Stone Gambling Venue
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Qingchen couldn’t help it and her eyes lit up. Although she had never gambled before, she had heard of it before. It seemed that this was a good time. In a few years, the jade industry would be booming. A piece of good jade could be sold for a sky-high price.
Gu Qingchen basically did not have much work experience, nor did she have any skills. If she wanted to make money quickly, to put it bluntly, she could only earn money using improper means.
When she overheard the two of them talking about stone gambling, Gu Qingchen was a little tempted.
If she was really lucky, she might be able to solve the family’s financial problems. With the Hundred Herb Hall, her parents’ lives would not be so difficult.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingchen suddenly felt that the future was still bright. What she wanted most in her life was for her family to be together safely. She was no longer an orphan.
Looking at the 1,000 dollars in her hand, Gu Qingchen decided that she would not tell her parents about the sum of money for the time being. Tomorrow, she would follow these two people to the stone gambling venue to have a look.
When she returned home at night, although her parents’ expressions were not as gloomy as before, Gu Qingchen could still see that something was wrong with her father.
“Dad, is there something wrong?”
She had to pay attention to her father’s attitude at all times to prevent him from thinking of committing suicide.
“It’s… it’s nothing. Let’s eat.”
Gu Yuanchuan stuttered while Mrs. Gu averted her eyes, afraid that Gu Qingchen would notice something.
Gu Qingchen frowned slightly. Her father did not want to say more, so Gu Qingchen could only look over.
“I can’t let Chenchen worry about our home anymore, but Shi Wei is Chenchen’s classmate. It would be great if Shi Wei could talk to her father and delay the payment for a few days. Sigh, no, I can’t let Chenchen worry about this. I’ll find a few friends tomorrow.”
Gu Qingchen’s heart sank slightly. It seemed that after meeting Shi Wei today, Shi Wei must have said something to her father. That was why Shi Wei’s father came to urge her father to repay the money.
“Dad, I saw Shi Wei today. She told me that she will talk to her father. We can repay the money that we owe her family later.”
Gu Yuanchuan and Mrs. Gu both paused and asked immediately, “Chenchen, is what you said true?”
Gu Qingchen nodded her head sincerely. Gu Yuanchuan heaved a sigh of relief. He did not know how to tell his daughter just now. He did not expect the matter to have been resolved.
“Chenchen, you must thank your classmate, Shi Wei.”
Gu Yuanchuan thought that Shi Wei and his daughter had a good relationship. Gu Qingchen did not make it clear because she did not want her father to feel too much pressure.
As for the Hundred Herb Hall, Gu Qingchen thought about it again and again, but in the end, she did not say anything.
She was just a child, and someone had suddenly given her a Hundred Herb Hall. It would be strange if her parents were not worried. She had to wait after she settled the family’s debt before telling her parents. That way, they would not have to endure the multiple shocks together.
“Yes, Dad, don’t worry. I will properly ‘thank’ her.”
Gu Yuanchuan and his wife naturally did not understand Gu Qingchen’s meaningful tone, so they did not care.
After Gu Qingchen had dinner, she helped her mother to tidy up and then went to rest. She had used her mind-reading five times today. Although it was within her limits, she was still very tired.
The next morning, Gu Qingchen went out and came to the entrance of the business street. After waiting for a while, she saw the two men who were chatting yesterday.
Gu Qingchen followed the two men all the way to a small alley in the business street. At this time, stone gambling had just started. They were all trading in private, so the trading venue was a little remote.
Fortunately, the two men knew the way, and Gu Qingchen followed them into the trading venue.
The jade trading venue was not big, only a few hundred square meters. It was different from the trading venues in the future. But now, it was considered not a small place.
Gu Qingchen had never seen such a stone gambling venue in her previous life. When she entered, she saw a lot of stones, big and small, of all kinds.
Although she had never seen such a scene, she was a person who had been reborn. Gu Qingchen quickly calmed down and walked around to observe how the others were trading.
“Young lady, how is it? I see that you’ve been looking around for a long time. Has anything caught your fancy? I have a lot of high-quality jade here. Do you want to buy a few pieces to play with?”
A middle-aged man, who was slightly plump, saw that Gu Qingchen seemed to be very interested in stone gambling, so he asked.
“How much is this?”
Gu Qingchen was still very interested in jade. Jade was still very cheap now, but in a few years, jade would become a treasure.
If she could collect some jade at this time, she would really be rich in the future.
When the middle-aged man heard this, he immediately said, “I see that you are not old. Why don’t you take a look at the small pieces of raw stones here first? Such small pieces of raw stones are cheap, you can try to buy a few pieces. Girl, let me tell you secretly. Even though these raw stones are small, there are really good things inside. Yesterday, a man gambled a lot, and a good piece of lotus jade was discovered. He became rich in an instant! The price of the raw stones here is very fair. The small pieces of raw stones on the table are all 20 dollars each. The larger ones are 80 dollars, and the ones over there are all priced by weighing.”
When the middle-aged man said this, his eyes were filled with pity. The lotus jade was sold by him. If he had known earlier, he would have kept it for himself.
After this batch of small raw stones came, there were already a few pieces of jade. In a batch of raw stones, it was already considered lucky to have a few pieces of jade. As for the remaining ones, it was still very difficult to obtain jade.
“This is my first time seeing stone gambling. Let me take a look first.”
Gu Qingchen came here only to take a look. She did not really intend to buy raw stones. She did not know anything about this industry. It could only be considered as an eye-opener.
The middle-aged man chuckled. He was quite attentive and took the initiative to educate Gu Qingchen.
“First-time visitors must be cautious. Seeing that you are still young, let me tell you how to pick them properly!”
Although the middle-aged man wanted to earn Gu Qingchen’s money, he was not a bad person and was quite enthusiastic. He told Gu Qingchen roughly what he knew.
Gu Qingchen fiddled with the small pieces of raw stones on the table while listening to the middle-aged man’s words. Gradually, she seemed to understand a little.
“Young lady, today is your lucky day. A few days ago, I happened to listen to the explanation of a master in the jade industry. There are eight ways to distinguish the raw stones, and they are: look, weigh, shine, carve, knock, touch, burn, and test. For these raw stones, you only need to look at them and touch them. If I tell you too much, you might not understand it. In short, whether it’s buying jade or raw stones, fate is very important. If you have fate with jade, jade will naturally find you.”
The middle-aged man did not elaborate because he saw that other people were picking his raw stones. He felt that those people looked like they were more likely to buy, compared to Gu Qingchen, so he only said this much and let her pick it herself.
Gu Qingchen was not annoyed. That was the nature of a businessman.
However, she was still quite interested in what the middle-aged man said. No one was whispering in her ear, so it was easy for her to pick it out.
Gu Qingchen picked up a fist-sized piece of raw stone and looked left and right. She could not see anything unusual about this rock-like piece of raw stone.
Even so, Gu Qingchen was still very interested. She picked it up one by one, looked at it, and then put it down. She did not pick out a single piece.
Just as she was about to give up and go somewhere else, a piece of extremely ugly, spotted raw stone jumped into her sight.