Chapter 81: The Perilous Gamble of Stone

  "Alright, let's continue." Liu Rang clapped his hands together, today he was wearing a bright red shirt with the hem tied at his waist, looking flirtatious and charming. His black tight-fitting pants accentuated his long legs, making him look incredibly sexy.

  Liu Rang could feel Wu Minru's discontent, after all, she was much more professional than Tong Qiang. Of course, it wasn't that Tong Qiang was bad, but rather that with time, Liu Rang understood that Tong Qiang would definitely become a top model except for her height. However, at present, Wu Minru who had received professional training was still better. But the designer Is & Mettel rejected all the professional models and specifically chose Tong Qiang, so no matter how much discontent there was, it was all in vain.

  Last night, the four of them didn't even lift a finger to help Tong Yang! Wu Minru took advantage of the moment when he lowered his head, with a gloomy expression in her eyes. In vain, she had accompanied him to the bar last time, and he said he wanted to take revenge on Liu Kang by getting rid of Tong Yang? They were all just a bunch of good-for-nothing friends who only knew how to drink and eat, talking big but ultimately being cowards. Last night was such a great opportunity, yet they didn't even lift a finger!

  If Mu Fang is busy contacting the media, Tong Jing is busy training, then Mettel is actually the busiest person. This time he participated in the exhibition and designed six sets of clothes. The whole set of designs was dominated by Chinese wax dyeing, with a one-piece dress as the main body, a suit consisting of real silk shirts and trousers, and a set of evening dresses. Two sets can fully demonstrate the soul of the C&G brand: tops and shorts, and finally a spring windbreaker.

  But even though they were so busy, when it was time to eat, the crowd that had been rushing around finally discovered that Mettel was nowhere to be found. The glutton who would almost swallow his own tongue whenever he saw roast duck was gone.

  "It's definitely gone to the Blue Dolphin!" While eating roasted duck, an employee opened his mouth with certainty. They were already used to their boss's strange habit of not playing by the rules, and fortunately, work was almost over. With a bit more overtime in the afternoon, they would be able to rush through their tasks and wouldn't have to come to the company tomorrow.

  "Darling, I've brought you lunch." Mettel pushed open the sliding door with a flattering smile on her face, each hand holding two meal boxes, not thinking that her sudden intrusion into training was inappropriate at all.

  It's really true that hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once! Liu Yan turned her head to look at the big and imposing figure who had rushed in, with a flattering expression on his face, and his eyes almost stuck to Tong Liang's body. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and it was really true that people who do design are all weirdos, and can't be inferred by common sense.

  "Alright, alright, my dear, I've told you not to overexert yourself. This time, let me handle the competition." Looking at Tong Jiao's overly high heels and then at her hair that was stuck together with sweat, Mette glared at Liu Ran with a fierce expression, scolding in a stern tone, "Don't you even understand that Rome wasn't built in a day? With just two days of training, no matter how hard Tong Jiao works, it's impossible for her to become a professional model. Are you intentionally trying to torment my dear Tong Jiao?"

  Liu Yan was completely speechless, not because the designer suddenly went crazy, but because such an important competition let Xiao Tong be the model, and she would use two days to unfold a devil's training, why did it seem like she became the culprit in the end?

  "Alright, darling, we're done with training for now. Come down and have lunch." Mettle's face, which had just been stern, immediately transformed into a flattering smile as he faced Tong Hua. He placed the lunchbox on the table, opened it, and the aroma of authentic Beijing roast duck wafted out, tempting one's appetite.

  "First come here." Liu Yan had to turn off the music and looked at Mettel, who was disappointed to see that he had only bought two meal boxes. Was this how one came to visit a class? Didn't he know that besides Xiaodong, there were three other people here?

  "I'm going out to buy lunch." Wu Minru quickly wiped the sweat from her face, smiling sweetly and looking at Liu Yang, not missing any opportunity to show herself.

  "No need, I've brought it." Mu Fang's voice sounded at the door, and Qian Li quickly opened the door to take the lunchbox from Mu Fang's hand.

  "Come sit here, darling." Metel looked at Mu Fang with dissatisfaction. Why didn't he take these people out to eat and instead stayed here to disturb his and Darling's meal?

  The thin man stumbled out of the store, his body swaying. Gambling on stones was extremely risky to begin with. Not to mention 500,000, even 5 million could be lost in the blink of an eye. But this was all the thin man had at the moment, and now it was all gone. His mind was completely blank.

  Tong Jing looked at the disheveled and thin man who brushed past her, understanding that he must have lost a gamble, and the thin figure soon stepped into the store.

  The shop owner next door immediately lit up, smiling and enthusiastically greeting, "Miss, jade accessories? I have the best quality at a low price here. If you like something, I'll give you the lowest price. You like it, come back to visit my small store next time."

  "Is there any more jade?" Tong Jing looked at the person beside her who was picking up the jade stones on the ground, and spoke softly. Her clear and pale face, simple and unadorned clothing, did not appear luxurious, but also absolutely not shabby, so that the shop owner couldn't help but wonder whether Tong Jing was a rich person or just like the thin man from before, who had come to gamble with all his family's possessions.

  "Miss also likes to gamble on stones, just in time, I have a batch of stones from the old pit in Myanmar, with a very high probability of coming out green. Please come this way, miss." Another fat sheep came to the door, and the shop owner winked at the fat man in the store, and then enthusiastically invited Tong Dang to walk towards the left house of the store.

  The lights in the house were very bright, with at least several thousand catties of wool stones on display. "Miss, are you going all-in or half-in?" The shop owner took a puff of smoke and smiled slyly as he examined Tong Jiao, this girl looked like an expert, and was likely to make tens of millions in profit.

  The whole gamble is just like the thin man who just left, buying jadeite rough and then cutting it. If you cut out a piece of high-quality jadeite, you'll make a profit. Half-gamble refers to the stones on the right side of the house, where the edges of the jadeite rough have already been cut off, revealing a small amount of green inside. However, half-gambling is also risky because even if you see some green, no one can guarantee how much jadeite will be inside when you continue cutting. If it's just a thin layer of green, it might only be enough to make a pendant or something similar, so you'll still lose money. Moreover, the price of buying jadeite rough for half-gambling is more than three times higher than that for whole gamble.

  In her past life, apart from the most familiar weapons, these jade stones were also something she almost never put down. Suddenly, there was a kind of otherworldly, dreamy feeling. Tong Ying picked up a brown jade stone with one hand, stroking its surface with her fingertips, feeling the wet hardness. With the other hand, she took over a magnifying glass from beside her and carefully examined the patterns on the jade's surface. Generally, the surface of ordinary stones had "pine flower" and "python belt" patterns; if they came out in jade, the probability would be much higher.

  She still had the bank card from Tan Jieyan's last trip to Xixia Mountain Villa, if she lost at gambling, it would be considered Tan Jieyan's loss, and if she won, it would be her own. Tong Jing smiled slyly as she calculated in her mind, directly transferring Tan Jieyan's assets to herself. Anyway, Tan Jieyan didn't need to spend money when he went out, so she was helping him consume and boost domestic demand.

  Just as she was thinking, suddenly, Tong's gaze was attracted to a piece of jade stone in the corner of the wool, which weighed only two or three kilograms. The surface was surprisingly smooth and unblemished, making it unlikely to produce high-quality jade, so it seemed to have been discarded in the corner. The stone was covered in dust, but Tong felt her whole body surge with excitement, an inexplicable sense of urgency that made her heart beat rapidly.

  Tong Jiang recalled that when he first learned to gamble on stones, his master had said that the most important thing in stone gambling was professional knowledge and actual experience. If you win three out of ten times, you'll make a profit. However, for such high-risk investments, sometimes impulse is also needed, believing in one's own intuition. After all, gambling ultimately relies on luck, and truly exceptional jade often hides in unremarkable rough stones, waiting for the day to shine brightly.

  "Let's just forget it." Tong Jing picked up the stone and glanced at the shop owner's obviously extinguished enthusiasm, her small face fell a few points, and she weakly opened her mouth, "Not selling?"

  "How is that possible? Young lady, please come and cut it on the spot?" The shop owner lazily responded with a single word, and surprisingly chose a piece of stone, which was actually a worthless pumice stone that had been abandoned in the corner for nearly two years. He thought this woman was an expert, but didn't expect her to be a complete amateur, not to mention a poor amateur who couldn't even afford it.