Chapter 144: The Stone-Gambling Maniac

The straight streets of the Five Towns' Linkage Industrial Park and the crossroads passing by the primary school are now lined with more than just shops selling rural specialties; they are home to beauty salons, clothing boutiques, bakeries, milk tea shops, snack bars, farmhouse restaurants, music studios, art galleries, bookstores, flower shops, and chess and storytelling rooms. The array of businesses and the beautiful, comfortable, and cultured environment have attracted both locals and outsiders to invest and open shops.

One day at Lai Min’s flower shop, He Zhixing asked, "Xiao Min, I didn't take you guys on the last trip. This time, I’d like to take you all to Pingzhou to broaden your horizons and visit the jade and flower-and-bird markets."

Lai Min replied, "Yes, I would love to go." The twin sisters chimed in, "Brother, we want to go too!" He Zhixing then looked at Auntie Zhang and asked, "Sister Zhang, what about you? Would you like to join us?"

Auntie Zhang, who was holding the hand of He Zhixing’s son, nodded in agreement. The beautiful Xiao Qian asked timidly, "May I go as well?" Zheng Huizhen quickly added, "I want to go too!"

He Zhixing looked at them and said, "Of course."

"How about this," he continued. "Yufang, Wuxin, and Jiang Ni, you three stay home for now to look after the shop and my son. You went last time, so it’s Xiao Min and the others' turn now. How does that sound?"

The three women nodded. "No problem, you go ahead. We’ll take care of things here and have a great time playing with the little one."

"Alright, it’s settled then. Lai Min, Sister Zhang, Zhang Ling, Zhang Yan, Xiao Qian, and Zheng Huizhen, you six are coming with me." Aside from He Zhixing’s own Toyota, they took the Honda that Lai Fengzi had purchased this year from the city’s collection shop. The beautiful Xiao Qian took the wheel, while the twins and Lai Min rode in He Zhixing’s car, and Zheng Huizhen and Auntie Zhang rode with Xiao Qian. The two cars set off toward Pingzhou with great enthusiasm.

After a day of travel, they arrived in Pingzhou that evening and checked into a nearby hotel. Early the next morning, the seven of them, full of excitement, set off for the Pingzhou Jade Street. They grabbed a quick breakfast on the way before arriving at their destination.

The street was filled with jade merchants, and every shop was packed with a dazzling array of jadeite. The six women were mesmerized, lingering at each stall. When they saw exquisite jade carvings they particularly liked, they held them in their hands, reluctant to put them down. He Zhixing had already told them on the way that he wouldn't be buying finished pieces; he wanted to try his hand at stone gambling.

He led them straight toward the stone gambling section. He knew that the finished jade pieces were generally quite expensive, especially the high-end, A-grade items. It wasn't that he couldn't afford them, but he had a different plan: he could gamble on raw stones, select high-quality jadeite, and carve them himself to give as gifts to each of them, which would be far more meaningful.

They arrived at a jadeite raw stone shop in the gambling section. As soon as they entered, the proprietress greeted them, "Welcome!"

"Are you all here to try your luck at stone gambling? I just received a large batch of raw jadeite from the Tengchong region of Yunnan, Myanmar, two days ago. You’ve come at just the right time—I guarantee you’ll be satisfied!"

"Haha, is that so? Then we’ll have to take a good look!"

As He Zhixing spoke, he led the women to browse the raw stones in the shop. The proprietress was quite professional; seeing that they didn't have any specialized tools, she lent them a magnifying glass on the spot.

He Zhixing didn't actually need the magnifying glass, but he accepted it out of courtesy and began inspecting the shelves of raw stones.

Before long, he secretly activated his x-ray vision. With the small wood-carved figure in his hand as a conduit, he sensed a surge of spiritual energy coming from a pile of inconspicuous, relatively small raw stones. He pushed aside the large stones covering them and finally found a stone about the size of a dinner plate, weighing fifty or sixty pounds. The energy was emanating from within this very rock. Could there be a top-tier treasure inside such a small stone?

He focused his x-ray vision and finally saw an egg-sized purple orb deep within the stone layers—a top-quality glass-species purple jadeite. "How beautiful!" he whispered to himself, unable to contain his excitement, and quickly picked up the plate-sized, fifty-to-sixty-pound stone.