Chapter 645: A Game of Gambling
As Tang Xiu strode into the shed, he saw Master Huang and the old man in Chinese tunic suit sitting on the couch and having a chat. He let out a smile and said, “Master Huang, I’m afraid that I’ll have to trouble you today since I bought a lot of stones. I wonder if you can have them all done this afternoon?
Master Huang directly got up and looked at the six carts that came in behind Tang Xiu. He forced a smile and said, “Unless I work overtime it can’t be done.”
“It’s alright. Just do your best,” said Tang Xiu. “We’ll continue tomorrow if you can’t finish it.”
Master Huang replied and then greeted the six cart pushers, telling them to move the stones to the nearby stone cutter machine. Just as the stones were being moved, his expression changed into a respectful one as he quickly welcomed Chu Yuan and Xue Yu who came inside.
“Paying respect to the Imperial Garden’s Young Master. (Paying respect to the Imperial Garden’s Young Master.)”
The old man in Chinese tunic suit also greeted with a respectful expression.
“Please don’t be over-courteous, two Garden Elders.” Chu Yuan lightly smiled. “I just happened to meet Jade Beauty and then learned that Mr. Tang has rented Senior Huang’s shed, so I followed them. By the way, I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr. Tang.”
“Very pleased to meet you too, Mr. Chu,” said Tang Xiu lightly.
“Does Mr. Tang already know me?” Asked Chu Yuan, looking startled.
“The heir apparent of Shanghai’s Imperial Garden; the owner of Imperial Effulgent Group, and the founder of the Imperial Wherewithal Venture. If I don’t know such a celebrated and influential person like you, then I’m a ignorant man with very limited knowledge and scanty information, no?”
The vigilance inside Chu Yuan’s heart increased several points after hearing Tang Xiu’s answer. The other party knew that much details about him but he did not know anything about the other. Such a feeling was very bad to have. Though he did not like this feeling, by virtue of his extremely high intelligence, he could still reply while maintaining his composure, “Mr. Tang is kidding me. By the way, may I know what field Mr. Tang engages in?”
“I’m just a student,” answered Tang Xiu.
While pointing to the stones unloaded from the carts, Chu Yuan let out a slight smile and said, “For a student to be able to afford so many stones, such a student would be very rare, no?”
“Please do not beat around the bush if you want to inquire about my identity, Mr. Chu,” said Tang Xiu lightly. “You can directly ask me if you really want to know my identity since I’m so stupid that I don’t feel like using my own brain.”
Chu Yuan raised his brows and said, “Since Mr. Tang is a straightforward person, then I’ll go straight to the point. I’m very curious about you, so I want to know Mr. Tang’s background. Perhaps, we can become very good friends in the future.”
“Whether we can be friends or not, I don’t know about that. But your arrival here affected my purpose in coming here. This Jade Beauty who helped me push the carts became lazy since she needed to speak with you. Due to that, shouldn’t you compensate me for that given your wealth and identity, Mr. Chu?”
“What exactly is the compensation Mr. Tang requests of me?” Asked Chu Yuan with a faint smile.
“Well, I’m someone who’s easy to be pleased,” said Tang Xiu.
Chu Yuan pondered for a moment before turning around and pointing to the two carts behind him, saying, “Since Mr. Tang likes to gamble on stones, how about I make it up to you with stones, Mr. Tang?”
After saying that, he did not wait for Tang Xiu to reply and directly spread his hand and said, “Please.”
Tang Xiu was just joking when he asked for compensation. Little did he think that Chu Yuan would take it seriously. He could even see from his face that he was not joking at all since his eyes looked especially serious.
“Seeing how serious Mr. Chu is, it’s better to accept deferentially than to decline courteously, no?” After saying that, Tang Xiu went straight to the first cart and released his spiritual sense. His fingers touched the seven or eight stones on top. After a short while, there was an unusual glint in his eyes as he picked up a fist-sized stone and threw it into the pile of stones belonging to him.
“I’ll have to trouble you, Master Huang,” said Tang Xu.
Master Huang quickly glanced at Chu Yuan and nodded with a smile, “I’ll do it now.”
“Please wait a bit, Elder Huang.” Chu Yuan raised his hand. “Mr. Tang, since we are fated to meet here today and also have a common interest, how about we have a game of bets now?”
“What kind of bet, exactly?” Asked Tang Xiu.
“You have picked up a lot of stone materials, so did I. How about taking three pieces and handing them to Master Huang to be cut? Whoever has the higher value of what comes out of the stone will win, how about it?”
Tang Xiu couldn’t help but chuckle and said, “Do you really want to gamble?”
“Of course,” said Chu Yuan straightforwardly. “Also, I think we should have some profits at stake in our gambling, too.”
“Alright, you’ll decide the stake, then,” replied Tang Xiu without hesitation.
After glancing at Xue Yu, Chu Yuan said with a smile, “Alright, whoever wins will get the opportunity to invite Jade Beauty to a dinner. Jade Beauty, would you be willing to give face to the two of us?”
There was a strange expression in Xue Yu’s eyes as her vision went back and forth between them. Though it never crossed her mind that Chu Yuan would propose such a stake, she was well aware what his intention was, as he was only trying to win the opportunity to have dinner with her, and at the same time, won a crossing-sword game against Tang Xiu.
“It will be my pleasure.”
Despite having mediocre emotional intelligence, Tang Xiu was immediately able to tell what Chu Yuan’s real intention was with his extremely high IQ, so he nodded and said, “Alright, I agree.”
Without speaking more, Chu Yuan walked towards his cart. He ordered the cart pusher to unload the stones, and after observing for two minutes, he picked out three stones.
“I’ll use these three pieces of stone,” said Chu Yuan.
“I have a lot of stones here,” said Tang Xiu with a nod. “Master Huang, you can take three pieces at random.”
Master Huang stared blankly, while Chu Yuan frowned.
Taking three pieces at random? What did he mean by this? Was he looking down on him or was he that confident with all the stones he personally picked?
Chu Yuan saw Master Huang was looking at him with an inquiring look about his consent and immediately nodded to him.
After glancing at the stone pile, Master Huang then picked up three pieces of stone of nearly the same size as those selected by Chu Yuan. Then he turned to Tang Xiu and asked, “Divine Doctor Tang, how about these three pieces?”
“It’s OK!” Said Tang with an indifferent smile.
Chu Yuan’s expression suddenly moved. “Divine Doctor Tang” kept sounding in his mind. He instantly took out his mobile phone to read some information on it. His expression immediately turned more cautious after reading it. He suddenly felt a tinge of regret inwardly because he finally knew the identity of who Tang Xiu really was:
The Young Divine Doctor of Star City Chinese Medical Hospital; the Big Boss behind the Magnificent Tang Corporation; the offspring of the Tang Family from Beijing who had just been found half a year ago, as well as the most outstanding junior of the Tang Family. Being an expert who is proficient in the arts of music, paintings, and an unrivaled genius talent of many ages in the medical world. He has a very low-key disposition and yet had his reputation rise due to many incidents on many occasions…
Tang Xiu himself did not know that Chu Yuan had already found out information about him within this extremely short time. He looked at Master Huang who seemed hesitant and said with a smile, “Master Huang, please cut the stones belonging to Mr. Chu first! This gambling is his idea, and I also want to see his foresight too.”
Master Huang nodded in response.
His stone-cutting technique was remarkable, as the first stone was quickly cut and revealed the jade material inside. After having it polished, he took out a thumb-sized jade material, and at the same time, also took a dozen seed material jades the size of a fingernail.
“Not bad!” Praised Tang Xiu, who stood at the side.
Xue Yu, who stood on the other side, did not seem surprised since she knew that Chu Yuan had the essence knowledge on jades and stones and was unusually good on stone gambling. When Chu Yuan first left the Imperial Garden, the first windfall of wealth he earned was exactly through gambling on stones.
Master Huang put down the jades taken out and continued cutting the second chunk of stone material. Sadly, though a green hue was seen inside the stone after it was cut, it was nothing but bits and pieces of stars, and its total value was not even close to the money spent to buy this stone material.
The third one.
When Master Huang cut the edge of the stone material, a wide and deep green color of jadeite was clearly visible. After he finished cutting it and wiped it clean, a fist-sized jadeite was then thoroughly taken out.
“The total value of this jadeite is at least 50 million yuan.”
Not only was Master Huang well-skilled in cutting stones, he was also knowledgeable in judging the value of jades and jadeites. He couldn’t help but exclaim after putting it on the tray.
There was a light smile on Chu Yuan’s face after hearing Master Huang’s remark since the result was to his satisfaction. Of the three chunks of stone material he picked up, only the second one was a bit unsatisfactory, whereas the other two were up to the gamble. If they were to be sold, these jade and jadeite extracted from the stone materials would be worth 60 to 70 million yuan.
“Isn’t it Mr. Tang’s turn to have his stones cut, Elder Huang?”
The expression in Master Huang’s eyes was a bit complicated. He looked at Tang Xiu, who looked unperturbed, and inquired, “Should I begin now, Mr. Tang?”
“Go right ahead!” Replied Tang Xiu with a smile.
Master Huang nodded and carefully looked at the chunk of football-sized stone material a few times before starting to cut it. After a few minutes, nearly half of the stone was cut and revealed a milky white colored jade.
“Mutton Fat Jade?”
Master Huang was taken aback and skillfully wiped it. After having finished with the cutting, he finally took out two pieces of nut-sized Mutton Fat Jade as well as dozens of seed jade materials.
At this time, there was a surprised expression on Xue Yu’s face. Her eyes observed Tang Xiu’s unperturbed face, as she suddenly had some unusual feelings growing inside her heart. She faintly felt that today’s gambling would be a bit funny and interesting.
The expression on Chu Yuan’s face did not change, but he secretly had a wry smile inside. He did not expect that Tang Xiu’s luck would be that good to have Mutton Fat Jade taken out from his first chunk of stone. Although the value was not as good as the ones he obtained, it was only the first one, there were still two stone materials that had yet to be cut!
“Carry on!” Spoke Tang Xiu with a faint smile.
Master Huang nodded and picked up the second chunk of stone and started to cut it.
“It’s red?” As Master Huang’s knife went down, he saw faint red traces from the stone. When he began to clean it and started to cut around it, the bright scarlet jade material was exposed to everyone.
“It’s Blood Jade, the best quality Blood Jade!” Master Huang’s voice was trembling a bit. One must know that Blood Jade was very precious, and the best quality Blood Jade was a rare, treasured object that even if one had money it was difficult to buy. For instance, the jade ornament carved from Blood Jade hanging on Chu Yuan’s waist, its value was excessively high.
With a surprised expression, Xue Yu looked at Tang Xiu’s tranquil expression. She had never thought that the second chunk of stone materials bought by Tang Xiu turned out to contain Blood Jade, and more so that it was a Blood Jade of the best quality.
Something feels strange!
While looking at Tang Xiu’s tranquil expression, there was a strange tide of mental sensation inside her heart. She knew that Tang Xiu had won even though the third stone material was uncut. Just merely this Blood Jade had outweighed the total value of the jade and jadeite obtained by Chu Yuan.