"Oh, isn’t that President Xiao? How come you’re picking stones from this pile of waste?"
"Right, wasn’t President Xiao a millionaire? Now he’s actually choosing stones worth a few hundred yuan each, how pitiful."
"Have you guys forgotten that President Xiao has gone bankrupt? I heard his daughter has fallen seriously ill recently, probably he’s hoping to gamble on a piece of jade that might save his daughter."
Three richly dressed men taunted the man squatting on the ground picking stones, President Xiao.
Xiao Yong did not respond to their mockery, his expression was calm, but his hand tightened as he selected stones, seemingly holding back something.
Qin Qin looked on indifferently, her gaze swept over the three men and then coolly retracted it.
Seeing that Xiao Yong ignored them, the three men spat in disinterest and walked away to select stones for themselves.
Only when the three men had left did Xiao Yong raise his head, his gaze dark with hatred, his fists clenched, and a flash of pain in his eyes.
These three men used to be his good friends, but they conspired to bankrupt him, he wanted revenge, but with his current state, he couldn’t even protect himself, how could he seek revenge.
Xiao Yong’s lips curled into a self-mocking smile.
"Thinking of revenge?"
A cold voice came from beside him, Xiao Yong lifted his head and under the faint sunlight, he saw an eighteen-year-old girl with eyes bright and clear as water looking at him.
Xiao Yong didn’t speak but self-mockingly smiled, "Revenge? How could I not want revenge?"
Then he stopped looking at Qin Qin and turned his gaze back to the pile of discarded stones, closing his eyes to hide the pain.
"If you know that no jade will come out here, why continue to select?" Qin Qin squatted down, her right hand touching each stone in front of her, seemingly casually, but only she knew she was feeling for the Spiritual Energy inside.
Her right hand stopped on a stone with blemishes in front of Xiao Yong, rich in Spiritual Energy; she looked at the not so big stone, dark with blemishes, and noted the cracks on it.
Xiao Yong followed Qin Qin’s hand, smiling, "This stone is actually quite good, but it has a crack, and stones , even if they produce jade, are considered waste jade and are not valuable, so nobody selects them."
That’s why, even though the stone was in front of him, he wouldn’t choose it.
"You ask me why I still select stones when I know no jade will come out? Because I’m bankrupt, I have no money, and I only have one thousand yuan on me, only enough to select two stones from here," Xiao Yong said, looking at the pile of waste stones.
"Why come to pick stones if you’re bankrupt?"
Qin Qin turned her head to look at Xiao Yong, who turned to meet her gaze, his eyes filled with pain, "For my daughter, my daughter is ill, and I don’t have any money to send her to the hospital. I’ve spent my life in Stone Gambling, and the only thing I know is how to look at stones. I can only gamble here."
Xiao Yong looked down at his hands, his fists clenched; he used to be a fairly well-known jade merchant in Chuandu City, with two jade stores there.
But everything he had was brought to this point by betrayal from his best friends.
Qin Qin picked up the stone, she had seen through it with her ghost eyes, and the cracks were only on the surface, the jade inside was beautiful and should be worth quite a bit.
"This stone is nice; you can’t judge things by their appearance, otherwise, you will always fail." Qin Qin handed the cracked stone to Xiao Yong.
Xiao Yong looked at the stone and lifted his gaze to Qin Qin, smiling, "This stone..."
"I know what you want to say. To save your daughter, this stone should suffice." Qin Qin pushed the stone into Xiao Yong’s hands, Xiao Yong looked down at the stone in his hand, smiled bitterly at Qin Qin, knowing that no matter which stone he chose, the chances of it turning green were very low.
Xiao Yong picked up that stone and another he had selected and walked towards the Stone Gambling Machine area, where Old Mu had two Stone Gambling Machines.
In front of Xiao Yong were the two rich men from earlier, arguing passionately. They were each in front of a Stone Gambling Machine, processing stones. One of them, seeing that the stone he had carefully selected didn’t produce jade, sighed disappointedly, while the other laughed at him, "Hahaha, I told you yours wouldn’t turn green, but you didn’t believe me. Watch, mine will definitely turn green, let’s get it processed quickly."
In front of the machine was a skilled master, slicing the stone adeptly, and then a streak of green appeared in front of everyone. Unfortunately, before the crowd could celebrate, the master announced it was merely surface green without any jade value, darkening the face of the rich man who had been gloating just a moment before, into an angry scowl.