Chapter 23: Struck It Rich
After buying the villa, Chu Feng discovered that his bank account was nearly empty. He’d only been well-off for a few days and now was suddenly broke again. The pressure started to build in his heart.
He opened his bag and looked at a few raw jade stones inside.
Chu Feng took a car to S City—an international metropolis.
A large portion of China’s wealthy were concentrated there. Chu Feng figured that if he wanted to sell jade, S City would be the best place. He went straight to the city’s “Stone Gambling Street.”
Stone Gambling Street was bustling with people.
“It’s a bust! A total bust!” Chu Feng heard sighs and murmurs from a nearby crowd.
“This piece isn’t worth anything! Looked good from the outside, but after cutting it—total disappointment.”
“That was six million down the drain.”
“Someone offered five million just now and didn’t get it—lucky them in hindsight.”
“Sigh, stone gambling really is risky. You lose more than you win.”
…
People were watching with glee while a man in a business suit stood off to the side, dazed and disheartened. Chu Feng figured he was the unlucky buyer.
“Jackpot! He hit the jackpot!” came a sudden shout from a store called Jade Pavilion.
Hearing the commotion, the crowd rushed over.
“Unbelievable! A piece of leftover scrap turned out to have quality jade inside.”
“Seventy thousand—I’m buying it.”
“I’ll pay eighty!”
“One hundred thousand!”
…
“Ladies and gentlemen, take a good look. This jade came from a scrap piece in our store. This gentleman only paid 20,000—what a return! All of our jade materials here are top-notch. Don’t miss your chance!” the boss called out.
With such a dramatic example in front of them, people in the crowd were immediately tempted.
There’s a saying in the stone gambling world: “One cut to poverty, one cut to riches, one cut and you’re wrapped in burlap; lunatics buy, lunatics sell, and lunatics wait.” Stories of overnight wealth or crushing debt played out daily here.
…
Chu Feng carried his bag into a stone gambling shop.
There were many jade stores on Stone Gambling Street, each with their own niche.
Chu Feng chose a more upscale shop. The raw stones sold here were of noticeably higher quality than those in other stores.
He spotted one raw jade stone priced at 80 million yuan.
“Sir, are you here to buy jade?” a staff member asked.
Chu Feng shook his head. “No, I want to have a stone cut.”
The staff frowned slightly. “Our master craftsman is excellent, but if you’re just here to cut a stone, it might be a bit pricey.”
Chu Feng nodded. “I understand.”
He pulled out a raw jade stone about the size of two fists from his bag. The ones he’d sold before were all small—this was his biggest one yet.
The jade was mostly covered in stone, with just a tiny bit of jade showing at one corner.
“Cut it.”
The shop didn’t have many customers at the moment, but the ones there looked like high-end clients.
As soon as Chu Feng asked to cut the stone, several people came over to watch out of curiosity.
The craftsman made one cut—and a vibrant green hue was revealed, prompting gasps from the onlookers.
“Stop!” came a sharp voice nearby.
Chu Feng turned toward the voice.
“Young man, that stone of yours is excellent. How about selling it to me for ten million? Don’t cut any further,” said an older man in a Zhongshan suit. He looked aged but full of energy.
Chu Feng noticed a jade ring on the man’s hand—clearly of fine quality and likely expensive.
He shook his head. “I’d rather cut it.”
The old man frowned. “That stone looks promising. If you keep cutting and it turns out worse, you’ll lose a lot of money.”
“Old Han, you’re being shady,” said another elderly man who walked over. “This stone clearly has great potential. Ten million is too low. Young man, I’ll offer twelve million—sell it to me.”
“Old Chen, what’s the meaning of this? You trying to ruin my deal on purpose?”
Old Chen chuckled and said, “Good things go to the highest bidder, naturally. What do you say, young man?”
Chu Feng could feel everyone’s eyes on him, filled with envy.
He shook his head firmly and said, “I still want to keep cutting.”
“You’re really a stubborn one! How about fifteen million?” Chen offered.
Chu Feng still shook his head.
Seeing he didn’t get the answer he wanted, the old man looked quite disappointed.
The stone-cutting master became visibly more serious. At first, he’d assumed it was just an ordinary stone and hadn’t paid much attention, but with that one cut revealing green jade—and with two wealthy elders bidding high—if he messed this up, his reputation could be ruined.
After a few more cuts, more and more emerald green emerged.
“Excellent quality!”
“The jade is so transparent!”
“With so many fakes these days, jade of this quality is getting really rare.”
…
After a while, the entire jade stone had been revealed. One of the spectators shone a flashlight on it and exclaimed in surprise, “Not a single crack!”
“Young man, are you selling this stone or not?” the older man in the Zhongshan suit asked with gleaming eyes.
Chu Feng nodded. “If the price is right, I’ll sell.”
“I’ll offer 100 million. Deal?”
Chu Feng’s eyes went red with excitement at the number. Before, even just getting 5 million had thrilled him—and now one stone was worth 100 million?
By this point, Chu Feng realized he’d probably been swindled last time. Those previous pieces were likely sold way too cheap. He had too little experience and was easily flustered at the sound of 5 million.
He thought to himself: 5 million might buy a house and a car, but it’d be gone quickly. 100 million though—that’s a different story.
With that kind of money, he wouldn’t need to work for years and could buy whatever he wanted.
Chu Feng smiled and said, “If you’re this straightforward, sir, then I’ll sell.”
Old Han smiled too. In truth, 100 million had been a trial offer. If Chu Feng had rejected it, he was prepared to raise it a little more.
The crowd looked at Chu Feng with even more envy.
A few people murmured that he was being foolish—that if he put that jade up for auction, it could fetch an even higher price.
Chu Feng himself thought the jade might be worth more than 100 million. But he needed to liquidate some assets quickly and didn’t want to make things too complicated.
He followed the older man in the Zhongshan suit to the bank and completed the 100-million transfer.
*
Chu Feng held the bank card and headed home.
Looking at the card, he thought, There really are more rich people in S City—100 million wired over in just a few hours.
In smaller towns, some people may look wealthy, but they’re just in debt up to their eyeballs. Forget 100 million—even pulling out two or three million in cash would be difficult for them.
After returning home and resting a bit, Chu Feng noticed that the lightning-shaped mark on his hand had faded by half.
He returned to the villa and took a look around.
Although the villa was advertised as “move-in ready,” in reality it was empty and needed furnishing from scratch.
Chu Feng drove to an appliance center and bought a TV, fridge, washing machine…
Now that he had money, he chose only the best. The entire set of appliances cost him over 300,000 yuan.
After that, he went straight to a furniture center and bought a bed, sofa, wardrobe, table, chairs…
He chose all ready-made items. The whole set cost more than 600,000 yuan, and the staff eagerly promised to deliver it that same afternoon.
Chu Feng thought, Money really makes life easier. I can buy a sofa for over 100,000 yuan—the price of a car!
Once the furniture was settled, Chu Feng began thinking about what to bring to Crescent Village.
Although Illya hadn’t explicitly said so, from his tone it was clear that Crescent Village was very xenophobic.
To integrate into the village, he needed to earn the villagers’ favor. And to do that, bringing good food seemed like the best approach.
Food really is the ultimate bridge between people!
“Crescent Village relies on farming,” Chu Feng thought, “That shaman named Qiu Luo seems able to stimulate plant growth. Otherwise, with such barren land, it would be impossible to feed so many people. Even so, they’re just scraping by.”
Rubbing his forehead, Chu Feng decided to head to the wholesale market.
He bought three large containers and then filled one completely with candy.
He thought: I already brought Illya a box of salt—enough to last the whole village a long while. No need to bring more. But candy—now that’s the ultimate tool for dealing with kids. Gray was even willing to catch snakes for the shaman in exchange for some. The other kids may not be as intense, but they’ll still like sweets.
If he couldn’t win over the adults, he’d start with the children.
At the market, the candy options were endless. Chu Feng bought the ones he loved as a kid—White Rabbit, Wo Wo Milk Candy, Alpenliebe—and also got mint candies and assorted fruit hard candies in every color.
Suddenly, he remembered how much he loved sweets as a child. Now that he was older, he didn’t enjoy them as much anymore.
After the candy, Chu Feng went to a wholesale clothing market.
He thought: Illya wanted to strip my clothes the first time we met… I wonder if the rest of Crescent Village has the same habit? Better to be safe than sorry. I’ll bring them some clothes, just in case. No idea what style they like, but it’s not cold over there right now—if it were winter, I wouldn’t be able to carry much heavy clothing anyway.
When Chu Feng finished setting up the furniture in the villa, the lightning-shaped mark on his hand had almost completely faded.
He closed the villa door and entered the other world from inside the villa.
