He was surprised, and mumbled, “F*ck me. Why is there such a big bird… Oh? It looks like a person? Haha, I must have been playing video games for too long. My eyes are playing tricks on me already.”
He rubbed his eyes then looked again.
He then became wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
The laundry in his hands fell on the floor.
“Oh my god! What the hell is that? This is the sixteenth floor!” He yelled, “Monster? Alien? Or Superman?”
He was in a daze for a few seconds, then he dashed into the house. “Hey darling, come out and look at Superman!”
Of course, Tang Hao heard all that. He nearly burst out laughing.
He did not want to raise a commotion, so he flew back to Celestial Foothill and back to his mansion.
It was already one or two o’clock in the morning by then.
Tang Hao concocted a few more bottles of potions, then studied some talisman-making before he went to bed.
Chapter 59
A little three-wheeled motorcycle sped like the wind as it rode toward the jade market in the south of the city.
Five days had passed in the blink of an eye.
After ascending into the middle period of the State of Qi Channeling five days ago, Tang Hao had studied many different sorcery spells as well as certain low-level elemental spells. He was not an expert yet, but he was already considered a student of the elements.
On the art of talisman-making, he was already able to write runes on talismans. The purpose of his excursion this time was to buy some jade to produce talismans.
There were two types of talismans: paper and jade.
Paper talismans were typically written on yellow paper, though the effects were diminished. High-quality paper talismans required a special type of paper that Tang Hao did not have.
The only other option was jade talismans.
Many incidents happened in these five days. The progress of setting up the plantation is going smoothly underway at Dragonrock Village. The production committee had finalized the details of the project with the village council.
The asphalt road project was also due to start in a few days.
Once the asphalt road was built, setting up the infrastructure for the plantation was next.
Two days ago, President Li had called him to talk about Principal Zhang.
Principal Zhang was Zhang Tianhao’s father. His full name was Zhang Hong, and he was the principal of First Public High School. Two weeks ago, Zhang Tianhao had framed Tang Hao. President Li had already promised that he would get even with Principal Zhang.
Zhang Hong had a bad reputation. President Li hired someone to investigate him and found some dirt. Not only had he accepted bribes, but he also had indecent relationships with minors.
President Li had told him that he would publicize this information in the next few days so that Zhang Hong might pay the price for his misdeeds.
As for Chen Sandao, he was nowhere to be found. The police had guessed that he must have escaped from Province Z.
Tang Hao was worried about Chen Sandao. He would remain a thorn in his side as long as he was not caught.
He arrived at the jade market in less than twenty minutes.
Many different stores in the jade market sold various types of jade items. These items shimmered and dazzled under the display lights.
Tang Hao knew that the quality of the items here was not consistent. There was also a chance of buying fake jade.
Furthermore, he was not looking for processed jade but rather unprocessed jade ore to make talismans. He took a look at the various stores, then went into the stone-gambling store. (TN: Stone-gambling is a traditional Chinese hobby. Stores would sell unprocessed stones that may or may not have precious jade inside. The stones are cut open after purchase to reveal its contents.)
Tang Hao had heard sayings related to stone-gambling before. Those include, “A cut divides the rich from the poor” and “Even a deity cannot see past an inch of stone”.
He had no experience in stone-gambling, though he had expected that he should be able to acquire some raw jade with the three million yuan he had in his account.
The stone-gambling storefront seemed narrow, though it was a lot more spacious once he stepped inside. Hunks of raw stones were displayed on the shelves.
The raw stones were of various colors, shapes and sizes.
Some people were standing in front of those shelves, carefully inspecting each of those stones.
A tall woman raised her head when she saw Tang Hao walk in. She soon furrowed her brows.
This boy that just came into the store could not have been rich.
However, she was used to seeing all types of people visiting the stone-gambling store, whether they were rich or poor.
She smiled hospitably while she stepped forward. “Welcome, sir… Is this your first time here? Do you have a price range in mind?”
Tang Hao looked at the person speaking and was surprised.
She was a woman in her late twenties and was unusually tall for a female. She was beautiful and was dressed in a trendy suit. She was refreshing to look at.
“I’ll just look around!” Tang Hao said.
The woman was taken aback. She grunted a reply then returned to her position.
‘This fella… he’s just window-shopping, right? I guess so. He’s so young, he doesn’t look like he knows anything about stone-gambling,’ she thought to herself.
Tang Hao walked straight to the shelves and started looking at the stones.
After a while, he could not see anything special about the stones. He furrowed his brows.
‘Right. The antiques had some qi on them. I wonder if this is the same for jade?’ Tang Hao suddenly had an idea.
He stepped close to a raw stone and carefully touched it. He sensed a flow of qi emanating from within the stone but it was not strong.
He touched some of the other raw stones and felt different auras of qi.
Tang Hao was not sure whether a stronger aura of qi meant higher quality jade.
For antiques, a stronger aura of qi meant that the item was older and therefore more valuable. Jade was different. It was considered as a spiritual object, so he could not use his usual logic.
He hesitated for a while, then decided to touch the stones one by one.
His actions attracted the attention of the other people in the store. They looked at him condescendingly.
“He’s just a clueless kid!” Some of them mumbled.
After a while, Tang Hao stood in front of a boulder.
This boulder was about two feet tall and equally as wide and was bigger by several times than the other stones. The price was an astronomical three million yuan.
He had touched all the stones in the store, and the qi aura from this stone was the strongest. Tang Hao hesitated when he saw the price tag. He only had a little more than three million yuan in his bank account. After buying this piece of rock, he would be poor again.
However, judging from the size of the rock, he should be able to carve an enormous piece of jade from it, and from there he could make many jade talismans.
For a long while, he could not make up his mind.
Many surprised eyes were looking at him standing in front of that rock.
Then, they shook their heads. Normal people would not be able to afford to gamble their money on this boulder. Even if one could afford it, no one was willing to pay that price. Losing the gamble was no small matter.
Many of them chuckled and looked elsewhere.
Suddenly, the boy standing in front of the boulder opened his mouth. He pointed at the boulder in front of him and said, “I want this piece!”
Everyone in the store was shocked. They came to their senses and exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh my god, is he insane? He dares gamble three million yuan on this stone?”
The woman was also stunned. She could only look at him with eyes opened round and wide.
The
boy’s proclamation sounded ridiculous in her ears. This was not just any normal stone. It cost a whopping three million yuan! The boulder had been in the store for a few years and no one dared to take the plunge.
This boy did not look like a rich person, so how would he be able to afford it?
She came to her senses a long while later, then rushed to him and spoke hesitantly, “Are you sure you want…”
Tang Hao nodded and replied, “Why, you don’t think I can afford it?”
Then, he took out his debit card and handed it to her. “If you don’t believe it, take a look.”
The woman was still hesitant when she took the card from his hand. She, as well as the other people in the store, could not believe that Tang Hao could afford it. The boy’s clothes did not show that he or his parents were rich, so how was it possible that he had three million?
“I think he’s a phony!” Some people were whispering to each other.
The woman went over to the POS machine and swiped the card, then Tang Hao entered his PIN. Her eyes went round when she saw his account balance.
‘Oh my god! He does have three million yuan!’
This plain-looking kid in shabby clothes was a rich scion!
In her eyes, having so much money at a young age could only mean that his parents were rich.
Her attitude changed. She became a lot more hospitable and respectful.
The other people were also surprised that the kid did actually have three million yuan in his account.
After taking his card back, Tang Hao carried the raw stone to the stonecutter. All the people in the store followed, their faces full of anticipation and unease.
Chapter 60
The stonecutter inspected the rock for a while, then used his tools to carefully open a small window at a corner of the rock.
The crowd rushed forward to take a look. They were shocked.
From the small window in the rock, they could only see a deep green color.
This was not the green of typical jade. Rather, it was a pure, uniform, deep shade of green. Its surface had a mirror sheen, and its insides were free from impurities as if it were transparent.
“Oh… oh my god! This… this is imperial jade!”
Everyone looking exclaimed with a trembling voice. They could not believe their eyes.
Imperial jade was the highest grade of jade.
“It’s not only imperial jade. Look at this mirror sheen. It’s also glass-type!” Someone exclaimed excitedly.
“Glass-type imperial jade?”
The woman was thoroughly dumbfounded. She was caught in a trance and could not differentiate real life from fantasy anymore.
Imperial jade and glass-type jade were considered to be the pinnacle of jade types.
With both top-grade characteristics in one, Tang Hao’s find was considered the ultimate form of jade. It would fetch an astronomical price at auctions.
Everyone went crazy at that instant.
“Hey, little brother, sell me this rock! I offer fifty million!”
“Pah! Don’t you have any shame? You think that this brother here doesn’t know jade and you want to scam him? How is fifty million enough? I offer eighty million!”
The crowd shouted their offers, looking like fanatics.
Tang Hao was surprised. He did not know the jade market that well, though he had searched on the Internet before he left for the jade market and knew that imperial jade was the highest grade. He was not expecting to strike the jackpot with his first purchase.
‘Ha! Guess I’m in luck!’ Tang Hao thought.
Then, he concluded that a raw stone with high-quality jade within would emanate a strong qi aura.
‘I guess this is because jade is a spiritual substance and can absorb to a certain degree of the qi present in the heavens and the earth. The higher quality the jade, the more qi it can absorb.’ Tang Hao contemplated.
Tang Hao only smiled at the offers from the people around him.
Indeed, without fully uncovering the jade, one could not say with confidence that the jade within was glass-type imperial jade. Some opportunists would have sold the rock as it is.
Gaining eighty million from three million was already a handsome profit.
Tang Hao was not like that. For him, it did not matter whether the jade inside was glass-type imperial jade or not. If it was, then he was in luck. If it was not, it did not bother him too much either. He was not going to sell it anyway.
“Sorry, I’m not selling this!” Tang Hao said casually.
The people around him looked disappointed.
“Cut it open, Master!” Tang Hao said.
“Alright!” The stonecutter was also excited. He had not seen a masterpiece like this in his years of cutting jade.
He inhaled deeply to calm himself down, then operated the machinery to remove the outer layer of rock. A big piece of jade was uncovered. It was deep green all through and was clear. It shimmered with an enchanting hue under the light.
“Masterpiece! This is a masterpiece!”
“This is too beautiful! That’s glass-type imperial jade for you. The beauty is unearthly!”
“This kid has struck a fortune! This big piece can easily fetch three or four hundred million yuan!”
Everyone crowded around to behold the beauty of this piece of jade. They were extremely emotional with their cheers and exclamations.
The woman stood there, dumbfounded. The scene that unfolded in front of her was like a dream.
After a while, she shifted her gaze to look at Tang Hao.
She was filled with admiration as well as awe. She was in the trade for more than four years and had never seen such a lucky individual.
Her first reaction was to ask the boy if he wanted to sell the jade, but as the words reached the tip of her tongue, she realized that the store would not be able to afford it.
Tang Hao was overjoyed when looking at this piece of jade.
‘I can’t make jade talismans out of a masterpiece like this. That would be too much of a waste. I should use it for ornaments. Right, I can make a necklace for Sis Xiangyi. It should be gorgeous.’
Then, he was immediately puzzled. His money was almost depleted after buying this rock. How was he going to afford more jade for talismans?
“Um… can I look around and pick a few more stones?” Tang Hao scratched his head and asked awkwardly.
“Pick whatever you like!” The woman was stunned, then replied urgently.
“Alright!” Tang Hao went around the store one more time.
The other stones in the store did not have strong qi auras. Tang Hao picked five bigger stones that cost between four hundred and five hundred thousand yuan.
Then, they were cut open. Two of them were ice-type transparent jade. The third piece was also ice-type but had impurities within. Another was a rare red jade. The final piece was fully green, but its grade was slightly inferior to ice-type.
The results had shocked all the observers.
Everyone thought that the kid had a lucky break when he opened a piece of glass-type imperial jade. With five more pieces of high-grade jade in a row, that was obviously not luck anymore.
‘This guy is a real pro!’
“Three ice-types in five stones. That’s incredible!” Everyone exclaimed.
Ice-type jade was not common like iceberg lettuce. It was rare enough to encounter them on a normal day. Three pieces in a day was a momentous occurrence.
“Hey brother, let’s be friends! This is my name card.”
“Hey brother, can you tell me what secrets do you have?”
The group of people crowded around him and introduced themselves eagerly.
Tang Hao finally handled all the inquiries. Then, he sold one of the ice-type transparent jade pieces to the store for seven million. After paying five million and five hundred thousand for the raw stones, he was left with one million and five hundred thousand yuan.
“Mr. Tang, my name is Wen Rong. Pleas
e visit us more often!” The woman introduced herself hospitably while handing Tang Hao her name card.
“Of course, of course!” Tang Hao smiled.
The jade pieces were wrapped up and placed in a few bags. Tang Hao left the stone-gambling store with the full bags.
After taking a few steps, he stashed them into his pocket dimension when no one was looking.
Then, he dialed Liu Dajun’s number on his phone and asked him if he knew any jade craftsmen.
“Why are you asking this, Lil Tang?” Liu Dajun was curious.
“Oh! I went to the stone-gambling store at the jade market earlier. I’ve acquired some nice pieces of jade and I want to make ornaments from them.”
“Stone gambling? Wow, why didn’t you invite me along? You sound like you had a lucky streak!” Liu Dajun laughed.
“Yup! I was a little lucky!”
“You did the right thing by asking me. I know just the right person. No complaints about his handiwork, he’s a real master craftsman. I’ll hook you up with him later. Right, what kind of jade did you get?”
“Not bad. Glass-type imperial jade!” Tang Hao said casually.
“Pfft!” Liu Dajun did a spit take. “F*ck me, are you for real?”
“Yup! I got a big piece too!”
Liu Dajun was speechless. He could only think that Tang Hao’s luck was heaven-blessed. He bought himself a string of thousand-year blood jade beads the last time, and now he was lucky enough to gamble a piece of glass-type imperial jade.
“Well… Lil Tang, since you said you got a big piece… heheh! Do you think you can save some for me? You see, I’m thinking of crafting a ring for myself… Just think about it, wearing a ring made out of imperial jade. That would be so extravagant! Don’t worry, I’ll pay the full price for it!”
“Alright!” Tang Hao replied.
“OK then, I’ll get in touch with this master craftsman soon. He won’t be able to sit still if he knows that you have such a masterpiece.”
They ended the call. A while later, President Liu called him again.
The Mightiest Little Peasant c1-799 Page 29