“This is an ancestral prescription of my family. Buy the medicine according to the prescription and boil them with three bowls of water, and take it when it boils down to one bowl of water. Once a night, I ensure that you will lose 50kg weight within three months. As long as you don’t get crapulent, you will never rebound.”
Ding Ning solemnly handed the written prescription to him and said, “This ancestral prescription is confidential in my family. You must keep it a secret. Take it as compensation from me for that I have turned down your kind offer.”
Although Zhang Yuhuan was very reluctant to believe in this damn weight loss prescription, with Ding Ning’s serious look and extraordinary penmanship, he firmly believed that Ding Ning was not an ordinary man.
A man like him had no reason to fool him, and the medicine cost him nothing. He would give it a try to make the last struggle. Then he received the prescription, put it in the handbag with care, and said with a serious voice,
“Do not worry. Although I Zhang Yuhuan is not a big man, I am not a big mouth. I will keep my mouth shut and never let it out.”
Although he still slightly disproved of it in his heart, his principle of life was honesty that he would keep his word after making a promise.
When he returned to the standard weight after three months, he realized that the prescription was precious, and he understood why Ding Ning was so serious.
He had had a greedy idea to make money from the prescription. However, when he thought of his promise, he kept his word and held his bottom line.
And because of that, he became a true friend of Ding Ning and gained far more than what he lost.
At the age of 120, he was still as vigorous as a middle-aged man, and at that time, Jubaozhai had become an internationally renowned jewelry sales company having branches in every city in the world.
That reminded him of the time when he met Ding Ning for the first time. He couldn’t help but feel the enthusiasm to write down the family rules of the Zhang Family. The first one rule was, “Be good with others, keep promises, and never do anything to betray trust!”
He felt lucky that he had withstood the temptation of greed. Otherwise, he would have missed the greatest opportunity and the person who had brought him this luck in life. And Jubaozhai wouldn’t have become that glorious.
Of course, that was part of the story to be recounted later and would be put aside first.
Zhang Yuhuan, who got the prescription, did not keep disturbing. And after exchanging the mobile phone number, he left.
Ding Ning touched every piece of raw stones from end to end like a country boy who first arrived in the city. People who came to Fantastic Stones Shop for the first time like him who looked obviously new were many. Therefore he didn’t draw much attention.
Even the staff at Fantastic Stones Shop was too lazy to greet him and let him touch the raw stones. Touching wouldn’t cause any damage to the stones anyway.
Ding Ning was very excited, as the structural components and specific data of the raw stones clearly displayed clearly in his mind. And he realized that he did not even need to know anything about the value of jades.
Because the composition and purity of jade appeared in the form of data, the higher the purity and the data value were, the more valuable the jade would be. He only needed to find the jade with a high data value. Then it would definitely be the most valuable jade.
Although most of the raw stones he touched were not good, he learned a lot. Because he didn’t know the reference data of the glass type of jade from the old pits, he wasn’t sure about the price of the jade that he touched.
After all, raw stones cost to buy, with a high price. According to the appearance of the surface of the stones, there were several prices.
If the surface of the stone looked ugly, it would be unlikely to raise the bet. And the price of the stone would be relatively lower. However, that type of raw stones was sold by kilograms. Even the cheapest ones would cost a few hundred dollars, and some were expensive enough to cost hundreds of thousand dollars.
Ding Ning had had one million and one hundred thousand. But he spent several hundred dollars on buying clothes for Chu Yunna, three hundred thousand dollars on advance payment for rain forest simulation base, plus the expense on food and gas. Now he had only a little more than six hundred thousand left.
With the eight hundred thousand that he got from selling the seven-star grass, Ding Ning had around one million and four hundred thousand dollars in total.
Looking at the prices of the raw stones that were ranked from hundreds of thousands to one million dollars at the middling zone, Ding Ning got afraid that he would get more kicks than halfpence as a green hand. Therefore he decided to give it a try at the low-end zone first to gain a reference base of the date value.
A piece of raw stone with a grinding disc size became his preferred target. The jade data in this raw stone was the second highest in the low-end zone.
The reason that he chose it to try was not only because it was cheap at a price of about 4.5 thousand, but mostly, the jade inside it was big enough, even bigger than a basketball.
The staff who had been neglecting him got interested, seeing that he wanted to buy the raw stone. Even a small business counted.
Only when he saw the raw stone that Ding Ning chose, he suddenly wanted to laugh—it was in poor condition.
Its surface was dull-yellow with only one indistinct boa-like strap, and the piny-flower pattern on it was sparse and messy. The only bright spot was that it had a lot of blue and black mottles.
Although there was a jargon saying that a raw stone with black mottles would very likely contain jade, the mottles on it could not be erased, which meant that they were hard mottles. Even if there were jade inside the raw stone, it would already be assimilated by the mottles, making it a typical mottled raw stone.
There were many experienced gamblers who had seen this raw stone shook their heads and thought that it was impossible to gamble.
This raw stone was basically worthless, to put it bluntly. It was only there to make up the number of the amount.
However, the staff members didn’t reveal that with the thought of making a profit and said with a smile, “Do you want to cut it here or later after you bring it home?”
“I will have it cut here. I have no tools at home.”
That was just Ding Ning’s first try. And he wanted to make money from it. There was no way he would bring it home to cut it by himself.
Soon, the raw stone tagged with the number 193 was sent to a stone cutting master.
Seeing that someone had a raw stone cut, people who were buying raw stone all gathered around. However, when they saw its appearance, they all shook their heads.
“If this broken stone would gain a raise, it will be damned.”
“Look at the dull-yellow color. There is only one boa-like strap. And it is cut off by the mottles. Even there is jade inside. It would be assimilated by the mottles.”
“Yeah, that is a typical mottled raw stone. This kid must have gone crazy for making money, right?”
“Heyhey. I guess this is his first time here. Only a newbie who doesn’t know anything would pick such a raw stone.”
“It’s cheap. And you would have fun for only paying several thousand dollars.”
“Right. Looking at his cheap clothes, I guess that he wants to make a fortune overnight.”
“Maybe he would run into good luck. Who knows. Haha!”
…
The onlookers were whispering to each other, looking Ding Ning with their eyes full of ridicule and gloating.
Even the stone cutting master shook his head and smiled helplessly. According to his experience, the price of such a raw stone would definitely go downwards.
However, his professionalism made him hold back his words and cut directly with a professional attitude.
“There, there is green.”
“Oh man. It’s really happening. This bloke is lucky.”
“Boo. That’s nothing. I can bet that the jade inside was all assimilated.”
“You are right. That’s a typical appearance of mottled raw stone, which is normal to show jade when cut. You don’t know if it could get a raise or not.”
… People were discussing it widely. Most people still didn’t think highly of the raw stone. And some who felt tempted also hesitated.
At this moment, Xiang Bolong and several young men who looked rich were surrounding a young man full of the air of charisma and they walked up to Ding Ning. Judging from Xiang Bolong’s angry face, he must have been laughed at by his fellows for the matter that Ding Ning made him lose.
Raising his head, Xiang Bolong saw Ding Ning. Suddenly, his face turned more gloomy and angrier. He glared at Ding Ning, and said, “That’s the one. I hardly had the chance to gain a raise on my gamble. And he stole it from me.”
“Oh, that’s interesting!”
The header was a young man who was in pure but gaudery white. He was tall and handsome. Especially his lazy smile on his mouth and the unrestrained temperament made people amazed.
He took a look at Ding Ning casually but collided with Ding Ning’s line of sight. The corner of his mouth could not help but reveal a meaningful smile.
Ding Ning took a glance at him and stopped paying attention. Although he felt that the young man was extraordinary and gave him a faint familiarity, he was sure that he had never met this person before. Therefore he didn’t take it to heart.
And he neglected the furious expression in Xiang Bolong’s eyes and looked at Mu Yanran who was walking up to him. He smiled at her, but she didn’t show any reaction.
Mu Yanran walked up to him unhurriedly and asked questioningly, “There’s jade in the raw stone you bought?”
“Yeah!” Ding Ning nodded without expressing an opinion and said to the stone cutting master who stopped cutting, “Go on. Why stopped?”
The stone cutting master said helplessly, “Sir, are you sure that you want me to continue?”
“Why not? I have already paid for it,” Ding Ning asked confused.
Mu Yanran felt quite amused. It seemed that this guy knew nothing of stone gambling. Then she explained to him immediately, “Although the first cut brought out jade, it doesn’t mean there would be a gamble raise. Your raw stone now is called a half-gamble. It could be a raise or a loss. The stone cutting master asked you with a good intention. Now there should be gamblers who are interesting in buying it. The one who offers the highest bid will have it. That’s why he asked you for your opinion that if you want him to continue cutting or sell it.”
Ding Ning suddenly understood. He knew that he would definitely have a raise. Therefore he wouldn’t want to sell it. However, he also wanted to know how much people would be willing to pay for this raw stone.
Therefore he didn’t hurry to express his opinion and looked to the people who were watching.
“Little brother, I will buy this raw stone for 20,000 dollars.”
A middle-aged man bit his teeth and said. Although he was not optimistic about this raw stone, he knew that he had to pay if he wanted to gain. Anything could be possible. If there came a raise, it would be worth it for 20,000 dollars.
“I will pay 30,000 dollars.”
“I will pay 35,000 dollars.”
…
If someone took the lead, the others would follow. There were always gamblers who would throw a sprat to catch a herring.
The highest bid was less than 50,000 dollars, offered by a beautiful middle-aged woman. Ding Ning shook his head and said, “I am sorry. I am not ready to sell.”
“Are you a fool. You bought for 4.5 thousand. Now you will earn forty-five thousand to resell it. Why not?”
Mu Yanran dragged him anxiously and whispered to his ear, “In my eyes, there is 80% of chance that this raw stone will lose the gamble. Now it’s still not too late to sell it.”
Ding Ning’s ear and heart were itched by her breathing. He looked at her creamy face with light fluff in the sun and smiled confidently. “How about we make a bet. I won’t lose.”
Looking at his confident smile, Mu Yanran felt her heart beat faster and realized that her behavior was a bit too embarrassing. She turned her head away awkwardly, restored her coldness as the Ice Queen, and said coldly,
“I am not interested. There is nothing to do with me whether your gamble raises or loses.”
Ding Ning sulkily stopped smiling. This queen was not only cold but also changeable.
“Kid, this beauty is not interested, but I am interested. How about I gamble with you?”
When Xiang Bolong saw Mu Yanran, he brightened his eyes. Seeing that she and Ding Ning were that close, his heart became more and more uncomfortable and immediately asked with his eyebrows raised.
The young man in white smiled without talking and seemed with a calm temperament. Only when he looked at Mu Yanran, he seemed thoughtful.
“Young master Xiang wants to give me money again. Well, how do you want to gamble?”
Ding Ning felt quite happy and asked without hesitation.