Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 148: Chapter 145 Seduction

The full gambling rough stones were so ignored that not even a bird would bother to look at them.

It wasn’t surprising, really. Even though they were all old-pit type rough stones, they were reasonably priced back on Pingzhou Jade Street. But who knew that once they arrived at the jade gambling fair, their value would skyrocket, more than doubling.

It was a scheme to trick the novices, but surely not many experts would be willing to be duped and slaughtered, right?

Huo Sining curled her lips in disdain for those rough stone dealers who wanted to take advantage of the gambling fair to fleece outsiders.

Having cut several disappointing blocks of stone, Su Qingqing became much more cautious. Without knowing what was inside the stone, who could say if it would reveal any green?

She didn’t dare to buy the fully gambled rough stones any more. Her attention shifted completely to those that had already been cut open—the half-gambled rough stones.

...

But she only had a total of three to four hundred thousand in assets. Those half-gambled rough stones were much more expensive than the fully gambled ones. Betting all she had on one would mean risking her entire fortune. If she lost everything, her brother definitely wouldn’t lend her money. Therefore, Su Qingqing could only be cautious, not daring to make another move easily.

Du Yuanwei seemed to be interested in the half-gambled rough stones as well. With this veteran accompanying Su Qingqing, Huo Sining no longer bothered to intervene.

Huo Sining’s gaze still lingered on the full gambling rough stones. But, accustomed to frugality as she was, the thought of spending millions on a pile of dull stones, even if they might contain jadeite, simply went against her nature.

One of the most striking traits of those accustomed to seeking petty advantages is the unconscious inclination to glance at discounted or cheap items while shopping.

That was exactly what Huo Sining was like. She didn’t mind her tendency at all. When looking at gambling stones, she would pull Bai Yishan forward to avoid the ones with four or five zeroes in their prices without even a second glance, fearing that she might be tempted to buy.

After passing dozens of stalls, suddenly Huo Sining’s eyes fell on a display.

It was a very unassuming piece of material, an old pit type with dark sandy skin, with not a single texture on its surface.

Such a piece of rough stone would hardly catch anyone’s eye, but Huo Sining stopped.

The reason was simple—the price was cheap, marked at one thousand six hundred fifty yuan.

Huo Sining was surprised. This was a jade gambling fair; how could there be a rough stone priced so cheaply?

Perhaps because Huo Sining spent too long in front of this stone, its owner hurried over: “Sister, do you want to buy this gambling stone?”

Looking up surprised, Huo Sining saw a skinny girl of about twelve or thirteen standing in front of her. Her skin was tanned, but her eyes were bright and filled with anticipation.

“Is this piece of rough stone yours?” Huo Sining asked gently.

The girl nodded and answered honestly, “I found this rough stone on the highway last month. They all say that it looks unsellable, but I still wanted to try.”

Huo Sining found it amusing: “Then why are you selling it so cheap? Didn’t you see that others are selling theirs for tens of thousands?”

The girl smiled, “I know this rough stone isn’t worth much, but I want to go to school and I can’t afford the tuition. My grandma said if I could pay the tuition myself, she would let me go to school, so that’s why I’m trying to sell this stone.”

Huo Sining was taken aback; she hadn’t expected such a story behind the stone: “Why did you price it at one thousand six hundred fifty yuan?”

Huo Sining wanted to ask why she didn’t price it higher, but the girl misunderstood, thinking Huo Sining was finding it too expensive. A flash of shame crossed her eyes as she stammered,

“Because the annual tuition is five hundred fifty yuan, and for three years it’s one thousand six hundred fifty yuan. That way, I can graduate from junior high. Sister, would you like to buy it? If you think the price is too high, I can still give you a discount.”

Sixteen hundred and fifty may not seem like much to Huo Sining now, but just a few months ago, she definitely would have been at a complete loss to come up with such a large sum of money.

Seeing the girl with her head lowered, fidgeting nervously, Huo Sining couldn’t help but feel a pang of empathy, as if she saw her own reflection in the girl before her.

“It’s not expensive, not expensive at all. Your rough jade is quite good. Here’s seventeen hundred yuan, I’ll buy it,” she said.

Huo Sining counted out seventeen hundred yuan from her bag and handed it over. The girl clutched the stack of money, looking at Huo Sining with joy, “Thank you, sister. I don’t have any change on me, but if you wait here, I’ll go and get some, I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, no need for change…” Huo Sining was about to say there was no need for change when the girl stuffed the rough jade into Huo Sining’s hand and dashed off.

Bai Yishan held her forehead at one side, “You can tell at a glance that nobody wanted that thing and it was thrown on the street. Aren’t you afraid she’s a swindler with such blind kindness?”

Huo Sining shook her head, convinced, “No, that child’s desire for education in her eyes can’t be faked.”

By the time the girl returned with a handful of change to the original spot, Huo Sining and Bai Yishan had already disappeared.

Gu Xu emerged from the dark bid area, knowing that Huo Sining was in the Bright Bid Area; he followed after her.

However, the Bright Bid Area was too large, and there were too many people inspecting the rough jade, so finding someone was truly difficult.

Gu Xu could only walk while looking around, but didn’t expect to nearly bump into a woman after only a short distance.

“Don’t you have eyes? Don’t you watch where you’re going?”

The woman turned around to curse loudly but, upon raising her head and seeing Gu Xu’s handsome face, she was stunned.

“No, I didn’t mean to scold you, I… I… are you here to gamble on stones too? My name is Wu Linger, I…”

The woman’s face showed an embarrassed expression as she insincerely explained, her infatuated gaze fixed on him, full of springtime.

Gu Xu was no fool; he could easily see what this woman named Wu Linger was hinting at.

Since he became the chairman of Shengtang, he had lost count of the number of women who approached him under various pretexts to try to seduce him; this woman’s tactics were just too naive, like someone who hadn’t finished elementary school.

Gu Xu always had little patience for frivolous, infatuated, and flirtatious women, so he did not even spare her a second glance and walked away, ignoring her completely.

The moment Wu Linger saw Gu Xu, she felt as if she had been hit by a charm spell, completely dumbfounded.

This man was too handsome, too charming, looking exactly like the prince charming she had envisioned.

Wu Linger was used to seeing the dashing young heirs of S City, with Su Jinyuan being the wealthiest and most influential, but when it came to looks and presence, the man before her could leave Su Jinyuan several streets behind.

Furthermore, the clothes Gu Xu was wearing, along with the watch on his wrist, were obviously not cheap; this man was not just handsome, he was likely also very wealthy!

Wu Linger immediately set her mind on it, deciding to hook this man at any cost.

But while she guessed the beginning, she could not predict the ending. Her supposedly infallible, charming methods did not catch his interest in the least.

The shy and timid smile on Wu Linger’s face suddenly stiffened, her complexion turning from pale to flushed as she stared at Gu Xu’s cold figure, not knowing what she was thinking.