Chapter 8: Immortals Do Shady Deals Too (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
"Besides, it's already the final month now. The magazine is published weekly. If you want your sweetheart's win to appear like no shady deals happening, the votes for these four weeks have to be equal. I would have to go to the Human Realm frequently. Do you know how great a risk I would have to take?"
Du Lengning raised his arms in surrender. "Alright, alright, Old Luo, don't keep saying sweetheart in every sentence; she and I are impossible. I just want to help her. Say it, how many Immortal Jades do you want."
Luo Qian stretched out five fingers with an expressionless face. "On account of you, Young Master Du, I'm willing to take this risk. Forget about my own labor cost; just give me five million Standard Immortal Jades."
"What!" Du Lengning exclaimed. "And this is on my account?"
Luo Qian put on a very sympathetic expression and stared at him. "Young Master Du, it seems like you really have no idea about the prices of things in the Human Realm. You can buy a Lamborghini with 1.3 million…"
Du Lengning pondered for a while, shook his head, and said, "Then never mind. I don't have that much money of late."
…
Three days later.
"Old Luo, please just help me. These two days, I replayed that game using the character that she cosplayed as again. I'm liking her more and more in my heart…"
Luo Qian sighed. "Young Master Du, it's not that I won't help you, but you can't make me take losses, right?"
Du Lengning thought things over for a while and said, "I don't have that much money on hand. I'll pay you two million Standard Immortal Jades for the time being, and I want to pay the rest by installments!" He'd learned this new noun from Luo Qian.
Luo Qian nodded. "No problem. You will pay me one million Standard Immortal Jades every month, and pay off everything in three months. No problem there?"
Du Lengning gritted his teeth. "No problem!"
…
Luo Qian returned to his Fushan cave abode, chiseled a small piece off the mirror stone stele at his own gate, stashed it in his bosom, and went to the Human Realm.
In the Human Realm, a certain well-known jewelry store.
Dressed in a fashionable Gucci jacket and sunglasses, Luo Qian sat in the VIP lounge. An old man wearing reading glasses held a magnifying glass and carefully studied that mirror stone piece.
There was at least one point that Luo Qian did not lie to Du Lengning about—that he really did not have that much money. To cover that total of 1.3 million, he needed to 'bear the pain of giving up what he treasured' and sell some stuff.
Mirror stones were everywhere in the Immortal Realm. If they were permitted to raise pigs in the Immortal Realm, the pig farms would definitely be built using mirror stones. However, in the Human Realm, mirror stones were rare precious treasures!
The old man studied the mirror stone piece for a long while as he pondered with his brows knitted. He picked it up and looked at it again before he continued thinking with a frown on his face. In the end, the old man still couldn't make up his mind. The old man glanced at Luo Qian, who was beside him, wondering about his background inwardly.
Dressed in expensive branded items from top to bottom, it seemed like he was a wastrel who'd stolen his family's treasures to sell off here. The old man remained on guard and handed the stone back to Luo Qian with both hands, a smile plastered on his face. "Hehe, apologies, Sir. My eyes are no good; I really cannot tell what gem this is. Could you give us some time to get a few experts to appraise it?"
Luo Qian said, "Alright then. I'll come again three days later."
"Why don't we book you a room at Garden Hotel, and you can wait up to three days?"
Luo Qian shook his head. "I don't have time."
Once he'd put away the mirror stone piece and walked out, the old man knocked on the wooden board at one side. An experienced middle-aged man walked out from the neighboring room. The old man signaled with his eyes, and the middle-aged man nodded before quietly following Luo Qian.
The old man grabbed the phone on the table and dialed a number. He was so agitated that his beard was trembling. "Boss, that's right, it's chalcedony, chalcedony! Our Chang Fa Store is finally going to own some chalcedony… Yes, yes, I'll come right away."
The old man went out and climbed into a black Buick sedan at the store's entrance. The vehicle brought the old man all the way out of the urban area and drove into a villa on the middle of a hill in the suburbs.
"Elder Xiao, did you really get a clear look?" A fair and stout middle-aged man dressed in a light pink shirt asked.
Elder Xiao nodded, still feeling a little agitated at this point. "I'm certain; I have secretly studied the two chalcedonies of De Sheng Store and Rui Fu Xiang several times. My appraisal can't be wrong."
The middle-aged man held a dark-brown cigar between his fingers. Hastily taking a few puffs, he nodded and said, "Elder Xiao, I trust your eyes, I will immediately send someone to look into that chap. We must get the chalcedony, but we don't want to get into any trouble as a result of our actions."
"I thought the same. That was why I did not ask to buy it right away. Instead, I used a trick to stall for time instead…"
Tat tat…
A series of knocks on the door sounded, and the middle-aged man raged. "Didn't I say that no one is to disturb us!"
A subordinate in a suit pushed open the door slightly, allowing his voice to be heard. "Boss, Gan, the person Elder Xiao sent to watch the man, is back."
Elder Xiao hurriedly chimed in, "Send him in quickly."
Gan was that capable middle-aged man from the store. He had always been prudent and reliable in his work; the boss and Elder Xiao thought very highly of him. But this time, the Gan who appeared before the boss and Elder Xiao was sweating profusely. He fell to his knees with a thud the moment he entered. "Boss, Mr. Xiao, I'm no good. I-I lost the man…"
The boss and Elder Xiao exchanged a glance in surprise. They were well aware of Gan's capabilities. If Gan had lost the man, it could be imagined just how formidable that person was!
The boss heaved a sigh of relief instead. "We have nothing much to worry about. A person with such capability should not be any rich man's son. We can go through with this deal with peace of mind…"
Three days later, Luo Qian came as promised with the mirror stone piece. Elder Xiao had indeed arranged for several old experts. Everyone put on an act of appraising the item while Luo Qian looked on indifferently. Luo Qian had known what this bunch of people had in mind ever since he discovered somebody following him after he left the store previously.
But he wouldn't expose them. Who cares about what you think in your heart? All is good as long as you are willing to pay the money.
"Sir, how is it?" asked Luo Qian with a beaming smile.
Elder Xiao nodded and praised, "Good stuff, good stuff. We'll take it. May I know how much you would like for it?"
Luo Qian gave a small smile and stretched out five fingers.
"Five hundred thousand?" asked Elder Xiao tentatively.
Luo Qian casually touched his clothes. "Sir, these clothes of mine are already worth 70,000-80,000. I'm not a bumpkin who has never seen big money. Don't try to fool me…"
Elder Xiao's face flushed red, and he let out an embarrassed laugh. "Hehe, it was a joke, a joke. Such a beautiful piece of jade, how could it only be worth 500,000. Tell you what. A fixed price of five million!"
"Sir, I heard that your Chang Fa Store is also a century-old shop, isn't it? However, it doesn't look very prosperous here, may I know why?"
Elder Xiao gave a casual smile. "Well, it's a business; ups and downs are unavoidable."
"But I've heard that because your competitors—De Sheng Store and Rui Fu Xiang—have gotten their hands on two pieces of chalcedonies one after another. They've used their chalcedonies as a marketing strategy and repeatedly struck Chang Fa Store. Is this true?"
Elder Xiao's expression changed; he didn't actually expect this young man to be so shrewd and ruthless. He nodded once toward Luo Qian. "Hold on for a moment; the figure is too big. I cannot make the decision by myself. I have to discuss it with my boss." He turned and headed inside a room to make a call. When he walked out, he offered, "Thirty-five million. We can only take out that much cash for now. Just as you've said, it's indeed been very depressing for us recently."
Luo Qian's gaze landed inside the hall outside of the VIP reception room. In the middle of the hall with a sudoku grid layout sat a majestic and extravagant, pure redwood square cabinet. The cabinet had been carved into a seven-storied pagoda with multiple pieces of precious jewelry displayed on every level. The higher the level, the fewer the number of jewelry present. On the topmost level was a jadeite pendant with a marked price of 16 million yuan.
Gold has a price, but jade is priceless; this saying was reflected especially prominently by the costly jadeite. A flourishing age has, more often than not, set off a collection craze. This jadeite pendant was also of supreme-grade; it was a clear-green and the size of a pebble. The price of 16 million was absolutely not considered expensive in the eyes of collectors. This was Chang Fa Store's representative piece.
However, though it was precious, one would truly see the difference between a princess and a common woman when it was compared to the other two stores' chalcedonies.
Luo Qian reached out his finger and pointed at the jadeite pendant. "That jadeite piece and 35 million."
Elder Xiao was put in an extremely difficult spot. "Mister, this…"
Luo Qian went on impatiently, "Sir, you know very well the importance of this piece of rock to Chang Fa Store. I will not budge on this price of 50 million. Being willing to accept goods to stand in for cash is already my bottom line. If you are unwilling, given China's size, there are many merchants who have the capability and aspire to rank amongst the top three jewelry stores. They aren't in the minority. They won't find the price of 50 million for this chalcedony expensive."
Elder Xiao was startled. Chang Fa Store was already terribly edged out by the other two stores. If Chang Fa Store lost the status of being one of the country's top three jewelry stores, that would truly be crushing this signboard that the ancestors had left behind.
"Wait a minute. I'll consult my boss again." Elder Xiao ran inside once more. This time, he only came out after a very long time. Catching sight of Luo Qian's annoyed expression, Elder Xiao hurriedly said, "The boss has already agreed, we can get all the procedures done right away!"
Luo Qian left behind his account number and that mirror stone piece while taking the jadeite pendant with him. Three days after the deal, he returned to the Human Realm to check his bank account, and as expected, he'd gained 35 million.
The remaining work was much simpler. Luo Qian found some people and directly purchased the magazines from the house of issue. They then filled in number 35 for all of the voting tickets and ceaselessly mailed out several thousands of voting tickets every day.
The security codes on the voting tickets weren't wasted either. While the voting tickets were mailed out, the security codes were kept. This way, they would only require 25,000 magazine copies to make 50,000 votes. By doing this, he had cut the original cost by half.
Moreover, he didn't even need to leave the Immortal Realm much during this month. He naturally had people in the Human Realm doing everything for him. Money makes the mare go. An Immortal's money was also money.
-- Gift
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