Chapter 216: There’s Such a Good Deal?
Another one... and it’s even bigger?
Caspian Rhodes and Brandon Jennings both turned to look at the wooden box in Brandon’s hands.
After confirming with Arabella Donovan that she didn’t want him to cut any further, the old artisan had packed the rest of the rough stone into this wooden box so she could easily carry it away.
The stone had originally weighed around twenty pounds. After carving out the Blessing, Fortune, Longevity, Joy Original Stone and removing some waste rock, it was still over ten pounds.
Brandon had already thought it was heavy, but now, knowing there was an even larger rough stone inside, the box in his hands felt like it weighed a ton. He broke out in a sweat in an instant, and his hands trembled slightly as he held it.
"Since you’re willing to part with them, I can’t just take advantage of you. How about this? Five hundred million for the two jade pendants. That will exactly cancel out the five hundred million you borrowed from me. What do you think?"
Arabella’s jaw dropped. It took her a moment to respond. "What do I think? What’s there to think about? Mr. Rhodes, aren’t you being a little too obvious about just handing me money? Those two little pendants aren’t worth that much."
She had paid close attention to what Mr. Lynch said during the stone cutting. While everyone’s attention was on the stone, she had snuck a peek at the ornament that had supposedly sold at auction for a hundred million overseas.
It wasn’t as big as the one she’d had cut, but it wasn’t that much smaller, either. Even taking into account factors like the material’s translucency and impurities, her entire original stone would sell for three or four hundred million at the absolute most. How could it possibly make sense for two small jade pendants carved from it to be worth five hundred million?
But Caspian Rhodes insisted, "They’re worth that much."
’When wealth accumulates to a certain point, money is just a number. Things that money can’t buy, like good health and a life free of illness and misfortune, are far more precious.’
’Given the effects of those stones, if word ever got out, people would be willing to pay not just five hundred million, but a billion or even ten billion.’
"They’re not. At most, if I were being greedy, I’d charge you a hundred million per pendant."
"Five hundred million."
"Three hundred million, tops."
"Five hundred million."
"Why are you so determined to waste your money?"
"It’s five hundred million."
"You..."
Brandon Jennings was speechless. ’Wait, did you two accidentally switch roles? What is this, reverse haggling? Are you two engaged in some kind of weird roleplay I don’t get?’
’Still, he agreed with Caspian. If the jade pendants were just made from an ordinary Blessing, Fortune, Longevity, Joy stone, they definitely wouldn’t be worth that much. The key was the spiritual marrow inside. He felt even double the price would be a steal!’
’To be blunt, this kid wasn’t a relative or even a particularly good friend. Why should he get a piece of the pie?’
With these thoughts, Brandon’s expression soured as he looked at Caspian, and a passive-aggressive tone crept into his voice. "Since he’s willing to pay the price, that means our item is worth that much. Just take the money. What’s with all the objections?"
"Brother, you..."
"Mr. Jennings is right," Caspian chimed in. "The matter is settled."
Arabella was speechless. ’I haven’t even agreed, so how is it settled? Wait, when did you two get on the same side?’
Outnumbered, Arabella rolled her eyes, exasperated. She decided not to argue the point any further. "Let’s put that aside for now. Mr. Rhodes, let me confirm with you one more time: are you really not interested in that plot of land in the Southward District?"
A flicker of understanding passed through Caspian’s eyes as he faintly guessed her intention.
"Why do you ask? Are you thinking of selling the Southward District plot? To me?"
Arabella scratched her cheek sheepishly. "That was the idea."
Her original goal was never the Southward District plot, but the wasteland in the Norwall Outskirts. If the two hadn’t been bundled together, she wouldn’t have had to spend so much effort and money fighting tooth and nail against that crowd. And most importantly...
"Besides, look at me. I don’t have a company or any connections. I can’t just hold on to a piece of land like this and magically make something valuable grow on it."
If the people she’d outbid tonight heard that, they’d probably die of rage. A group of major corporation bosses losing to a private individual—the thought was surreal enough.
"So you plan to transfer it to me?"
"...Well, your family has so many business ventures, you must have the right investment projects and connections. The land wouldn’t go to waste in your hands."
Caspian raised an eyebrow, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He just asked casually, "So how much are you planning to sell it for?"
"Er..." Arabella thought of the price tag of over a billion that still made her heart ache, and tentatively named her price. "One and a half billion."
Caspian was silent.
"One... point four billion?"
Caspian was still silent.
"One point two billion, then?"
Caspian remained silent.
"If that’s still no good... one billion?"
’...’ ’Not even a fire sale drops the price this fast.’
Caspian rubbed his temples, a headache coming on. "Aren’t you afraid of losing a fortune selling it like this?"
Arabella’s eyes lit up. "Does that mean you agree? I can transfer the land to you right now."
"Don’t!" Caspian quickly stopped her. "You’d better not transfer it to me just yet."
"Why not? Do you still think it’s too expensive? Well, the price... we can still discuss it."
"No, that’s not it." Caspian chuckled and gave her a meaningful reminder. "It’s just that if you turn around and sell it to me right away, you’ll probably have to pay taxes on it again."
Arabella: "?!!"
"What?! I... you..." She pointed at herself, then at Caspian, and finally managed to choke out, "Do you pay them, or do I?"
"We both have to. But if it’s processed as a transfer of ownership, you’ll pay more than I will."
Arabella: "??!!"
"On what grounds?!" Having been down from the mountain for less than half a year and experiencing her first massive transaction, Arabella completely lost it. She had to pay taxes on the purchase, and now she had to pay them again on the sale? In and out in less than a day, she’d be at a net loss of several hundred million. She’d just lost a lifetime’s worth of savings. This was going to be the death of her!
"There’s no way around it; those are the rules. So for now, you should probably stop thinking about selling the land."
’But if I don’t sell the land, how am I going to pay everyone back? How can I develop it? I can’t just let it rot on my hands, can I? This just goes to show, if you don’t know anything, you’d better hit the books. One careless step and you fall right into a trap!’
’So that was her problem.’
Caspian felt both exasperated and amused.
"While I can’t buy your land, we can partner up."
"Partner up? How?"
"Didn’t you just say it yourself? You have the land, but no team and no connections. I have all of that. We can work together. I’ll provide the people, you provide the land. We develop the plot, and as for the profits... we’ll split them fifty-fifty. No, seventy-thirty. I’ll take thirty percent, you take seventy."
Arabella: "???" ’A deal this good actually exists?’
Brandon was speechless again. ’I don’t even know what to say anymore. It feels like I’m watching a fantasy movie. Is there really someone in this world so eager to just give money away? This guy must have been the disciple of the God of Wealth in his past life or something.’