Reborn As Super Heiress

Huo Sining nodded and said, "Let’s go."

When that man surnamed Lai saw this, he was overjoyed. He scampered to the back to open the door, and also signaled to the two shop assistants inside to keep an eye on the shop and call him if anything happened.

The two assistants nodded, and the man surnamed Lai pulled open the back courtyard door. The few customers who had been picking rough stones caught sight of the courtyard piled full of rough, their eyes lit up at once, and they impatiently squeezed into the yard.

Huo Sining wasn’t in a hurry either. She waited until those people had all entered the courtyard before she and Yingzi and the other woman walked through the door at an unhurried pace into the yard.

As soon as those customers entered the courtyard, they lunged straight at the piles of rough stones, completely ignoring the people beside them, to the point that they couldn’t even hear what the man surnamed Lai was saying.

Seeing this, the man surnamed Lai was somewhat speechless. Since these people simply wouldn’t listen to him, he couldn’t be bothered to say any more.

Watching from the side, the corner of Huo Sining’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

These people were clearly laymen. Although there were a lot of rough stones piled here, it was obvious that these rough stones were from the same batch as the ones in the shop—they were all fabricated stock.

A pile of scrap that has already been cut; no matter how realistic you make it look, no matter how perfect the surface, what’s the use? Even if there were more of this stuff, Huo Sining really had no interest at all.

"Madam, have you taken a look at the rough in my courtyard? The stuff in here is much better than what’s outside in the shop. The ones outside go for two hundred a jin; the ones in here are four hundred a jin. Why don’t you also have a look and pick some?"

The man surnamed Lai asked.

Huo Sining cast him a faint glance, the corner of her mouth hooking into a slightly mocking smile. "Boss Lai, if you only brought me to see this junk, then I don’t think we need to waste any more time. I’m very busy; I don’t have time to idle around here with you."

The expression of the man surnamed Lai turned a bit awkward. He shot a look at Huo Sining and, seeing her indifferent expression, guessed that this woman probably had no interest in the pile of rough on the ground.

The man surnamed Lai had been in the rough-stone business for years, and he knew gamblers in rough stones very well. Anyone who liked rough stones was no different from a gambler. Once they entered a stone yard, they were like gamblers stepping into a casino—their eyes lit up.

Of course, such people usually entered the casino with bulging wallets, but came out without a cent. There were some who could win money, but they were extremely, extremely few.

It was the same with stone gambling. Once you got into this circle, it was easy to get addicted. Seeing a stone, you just had to touch it, cut it; you couldn’t restrain yourself.

This was exactly why his fake rough business had been profitable these past few years—because he understood the psychology of stone gamblers.

Seeing that Huo Sining wasn’t interested in the pile of rough in front of her, the man surnamed Lai didn’t think it was because she had seen through his fake rough. He merely assumed that Huo Sining looked down on such ordinary material.

Rich people, after all, believed in rarity as value. There were too many rough stones piled in this courtyard; at a glance you could tell this stock was very average, otherwise he wouldn’t just heap it all here in the yard like this.

The man surnamed Lai thought he’d already seen through the psychology of this big-bellied woman, and he knew that when dealing with such rich people, you had to be willing to sacrifice bait to catch a wolf.

These rich people were sharp; they wouldn’t loose the eagle until they saw the rabbit. If you wanted to pry money out of their hands, you had to bring out something that truly moved them.

Fine then. After thinking for a moment, the man surnamed Lai smiled and said, "Madam is indeed a discerning person. All right, I won’t beat around the bush with you. Just come with me."

As he spoke, he led Huo Sining toward the other side of the courtyard. Soon they arrived at a small loft used as a storeroom. The man took out a key and opened the door. Once Huo Sining entered, she immediately saw a big wooden chest placed in the room.

The man surnamed Lai opened the chest, and inside lay a big rough stone weighing at least seventy to eighty kilos, which was revealed at once.

He smiled at Huo Sining and said, "This is the only good piece I secretly kept for myself last year. Its performance is excellent. I spent a million to pry it out of another rough-stone dealer’s hands."

Huo Sining didn’t speak. Her gaze rested entirely on this big rough stone; as for what the man surnamed Lai was saying, she didn’t believe a single word.

These swindlers knew their tricks well and were very good at reading buyers’ minds. Naturally, Huo Sining wouldn’t let anything show on her face and give these swindlers any hint that something was off.

With her big belly, she couldn’t squat, so she bent slightly at the waist, ran her hand over the stone, and walked around it once, putting on the appearance of carefully examining the rough.

With that touch, Huo Sining indeed discovered a problem.

So-called secret-stashed good material—this man surnamed Lai really lied without even drafting his lines.

This rough looked very good on the surface: Python Band, pine flowers, and crustacean markings—nothing was missing. It was clearly an iron sand skin stone from an old field. This kind of rough easily produced High Jade. If it appeared at a public auction, not only would Huo Sining be tempted, but those rough-stone dealers would probably fight to the death over it.

However, under the Heavenly Eye, Huo Sining clearly saw a major problem. There were four very obvious cracks inside this rough. Those cracks were not naturally formed; they were left because someone had cut it several times and later used special glue to piece it back together.

Clearly, this was a rough that someone had already ruined by cutting. The man surnamed Lai was actually quite clever. He knew that all the glued sections were on the very bottom face. Afraid that Huo Sining was an expert in stone gambling, he deliberately hid that face at the very bottom of the chest.

Huo Sining was just a woman, and pregnant at that, so there was no way she would flip the stone over to look at the bottom face. The other faces of the stone showed no traces, and it looked almost the same as a complete piece of rough.

A cold sneer rose in Huo Sining’s heart. She was just about to signal Yingzi to make a move when a dim light suddenly flashed before her eyes, as if something had glinted.

Huo Sining was taken aback and instinctively focused her gaze.

That look made her freeze.

This rough had been cut four times, the entire stone hacked into pieces. But clearly, the person who had cut it hadn’t gotten any Jadeite out of it.

Yet now, Huo Sining distinctly noticed that inside one of the waste fragments, there was actually a fish that had slipped through the net!

This discovery left Huo Sining momentarily stunned.