Chapter 58

Li Mingming led the two groups to separate interrogation rooms and said, "Think it over carefully. When you've decided what to tell me, come and get me."

With that, he walked away. He felt helpless when he received the deputy chief's call. His nephew, Dalong, often caused trouble at the flower and bird market, always getting into minor incidents but never major ones. This time, he had already heard the situation from his subordinates, and it seemed the boy had provoked someone he shouldn't have. Stuck in the middle, he found it difficult to act, so he decided to leave them there and let them call for help themselves.

Zhong Qi played with his phone and said with a smile, "Xiao Wu, you're the only one who wants to smooth things over, but they don't appreciate it."

"Ah, this incident started because of me. I tried to step in, but if I can't resolve it, it's just a matter of my ability. From now on, I won't get involved. You deal with your own wife."

"Hehe, Linlin, you've never been to a place like this, right? Let's see what tricks they play."

As he spoke, he even pulled out a deck of playing cards from his pocket!

Li Mingming waited for an hour and received no calls. After some thought, he decided to report the situation to the deputy chief. Just as he was thinking about it, the phone rang—it was the deputy chief.

"No one has contacted you? Xiao Li, according to the law, for such a large-scale gambling activity, besides confiscating the gambling funds and tools, the participants should also be fined and held criminally responsible. However, this seems more like a quarrel. Let's just confiscate the gambling tools and funds, educate them, and let them go."

Li Mingming cursed inwardly, "Want to swallow tens of millions of jade and a million in cash? You better not choke on it!"

But it wasn't his problem, and according to the rules, it could be handled this way as long as it was classified as gambling. After some thought, since no one had called to plead for them, he assumed they were just tourists with no background, making the situation easy to handle.

As expected, when he told them they could go, they happily packed up their cards and left, not even mentioning the million and the jade, as if they had forgotten. But he felt something was off. Were there really such careless people who would openly play cards in an interrogation room? Without solid connections, wouldn't they fear a harsher punishment? Oh well, they were gone, and he had followed the orders. The rest was up to them.

When Wu Di and his group left, they ran into Dalong and his gang. The boy looked at them smugly and said, "If you can't handle it, don't pretend to be big shots! I'll give you a piece of advice: this place isn't for you. Go home and drink your mother's milk! A million? I'm so scared. Hahaha."

The fat guy was angry and wanted to charge at him, but Wu Di held him back, gesturing to look at Zhong Qi's face. Zhong Qi looked grim, ignoring Dalong, and turned to Chang Linlin, saying, "Linlin, I suddenly feel this is all meaningless!"

"At least it's better than getting into a bloody fight, right?"

"But I still feel more satisfied that way! I'm a wild person, but I have to pretend to be refined..."

"Damn, you want to fight? With your small build? Kid, I can handle both verbal and physical. If you have the guts, come at me. But I warn you, go home quickly, or you'll regret it in the next few days! Let's go, brothers, for a drink! Brother Qiang is treating us to a feast, hahaha!"

Zhong Qi sighed, "See, Linlin, this is the result of keeping a low profile! This damn society, you should just hit them with a brick!"

"Grandpa said, cursing and fighting are the behaviors of the spoiled. We are adults now, we need to use our brains. If we act, it should be to make them feel the pain deeply."

While Chang Linlin was teaching her husband, the other four were having a private discussion.

"Are we just giving up the million and our stones? Xiao Wu..."

"Actually, Dalong was targeting me. I caused trouble for all of you. Don't worry, I will give you an explanation."

"Explanation? Didn't you see they didn't even let you make a call? That couple set a trap for us!"

"Silent dogs bite!"

"Damn, who are you cursing?"

The four heads huddled together, whispering, didn't notice that their group had quietly gained a new member. They were startled and scattered.

Zhong Qi looked at his watch and sighed, "Sigh, precious time is wasted on such trivial matters. Today, only Xiao Wu got his fix, and the rest of us haven't even started! Let's go back, eat early, and sleep early. We'll start early tomorrow!"

Zhong Qi's "early" meant eating at six and sleeping at two in the morning. It seemed he would stay up all night.

The next day, they continued to look at stones. The fat guy thought Wu Di had a big background, and Luoquan guessed Zhong Qi had a significant influence. The others knew they wouldn't be at a disadvantage, so they didn't worry. They were there to have fun, and their interest was piqued by a few stones.

Zhong Qi had his eye on a stone from the start, but after paying 50,000, he only got a white patch. He grumbled and sulked. Compared to Xiao Wu, who always hit the jackpot, he felt inferior.

The fat guy also chose a stone. His luck was slightly better than Zhong Qi's, and he got a bean-quality stone, which he sold back to the owner. He laughed as he took the money back and winked at Zhong Qi, who was furious.

"Close the door, let Xiao Wu in!"

Wu Di left a kiss mark on Zhong Qi's butt and then randomly picked a stone, pointing to it and shouting, "Boss, take this guy out and cut him!"

In the crowd, Meng Yao, whose foot had just healed, was shopping and exclaimed to Wen Lan, "Hey, Lan, someone is cutting a stone. How can he steal your catchphrase?"

Wen Lan, who was paying for a hair tie, frowned, "I haven't cut a stone yet. How can someone else do it first? Let's go cut one too."

The guy accompanying them laughed, "I said we should look at stones first, but it was all because Yao Yao wanted to buy a hair tie. Now someone else is doing our job."

"Flatterer, do you want me to kick you to death?"

The piece of rough stone Wu Di chose looked terrible, like a hedgehog, with five protrusions of varying heights on its small surface. Two of them had small openings, but showed nothing. The other three had some pine flower patterns. The boss recognized them as the big spenders from yesterday, and had heard that they had their money and jade confiscated without a peep. Such fat lambs, the price naturally soared.

"Damn, are you crazy? You want 100,000 for this piece? What about this one?"

Wu Di pointed to another piece of rough stone.

That one was about the size of a watermelon, with a terrifying crack almost running through the entire piece. The skin looked like it was from a Kachang field.

"This one is a bit cheaper, 80,000. See, the light shows a hint of green inside the crack. A big crack is better than a small one, so the chance of a good cut is high!"

Wu Di shrugged at Zhong Qi, "Let's go, it's not worth it. The boss is trying to fleece us!"

"Hey, little brother, the price is negotiable. Just give me a price, and if it's reasonable, I'll do the deal."

"10,000 for the first one, 20,000 for this one!"

"Brother, that price is not serious. We have a hard time doing business, with the stall fees..."

The boss was counting his fingers, complaining, but when he looked up, they were almost at the next stall. He shouted, "Wait, I'll do the deal!"

Wu Di, who was walking last, turned around and laughed, "That's right, the stone is worth that much. I'm a high-level expert in stone cutting!"

You damn liar! You're the expert in haggling! The boss counted the money on the counter, fuming.

"Fourth Brother, interested? Pick one and cut it for fun?"

"I don't like that spiky one. Let's cut it, brothers, let's go!"

Seeing someone cutting a stone, the crowd gathered. Wen Lan, who didn't know about their previous day's ordeal, thought they were just enthusiastic. Wasn't it just for practice in Kunming?

After paying, Wu Di walked out of the shop and saw Xiaobaihua in the crowd. He paused, clasped his hands together in a bow to Wen Lan, thanking her for yesterday, and then went to watch Zhong Qi cut the stone.

Wen Lan smiled, and Wu Di felt a sudden joy. Damn, no wonder it's Kunming, I'm even feeling spring in the middle of summer! I must resist!

The spiky stone was easy to cut. First, the protrusions were sliced off to see the results. Zhong Qi started with the two openings, and with two clean cuts, a white patch appeared. The crowd sighed, it was a bust.

Meng Yao pulled Wen Lan, "Let's go, it's over."

"Wait a bit, we need to cut the other three protrusions to be sure."

"Do you know about this?"

"Of course, if you come to Kunming, don't you check the forums? I'm a high-level expert in stone cutting now!"

Meng Yao's eyes darted between Wu Di and Wen Lan, wondering if they had a secret relationship.

Zhong Qi, an experienced stone cutter, was undeterred. He changed direction and cut a thin slice. Still no luck, it was a bust. For a regular piece, he would have stopped, but not for this hedgehog. Zhong Qi changed direction again and cut a thicker slice.

"Stop, stop, I see green, it's a good cut, it's really a good cut!"

Song Hongyan shouted.

The crowd, which had dispersed, rushed back. Wen Lan, feeling proud, accepted the flattery from Meng Yao and the guy behind her, as if she had made the good cut, and then left.

The fat guy took over, extracting a piece of jade, about the size of a baby's fist, a high-quality lotus seed. Zhong Qi proudly showed it to Chang Linlin, who examined it and winked at Zhong Qi, making everyone shiver.

Wu Di thought, "This girl is not simple. She looks gentle and pure, but her true nature has been revealed over the past few days, and Fourth Brother hasn't noticed. He's in trouble!"

Song Hongyan rolled up his T-shirt sleeve and laughed, "I'm feeling young again. That stone is mine, fat guy, get the knife! Let's take it out and cut it!"