PS: Brothers, Happy Little New Year. Wishing Brother "Young" a Happy Birthday!
Thank you, Ellipsis Brother, for your support, thank you "Okay, I surrender" Brother for tuning in, and thanks to all the brothers for their support!
The large rough stone on the stonecutter hardly had any jade left in it, so whether it was cut or not didn’t make much of a difference; thus, Li Changlin wasn’t particularly concerned about it and was planning to just give up on it.
Though this would surely surprise others, Li Changlin didn’t wish to waste any more time, considering he had been out with Lin Ruonan for quite a while now, and Brother Grape and Zhou Xingxing were waiting for him at home—he, as the host, shouldn’t neglect his guests too much, should he?
So, Li Changlin was about to announce that he didn’t want the stone anymore.
But before he could speak, a deep voice suddenly commanded, "Wait a moment."
"Huh?" Li Changlin turned his head in surprise towards the direction of the voice, only to see a middle-aged man quickly approaching.
"Brother, you’ve already uncovered a piece of glutinous jade. Let me take that rough stone off your hands," said the middle-aged man, who was one of the previous bidders. He was about 1.75 meters tall and very well-built and stout, and behind him, followed two bodyguards with Taibao Tou haircuts, suggesting that he was a person of not insignificant status.
"You want to take over the stone I have?" Li Changlin was a bit stunned, since he was just about to say he didn’t want the rough stone anymore!
"That’s right, name your price. As long as it’s not too outrageous, I will buy it from you," the middle-aged man stopped in front of Li Changlin, exuding an air of wealth and power.
"I’m sorry, but I hadn’t planned on selling it," Li Changlin shook his head, jokingly. There was nothing left in that stone; there was no need to swindle someone, right?
Moreover, Li Changlin wasn’t short of money at the moment; a few hundred thousand to him was merely a number.
"Oh, you don’t want to sell?" The middle-aged man paused briefly before saying in a deep voice, "Young man, you haven’t cut open that stone yet, and nobody knows if there’s still high-quality jade inside. I’ll give you five hundred thousand; you give me the stone, and let’s become friends. How about it?"
"What, five hundred thousand? That stone is still worth five hundred thousand?"
"Did I hear that wrong? Did that young man only spend three hundred thousand to buy the whole rough stone in the beginning?"
"Five hundred thousand is a bit expensive, but this boss is really generous. I reckon that young man won’t turn down such a good deal, right?"
"It’s hard to say. If there’s still glutinous jade inside that rough stone, then it’s worth much more than just five hundred thousand."
The onlookers started buzzing excitedly when the middle-aged man offered such a high price of five hundred thousand.
Even Li Changlin couldn’t help but look up at the man, secretly admiring the middle-aged man’s boldness.
However, although five hundred thousand was a significant amount for Li Changlin, he really didn’t want to take advantage of the man.
Earning such illicit money was not Li Changlin’s style.
"Sorry, big brother, I’m not planning to sell my rough stone." So, Li Changlin still turned down the middle-aged man’s offer.
"Kid, don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Be clear about one thing, our boss is the owner of Sky Horse Bar. If you don’t get smart about this, be careful, or you won’t be able to get by in Jincheng anymore!" Seeing that Li Changlin had flatly refused his boss’s request without even considering it, one of the bodyguards with a Taibao Tou immediately got angry.
Forgetting his role as a bodyguard, he stepped forward, pointed at Li Changlin, and uttered the threat.
"The boss of Sky Horse Bar, heavens, that’s Song Haonan!"
"What, Song Haonan? He’s a big brother of the underground forces in the North District of Jincheng!"
"What a mess, that young man actually rejected Song Haonan’s request, and now things have gotten serious!"
Many were taken aback by the threatening words that came from Taibao Tou’s mouth.
Song Haonan was not someone to be trifled with, indeed.
It was rumored that once he took a fancy to an antique in the antique market, but the seller refused his offer to buy it. As the seller left the antique market, Song Haonan’s subordinates broke one of the seller’s arms.
And in the end, Song Haonan got off without a scratch, while the subordinate who did the deed was sentenced to only three years.
Later, thanks to Song Haonan’s manipulations, that subordinate spent merely a year in prison before being released; that incident had caused quite a stir in Jincheng at the time.
It was precisely because of that incident that many truly came to understand Song Haonan’s methods.
Although he looked as harmless as anything, he was actually ruthless and brutal.
"The owner of Sky Horse Bar? Song Haonan!" The surrounding chatter naturally reached Li Changlin’s ears as well.
When Taibao Tou threatened him earlier, a surge of resentment sprang up in his heart. Just a few days ago, he had made an enemy of Jiang Xingwei, and wasn’t it right there in Sky Horse Bar?
Moreover, at that time, the people of Sky Horse Bar took Jiang Xingwei’s side.
In the end, if not for Lin Ruonan’s timely phone call, Li Changlin couldn’t even imagine what could have happened to him.
After all, at the beginning, Jiang Xingwei and his accomplices planned to send him to jail.
"So, young man, would you be willing to part with this piece of rough stone and transfer it to me?" Initially, when he saw his subordinate step forward to threaten Li Changlin, Song Haonan was slightly irritated.
However, upon reflection, if he could use this momentum to make Li Changlin submit and hand over the rough stone to himself, it was clearly a very good idea.
So, he didn’t make a sound and quietly waited to see how things would unfold.
Unexpectedly, Li Changlin actually knew his name.
Song Haonan observed Li Changlin’s face twitching and subconsciously thought the man was afraid of his presence.
"I could transfer it to you, but you’re offering too little," Li Changlin would have let it go if he didn’t know who he was dealing with, but now that he knew it was Song Haonan, he was truly sorry.
Of course, he had no fond feelings for Sky Horse Bar.
Especially after Song Haonan’s underling dared to threaten him, as if he would be scared of some hoodlum leader!
"Young man, you shouldn’t be too greedy!" Song Haonan said with a faint smile, not intending to raise his offer, "You should know, having money but no life to spend it, that’s the saddest thing in life!"
"What’s this, Boss Song? Are you threatening us?" Li Changlin was about to speak when Lin Ruonan already stepped forward, uttering with contempt, "And what about being the owner of Sky Horse Bar, the big shot of the North District of Jincheng? Is that all you amount to?"
"Asking for trouble!"
Lin Ruonan’s words immediately enraged Song Haonan’s two bodyguards, who stepped forward simultaneously, pressuring Lin Ruonan with their approach.