Chapter 140

“What do you mean 1500? Give me a more honest price, I’m sincere about buying.”

Actually, Lin Mo didn’t know if 1500 was expensive or not.

Anyway, just watch the bargaining.

Although 1500 meant little to him, he couldn’t just fork over the money whenever the seller quoted a price.

Wouldn’t that be foolishly throwing money away?

“This is a sincere price!”

“You won’t go lower?”

“I can’t go any lower, boss. How about you name a price?”

“You make a cut first and let’s see.”

“Let’s do this! 1300! Including jade cutting!” the vendor gritted his teeth, offering a new price and then added, “Boss, I’m really not making any profit. Cutting the stone alone costs 300 yuan, and 1 usually start the bidding at 5000, with the lowest at 3000. It’s only because your daughter is cute that I didn’t inflate the price.”

Lin Mo completely believed what the vendor said.

Not to mention 5000; he wouldn’t hesitate to bid even 50,000 with his eyes closed, but the key was that the vendor never mentioned if he had ever actually sold one.

But indeed, Lin Mo was clueless.

Somewhat bewildered.

“1000… because you complimented my daughter’s cuteness, I’ll let you earn a bit more.”

Lin Mo tried his hand at a hefty cut and then, without any dilly-dallying, took out his phone and asked, “Where do I scan?”

Li Jinwen originally wanted to say something.

Even though 1000 yuan wasn’t a lot, it wasn’t a small amount either.

To just buy a stone like that?

It felt a bit odd!

But knowing that Lin Mo often dealt with such things with Uncle Tai, she refrained from commenting.

“This… 1000 is a bit low, ah! Fine, fine, fine! Sold to you! Haven’t made a sale today! Alipay, WeChat, both are fine!” The vendor handed over the QR code.

Ding.

Payment via QR code was successful.

The vendor took out a stack of paper resembling receipts, signed his name on it, and handed it to Lin Mo: “Here you go, boss. This is your Jade Card, with my signature. Go straight ahead until the end and then turn right. If you can’t find it, you can ask the neighboring vendors.”

Cutting jade requires large cutting tools, definitely not something you can do at a valuable street stall.

The market had a designated area specifically for cutting jade.

Taking the Jade Card and inspecting it carefully, Lin Mo then said to his wife and daughter, “Let’s go see how good Xiaoxiao’s luck is.”

“I heard that newbies have a beginner’s luck period and can cut open something good.”

Lin Xiaoxiao jumped up excitedly, shouting, “Daddy, give me the stone to hold, I want to hold it, let me have it!!!”

Lin Mo smiled and handed the stone to his daughter, taking Li Jinwen’s hand as they moved forward.

Both dressed quite formally that day, Husband and wife walking side by side looked very much in sync, and together with lively and cute Lin Xiaoxiao, although they were not causing everyone to turn their heads, many envious glances were still directed at them.

These days young people claim they don’t want to get married, but if one could really find true love and have a cute child, who wouldn’t want to live a happy life?

Following the shop owner’s directions, they soon reached the jade cutting area.

Before even getting close, they could hear the chanting.

“Increase! Increase! Increase!”

“Increase! Increase! Increase!”

The atmosphere was buzzing, one could mistake the place for a football match if they didn’t know better.

Li Jinwen, experiencing gambling on stones for the first time, looked towards the source of the chanting voices and asked with curiosity, “Husband, what are they shouting about?”

“It’s the professional jargon for cutting stones,” Lin Mo explained as they walked, “For example, we got this stone for 1000 yuan. If the material inside is worth more than 1000 yuan, then it’s considered an ‘increase’. On the contrary, it’s deemed a ‘collapse’.”

“Besides, there are actually quite a few professional terms.”

Lin Mo started listing them, “For instance, ‘star anise sprinkling sugar’ refers to the situation where the jade has thin, sparse green veins, but the green is so vibrant that it evenly lights up the surroundings, making the whole piece of jade appear beautifully green.”

“Better to buy a thread than a patch; a thread refers to the band of green that might have the potential to grow, which is more reliable. And there’s more…”

Li Jinwen looked at Lin Mo admiringly, complimenting with a thumbs-up, “Husband, I’ve found you know more and more, no wonder Uncle Tai highly regards you!”

“Haha, it’s all from watching videos on Douyin and what I learn from Uncle Tai from time to time. These are just common knowledge, really,” Lin Mo said modestly, “Compared to those real masters, your husband’s level doesn’t even qualify for a beginner.”

Li Jinwen gestured energetically: “Keep it up, I believe in you. Ever since my parents and Siyu were discharged from the hospital, I’ve had this feeling…”

Lin Mo was taken aback and quickly asked, “What feeling? Finish what you were saying!”

“It just feels… like we’ve returned to the days when we were dating!” Li Jinwen’s cheeks turned a light shade of red.

Before, Lin Mo was busy, Li Jinwen was busy, and Lin Xiaoxiao was also busy.

The two adults busy with earning money, the child busy with studying; none of their days went by easily.

Sometimes Lin Mo left early in the morning and didn’t come back until late at night.

Even when Lin Xiaoxiao was on school break, Lin Mo couldn’t stop; he had to work every day.

Lin Xiaoxiao was also cooped up at home all day long.

But lately, neither Lin Mo nor Li Jinwen had to work, and Lin Xiaoxiao didn’t have to go to school. For many years, this was the first time the family of three had such leisure time.

It really did feel like they had returned to that initial period of dating.

“Then be careful not to faint from happiness.”

“I feel like I’m so happy I could faint right now. Catch me, or else it’ll be a case of one dead, two lives.”

“Pfft, stop talking nonsense, give yourself a couple of slaps in the mouth!

While chatting, Lin Xiaoxiao finally found an empty jade cutting station. Holding the stone up, she looked up and said, “Uncle, could you help me open this stone?”

The stone cutter, a man in his forties, was smoking a cigarette. When he saw Lin Xiaoxiao, he instinctively stubbed out his smoke, glanced at Lin Mo and Li Jinwen, and smiled, nodding, “Of course, little beauty..”