Power and Wealth

The floor of this crystal shop was covered with crystal stones dust.

Dong Xuebing walked to a stack of uncut natural crystal stones and squat there. He picked up a stone, about 2 to 2.5 kg. He examines it closely. There was a small window cut at a corner. The crystal inside was colorless and clear. The quality of this crystal seems to be of a higher grade. But Dong Xuebing knew the shopowners will cut the best part of the stone to show the customers. It might show high-quality crystal from this small cut, but the crystal might not be the same for the other parts of the stone. "Boss, how much is this piece?"

The shopowner was sweeping the dust, and he looked up. "Oh, that's 10,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing pointed to another purple crystal stone. That stone does not have any cuts. "How about that piece?"

"35,000 EMB."

"That yellow crystal stone?"

"That is bigger. 40,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing asked the prices of the bigger stones. This way, the chances of having bigger crystals were higher. After confirming the prices, Dong Xuebing reached inside his pocket and played a ringtone before taking out his iPhone 4 to pretend to answer a call. He pretended to be speaking to someone and then hang up. "Boss, I would like to buy some crystals. But I need to rush off. If you can cut the stones faster, I will buy a few pieces at once. If not, I will go off."

The shop owner would not give up any business. "Hurry up and pick the stones. I can cut the stones fast."

"Fine. These two purple crystals, that yellow crystal, that colorless crystal, and that pink crystal."

"Wait, let me calculate." The shop owner picked up his calculator and punched in the numbers. "The total is 162,000 RMB. I will round it off to 160,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing took out the stacks of money from his back and pressed the countdown timer on his phone. 360 seconds.

The shop owner could tell Dong Xuebing was a novice. But he never expects Dong Xuebing to spend 160,000 RMB to gamble crystal stones. The young men nowadays were so rich. He picked up the stacks of RMB and place it into the money counting machine beside him. 10,000…… 50,000…… 100,000…… He counted twice, and the amount was right."

There were 312 seconds left.

Dong Xuebing anxiously said. "Start cutting the stones. Don't need to grind it bit by bit. Cut it diagonally from an angle will do."

The shop owner was stunned. "Oh, you will damage some of the crystals inside. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Please hurry."

There were 303 seconds left.

The shop owner had promised Dong Xuebing that he will cut the stones fast. His movements were swift as he rolled up his sleeves and kneel down beside that colorless crystal stone. He held the cutter in his hand and picked an angle before pressing the cutter against the stone!

Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! The stonecutter cut through the outer layer of the stone!

There were 280 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing clenched his fist tightly. Please hurry up!

Eeeeeee! The screeching sounds of the cutter were loud! Suddenly the noise stopped!

The colorless crystal stone was cut open. The cut surface was smooth, but there were specks of black spots. The shop owner rubbed it with his fingers and could not remove it. "There are not dirt. It's the impurities in the crystal. What a pity." Having impurities in the crystals will lower the value of the stone. This stone which cost 10,000 RMB was not worthless.

Dong Xuebing cursed under his breath and immediately said: "Forget about that and cut the next stone!"

"Sure." The shop owner turned and start to cut the yellow crystal stone.

There were 241 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing was rubbing his palms together and praying. Please, let me get a good crystal stone without impurities!

Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! The second stone was cut open, and there were no impurities. But the yellow color was not very dark. There was only a slight tint of yellow in the crystal. It was almost like colorless crystals. This stone which cost 30,000 RMB was worth less than 10,000 RMB now!

Damn!

Dong Xuebing gritted his teeth and said: "Next one!"

There were 195 seconds left.

Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! Eeeeeee! The third pink crystal stone was cut open!

This time, the shop owner might have chosen a wrong angle to cut. He did not cut it diagonally. He just cut out a small portion of the stone, but from that small window, they could see lots of tiny bubbles in the crystal. This piece was another worthless piece!

Dong Xuebing slapped his thighs angrily. "Next!"

He only has 141 seconds left, and there were 2 purple crystal stones left.

132 seconds…….

112 seconds…….

98 seconds…….

Dong Xuebing had seen many people losing money from crystal stone gambling. He thought they were unlucky. But he never expects his luck to be much worse than them. That 35,000 RMB smaller purple crystal stone was cut opened and the color…… Lousy could not even be used to describe the crystal. There were a big crack and two black lines of impurities. It was totally worthless!

There was only the bigger purple crystal stone left!

There were only 88 seconds left!

The shop owner looked at Dong Xuebing, and the frustrated Dong Xuebing said: "Cut! Continue!" He was really unlucky today.

The fat shop owner was not surprised. He knew his stones well. This batch of crystal stones was bought from his friend in the southern province. It was from his friend's factory. There were all low-grade stones which were unsold. It would be a surprise if there were any high-grade crystals in there. Oh, there might still be a possibility of a high-grade crystal stone mixed among the stones. After all, the crystals in the stones could not be graded with any equipment. No one could tell for sure if the uncut stones contain high-grade crystals.

76 seconds……

52 seconds……

47 seconds……

The last purple stone was cut. It contains colorless crystals. The crystals in the center were almost transparent. There were still specks of dirt in the crystal, and some parts were greyish. This was another worthless crystal!

Dong Xuebing was furious. 160,000 RMB! 160,000 RMB was wasted. He was speechless!

That's it? It's all over?

That's right! There was still time! 39 seconds were remaining!

Dong Xuebing did not waste time choosing the stones. He pointed to a bigger stone beside the shop owner and said: "Please cut that one!"

The shop owner looked at the stone. "This cost 50,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing immediately said: "Cut it first. I will pay you in a while!"

The shop owner did not move. "I am only running a small business……."

"I do not have so much cash with me now." Dong Xuebing took out his identification card and place it on the table. "I will leave my identification card with you and will go to the bank later to withdraw money. Is that fine?"

The shop owner saw the way Dong Xuebing bought the stones and knew that he should not run away. He nodded.

There were 24 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing had only 60,000 RMB left in his bank. If this crystal is a low-grade crystal and his BACK cannot be used continuously, he will lose everything!

Eeeeeee!

There were 13 seconds left!

Dong Xuebing looked at the time remaining on his phone. "Please hurry up!"

The shop owner used more strength to cut the stone. 1 cm…… 2 cm…… 3 cm……

8 seconds remain!

6 seconds remain!

5 seconds remain!

There was no more time!

Just when Dong Xuebing was about to say BACK at the final 3 seconds, Crack! The outer layer of the stone was cut open and dropped onto the floor!

It's cut!

Dong Xuebing quickly move forward to look at the crystal!

"This…… This is acicular crystal?" The shop owner was stunned.

"Ah?" Dong Xuebing was also surprised. "You mean the type of crystals that have acicular inside?!"

"Yes! This is worth a lot!" The color, size, and purity of this crystal were all top grade. The shop owner also did not expect to find such high-grade crystal among this batch of stones!

Dong Xuebing was stunned for a second and shouted in his heart: BACK! BACK! BACK! BACK! BACK! BACK!

He said BACK six times!