Chapter 119 – A Pearl Necklace! (1/2)

15 big pearls from 11 pearl mussels. This trip to Zhejiang was worth it.

At the lake, Dong Xuebing, who had no more BACK, was no longer looking at the boss and workers opening the mussels. He was arranging his pearl mussels in the small net. The net was too small, and he asked for a bigger one from the worker. He packed his mussels carefully in the net and then look at the boss and workers. He was in no hurry to leave the place. He was waiting patiently for them to finish opening all the mussels. His target was to collect enough pearls to make a pearl necklace and put it up for auction. This way, he could maximize his profits. If not, just the 15 pearls, he will not earn much and will not be able to hit his target of 1 million RMB.

After a while, the boss was tired and took a break.

Dong Xuebing noticed the small bag keeping the high-grade golden pearls was almost full.

“Young man.” The boss took a sip of water from a bottle. “Shouldn’t you pay up now?” The boss was not in a good mood as his golden pearl harvest was not up to his expectations. By right, there should be more 1.4 cm golden pearls. Could all those bigger golden pearls be hiding in those mussels this young man bought? But this should not be possible. Even all the locals in this trade could not tell the difference from the exterior of the mussels. How can an outsider like this young man know?

Dong Xuebing was also about to tell the boss that he wants to make payments. “I had counted the mussels. 11 mussels. 66,000 RMB. Oh, I still want some pearls from that bag.” Dong Xuebing pointed at that small bag. “How much are you selling for 1.5 cm golden pearls?”

The boss put down his bottle. “Other than the size, we still need to look at the quality and roundness.”

Dong Xuebing walked over and pick up a 1.5 cm pearl. “What about this?”

“This will fetch 40,000 RMB in the market. But we do not have middleman and rental fees here. I will sell it to you, at…… 35,000 RMB.”

“Ok. I will pick a few more.”

Dong Xuebing only had 440,000 RMB in total, and he had brought all his money with him. Other than the 66,000 RMB mussels, he still has 370,000 RMB available. He picked the pearls and bargained with the boss. In the end, he picked 10 1.5cm pearls, and 5 1.4 cm pearls. With the pearls in his mussels, he had a total of 30 pearls. It was just enough to form a pearl necklace.

The boss calculated the total. “The total is 441,000 RMB.”

Dong Xuebing said: “Round it off.”

“No. 441,000 RMB!”

You don’t even want to give me a discount of 1,000 RMB? Dong Xuebing glanced at him and then took out his money box from his bag. He also took out 1,000 from his wallet. “There is 440,000 RMB in this box, and this is 1,000.” Dong Xuebing had used up all his money and had only 2,000 RMB left in his wallet. He had also used up his last month’s salary and did not have much money in his account. This necklace was all his assets.

The boss brought Dong Xuebing back to his office to use the counting machine.

After the transaction was completed, Dong Xuebing took a taxi to a hotel with an empty money box and mussels.

Dong Xuebing did not look for a high-class hotel because he did not have much money left. He needs to spend his money wisely. Also, the net was still dripping muddy water, and the pearl mussels were full of mud. Those high-class hotels will not allow him to enter. So, Dong Xuebing picked a small 3 stories hotel. Even the paint on the hotel signage was peeling off. Despite this torn down hotel, the staffs inside were still rolling their eyes when Dong Xuebing step in.

Dong Xuebing got a room with bathroom, and immediately pour his mussels into the basin.

He did not waste time to buy a knife and used his hands to open the mussels. After trying for a while, Crack! He finally opened the first mussels. There was a 1.6 cm pearl, a 1.1 cm pearl, 2 x 1 cm pearls, and 5 x 0.7 pearls. Dong Xuebing kept the 1.6 cm pearl and place the rest inferior pearls aside.

He then starts to open the next mussel…….

The third mussel……