I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

"Big shot? Is it the same one who gave you a sports car last time?"

"Wow, I know this complex; it's right next to my house. It's been developed for several years now, always with a ban on external sales. So, it was all bought out by someone?"

"You're pretty impressive yourself, living nearby this complex. You must have at least a ten-million-yuan fortune, right?"

"Truly awesome. Even Daddy Ma would cry."

"Principal, say something, who exactly is this big shot? I've got a friend who wants to lick their boots."

Wang Ling's Weibo was flooded with comments in just a few minutes, and one of those comments, which was prominently liked by netizens, was from Qin Feng, whose wealth was fully on par with Wang Ling's.

When Wang Ling once said, "I never care if my friends have money or not, because they surely can't be richer than me," Qin Feng had replied below, "What about me?"

Given Wang Ling's personality, he would have clapped back, but he chose to remain silent instead, which showed that this Mr. Qin Feng's strength was not any less than his own.

"I've got to admit, even I'm losing my cool!" Qin Feng left such a comment under Wang Ling's Weibo post.

"My goodness, even Young Master Qin has been drawn out."

"Who on earth could this be? Someone who's got two super-rich second-generation kids all riled up? Do we even have someone richer than them in Huaxia?"

"Lu Benwei is amazing!"

"Wang Yuan, if you see this, bring me a pack of cigarettes, the Hua brand."

...

Though essentially a jade stone gambling event, to avoid official scrutiny, the organizers named it a "Jade Stone Appraisal Convention."

It was the largest appraisal event in recent years, attracting merchants from across the country. Some rarely seen raw stones from old pits were abundant, and of course, the prices were sky-high. Without significant wealth, one wouldn't even be able to step foot in the venue.

The minimum requirement for a merchant to participate in this event was 5 million yuan in liquid assets, and all registrants had to go through an asset verification process. Despite this, the number of applicants was still hair-raising.

As jade mines became scarcer over the recent years, the shortage of high-quality raw stone resources had caused a severe supply chain crisis for many jewelry and jade companies.

Smaller enterprises wanted to move volume, while larger ones hoped to obtain a few pieces of top-quality jade to bolster their brand. Thus, the demand for high-end raw stone resources was immense; participants didn't care how much they had to spend, they only cared about finding what they wanted.

The rules of stone gambling were simple: one strike could lead to heaven or hell. Buyers relied on their experience to judge whether the raw stone contained any jade and performed live stone cutting on the spot, which was the most exhilarating part of stone gambling.

"It's really crowded here!" Zhang Menglong and Wang Ling had just parked their car in the underground garage, which was like a mini car show. Although it still paled in comparison to Zhang Menglong's sports car garage, cars worth over a million were still plenty, a testament to the immense wealth of the event's attendees. Discover more content at empire

"Of course, this event is the most substantial in nearly a decade. The combined value of the raw stones appearing here is astronomical. The most expensive stones here can go for tens of millions; ordinary people wouldn't even dare touch them."

"Tens of millions?" Zhang Menglong's eyes lit up. Isn't that just delightful?

"Sir, please show your asset verification report and entry permit."

"I need an asset verification report?" Wang Ling glared at the security guard.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Of course not! It's an honor to have Young Master Wang visit us!" An attending manager, who had been greeting guests, immediately ran over like a fawning lackey. "I apologize, this guard is new and doesn't understand how things work. Young Master Wang, please go right in."

"That's more like it." Wang Ling smiled satisfactorily and strolled with Zhang Menglong into the vast venue comparable to a World Expo.

"You're really acting like a true second-generation rich kid," Zhang Menglong couldn't help but laugh.

"Pssh, what do you know? Not using your resources is what makes a Muggle. Come on, let me introduce you to a few people!"

Zhang Menglong felt somewhat out of place on his first visit to such an event. It may have been an exhibition, but it had the air of small vendors scrambling at a market. Large raw stone companies even had lavish booths, while smaller companies just sat on the ground with their displays out.

"Boss, how much for this stone?"

"2.4 million, take it and go!"

"That expensive? Can it produce green jade?"

"If I knew whether it would produce green, would I be an idiot selling it?"

"What about this one?"

"This bargain, 100,000, just the lowest grade raw materials."

"You dare to sell it so expensive?"

"Don't want it? Forget about it!"

"Damn, such a big piece of raw stone? No, this piece of raw stone doesn't seem to come from an ordinary mine."

"Boss, what an eye you have! This comes from an old mine, but as for the price, you can tell just by the look of it. If you really want it, it's yours for 17 million!"

"Holy shit, this kind of lousy rock costs over ten million?" Zhang Menglong was flabbergasted.

"You don't know the market price," Wang Ling seemed to enjoy the astonished look on Zhang Menglong's face, "Back in 2007, there was a raw stone that weighed 2.1 tons, initially bought for 40 million. Guess how much was made in the end?"

"A hundred million?" Zhang Menglong guessed.

"Guess again!"

"Five hundred million?"

"A whole 20 billion!" Wang Ling said, "That raw stone yielded 180 kilograms of jade, and it was of a rather high-quality glass type. If someone were to sell it now, the price would probably skyrocket even more."

"Sheesh!" Zhang Menglong gasped in shock. This was simply high-stakes gambling.

"Although a 17 million raw stone is expensive, it hasn't reached that level yet. If indeed jade is found within, its value could increase by dozens of times or more."

"Of course, more often people end up losing everything they have: bankrupted, with families breaking up, or even worse, leading to their own demise. That's why a master stone assessor with rich experience is so important."

"Master Hu, over here!" Just then, Wang Ling called out to someone in the distance. An old man with grizzled hair, wearing glasses, but looking quite hale and hearty approached them.

"Menglong, this Master Hu is a renowned stone assessor in the industry. Here in Jiangnan City, he's definitely in the top three. If not for my dad's connections, I probably couldn't have invited him over," Wang Ling introduced.

"Master Hu, this is my friend, Zhang Menglong."

"Hmm." Master Hu nodded, hardly giving Zhang Menglong another glance.

"Are all capable people this arrogant?" Zhang Menglong whispered to Wang Ling.

Suddenly, a disturbance arose from within the crowd, drawing their attention.

"My God, Master Yu is here today? Didn't he retire many years ago?"

"And Master Meng is here too. He is undoubtedly the number one stone assessor in contemporary Huaxia. It's said that there's hardly any loss on the stones he assesses. To get him to make a move costs a fortune!"

"Master Bai has come as well, and he's definitely one of the top three in the stone assessment world!"

"What kind of wind has blown today that all three masters have been invited? How influential are the organizers?"

"Who are these three guys?" Zhang Menglong curiously asked, seeing they seemed to be quite famous in the circle.

"Hmph, ignorant boy. Master Yu is known as the 'Divine Eye', truly a legend, and both Master Bai and Master Meng are pillars of the stone assessment world. You don't even recognize them, and you dare show up at this big event?" Master Hu said disdainfully.

"Damn, what did I do to provoke him?" Zhang Menglong was somewhat baffled. He hadn't done anything, yet he'd been berated; was Master Hu from Zaun?

"Menglong, make way; these masters are coming over!" Wang Ling hurriedly said. Even though these three masters didn't have as much money as Zhang Menglong, their network was extremely formidable.

But to everyone's surprise, the three of them walked straight up to Zhang Menglong and stopped.

"Mr. Zhang!" The three gave a slight bow to Zhang Menglong.

"What's going on?" Zhang Menglong suddenly felt confused. He didn't know any of them.

Suddenly, he remembered what Hong Yi had mentioned to him, that today a few professionals might accompany him. Could it be that these were the master stone assessors of the stone assessment world?

"Zhang Menglong, you... this..."

"Although I don't know what's happening," Zhang Menglong scratched his head, "but it seems like these three masters might as well be my employees."