Regret Too Late

For some reason, Xia Xiaoyu did not mention that she had learned about Feng Jun's troubles through her social media feed, which was why she had come looking for him.

However, once Sister Hong saw her arrive, she immediately regretted it; if she had known it would come to this, why would she have bothered playing the villain?

Of course, she couldn't help but feel curious: what kind of charm did that foolish boy possess to actually catch the eye of someone like Xia Xiaoyu?

Sister Hong had Feng Jun's Liaoliao account, but that was only for playing farming games; the two had never exchanged a single word on the platform.

Now, she certainly couldn't justify popping up a chat window for this matter, given her status and position.

Thus, she called Guo Yueling, "Find out what Feng Jun is doing right now."

Manager Guo had already been feeling uneasy when she saw Xia Xiaoyu arrive, and upon receiving the call, she was scared out of her wits.

When she had belittled Feng Jun, she hadn't left a shred of kindness, even going so far as to scheme him out of a month's wages.

Now that she heard the "salted fish" might be turning his life around, the regret she felt was indescribable: that guy was already leaving, so why did I have to scheme against him and act like such a petty person?

She was anxious, yet dared not speak of it, so she had to bite the bullet and call Wang Haifeng to fish for information.

Who would have thought that Wang Haifeng also held a grudge against her? Seeing her number, he rejected the call immediately.

Coach Wang was quite headstrong; of course, he wasn't worried about delaying important business by doing this—if the company had an emergency and couldn't reach him, Sister Hong or other colleagues could always notify him.

But how could Guo Yueling dare to let Sister Hong call him?

She wanted to have other colleagues call Wang Haifeng, but if she did that, everyone else at the club would know she was flip-flopping on the issue of Feng Jun again.

So, she could only quietly ask the receptionist, Xiao Li: "Do you have Feng Jun's contact number?"

Xiao Li had his number and dialed it personally, but unfortunately, there was no answer on the other end.

That evening, Manager Guo took two errand runners and spent the whole time nearby asking if anyone had seen Feng Jun.

It wasn't until the next morning, when Wang Haifeng came to work, that she cornered him and demanded he call Feng Jun.

Coach Wang originally had no intention of dealing with her, but when he heard that the girl who had sent Liu Shuming to prison was the one looking for him, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Since it's a romantic encounter, I'll make an exception."

However, he couldn't get through to Feng Jun either, and then he remembered: that guy... seemed to have rented a place at some factory?

So, he contacted the generator manufacturer to ask where they had delivered the goods, and finally, he managed to locate the street factory.

However, Sixth Master, who guarded the gate, said that Feng Jun's friend had suffered a breakup, and he had gone off to comfort his friend, having been gone for several days.

"...When will he be back? I don't know, and I doubt the college student knows himself; it depends on his friend!"

Guo Yueling was so anxious she nearly vomited blood; we can't have this, that young girl is pushing very hard...

What was Feng Jun doing at this moment? He was reviewing his actions from the recent past.

First, he shouldn't have blindly trusted the power of the internet.

Is it good to become a trending topic online? Of course it is; the trouble he was facing might even reach the ears of the authorities.

But becoming a trending topic is difficult—truly, it is too difficult.

For ordinary people, the internet has no threshold, but hype has a threshold; not only does it exist, but it is also very high.

A certain famous domestic singer and musician had tried dozens of times to make the headlines and failed to get his wish.

The second point was that he felt his earlier attempts to sell the jade box were truly poor.

By now, he had visited all the jewelry stores in Yang City with any reputation, and he hadn't been able to sell it for a good price.

Expecting the jewelry stores to go back on their word and offer a higher price? To that, Feng Jun had only two words: "Heh heh."

If those two words didn't explain the problem, he could swap them for two others: "Why should they?"

Such large jewelry stores had already given their price; why would they change their original intent and increase the acquisition cost? Is your face that big?

So, if he wanted to sell the jade box for a good price now, he would have to change cities, and it couldn't be a city in Funiu Province.

But leaving just like that, Feng Jun was still a bit unwilling; the travel expenses back and forth were no small sum.

He pondered it over and over, then decided to try a different method: I'm such an idiot, why not just go to a place where they gamble on stones?

In the web novels he read, once a stone was polished and showed green, people from jewelry stores would immediately start bidding, and the competition was quite fierce.

As for whether the protagonist later went on to act cool or slap faces, that was another topic, not to be discussed here...

Yang City also had places for stone gambling.

Feng Jun found one such spot and wandered around, waiting for a rabbit to hit a tree.

There were many idlers here, most of them looking just as bored as he was, though not many carried backpacks like him.

Feng Jun stayed there for a day and couldn't help but want to curse: web novels have harmed me deeply; who said there are many people cutting stones on-site?

Logically, the cutting machine used for stones is a professional piece of equipment, and cutting stones is a science; ordinary people wouldn't buy one to take home and use themselves, so cutting them on-site made it convenient to sell them immediately if they turned out to be valuable.

That logic held up, but Feng Jun had forgotten one thing: there are very few "ordinary people" among those who gamble on stones.

That day, he did see several people buying stones, but most of them didn't say a word; after paying, they loaded the stones onto their vehicles and left, without any extra chatter.

Feng Jun watched a few times and finally couldn't help himself; he asked a middle-aged woman who looked easier to talk to, "Big sister, may I ask, why don't you open them on-site?"

The woman gave him a wary look, and only after seeing he was a handsome young man did her expression soften a bit, "We have our own circles; we don't need to open them here."

It's true what they say: if you aren't in the trade, you don't know how deep the water runs.

Feng Jun gave a sheepish smile. "So, once you cut the stones and find something, how do you sell them?"

Sister Hu grew wary again, but in the end, she still provided an answer. "We have our own channels, you don't need to worry about that... Tell me, young man, what exactly are you trying to ask?"

Feng Jun kept his apologetic smile. "Nothing much, just wanted to see a stone being cut on-site. I've never seen it before."

The middle-aged woman hesitated for a moment, looked him up and down, and ultimately abandoned the idea of inviting him to watch. "Easy enough. Just wait around here for a few more days, and you'll get to see one."

After Sister Hu left, a gap-toothed man nearby chuckled. "Sister Hu took you for a petty crook."

This guy was also a loafer, though it was clear that he wasn't just hanging around here to kill time.

Feng Jun was stunned for a moment before he realized what the man meant. "She thought I might rob them?"

Thinking about it, it made sense. The price of jadeite was skyrocketing, and one big score could mean a lifetime of comfort. It was likely that many of the idlers on-site had ulterior motives.

Following that logic, the low number of people cutting stones on-site probably had something to do with this as well. What if someone cut open a top-tier piece?

Those who came to gamble on stones had to bring enough people to feel safe cutting them on-site; there was no helping it, people's hearts had grown treacherous.

However, on the other hand, if you brought too many people and the gamble failed, wouldn't you just become a laughingstock?

In reality, several people with similar financial standing would form a small circle, sharing equipment, exchanging experiences, and pooling channels. This not only reduced the risk but also added a lot of fun.

There were plenty of people who gambled on stones and went bankrupt overnight, but the vast majority of stone gamblers still treated it as a hobby—if you had some spare cash, you could afford to lose, and you didn't play for stakes that were too high. While winning or losing was important, the process was just as significant.

Feng Jun understood now, but the gap-toothed man gave another lewd grin. "Robbery? No need for that. If you manage to hook up with Sister Hu, you'll get both the person and the fortune."

Feng Jun was speechless for a long moment before finally giving a thumbs-up. "You've got a hearty appetite, brother. I... admire you!"

The gap-toothed man laughed dismissively. "She plays with stones worth millions a year. Your appetite is weak, and can a pretty face really pay the bills? To be honest, Sister Hu might not even look your way..."

Feng Jun had no intention of arguing with him, only sighing to himself: you really can't believe everything you read in web novels.

In fact, he did see four stones cut that day, but they were all small, and the buyers didn't seem to care much.

Of the four stones, one showed a hint of green. Someone walked over, offered twenty thousand to buy it, and no one else competed.

Feng Jun felt that he might have been making assumptions again. "Looks like the bidding wars are fake too. Sigh."

As luck would have it, the gap-toothed man was right there. Hearing this, he sneered, "You expect a bidding war for this kind of trash?"

Hearing this, Feng Jun finally understood completely: bidding wars did exist, but as for when he might actually see one, that was anyone's guess.

Thinking about how these jewelry firms were all wealthy and influential, he felt that the broken jade box he carried was likely "trash" as well. With that thought, he felt a bit disheartened, pulled out his phone, and booked a train ticket to Bingzhou.

Hopefully, the jade market there would offer a relatively fair price.

Train tickets to Bingzhou were quite popular; tomorrow's tickets were already sold out, and the earliest available was the day after, so he booked one for that day.

He had nothing to do the next day, so he figured he might as well go back and take another look, just to broaden his horizons.

Yet, the way of the world is often unreasonable, and he actually came at the right time. Around two in the afternoon, someone cut open an ice-variety jade. The stone wasn't very large, and only one side had been polished, but the asking price started at five hundred thousand immediately.

As firecrackers began to pop and crackle, the entire market seemed to come alive in an instant. Those idle loafers all got busy, and even the gap-toothed man pulled out two phones, dialing numbers while talking to people.

As the stone was slowly opened, the asking price kept climbing. In the blink of an eye, it broke two million and was heading toward three million.

The people who made the bet weren't afraid of the commotion. They were two middle-aged men, both successful professionals, and the lackeys they brought were all sturdy young men.

In their own words, they had been discussing a business partnership over lunch, had a few drinks, and decided to come over to play around and test their luck.

The two had already agreed that if it was ice-variety, they would definitely sell it, and the proceeds would be treated as a joint investment. However, they insisted on finishing the cut before selling; even if the gamble failed, they didn't care—they weren't short on that kind of money.