Niu Jinxing

"This brother..."

A fat man in a plaid shirt, with a jade Buddha pendant hanging around his neck, smiled as he blocked Gao Jing's path.

"Can we have a word?"

With his palms pressed together, he actually looked at Gao Jing with a hint of pleading in his eyes.

Gao Jing smiled. "What can I do for you?"

A question he already knew the answer to.

"I wouldn't dare call it advice. I just wanted to ask." The fat man licked his lips and said somewhat sheepishly, "Could you let me have one of your bracelets?"

He was utterly decisive. "The price is negotiable!"

Gao Jing thought for a moment, but did not answer directly. "May I ask who you are?"

"Ah!"

The fat man slapped his forehead. "I forgot to introduce myself. Sorry, sorry."

He beckoned.

The lackey beside him immediately presented a handbag.

The fat man took a business card from the bag and handed it to Gao Jing. "My surname is Niu. My friends all call me Fat Ox."

Fat Ox...

Gao Jing accepted the card with both hands and examined it carefully.

Niu Jinxing, director of Jiangnan Fuli Group Co., Ltd., manager of the Business Development Department. His phone number ended entirely in eights.

Niu Jinxing! Gao Jing's expression could not help turning a little strange—this man was famous.

"Isn't my name interesting?" Niu Jinxing said with a chuckle. "My old man gave it to me. He said that when I was born, the moment he saw me, golden stars danced before his eyes."

Did he have high blood pressure?

Unable to imagine the scene, Gao Jing could only offer an awkward yet polite smile. "Uh, it's a good name. By the way, is Fuli Furniture part of your group?"

He had seen Fuli Furniture billboards in the provincial capital before, so the name rang a bell.

"That's right."

Niu Jinxing said proudly, "I'm not bragging, but in Beiyang, Fuli Furniture ranks in the top three of the industry at the very least!"

Beiyang City was a famous furniture town. One could easily imagine the strength behind an industry top-three ranking.

An interesting nouveau riche. Gao Jing silently added a label to him.

That was right. Whether it was the way he spoke and acted or the way he dressed, Niu Jinxing genuinely struck Gao Jing as very interesting.

For instance, the jade Maitreya Buddha pendant around Niu Jinxing's neck depicted a pot-bellied Buddha smiling with his mouth wide open. It looked rather like Niu Jinxing himself.

"Director Niu..."

"No, no, no!" Gao Jing had barely opened his mouth before the other man cut him off. "What I hate most is people calling me Director Niu, President Niu, and all that."

"Just call me Fat Ox, or Big Ox!"

All right.

Gao Jing nodded. "Big Ox, I've only just arrived in this place. I hope you'll look after me."

As he spoke, he took out his own business card from his handbag and respectfully offered one with both hands.

He had had these quickly printed at a little business card shop on the street after arriving in Beiyang yesterday.

He had chosen the shop's finest imported laid paper. Against the gray-white background were only Gao Jing's name and phone number.

As well as an email address.

There was no title whatsoever on it. It was simplicity itself.

Niu Jinxing accepted it and felt that it was brimming with style. "Mm, so you're Brother Gao Jing."

"Looking after you is no problem."

He thumped his chest. "Here in Beiyang, if anything happens to you, just call me!"

Gao Jing smiled.

Though this Brother Niu looked bold and generous, like a man who valued loyalty and righteousness, Gao Jing would not take those words seriously.

The man had that kind of power, but did Gao Jing have that kind of friendship with him? So it was enough just to listen.

Gao Jing also noticed that while Niu Jinxing spoke to him, his eyes kept darting toward his tote bag.

Inside that Louis Vuitton plastic bag were eight strings of Premium Full Golden-Star Grain!

"Big Ox..." Gao Jing hesitated before saying, "To be honest, I brought these bracelets to give to friends."

"I'm not selling them."

"Oh."

Niu Jinxing immediately looked disappointed, but he did not get angry. "Since that's the case..."

"But Big Ox and I hit it off at first sight. Meeting is fate." Before he could finish, Gao Jing opened the bag and said sincerely, "Take whichever one you like. Let's be friends!"

Gao Jing had not lied earlier.

His main purpose in coming to Beiyang today was to understand the market. Processing the bracelets was merely something he did along the way.

He had never intended to sell this batch of bracelets at all.

He had planned to use them to throw out a stone and ask for directions, as a stepping stone into the trade!

Originally, the person Gao Jing had chosen to ask for directions was a steel merchant he had known before.

Most of what he knew about Purple Sandalwood had come from that man.

Yet the bracelets had barely come out of the workshop before they hooked a big Fat Ox!

This unexpected development made Gao Jing consider changing his plans.

No matter what, trying could not be wrong!

Niu Jinxing was stunned.

He had seen clearly enough what material Gao Jing's bracelets were made from.

He truly drooled with desire.

Such a treasure was something one could encounter but not seek!

To put it bluntly, if Gao Jing wore one string and stood in the middle of this street, then shouted, "Forgive me for being blunt, but every bracelet in your hands is trash!"

He guaranteed that not a single person would step forward to refute him.

It was not that they dared not. It was that they genuinely could not beat him, including Niu Jinxing himself.

His name was Jinxing, and because of his family, he had been steeped in the trade since childhood. He had a special obsession with Little-Leaf Red Sandalwood.

He rejoiced at the sight of rare treasures. That was why he had stopped Gao Jing earlier, willing to pay any price to get a bracelet to play with.

Niu Jinxing certainly was not short of money. Premium Full Golden-Star Grain bracelets might be rare, but they had not reached the point of being priceless.

He had already prepared himself to let Gao Jing open his lion's mouth—after all, he liked them!

But he had never imagined that Gao Jing would actually be willing to give him one!

"Brother Gao Jing."

Niu Jinxing felt so choked up that he could not speak, as though a turtle had locked eyes with a mung bean and they had instantly fallen for each other.

A person who understood him, a kindred spirit, a soulmate!

Seeing that he did not move, Gao Jing simply took out a 20mm bracelet himself. "I think this one is quite good. It'll definitely suit you, Big Ox. If we're friends, accept it."

"Good!"

Niu Jinxing roared, "Brother Gao Jing, I recognize you as my friend!"

The two lackeys beside him exchanged looks, deeply shaken.

They knew very well that their boss liked making friends, yes, but there were not many people qualified to become his true friends...

This was his first meeting with Gao Jing today, yet they had already hit it off like old friends. It was truly unprecedented!

Forget being bought over—did Young Master Niu lack this little bit of money?

Niu Jinxing snatched the bracelet Gao Jing handed him and burst into laughter. "Come on, big brother's treating you to a meal!"

Gao Jing did not stand on ceremony. "Then I'll trouble you."

The two left Rosewood Street together and went to retrieve their cars from the parking lot outside the market.

Niu Jinxing's ride was a brand-new gold Bentley Mulsanne, worth more than five million on the market.

But he did not ride in his own Bentley. Instead, he had his lackey drive ahead to lead the way.

He himself sat in the front passenger seat of Gao Jing's S350.

The two cars drove one after another toward the city center.

Niu Jinxing happily played with the Premium Full Golden-Star Grain bracelet he had just acquired, wishing he could immediately work up a patina on it.

Both his hands wore soft cotton gloves.

He had asked the old craftsman for them earlier.

The more Big Ox played with it, the more he loved it. Unable to resist, he asked, "Brother Gao Jing, what family are you from?"

Seeing Gao Jing's bearing and manner, unfathomably deep, his imagination began to run wild.

"An ordinary family."

Gao Jing smiled. "I used to be a runner of a salesman at a small company in the provincial capital. I only resigned last month."

Niu Jinxing had mistaken him for someone from an extraordinary background, but Gao Jing would never simply go along with the misunderstanding.

That kind of deception would only leave behind serious future trouble, burying a mine beneath his own feet!

In this age of the internet and big data, there was no way his identity and background could be hidden. One check would make everything crystal clear.

Never treat others as idiots.

Niu Jinxing froze. "You're joking, right?"

No matter what, he could not believe Gao Jing was an ordinary working man.

"It's true."

Gao Jing answered seriously, "Recently, I've been planning to partner with someone to register a company on Hong Kong Island and do import-export business."

Those two sentences were half true and half false.

Registering a Hong Kong Island company to do business was true. Partnering with someone was false.

Niu Jinxing looked thoughtful. "So that's how it is."

In an instant, he filled in all sorts of details in his own mind. "Could it be this kind of business?"

He shook the Premium Full Golden-Star Grain bracelet in his hand.

Gao Jing nodded. "My friend has some connections in India. I'm really just helping out, with a small stake."

Little-Leaf Red Sandalwood was now mainly produced in India, just as jade came from Southern Myanmar.

That perfectly explained the source of his material.

All of it was fake.

Niu Jinxing immediately understood. "Then this time you came to Beiyang..."

"That's right."

Gao Jing smiled. "I came to scout things out. I never expected to meet you, Big Ox. I'm truly lucky."

Niu Jinxing laughed heartily. "I'm the lucky one!"