It was Leo’s first time participating in such an event, and he looked intrigued. “I never knew that stone gambling could be so lively.”
“About 70% to 80% of the people here are in the jade and jewelry business. They have money but lack enough raw materials. Stone gambling offers them a chance to make huge returns with less investment, which is very attractive. Besides, the previous auction required an invitation to enter, but there’s no such restriction for the stone gambling here,” Coral explained.
Leo nodded in understanding. He was ready to prove his ability by selecting stones to gamble on, but Coral stopped him and said, “Leo, don’t rush into stone gambling. Come with me; let me introduce someone to you.”
Curious but not asking further, Leo followed Coral in the indicated direction.
After a short walk, Coral stopped next to a woman.
Leo couldn’t help but size her up. She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and tight jeans, with a pair of long, slender legs. Her hair was cut short, just reaching her ears, giving her a smart and capable appearance. At a distance, she seemed like a radiant and sunny girl.
Coral began the introduction, “Leo, this is Nicola Pater, a guest stone gambling consultant from Wilde Jewelry Company. Nicola, this is Leo Bloomer, who might become a stone gambling consultant for Wilde Jewelry Company.”
Nicola couldn’t help but chuckle at Coral’s words. “Coral, you’re quite funny.”
Leo withdrew his gaze from Nicola and looked somewhat astonished. “She’s younger than me. Are stone gambling consultants trending towards youthfulness these days?”
In Leo’s mind, stone gambling consultants or experts should at least be middle-aged, more like Mr. Tyler and Mr. Kipling, given the importance of experience in this field. And he was out of line.
Nicola detected a hint of doubt in Leo’s words, so she crossed her arms and scoffed, wearing a slightly offended expression on her face.
Coral smiled and said, “Leo, you can’t judge a book by its cover. You shouldn’t underestimate Nicola. Her family has been involved in jade and stone gambling since her great-grandfather’s time. About 100 years ago, one-third of the stones transported from Myanmar were handled by Nicola’s family.”
Hearing this, Leo looked surprised. One-third was an impressively significant amount.
“Nicola is from a place near the old factory district in Myanmar. She grew up playing with stones. She has a natural talent for stone gambling. Last year, she won first place in the national stone gambling competition,” Coral added.
Leo couldn’t help but look at Nicola again and thought to himself, “This girl is pretty impressive.”
Nicola noticed Leo’s gaze and raised her head, looking proud. It seemed as if she were saying to Leo, “Kneel down before me.”
However, Leo was not one to hold back when faced with arrogance. He put on a playful expression and asked, “Miss Pater, I never expected your gambling success to be so outstanding. It truly leaves us in awe. May I ask what your rate of success is?”
“About 35%!” Nicola exclaimed loudly, as if afraid that Leo wouldn’t hear.
“35%?” Leo made a pensive expression. “So you’re saying that if you pick a hundred stones, 35 of them will appreciate in value, and this appreciation could be big or small. It seems like your success rate isn’t too high.”
“Leo, did your PE teacher teach you math?” Nicola retorted indignantly. “Do you even understand stone gambling? Let me tell you the truth: my competency in stone gambling is among the top five in the country. How dare you say that my success rate is low?”
Coral couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Leo. This guy had the audacity to challenge one of the most renowned stone gambling experts even before demonstrating his own abilities. It was hard to tell if he was overconfident or intentionally trying to provoke Nicola.
“Nicola, Leo is just joking. Don’t take it to heart. Let’s go and see some stones,” Coral said, hoping to defuse the situation.
Nicola wasn’t genuinely angry and merely found being doubted a little unpleasant.
“Leo, since you said my 35% success rate isn’t high, may I ask what your success rate is?” Nicola countered.
Leo shrugged casually and said, “It’s not much higher, around 60% or so.”
“Hahaha…” Nicola burst into laughter.
“Coral, where did you find this joker? He’s blown his achievements to the sky,” Nicola teased.
Coral remembered that Leo had said the same thing to her in the office. If it hadn’t been for the 30 million wager, she wouldn’t have brought him here in the first place.
That’s right, during the previous auction, Leo had borrowed from her another 10 million. If he couldn’t prove his 60% success rate, he’d owe her 40 million.
“Miss Pater, one of my virtues is honesty,” Leo said earnestly. “As the saying goes, whether it’s a horse or a donkey, you’ll know once you take it for a walk. How about we have a real gambling battle?”
“Sure, let’s have a battle! Who’s afraid of you, Mr. Boastful?” Nicola playfully pointed to a stone gambling booth. “Please, King of Boasts.”
The three of them approached one of the stone gambling booths, which had fewer people.
The booth’s owner was a man with a big mustache, and his shrewd eyes occasionally betrayed his merchant nature.
Seeing one man and two beautiful women approaching his booth, he smiled and said, “You three have excellent taste to come to my booth. While I may not have the best stones in the entire plaza, mine are definitely above average.”
With that, the man named Joan pointed to several rough stones in front of Nicola. “These stones are genuine and from the mines in Kosmochlor, Myanmar. If you want to gamble on appreciation, these are the best choices.”
Nicola raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you saying these stones are from the Kosmochlor mines?”
“That’s right. Do you know about the Kosmochlor mines? It’s a famous mining area. The probability of finding high-quality jadeite there is quite high,” the man continued to persuade them.
Nicola bent down to observe the several pieces of jadeite in front of her and then touched them with her hands. She snorted, “The python patterns and pine root patterns on these stones aren’t from the Kosmochlor mines. They’re clearly from Guatemala. How dare you pretend they’re Kosmochlor. Sir, you can’t trick people like this,” Nicola said with a disdainful expression, looking up at the man.
Caught off guard by Nicola’s insight, the booth owner showed a brief moment of embarrassment before laughing awkwardly. “Beautiful lady, I didn’t expect you to be so knowledgeable.”
It was as if she had transformed into a completely different person!