Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 141: Chapter 138 Each Takes What They Need

Huo Sining didn’t think there was anything wrong with deceiving people because she wasn’t doing anything harmful or outrageous, just telling a little white lie.

She did this simply to avoid revealing the existence of the Water-Repelling Pearl within her body, entirely out of self-preservation.

After all, something as peculiar as the Water-Repelling Pearl was not something ordinary people possessed. If her secret were discovered, she could forget about living peacefully. Even if she wasn’t dissected for research, her personal safety would be at risk—the thought of letting her secret be exposed was foolishness on her part.

“What do you want?” Bai Yishan had not forgotten the question Su Qingqing had asked when she came to see her. If Huo Sining really could provide her with jadeite raw materials, then opening her own studio would be as simple as saying it.

Huo Sining, of course, knew what troubled Bai Yishan, and she said with a light smile, “Since I trust you enough to share my secret, naturally, I’m looking to partner with you. You understand design but lack a source of jadeite materials. I may not know jewelry design or how to carve jade, but I happen to be able to supply the materials. Wouldn’t our partnership complement each other’s deficiencies?”

Bai Yishan laughed, “That’s true, but in fact, in the jadeite jewelry business, having a source for jadeite raw materials means being at the top of the food chain. Jewelry designers are just vassals; there are plenty of them if you’re looking. You have the treasure ability to supply materials, meaning you are the dominant partner in this collaboration, but I want to start a studio that truly belongs to me. I don’t want to be constrained or controlled by others.”

...

Hearing this, Huo Sining laughed, “You’re overthinking it. I have no interest in managing people at all. Our partnership is just as I’ve described it: simple cooperation. I provide the materials, you purchase them. How you design and run your business after buying the materials is none of my concern.”

Bai Yishan was startled and took a long time to ask, “What’s in it for you with this kind of cooperation? There are plenty of people clamoring to buy jadeite materials; collaborating with a small studio like mine seems disadvantageous for you.”

Huo Sining shook her head. “You’re mistaken. On the surface, it might look like I’m at a loss, but you should understand that I’m just a powerless and background-less ordinary person. I want to make a fortune quietly without drawing attention. These days being too prominent is not a good thing. I chose to collaborate with you because I feel you are trustworthy, and both of us prefer straightforward dealings without too much entanglement. We each get what we need, and neither of us interferes with the other.”

Bai Yishan did not expect that Huo Sining would seek a partnership for such a reason. Thinking of Huo Sining’s peculiar treasure ability, she instantly understood her mentality.

If someone suddenly discovered they possessed an unknown treasure ability that guaranteed wins in gambling on stones, it would certainly be nerve-wracking, exciting at first, but then they would live in fear.

An innocent man holds no blame, yet the possession of treasure brings guilt upon him. Furthermore, Huo Sining was a vulnerable woman; if discovered, some would certainly be tempted by greed, and her personal safety would be at risk. She could die without knowing how.

Money is indeed important, but if personal safety cannot be guaranteed, no amount of wealth matters.

The more Bai Yishan thought, the more she admired Huo Sining. She hadn’t expected that this girl, not yet twenty years old, would already have such a rational and clear-headed mindset, able to devise the most beneficial method for herself in such a short period.

Putting herself in Huo Sining’s shoes, Bai Yishan felt that, even though she was five or six years older, she couldn’t remain as composed if she were to encounter a fortune like Huo Sining’s. She might well have already been making waves by gambling wildly in Pingzhou.

“Your method of cooperation is certainly to my benefit, so long as you have no objections, I’m eager for it,” Bai Yishan smiled, “but I don’t have much starter funds, only ten million.”

Huo Sining nodded and said, “I don’t have much money either, I just brought one card, which has a little under six million in it.”

Bai Yishan frowned, “Isn’t that a bit too little? I’ve heard that the rough stones at the gambling plates are very expensive, a single piece can sell for tens of millions.”

Huo Sining laughed, “Before coming here, I researched the Pingzhou gambling plates and found out that there are openly priced stones as well as sealed bids. Sealed bids are like blind auctions where you fill in a price list; those stones are basically out of our consideration because there’s no need to even think about it, they’ll definitely be very expensive, and I doubt our funds could even buy one. My target is the openly priced stones, those are clearly marked, and as long as we like them, we can make transactions with the shop owners. At that time, we’ll only buy low-priced materials that can produce high-quality green. Being a bit thrifty should be enough.”

Huo Sining was essentially going for the castoffs, and upon hearing this, Bai Yishan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but then she quickly came to terms with it.

“You have a point, we can’t possibly buy up all the stones that turn out green at such a large plate. I just run a small workshop, as long as you can find a few good pieces, that would be enough for me to use for a long time,” she said.

Huo Sining shrugged, nonchalantly saying, “Exactly, besides, there aren’t only gambling plates in Foshan; there’s also Ruili, Nanyang Gambling Plate, and beyond that, we can go to Yangon, Myanmar. There are plenty of places with jadeite; we definitely won’t fall short on supplies.”

However, it’s not easy just to talk about starting a workshop; in addition to the source of raw materials and designers, you need excellent master sculptors. The success of a jadeite piece doesn’t lie in the jadeite itself or the design, but in the skill of the master sculptor.

A master sculptor with spiritual energy can carve lively, lifelike pieces even from low-end jadeite, whereas if the sculptor lacks skill, then even an imperial green piece will be wasted in their hands.

But these were not Huo Sining’s problems to consider. Since Bai Yishan didn’t want her to intervene, it suggested that Bai Yishan must have considered these aspects.

Since they were preparing for jadeite gambling, of course, they had to prepare seriously.

It was known that Huo Sining’s Water-Repelling Pearl wasn’t always functional; without water, the Pearl was ineffective. But with so many stones to gamble on, she couldn’t just pour a bottle of water on every single rough stone, right?

Huo Sining felt this was a problem, and it caused her great consternation, but soon someone helped them solve this dilemma.

Su Jinyuan came to Pingzhou to procure jadeite rough materials, not just to accompany the three women for fun. Although he was worried that Su Qingqing and the others, not knowing the rules, might cause trouble, company business was ultimately more important.

After a night of restless thought, he finally came up with a compromise. That was to find someone to take the three women to the jadeite gambling while he followed two procurement masters to focus on buying raw materials. By acting separately, no one would interfere with anyone else, and it wouldn’t impact the progress of his work.