Irene Jensen’s eyes filled with amazent when she saw Vera Xavier. She had thought Susan Caldwell was already outstanding in both looks and bearing, but the mont Susan stood next to Vera, she was imdiately outshone in every aspect.
A sense of curiosity about Vera Xavier imdiately sparked within her. She now understood why both Susan Caldwell and Skylar Crowe had lost out to Vera yesterday. ’This Vera Xavier is clearly not soone to be trifled with.’
Vera Xavier said nothing, but Susan Caldwell didn’t seem to mind. She continued to smile and said, "Are you also here for stone gambling?"
"Isn’t that a stupid question?" Jack Judd, who had no fondness for her whatsoever, retorted. "Why else would soone co to The Jade Market? To eat rocks?"
Susan Caldwell completely ignored him, instead looking at Vera Xavier and saying, "What a coincidence, we’re here for stone gambling too. I wonder if you’d be interested in having a little competition with ?"
The corners of Vera Xavier’s mouth turned up. ’If it were a competition in anything else, I might not be a hundred percent certain of winning. But stone gambling? I’m not afraid at all. Since Susan Caldwell is so eager to be put in her place, it would be a real sha to refuse.’
She looked at Susan Caldwell and asked, "What are the rules?"
Seeing that she had taken the bait, a faint smile appeared in Susan Caldwell’s eyes. "It’s simple. We have until five o’clock this afternoon. Each of us will put up five hundred thousand to buy raw stones—no limit on quantity or size. Whoever’s stones yield jade of a higher total value is the winner!"
"Susan, you’re giving her too much credit!" Skylar Crowe said with a cold expression. "A country bumpkin like her has probably never even seen five hundred thousand in her life!"
Indeed, in that era, five hundred thousand was a huge sum of money. Unless one ca from an extrely wealthy family or was a professional stone gambler, it would be impossible to produce that much cash.
The price of raw stones hadn’t yet reached the insane levels they would twenty years later. In two decades, even an entry-level stone gambler would need two or three million to get started. But in this era, five hundred thousand was enough to be considered a beginner in the ga.
Susan Caldwell had proposed this bet to test Vera Xavier’s resources. If Vera couldn’t even produce five hundred thousand, it would an her family background was average at best, and she had just been putting on a brave front. Dealing with her later would require little effort—she could just crush her outright.
Jack Judd had no idea how much money Vera Xavier actually had. He only knew that she had swindled four hundred thousand from Rona Langdon, but four hundred thousand wasn’t even enough to participate in this bet. That would be quite the slap in the face.
He said worriedly, "Vera..."
Before Vera Xavier could speak, Susan Caldwell was already looking at her with a smile. "If you can’t co up with that much money, I can lend it to you. Or, you could just admit defeat right now."
Vera Xavier ignored her offer and asked, "What are the stakes?"
A smile played on Susan Caldwell’s lips. "Whoever loses has to kneel and apologize in front of everyone at the entrance of The Jade Market, then slap themselves a hundred tis and shout, ’I was wrong.’"
Vera Xavier looked at Susan Caldwell’s confident and smug face, then pursed her lips. "Those stakes aren’t very interesting. How about this: whoever loses has to perform an act of eating rocks. Not too many—just all the worthless stones they bought that didn’t yield any jade."
User Comments
0 comments from readers