The old friend from Xi'an, his experience was much like I had imagined. When the police moved in to arrest him at the hotel, he was saved by his agent, who arranged for him to leave Xi'an. He was temporarily sent to Shanxi to scam a coal mine owner. It was a setup orchestrated by the agent. Later, because the agent died in Lin Zhijun's office, no one oversaw the scam, and it gradually went off track. The scammers, including the old friend, were discovered by the locals.
Coal mine owners in Shanxi were all nouveau riche. Without a few ruthless thugs, they wouldn't deserve the title of mine owner. After the scam was discovered by the mine owner, they were dragged to a remote place by the locals and beaten within an inch of their lives. After making the old friend and his accomplices confess everything, the mine owner had no intention of letting them go and kept him there to dig coal. In those days, the old friend ate like a dog and lived a life worse than that of an animal.
After days of planning, the old friend finally found an opportunity to escape from the mine and ran here. Upon arriving, he got a fake ID. Then he shaved all the hair on his head, rubbed some cooking oil on it daily, making it shiny and looking like natural balding. A person's demeanor changes with their appearance. Now, if the old friend stood before a police officer holding a wanted poster, the officer would not believe that the wanted criminal Tie Zhishan was standing in front of them.
"What is your name now?" I interrupted and asked.
"Chang Tie."
"In the end, you still can't let go of the character 'Tie'."
The old friend took a sip of wine and gave a wry smile. "No matter how I end up, I can't forget my roots."
...
After days of planning, the old friend finally found an opportunity to escape from the mine and ran here. Upon arriving, he got a fake ID. Then he shaved all the hair on his head, rubbed some cooking oil on it daily, making it shiny and looking like natural balding. A person's demeanor changes with their appearance. Now, if the old friend stood before a police officer holding a wanted poster, the officer would not believe that the wanted criminal Tie Zhishan was standing in front of them.
"What is your name now?" I interrupted and asked.
"Chang Tie."
"In the end, you still can't let go of the character 'Tie'."
The old friend took a sip of wine and gave a wry smile. "No matter how I end up, I can't forget my roots."
...
After days of planning, the old friend finally found an opportunity to escape from the mine and ran here. Upon arriving, he got a fake ID. Then he shaved all the hair on his head, rubbed some cooking oil on it daily, making it shiny and looking like natural balding. A person's demeanor changes with their appearance. Now, if the old friend stood before a police officer holding a wanted poster, the officer would not believe that the wanted criminal Tie Zhishan was standing in front of them.
"What is your name now?" I interrupted and asked.
"Chang Tie."
"In the end, you still can't let go of the character 'Tie'."
The old friend took a sip of wine and gave a wry smile. "No matter how I end up, I can't forget my roots."
I didn't think the old friend's words were any grand pronouncements, I just felt heartbroken. I always felt that everything happening to him now was somehow connected to me. I mused, then suddenly asked him, "Old friend, do you want to live a decent life again?"
The old friend drank a glass of wine by himself and shook his head with a wry smile. "It's good enough to be alive!" After he finished, he noticed I didn't respond and looked at me seriously. "Are you serious?"
"I brought a million yuan when I came here to study."
I knew this amount would sting the old friend's pride, but I had to say it.
"One million yuan!"
"Yes!"
"That's enough to start a small company. Did you bring this much money for school?"
"Is a million yuan a lot? To rich people, it's just pocket money. Let's use this million to do something big."
"How big?"
"Big enough to influence the fate of this city."
"Tang Nan, you're getting carried away. You want to influence the fate of this city? Based on what? Just the two of us, a college student and a cleaner?"
"Do you dare to do it?"
The old friend was bewildered by me and asked seriously, "Are you drunk?"
I looked at him calmly. The old friend downed the last glass of wine. "Let's do it! Where do we start?"
"We rise from where we fell. There aren't many antiques in Hu City, but there are jade gambling shops."
...
The next afternoon, when I didn't have class, the old friend and I met at a jade gambling shop. The jade roughs in Hu City were much more expensive than in Ruili, but the shop owners here were more enthusiastic than in Ruili. The window stones were also neatly displayed, with professional lighting. Compared to the markets in Ruili piled high with stones, this place had a better atmosphere.
A few days later, two hundred thousand yuan went down the drain.
I looked at the old friend's oily forehead, smiled, and patted his shoulder. "Keep going."
Fifty thousand yuan was gone just like that.
The old friend was worried, and I looked at him. "You're spending my money, what are you afraid of?"
"Your money didn't come from a gust of wind."
"How do you know it didn't come from a gust of wind?"
The old friend sighed. "Maybe I'm really not cut out for jade gambling, or maybe I just don't have any luck. After cutting so many, how can there not be a single good piece? Were we scammed?"
"Probably not!"
"Why not? They looked good, but when cut, they were all dry bean green, not worth anything."
Hearing the old friend say this, I laughed. "When I was in Ruili, I saw people making fake-skinned roughs. They would grind worthless jade into powder, cut open mountain stones, stick the powdered jade onto them, and then cover the surface with crushed stone from the mine. The method is similar. They mix in quartz sand to create the skin. This way, when we cut a window, we'll see green and think there's substance inside. In reality, bean green is considered good after cutting, and some might even be fake stones."
The old friend became anxious. "If you say so, then all the stones we cut are fake. No, I have to go find the owner."
I pulled the old friend back. "Forget it. That owner probably doesn't even know. Let's not expose anyone's shortcomings and leave them some breathing room."
"That's fifty thousand yuan." The old friend wouldn't listen to me, but I still held him tightly.
"Those people are local powers, we can't afford to offend them. If there's trouble, don't forget you have a fake identity."
Hearing this, the old friend cried miserably. "What should we do then? I was possessed and killed someone in Beijing, and now I've dragged you down with me. Am I a jinx?"
Seeing the old friend's state, I laughed. "You were like this when you were a kid, crying over every little thing. You're not like a real man at all."
"That's fifty thousand yuan."
"We still have fifty thousand yuan. Let's try another shop. By the way, I have a piece of Dragon Stone Seed side material. Although it can only make a few ring faces, it's still quite valuable. I've asked my dad to mail it to us. We can use it as a reference when buying."
"Okay!"
The old friend's reply was not enthusiastic; he looked dejected. I looked at him and smiled, "Don't worry, I'm here."
...
A few days later, my dad mailed the Dragon Stone Seed jade to a nearby post office. Meanwhile, the school discovered this secret passage. They blocked the fence and had student council members wearing epaulets guarding it day and night. I couldn't get out.
The remaining task could only be handed over to the old friend. The old friend took the Dragon Stone Seed jade and bought stones matching its original skin. That Dragon Stone Seed was something I obtained when dealing with Qin Sisi in Ruili. It was the treasure of Old Gao, a good friend of Old Ghost. To trick Qin Sisi, we made a slight cut, and the remaining part could make two or three ring faces. Even so, it was worth a hundred thousand yuan. One can imagine the value of Dragon Stone Seed in the jade circles.
Dragon Stone Seed jade is yellow-skinned. The old friend bought stones according to the original skin of this Dragon Stone Seed.
A week later, I received a call from the old friend. His voice sounded extremely dejected. "The last fifty thousand yuan also went down the drain."
"Does your wife know about this?"
"If that woman knew I spent a million yuan, she'd be scared to death."
"Since she doesn't know, let's continue."
A million yuan was spent like this, and the old friend's confidence was completely shattered. He hesitated for a moment and said seriously, "Tang Nan, let's stop. I don't have the destiny for this."
"You want to give up?"
"Yes, brother. I know you have money, but only a few million. If this continues, both you and I will be ruined."
"I believe in you, really. Let's continue. Have you cut out anything good recently?"
When I asked this, the old friend grumbled and started cursing. "It's like we're cursed. It's all dry bean green. This shop seems like a scammer too."
I thought for a moment. "When I was in Ruili, I remember an old Burmese master had a method of faking. They would stick fake skin together with glue, place it in the ground, use a chemical material, and then let it air dry. It looked just like the real thing."
"Damn it! So we were scammed again. I've become a sucker in the jade gambling circle, a complete joke." The old friend said angrily.
"It's okay, let's try another place. There's a jade gambling shop in General's Mansion that I thought looked good. Go buy there. I'll have my dad transfer a million yuan from our old account."
"Tang Nan..."
"Stop the nonsense, I have class."
...
Half a month later, the old friend came to the outside of the school wall, looking at me with a mournful face. I looked at him calmly. "Lost again?"
"Yes, another fifty thousand yuan."
"Did you buy Tianhuang Stone?"
"Yes!"
"With real Tianhuang Stone, if you look at the skin layer under a magnifying glass, you can see that the skin layer and the stone inside gradually transition and embed. For fake skin, you'll find that the skin layer and the stone are separated. The thickness of naturally formed skin is uneven. The surface of the stone's depressions has natural deposits with smooth surfaces. Due to long-term iron ion deposition in the depressions, the skin color will be slightly reddish, which is something fake stones cannot replicate. Oh, and one more thing, real stone skin is usually translucent under light, while fake skin is often opaque."
Hearing this, the old friend looked at me apologetically. "Tang Nan, you always say I have strong professional skills, but compared to you, I'm far behind."
"Old friend, I only know book knowledge. The actual operation still depends on you. I believe in you. Keep buying."
"I..."
The old friend wanted to say something more, but a student council member called me away. Initially, they only said I violated regulations by talking to someone through the wall. But when we got to the academic affairs office, they took my temperature and I had a fever.
This caused an uproar in the school. I was quickly isolated, and then a group of doctors arrived. These people, wearing protective suits, carefully examined me. The next day, they gave me a result: I had contracted atypical pneumonia.
What kind of situation is this? I didn't care much at first and concealed my whereabouts with the old friend. But within a few days, I started having a fever, a terrible one. During this time, the old friend called me and said, "I need another sum of money."
"How much?"
"Two million yuan!"
Without hesitation, I confusedly asked my dad to transfer two million yuan to the old friend from our old account. After that, I lost all trace of the old friend. I called a few times, but his phone was always off.
The old friend disappeared, and I couldn't find him. I was isolated for treatment, and the pneumonia really took a toll on me. Two months later, I finally regained my life. By then, my account was empty. I dialed the old friend's number, but it was still off.
I used my newly activated mobile banking to pay the bills. What I was thinking about was not the joy of reunion and rebirth, but the old friend. Had I misjudged him? Was his ambition so small? As I walked out of the hospital gate, someone called out to me, "Tang Nan!"
Hearing that voice, the corners of my mouth twitched into a smile.
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