Chapter 8 A Job

After a short ride, they leave downtown and head to the suburb. Lin Luoran cannot imagine what kind of job is waiting for her in the wilderness. The car stops at a warehouse with a mottled gate surrounded by weeds. There are some tire tracks on the ground, which proves that cars were coming in and out. This place is quite creepy, for it is the only building nearby. “Baojia, though I don’t mind working on the assembly line, this place is so desolate. Is the company able to pay my salary on time?” Lin Luoran has to encourage herself to ask the question. Baojia wipes off the tomato juice on her mouth and looks at Lin Luoran with raising eyebrows, “You will see.” Lin Luoran shrinks her neck. The wild ginseng in the space still needs time to grow up. Since Baojia has got her a job, she might as well take it for now. This is not a good time to be picky because she only has 1300 yuan… They get off the car and enter the warehouse. Lin Luoran realizes that this warehouse is actually quite large. Several cars are parked behind the red gate, including BMWs, which are tacky in the eyes of rich people but are very expensive for Lin Luoran. There are also other luxurious cars that Lin Luoran can’t identify…They are certainly expensive. The thing is that those car owners in their fancy clothes are standing by a truck and arguing about some ugly stones. “What are they doing with the stones?” Lin Luoran asks Baojia curiously. Baojia drags Lin Luoran to go by the crowd and the truck, heading inside the warehouse. She explains while walking, “Haven’t you seen this on TV shows or in novels? Those ugly stones are raw jade, and those people are gambling on the stones!” Lin Luoran is curious and surprised, exclaiming in a low voice, “There is stone gambling in R City? I thought it is only popular in Yunnan Province or Burma.” “Where there are people, there will be markets, and markets bring demands. It is perfectly normal!” Baojia gives Lin Luoran a brief explanation. Lin Luoran wants to ask more, but Baojia shushes her, “We should settle your job first… I was worried before, but you will be fine since you are in a good state now.” Baojia sizes Lin Luoran up again and seems to be quite satisfied with her appearance. Baojia drags Lin Luoran into the warehouse. Lin Luoran then discovers that with all the noisy machines, it appears to be an operation workshop. Baojia looks around and finds the guy she is looking for. Several cutting machines are running and cutting raw stones, which makes the workshop all dusty. A man in his thirties is staring at a stone under the cutting machine. He is wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and his hair is covered with dust. “Master Liu!” Baojia raises her voice and waves to the man. Liu Zheng wipes his glasses clean and sees Baojia with an unacquainted woman. This woman is pretty, but it looks like that she is only in her twenties, who seems to be too young to be Baojia’s schoolmate. As a businessman, Liu Zheng never says inappropriate things. He gives them a nice smile, “Two beautiful ladies have arrived. This stone must be good. Baojia, this is…?” Baojia is craning to have a look at the stone under the cutting machine. “This is my best friend, Lin Luoran! Luoran, this is Liu Zheng, your future boss!” Lin Luoran smiles awkwardly. She doesn’t even know what kind of job it is, and Liu Zheng here hasn’t said a word of hiring her, but still, Baojia introduces him as her future boss. Baojia must know this man well. She will inquire Baojia about how these two met later! She thinks to herself. Lin Luoran offers her hand and greets, “Mr. Liu, my name is Lin Luoran.”She manages to break the ice. Liu Zheng stops looking at her. Instead, he nods and says, “Miss Lin, let’s talk about the job later and have a look at this stone first.” Lin Luoran agrees. Baojia says, “Master Liu, this is a nice stone. You will be so unfortunate if there is no jade in it. How much have you earned from this batch of goods?” Liu Zheng gives a bitter smile, “All of the stones we cut open today were bad. Luckily, I have got several pieces of jade stone from Burma, or else I might be broke by now!” Lin Luoran has never witnessed stone gambling, but she knows a little about it from novels and TV shows. And she is aware that the price of jade is rising in recent years. Lin Luoran realizes that Liu Zheng also does business in the jewelry field. Thinking about Li Anping’s new girlfriend, Lin Luoran has a feeling that this new job might bring some troubles… When this thought occurs to her, Baojia says delightfully, “There is jade! We do bring luck here!” Lin Luoran looks that way. The cutters are pouring water on the raw stone, which has been cut 30% off. With several handfuls of water, green jade appears. Even an amateur like Lin Luoran can see that this green jade is of high quality. Liu Zheng smiles too. He says, “This one is a success. If its greenness can be darker when it is all cut open, the money I lost on the stones before can be earned back.” The raw stone almost covers half of the table, and the section of green jade in it is as big as a bowl. Liu Zheng calls it a success. It looks like fortune does come easily in this business. Liu Zheng calls it a day. He asks the workers to load the raw stone into the truck and plans to continue to cut it at his workshop. He passes a business card to Lin Luoran after settling things down, “Does Miss Lin care to work for me?” “Treasure House”, Liu Zheng, and his phone number are printed on the business card. There isn’t even a title under his name. However, Treasure House does sound familiar to Lin Luoran. The company has several branches in R City, and its scale and products are competitive to Fortune House. Lin Luoran only pays attention to this information after Li Aping starts to work for Fortune House. “Mr. Liu, Baojia hasn’t told me what kind of job I am going to do. Do you think I am qualified?” Lin Luoran really doesn’t want to work in the same industry with Li Anping, but they will clearly be in opposite factions, so there is a big chance that they will not have to deal with each other. Besides, Baojia has introduced her to this new job with good intentions. As a result, Lin Luoran can’t reject and must fight for it. Liu Zheng smiles, “Baojia said that you could work in the sales team. What do you think?” Jewelry sales team. She will be selling those shining jewelry. Lin Luoran is tempted, for no woman can say no to jewelry. Baojia gives Lin Luoran a little push, “You are pretty enough to be a live advertisement for Treasure House. You can do it!” With encouragement from Baojia, Lin Luoran answers Liu Zheng, “I have no experience in the industry, but I will work hard. You can trust me.” It is obvious that Liu Zheng does attach importance to the person Baojia recommended. Also, Liu Zheng is satisfied with this girl’s appearance. Once Lin Luoran says yes, both parties are happy. Liu Zheng is about to tell something about the job to Lin Luoran, and a sharp voice of a woman comes, targeting Baojia. “Qin Baojia, what you are doing now is a pure collaboration with the enemy! How dare you!”