148: Chapter 148 Bluffing

"Lin Zi!! I found one too!!!"

Hao Hong ran over holding the stone, his face flushed red. "Look!! Is it a meteorite?!"

Lin Ning took it and glanced at it.

The fusion crust and regmaglypts were a bit blurry, but it was large enough, about the size of one and a half fists.

"Yes."

"Holy crap!!!" Hao Hong snatched it back and gave it a kiss. "I'm finally a man with a meteorite too!!!"

Seeing his behavior, Lin Ning couldn't help but laugh; he knew Hao Hong would make a small fortune somehow.

Damn! Can I really become a charlatan and fool people now?!

Hao Hong jumped around with the stone for a while before suddenly stopping and looking at Lin Ning. "Any luck?"

Lin Ning didn't say anything and opened his backpack.

Hao Hong poked his head in to look and was stunned.

One, two, three, four, five.

Hao Hong opened his mouth, and after a long while, he managed to choke out:

"Are you even human? This is too brutal!!"

Lin Ning tossed his head back. "Please, call me the Son of Luck!"

Hao Hong stared at the five stones for five seconds, then silently hid his own behind his back.

"No way, we have to sell them separately. If you put six meteorites out at once, won't you crash the market price?"

Lin Ning burst out laughing. "What kind of joke is that..."

Just then—

The roar of engines came from the distance.

Three jeep wranglers drove in from the northwest, kicking up a cloud of yellow sand as they charged aggressively toward them.

Hao Hong's smile froze on his face.

Lin Ning stood up, squinting at the three vehicles.

He looked at the meteorite in Hao Hong's hand, then back at the three vehicles.

Then he took a step forward, shielding Hao Hong.

The three jeep wranglers surrounded them in a fan shape, and the flying gravel rattled against the land cruiser's bumper.

A door opened, and a man in his thirties jumped out; he was thin, dark-skinned, and wearing aviator sunglasses.

He took off his sunglasses, his gaze passing straight over Lin Ning to look at Hao Hong.

"I saw from afar that you guys had some luck," the man smiled, turning to Hu Qing. "Accountant, the people you brought this time are pretty good."

Hu Qing's expression was grim, but he still spoke up: "Zheng Lei, these are my friends."

"I know, your friends." Zheng Lei nodded. "I just came to take a look."

He took two steps forward, and the people from the other cars also got out—five or six of them, slowly closing in.

"Don't be nervous." Zheng Lei spread his hands. "We're all in the same trade on the Gobi; meeting like this is fate."

He looked at the stone in Hao Hong's hand. "This one, let me see?"

Hao Hong looked at Lin Ning.

Lin Ning didn't say anything but gave a slight nod.

Hao Hong handed the stone over.

Zheng Lei took it, turned it over a few times, held it up to the light, and then smiled.

"Common chondrite, average quality. But given its size... it's worth about thirty or forty thousand."

He returned the stone to Hao Hong and then looked at Lin Ning:

"You didn't find anything, brother?" As he spoke, his gaze fell on Lin Ning's backpack.

The backpack was bulging.

Zheng Lei narrowed his eyes. "What's in the bag?"

Lin Ning looked at him without saying a word.

"This north-facing slope... there really was something from that meteor shower before the New Year." Zheng Lei clapped his hands. "Seems like you guys have good luck."

Zheng Lei took a step forward.

Lin Ning didn't move.

The two stood face-to-face, less than a meter apart.

The men behind Zheng Lei took two steps forward.

"Brother, name a price. I'll take everything you found today."

Lin Ning shook his head. "Not for sale."

Zheng Lei laughed and turned to Hu Qing. "Accountant, this friend of yours has quite the personality."

Hu Qing didn't respond.

Zheng Lei looked back at Lin Ning. "Brother, do you know the rules of this trade? Anything picked up on the Gobi belongs to everyone who sees it. I'm not asking for a share; I'm offering to buy it. I'm already being very polite."

Lin Ning looked at him. "I don't need your politeness."

The smile on Zheng Lei's face faded slightly.

The men behind him took another two steps forward.

Hao Hong nervously gripped the stone, but at the same time, he stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Lin Ning.

Hu Qing's expression changed, and he wanted to speak, but He Guoqing pulled him back.

Lin Ning didn't move.

He just stood there, staring at Zheng Lei, motionless.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Zheng Lei didn't move.

The men behind him didn't move either.

Lin Ning suddenly smiled. "Brother Zheng, your cigarette is about to burn your fingers."

Zheng Lei was taken aback and looked down—the cigarette was indeed about to reach the filter.

He stubbed out the cigarette, and when he looked up again, his expression was complicated.

"Fine." He nodded. "You've got guts."

He turned to leave but then stopped and looked back at Lin Ning.

"In this Erenhot area, my prices for buying stones are the fairest. When you want to sell, find me."

With a wave of his hand, he got straight into his car, and the three jeep wranglers roared away.

Once they were far away, Hao Hong finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Shit! I thought they were going to rob us..."

Lin Ning didn't say anything, just watched the direction where the three vehicles had disappeared.

Hu Qing walked over and patted Lin Ning on the shoulder. "Not bad, brother. You didn't back down."

Lin Ning gave a small smile. "He didn't dare."

Hu Qing was stunned. "How do you know?"

Lin Ning smiled but said nothing.

Just now, when Zheng Lei took that step forward and they were in a face-to-face standoff, the light red color above his head hadn't changed at all.

He's just a bluffer.

With people like him, if you retreat, he'll trample you. If you stand your ground, he won't dare to move.

On the way back, the setting sun dyed the Gobi Desert in shades of golden red.

Hao Hong held his stone, admiring it happily for a long time, when he suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, Lin Zi, should we find Old Duan to take a look when we get back? Let him introduce a generous buyer; if one person can't take them all, he can introduce two."

Lin Ning glanced at him. "Uncle Duan doesn't buy them?"

"He does." Hao Hong pulled out his phone. "He sent me a WeChat message yesterday saying he mostly deals with his own stock and only buys cheap common goods. He can't offer a good price for stuff like ours, so he'll introduce us to a buyer. I was thinking we should let him have a look at our stones so we know where we stand."

Lin Ning nodded. "Alright."

Hao Hong looked at Lin Ning's backpack again, his eyes shining. "Your six plus my one makes seven... Holy crap, Lin Zi, how much do you think these will sell for?"

"I don't know."

"Let me guess." Hao Hong counted on his fingers. "Mine is worth thirty thousand, and even if your six average twenty thousand each, that's already a hundred and twenty thousand..."

As he calculated, he got excited himself. "Lin Zi, are you actually freaking rich now?"

He was truly happy for Lin Ning and gave him two hard slaps on the back. This guy's luck had truly turned around.

Lin Ning was nearly knocked onto the steering wheel by the slaps. He rolled his eyes but then broke into a grin too.

Outside the car window.

A herd of wild camels slowly passed by, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun.

Making a fortune?

I hope everyone makes a fortune!!!

At eight o'clock in the evening, the two cars returned to Erenhot.

Hu Qing and He Guoqing were in a hurry to get home and report to their wives. They declined Lin Ning's dinner invitation, promised to hang out again when they had the chance, and left first.

Lin Ning and Hao Hong found a restaurant and ordered a few dishes.

While waiting for the food, Hao Hong took out his phone and dialed Old Duan.

"...Seven pieces, help me estimate a price first..." Hao Hong lowered his voice, but he couldn't hide the smugness in his tone.

Hao Hong was suddenly taken aback. "How did you know?"

Hanging up the phone, Hao Hong looked at Lin Ning. "Zheng Lei called Uncle Duan? Said you were tough?"

Lin Ning didn't say anything and took a bite of food.

Hao Hong stared at him for a long time, then shook his head.

"Lin Zi, you've really got something about you now."

Lin Ning looked up. "What thing?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it." Hao Hong scratched his head. "It's just that I feel really at ease when I'm out with you."