Chapter 47: So This Is What It Means to Be a Millionaire?

Liu Ling and Master Lin were utterly stunned at the sight of the pearls within that bag.

Just judging by their luster, each seemed to be a top-grade wild pearl of the same caliber.

But how could there be so many?

“Liu Ling, didn’t you say pearls of this quality were extremely rare?” Cai Yao looked at her best friend, confusion written all over her face.

“If you’re asking me, who should I ask?” Liu Ling replied blankly.

Pearls reaching 20mm were already scarce; top-grade wild pearls of 20mm even more so. Even their company couldn’t produce so many at once.

Hadn’t a certain actress, in her bid to walk the international red carpet and get close to a famous Hollywood woman director, tried to commission a ‘Victoria’s Secret Goddess Necklace’? That renowned director, also the owner of a film company, was fond of pearl necklaces, especially the Victoria’s Secret Goddess series.

Such a necklace required fifty-six 20mm top-grade wild, non-nucleated pearls.

The actress had offered 7.5 million for it—a hefty sum, though considering she made hundreds of millions a year, it wasn’t exactly a sacrifice. If she could make it to Hollywood, it would be the deal of a lifetime.

All the jewelry companies were pooling their resources, hoping to secure this order. The profit was not the only appeal; the fame that would follow was even more enticing.

But how could anyone possibly gather so many top-grade wild, non-nucleated pearls?

And now, what was she seeing? The “shield” her best friend had brought along had casually produced a whole bag of such pearls.

So, how was she supposed to answer her friend’s question?

“Sir, may I take a look at these pearls?” Master Lin asked, barely able to contain his disbelief.

“I was planning to ask you to appraise them anyway,” Chu Lin replied with a smile, handing over the leather pouch.

Master Lin carefully took the bag, set it on a nearby table, called for special containers, and began examining each pearl one by one.

As the appraisal went on, the astonishment on his face only grew.

All were 20mm. All were wild, non-nucleated pearls. All had extraordinary luster.

Truly, their company didn’t have many pearls of this grade. Yet here was Mr. Chu, presenting so many at once.

Had he stumbled upon an entire nest of pearl oysters in the sea, cultivated for who knows how many years?

Such things had indeed happened before—a foreign treasure hunter had once discovered a cache that produced a necklace ranked among the world’s top ten in price.

“These are all 20mm top-grade wild, non-nucleated pearls—one hundred and fifteen in total,” Master Lin announced, his voice trembling.

In other words, the man had carelessly placed 11.5 million worth of pearls in a shabby leather bag.

He must have nerves of steel.

“Mr. Chu, would you consider selling these pearls?” Liu Ling’s voice suddenly became urgent.

She was reminded of the order from that actress.

The company had issued a directive: Any branch, any employee—should they find a way to secure this deal—would receive a massive commission. A brand new BMW 5 Series paid in full was not out of reach.

Of course, the main draw was the priority for promotion.

And now, this opportunity seemed to be right before her.

Chu Lin smiled and nodded, “I was planning to sell this batch. If you can handle it, I can let you have a hundred. I’ll keep fifteen for myself—perhaps to give as gifts someday.”

“Mr. Chu, please wait a moment while I make a call,” Liu Ling said, stepping aside to phone the head office’s general manager.

Chen He, as the domestic general manager of Taschki, had the year’s biggest task: increase market share. But the two main competitors were formidable, and every event brought relentless competition. Opportunities were scarce.

The actress’s order was the best chance. A custom 7-million necklace was rare enough, and with a popular actress set to appear at the Victoria’s Secret red carpet, the exposure was guaranteed.

When the public learned the necklace she wore was worth seven million, the story behind it would be unearthed, and their brand’s fame would skyrocket.

It was a perfect topic for buzz and advertising.

But how could anyone source pearls of such quality in so short a time? Not just them—even their two competitors were at their wits’ end.

The international red carpet event was fast approaching. The actress was already considering settling for an auctioned necklace instead of a custom Victoria’s Secret Angel chain.

Even if it wasn’t bespoke, a multi-million pearl necklace was still something.

Chen He sighed.

It seemed no company would be able to fulfill this order.

The time frame was simply too tight.

His phone rang.

Seeing that it was Liu Ling, his branch manager, he answered immediately. “This is Chen He.”

Liu Ling quickly reported, “Director Chen, I have a client here with a batch of top-grade 20mm wild, non-nucleated pearls—one hundred available for sale.”

Upon hearing this, Chen He shot to his feet as if pricked by a needle. “Is this real?”

“Master Lin has already verified them—all genuine,” Liu Ling replied.

Without hesitation, Chen He gave instructions: “Our headquarters’ certification department can’t arrive immediately. I’ll pull some strings to have NGTC from Min City come and issue certificates. Complete the transaction with the client as quickly as possible once authentication is done. I’ll arrange the payment. We can’t give our competitors even the slightest chance.”

After hanging up, he hurriedly contacted his connections at NGTC.

No wonder he was so anxious. If the other two companies caught wind of this, they would stop at nothing to win the order. Not a single opportunity could be given away.

…

Taschki Jewelry, Mingshi City.

After hanging up, Liu Ling immediately turned to Chu Lin. “Mr. Chu, our headquarters will have NGTC’s staff come to authenticate the pearls on site. Once the certificates are issued, we can proceed with the transaction right away.”

At first, Chu Lin didn’t know what NGTC was, but when their personnel arrived and sealed each national authentication certificate on the spot, he understood.

But wait—Taschki has its own certification department. Why bring in NGTC and have them seal and stamp certificates on the spot?

Rumor had it that such national certificates usually took at least seven days.

He wasn’t naïve—this meant Taschki’s headquarters was deeply invested in this batch of pearls, pulling strings behind the scenes.

Rules, it seemed, were for ordinary people. When you have enough influence and connections, many things can be done outside the norm.

But that was none of his concern; his only goal was to sell the pearls.

This, in fact, saved him a lot of trouble.

Authenticating all 115 pearls took NGTC staff quite some time.

Liu Ling placed the fifteen Atlantis pearls into fifteen exquisite gift boxes, each lined at the bottom with a freshly issued national certificate.

The remaining hundred were, of course, to be sold to Taschki.

The transaction itself took quite a while. Cai Yao waited quietly on the side, never interrupting.

She well understood that her transaction for just two pearls was insignificant compared to a hundred.

So, watching silently was both polite and proper.

Not long after, the deal was complete, and Chu Lin received a delightful transfer notification:

“Your account ending in … has received 10,000,000.00 yuan. Your new balance is 12,065,788.55 yuan.”

A full ten million had been deposited into his account.

This was his first experience with such a sum.

In other circumstances, such a large transfer would have triggered immediate scrutiny from the bank.

But with a well-known company like Taschki handling it, and all records properly noted, there was no issue—as long as he paid his taxes.

So, he was now a multimillionaire?

It seemed that completing the map collection and upgrading the rewards truly yielded the greatest value.

…

(New book recommendation—please keep reading to the last page! Also, two votes would be appreciated. Another chapter is coming tonight!)