Cole had meant to buy this batch of jade at market price. This way, Li Du could stand to earn a bit just from the sale, and then earn even more as a major shareholder once the company rolled out a new series of jewelry. However, Li Du laughed and shook his finger at the man’s words. “No, Mr. President, this isn’t fair. You should just consider how much the company will benefit from this one-time supply of this many high-quality gemstones, and then you’ll see it’s not just money I’m after.”

Cole was an intelligent man, but he acted dumb this time. “What could you want other than money? You can’t possibly want a larger share in Harry Winston, Inc., could you?”

Li Du did not want to beat around the bush, so he cut straight to the chase. “I have no interest in your company; I just want fair trade. If you’re thinking of using only money to make this purchase, it’s going to be difficult. I’m a shareholder in the company, so I know its financial situation. Given the company’s liquidity, you won’t be able to make the purchase.”

Cole’s gaze wavered. “You have more gems than these?”

Li Du smiled proudly. “Of course. I’ve got at least four to five times more than what’s in this box. On top of that, they’re of better quality, too!”

“Then how do you want to do this?” Cole asked after a brief moment of consideration.

Li Du said, “You know I still want more shares in the company. I want at least four percent.”

After several bouts of acquisition, especially after acquiring 14% of Carlston’s shares, Li Du currently had close to 30% of shares in Harry Winston, Inc. including the follow-up operations. However, Cole had a 39.6% share and so he had absolute discourse power; Li Du wanted a bit of discourse power himself.

Cole had once used him to get rid of Carlston, thinking he made a really good move but in reality, he had no idea how much it disgusted Li Du and how cautious it made the latter. Once bitten, twice shy. Li Du had learned his lesson and knew he had to take precautions to avoid being the second Carlston. He had to ensure he had enough power in his hand.

Cole wanted to refuse him, but Li Du pressed on. “Trust me, Mr. President, I don’t want to spend too much effort on the management of the company. We Chinese have this saying — the best steel is on the blade, which basically means resources like manpower and wealth produce the best effect when they are used where they are most needed. What I mean to say is that my energy is best spent on discovering more of these high-quality gemstones.”

“I know, and I understand where you’re coming from. You wouldn’t intervene in management matters and you never have, but Li, you have to know that I’m a Winston and this is a family property. I can’t risk reducing my share of the company any more than I already have,” Cole responded almost immediately.

Harry Winston, Inc. was growing steadily with every passing day and many banks and assessment bodies spoke highly of it. The smaller shareholders knew the company had a bright future and were naturally unwilling to part with the shares they had, so this meant that Li Du could only take the four percent he needed from the big boss, Cole.

Li Du shook his finger again and said, “No, you’re wrong. That’s not what I meant. What I’m saying is that I have enough raw materials to start a new jewelry company.”

His words shocked Cole, who responded instinctively, “Start a new jewelry company?”

Then, he laughed. “No, Li, starting a new jewelry company is not a good idea. Jewelry companies thrive on insider information. I don’t mean to doubt your abilities, but if you’re really going to go through with this, it’ll be a tough path to go down and your future years will be bleak ones.”

Li Du retorted, “Be that as it may, the fact remains I earn a lot of money. Besides, I’ve got enough diamonds, I’ve got the biggest fire opal mine in Australia and a new jade market in Myanmar. With the support of these three factors, I can advance in Asia, Europe, and America simultaneously. How difficult would it be for me to start my own jewelry company with influence in these three major markets?”

If he really intended to start a new jewelry company, it would deal a huge blow to Harry Winston, Inc. no matter how difficult it would be for him. With their second-largest shareholder giving up his share in the company, this would first and foremost shake up the board of directors. Aside from that, losing Li Du’s supply of high-quality diamonds, fire opals, and jade would send the company into the same dire straits they had struggled out of.

Cole plopped down helplessly. This was something he could not fight Li Du on — the man was not just a big shareholder, he was also the company’s biggest supplier. He shut his eyes and thought about the matter for a long time, and then he went to make some calls. Finally, when he returned, he said, “One unit of equity shares goes for 35 million!”

Li Du laughed. “No problem, I’ll take it. Four units, ok?”

What choice did Cole have? It was not as if he could let Li Du set up his own shop, right? That would deal a detrimental blow to his company. He realized dejectedly that he might be the biggest shareholder in the company, but Li Du wielded more sway than he did. Thankfully, Li Du had never interfered much in the company. All he cared for was his money and his bonuses and he never once challenged Cole’s authority. At least this was one thing Cole was satisfied with.

Now that Li Du had another four units, he was more or less on Cole’s level in terms of equity proportion. This investment was one of his more successful ones. He spent no more than 300 million American dollars to acquire about 30 percent of the shares before, and the value has since tripled. His net worth has long exceeded a billion!

After authenticating the jade, Cole brought in a jade expert to grade the stones, then subsequently valuate them according to market value and complete the resale from Li Du to the company. However, he did not sell the imperial green jade or the dragon jade; he kept these two rocks to himself.

The supply of high-quality jade would only decrease as time went on and as the market demand increased. Even if he were to sell the top quality jade pieces, he would only do that at a later time when their value had risen. Besides, Li Du did not actually want to sell them. He wanted to keep them for himself.

After he dealt with the jade, he could finally give himself a break for real. He had something very important to achieve during this break, namely preparations for his and Sophie’s wedding.

It soon would be four years since they met, and the pair was already engaged. He was planning to spend the rest of his days living peacefully and raising a family with Sophie, so it was probably time for them to get married now.

However, before all of that, there was still the proposal. Li Du had to find a suitable time and place, but the right time was something that he had to leave to fate. He had no demands so he dealt with some issues with the wedding as he went with Dickens to participate in real estate business from time to time.

Work had become nothing more than a hobby to him now: what little money he earned from real estate was not something for him to break a sweat for. Of course, earning some money was still a good thing. Besides, he still had his little ones, who were really popular on the internet, so he could earn a pretty penny off of them after he bought a nice house. Earning money was going to be easy.

From time to time, he would sit at storage auctions just to see what was going on. This was a business currently co-managed by Bill Shoreton and Lu Guan. Both of them were regulating each other and answered to Li Du, and were doing quite a good job between the two of them.

From time to time, when an item of value was being auctioned, or if the auction was of a larger scale, Li Du still had to turn up. That said, his involvement in auctions was a lot less complicated than it had been before. These days, all he had to do was tell Bill the bottom line for the value of the storage.