Her innocent question made everyone who heard it want to laugh.
What kind of joke was that?
Unless it was dyed jade that had been soaked in water for days, how could genuine jade possibly fade?
While secretly amused, everyone instinctively looked toward the red jadeite in Lin Hongjin’s arms.
Then they all froze.
The brilliant crimson color of the top-grade Cockscomb Red, once as vivid as fresh rooster’s blood, was fading away.
In its place remained an ordinary-looking piece of jade.
Faint impurities could even be seen within it.
Everyone blinked repeatedly, doubting their own eyes.
Where had the red jadeite gone?
Lin Hongjin’s body stiffened.
He stared in disbelief at the jade in his arms.
Just three minutes earlier, he had been confident that even at forty million, there would have been no shortage of buyers.
Now, even if he asked four thousand, no one would want it.
Impossible! How could this happen?!
No one present had ever witnessed something so bizarre, and discussions erupted immediately.
“Where did the red jadeite go? Did Young Master Lin perform a magic trick?”
“Who knows? Maybe the red jadeite was dyed, and the coloring just wore off.”
“But even if it were dyed, it couldn’t possibly fade within a few seconds.”
The more they discussed it, the less anyone could explain what had happened.
Most of them were secretly enjoying the spectacle.
Lin Hongjin had just basked in the limelight and had no sense of keeping a low profile. With competition naturally breeding resentment, quite a few people had long found him unpleasant.
Although Cui Mingyu had no idea what had caused it, the Cui family and the Lin family were rivals, so naturally he wasn’t about to miss the chance to add insult to injury.
He smiled faintly.
“Hongjin, have you been learning magic? Stop teasing everyone and take out your original piece of red jadeite.”
Lin Hongjin couldn’t possibly produce another one.
Beneath his bewildered expression was a trace of fear.
To outsiders, he looked as though the blow had left him stunned.
After a while, he gritted his teeth.
“The person who sold me this rough stone must have faked it to frame me. How dare they deceive me with counterfeit rough stone? I’d better never see that seller again!”
Seeing the twisted expression on his face, many people couldn’t help finding it amusing.
So this pampered young master could end up like this too.
Some even thought he simply couldn’t accept defeat.
If he’d been deceived, it only proved his judgment wasn’t good enough.
Stone gambling had always been like this.
You gambled willingly, and you accepted the outcome.
Still, quite a few people were puzzled.
Even if it were counterfeit, it shouldn’t have faded so inexplicably and so quickly.
No one could figure out what trick had been used.
Some even felt an inexplicable chill.
Apparently finding the incident too humiliating, Lin Hongjin quickly slipped away in disgrace.
Staying any longer would only invite more ridicule.
Qin Su, however, sensed that something was off.
Ordinary counterfeiting couldn’t possibly produce such dense baleful energy.
Lin Hongjin’s reaction also felt overly deliberate, almost superficial.
Something strange is going on.
Cui Mingyu smiled faintly and instructed the stone-cutting master to begin cutting the rough stones he had purchased.
Then he lowered his voice and asked Qin Su,
“Master Qin, would you be willing to sell this icy jadeite to the Cui family?”
The quality of this icy jadeite was already approaching glass jadeite.
Its translucency was simply exceptional.
If he let it slip away, he would never forgive himself.
Once carved, a rough stone of this caliber could easily become the treasure of their flagship store.
Qin Su withdrew her gaze.
“How much are you willing to offer?”
Without hesitation, Cui Mingyu replied,
“One hundred million.”
One hundred million…
Qin Su’s heart pounded wildly.
No wonder so many people became obsessed with gambling on stones.
The dream of becoming rich overnight was simply irresistible.
Yet outwardly, she remained perfectly composed.
“Deal.”
“Considering how well you’ve looked after us throughout this trip.”
Hearing her agreement, Cui Mingyu finally relaxed and smiled.
At this hour, no one else had come to have stones cut.
The factory’s stone-cutting masters simply focused on processing the stones belonging to their group.
Naturally, Qin Su attracted the most attention.
After all, she had just uncovered a piece of jade worth one hundred million.
Some people even asked how much she’d spent on the rough stone.
When they learned it had cost only thirty thousand, their envy grew even stronger.
Since all of Qin Su’s stones were relatively small, they were cut much faster than Cui Mingyu’s.
The first stone.
Nothing.
The second stone.
Still nothing.
The third was slightly better than the first two, but what came out was worth at most a thousand yuan.
No one paid it any attention.
Coincidentally, the first three stones cut were the worthless filler stones Qin Su had bought merely for appearances.
The jade that came out of them wasn’t even worth the effort of making into rings.
Everyone shook their heads.
“It looks like she was just lucky enough to pick that one good stone earlier. Why couldn’t I have that kind of luck?”
“If I could have that kind of luck just once in my life, I’d be completely satisfied.”
“Getting that icy jadeite was already unbelievable. I refuse to believe she’ll stay lucky.”
“Exactly. A person’s luck is limited.”
The words had barely left his mouth when another of Qin Su’s stones produced an ice-glutinous emerald green jadeite.
Although its quality wasn’t as high as icy jadeite, its vivid green color more than made up for it.
The color was evenly distributed throughout.
As the saying went, jadeite was valued most for its green color.
A slight increase in greenness could multiply its value tenfold.
The man who had just spoken immediately felt as though he’d been slapped across the face.
Qin Su turned to Cui Mingyu, the expert.
“How much is this one worth?”
Cui Mingyu drew a deep breath.
“Around thirty million.”
Qin Su frowned.
“That’s not very much.”
The corners of Cui Mingyu’s mouth twitched.
Not very much?
Qin Su sighed.
“It seems my luck isn’t actually that great.”
Everyone who heard that nearly spat out blood.
If this isn’t good luck, then how are the rest of us supposed to survive?
Had Qin Su not been so stunningly beautiful, quite a few people would probably have glared at her by now.
Qin Su waved her hand.
“Go ahead and cut the last one too.”
…
When everyone saw that the final stone produced lotus-pink jadeite, which was cheaper than the previous two varieties, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet even as they relaxed, they couldn’t help feeling somewhat depressed.
Ordinarily, turning a rough stone worth just over ten thousand yuan into lotus-pink jadeite worth several hundred thousand would already count as a huge profit.
Yet when it happened to Qin Su, it somehow felt merely average.
Why was the gap between people so enormous?
Even Cui Mingyu couldn’t help asking,
“How exactly do you pick them?”
“The rough stones you chose all looked like they had very little chance of containing good jade, yet the results completely shattered everyone’s expectations.”
Qin Su smiled brightly.
“I just go by instinct.”
Cui Mingyu was left speechless.
All he could conclude was that luck truly made no sense.
He asked again,
“You still have one stone that hasn’t been cut, right? Aren’t you going to cut it?”
Qin Su shook her head.
“I doubt there’s anything inside that one. I’ll take it back and cut it myself for fun.”
She was joking.
That rough stone contained the densest spiritual energy of them all.
She had already attracted enough attention tonight. There was no need to make an even bigger splash.
She turned to Tu Qing.
“Aren’t you going to have yours cut?”
Tu Qing shook her head.
“I’d rather take mine back and cut it later too. That way, if I end up losing money, I won’t embarrass myself in front of everyone.”
Qin Su sold the ice-glutinous jadeite to Cui Mingyu as well.
As for the lotus-pink jadeite, she planned to keep it and have a few bracelets made for herself.
Now that she was relatively wealthy, indulging herself a little was perfectly acceptable.
Several of the rough stones Cui Mingyu had purchased were quite large.
Cutting all of them would probably take until dawn.
Having satisfied her curiosity, Qin Su had no interest in staying up all night watching stones being cut.
She and Tu Qing returned to rest first.
Cui Mingyu immediately assigned several bodyguards to escort them back.
Although Qin Su didn’t actually need the protection, she still accepted the gesture.
They were staying in the company’s staff dormitory.
There were no hotels or guesthouses near the mining area, so they had no choice but to make do for the night.
Qin Su and Tu Qing shared a room.
She placed her remaining rough stone, along with Tu Qing’s two stones, into Qianjin’s stomach.
When the time came, she’d simply tell everyone they had gambled on the stones and lost, so they’d thrown the rough stones away.
It was already late into the night.
Tu Qing was exhausted. After taking a quick shower, she fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow.
Qin Su also closed her eyes to meditate.
At the same time, she set up a barrier.
If anyone touched it, she would be immediately alerted.
She had no idea how much time had passed when she sensed the barrier being disturbed.
Her eyes opened in the darkness.
There was no sign of anyone outside the door.
So what had touched her barrier?
The next moment, she had her answer.
Two pitch-black snakes slithered through the crack beneath the door.
Their bodies flickered in and out of sight, as though a single gust of wind could scatter them.
Qin Su frowned slightly.
These weren’t living snakes.
They seemed to be physical manifestations created through a curse.
Qianjin jumped out and began batting the two snakes around with her paws, rolling excitedly across the floor.
She had finally found toys that weren’t so easy to destroy.
With Qianjin around, Qin Su had nothing to worry about.
The only thing puzzling her was who had sent these snakes.
Were they after the jadeite she had uncovered?
She pondered silently, once again feeling annoyed that her divination skills were so poor.
Otherwise, she could have identified the mastermind in no time.
Qianjin deliberately loosened her grip, letting the two snakes go.
Before they could escape, she caught them again.
She repeated this over and over until the two snakes were tormented to the point of utter misery.
After growing bored, Qianjin opened her mouth and swallowed both snakes whole.
“Qin Su.”
Qin Su looked up at Qianjin.
“These snakes taste exactly the same as that red stone I ate tonight.”
Qin Su’s expression sharpened.
So that meant the person who had sent these snakes and the owner of the fake red jadeite were the same individual?
Lowering her eyes, she remained silent for a moment before saying,
“Qianjin, if any more black snakes come next time, leave one alive.”
Perhaps it would lead them to some clues.
Qianjin waved a paw excitedly.
“Okay! Once we find their nest, does that mean I get to eat a whole nest of snakes?”
Qin Su couldn’t help laughing.
“Yes. You can have all of them.”
Unfortunately, no more snakes appeared before dawn.
Qianjin, who had waited eagerly all night, looked thoroughly disappointed.
The next morning, after washing up, Qin Su opened the door.
Then she froze.
A drowned ghost stood outside.
Water continued dripping from his body.
He was tightly bound by a familiar strand of sword qi, his face filled with terror.
Two words were pasted to his forehead.
Gift.
The handwriting resembled a child’s doodle and carried an oddly innocent charm.
That sword qi belonged to Yan Zhi.
In other words, this drowned ghost was a present from Yan Zhi.
Qin Su suddenly recalled something Zhao Shiyu had once complained about regarding her cat.
“My Xiaohua is so adorable. There was a period when she kept leaving presents outside my door. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t appreciate her gifts. Can you imagine opening your door and finding a dead mouse or half a cockroach? I was scared half to death. But I couldn’t scold her, because she loved me.”
“I know she loves me, but her love is just too overwhelming. I really can’t handle it.”
Qin Su’s expression became rather complicated.
Yan Zhi’s behavior really was just like a cat bringing presents to its owner.
As she pictured him with cat ears, she had to admit…
He would actually look pretty adorable.