Su Cheng turned around and saw that it was none other than Xu Dagui, the man who had just lost badly in his gamble on the previous rough stone.
She glanced at him indifferently.
“The highest bidder gets it.”
“25 million!”
Another bid came from the crowd.
“30 million.”
It was the elegantly dressed elderly man from earlier.
“35 million.”
Shen Xiangyi raised the bid.
Two minutes passed, and no one offered more.
“Deal.”
By then, Su Cheng had absorbed roughly half of the spiritual energy from the jadeite. She couldn’t absorb too much. If she drained too much spiritual energy, it would affect the jade’s luster.
This amount was just right.
Besides, some of the spiritual energy naturally dissipated from the surface when jade was processed, so no one would notice anything unusual.
“Miss Su, would you prefer a bank transfer or a check?” Shen Xiangyi asked with a smile.
“Mr. Shen, would you mind coming with me to HSBC later? I’d like to make the transfer there.”
“Of course.”
Su Cheng turned to the stone cutter.
“Let’s mark the lines and cut this one as well.”
The stone cutter got to work again.
As soon as he began cutting along the lines Su Cheng had just marked, the machine started humming loudly.
As he worked, the stone cutter secretly thought to himself:
I don’t believe you can be this lucky again.
He was practically crying inside.
If I’d known there was Imperial Green hidden in the scrap pile, I would’ve gone over there and picked out a couple of stones myself. I just missed out on a fortune!
Once he finished here, he was definitely going to search through the scrap pile himself and try his luck.
“It’s green! It’s green! Another one!”
Someone in the crowd shouted excitedly.
The spectators were even more excited than Su Cheng herself.
“This is Black Jade!”
An elderly man with a sharp, capable appearance stared at the stone in excitement.
“And it’s an exceptionally fine piece of Black Jade!”
Su Cheng calmly glanced at the stone cutter.
“Keep going. I’ll give you a generous red envelope when you’re done.”
“Thank you, Miss!”
The stone cutter immediately became even more enthusiastic.
Before long, the jade was fully exposed.
Under the bright lights, it revealed a deep ink-green color. Its quality was approaching the icy glass type, and the jade had a rich, substantial texture.
There was enough material to make several bracelets, a few jade pendants, and several ring settings.
“Miss, are you selling this piece?”
The sharp-eyed old man from earlier looked at Su Cheng eagerly.
“This is extremely rare. I’ll offer 18 million.”
“20 million!”
Someone in the crowd immediately raised the bid.
“21 million.”
Xu Dagui looked determined to win.
“25 million.”
The old man glanced at Xu Dagui.
“26 million.”
Xu Dagui raised the bid again.
“30 million.”
The old man gritted his teeth as he made the offer.
At this price, there wasn’t much profit left.
The main reason he was willing to pay so much was that Black Jade was the only type missing from his personal collection. He also happened to be extremely fond of it.
The old man eagerly took the Black Jade from Su Cheng.
Su Cheng had just finished absorbing its spiritual energy. While the others were negotiating the price, she had continued quietly circulating the Five Elements Chaos Art.
“Bank transfer or check?” the old man asked Su Cheng.
Su Cheng smiled faintly.
“Bank transfer.”
“Old Master Qi finally got what he wanted,” Shen Xiangyi said with a smile.
“Thanks for not fighting me over it, young man.”
Old Master Qi’s face was glowing with satisfaction.
Su Cheng casually placed the final piece of rough stone onto the cutting machine.
“Cut it directly,” she told the stone cutter.
“Not marking the lines this time?”
The stone cutter laughed.
Without waiting for an answer, he began cutting directly.
The machine immediately started humming.
A short while later, the stone was opened, revealing nothing but ordinary white rock.
Su Cheng casually took 2,000 yuan from her bag and handed it to the stone cutter.
“Thank you, thank you!”
The stone cutter accepted the money with both hands.
Two thousand yuan was equivalent to roughly two or three months’ wages for an ordinary worker in this era.
“It was your lucky hand, Master,” Su Cheng said with a smile. “Otherwise, how could I have gotten jade out of those stones?”
The stone cutter’s face broke into an enormous grin, his cheeks crinkling with laughter.
Shen Xiangyi smiled.
“Miss Su, have you ever studied jade gambling?”
“Never. I was just trying my luck.”
Su Cheng’s voice remained calm.
At that moment, the plump shop owner approached them, speaking Mandarin with a thick accent.
“Miss Su, hello! I am ze boss here. People call me Qian Dapang.”
As he spoke, he handed her a business card.
“We just got a new batch of old-pit rough stones today. Go take a look. Your luck is really good today!”
He gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Inside, however, Qian Dapang was practically bleeding tears.
If he had known that a piece of Imperial Green was hiding among the discarded stones, he would’ve kept those pieces for himself.
Just thinking about it made him want to cry.
“All right. Let’s go take a look together.”
Su Cheng turned to Shen Xiangyi.
“Then I’ll have to borrow some of Miss Su’s good luck,” Shen Xiangyi said with a smile.
In truth, Su Cheng was eager to leave.
She had already attracted a little too much attention today. She didn’t want to embarrass the shop owner by refusing, though.
More importantly, she desperately needed spiritual energy.
Xiaobai still hadn’t awakened and remained deep in slumber. Her spatial storage was still inaccessible.
And when she looked down at her barely noticeable pregnancy bump, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
She was three months pregnant, yet she had no spiritual power and no means of protecting herself.
She needed to become stronger as quickly as possible.
The rough stones in this section really did look different.
They were smoother and more finely textured, with shades of green, brown, and gray. There were fewer cracks in these stones as well.
Su Cheng walked over and picked out several pieces.
She deliberately chose smaller ones, taking whatever caught her eye without making it seem as though she was searching for anything in particular.
She continued rummaging through the pile.
Eventually, she sensed spiritual energy coming from two pieces.
They were somewhat larger than the others.
The problem was that Su Cheng only had 500,000 yuan on the bank card Huo Zhengting had given her, plus the more than 100,000 yuan the original host had saved.
Altogether, she had only a little over 600,000 yuan.
Shen Xiangyi was also selecting stones.
He picked out two pieces nearly half his height, accompanied by two experts who were examining the rough with flashlights.
Shen Xiangyi smiled and said, “Miss Su, may I trouble you to help me choose two pieces of rough? If they turn out to be duds, I won’t blame you. But if I make a profit, I’ll give you 20 percent of the profit as a commission. How does that sound?”
Su Cheng raised an eyebrow.
“If they turn out to be worthless, you can’t blame me.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Su.”
Shen Xiangyi thought to himself:
Anyone who can find Imperial Green in a pile of discarded stones can’t possibly have ordinary luck.
People in the jewelry business placed enormous importance on fortune and luck.
Someone with strong financial luck could make money in almost any business.
Merchants in Xiangjiang were particularly superstitious about such things. Whenever they opened a shop, many of them would even consult a feng shui master.
Su Cheng figured that having another friend couldn’t hurt.
So she helped him choose two stones.
One was about the size of a basketball, from which she sensed a faint trace of spiritual energy.
For the second one, she simply pointed at a random piece.
Shen Xiangyi didn’t seem to mind that she had been somewhat perfunctory.
Su Cheng turned to Qian Dapang.
“Let’s settle the bill.”
The rough stones here were priced at 5,000 yuan per kilogram.
The five pieces Su Cheng had selected weighed a little over 100 kilograms in total.
“Miss Su, the total is 634,000 yuan. I’ll make it 630,000 for you.”
Qian Dapang’s eyes nearly disappeared beneath his smile.
He secretly thought:
Miss Su’s luck is incredible today. If these stones produce more jade, I won’t have to worry about selling this entire batch. The reputation of my Jade Pavilion will rise another level.
Meanwhile, Shen Xiangyi had already begun cutting his stones.
He started with one of the pieces Su Cheng had selected for him.
The cutting machine hummed loudly, mixed with the murmurs of the surrounding crowd.
“He lost the gamble. Nine out of ten gambles end in a loss.”
Someone in the crowd shook his head.
Su Cheng glanced at Shen Xiangyi.
He still looked as refined and composed as ever, as though the stone being cut wasn’t even his.
Su Cheng raised an eyebrow.
This man’s composure is impressive.
Shen Xiangyi pointed at the other rough stone and smiled.
“Miss Su, would you mind drawing the cutting lines for this one? Perhaps we can borrow some of your good luck and get some jade out of it.”
Su Cheng took the marking pen in her right hand.
With her left hand, she sensed the spiritual energy within the stone.
To anyone watching, she appeared to be drawing randomly.
“Cut it according to Miss Su’s markings.”
“Mr. Shen, do you know of any reputable security companies? I want to go to Shenzhen, and I’d like to find two people to accompany me.”
“Shenzhen is a Special Economic Zone. It’s developed very quickly over the past few years, though security is still somewhat chaotic. I’ll help you find someone.”
“I’m planning to leave for Shenzhen tonight. Once you’ve arranged it, have them meet me directly at the Dihao Hotel.”
“Green! It’s green!”
Someone suddenly shouted from the crowd.
“It’s green! There’s jade!”
The entire shop erupted in excitement.