In Jiang Ci’s vision, the outer skin of the stone gradually became transparent, creating a clear boundary with the jade inside.
But…
Her brows furrowed.
It wasn’t what she expected.
She could see the shape of the jade perfectly, but she couldn’t see its color.
The entire piece of jade was like something sealed inside a pitch-black box. The color and clarity were completely obscured by darkness. Only thin, white, needle-like threads were visible, flickering like spider silk.
If she hadn’t experienced it herself, she wouldn’t have realized what she was missing.
To see color, you need light.
Even X-ray vision couldn’t break that fundamental law.
In the past, when she used her ability to scout for zombies inside buildings, she could see colors because there was light inside the structures.
But inside a raw jade stone, it was completely sealed and pitch black. Naturally, she couldn’t perceive any color.
Most minerals would become transparent under her vision, just like the stone skin. But the jade itself was the only exception.
The darkness made sense, but what were those white threads?
Jiang Ci deactivated her ability and looked around the hall.
A sharp-eyed clerk immediately ran over. “Madam, are you interested in this stone?”
He glanced at the marking on the stone. “This one is ten silver dollars.”
Jiang Ci nodded at Zhegui, who stepped forward and paid.
“Is there a place to cut it open? I want to see it now.”
“This way, please.”
The clerk led her to the cutting area.
The room was open to the main hall, but instead of modern cutting machines, there was only a sturdy table, a few strong craftsmen, and simple tools.
The workers used a wire saw, working like sawing wood, with buckets of water and bags of white sand nearby.
The clerk handed the stone to a craftsman. “The Madam wants it cut. Do a good job.”
He then turned to Jiang Ci and gestured. “It gets quite dusty in there, Madam. Please wait here.”
Several redwood chairs were placed outside for this very purpose. Jiang Ci sat down opposite the door.
Soon, a crowd gathered to watch.
“First time seeing a woman come here to gamble on stones. Think she’ll win?”
“Plenty of people come, but how many actually make money? I saw her pick it… she clearly doesn’t know anything…”
“Exactly! Look at the skin texture—coarse and uneven. In my experience, if we’re lucky, it might just be bean quality.”
Manual cutting was slow. Two men worked the saw back and forth, adding quartz sand for friction and water to cool it down.
After about fifteen minutes, they finally cut off a third of the stone.
As the piece fell onto the table, Zhegui rushed over.
Jiang Ci walked up just as the crowd sighed. “It’s a bust! Ten dollars wasted!”
“Miss…” Zhegui looked at her sadly. “It’s a bean species, and the color is…”
Jiang Ci looked down. The cut surface was greyish-green with a rough, dry structure. It was considered one of the lowest grades of jadeite.
While bean species could have value if it had good color like ‘white ground green’, this one was dull and grey—practically worthless.
But Jiang Ci wasn’t disappointed at all.
Every failure was just data gathering. There was no reason to be upset.
She patted Zhegui’s hand. “Let’s go, pick a few more.”
“Huh? Still picking…”
“There’s a saying: failure is the mother of success. How can you learn without making mistakes? It’s like school—you can’t attend class without paying tuition.”
Jiang Ci picked up the discarded piece and turned it over.
“See? Coarse and uneven skin.” She shook it slightly and smiled. “We just learned something new, didn’t we?”
Zhegui nodded vaguely and followed her back to the piles of stones.
The onlookers whispered among themselves.
“I wonder which family she belongs to. Why waste money here when she could be playing mahjong comfortably?”
“Rich people just like to burn money! But that last one was really cheap anyway…”
“Let’s go see what she picks next!”
A curious man pretended to examine stones nearby, sneaking a look at her choice.
This time, Jiang Ci selected a stone with a black skin.
It was shaped like an egg, smooth and fine-grained, almost as if coated in wax.
Since rough, uneven skin seemed to indicate bad quality, she decided to try the opposite this time.
She focused her gaze on the palm-sized stone and activated her ability again.
The skin was very thin, and the jade inside filled almost the entire volume.
On this piece, she saw many more of those white threads.
In fact, the entire jade appeared pure white to her vision, with only tiny black specks scattered within.
“How much is this one?”
“Fifty silver dollars, Madam.”
“Why is this small one more expensive? Are you trying to cheat us?” Zhegui asked suspiciously.
The crowd burst into laughter.
“Little girl, don’t accuse people wrongly!”
“This is clearly black sand skin from the Hpakant mine. It’s old material. You can’t compare it to those low-grade stones!”
The clerk clasped his hands toward the speaker. “Well said, Sir. Our prices are always fair. You misunderstood me, Miss.”
Blushing with embarrassment, Zhegui quickly took out a fifty-dollar note and handed it over.
“Do you want it cut as well, Madam?”
“Yes, but this time, just polish the skin open, don’t cut it in half.”
In this era, people often bought stones and took them home to cut. Opening them publicly was risky—if it was bad, everyone would know you had bad eyesight.
Doing it one by one like Jiang Ci was rare.
Many regulars who rarely bought stones themselves loved watching others cut them for the thrill. They are all crowded around the door now.
“The skin looks good. Might actually be something good inside.”
“Hpakant material usually has good translucency. It all depends on the color and whether there are flaws. That’s what makes it or breaks it.”
Unlike the previous large, round stone, this one was small with thin skin, so the work went much faster.
Jiang Ci didn’t sit down this time; she stood in the crowd listening to their comments.
Although being a know-it-all was annoying, for a complete beginner like her, this was free education.
A few minutes later, a section of the skin was ground away, revealing the jade inside.
“White mist! The quality is definitely good!”
The craftsman polished a bit more, splashed some water on it, and announced, “Ice variety! No—Glass variety!”
The crowd erupted.
“Oh wow! It really is a glass variety!”
“Too bad it’s colorless. So plain…”
“It’s not finished yet! If there’s green inside, it’ll be worth a fortune!”
“With this size? Don’t get your hopes up for ice floating flowers!”
Jiang Ci knew that people in the Republic era didn’t value colorless jadeite.
It wasn’t until the 21st century that its value skyrocketed. She remembered that in the early 2000s, you could buy a glass variety bracelet for a couple thousand dollars, but by her high school years, they cost millions.
Going back further to this era, colorless jade was practically worthless.
So… did she lose again?
Looking at the crowd, even though they said “maybe still good,” nobody was asking to buy it. She knew her guess was right.
But had she really lost?
No.
Jiang Ci’s eyes curved into crescent moons.
She now knew exactly what those white threads were—they were the energy contained within the jade, representing its quality and translucency.
People’s tastes changed over time, but for her, the higher the quality, the purer the energy, and the better it was for upgrading her ability.
As long as the quality was good, it didn’t matter what color it was. She hadn’t lost at all.
She could send the colored ones to be carved into jewelry, and keep the colorless ones for herself to absorb.
And more importantly…
Looking at the stone, her eyes shone with determination.
She was worried that the energy in this world was too thin. With this, she wouldn’t have to worry about running out of power anymore.
As long as that Imperial Purple jade was somewhere in this shipment, she would find it.
To the crowd, her smile just confirmed that she was a rich, clueless amateur.
An old man couldn’t stand it anymore and walked over. “Young lady, are you still happy? You lost money on this one!”
Jiang Ci came back to her senses and thought for a moment. “Uncle, that’s not necessarily true. Buying jade is always about fate and feeling. They say gold has a price, but jade is priceless. To me, this piece is crystal clear and full of spirit. I don’t feel that fifty dollars was wasted at all. As long as I think it’s worth it, then it is.”
The old man was stunned for a moment, then sighed softly. “Thinking like that… you’re not as shallow as I thought.”
By now, the craftsmen had ground away most of the skin. He splashed another bowl of water over it.
Someone sharp-eyed pointed immediately. “It’s a bust again! All these white cotton flaws! Even less valuable now!”
“Oh no…”
The crowd sighed.
“Ice floating flowers are really hard to come by…”
“She lost at least 80% of her money on this piece.”
As the water dried, the matte surface turned white again, hiding the internal structure from view.
Jiang Ci’s gaze flickered. She said to the craftsman, “Excuse me. Please cut out the sections where these white cotton spots are.”
The craftsman looked confused. “Madam, we just cut the stone, we don’t carve. And there are so many spots, how can you possibly pick them all out?”
“I don’t want you to remove them to make it perfect. I want you to cut out the entire piece that contains the cotton, leaving none behind.”
“This…” The workers looked at each other. “That’s easy enough. Just a moment, Madam.”
They were puzzled. Who ever cut out the ‘waste’ parts and kept them neatly?
Zhegui leaned closer, whispering, “Miss, if you cut away the parts with cotton, there will be almost nothing left…”
“Don’t worry, I have my plans.”
Jiang Ci picked up a small shard of the colorless glass variety jade from the table, tossing it up and down in her hand. She nodded at Zhegui. “Let’s go. Keep gambling.”
Just then, a commotion broke out at the entrance of the gambling house.
“Make way! Make way! Master Lu Fifth is here!”