The stone weighed only about a hundred pounds. It wasn't too heavy, but it was still difficult to lift empty-handed, so it wasn't easy for the three of them either.
Mr. Chen is over fifty years old. His full beard makes him look rugged, but he doesn't look old at all and is very energetic.
After arranging the stone correctly, Master Chen asked Chen Ermao to turn on the light and examined it carefully under the bright light for a while. Then he shook his head, turned to the man, and said, "This is the stone you gambled on? I'm afraid I threw it into the water 99% of the time. How much did you spend betting on this stone?"
His face flushed slightly. He knew the stone was of poor quality; after all, Zhou Xuan had made all the decisions himself. When Master Chen asked, he quickly replied, "Master Chen, we're just playing with these stones and haven't spent much money. Just a thousand or so yuan, it's nothing!"
Chen Shibo nodded. It was fine since he hadn't spent much money, but it seemed a bit wasteful to have so many scoundrels involved in such a grand display over a piece of junk.
There are five people here. Among them, Master Chen and Old Wu understand things best, especially Old Wu, who is an expert among experts. Even he doesn't think much of something, so the outcome is probably as expected.
Master Chen examined the stone and arranged the pieces. Zhou Xuan understood that although Master Chen wasn't optimistic about the stone, he still followed his old experience in cutting it. The first cut was two slits on the right side. If there was jadeite inside, this cut would only remove the outer layer and shouldn't damage the jade. If green appeared, the stone would be rubbed. If no green appeared, the stone would be cut a little thinner and then cut again until green was revealed. This was the safest method of cutting stone.
Zhou Xuan already knew that the jadeite in this stone was located at six-tenths of an inch on the left and twelve-tenths of an inch on the right. Cutting it this way would be very time-consuming, and polishing the stone after the jadeite was revealed would be an extremely meticulous and time-consuming task, not something that could be done in a short time. Zhou Xuan glanced at the group of people, all of whom looked like they were waiting for Master Chen to ruin the stone with a few cuts, smiled, picked up the black pen from the table, and drew four lines along the left and right sides of the stone at three-tenths and six-tenths of an inch, and on the right side at five-tenths and twelve-tenths of an inch, saying, "Master Chen, to avoid making things too complicated, could you just cut it with these few cuts and be done with it, so as not to trouble you?"
Master Chen thought Zhou Xuan was a very straightforward person. He smiled and said, "Young man, you are quite straightforward in your actions. Well, look at the line you drew. If you cut from the right, you will basically ruin the stone. Even if there is jade, it will be easy to cut it. It is more reasonable to cut from the left third of the way."
Master Chen thought that since he had already taken 1,500 yuan from them, it wouldn't be right to just give them a perfunctory job. So he cut the stone from left to right using a more reasonable method. The stone was about 37 or 38 centimeters wide, less than 40 centimeters. He cut it from left to right, one third at a time. As long as no green came out, it would basically be solved in ten cuts. Because by the end, there were only 7 or 8 centimeters left, and it was obvious that it didn't need to be cut anymore.
Master Chen rearranged the stone and aligned the cutting blade with the marked line on the left side, about one-third of the way down. He turned on the power switch, and the stone-cutting machine whirred as the grinding wheel began to spin.
Master Chen slowly pressed down the cutting wheel. As soon as the small gold mesh grinding wheel touched the stone, the sound became ear-piercing and sparks flew everywhere. Master Chen's hands were very strong, and he didn't shake the machine's handle at all. The whole process took no more than two minutes, and the first cut cut through the stone.
After the switch was turned off, the noise subsided, and Lao Wu, **, Chen Ermao, and Master Chen all turned their attention to the cut of the stone.
Master Chen examined the three-tenths of a slice he had cut off. It was grayish-white with a few stone chips on it, nothing at all, let alone green. He then threw it aside.
At the cut. Like the thin stone slab cut off, the newly cut stone is grayish-white. But it's much cleaner and more pleasing to the eye than the outer layer, though there's not a trace of green.
Master Chen shook his head slightly. Of course, the result was exactly what he had expected. Old Wu beside him showed no surprise or hope whatsoever. This was just a piece of waste rock.
Master Chen didn't ask Zhou Xuan any more questions. He aligned the knife blade with the line drawn at the six-point mark, pressed the switch, and made the second cut.
After the harsh, grating sound subsided, Master Chen turned off the power switch and then pried open the broken stone shards again. He wanted to show them to Zhou Xuan before making a third cut, figuring it would be done in a few strokes.
But as he rummaged through the area, his gaze swept over it, and he froze, stunned. Master Chen rubbed his eyes hard. Then, his mouth gaped open, unable to close!
Volume One: The Lotus Buds Just Begin to Emerge, Chapter 134: Emerald
Just to let you know, there was a power outage today. I wrote this chapter in an internet cafe from 8 am to 7 pm. I don't know if I can finish today's 10,000-word goal when I get home tonight. If not, I will definitely make up for it tonight. I'm not used to writing in an internet cafe, so I'm writing a bit slowly. Brothers, please understand!
Seeing Master Chen's shocked expression, Old Wu also paused for a moment, then quickly leaned closer. But what he saw next left him speechless with astonishment, almost unable to believe his eyes!
The second cut revealed a pool of alluring deep green on the cut surface of the rough stone that both he and Master Chen considered worthless, glistening as if it were about to drip water!
The color and clarity are almost certainly jadeite. And although the cut was chosen randomly—three-tenths of an inch from the marked lines—this second cut was incredibly precise. If the cut had been even slightly thinner, the green wouldn't have appeared, and another three cuts would have ruined the jadeite. If the cut had been even half an inch thicker, it would have still yielded jadeite. Was this luck or just a coincidence?
Whether it was luck or coincidence, neither Lao Wu nor Master Chen expected this. What shocked them now was the extremely tempting green that had appeared in this piece of waste stone. Usually, gamblers would choose to sell at this time after cutting out such a green. Just based on this pool of green, the stone would already be worth tens of millions. Smart people would choose to sell directly at this time and make a pure profit of tens of millions.
And considering Zhou Xuan's initial investment, it was practically negligible—a little over a thousand yuan exchanged for tens of millions in value. To be precise, this was a gamble that paid off, making him rich overnight.
Old Wu and Master Chen could be said to have witnessed this magical legend of jade gambling by accident, but Zhou Xuan did not seem to be excited at all.
I don't know much about jade gambling, but judging from the expressions of Lao Wu and Master Chen, I know that jade has been found. Judging from their excitement, the quality of the jade is probably not bad.
Master Chen was the one operating the machine, and his hands were trembling a little at this moment. He had been cutting rough stones for many years, but this was the first time he had seen such good green!
Although we don't know what kind of jade will eventually be found, the green color that has been cut out is enough to excite everyone, because this is real money that can be turned into millions of dollars!
Master Chen hesitated for a moment, then turned to Zhou Xuan and asked, "Should we still untie it now?"
In his experience, people who can cut out such green jade usually stop gambling on stones. It's best to sell it like this and make a steady profit of ten million. If they keep polishing it, no one can be sure that they will find jade worth more than ten million. They make a lot of money and transfer the risk to others. This is what most stone gambling players do.
This is not a place for gambling on stones.
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Let's cut from the right side again to get the jade out. It will be easier to clean it later and save time."
Master Chen exclaimed in surprise, "Although it takes time, rubbing the stone from this current cut is the safest approach. If we cut from the right side..."
Zhou Xuan waved his hand and said calmly, "Just follow the lines I drew. Cut it!"
Of the group, only ** was unfamiliar with this and had never seen it before. Although they didn't believe Zhou Xuan possessed any advanced skills, the fact remained: what they all considered a worthless stone had yielded jade, and Zhou Xuan was the only one who had consistently believed there was jade in the stone. ** had known and witnessed Zhou Xuan getting the stone from the gatekeeper at Lingzhuang in Yangzhou, but simply thought it was just Zhou Xuan playing around. Since it hadn't cost much, they didn't care and didn't really take it seriously.
But looking at Old Wu and Master Chen now, with their serious expressions, you can tell that their little brother has gotten into trouble again!
Master Chen grinned, as if to say something, but ultimately kept quiet. Cutting according to the lines Zhou Xuan drew would undoubtedly be extremely dangerous. The two lines drawn on the right were five-tenths of the way through, making the cut too deep. Cutting like that would completely compromise the integrity of the jade. There was absolutely no guarantee that the jade would be damaged!
But the boss is the boss; he decides how it's cut.
According to Master Chen's technique, cutting from the right side is not impossible, but the cut shouldn't be too deep. It's best to cut about two-tenths of an inch deep, one shallow cut at a time, until the green color is revealed. Then, use the stone-rubbing technique to slowly polish the entire piece of jade out. Although it takes a lot of time, it's the safest method.
Move the right side of the stone to the cutting edge, aligning it with the first line drawn at the five-point mark.
Master Chen turned to look at Zhou Xuan again, and seeing that Zhou Xuan was still smiling and silent, he gritted his teeth and pressed the switch, putting the rapidly spinning diamond grinding wheel back on.
Old Wu watched with some trepidation. As Chen made his cut, he became even more nervous than he was with his own stone. After finishing, he quickly turned off the power and then carefully examined the cut surface.
This side is grayish-white with no green, showing no trace of jade, but the cut stone is still quite large. The left side already shows very good green, but this doesn't affect the stone's value.
Zhou Xuan then gestured for the second cut.
If he was somewhat worried about the first cut, Master Chen was truly terrified by the second. The second cut had penetrated to a point just below the surface of the stone. It had already reached deep into the rock. Knowing how deep it was, to still cut like that—unless one was insane, or had too much money to burn and didn't care about the millions!
Old Wu also seemed inclined to stop him, extending his hand, but before he could speak, Zhou Xuan said, "Master Chen, just cut the second line directly. Gambling on stones is all about the gamble!"
Master Chen was speechless!
Is this what you call gambling on stones? You've ruined them!