With a sigh, he had no choice but to turn the switch on again and make the second cut.
The stone-cutting machine's wheels produced sparks as they cut. As soon as the ear-piercing sound ended, Mr. Chen immediately turned off the power. Only after the wheels stopped turning did he remove the stone fragments. At this point, not only Mr. Chen was concerned, but Old Wu and ** also stared wide-eyed at the cut.
After examining the stone slab, Master Chen rubbed the cut surface with his hand before looking at it again.
Another pool of vibrant green appeared before everyone's eyes, and this time the green area was even larger, a third more than the palm-sized area on the left. "The gamble paid off, the gamble paid off, it really paid off!" Master Chen murmured. Judging from the color of the green and the area cut from both sides, the value of this stone could be said to have increased from ten million to over twenty million, or even higher, because the value of a high-quality jadeite rough stone increases accordingly with its size.
Initially, the green area revealed by the cut on the left was worth that price, but now an even larger area of green has been cut out on the right, and the color of the green is also of average quality. Judging from the distance between the left and right sides, the size of this jadeite is considerable, and its value is obvious—definitely no less than 20 million.
For jade gamblers, the first thing they gamble on is whether it exists at all; only after they find it does the second thing consider how big it is.
Once the stone is cut open and the jadeite is polished to reveal its full value, no matter how high its value, the profit from reselling it will be significantly lower than the profit made before the initial stone gamble.
Everyone understands this principle: when something of clearly defined value is placed before you, like goods in a store with a price list, you know exactly how much it costs. You buy it and then resell it to someone else. How much more profit can you make?
It's definitely not going to make much money; even if there is a profit, it's just an estimate.
Old Wu was also very surprised, and at this moment he really looked at this small boss Zhou Xuan with awe!
In his eyes, this piece of rotten stone had long been deemed a worthless piece of waste stone, but Zhou Xuan had the discerning eye to take it back, and what's more, it turned out to be such a fine green color, so it was already a certainty that it contained jadeite, and all that was left was to polish it to reveal the complete jadeite.
Master Chen was utterly impressed by Zhou Xuan's calmness and accurate judgment!
My years of experience were still far inferior to this young man's judgment. Although I couldn't believe it, the facts were undeniable. I had no choice but to accept it.
When the first green side of the cut was revealed, Master Chen wanted to persuade Zhou Xuan to stop cutting from the right side and make a lot of money by simply reselling it. However, Zhou Xuan insisted on cutting it again without hesitation. At the time, Master Chen felt that Zhou Xuan was too reckless and had a somewhat disregard for money.
But the second two cuts revealed an even larger area of green, and Master Chen was completely convinced. Zhou Xuan could almost accurately predict that the first cut wouldn't reveal green, but the second cut would. His eyesight and skill were exceptional. Putting that aside, just looking at this rough stone, didn't he also have no confidence in it at all?
This is what a truly masterful jade gambler is like. They've practically reached godlike levels!
Zhou Xuan's main purpose was to save time, not to show off in front of them. However, this move against Lao Wu was somewhat intentional. A skilled fighter like Lao Wu could only be truly subdued by using superior and stronger techniques. His own foundation was far inferior to Lao Wu's, and only by relying on his ice-qi ability could he win.
The purpose of drawing two lines was intentional. If a single line had cut through the green, it would have been too surprising and raise suspicions—something no human could do. Drawing two lines at least showed them that he possessed the skill. The first cut. Although the estimation was slightly off, the precision of the second line would astonish them; that's the difference in eye for detail.
After that, Zhou Xuan didn't need to give any further instructions. With such good green cuts, the only option left was to rub it.
Master Chen changed his tools. He started slowly grinding with a smaller, finer grinding wheel. This process was very time-consuming, but the others didn't find it boring. Even if it wasn't their own, this valuable treasure was still eye-catching.
Master Chen's nephew, Chen Ermao, stared wide-eyed as Master Chen worked. He had only intended to earn a thousand or so yuan, but who knew that he would actually cut out the best jadeite that the stone factory had never seen since it opened!
Master Chen meticulously and nervously polished the jade, slowly removing the attached stone fragments. This process took four hours. Finally, the jade in his hands was revealed in its entirety.
The entire piece is about the size of a large bowl, and the whole thing has a wet, watery feel, with a pleasant green color!
At this moment, Old Wu finally managed to utter a few words through gritted teeth: "Emerald!"
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Volume 1, Chapter 135: Another Fifty Million
Just as Old Mo exclaimed "Emerald!", Master Chen was also taken aback!
Because he was very familiar with jadeite, but not with emeralds, and had never even seen one. However, he did know the origin of emeralds. Emeralds are only produced in very small quantities in Xinjiang, China, and are only found in Colombia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Brazil, and the Urals.
This stone is rather strange. After being polished, it is a vibrant green, but the green area is not uniform. Instead, it resembles a coral tree, with branches and segments emerging from the stone.
That's why Master Chen was stunned!
This was unlike any jade he had ever seen. Old Wu exclaimed "emerald!" and he was somewhat surprised, but since he had never seen an emerald before, he didn't understand.
Old Wu was much more knowledgeable. At first, he also thought it was jade, but after Master Chen wiped off the outer layer, the green that was revealed was not the kind of green jade. The shape was also different. It was not the whole thing, but rather green stone sandwiched between the outer stones.
Old Wu immediately understood that the stone didn't contain jadeite, but rather an emerald, and a very high-quality one at that, its green like the heart of a scallion, like a tender sprout, like spinach. The only strange thing was, did Zhou Xuan bring this stone back from Yangzhou? And how could there be emerald mines in China?
He didn't understand, because he had never seen it before. Zhou Xuan himself was stunned. When he detected it in Lingzhuang last time, he saw an alluring green, but he didn't expect it to be an emerald. Suddenly, he remembered something. Recently, after the ice energy surged, he always used ice energy to probe, but he didn't use ice energy to measure. This was very different from when he first obtained ice energy. At that time, he was not familiar with ice energy and passively measured the age of ice energy, which was then imprinted in his mind. But now that the ice energy has surged, he has combined ice energy with the internal energy in his body. The circulation and use of ice energy is as easy as using his own hand.
But after mastering the technique, Zhou Xuan rarely used ice energy for testing anymore, instead using it himself. He never expected to mistake an emerald for jade this time.
A quick test with ice gas confirmed that this piece was indeed an emerald, not a jadeite.
However, Zhou Xuan was also unfamiliar with emeralds.
Old Wu thought for a moment before asking, "Xiao Zhou, did you really buy this stone from Yangzhou?"
"Yes, it was in Yangzhou, at the place of a merchant who dealt in jadeite rough, but it wasn't from the jadeite rough. It was a stone used to weigh down a dog's kennel. I saw that it looked like it had jade inside, so I brought it back. I never expected it to be an emerald!"
Zhou Xuan tried his best to make his story plausible. Fortunately, he had a witness this time, namely, ** who was involved in the whole affair from beginning to end.
Old Wu pondered for a moment, then said, puzzled, "This is really strange. Emerald ore is almost non-existent in China; only Xinjiang has a very small amount produced, and we haven't heard of any appearing in the last ten years or so. This stone came from Yangzhou, which is truly odd." He chuckled, "But anyway, I can only say, Xiao Zhou, your luck is truly unparalleled!"
"That's right!" As soon as luck came up, ** immediately chimed in, "My brother's luck is beyond description. Bad things always turn into good things in his hands, and good things become even better. He can even come across treasures he's never seen before. His luck is even better than winning the lottery!"
Speaking of lotteries, ** suddenly remembered something. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Hey, little brother, I knew I'd forgotten something! Now I remember, you're so lucky, we have to go buy lottery tickets!"
Zhou Xuan laughed heartily; this guy was a real character!
Although Master Chen wasn't familiar with emeralds, he possessed the skills of a craftsman. He selected some tools and slowly removed the stones from the emerald ore, which took another two hours.
At this moment, what appeared before everyone's eyes was a crystal that looked like a tree branch, as if each crystal was pasted onto it.
Each green crystal is in the shape of a rectangular prism. Upon closer inspection, each rectangular prism has six faces, and the crystal is almost transparent, like glass, except that the green color is very alluring.
Zhou Xuan had never seen an emerald before, so he didn't know what value this piece was. He was just curious. He didn't win any gambling stones, but he picked up a small stone to keep as a pendant and accidentally found an emerald!
Of the five people, only Old Wu had ever seen an emerald and understood the meaning of "grandmother's deception".
Old Wu took it from Master Chen, then held it up to the bright light and looked up at it. The light shone on the emerald crystal, refracting a captivating, dreamlike glow. Old Wu sighed, "Ah, I really don't know what to say!"