"Grandpa, let me cut it first. This is the raw material I bought myself."
Lei Lei walked to her grandfather's side and put her arm around the old man's arm.
"Leilei, stop fooling around. Wait until I'm done solving it before you solve it."
Before Lei Lei's maternal grandfather could speak, her uncle, with a displeased expression, cut several pieces of raw jade in succession. Although he wasn't exactly furious, he certainly didn't have a pleasant look on his face.
"Maybe I can make a profit, and then you might want to buy from me, but I might not be willing to sell."
Lei Lei wasn't afraid of her uncle. She shook her grandfather's arm, looking like she wouldn't give up until he agreed.
Lei Lei's maternal grandfather doted on her and said, "Let Lei Lei try first. If you can win the bet, what's wrong with me spending money to buy it?"
"Zhuang Rui, come help me, help me carry this upstairs..."
Lei Lei's words made Zhuang Rui smile wryly. He hadn't even taken care of the stones he had photographed, yet here he was being used as a helper.
"Zhuang Rui, how do I cut this?"
After the raw stone was moved onto the stone cutting machine, Lei Lei looked at Zhuang Rui with a worried expression.
"There's a weakness there, so why don't you just cut down on the rock? Is there any need to ask?"
Zhuang Rui rolled his eyes and replied irritably.
"No, I mean where to cut from."
Zhuang Rui thought about it for a moment and realized that made sense. The jade inside this rough stone wasn't very big. If it was cut properly, it could yield three pairs of bracelets. But if it wasn't cut correctly, its value would plummet.
"Cut it from here, why bother with all that fancy stuff on this broken stone?"
Zhuang Rui picked up a piece of chalk, looked at the crowd outside, and casually drew a line on the piece of wool with his right hand. His nonchalant manner made Lei Lei stomp her feet in anger.
Chapter 223 The Mark Rises, the Winds of Change Stir (12)
"Zhuang Rui, can't you be serious for once?"
Seeing that Zhuang Rui didn't even look at the stone, but just drew a line, Lei Lei instinctively thought that Zhuang Rui was just going through the motions. Not only her, but most of the onlookers thought so too.
"Old classmate, you're just doing this for fun. You can't just cut it cleanly and neatly in one go. Don't you see there are still several pieces of raw jade waiting to be cut?"
Zhuang Rui's words made Lei Lei's eyes widen. Unfortunately, Liu Chuan wasn't there to back her up, so she could only angrily lift the handle of the stone cutter and try to match the line Zhuang Rui had drawn.
"Leilei, let your uncle cut it."
Lei Lei's uncle watched her gesturing for a long time without being able to cut, so he came over, patted Lei Lei on the shoulder, and gestured for him to cut it himself.
"No, I'll do it myself."
Lei Lei stubbornly shook her head, then exerted force with both hands downwards, causing the rapidly spinning gears to cut deeply into the stone along the line Zhuang Rui had drawn. The "crunching" sound of the gears and the rough stone was incessant.
This piece of rough stone weighs fifty or sixty pounds and is quite large. As the gears went deeper, Lei Lei's forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and her bangs were soaked with sweat. Cutting stone is also a physically demanding job. Lei Lei's usually steady hands were now trembling slightly.
With a "snap..."
With a soft snap, the piece of raw jade was finally cut in half. Lei Lei didn't even bother to wipe her eyes, which were almost completely covered by sweat. She quickly picked up the half of the raw jade that had fallen to the ground and looked at the cut.
"Where's the jade?"
The white patch at the cut immediately disappointed Lei Lei, but she didn't notice that everyone's eyes were fixed on the cut of the half-piece of rough stone on the stone cutting machine.
"It's rising...it's gone up..."
Lei Lei's uncle, who was closest to the stone-cutting machine, was stammering. He hadn't expected that his niece's casually picked piece of rough stone, which the young man had drawn a line on casually, would actually yield jade. He was a little confused; was he just unlucky, or was his niece just incredibly lucky?
"Uncle, are you laughing at me too? What kind of increase is it if it hasn't turned green yet? Don't think I don't know anything."
Lei Lei was still struggling with the other half of the raw material on the ground.
"Cousin, I'm not talking about what you have. Look over here! Oh dear, are you trying to kill me?"
Everyone was speechless at Lei Lei's somewhat careless behavior. It was Wei Zijiang who reminded her, but unexpectedly, after hearing this, Lei Lei threw the stone in her hand, which, by sheer coincidence, hit Wei Zijiang's foot, causing him to start doing a one-legged dance in pain.
"The price has gone up! It's really gone up! This is my rough jade, I bought it, everyone please make way..."
Lei Lei pushed through the crowd who were examining the rough stone, rushed in, and, ignoring the dust and stone chips on it, hugged it tightly and refused to let go.
"I know it's yours, you crazy girl. Move aside, let your grandpa see it. I won't take it for free. I'll pay for it myself."
Lei Lei's maternal grandfather, Old Master Wei, was also at his wits' end with his money-grubbing granddaughter. He had to coax and trick her into giving up the raw materials.
"This...this luck is just too good!"
Even though Old Master Wei had remained calm and composed since the stone was being cut, he was still dumbfounded when he saw Lei Lei's cut. It wasn't because the jade in the rough stone was of good quality, but because he was amazed by the skill in cutting the stone. If Lei Lei hadn't cut it herself, he would have thought that the cut was made by a master stone gambler.
Looking at the cut surface of this rough stone, you can see that the cut was just right. If it were any deeper, it would damage the jadeite; if it were any shallower, the color would be invisible. It's as if it was cut with X-ray vision glasses.
"Where's that young man? He's a true god..."
Grandpa Wei turned to look for Zhuang Rui, but he was nowhere to be seen. Zhuang Rui was sitting in the shed drinking tea with Yang Hao. He was still a little tipsy from the lunch he had just had.
"I'm the better one, okay? Zhuang Rui just drew randomly, it was me who cut it well!"
Lei Lei was unhappy when she heard her grandfather's words.
“That’s true. Our Leilei is really something. Come on, move aside so your uncle can take this piece of jade out.”
Grandpa Wei recalled the scene, and it was indeed true. The young man hadn't really looked at the rough stone much; it must have been a lucky coincidence. What a coincidence.
However, Old Master Wei never expected that Zhuang Rui had already thoroughly understood this rough stone when they were in the sealed bidding area, and he naturally knew where to start cutting it.
The jadeite on the cut surface only revealed a little color. Under the sunlight, it showed a sky-blue luster and was about the size of a thumbnail. Although it had been rinsed with water, it could only be discerned that the texture and water content were good. As for the rest, it was not yet clear. Therefore, Grandpa Wei called Lei Lei aside and let his son go forward to cut the stone.
The ups and downs of gambling on rough stones all hinge on that one cut. But once the green is revealed, the work of cutting out the jade is a real art. You have to slowly polish away the surrounding stones, and Lei Lei is not capable of such delicate work.
With the grinding wheel's "ch-ch" sound, gravel continuously fell to the ground, and the area of jade exposed gradually increased. Now, jade pieces the size of a baby's palm were revealed, their azure blue like the sky, leaving onlookers in awe.
"That's right, Dad (Cantonese for father) is icy jadeite, and very pure at that. It's high-grade icy jadeite, and a rare blue-water jadeite too. Lei girl, you're really something..."
Lei Lei's uncle's voice was filled with joy.
High-quality icy jadeite, even colorless jadeite, is quite valuable. If it has even a little color, its value increases a hundredfold. This piece of blue-water jadeite has a uniform color, although it is slightly pale, it is still very precious.
Judging from the current performance of this blue jadeite, it is already much better than the semi-rough piece they spent more than 10 million yuan to buy. Moreover, that piece of rough jadeite only revealed green after being polished, and its actual performance will only be known after it is cut open. Whether it will be a good or bad investment is still uncertain.
"Young lady, are you selling this rough jade? I'll offer three million for it, what do you think?"
"Young lady, I'll offer you 3.5 million, how about you sell it to me?"
"This is blue jadeite, and the texture is quite good. I'll offer 4.8 million, which is quite a price. Who knows how big the jadeite inside is?"
After seeing the jadeite, the onlookers, like sharks smelling blood, swarmed around and started bidding. Stimulated by news from Myanmar, the price of the jadeite soared. The final offer of 4.8 million was indeed quite high for a rough piece that was still considered a gamble.
"We're not selling it; it's for our own use at home."
Lei Lei decisively rejected everyone's offers, much to the delight of her uncle. This piece of rough jade was originally kept by Lei Lei herself, and if she wanted to sell it, her family had no objections.
Upon hearing that the rough stone was for personal use, everyone dispersed. Today, the venue was filled with people cutting and preparing stones; their purpose in coming here was to collect jadeite raw materials, not to watch others cut and prepare stones. Before long, only Lei Lei and a few others remained in front of the stone-cutting machine.
The work of cutting the stone is very delicate, because if you are not careful, you will damage the jade inside the rough stone. Uncle Lei Lei worked for more than an hour before he finally cut out this piece of blue water jade. The jade was so big that you had to spread your five fingers to hold it, and there were some white crystalline substances mixed in with the edge of the jade.
"It weighs seven or eight pounds, and I estimate that four pairs of bracelets can be made from it. Leilei, your rough stone has really increased in value."
The four icy blue jadeite bracelets alone are worth more than five million each. Moreover, the hollowed-out material can be used to make many ornaments. The fact that they were bought for 180,000 is certainly a huge increase in value.
"Girl, your grandfather has bought this piece of jade. It will be included in your dowry. By the way, go and thank your classmate. If it weren't for the line he drew for you, the value of this jade would probably have plummeted."
When Grandpa Wei saw this piece of jade, he was very happy. At present, hundreds of jade merchants in the market are facing the situation that they can't buy good materials even if they have money. This bracelet made of blue water jadeite can be considered a treasure of the store, even if it is not perfect.
"By the way, where's Zhuang Rui?"
Upon hearing her grandfather's words, Lei Lei remembered her old classmate. She ran to the shed and found only Yang Hao and his brother inside. After asking them, she learned that Zhuang Rui had left forty minutes earlier.
"Zhuang Rui, where are you? The rough stone I cut has increased in value significantly, it's no worse than the one Da Chuan had in Nanjing."
Lei Lei took out her phone and called Zhuang Rui. Of course, sharing the good news was only one aspect; she also wanted to show off a bit.
"Uh, congratulations! You'll have to show me that rough stone later. I'm at the stone-cutting machine provided by the organizers now. Brother Song and the others are getting ready to cut the stone. This is today's top lot! Do you want to come over?"
The noise from Zhuang Rui's side was a bit loud, but Lei Lei heard the words "top bidder" clearly.
"Of course we need it. Don't rush to solve it, I'll be there soon."
Lei Lei wasn't the only one curious about what was inside the more than 60 million yuan worth of rough stones. After hearing Lei Lei's words, Grandpa Wei and the others immediately decided not to cut the stones for the time being, and instead stored the remaining rough stones before rushing to the stone-cutting venue at the conference.
Yang Hao also went along, but the glorious yet arduous task of inspecting the raw materials stall was naturally left to his cousin Yang Jun, whose fists were smaller than his own.
At this time, the stone-cutting area of the conference was packed with people, with seven or eight hundred people surrounding it. If it weren't for the armed police and security guards maintaining order in the innermost circle, the stone-cutting would not have been able to proceed at all.
"Brother Zhuang, why am I a little nervous?"
Fatty Ma tightened his belt by one buckle, looked at the enormous wool fabric in front of him, and said to Zhuang Rui with a bitter expression.
Chapter 224 The Chaotic Stone-Cutting Scene
Lei Lei, despite considering herself a beauty, was dressed exceptionally provocatively today, wearing a tight white t-shirt and super-short denim shorts that perfectly showcased her stunning figure.
However, in this setting, the enormous piece of wool in the middle of the crowd was clearly more attractive than Lei Lei. After squeezing through the crowd for a long time and being pushed out countless times, Lei Lei finally gave up.
Zhuang Rui didn't have time to care whether Miss Lei had arrived. He was encouraging Fatty Ma, because the originally confident old man had suddenly backed down at the last minute and insisted that Zhuang Rui take the first step. Zhuang Rui had already decided to keep a low profile and make his fortune quietly, so he naturally didn't want to stand out.
"Brother Ma, be a man! Yanzi is watching. Don't embarrass yourself."
Zhuang Rui had spent half a day trying to reason with him, but nothing worked, so now he even resorted to provocation.
"Get out of my way. Whether I, Brother Ma, am a man or not, Yanzi knows that, do you need to tell me?"
Fatty Ma swelled up his big belly and patted it hard twice, making Yanzi, who was standing next to him, blush with embarrassment.
"Alright, if you're not going to cut me, I will. If you're going to be so slow, don't ever say you know me again..."
Song Jun and the others were getting impatient; they were standing under the blazing sun, and their anger was rising.
"No, let me do it..."
Feeling somewhat embarrassed by Song Jun's words, Fatty Ma pulled his trousers up high and walked to the front of the woolen fabric.
This enormous piece of raw jade was brought over by a bulldozer. Directly in front of the raw jade is a stone platform about one meter high. Although it is not as high as the raw jade itself, it is just the right height for a person to stand on it and operate the huge stone-cutting machine above the raw jade.
At the stone-cutting area provided by the conference, there are machines specifically designed for these extra-large rough stones. Instead of fixing them to the stone-cutting machine, they can be placed directly on the ground. A huge gear made of high-quality steel is suspended above the rough stone, and Fatty Ma only needs to grab the handle and pull it downwards.