Chapter 456 - 437: Rough Jadeite

"Jiaojiao, what do you think of this raw stone I picked?"

Sun Yaoqin ran over to Yun Jiao, stone in hand, and the two of them put their heads together, whispering.

"I learned a little from my dad. I’m sure there’s something good inside this one."

"I have no idea."

Unlike Sun Yaoqin, who had actually studied how to evaluate them, Yun Jiao chose purely based on intuition.

Take, for example, the basketball-sized stone she was currently holding.

"I’ll take this one."

This was their fifth day here.

Sun Yaotong had been taking them around the jadeite market for the past few days.

There was a truly staggering amount of jadeite here—plenty of cut pieces, as well as numerous raw stones.

Yun Jiao had already bought some pieces of jadeite that she liked. They were mostly of fine texture and clarity, and she was particularly fond of the glassy and icy varieties.

The kind that looked as transparent as glass but contained floating, flower-like inclusions of different colors, or patterns resembling miniature landscapes.

They were beautiful.

Perfect for a collection.

In the few days she’d been here, she had already spent tens of thousands.

Today, they were here for stone gambling.

The hobby was expensive, after all. Yun Jiao had assumed that in this day and age, very few people would like jadeite enough, or be wealthy enough, to afford it.

But these stone gambling venues were surprisingly crowded.

The stones were also graded. Raw stones that had been carefully selected and showed a high probability of yielding jadeite were priced much higher.

The smaller ones, or those that didn’t look promising, were cheaper.

You just had to pick one, have it weighed, pay for it, and then have someone cut it open.

Yun Jiao and Sun Yaoqin were mainly here for the fun and experience of it.

The two of them picked from the piles of cheaper, jumbled-together raw stones.

Yun Jiao had no formal knowledge in this area.

In reality, it all really came down to luck.

Even people who had studied the subject extensively could still make a bad call.

"Hit, hit, hit..."

Hearing the tense, hopeful voice, Yun Jiao turned her head to look. Someone was cutting a stone over there.

A middle-aged man was staring nervously at the stone being cut, his forehead beaded with sweat.

A crowd had gathered around him, all staring intently at the stone and the cutting machine.

Finally, the stone was cut open. A ladle of water was splashed over the incision, revealing what lay inside.

"AH!!!"

The middle-aged man seemed unable to handle the shock; he completely broke down.

The onlookers sighed in sympathy.

Yun Jiao pulled Sun Yaoqin over for a look.

"It’s a bust. There’s just a single vein of jade running into it, and nothing else inside."

The color of the vein was actually quite pretty, but there was so little of it you couldn’t even carve a single bracelet from it.

And it was a huge stone, almost knee-high. Needless to say, a stone like that would cost a fortune—at least sixty or seventy thousand.

Now that it had turned out to be a bust, all that money was gone in an instant.

To put it in perspective, an ordinary family back then might not have that much money even after several years of saving.

’Hopefully, the man’s family is well-off,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, for a regular family, a loss like this would mean complete financial ruin.’

Yun Jiao took one look and pulled Sun Yaoqin away.

Sun Yaoqin watched the man sitting on the ground crying, her expression curious.

"Did he run out of money?"

"I suppose so?"

"If he didn’t have the money, why would he come and gamble on such an expensive stone? What was he thinking? Now that the money’s gone, what’s his family going to do?"

Yun Jiao shook her head. "I don’t know. But it has nothing to do with us. It was his choice."

’If that stone had yielded a good piece of jade,’ Yun Jiao mused, ’something that large with fine texture and color, its value would have multiplied several times over. The man could have made his fortune from that single stone.’

But stone gambling was just like any other form of gambling. People don’t have x-ray vision; they can’t know what’s inside a stone.

It was a powerful temptation. Even though many people had lost fortunes, they were blinded by the stories of those who struck it rich. They couldn’t help but gamble, betting that they would be the lucky one, the one who could get rich overnight.

Yun Jiao lifted her small chin. "Good thing I’m rich."

’I can afford to buy the stones.’

Sun Yaoqin also lifted her chin. "Good thing my family is rich."

The two looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh.

Once they had chosen their stones, they went to find Sun Yaotong.

Sun Yaotong was huddled with a few other bosses, who looked just as well-off as he was, studying a large stone.

The stone was truly massive, looking even taller than she was.

’How much must that cost?’

"Dad, we’ve picked our stones."

Sun Yaotong nodded. "I’ve already spoken with the cutter over there. You can just take the raw stones to him."

"Okay."

The two of them went over to have their stones cut. When the cutter saw them, he said...

"Hang on a minute, you two. Let me finish this one, and then I’ll get to yours."

It was a very small, fist-sized stone that belonged to a teenage boy.

He stared nervously at his stone.

After making an incision, the cutter let out a surprised "Huh?"

"Not bad. Looks like there’s something in this one."

The boy’s eyes immediately lit up.

Others gathered around as well.

"Is that green?"

"Looks like it."

Since the stone was small, the cutting went quickly.

"Well, what do you know! The texture and clarity are good, and the color is nice too."

"It’s a shame it’s a little small, but you can still get a bracelet out of the center piece. Nice, it’s a hit."

The boy was instantly overcome with excitement.

The stone was small, but its texture and clarity were indeed excellent—close to the icy variety—and it even had floating green "flower" patterns. So right then and there, a few bosses started calling out bids.

In the end, the stone, which had originally cost around two hundred, sold for over three thousand.

After seeing someone strike it rich with a single cut like that, how many people could possibly resist buying a few stones to try their own luck?

"Alright, you’re up."

Sun Yaoqin’s was first.

When watching someone else’s turn, the two of them had been in the mood for a good show. But now that it was their own, they were genuinely nervous.

Everyone hopes their stone will be a hit.

But it was like opening a mystery box; no one knew what they would find inside.

"Looks like there’s something."

A number of people crowded around.

As the machine whirred, the stone was cut open, but the result was disappointing.

There was indeed jadeite, but only a tiny sliver. The rest was just rock.

And even that tiny piece was marred by a crack running straight through it.

"Aww..."

Sun Yaoqin was a little disappointed, too.

Yun Jiao squeezed her hand. "We’re just here for fun anyway. It’s fine."

Sun Yaoqin perked up quickly. "Yeah, I know. Let’s cut the next one."

They had each picked out five raw stones.

The second stone revealed some green, but its quality wasn’t very good. You could make jewelry from it, but pieces with such poor texture and clarity generally didn’t sell for much.

Still, Sun Yaoqin was quite satisfied.

The third stone again had nothing inside.

The green in the fourth stone was beautiful, but it was riddled with so many cracks that you couldn’t even carve a single bracelet from it, leaving it with little usable value.

"This is the last one. Jiaojiao actually picked this one for me."

Yun Jiao glanced at it and nodded.

The stone’s shape reminded her of a puppy’s head, which she found endearing. Sun Yaoqin had been torn between it and another stone at the time, so she’d asked her to help choose.

And so, she had pointed to this one.

"It’s a hit!"