Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 162: Chapter 159: Celebrating Too Early

As the stone cutting was about to begin, the chaotic chatter that originally filled the venue seemed to vanish all at once, with everyone’s attention focused on that huge piece of jadeite raw material.

This King Biao piece was massive; it could only be sliced bit by bit with a small electric stone cutting machine.

Fortunately, the master in charge of cutting was one of the top experts from Jade Street, with skills refined to perfection.

His stone cutting machine moved slowly, starting to cut along the Sand Hole Raw Material’s natural window, and soon enough, a palm-sized surface was opened up.

The event organizers had workers prepared with clean water, who, seeing the situation, astutely sprinkled some on, revealing the jade flesh inside the rock.

It was still full of Sand Holes, looking no different from the situation observed at the natural window earlier.

However, as this was only a small incision made, nobody was surprised.

Instead, some praised the clarity and dripping green of the freshly rubbed cut surface jade flesh, unmistakably Ice-type High Jade.

Zhou Zhen’s smile grew even broader, and Ye Zixin, beside him, was extremely delighted, pulling at Zhou Zhen and acting coquettish like twisting candy, “A Zhen, with such a big piece of jadeite, remember to keep some for me to make jewelry when it’s all cut out!”

Ye Zixin knew Su Qingqing owned an entire set of egg-white jade jewelry and had even seen her wearing it.

That set was brightly colored and extravagantly styled, making Ye Zixin green with envy.

Once, she asked Su Qingqing if she could borrow that set of jewelry for a classmate’s birthday party, but Su Qingqing declined, using the excuse that it wasn’t safe due to the crowd and chaos.

Ye Zixin held a grudge against Su Qingqing at the time and was determined to get a set of jadeite jewelry even better than Su Qingqing’s egg-white jade set.

Now the opportunity had arrived; how could she let such fine jadeite slip away right before her eyes?

Zhou Zhen was inwardly pleased. Ye Zixin’s request was not excessive, and after all, it was just a set of jewelry, which wouldn’t take much material to make; of course, he was willing to satisfy his girlfriend’s small wishes.

“When have I ever gone back on my word? I’ll talk to my dad later, have the company’s best designer and jade carver make it for you.”

“A Zhen, you’re so good to me!” Ye Zixin leaned in and kissed Zhou Zhen on the face, then raised her chin and looked down upon the crowd, flashing a provocative expression towards Su Qingqing’s location.

Su Qingqing scoffed and, somewhat schadenfreude, asked those beside her, “What do you think this woman, Ye Zixin, will look like if this piece of raw material collapses later?”

With the hissing sound of the grinding wheel against the jadeite raw material’s skin, another piece of the outer surface was cut off.

This time, the Stone Solver Master cut from another side, and as Zhou Zhen had predicted, although only a patch of skin was rubbed off, the palm-sized cut surface revealed a lustrous green jade that was palpably authentic.

“It increased in value! It really did!”Seeing this, not only were Zhou Zhen and Jin Youtai excited, but the onlookers below were also thrilled.

“Seems like the Sand Holes haven’t permeated through the entire piece of raw material; at least this side should all be jadeite,” explained the Stone Solver Master. However, his stern expression did not ease, as there was a crack on this freshly cut side.

Zhou Zhen couldn’t care about anything else; he felt as if he were about to float away. Such a large piece of raw material—how much jadeite could it yield? He only had to think about it a little to feel that the days ahead would be unbelievably wonderful.

Downstairs, Su Jinyuan and the others remained calm, and the palm-sized cut surface that had been revealed did not change their initial opinions.

Seeing the relaxed expression on Zhou Zhen’s face, Huo Sining couldn’t help but snort coldly.

One cut could lead to poverty or wealth—what is stone gambling after all? It means that you never know the outcome until the very last moment!

Huo Sining had complete trust in the assessment by the Water-Repelling Pearl because it had never been wrong before. The ultimate fate of this piece of raw material definitely wasn’t looking optimistic; Zhou Zhen was celebrating too early!

Without time to think further, the Stone Solver Master on the other side continued with the stone cutting process along the cut surface, but to his surprise, as soon as he made the cut, he felt something was wrong; he seemed to hear a hissing sound.

Having been in the stone cutting industry for decades, this Stone Solver Master had encountered similar situations, so when he heard a strange noise, he immediately stopped the stone cutting machine.

The master lowered his head and peered cautiously at the cut surface. His originally happy expression gradually turned grave.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing the master stop, Jin Youtai quickly sensed something amiss and hurriedly asked.

Compared to Zhou Zhen’s overconfidence, Jin Youtai was obviously much more cautious. Although he hadn’t put all his funds into this piece of raw material, he had still spent a huge sum of 17 million on it. So much capital was at stake, with his business prospects and destiny on the line; he naturally needed to be extra careful.

The master lowered his head and peered cautiously at the cut surface, his expression turning from joyful to serious.

“You two should come over and take a look,” the master said after pouring a ladle of water over the cut surface. His eyes were glued to the raw material, and his expression grew worse. After a long sigh, he finally spoke up.

Jin Youtai’s heart skipped a beat at his words, and he quickly stepped forward to check the situation.

“Boss Jin, what’s wrong?” Zhou Zhen saw that there seemed to be a change of events, and his heart sank.

The master pointed to a specific point on the newly cut surface of the raw material and said, “When I made that cut just now, I heard a grating noise inside, which is definitely not normal. See here? The water I poured just now, it seeped right in through here. What does that mean? It means that the jadeite on this side could completely shatter due to the cracks. I can’t hide this from you; this piece is tricky. Cutting further could likely result in half of the material being wasted!”

“Half?!”

Zhou Zhen swayed upon hearing this, completely stupefied.

Jin Youtai was also shocked, but he remained much more composed than Zhou Zhen. After glancing at the raw material, he took a hard drag from his cigarette before throwing the butt to the ground and stamping it out; he then asked coolly, “Such a small crack, is it really that dangerous?”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe it.” The master couldn’t help but show a bitter smile at Jin Youtai’s skeptical look. “In stone gambling, one cut can make a fortune or lead to loss; it’s a common occurrence. I cannot predict what exactly lies inside, but I have informed you of the potential risks. As for the decision, it’s entirely up to you.”

Jin Youtai pondered for a moment, sensing the gravity of the situation. He steeled his heart and nodded, “I’ll listen to the master. Young Master Zhou, perhaps we should sell and leave.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhen’s face instantly darkened: “Boss Jin, what do you mean by this?!”

Jin Youtai was taken aback: “What I mean is to back out. We gambled on this material knowing the risks of cracks and sand holes. Now that there is a crack inside, there’s no need for us to take the risk. If we sell now, we can still make a profit, or else we might end up with nothing once it’s completely unwrapped.”