CH 36.2

Chang Qing snorted coldly, “How much is it? Don’t give me any of that fluff, you know my discerning judgement.”

Saying this, he glanced at Bai Jing next to him.

Wang Ping made an ‘ai-ya’ sound, “How dare I?

The story of you solving a glass jadeite from a scrap is still remembered by many people. This piece of white salt skin…”

Wang Ping lowered his voice: “If you want to buy it, it’s 5.5 million starcoins, a non-negotiable price.”

After saying that, he put on a pained expression, “It will only make me earn 100,000 starcoins from you and plus the shipping costs. If it wasn’t because you often patronize the shop, the price wouldn’t be so low.”

He wasn’t wrong. It was true that one couldn’t earn much for this kind of rough stone, but it was also possible to get at least 300,000 or 400,000 starcoins.

Chang Qing was already a little dazzled and made smug from the compliments he had received, and having been around the Gambling Street for many years and knowing the market price of white salt skins, he quickly agreed.

After receiving the starcoins, Wang Ping asked eagerly, “Boss Chang wants to solve the rough stone on site, right? I’ll talk to the Stone Solver right away so he’ll solve yours first.”

Chang Qing: “Yes, I want to solve it on site, but not by the Stone Solver. I can’t afford to ruin any of this good material, so I’ll solve it myself.”

As he said this, he slowly and methodically unlocked the jeweled cufflinks on his wrist and walked towards the shop.

Seeing that someone was about to solve a rough stone, the crowd gathered around.

Fatty Jin Mao naturally wouldn’t miss out on the fun and since he and An Ge had already picked out ten rough stones each, he wasn’t afraid of not getting enough points.

If they all collapsed, they could just pick a few more later.

Jin Mao was quick this time. He dragged Bai Jing and An Ge to the innermost level where the outside screen could indeed be seen clearly, albeit not very clearly.

As soon as the crowd saw the rough stone, there was a lot of chatter.

“White salt skin, the best of the white sandpaper skin rough stones, and it looks like it will perform well.”

“That’s right, look at the opening, it’s of the ice variety!”

“Ice variety? Hm, let me see– it’s true.”

“It’s performed so well that there’s no way this rough stone will collapse.”

Everyone had very high hopes for this piece of rough stone.

White salt skin rough stones were so fine that they were already prone to producing high quality jadeite such as ones of the ice and glass variety, and with the polished opening of the rough stone showing ice, it was almost considered a semi brilliant rough stone.

A brilliant rough stone meant that the raw rough stone had been divided in half or in equal pieces and that the crust had been peeled clean and polished, so that the quality of the jadeite could be seen clearly, hence the solving of a brilliant rough stone was equivalent to one having no doubt as to what would come out.

And after someone recognized Chang Qing, whose history they knew, they were even more certain.

Even Wang Ping, the shop owner, had prepared firecrackers in advance, waiting for the rough stone to be unraveled to drum up business.

Chang Qing was completely pleased with the chatter of the people around him.

The Gambling Street had been full of newcomers in the past few months, especially after hearing that a youngster had won the eye of Old Man Min. That youngster had just gotten a lucky break.

If he had been there at that time, that youngster wouldn’t have gotten anything.

So this time, apart from gambling on rough stones, Chang Qing was also trying to make a name for himself.

This white salt skin weighed about thirteen kilos and the crust wasn’t too thick.

After rubbing it with the abrasive grinding wheel along the opening for a few minutes, a three or four centimeter piece of jadeite emerged, and the texture was exactly the same as the opening, as clear as ice, with a soft green color with a hint of yellow and a uniform color. There was no doubt that it was an onion green jadeite of the ice variety!

At this point, a jadeite the size of an adult’s fist had already emerged from the top of the rough stone and when a strong light was shone on it, as the light transmission was very strong, the jadeite inside could be seen more thoroughly, and it was definitely not small.

A few of the rough stone dealers around were impressed, and judging by the look of things, they estimated that the ice variety inside would be no less than ten million, so they started making bids.

“Boss Chang, I’ll buy this piece of jadeite for 7 million, why don’t you pass the risk to me?”

“I’ll offer eight million. Boss Chang, what do you think–“

Chang Qing looked up at them for a few moments then gave a light hum without stopping the movement of his hands, indicating that he wasn’t going to sell.

A few of the rough stone dealers sighed in their hearts.

People like them, who spent their days on the Gambling Street, only purchased partially solved rough stones or brilliant rough stones so as to minimize the risk to them.

As for the unsolved rough stones, the risk was too high, hence they wouldn’t touch it.

However, they were more willing to buy a half solved rough stone of which the direction of the jadeite that would be produced was an almost certainty than an a brilliant rough stone, just like this piece of onion green jadeite of the ice variety. It wasn’t too risky and the profit to be gained was high.

If they waited until all the jadeite in it was solved, then the price would become very transparent and the profit margin would be small, making it so that they wouldn’t make many starcoins.

Unfortunately, what they could see, the owner of the rough stone could also see, so he wouldn’t sell it halfway.

They could only just wait until the jadeite was solved completely!

The abrasive grinding wheel rubbed its way through the thin crust layer by layer and as the rubble fell, the solving of the rough stone was a third of the way through.

The onlookers became even more excited. If he rubbed in another three or four centimeters, then the bet was on!

At this point, however, Chang Qing’s hand on the abrasive grinding wheel suddenly froze and his face turned ugly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I don’t seem to see anything.”

When the crowd gathered around saw him stop, their chattering took on a slightly puzzled tone; they couldn’t see the inside of the jadeite due to the angle.

Chang Qing had been operating the abrasive grinding wheel when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a faint crack on the inside, which was when he had jerked to a halt.

However he had looked at this rough stone dozens of times in detail with a magnifying glass before buying it and had even looked at the patterns on the rough stone one by one and could guarantee that there had been absolutely no crack in it!

‘Perhaps I was wrong.’

Chang Qing took a deep breath and, with some trepidation, took out a strong light, then his heart suddenly went cold.

One could only see the strong beam of light penetrate the surface of the jadeite and due to the strong light transmission, the inside of the jadeite was clearly illuminated. There were tiny cracks distributed inside the jadeite one by one, not very dense, but enough to destroy the flesh of the jadeite.

“Ho, it’s actually invisible locks!”

“Such locks are really…… ugh, impossible to guard against.”

“Onion green jadeite of the ice variety, such great seed and water, it’s a pity–“

Although many people didn’t say directly that the bet had collapsed due to Chang Qing’s status, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the rough stone had collapsed completely. Sigh, it was a big loss!

A few of the rough stones dealers looked at each other, secretly glad that they hadn’t won the bid just now, otherwise they would have lost money.

The jadeite that had been solved now was at most two kilograms of the ice variety, no more than two million. If the rough stones dealer who had bid eight million had bought it just now, he would have lost a whole six million starcoins!

Who would have thought that such a fine rough stone would have invisible locks in it?

Chang Qing’s face turned pale and his thoughts were a jumbled mess for a minute before he continued to solve the rough stone.

He’d had high hopes for this white salt skin rough stone and thought it would be a sure bet, but he never expected it to turn out like this.

Chang Qing had been hoping to make a name for himself with this rough stone, but now it seemed that not only had he lost his name, he had also lost his starcoins. Everything had devolved into wild wishes.

In the end, under the crowd’s emotional sighing, the white salt skin rough stone, which had originally performed well, produced 1.6kg of onion green jadeite of the ice variety and was sold for 1.8 million starcoins, less than a third of the price of the raw rough stone, a total loss of 3.7 million starcoins.

As Wang Ping watched the crowd of onlookers walk out of the shop without hesitation, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

He was done for. This piece of white salt skin rough stone was known to many people and was the best performing piece of rough stone in his shop.

Now that the best one had collapsed, what about the others? Wouldn’t they be worse?

One could imagine how this would affect his business!

Even the little fatty Jin Mao lifted his hands surreptitiously and whispered to the two beside him, “Why don’t we change shops to solve the rough stones as well? There doesn’t seem to be much luck over here.”

Wang Ping was anxious when he suddenly saw Bai Jing standing not far away. Immediately, his eyes lit up.

His gaze was frighteningly bright, like a thirsty man who had seen a source of water.

He still remembered this little young master’s last great achievement. His luck was really good.

And besides, a person who could even make Old Man Min look at him was no ordinary person.

Wang Ping walked to Bai Jing’s side as fast as he could and said tentatively, “Little young master, I see you have a few rough stones in your shopping cart, why don’t you try solving them now?”

Seeing Bai Jing’s silence, Wang Ping exaggeratedly wiped the non-existent tears from the corners of his eyes and wailed bitterly, “As you can see, I’ve just had a rough stone collapse in my shop and business is bad. Only you can help me now…”

Then he threw out the bait: “How about this? Young Master Jin and your other friend’s rough stone will all be free….”

Wang Ping had looked at them out of the corner of his eye as he had approached. The rough stones in their shopping carts were all from the cheapest first pile of rough stones, only 40,000 to 50,000 starcoins at best, which was a drop in the bucket compared to his daily sales of hundreds of millions of starcoins.

With big profits ahead, what did this little profit count as?!

Not to mention that the 600,000 starcoins rough stone had already made him enough money.

Feeling the expectant gaze of his two friends, Bai Jing mused: “…… but, the rough stone I picked is not guaranteed to produce jadeite. In case it collapses– “

Wang Ping, who’d had a bitter expression on his face just now smiled immediately: “Little young master, it’s okay. Feel free to solve the rough stone. Whether it’s a rise in bet or a collapse, I won’t go back on my word!”

These rough stones were all scrap anyway, so he would just treat a dead horse as a living one.