Meanwhile, Zhuo Ping was on the phone with someone, only half-watching the stone-cutting table.
To be honest, the stones Ye Shaohua chose were really ordinary.
This was Yun Qinghe’s first time in Qingcheng, and most of the rough stones shipped here were leftovers from City B.
One of them had been sitting in City B for five years without anyone showing any interest, simply because it looked so worthless.
While it’s hard to guess what kind of jade is inside a rough stone, it’s usually pretty easy to tell when a stone won’t have any green at all.
The stone cutter made his first cut.
He was about to toss away the two useless halves, but the moment he reached out, he froze. “Wait a minute… this is…”
He immediately placed the left half back on the cutting table.
Then he carefully sliced another sliver off the edge.
“It’s showing green?!” The exchange manager’s voice was full of disbelief.
The stone cutter was also stunned. He was an experienced old hand, and he could tell that this green had excellent color saturation. In all his years of cutting stones, this one ranked in the top three for water quality.
Yun Qinghe had somewhat expected this, but seeing it actually show green, he still looked at Ye Shaohua with surprise.
As for Zhuo Ping, he hung up the phone, looking baffled. “This actually worked? It sat in City B for five years, and no one noticed a thing about this stone?”
The manager overheard his comment and shook his head. “Mr. Zhuo, this is a rare old-pit glass-grade jade.”
By then, the stone cutter had already roughly outlined the stone’s contours.
Even though Zhuo Ping didn’t know much about stone gambling, he could still recognize this type of jade.
“A raw stone this big… could fetch thirty million at auction, right?” Even Zhuo Ping couldn’t help clicking his tongue in amazement.
This was exactly why some people loved stone gambling.
If you bet well, overnight wealth was not out of the question.
Of course, the prerequisite for getting rich overnight was that you actually got to keep the money. Anyone without proper backing, without a powerful patron protecting them, wouldn’t dare come to a place like the black market alone.
“Give me the next one too.” The stone cutter was now fully engaged and immediately waved his hand, asking someone to bring him another stone Ye Shaohua had picked.
Zhuo Ping lowered his voice to Yun Qinghe. “I doubt Miss Ye will get lucky again this time.”
Yun Qinghe smiled faintly. “We’ll see.”
Zhuo Ping stared at Yun Qinghe for a long moment, unable to figure out what that smile meant.
Meanwhile, the stone cutter had made his first cut. No green. Second cut. Still no green. Zhuo Ping wasn’t surprised at all.
After all, picking three rough stones like that and having one turn out to be worth thirty million was already an incredible stroke of luck, wasn’t it?
Tonight, Ye Meng had cut quite a few stones, most of them worth a few million, close to ten million each. She cut four stones, and none were worth as much as Ye Shaohua’s single stone.
Just as Zhuo Ping was thinking this, the stone cutter made his third cut.
That’s when both the cutter and the manager gasped in excitement. “Imperial green!”
The internal staff nearby were completely dumbfounded, staring at the jade the cutter had just revealed.
And when Zhuo Ping saw that imperial green with such rich water quality, he suddenly felt a pang of regret. All the stones in this entire venue combined weren’t worth this one stone. If he had known there was such an exceptional piece hidden among these already-picked-over leftovers, he never would have let them ship these stones over here.
By the time the third stone was cut, revealing another top-grade piece, Zhuo Ping and the surrounding staff had no idea what to say anymore.
They all just stood there in a daze around the cutting table, staring blankly at the three stones, whose total value had already exceeded a hundred million.
Yun Qinghe rarely showed his emotions, but even he looked a bit stunned at this point.
“What are you going to do with these three rough stones?” After a long pause, he was the first to break the silence, turning to Ye Shaohua.
Ye Shaohua picked up one of the stones and tilted her head slightly to look at him. “Are you buying? I’ll sell them cheap.”
Yun Qinghe straightened his expression. “Of course. If you’re selling, we’ll buy them.”
“Alright then,” Ye Shaohua nodded, put the stone down, and rattled off a series of numbers. “Transfer the money to my account.”
“…You’re just going to leave the stones here like that?” Yun Qinghe was taken aback, seeing how easily she put down those priceless rough stones without signing any agreement or anything.
Ye Shaohua raised an eyebrow. “What else should I do?”
“You’re not afraid we’ll just pocket them?” Zhuo Ping tore his eager gaze away from the stones. He had never met anyone so strange.
Ye Shaohua looked surprised. “Would you do something like that?”
“…No, I wouldn’t! Of course not!”
“Then it’s fine,” Ye Shaohua shoved her hands in her pockets and waved casually. “Got the account number? I need to head back first.”
Yun Qinghe seemed to take these three pieces of jade very seriously and stayed behind to handle the matter personally.
Zhuo Ping escorted Ye Shaohua downstairs.
“I noticed you all seem to place great importance on jade,” Ye Shaohua said as she walked down the stairs, asking an extra question. “Is there some kind of significance to it?”
Zhuo Ping had his own reasons for being open with her, so he didn’t hide anything.
“Actually, it’s not that complicated. The four continents are controlled by four great families. And that plot of land on Continent F? All four families want it. The stone gambling world has its own rules. Whichever family can produce the finest jade gets the land.” Zhuo Ping paused for a moment, then continued, “You probably don’t know this, but there’s a profession in the world called stone gambling master. It ranks above all other professions. Because every outstanding stone gambling master is tirelessly courted by all four families.”
“Miss Ye, the best stone gambling master in our Yun family ranks just below Yun Qinghe himself in status.” Zhuo Ping looked at Ye Shaohua. “If you’re willing to come to the Yun family, we can work out any terms. Someone like Ye Qing isn’t even worth lifting a pinky finger for.”
He finished speaking, but Ye Shaohua remained silent.
She was lost in thought, processing what he had just said.
This world seemed different from a normal modern society. Were the four great families truly in control of the four continents?
Did all resource allocation come down to stone gambling? So… was this a world built on stone gambling?
