Chapter Fifteen: Emerald

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One million six hundred thousand?

Not one hundred and sixty yuan. Even if it were only one hundred and sixty yuan, given Yang Qi’s current part-time income of fifty yuan a day, he would have to work for a century to earn that much. Even graduates of Qingzhou University made less than three thousand yuan a month, meaning they would still need to work for fifty years!

What did fifty years mean? Even if a university graduate spent not a single penny from graduation until retirement, they would still have to delay retirement by several years to complete fifty years of work!

Sell it. Anyone who refused would be a fool!

Yang Qi felt as if his heart were about to leap out of his chest. Essence Crystals were precious and could aid cultivation, but at present, one million six hundred thousand yuan would help him far more.

As the ancients said, scholarship required little money, but martial arts required wealth. Without being born into a rich family, it was simply impossible to practice martial arts. Not to mention instruction from a renowned master, merely tempering the body required costly medicinal herbs and meat. Otherwise, it was not martial training at all—it was self-destruction. If one could barely eat enough, what martial arts could one possibly practice?

Even in the memories of the Haoyang Great Emperor, the powerful martial artists who had achieved the most were all born into major powers or great sects. Every resource required on the path of cultivation cost money!

Compared with improving his cultivation, what Yang Qi lacked most at present was money. Besides, he had already sensed vital energy within the several rough stones he possessed, so he had no need to worry about cultivation.

“One million eight hundred thousand.”

Just as Yang Qi was about to agree, a cool, clear voice suddenly broke the silence.

“Another two hundred thousand?”

Yang Qi immediately turned toward the source of the voice. Among the crowd not far away, a striking figure in a sky-blue short-sleeved shirt caught his eye.

“How beautiful!”

The woman who had spoken was no less attractive than Tang Xinjie. Yet whereas Tang Xinjie had a delicate and refined appearance, this woman possessed a distinctly greater air of maturity and efficiency.

“Fine!”

The price of one million six hundred thousand had already left everyone around them speechless. One million eight hundred thousand had far exceeded their expectations. Yang Qi already knew the jadeite’s true market value, so he accepted without the slightest hesitation. Two hundred thousand might mean little to people accustomed to dealing in millions, but to Yang Qi, it was a considerable fortune.

“How would you like to complete the transaction?” the woman asked, looking at Yang Qi.

“I still have three rough stones that haven’t been cut. Can you wait until I’ve had all of them opened?” Yang Qi asked.

“Of course.”

The woman was momentarily taken aback. She glanced at the gambling stones on the cutting platform and smiled.

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Following the chalk lines Yang Qi had drawn, the middle-aged man began cutting.

“Green! There’s green again!”

In less than ten minutes, a slice of stone was cut away, revealing a faint trace of green.

“Open it directly. Cut it all the way through,” Yang Qi said at once.

His words silenced the onlookers who had originally intended to make offers.

“It has green again?”

A trace of surprise flashed through the eyes of the woman in the sky-blue shirt.

Gambling on jade contained the word “gambling” for a reason. Like other forms of gambling, it involved a great deal of chance—indeed, it could be said to be one of the riskiest forms of gambling. Of course, unlike games such as pai gow, where human factors played a major role, gambling on jade involved very little human influence. Precisely because human influence was limited, however, chance played an even greater part.

Winning once meant little, but winning twice in succession was another matter entirely!

“It’s imperial ice-grade jadeite again!”

A moment later, the crowd erupted in commotion. The second rough stone had once again yielded ice-grade jadeite.

“What a pity. It’s apple green, and it’s considerably smaller than the previous piece. At most, it’s probably worth eight hundred thousand to a million.”

“I’ll offer six hundred thousand!”

“Sorry, I have no intention of selling,” Yang Qi said hurriedly when he heard the offer.

Although he did not know much about jadeite, he could still judge its basic color and size. This piece was worth far less than the previous one, and he had already secured one million eight hundred thousand yuan. Naturally, he was in no hurry to sell it.

“It’s ice-grade jadeite again.”

The woman in the sky-blue shirt had an incredulous look in her eyes. If winning twice could be attributed to luck, then winning twice with pieces of ice-grade quality was something entirely different.

She was not one of those outsiders who knew nothing about jadeite. The rough stones Yang Qi had opened were small and unimpressive in appearance; they should have been worth no more than a few thousand yuan. Yet they had produced jadeite worth hundreds of thousands or even millions. This was an extraordinary windfall.

Winning the lottery once was not strange, but winning twice was enough to make anyone marvel.

Could he be an expert at gambling on jade?

That thought crossed the woman’s mind. Perhaps only an expert—or even a master—could repeatedly uncover jadeite of ice-grade quality.

But the moment the thought arose, she dismissed it. She considered herself well acquainted with all kinds of people, and the youthful innocence on Yang Qi’s face was clearly genuine. The possibility that he was a master of gambling on jade was simply too small.

Before long, following Yang Qi’s instructions, the third rough stone was opened as well. It produced a piece only half the size of a cigarette pack. It was merely glutinous-grade jadeite, worth two or three hundred thousand yuan—a relatively common variety. Naturally, Yang Qi had no intention of selling it either.

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All three rough stones had yielded jadeite. Although their values had steadily declined, several people in the crowd looked increasingly grave—including the woman in the sky-blue shirt.

“He has won on three rough stones in succession, and each was a major gain. This man is no simple outsider.”

Again and again. Two major gains could perhaps be called unbelievably good luck, but three consecutive gains could never be explained by luck alone!

The shopkeeper was also beside himself with excitement. He knew that all three of Yang Qi’s rough stones had produced substantial gains, yet he felt no envy or jealousy whatsoever. His heart was filled only with excitement and joy.

The previous month, a rough stone worth more than a million yuan that had been sold at his shop had ended in complete failure. His shop had been dragged down by the incident, and no one had been willing to come buy rough stones from him. That was why Yang Qi had found the shop empty when he entered. The rough stones inside were worth several million yuan in total. If he could not sell them, his losses would be enormous.

People were especially superstitious about anything connected with gambling. When the stones from his shop had failed, customers had stayed away. But now that one had succeeded, his shop was bound to come back to life. Compared with the fate of the shop as a whole, the shopkeeper naturally hoped Yang Qi would continue winning. After all, Yang Qi had revived the entire business!

“Open the last one as well,” Yang Qi said calmly.

With one million eight hundred thousand yuan already secured, he was now far more confident.

As the cutting machine continued to roar, the final rough stone was gradually split apart in the middle-aged man’s hands. A piece of jadeite brimming with vivid green emerged before everyone’s eyes.

“This is…”

Staring at the crystal-clear jadeite, so rich with color, everyone froze for a moment.

“What’s wrong? Is this piece worthless?”

When no one made an offer, Yang Qi was startled. He had assumed this piece would be worth at least two or three hundred thousand yuan. But even if it was worthless, it did not matter. He had originally bought the rough stones for cultivation anyway.

“Worthless? How could that be? This is an emerald!”

“An emerald? It’s actually an emerald!”

“What an extraordinary windfall! An emerald—I was lucky enough to see one only once last year!”

The instant Yang Qi finished speaking, the crowd erupted.

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