Chapter 45: Luck

The two young women quickly grew close, acting like long-lost friends.

The meal was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, and afterward, the two women departed, leaving Yang Qi alone to start browsing the rough stones on display at the exhibition.

The rough stones at the exhibition were far from cheap. Even the lowest-priced ones cost tens of thousands, while the most expensive reached over eight million. The highest-priced stone was about the size of a water bucket and was a half-cut rough. Through the cut section, a rich green hue was clearly visible. A note below even stated that this stone had a high probability of yielding a high-ice-variety jadeite.

One had to realize that the cut section was not very large; if a high-ice-variety jadeite were truly revealed, it would be worth at least twenty to thirty million. Of course, since it was not fully uncovered, no one knew the exact situation inside the stone, but those two exposed faces alone were enough to attract others.

Yang Qi quickly went through the catalog of rough stones. The hundreds of stones totaled over a hundred million in price, and that was without anyone making a bid yet. Normally, bids on rough stones reaching three to five times their base price were completely standard.

In the afternoon, Yang Qi went to the exhibition hall to inspect the stones on display. The quality of the stones here was indeed much better than those in the retail shops. Out of the hundreds of stones, more than twenty contained heaven and earth vital energy. As for the rest, even if they lacked vital energy, it did not mean they contained no jadeite. The probability here was vastly higher than that of the shop stones. Although Yang Qi had selected nine stones today, he had actually examined well over a thousand.

"Whoever buys this stone is bound to have bad luck." Yang Qi's gaze fell upon stone number eighty-eight. Stone number eighty-eight was precisely the one priced at eight million eight hundred thousand, and also the stone in this exhibition most likely to become the king of bids.

Had it not been for his perception of heaven and earth vital energy, Yang Qi probably would have suggested that Shen Yuxuan give it a try, given how exceptionally good the external appearance of this stone was. Even in the promotional materials provided by the organizers, it was explicitly noted that there was a very high possibility of yielding a high-ice variety.

Yet, under Chu Li's—meaning Yang Qi's—perception, the amount of vital energy contained in this stone was only equivalent to that of a normal high-ice-variety jadeite the size of a fist. One had to keep in mind that the green hue visible through the two cut faces alone covered an area roughly the size of a human head. This clearly defied all logic.

Yang Qi did not know a great deal about stone gambling and was unsure why this was the case, but he could be certain that there was something wrong with this stone. Other stones of the high-ice variety, and even those of the waxy variety, had total amounts of vital energy surpassing it.

Silently memorizing the rough stones that possessed heaven and earth vital energy, Yang Qi did some mental calculations. Nearly half of these stones had quite high prices, meaning that even if they were cut open, the profits would likely be slim. Only a few stones did not look particularly impressive on the outside, yet held quite decent jadeite within.

"As expected of stones hand-picked for an exhibition," Yang Qi thought to himself. Although some of these stones had misjudgments in their evaluation, the majority did not deviate too far. After all, other people were genuinely gambling on stones, whereas he was simply taking shortcuts with the aid of heaven and earth vital energy.

Just as Yang Qi stepped out of the exhibition hall, he spotted Shen Yuxuan and Zhao Yixin. At that moment, Zhao Yixin was holding a rough stone in her hand.

"You bought a rough stone too?" Seeing the stone in Zhao Yixin's hands, Yang Qi couldn't help being stunned. He had assumed Zhao Yixin was merely tagging along to watch the excitement, never expecting her to actually purchase one herself.

"Since we came, of course I had to buy one and try my luck," Zhao Yixin gave Yang Qi a sidelong glance, then seemed to recall something as she asked, "Yang Qi, you're the stone-gambling consultant. Take a look and see how this stone of mine is."

"This stone..." Looking at the stone in Zhao Yixin's hand—which was only about the size of two fists—Yang Qi's mouth twitched. There was actually jadeite inside this stone, and quite decent jadeite at that. It was of the waxy variety, and barring any accidents, it likely contained a fist-sized piece of jadeite.

Yang Qi knew full well that Zhao Yixin understood nothing about stone gambling. Being able to pick a waxy-variety stone was sheer luck. Yang Qi had heard stories of people winning the five-million lottery in the past, but as for himself, let alone five million, he hadn't even won five small prizes. He never expected to witness someone with heaven-defying luck today.

"How much did this stone cost you?" Yang Qi couldn't help asking.

"Two hundred," Zhao Yixin replied with an embarrassed smile.

"Two hundred?" Yang Qi's eyes widened into circles as he stared at Zhao Yixin in utter disbelief.

"I know it's a bit expensive, but the boss claimed it was some old-pit rough material and insisted on six hundred. I haggled hard just to bring it down to two hundred," Zhao Yixin said, looking somewhat vexed.

Expensive? Sell it to me for four hundred and I'll take a dozen.

Yang Qi was utterly speechless inside and couldn't help glancing at Shen Yuxuan beside him.

"This was a clearance item. Sister Yixin insisted on buying it to try her luck, saying there was no way it would yield jadeite anyway," Shen Yuxuan said with a wry smile.

In truth, stones as small as this were usually bought by beginners just for fun. Any stones with slightly better appearances had long since been snapped up, leaving only the poor-quality ones that nobody wanted.

"I think this stone is alright. I have a feeling you won't lose out," Yang Qi said with a smile.

"As long as I don't lose money, that's fine!" Zhao Yixin's eyes lit up. She had learned from Shen Yuxuan that Yang Qi was not only the stone-gambling consultant for Shen's Jewelry, but had also made tens of millions from gambling on stones just this morning. She was quite inclined to believe his words.

"Do you really see it that way?" Shen Yuxuan asked softly.

"I estimate that you'll have an extra piece of jadeite in your hands shortly," Yang Qi smiled faintly.

An extra piece of jadeite?

Shen Yuxuan was taken aback. One had to know that when Shen's Jewelry acquired jadeite, ordinary pieces were beneath their notice; it had to be at least of the waxy variety. Could it be that this stone could actually be cut to reveal a waxy variety?

This stone had been bought jointly by her and Zhao Yixin. She had examined it herself and found nothing special about it; she assumed there was nothing inside at all. Yet at this moment, Yang Qi actually believed there was waxy-variety jadeite inside?

"Let's go, let's go, time to cut the stone!" Zhao Yixin urged excitedly from the front.

A two-hundred-yuan rough stone naturally didn't come with free cutting services; the cutting fee would probably cost several hundred on its own. Knowing that Shen Yuxuan was a VIP client of the Li family's shop, Zhao Yixin was certainly not going to pass up this opportunity for free stone-cutting.

Before long, the group arrived at the Li family's stone-cutting machine. The person in charge of cutting was the same man from the morning. Zhao Yixin had no idea how to draw cutting lines, so the task naturally fell to Chu Li. Following the positions he sensed in his mind, Yang Qi quickly drew the chalk lines.

Whoosh—

Within minutes, a cut surface opened up, revealing a crystal-clear green hue.

"It showed green?"

"It actually went up in value?"

Seeing this, both the technician in charge of cutting and Shen Yuxuan were momentarily stunned.

"Cut the rest open," Yang Qi said calmly.

The man nodded. Having cut stones for Yang Qi earlier in the morning, he was familiar with Yang Qi's habit of wanting things completely uncovered.

Under the technician's operation, the rough material was fully sliced open, and a crystal-clear piece of jadeite appeared before everyone's eyes—a waxy-variety apple-green jadeite.

"So this is jadeite! It's so pretty!" Zhao Yixin looked at the ugly stone she had held earlier, which had now produced such a stunning piece of jadeite, and her face filled with wonder.