Chapter Forty-Seven: The Open Bidding Begins

Chapter 47: The Open Bidding Begins

While the major jewelry merchants spent the fourth day of the exhibition busy with sealed-bid auctions, Yang Qi spent it strolling leisurely through the rough stone street, thoroughly enjoying himself as he hunted for jadeite.

By the fifth day, Yang Qi and Shen Yuxuan's group headed to the open-bidding venue. As the jade-gambling consultant for Shen's Jewelry, Yang Qi was required to attend the open auction.

Out of the hundred rough stones featured today, Yang Qi had actually only marked ten. Eight of those ten contained jadeite, while the other two simply had decent-looking appearances. After all, he was currently acting as a jade-gambling master. If every single stone he bid on turned out to be a win yielding waxy-ice variety jadeite or better, his name would likely spread throughout the entire jade-gambling world in no time, which would hardly be a good thing for him.

Appropriately concealing oneself was the ultimate path to survival.

Even a mighty figure like the Great Emperor Haoyang had ultimately fallen and perished; Yang Qi certainly did not consider himself invincible in this world just because he was a humble Seven-Star Martial Disciple.

"President Shen, it seems Shen's Jewelry attaches great importance to this exhibition as well," a sudden, abrupt voice rang out.

Yang Qi was not unfamiliar with this slightly familiar voice. The person speaking was none other than Liu Xiangnan of Liu's Jewelry.

"Liu Xiangnan, my matters at Shen's Jewelry are none of your concern," Shen Yuxuan said coldly, glaring at Liu Xiangnan not far away.

The nearby jewelers prudently backed away upon seeing this. Whispers about the rivalry between Shen's Jewelry and Liu's Jewelry were widespread among those present, and no one wanted to get entangled in the competition between the two firms.

"President Shen is joking, I'm simply showing concern for you," Liu Xiangnan said, his expression remaining entirely unchanged. He then turned his gaze to Yang Qi and said, "I heard that Mr. Yang previously cut out a blood-jade pearl, but unfortunately I wasn't able to witness it with my own eyes. What a real pity."

A blood-jade pearl?

As soon as these words were spoken, the gazes of everyone nearby instantly fell upon Yang Qi.

Although quite a few people had witnessed the scene when Yang Qi unearth the blood-jade pearl, not everyone had been present. Many people had never seen Yang Qi before and naturally did not recognize his face.

"Is he that Yang Qi who cut out the blood-jade pearl?"

"The newly emerged jade-gambling master?"

"A puny youth in his early twenties dares to call himself a master? Who does he think he is? A disciple of the Jade King?"

Soft murmurs arose from the surroundings, and several hostile glances landed on Yang Qi.

Major jewelry houses naturally loved jade-gambling masters, but rival jade-gambling masters felt differently. If a man in his early twenties was considered a jade-gambling master, what did that make seasoned veterans in their forties and fifties like them?

As the saying went, peers are natural enemies—especially when this peer was younger and possessed far greater potential than they did.

Feeling the hostility surrounding him, Yang Qi could not help but frown. He had not expected Liu Xiangnan to successfully instigate the other jade-gambling masters against him with just a few words. This trick of driving a wedge between rivals was deployed with effortless smoothness!

"If President Liu is interested, I wouldn't mind lending the blood-jade pearl to you for a look," Yang Qi said calmly, as if completely unfazed by the surrounding hostility.

Hearing this, Liu Xiangnan was visibly taken aback. He had merely intended to stir up the other jade-gambling masters' hostility toward Yang Qi; he never expected Yang Qi to actually play along, completely throwing off his expectations.

True to his deep cunning, Liu Xiangnan recovered in a split second and smiled faintly, "Given the opportunity, I would much rather claim that blood-jade pearl for my own collection."

"By the way, Mr. Yang, there's something I'm wondering if I might ask," Wu Shan suddenly interjected from the side.

"I wonder what question Elder Wu has in mind?" Yang Qi looked over at Wu Shan.

"I noticed that Shen's Jewelry didn't place a bid for rough stone number eighty-eight during yesterday's sealed bids. I wonder if Mr. Yang holds some different perspective regarding stone number eighty-eight?" Wu Shan asked.

At these words, all the jade-gambling consultants present were momentarily stunned. Naturally, they hadn't paid excessive attention to Shen's Jewelry, but given the bitter enmity between Liu's and Shen's, keeping tabs on each other was hardly surprising. What piqued everyone's curiosity, however, was whether Shen's Jewelry had truly refrained from bidding on it. One had to know that rough stone number eighty-eight was universally acknowledged by everyone as a piece capable of producing high-ice variety jadeite. It was the major hot ticket of this exhibition!

"I wouldn't call it a perspective, but this junior simply believes that when things reach an extreme, they reverse. Sometimes, an appearance that is too flawless isn't necessarily a good thing," Yang Qi said calmly.

"Ignorant."

"Young people really are just young people. With that little level of skill, he even dares to call himself a master!"

"So-called newly minted masters are nothing special after all."

As soon as Yang Qi finished speaking, before Wu Shan could even respond, the other jade-gambling consultants sneered in disdain. That rough stone had been inspected by so many of them present, including several true jade-gambling masters. With so many experts unanimously concluding that the semi-finished rough stone was at least of the ice variety—with an extremely high probability of yielding high-ice variety—Yang Qi's dismissal of the stone amounted to nothing less than saying all of their discerning eyes were worthless!

"Mr. Yang truly has profound insights," Wu Shan smiled faintly, though the mockery in his tone was completely unmasked.

"There is a saying in the jade world: one slash sends you to heaven, another to hell. Until a rough stone is cut open, who knows what's really inside? Elder Wu should remember that, shouldn't he?" Yang Qi smiled lightly and said.

Hearing this, the crowd was momentarily taken aback. They had learned this saying the moment they first stepped into the jade-gambling trade. Yet in their minds, that semi-finished rough stone had already revealed the general contours of the jade within—could it possibly turn out to be a dud?

"What a fine 'one slash to heaven, one slash to hell.' I'd love to see just who ends up in heaven and who ends up in hell!" Wu Shan scoffed derisively.

Before his voice had even faded, Liu Xiangnan and his entourage walked into the venue.

"Little Yang, you shouldn't have been so blunt," Shen Yuxuan said with a hint of helplessness. "That Wu Shan was clearly trying to make you offend the other peers and isolate you."

"It's fine. In the end, doesn't everything still depend on the actual state of that stone?" Yang Qi replied indifferently.

Looking at the completely nonchalant Yang Qi, Shen Yuxuan was momentarily at a loss for words. She had no idea what gave him such enormous confidence. One had to realize that Wu Shan wasn't the only jade-gambling master present! With so many top-tier experts and masters all favoring rough stone number eighty-eight, the possibility of it turning out to be worthless was practically zero.

As the largest supplier on the rough stone street, the Li family had always hosted the exhibition, and this time was no exception. Following a brief introduction by Li Yun and an explanation of the open-bidding rules, the event got underway.

In the center of the venue stood a giant screen displaying the ten rough stones with the highest starting prices. As the open bidding commenced, any new rough stone whose bid rose into the top ten would automatically update the rankings.

"I now declare the open bidding officially begun." With Li Yun's announcement, the open auction officially started.

Yang Qi and Shen Yuxuan each held a bidding device in their hands, their bid prices synchronizing in real time. Because this was his first time participating in an open auction, Yang Qi did not take part in bidding for the key marked stones. Those were all handled by Shen Yuxuan; his role was primarily to observe and learn. After all, exhibitions of this scale were rare, representing the grandest gathering in the jade-gambling world. As the jade-gambling consultant for Shen's Jewelry, these were scenarios he would inevitably have to navigate in the future.