Chapter 15: One Cut Reveals Ice-Grade Jade and Exquisite Rooster-Comb Blood-Red Jadeite
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Everyone present understood the gist of it!
So Jiang Cheng was a plant after all!
He had no money and was merely shouting out bids he could never pay. How was that any different from a shill hired by an auction house?
Several jewelry dealers had seen Jiang Cheng raising the price so aggressively that they had genuinely thought the tiger-skin rough stone was some extraordinary treasure.
They had even wondered whether they should bid for it themselves!
But after this farce, they no longer wanted it at all.
They were as shrewd as monkeys. How could they be fooled?
With a single sentence, Qin Xiaoshu instantly rescued Murong Xue from her awkward predicament.
Now, she only wanted to see Jiang Cheng make a fool of himself!
Even if Jiang Cheng shouted out a bid of one hundred million now, no one would believe him. He could not produce the money anyway.
Murong Xue no longer had to worry about anyone recklessly driving up the price. She was determined to obtain this piece of jadeite.
But was it really that simple?
Jiang Cheng was completely unruffled!
Now that he knew his eyes truly worked on rough stones, was three million really a problem?
His piece of black tungsten-bearing rough was still sitting on the cutting machine.
That stone was worth three and a half million!
“Fine! Since Miss Murong no longer wants it, I’ll take it!”
Qin Xiaoshu panicked. He hurriedly tugged at Jiang Cheng and tried to dissuade him. “Orange, what the hell are you talking about? We can’t even come up with three hundred thousand, let alone three million. Have you started hallucinating?”
“Xiaoshu, don’t we still have one rough stone that hasn’t been cut? Once we cut it open, we’ll have the money, won’t we?” Jiang Cheng said with a smile.
Qin Xiaoshu stared at him in astonishment. “Damn! Orange, you’re really going to pull off a deal with no capital? You’re that confident it’ll produce something valuable?”
He was truly a master at betting with someone else’s money!
“Why not give it a try?” Jiang Cheng replied with a smile.
“My God! This young man really knows how to gamble with nothing but empty promises!”
“That stone hasn’t even been cut, and he already thinks he’s going to get rich overnight? The pressure of life must have driven him to hallucinate!”
“How pitiful! He’s gone mad dreaming of getting rich! Does he think he’s the God of Wealth? If he says a stone is worth three million, then it must be worth three million?”
“What a complete clown!”
“What do you people know? All four of that young woman’s rough stones were chosen by him!”
“What? That happened too? All four stones increased in value after he picked them? Could this stone really be worth three million?”
“Who can say?”
“...”
The crowd erupted into discussion.
Murong Xue’s expression froze.
She had thought Jiang Cheng was a shill and had been waiting to see him embarrass himself.
But instead, he had pulled off a deal with no capital. He really intended to buy it!
And he was planning to use a stone that had not even been cut yet to purchase three-million-yuan rough!
This was no longer a matter of being a shill. He was an outright lunatic gambler!
Was he really so confident that his own stone would produce something valuable?
Where did that confidence come from?
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Murong Xue could not understand it at all. There was no longer any trace of amusement on her face.
She was a businesswoman, not a gambler!
Compared with Jiang Cheng’s nerve and audacity, the dignified heiress of the Murong family seemed as innocent as a little lamb.
Her gaze toward Jiang Cheng grew even more complicated.
Jiang Cheng had chosen four stones, and all four had risen in value. Even she had to admire such luck.
If he really won the gamble, would that piece of Qiluo jade not fall into Jiang Cheng’s hands?
What would become of her store’s treasure a month from now?
Murong Xue suddenly panicked.
But then she thought of something, and a cold smile returned to her face.
“Heh heh! You really think that stone will produce anything? Even if it does, do you think I’ll care about losing a few million? You, on the other hand, will be ruined if it produces nothing. And in the end, that piece of rough will still be mine. However I look at it, I have the better odds. Hee hee hee...”
Jiang Cheng sneered. Murong Xue was actually trying to play mind games with him!
What she said was true, but she did not know that Jiang Cheng already knew the stone’s true value. Her psychological tactics had no effect on him whatsoever.
He was determined to get that piece of rough.
Zheng Wanfu was grinning so broadly that the corners of his mouth nearly cramped. Jiang Cheng still thought he could pull off a deal with no capital. What a complete clown.
He could hardly wait to see Jiang Cheng cut the stone open, lose everything, and vomit blood in despair.
“Heh heh! Then let’s see, shall we? Just watch how lucky I, Jiang Cheng, am!”
Jiang Cheng smiled.
He said no more, merely turning to the master cutter. “Master, open mine.”
Whirr...
The entire scene erupted in an uproar.
Every eye locked onto the rapidly spinning blade of the cutting machine.
They were so tense that they hardly dared to breathe.
This was a three-million-yuan gamble.
Just thinking about it was thrilling.
If Jiang Cheng won, everyone would have to give him a thumbs-up for pulling off such an incredible deal with nothing in hand.
But could he really cut out something valuable?
No one dared guarantee it.
Before long, the cutting was finished. The master cutter washed the cut surface, then wiped it clean with a rag.
Finally, he lifted it toward the light and examined it closely.
“My God! There’s red in it! Cockscomb-blood red jadeite of icy texture!”
A sharp-eyed backpacker instantly cried out.
“Damn! That clarity and color are incredible!”
“It’s gorgeous! This young man’s luck is unbelievable!”
“Icy jadeite with floating red, and that red is the color of fresh cockscomb blood! It’s incredibly rare! There’s enough for at least one solid-color red jadeite bangle. He’s made a fortune!”
“I recently saw a similar red jadeite bangle at an auction in Hong Kong. It sold for 2.8 million Hong Kong dollars. This piece is no worse than that one—in fact, it may be even better!”
“It’s just too small. It looks like it can produce only two bangles. If it were a few inches larger, it could probably be worth more than ten million!”
The onlookers who had been mocking Jiang Cheng as a pitiful dreamer were no longer able to remain calm.
This young man’s luck was simply too good!
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Everyone had forgotten how they had mocked Jiang Cheng earlier for being crazy and indulging in daydreams.
The formation of red jadeite was rare to begin with.
Red was not jadeite’s original color. It was a secondary color formed when iron from the earth’s crust penetrated into the jadeite and stained it.
It was an extraordinarily complicated process.
Where iron could penetrate, other elements could enter as well, which was why ordinary red jadeite often contained mixed colors.
Some leaned yellow, while others leaned orange.
Moreover, red jadeite generally had poor texture and clarity.
It was usually either glutinous jadeite or bean jadeite.
Its value was not particularly high.
But jadeite like Jiang Cheng’s—with an icy texture, a color as vivid as blood, an exceptionally clean base, and such even coloration—was extraordinarily rare.
It was the sort of treasure one might encounter only by chance and never find by searching.
Because the formation of red jadeite was so difficult, icy cockscomb-blood red jadeite was even more precious.
Many people were already burning with desire.
Soon, a middle-aged jade merchant spoke up.
“Young man, I’ll give you one million for that piece!”
“One million? Are you taking advantage of his honesty? I’ll offer two million!”
“You—you shameless man!”
“I’ll offer three million!”
The scene boiled over.
Far more people recognized cockscomb-blood red jadeite than recognized Qiluo jade.
As the saying went, some people had eyes but could not recognize gold and jade.
That was precisely what had happened here.
The piece of Qiluo jade worth 4.3 million had failed to attract even a seventy-thousand-yuan increase in bidding.
Yet the cockscomb-blood red jadeite worth 3.5 million was being fought over by everyone.
Jiang Cheng had truly not expected this.
“Young man, I’m Jin Dayuan, owner of Dayuan Jewelry in Qingzhou. I’ll offer 3.8 million for this piece. Any more than that and it really won’t be worth it. You can see for yourself—it’s an excellent stone, but it’s simply too small. Once you deduct the processing loss, you should leave me a little profit too!”
A rotund, middle-aged man stepped forward and revealed a warm, spring-breeze smile.
“3.8 million?”
Jiang Cheng pondered for a moment. His eyes had shown the stone’s value as 3.5 million, so selling it for 3.8 million was already a considerable gain.
Although he knew that finished jewelry made from such rare red jadeite would command a far higher price, that would be after it had been crafted and marketed. As a rough stone, it was worth only 3.5 million.
Precisely because the red jadeite was so rare and in such demand, Jin Dayuan had gritted his teeth and raised the offer.
Jiang Cheng was just about to nod in agreement when a cool, clear voice rang out.
“Four million. I’ll take it.”
The speaker was none other than Murong Xue.
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