Yu Boyan and Zhang Jingshen introduced the jade king. This item passed through four appraisers, them, Bai clan’s, and Yang clan’s.
“After many of us examined it, the jade king’s base price was settled at 100 million. This is something the four of us had bought together for this act.”
Yu Boyan presented the document, “In stone-betting, anything can happen. It isn’t just about inspecting the stone. Since it revolves betting, it has risks. What it will hold in the end is all up to heaven.
“The opening bid starts at 100 million, in increments of 10. Each bid will allow cutting a part of the jade king. If no one else bids anymore, it will be cut open.
“These are the details. The bidders are allowed to choose which side gets cut.
“Let the bidding comence.”
“120 millions. Cut through the middle.” Hu Dezhi raised his sign.
Huang Lixing saw him thrilled and was also getting excited, “Didn’t you earn your invitation into the private auction already?”
“Joining it is a must, but so is making profit.”
The master cutter reached half an inch and a green light already spilled out.
“Purple jade?”
“The glass type violet green!”
“Last time yielded less than 1 kg, yet it was sold for 200 million. Whit how large the stone is this time, my god…”
The master cutter stopped.
“140 million, bellow.” One cried.
The second cut entered an inch, no glow.
Hu Dezhi squinted at the raw stone, asking Huang Lixing in passing, “Grandmaster Huang, what do you make of this jade king?”
“Cough, so-so.”
One man said, “160, below!”
The third cut was made in the same spot and also shined purple after another inch. The jade composition and its location within the stone weren’t the same thing.
“Wow~” The audience cheered.
If the first cut was without success, another would follow to make the situation clear. It was quite a common occurrence in stone-betting.
In this case, the third cut was very precious, with jade glowing above and below. How valuable would this 40 cm jade king be in the end?
One shouted, “Look, there’s white mist coming from it! Does that make it a Millennium Cold Jade?”
The jade king had jade glows from two sides and white mist came from them.
“300, above!”
The silent Ye Yunfei spoke up again. He seemed quite keen on getting a rejuvenating ‘cold jade’.
The master cutter did his job and white mist came again.
Hu Dezhi cried, “320, same location!”
Then he inquired Huang Lixing, “Grandmaster Huang, is it really normal for a so-so jade king to be worth 320 million?”
“He-he.” Huang Lixing chuckled.
‘No answer? What does that mean? It’s not worth it then?’ Hu Dezhi was beginning to doubt.
In truth, he was overthinking things. Whenever Teacher Huang had to answer something he didn’t know, he laughed like this to make him look mysterious. This was where Teacher Huang was so brilliant.
The fifth cut also showed white.
Ye Yunfei bidded, “360, two inches!”
This was to save the trouble.
The master cutter did his job and white again.
Hu Dezhi shouted, “I’ll help Director Ye. Another two inches!”
Now the incision on top was quite deep, yet the jade glow still persisted.
This led to disappointment among the audience. But this was normal. It would be priceless if it ended up this big of a stone a complete jade!
Of course, although there was no jade from the above incision, there was still the one below. The jade would be worth a fortune if the white mist delivered on its promise.
“420, mid-back!”
“440, mid-low!”
Some other bidders shouted, but chose different locations.
The result wasn’t anything good and fewer people participated in the bidding. Each time Hu Dezhi called, he followed up with asking Huang Lixing. Grandmaster Huang neither agreed or disapproved, boggling his assessment of the jade king. When the stone reached 700 millions, Hu Dezhi withdrew.
“There’s jade again!”
Four inches in the mid-back showed a purple glow.
A single cut brought joy or sorrow. This was stone-betting, not ending until the final cut, despite everything in between.
This was in regards to your average citizen, mind you. With Li Mo at the scene, he saw all he needed a long time ago.
“But the size this cut promises is too small.”
“Yeah, there’s white only above and below.”
“What if the two aren’t related?”
“Then the loss would be devastating.”
“760, another inch behind!”
The bidders seemed to have reached a consensus, to not cut the middle in front. They felt that place held the final verdict on the value of this jade king.
The cuts were made everywhere but in front, turning up the suspense.
“960, no cut!” Ye Yunfei declared above the whispers of the crowd, but decided to abstain from cutting.
The was it seemed, Ye Yunfei wanted to buy the jade.
The other guests had reached a decision also.
“Going once!”
“Going twice!”
“Is there anyone else?”
“Sold, for 960 million!” The hammer fell.
With how jade was seen after each cut, the jade king’s value would only soar. But from how things looked, even if the jade was a whole, it wouldn’t exceed 1.5 billion.
Raising would only diminish the profits, not to mention the result was based on luck. No one dared make the assumption the jade was a whole.
Ye Yunfei paid for the jade king and the master cutter began splitting it open.
The purple jade was now before everyone’s eyes, as large as an air conditioning unit. It had irregular thickness. Thin as a paper in some places while in others, as thick as a cellphone. Even without sporting any cracks, it was too thin, making it hardly usable.
Hu Dezhi slapped his chest, “Now this purple jade is worth 100 million at best…”
Ye Yunfei lost big!
Ye Yunfei had a dull look as he watched the ‘purple jade’.
Yu Boyan said, “Director Ye, me and brother Jingshen appraised it and found it having cold air, but not because of cold jade. The white mist appears only in the middle of cutting, the jade having no relation to it.”
Ye Yunfei’s face sank while Zhang Ming stood up and slowly left the hall.
