Chapter 77

After he finished speaking, two staff members immediately walked over and moved the stone onto the scale to start weighing it.

At the raw stone exhibition, some of the stones, especially those with particularly good quality, are priced for sale, such as the stone king and the one Lu Wentao just chose.

The vast majority of the stones are not priced. When customers buy them, they are weighed by the pound, and then the price is calculated.

Soon, the two staff members gave the quote: the stone Ye Bufan chose was worth 2,000 yuan.

It was no wonder, as the stone he chose was originally used to fill the numbers, with the lowest price per kilogram. Besides, it was not much bigger than a basketball, so the price was naturally not too high.

Hearing this price, the people around burst into laughter.

Lu Wentao said smugly, "2,000 yuan, you actually use such a stone to compete with me. Do you know how much the stone I chose is worth? It's a 20 million yuan jade raw stone. How can you compete with me?"

Ye Bufan replied calmly, "In a raw stone gamble, what matters is the value of the jade that is revealed, not the price paid."

Lu Wentao said, "We agreed that the final comparison is based on the value of the jade revealed, not who gets the most increase in value."

He said this to be prepared for any eventuality. If Ye Bufan's stone revealed a piece of jade worth four or five thousand yuan, it would mean a doubling of value. If this wasn't clarified beforehand, he would be at a disadvantage.

Qin Chuchu frowned. Lu Wentao's stone was worth 20 million yuan, and using a 20 million yuan raw stone to compete with a 2,000 yuan one was unfair. However, the stone was chosen by Ye Bufan himself, so she couldn't do anything about it.

Ye Bufan said, "No problem, let's start cutting the stone."

"Ye, you really don't shed a tear until you see the coffin," Lu Wentao said, then gestured to his subordinates, "Cut my stone, let some people open their eyes."

In his view, this gamble was a sure win. Given the quality of the stone, the jade revealed would likely be larger than the one Ye Bufan chose.

The staff members were well-prepared. Upon hearing the order, they immediately moved the huge raw stone onto the cutting machine, and several stone cutters started working.

"Screech... screech... screech..."

The saw blade of the cutting machine continuously grated against the raw stone, producing a harsh sound. But to the ears of those who loved gambling on raw stones, it was like beautiful music.

Everyone watched the stone with bated breath, hoping to see jade revealed.

Time passed, and after a full 10 minutes, the stone cutters were sweating, but there was still no sign of any jade.

Lu Wentao slowly lost his composure. He frowned and said to the stone cutter, "Cut it from the middle first."

Generally, for very valuable jade raw stones, the cutting method is to first rub the stone to reveal the jade, and then determine the next cutting direction.

But Lu Wentao couldn't wait any longer and directly asked the stone cutter to cut it from the middle.

This method of cutting was simple and brutal, and much faster. When the huge stone was split into two halves, everyone was surprised and sighed.

The middle of the 20 million yuan stone was just a mass of white mist. There was no jade, not even a hint of green.

"This..."

Lu Wentao was stunned and then gestured to the stone cutter, "Cut it again."

The stone cutters worked together, cutting the stone from two pieces into four, then from four into eight, and finally into over a dozen pieces, but there was still no sign of any jade.

"It's over, this is a complete failure!"

"Truly, one cut to heaven, one cut to hell. It's really a pitfall, 20 million yuan and not a single piece of jade..."

"What kind of luck does Young Master Luo have? Such a large piece of jade raw stone, and not a single piece of jade..."

Amidst the sighs, Lu Wentao's face, which was initially smug, turned dark.

He couldn't understand how such a good piece of raw stone, which he almost designated as the stone king of the entire exhibition, could have no jade at all. It made no sense.

But the facts were right there, and he couldn't deny them.

Looking at the pile of waste stones, Ye Bufan smiled, "Young Master Luo, how about it? Are you going to admit defeat?"

Lu Wentao said, "Why should I admit defeat? Although my stone failed, yours probably won't be much better, at best it's a tie."

Indeed, although his stone revealed nothing, he didn't believe that the stone used to fill the numbers could reveal any jade.

"I'm always lucky, I'm afraid I'll disappoint Young Master Luo," Ye Bufan said to the stone cutters, "Cut my stone, but use the rubbing method, don't cut it randomly."

The stone cutters immediately showed a look of disdain. Such a lousy stone, cutting it once revealed nothing, and he wanted to use the rubbing method.

But since he requested it, they had to comply. They moved the stone to the cutting machine and started rubbing it bit by bit.

"This young man is really interesting, rubbing such a stone, I don't believe he can rub out any jade..."

"Exactly, Young Master Luo just couldn't get any jade from a 20 million yuan raw stone, what can this 2,000 yuan piece of junk do?"

The onlookers chattered, and no one was optimistic about Ye Bufan.

But at that moment, someone suddenly screamed, "Look, it's green, this stone actually has green!"

With this shout, the stone cutter stopped his work, took a basin of water, and poured it over the jade raw stone. The window revealed a rich green, and it was indeed green.

"Good heavens, this kid's luck is really amazing, a lousy stone actually has jade."

"Look at that green, it's even ice-grade, this kid really hit the jackpot..."

Seeing the green, Lu Wentao's expression became even worse. As long as Ye Bufan revealed a bit of jade, it proved that he had lost this gamble.

The bodyguard leader, seeing his master's dark expression, stepped forward and said, "Young Master, this is just an accident, perhaps there's only a bit of jade in that stone..."

He was trying to comfort Lu Wentao's wounded heart, but before he could finish, the stone cutters revealed several more windows, each one green.

"My goodness, this jade is completely green..."

"How much is such a large piece of jade worth? And it's even ice-grade..."

"The key is that he only spent 2,000 yuan, it's a windfall."

Seeing that Ye Bufan's stone was entirely jade, the bodyguard leader's mouth dropped open, and he couldn't say a word, completely stunned.

Soon, the stone cutters revealed the entire piece of jade, just as everyone expected, it was a completely green jade, and of high quality, even ice-grade.

Generally, jade is valued for its green color, roughly divided into four grades: bean-grade, glutinous-grade, ice-grade, and glass-grade.

Although ice-grade is not the most valuable, such a large piece of green jade is worth at least several million, possibly even tens of millions.