542: Jackpot - 2

Jackpot - 2

Everyone looked with bated breath at the jade stone. 

Vroom—Vroom—Vroom...

The sound of the cutting machine was loud in the air. Dust was flying everywhere, and Jin Can gulped nervously. 

Crack!

Following Chu Yunsheng's instructions, the lapidary cut the jade stone into two pieces.

The lapidary's assistant hurriedly gave him clean water to wash away the dust on the jade stone.

As the lapidary wiped the dust away carefully, the true color of the jade stone slowly appeared before everyone's eyes.

It was bright green. There were no impurities in it. The green color was smooth and bright and reflected light like water.

"Holy… This is Imperial Jade!" Wu Zhiheng jumped up. 

"President Wu! President Wu! I'll give you $80 million. How about you share half of it with me?"

"I offer 100 million!"

"110 million! President Wu, we're friends, right?"

More and more people offered the Wu Family money to buy half of the jade stone, while Chu Yunsheng held his head high, looking condescendingly at Fu Zhi. 

"What do you think, Ms. Fu? I recall you saying that this will definitely not be Imperial Jade? Why don't you say something now? Cat got your tongue?" 

"I suggest you don't count your chickens before they hatch. You should stop cutting it now, or you might end up getting nothing."

"Hmph!" Chu Yunsheng harrumphed coldly. Then, he turned to the lapidary and said, "Keep going!"

—

In the meantime, in the Long Family's lounge, the head of the Long Family wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "Young Master Jiang, the Wu Family seems to have gotten some Imperial Jade."

"Imperial Jade?" Jiang Zong repeated. He took a sip of his tea and tapped his finger on the table.

"How can you be so sure that it's Imperial Jade when they haven't finished cutting the jade stone yet?"

"I know, but the experts have already confirmed that it's Imperial Jade. Fu Zhi hasn't started to cut her jade stone yet. Young Master Jiang, with all due respect, I don't really understand why you asked me to go with Fu Zhi's decision."

After all, he'd wanted to bid on jade stone No. 20 as well, but Jiang Zong had asked him to do what Fu Zhi did, and no matter how hard he thought about it, he could not understand why Jiang Zong had asked him to do so. 

"May I know who Fu Zhi is?"

'Could she be a stone gambling expert? Or could she be an insider of the Lucky Cloud Pavilion that could give one information that other people don't have?'

Jiang Zong did not reply. Resting his chin on his hand, he turned his head around and looked at the commotion below through the window.

Just as the head of the Long Family thought Jiang Zong was not going to answer his question, he chuckled and said, "Well, how shall I put it?"

He thought for a while and then said, "You could say she's the future of China." 

The head of the Long Family was stunned.

—

The lapidary continued to cut the stone. 

Jin Can sighed in disappointment. He did not understand why Fu Zhi did not want to listen to him. If she'd listened to him and bid one billion on jade stone No. 20, they would have been the ones smiling right now.

Everyone, including Chu Yunsheng, held their breath as they waited to witness this great, epoch-making moment together!

Very soon, the jade stone was cut in half again. 

Even the head of the Long Family walked quickly to the window and looked down.

If it was not Imperial Jade, there was a good chance that the two jade stones he'd gotten from Fu Zhi would be Imperial Jade.

However, if it was really Imperial Jade… 

The head of the Long Family began to pray to God and hope that it was not Imperial Jade. After all, he had bet his entire fortune to buy the two jade stones, and he would be a goner if both of the jade stones were worthless. 

Well, perhaps God heard his prayer, as after the lapidary wiped the dust away, everyone was dumbstruck. What appeared before everyone's eyes was just a greyish rock!

"Holy..."

Someone exclaimed.

"This is not Imperial Jade!"

"Yes. This is the lowest grade of jade. It seems like someone is going to lose a lot of money today."

"Phew, luckily, I didn't buy this from the Wu Family. Otherwise, I would have rather killed myself."

Everyone began to chime in, and some of them glanced at Chu Yunsheng.

Well, they were not actually laughing at him. It was just that they could not believe Chu Yunsheng would make such a big mistake.

"This is impossible!"

Chu Yunsheng's expression turned grim as he widened his eyes in shock.

This jade stone had cost them 300 million. He had thought he could humiliate the Lu Family with this jade stone, but instead, he'd made the Wu Family a laughing stock!

"How is this possible?" Wu Qi was stunned as well and could not come around to his senses for a long while.

'This is not supposed to be happening. The bigshot in the group told me that this jade stone was the best quality stone amongst the other jade stones. Even Chu Yunsheng agreed, so how could this be happening?!'

Wu Qi refused to believe it, so he said, "Keep going. I'm sure there must be some kind of mistake!"

"O—Okay, President Wu," the lapidary replied.

He started the machine and began cutting the jade stone once again. However, this time, the result was the same. What appeared before their eyes was not jade but stone.

Wu Qi's dream was crushed. He stumbled, taking two steps back, and nearly fell to the ground. Wu Zhiheng hurriedly went forward and helped his father stand.

Seeing his reaction, Fu Zhi clicked her tongue and said, "Thank you for your help, President Wu. Thank you for taking that 'God's Eye' Master Chu away. The Lu Family is not a big one like the Wu Family, and we definitely can't afford to lose 300 million. In any case, we won't forget your kindness for the rest of our lives." 

Fu Zhi's words stabbed Wu Qi's heart like a sharp blade, and his chest puffed up and down vigorously. He could not take it anymore. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he passed out.

The only silver lining was that the boss of the Lucky Cloud Pavilion was used to this kind of situation. He immediately hollered at some doctors and transported Wu Qi to the second floor to rest.

Chu Yunsheng and Wu Zhiheng, who shared a glance, could see the embarrassment in each other's eyes. 

Jin Can, who had been standing on the sidelines this whole time, widened his eyes in disbelief, as he had not expected this sudden turn of events either.

He couldn't believe that Fu Zhi was actually right. Jade stone No. 20 was not Imperial Jade at all! 

'Just who the hell is she? Is she a doomsayer?!'1

"Impossible! This is impossible! This must be a mistake!" Chu Yunsheng shouted.

He had appraised many jade stones in his life, and this kind of thing had never happened before.

'Am I losing my touch?' he asked himself.

Wu Zhiheng's expression was grim as well. He turned his head around and when he saw the grin on Fu Zhi's face, he flew into a rage and shouted, "What are you laughing at, Fu Zhi?! Even if it's not Imperial Jade, it doesn't mean you got Imperial Jade! So wipe that smug grin off your face! Go ahead and start cutting your stone. Even we couldn't get Imperial Jade, even though our jade stone is of good quality, so do you really think you got good-grade jade with that garbage of yours?"

"I don't know what is wrong with you, but you're really annoying. Besides, can you be a bit more realistic? It's not good to keep living in your dreams. Do you know that?" Fu Zhi replied. 

Then, she turned around and looked at the lapidary assigned to her by the Lucky Cloud Pavilion.

"Alright, you can start now."

"Okay! Don't worry, Ms. Fu. I won't disappoint you." The lapidary nodded as he said this.

Jade stone No. 20 was heavier than No. 26, but No. 26 was huge as well.

The lapidary started with a small opening and moved in slowly inch by inch.

As time passed by in minutes and seconds, the hearts of Jin Can and his group sank deeper and deeper. Then, when they finally saw the color of the jade, their hearts dropped.

'We're screwed,' Jin Can thought.

"See! This is what you deserve for overestimating yourself, Fu Zhi! It's just..."

Generally, jade could be categorized into four grades: Grade S, Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C. Imperial Jade was Grade S jade, while the jade Fu Zhi had bought was obviously Grade C jade.

"So what now? Neither the Lu Family nor the Wu Family got good-grade jade, so I really don't understand what they're doing right now."

For a moment, everyone laughed, as they could not fathom what the Lu Family and the Wu Family were doing.

One of them had spent 300 million, while another had spent 200 million. The former had bought a stone, while the latter had bought Grade C jade. In the end, neither of them had gotten anything good.

Jin Can shook his head. "How is this possible?"

He had thought it was Imperial Jade, but now...

Wu Zhiheng thought Fu Zhi would be devastated. He was waiting for her to break down, but little had he expected that she'd be calm and unperturbed by the fact that she had just gotten Grade C jade. 

Just as he was about to say something, he heard the lapidary shout, "Ms. Fu, Mr. Lu! Come over here! This is amazing!"

The crowd fell silent when they heard what the lapidary had said. They all turned their eyes to the jade stone, feeling stunned.

"This is… This is Imperial Jade!"

The group of experts that had come out of the Lucky Cloud Pavilion all went forward and began studying the jade stone.

"Oh, my lord! What a beautiful color!"

"This is one of the largest Imperial Jade pieces I've ever seen!"

The group of experts chimed in one after another..

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