Seeing Wendy Lynch so impatient as to sell a treasure for a bargain, the woman in the white suit felt her own regret lessen a bit. As expected, she was just an amateur who knew nothing.
The window on this rough jadeite stone was so good that anyone with even a little industry knowledge wouldn’t have sold it. With this kind of water and texture, as long as one’s luck wasn’t too bad, the jadeite inside would be at least two centimeters thick, making its value far exceed 300,000.
Right then, the old man in the traditional Tang suit who had bought the stone heard the continuous encouragement from the crowd. Instead of rushing to leave, he let out a hearty laugh. "Haha, since everyone is so curious about this piece of raw material, I’ll cut it open right here today and let us all have a look!"
A 300,000 stone might be a huge sum for others, but to him, it was nothing. As soon as he said this, the crowd grew even more excited.
The woman in the white suit, who had been about to leave, instantly stopped in her tracks. Her expression grew incredibly complex as she stared fixedly at the stone. She hoped the cut would be a dud, proving that giving up on it was the right choice, yet she also harbored a faint regret for not persisting just a bit longer.
Everyone’s attention was once again focused on that small piece of black sand stone. The gem cutter was also a bit nervous from this sudden spectacle. When he took the stone, his hands were much steadier than before. He looked solemnly at the old man in the Tang suit. "Mr. Sutton, this piece... how do you want it cut?"
The old man in the Tang suit pondered for a moment, pointing his finger at the edge of the window. "This piece isn’t large. Cutting it further might easily damage the meat inside. How about this: taking everyone’s advice, we won’t cut it. We’ll just slowly grind away the outer crust around this window and see exactly how far this Imperial Green extends."
Grinding the crust! The crowd wasn’t surprised by Mr. Sutton’s decision.
This rough jadeite had already shown Imperial Green. If they continued to use broad, aggressive cutting methods, they might accidentally slice into the jadeite inside, easily causing unnecessary waste. The gem cutter immediately understood. He quickly removed the original saw blade and deftly swapped it for a 300-grit grinding disc.
The machine started up again. This time, it wasn’t the piercing screech of cutting from before, but a finer, denser SHHH SHHH sound. Water continuously washed over the high-speed spinning grinding head, bringing up a white slurry of stone dust.
The onlookers stopped their discussions, staring unblinkingly at the rough jadeite being ground. Some quick-witted people in the crowd had already taken out their phones to start recording, ready to capture the entire process of this Imperial Green rough stone. The air seemed to freeze, with only that SHHH SHHH grinding sound echoing through the shop.
As the outer crust was ground away bit by bit, the edges of that Imperial Green seemed to become clearer, its scope quietly expanding outward under the washing water.
Seeing this, one of the people standing closest immediately shouted, "It’s a winner! It really looks like a winner! It’s Imperial Green further down, too!"
This exclamation was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly causing a commotion among the crowd.
"Oh my god! It’s Imperial Green underneath, too!!!"
"Is... is this a solid green piece?"
"Mother of God, if they grind off all the crust and it’s completely this color inside, the value... I can’t even imagine it, I really can’t!"
"Never mind being solid green, if it’s even five centimeters thick, it could easily yield several Imperial Green pendants! Selling it for two or three million wouldn’t be a problem at all!"
"Mr. Sutton is about to score a huge bargain this time!"
Listening to the increasingly excited discussions around her, Charlotte Lynch’s heart instantly leapt into her throat. Her face, which had just been flushed, now drained of all color and turned deathly pale.
She froze completely. "It’s over... It’s over... We really sold it for a loss..."
The gap between 300,000 and two or three million left her mind completely blank.
The SHHH SHHH of the grinding continued, and the outer black stone crust was slowly peeled away. Suddenly, the gem cutter furrowed his brows as a patch of grayish-green entered his line of sight. Seeing such a glaring grayish-green color, his heart skipped a beat.
He had handled at least several thousand rough jadeite stones, if not ten thousand. He naturally knew what this situation meant. After hesitating for a moment, he swiftly turned off the cutting machine.
Seeing his actions, someone immediately clamored, "Hey, hey, hey, why did Old Spencer turn it off? Keep grinding!"
"Did Old Spencer not eat breakfast? Having to rest after grinding for only a little bit?"
"Something’s not right. Did something go wrong with the stone?"
"Did the cut turn out to be a dud?"
Among the onlookers, there were tourists and hobbyists who were just there for the spectacle, but naturally, there were also industry professionals. Seeing Old Spencer suddenly stop, these professionals immediately formed their own guesses.
Old Spencer didn’t rush to explain. Instead, he grabbed the high-powered flashlight from his waist and shone it onto the newly ground area. A second later, Old Spencer’s expression grew incredibly bizarre. Over the span of just a few short seconds, his face underwent a remarkably dramatic shift: from grave, to confused, to bizarre, to sympathetic, and finally, to regretful.
He moved the flashlight away and reached out with a finger covered in white stone dust slurry, gently wiping it across the newly ground window. As the stone dust was wiped away, the full view of the window was thoroughly exposed to the crowd.
Without the concealment of the water’s gleam, an incredibly glaring grayish-green hue beneath that rich green forcefully entered everyone’s line of sight. The green and grayish-green intertwined, resembling a small snake coiling around the rough stone.
"It’s moss! The green follows the moss; high-grade green emerges from dog-crap bases! This... this is ’moss-entangled green’! What a total pity!" An experienced-looking expert standing in the front row cried out in shock, his tone full of regret.
"What’s ’moss-entangled green’?" an ignorant tourist nearby hurriedly asked.
A middle-aged woman in casual clothes nearby shook her head and sighed. "It means the jadeite and the moss have grown together! This kind of material looks like it has green, but right next to it is all moss. According to industry insiders, it means this rough stone isn’t old enough, and the green hasn’t fully developed inside. If another few hundred or a thousand years had passed, that moss would have turned into green. What a shame, it’s really too much of a pity!"
Upon hearing this, the entire crowd broke into an uproar!
Mr. Sutton, who had been as steady as Mount Tai, also furrowed his brows. He shot a look at his nearby bodyguard, who immediately understood and took the rough stone from the gem cutter’s hands. Mr. Sutton picked up a high-powered flashlight and leaned in close to inspect the stone himself.
Under the beam of light, that patch of grayish-green moss and the cobweb-like cracks were so clear, so shocking to the eye. Looking at this streak of moss-entangled green, he remained silent for a full half-minute. You could have heard a pin drop in the entire shop. Everyone held their breath, waiting for this big shot’s final verdict.
After looking at it for a full dozen seconds, Mr. Sutton finally put down the flashlight and instructed Old Spencer, "It should be moss-entangled green. Now it just depends on how large this streak is. If it doesn’t completely penetrate through, then this stone can still yield some material. Stop grinding. Just cut it straight down along this face."
Mr. Sutton was extremely experienced and gave his judgment directly. Although he had seen the moss-entangled green, he hadn’t completely given up hope. This rough stone had only cost 300,000. As long as this patch of moss-entangled green didn’t completely cut the stone in half, based on the current situation, they should still be able to dig out enough for a few ring faces. When that time came, even if he took a loss, it wouldn’t be a catastrophic one.