Chapter 16: He Was Right Again

Pan Yumei had been in the trade for over ten years and had witnessed countless true stories of jade gambling losses so severe they left people gasping for breath. Which owner, before cutting the stone, wasn’t beaming with the same confidence as Zhao Chen? Yet once the stone was cut, few could still smile. One cut could lead to ruin, another to fortune; one cut could reveal mere burlap—this was no mere saying.

A close friend of hers had once bet everything on jade gambling, lost hopelessly, and ended her life by jumping from the Border Trade Building. The reason she streamed live-cutting jade was merely to attract customers for her company. Seeing Zhao Chen’s youthful appearance and his shameless instructions on how to cut the stones, she immediately judged him an amateur.

Tang Yan gave a half-smile and said, “Don’t rush to cut. First, tell me what these two pieces are.”

“The one in the left hand is tea ice, a glutinous icy jade, capable of producing four to six large circular bracelets,” Zhao Chen said confidently as he examined the two stones. “As for the right one, it’s a white base with green floating flowers, above standard ice quality.”

“Pfft! Hahaha…” Pan Yumei burst out laughing and addressed the camera, “Dear viewers, a handsome young man just came into the shop with two pieces of raw jade, uncut without any windows, claiming they’re tea ice and floating flower ice. Do you believe that?”

She then focused the camera on the two stones in Zhao Chen’s hands, giving a detailed introduction. “These look like Myanmar jade, with a white sand skin and thick crust. Without opening a window, he dares to be so certain of the texture, water quality, and base color inside. I don’t know if you believe him, but I certainly don’t.”

The live stream had roughly three thousand viewers, mainly jade enthusiasts and some newcomers. Comments filled with skepticism and sarcasm appeared.

“Is this guy scared of crickets and wants to see how we diss him?”

“Man, you really think too highly of yourself. I’ve been in jade gambling for over four years and have never seen someone so full of hot air.”

“Maybe he has X-ray vision. Aren’t those silly short dramas always like this? Haha!”

Zhao Chen smirked coldly but chose not to respond and left the stream. If the audience was this low-level, he’d rather watch a beautiful woman dance the ancient bamboo harp.

Moments later, the buzz of the water saw cutting began. Tang Yan, also on her phone waiting for the result, suddenly stood up and urged, “Yumei, hurry and take a look.”

Pan Yumei lifted the dust cover and wiped the water off one half of the cut stone. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“This… he really guessed it right?”

Zhao Chen had said this piece was tea ice. Looking at the fracture, it was indeed tea brown, with ample translucency, nearly reaching standard ice quality.

Tang Yan peeked over and, shocked, swore, “Damn, it really is tea ice?”

She then glanced at Zhao Chen, still absorbed in his phone, puzzled by how he could have known. The combined thickness of the skin and cloudy layer on the fracture was at least three centimeters.

No amount of lamp inspection or even X-ray could reveal that. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she would have ignored such a thick-skinned stone in the market.

“The internal transformation is thorough; truly a marvel of nature!” Tang Yan’s eyes gleamed as she illuminated and examined the fracture, practically itching to take it back to discuss with the masters.

At that moment, the jade carving craftsman working beside them on the windowed piece also voiced his astonishment.

“Huh? It really is white base with green floating flowers? How did he see that?”

The windowed stone was an irregularly shaped oil-skinned piece, resembling a broken corner of a horn-shaped bread. Lamp inspection on the outside revealed nothing, but its shape and skin were decent.

Normally, such a piece wouldn’t sell for more than twenty thousand.

Now, after opening a window, the price would surge by at least tenfold!

Hearing the surprise, Tang Yan hurried over. “Let me see, let me see…”

She began pressing the lamp to observe its internal structure.

“Oh my god! He got it right again.”

The white base green jade reached standard ice quality, glowing completely under the lamp. There was almost no need to open another window to see clearly inside. Though it had two streaky cracks, they didn’t penetrate deeply. It was estimated that nearly ten bracelets and dozens of pendants and small pieces could be cut from it.

Two explosive revelations stunned Pan Yumei into speechless astonishment. In her ten years of experience, she had never encountered such a thing—someone accurately naming the texture, water quality, and base color inside before cutting. Could this young man’s eyesight be better than X-ray?

At that moment, the live chat exploded with countless “Holy shits!” It seemed no other words could express the viewers’ shock.

“Holy shit, how did he do that? Is this staged?”

“Maybe he already cut the stones and glued them back together to fool us.”

“Are you nuts upstairs? Do you know how much these two stones are worth? Combined, they can buy a house within the third ring of the capital city. Cutting them for fun? You’re not worthy.”

“Seriously? These two pieces worth ten million?”

“I’ll offer nine ninety-nine, hurry, grab the little yellow car.”

Pan Yumei had no patience for the viewers’ comments anymore. The kilograms of jade she cut in the stream never exceeded thirty thousand and were all slow-moving stock from the company, just for show.

Witnessing two high-value pieces worth millions cut right before her eyes left her utterly shocked.

Tang Yan excitedly pulled Zhao Chen aside with a bright smile. “Handsome, I want both your stones. Name your price.”

Zhao Chen wasn’t in a hurry to quote a price, uncertain of their true value, so he cautiously asked, “How much are you willing to pay?”