Three-Man Contest (Three)

All three were extremely confident in their eyesight, and with so many eyes watching them, they naturally could not be foolish enough to tamper with the rough stones. Thus, after verifying their respective rough stones, they placed them on the cutting machines, ready to open them up.

The bad fissure on Chu Chen's rough stone happened to lie at the one-third mark of the stone, while the pine-flower markings were on the side at the two-thirds mark. This considerably increased the chances of the rough stone rising in value.

Otherwise, if the bad fissure had been right in the middle, it would have had a much greater impact on the jade inside. If the rough stone had been relatively small, many people would have already sentenced it to death. Even as things stood, the spectators remained highly skeptical that this rough stone could yield usable jade.

Chu Chen planned to start cutting from the bad fissure and split the rough stone in two. He first drew a line on it with a pen, then pressed the power switch on the stone-cutting machine and guided the blade down along the fissure.

The other two did not do as Chu Chen had. They both chose to grind their stones, and the sounds of "clack-clack" and "sizzle-sizzle" rang out without end.

While the three were cutting their stones, the surrounding crowd began discussing things animatedly. A young man in his thirties sighed, "Compared to them, I feel like I'm already too old!"

"What makes you say that?" his friend asked.

"Look at the three of them. One bet on a rough stone with a type of moss no one could understand, one understood grid fissures, and one bet on a straight moss. I really wouldn't have the nerve to gamble on these three