Gambling Stones

Ye Yuan walked slowly along. The smaller stones were scattered randomly on shelves, while the larger ones were placed directly on the ground.

Ye Yuan knew nothing about Gambling Stones. He had briefly looked up some information online. Raw stones mainly came in several types: kilogram material, bagged material, display material, trade material, and premium material.

Even after reading many introductions, Ye Yuan was still confused. He looked at his phone while wandering back and forth among the stones.

From time to time, he touched this one or tapped that one. Just as his hand touched a raw stone the size of a large bowl—

"Energy Source detected. Can be exchanged for 1,000 points. Exchange?"

The system prompt sounded.

"No."

Ye Yuan immediately canceled the operation. He was afraid the stone would suddenly disappear right in front of him. With so many people watching, he would not be able to explain it.

This was the first time the system had given him a prompt without the item being placed into the storage space. Could it be because he had touched the stone?

Immediately afterward, he touched several stones nearby, but there was no response at all.

He would buy this one first and see. He looked at the stone in his hand. Its surface was brownish yellow, no different from the other stones.

Ye Yuan carried the stone over to the stall owner. "How much is this stone?"

"Three thousand yuan. No bargaining." The stall owner glanced at the stone in Ye Yuan's hand as he answered.

Ye Yuan did some quick calculations. If 1,000 points were exchanged for sea fish, it would take 1,000 jin, worth roughly 7,000 yuan. He could not lose money on this, so he swiped his card right away.

Of course, Ye Yuan could not exchange it for points yet. He wanted to know what was special about this stone.

He took the raw stone directly to the stone-cutting area in the middle. Cutting stones was an extremely thrilling affair. There was a saying in the Gambling Stones trade: "One cut makes you poor, one cut makes you rich." That perfectly described stone cutting.

He found a stone cutter. Stone cutting here was free. All the stall owners jointly paid the stone cutters' wages. If fine jade was found during the cutting process, people would generally give the cutter a red envelope. How much depended on the value of the jade uncovered.

The stone cutter operated with practiced skill. He calculated the cutting position, set the raw stone in place, and the cutting machine began to roar as it spun. One cut, stop the machine, inspect it, cut again, inspect again.

Each time, only a thin layer was cut from the raw stone. In the distance, Zhao Chuan and Second Brother both saw Ye Yuan cutting a stone and hurried over.

Second Brother grinned at Ye Yuan. "You moved fast, kid. How much did you pay for it?"

"Three thousand." Ye Yuan did not even turn his head. His eyes never left the stone.

Zhao Chuan came over without speaking to Ye Yuan. Instead, he looked at Master Nie beside him.

"The appearance is ordinary. The odds of it increasing in value are low." Master Nie gave his conclusion directly.

The stone cutter had already made four consecutive cuts, but every slice revealed nothing but plain white stone. Many of the surrounding onlookers shook their heads, believing that this stone was likely a loss.

When the stone cutter finished the fifth cut, sparks flew everywhere. After a burst of rumbling, another piece of the raw stone fell away, finally revealing a fingernail-sized patch of green inside.

"It went up! It went up!"

The voices of the onlookers immediately rose around them.

At this point, the stone cutter did not rush to continue cutting. Instead, he rinsed the raw stone with water. As the stone dust was washed from the green patch, the color beneath was revealed. Zhao Chuan said delightedly, "Glutinous Rice Jade."

The stone cutter shone a powerful flashlight on the green area to see the inside more clearly. After examining it for a long time, he finally said to Ye Yuan, "Glutinous Rice Jade. There are slight cracks, and the volume is not very large."

The people around them began discussing it again. Ye Yuan could not understand any of what they were saying and looked helplessly at Zhao Chuan.

Master Nie looked embarrassed. After all, he had just said the raw stone would not increase in value, only to be proven wrong so quickly.

At the same time, Master Nie could tell Ye Yuan was a layman, so he explained carefully, "Glutinous Rice Jade is among the finest grades of jadeite. It has a hardness of around seven. Its color resembles glutinous rice, which is where its name comes from. It has a slight yellow tint, and its transparency is not as good as Ice Jade."

Zhao Chuan immediately added, "Master Nie, you do not need to explain so much to him. This guy probably does not even know what Ice Jade is." He started laughing before he had even finished speaking.

Ye Yuan ignored Zhao Chuan and expressed his thanks to Master Nie.

The stone cutter continued. This time, he switched to an angle grinder. After every cut, he rinsed the stone with water. After repeating this process for ten minutes, the jade was finally separated out. It was about the size of an egg and irregularly shaped.

The people around them tossed around terms Ye Yuan could not understand, things like "good water" and "floating flowers." He did not understand a single one. Someone nearby directly offered 8,000 yuan.

Zhao Chuan said directly to the person who made the offer, "He's my brother, so stop thinking about picking up a bargain."

Zhao Chuan had not been in the trade for long, but he had started from a high point. He was still quite well-known in Shangjing's jewelry and jade circle.

When everyone saw Zhao Chuan say that, they all dispersed.

Second Brother came over cheerfully and threw an arm around Ye Yuan's shoulders. "Not bad, not bad. Eldest Brother said your luck had been good lately and that you had gotten your hands on quite a few good things. I did not believe him. Now I really am convinced. With luck like yours, who can compare?"

Ye Yuan replied irritably, "You care about this little bit of money? Would this jade even cover a few days at your hotel?"

"How can that be the same? Do you understand the process? Gambling Stones is about the thrill. The result is not important."

"I only care about the result. The process is not important." Ye Yuan shot back directly.

Zhao Chuan came over at that moment. "I'll take it for ten thousand."

Ye Yuan glanced at Zhao Chuan. "Let's see after this is over. I was planning to use this jade to make some jewelry for my mom and sister."

"That works. I'll have the company's designer help you design it later." Zhao Chuan did not press the matter. After all, this piece of jade was nothing to his company. He was simply happy that Ye Yuan's gamble had paid off.

After chatting for a few moments, everyone went off again to look for stones they liked. Ye Yuan also casually gave the stone cutter a 500-yuan red envelope.

Through this stone-cutting experience, he learned that jade could provide points. At the same time, he learned that as long as his hand touched a raw stone, the system could display the number of points it contained.

Ye Yuan believed that the higher the points, the better the corresponding jade grade. Wanting to know whether his idea was correct, he began searching among the raw stones again.

Eventually, Ye Yuan found a raw stone worth only 50 points in a pile of stones. He paid 1,000 yuan for it.

He took the stone to the cutting area and found the same cutter as before. The cutter split it open in just a few minutes. This stone was not large, and after it was cut open, there was only a tiny amount of green. The stone cutter told him this gamble had lost.

Ye Yuan gathered up the jade fragments and put them directly into his backpack.

Everyone understood. After all, the fragments could still be made into small earrings or something similar. But compared with the price of the raw stone, it was a disastrous loss.

After cutting two stones, Ye Yuan could see that this was an opportunity for him. Blue Island City did not have places like this for Gambling Stones, and he could not come to Shangjing to gamble on stones often. Once or twice could be explained as luck, but over time, anyone paying attention would definitely grow suspicious. The jade circle was relatively small. Besides, he did not want to become addicted to Gambling Stones.