49: Jade in stone

At 12:00 AM on Saturday, Ye Su waited punctually for the level-two intelligence to refresh.

[Ding!]

[Today's Intelligence (Level Two): At Stall 17 on the fifth floor of the Yufeng Jade City on Changlin Road, there is a piece of jade wrapped in stone that hasn't been cut open. Because the stone skin is too thick, it has gone completely unnoticed. The jade meat inside is estimated to be worth around 60,000 yuan.]

"Jade wrapped in stone? Gambling on stone?"

Ye Su scratched his chin with his index finger.

Ye Su had naturally heard of the Yufeng Jade City on Changlin Road. It was one of the four major jade markets in Guangdong Province, a whole street of jade shops that gathered over eighty percent of the jade merchants in Guangzhou.

However, although Yufeng Jade City was famous, Ye Su was completely clueless about this industry.

Being a young man in his early twenties and knowing nothing about the jade industry was perfectly normal.

The industry was deep, and the jade meat inside that stone was worth 60,000 yuan. Ye Su immediately picked up his phone and began cramming relevant knowledge and unspoken rules so he wouldn't appear too much of a novice when he went to the jade market tomorrow.

Much like what he had seen in TV dramas, "jade wrapped in stone" referred to something where the contents were encased in a stone skin, impossible to see through with the naked eye.

Stone gamblers could only rely on their eyesight, experience, and luck to select a stone that might change their destiny.

Before the first cut, no one could be sure if the inside held priceless Imperial Green jade or worthless scraps.

That was why the saying, "One cut makes you poor, one cut makes you rich, one cut leaves you wearing sackcloth," circulated in the stone gambling industry.

The nuances of the stone gambling industry were too profound, so this last-minute cramming session certainly wouldn't be of much help. Ye Su just focused on understanding the common knowledge regarding transactions, then wrapped his arms around Chen Xinyi beside him and drifted off to sleep.

"What's the plan for today?"

After eating breakfast on Saturday, Chen Xinyi lay lazily on the sofa, stretching and asking Ye Su what activities there were for the day.

Ye Su was still looking at his phone, making final preparations for the upcoming battle, and didn't even look up when he heard her:

"I'm going to stroll around Yufeng Jade City today. If you aren't interested, you can wait for me at home or see where you want to go yourself. I'll be back by noon."

"Yufeng Jade City?" Chen Xinyi tilted her head, looking at Ye Su with confusion. "What are you going there for? Looking at your age, you don't seem like someone interested in jade, right?"

"Just going for a casual stroll."

"A casual stroll?" Chen Xinyi clearly didn't believe him. "Don't tell me you're planning to hook up with some rich old lady and want to go buy a jade bracelet or something to please her."

Feeling mischievous, Chen Xinyi sat up straight. "Given our relationship, you'd better keep me in mind if there's a good opportunity like that. After you hook up with a rich lady, remember to introduce me to a rich old man, preferably one who looks like he's on his last legs."

Ye Su's face was filled with speechlessness. "A rich old man on his last legs? I think you're really hungry for it."

"I'm not hungry, I'm broke."

"So, are you waiting for me at home?" Ye Su let his gaze wander over Chen Xinyi's lovely figure. "If so, remember to cook dinner and wait for Daddy to come back."

"Daddy your head, you idiot!"

Thinking of the reason why Ye Su referred to himself as "Daddy," Chen Xinyi's pretty face turned red, and she immediately got up and lunged at Ye Su.

The result was naturally like a lamb entering a tiger's den, giving Ye Su a free treat.

"I'm going too." The defeated Chen Xinyi glared at Ye Su, pouting. "I want to see what's so interesting about the jade city."

"Suit yourself." Ye Su didn't mind; he just hoped she wouldn't be too shocked when the time came.

Spending ten minutes applying makeup skillfully, Chen Xinyi went out with Ye Su, who had just finished taking a dump.

The jade street on Changlin Road, where Yufeng Jade City was located, consisted of four streets and gathered over a thousand jade merchants and stalls.

After getting out of the car, Ye Su didn't wander around.

Under Chen Xinyi's puzzled gaze, he bought a high-intensity flashlight from a street stall, then took her hand and headed straight to the center of the jade street, standing before a six-story building with an antique style that covered an area of over ten thousand square meters.

To Chen Xinyi's surprise, after entering the building, Ye Su still didn't stop at any of the major jade stalls, heading straight to the fifth floor in the elevator, clearly with a very specific goal.

"You aren't planning on playing that stone-cutting game like in the TV dramas, are you?"

On the fifth floor were dazzling arrays of stalls, and on the tables they had set out were nondescript stones. There were customers weaving through the stalls, holding flashlights and occasionally shining them on the stones on the counters, as well as some streamers holding selfie sticks and livestreaming. Connecting this to the flashlight Ye Su had just bought outside, how could Chen Xinyi not understand what Ye Su was here at the jade city to do?

"You even know about this?"

Last time she took Ye Su to see Wan Yuanliang, it had led Chen Xinyi to believe that Ye Su might have some research into antique collecting. But she hadn't expected him to understand these stones too.

"I don't understand any of this; I'm just here to try my luck and see if I can make some pocket money."

"Ah! You don't understand?" Chen Xinyi lowered her voice. "I've heard that the nuances of this stuff are very deep, and even insiders can get burned if they aren't careful. If you don't know anything, aren't you just handing money over to others by coming here!"

"Do I look like a fool to you?" Ye Su smiled calmly at Chen Xinyi. "Don't worry, I'm just going to take a look and treat it as a learning experience."

"Alright." Although Chen Xinyi was a bit worried, she didn't force Ye Su to leave.

But when Ye Su strolled all the way to Stall 17, he was stunned.

"Boss, the stone skin is so thick that even light can't pass through it. Whether it can produce anything inside is a big question mark. 8,000 yuan is already quite a lot, isn't it?"

In front of Stall 17, a man in his thirties was holding a stone about a dozen centimeters in size in one hand and a flashlight in the other. After shining it over the stone from several angles, he handed it over to haggle with the boss.

Even though the flashlight was turned off, Ye Su could still see that the stone in the man's hand was emitting a faint fluorescent glow.

Besides that, none of the other stones on the table at Stall 17 had the system's prompt light glowing.

Without a doubt, the stone in the man's hand was the piece of "jade wrapped in stone" mentioned in the intelligence as having [stone skin too thick, gone unnoticed].

"Damn it! Didn't it say it had gone completely unnoticed! Why is it that the moment I arrive, someone else has already taken an interest in it!"

Worried that his 60,000 yuan would go down the drain, but not daring to show his anxiety, Ye Su could only bring Chen Xinyi to the side, pretending to watch the excitement while listening to the two men's conversation.

"A stone this big, 8,000 yuan definitely won't cut it." The boss refused the man's bargaining without even thinking.

"10,000!" The man wouldn't give up and added to his offer. "10,000 is quite a lot, isn't it? If I still can't take it, I'm leaving!"

Although he said that, the man had no intention of leaving. After placing the stone back on the table, his hand remained pressed on it, indicating that this was the stone he had his eye on.

"Just hurry up and leave!"

Ye Su complained anxiously in his heart, but he couldn't chime in to tell the boss that he wanted this stone.

According to the rules he had looked up last night, stone gambling was just like picking up leaks in antiques; as long as the two parties were still negotiating a transaction, no one else could interject even if they had taken a fancy to it.

Anything involving the word [money], once the rules were broken, no one could say what kind of trouble it might cause.

No matter how anxious Ye Su was, he could only patiently wait for the man to give up on this piece of jade wrapped in stone.