For stones with a starting bid of one million, Fu Pangzi's bid of two million was already quite high. The mouths of everyone present, which had just opened, immediately closed.
Li Yang smiled and said, "Congratulations to Boss Fu for winning this stone. There is one last stone, with a starting bid of 1.5 million."
"Three million!" Before anyone could speak, Fu Pangzi immediately raised his fair and plump hand and shouted loudly.
Damn it!
An uproar of angry shouts and curses erupted from the scene, "Are you kidding me! The auction has just begun, and you're doubling the price?"
"Yeah, we don't even get a chance to speak, can you give us some face?"
"Having money makes you great! Sob sob sob~" A female jade gambling player burst into tears of frustration.
Fu Pangzi chuckled and said, "My apologies, I have matters to attend to at noon, so I have to hurry."
"If anyone offers a higher price, I won't take it."
"I'll offer your sister!" Many people cursed, but no one raised the price further.
In the end, all three stones were bought by Fu Pangzi alone, costing a total of ten million!
And this amount was exactly the total price Li Yang had paid for Boss Zhuang's twenty-three stones earlier!
He had recouped his investment with just three stones!
Boss Zhuang's face turned somewhat pale as he muttered, "Fake, all fake. How could the investment be recouped so quickly? It's simply unreasonable. This must all be fake."
"Boss, don't panic, this is definitely fake," Master Zhang immediately said.
Li Yang glanced at the two of them and then said to Fu Pangzi, "Boss Fu's出手 is truly generous, extremely magnanimous."
"If you think it's alright, shall I mark the lines for you?"
"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Fu Pangzi was overjoyed and quickly said, "Everyone knows Boss Li's jade gambling skills are top-notch. With your help marking the lines, my precious stones will be foolproof!"
"Please, please do!"
"Damn it, if I had known Boss Li would help mark the lines, I would have bid higher earlier!" The crowd, seeing Li Yang pick up an oil-based pen to start marking, was filled with regret!
The stones were personally selected and priced by Li Yang, so the crowd had no doubt about whether good things would be found inside.
However, they were not confident in their own stone-cutting skills, which was why they hesitated to bid higher. They feared buying at a high price only to ruin the good findings themselves.
If they had known Li Yang would intervene, they would have certainly competed with Fu Pangzi!
"I regret it to death!"
"The acting of these guys is getting more and more exaggerated," Master Zhang said dismissively.
Boss Zhuang nodded and said, "Extremely exaggerated. Just drawing a line can elicit such a reaction; they've really overdone it."
"Otherwise, why call them extras? Their acting is just not good enough," Master Zhang sneered.
However, when the stone that was bid at five million had its lines drawn and was placed on the cutting table, and the first cut was made, their expressions immediately changed.
The stone-cutting master lifted the blade, revealing the two crystal-clear, purple cut surfaces of the jade, as if shrouded in icy mist, and immediately exclaimed, "My heavens!"
"It's high ice-grade violet jade!"
"That's amazing!"
"No, it seems there's a bit of red too."
"The red part is red jade. High ice-grade red jade is also quite rare. It's just that the amount of red jade on this piece is not large, and it's scattered, looking a bit messy. Otherwise, it would be a bi-colored jade, and the price would be even higher."
"You know quite a lot, you're an expert! Then tell me, how much is this stone worth now?"
"At least eight million."
"Holy cow! This is just the first cut, right? Boss Li drew three lines, meaning there are two more cuts to be made."
"Don't cut it anymore, Boss Fu, I'll buy it for ten million!"
"Sell it to me for twelve million!"
The crowd went wild, shouting and urging Boss Fu not to cut, but to sell it to them directly. "Just sell it to me, otherwise, if it's ruined later, you won't even get eight million!"
"Can Boss Li's stone-cutting fail? Stop scaring me. Master, please continue cutting for me, I'll give you a big red envelope later." Fu Pangzi glanced at those who were advising him, chuckled, and told the stone-cutting master to continue.
The stone-cutting master nodded and continued cutting the stone.
There are actually two meanings to stone-cutting: one is that the stone-cutting master cuts the stone, only responsible for opening it. The other is quite professional, requiring an exceptionally deep understanding of the internal structure of the jade stone, then deconstructing the structure, and drawing cutting lines to preserve large, good pieces of jade as much as possible during the cutting process.
The saying "one cut to heaven, one cut to hell" is also a description of the stone-cutting process. For example, if Li Yang had not drawn the lines well for Fu Pangzi's current stone, and the first cut directly split a large piece of jade in half, its value would be greatly reduced, and it would definitely not be worth seven or eight million.
And if the next line was also not drawn well, causing cracks in the originally good whole piece of jade, or if it was cut into smaller pieces, its value would naturally be greatly reduced.
Therefore, a good stone-cutting master is crucial to the outcome of jade gambling.
Generally, novice players who want to play big should never draw the lines themselves; it's best to ask experts in this field for help. Otherwise, ask the stone-cutting masters at the jade gambling venue for their opinion before deciding how to cut the stone.
At least the stone-cutting masters have rich experience, which is much better than a new beginner.
Watching the second cut fall and be lifted, everyone leaned in closer, watching more intently.
This time, a piece of blood-red and orange-yellow material appeared, but the surface was not a rich icy mist, but slightly icy, with almost no mist visible.
In this situation, if it were jade, it would most likely be ice-grade, one level lower than high ice-grade.
"Ice-grade red and yellow bi-colored jade!"
"My god! This is no less valuable than the high ice-grade violet jade from before!"
"Red and yellow bi-colored jade is quite rare. Such a large piece, worth at least six million?"
"But he only spent five million to buy this stone! How much profit is that? I'm completely numb!"
"Haha, hahahaha!" Boss Fu laughed heartily, his eyes full of gratitude towards Li Yang, "Thank you, Boss Li!"
"This is your good luck, it has little to do with me," Li Yang said with a smile.
Fu Pangzi said, "Boss Li, you are too modest. Regardless, I must thank you for giving me this opportunity."
"It's almost lunchtime, if it's convenient for you, may I treat you to a meal?"
"Boss Fu, I appreciate your kindness. I have other arrangements for lunch," Li Yang said with a smile, shaking his head, and glancing at Shui Xiang.
Fu Pangzi understood immediately and chuckled, "Understood, I understand completely! Don't worry, I'll treat you to a meal next time when you're free."
"Master, please cut the last one as well."