Half an hour later, the car stopped at the Jade Rough Stone Market. An entire street was lined with stalls and shops selling rough stones. It was crowded with people, as gambling on stones was a form of gambling, and many hoped to strike it rich this way.
Upon entering the market, Li Se spotted a familiar face. It was none other than Hong Zhixue.
Li Se recalled that Elder Wei had mentioned that Hong Zhixue’s family owned a jewelry store. It seemed he was a competitor to Chen Bin.
“It’s you!” Hong Zhixue gritted his teeth upon seeing Li Se, his expression as if he wanted to devour Li Se alive.
Chen Bin seemed to sense the animosity between them and immediately stepped forward, asking, “Hong Zhixue, what is it? Still want to fight?”
“Chen Bin, don’t think I don’t know. You lost a fortune on the rough stones you bought yesterday, didn’t you?” Hong Zhixue sneered.
Chen Bin’s expression turned somewhat grim. He hadn’t expected Hong Zhixue to know about it. It seemed this guy had been paying close attention to him.
Seeing Chen Bin’s silence, Hong Zhixue continued to mock him, “You didn’t even bring a gambling stone expert today. Are you planning to lose even your underwear?”
After laughing, he shot Li Se a glare before moving off to another area.
“Li Se, did you offend him?” Chen Bin asked, bewildered.
Li Se smiled and nodded, but didn't say much more. He couldn’t be bothered to speak with someone like Hong Zhixue. As long as Hong Zhixue didn’t provoke him, he wouldn’t seek trouble. However, if he was provoked, then he wouldn't mind teaching Hong Zhixue a lesson.
The spiritual energy in the rough stone market was quite abundant, mainly emanating from these raw stones. Li Se sensed it and immediately detected a spot with the densest spiritual energy.
Chen Bin said, “Li Se, come, I’ll take you to some more upscale places. It’s hard to find good rough stones at these small stalls.”
Li Se, however, shook his head. “That’s not necessarily true. Yesterday, out of the four rough stones that showed green, two were just fillers, and they still showed green, didn’t they?”
Chen Bin found his words reasonable, so he accompanied Li Se as they browsed the small stalls. In truth, as a jewelry store owner, he rarely visited these small stalls. The main reason was that the rough stones from these stalls were generally not of good quality, nor were they expensive. Of course, the cheapest would likely still cost over a hundred thousand, but he usually bought rough stones worth millions.
Li Se stopped in front of a small stall and picked up a rough stone with a very ordinary appearance. He asked, “Boss, how much for this rough stone?”
“One hundred and twenty thousand!” the boss said casually, glancing at it.
“I’ll take it.” Li Se made his purchase decisively. He could sense that this small stone contained dense spiritual energy, even richer than ordinary rough stones. This could only mean one thing: the quality of the jade within this rough stone was very good.
“Haha!”
As soon as Li Se finished his purchase, a mocking voice erupted from nearby.
Who else could it be but Hong Zhixue?
“Chen Bin, you just lost tens of millions, and now you can’t even afford decent rough stones?” Hong Zhixue laughed heartily.
“What’s it to you?” Chen Bin replied, slightly annoyed.
Hong Zhixue’s face was full of mockery. “Chen Bin, if you can’t afford it, just tell me. I can give you one.”
Chen Bin’s expression turned grim. Hong Zhixue was clearly here to humiliate him.
“Are you really giving it away?” Li Se asked earnestly.
“Take this one!” Hong Zhixue was quite generous, tossing a roughly ordinary-looking rough stone to Li Se.
“How about this? I’ll buy this one from you for five hundred thousand.” Li Se didn’t want to take it for free.
“As you wish.” Hong Zhixue’s eyes were filled with malice whenever he saw Li Se.
Li Se took Hong Zhixue’s account number, transferred fifty thousand to him, and then took possession of his rough stone.
“Li Se, why are you buying a rough stone from him?” Chen Bin asked.
Li Se smiled and said, “This rough stone will show green, believe it or not?”
“Really?” Chen Bin became somewhat excited. If it truly showed green, Hong Zhixue would likely vomit blood later.
“Hmm!” Suddenly, Li Se sensed something and immediately headed into a rough stone shop. The shop was well-decorated, with rough stones displayed like jewels on counters. However, what caught his eye was not the stones on display, but one that was discarded in a corner, looking very unappealing.
“Li Se, I think this one is good!” Chen Bin pointed to one of them.
Li Se nodded and asked, “Boss, how much is this?”
“Five million!” The boss held up his palm.
“Li Se, I’ll pay for this. After it’s cut, I’ll still buy it from you at the jade price,” Chen Bin said, thinking Li Se might not have that much money. Although he had transferred five million to Li Se yesterday, he had already spent quite a bit on some rough stones just now.
“I have money,” Li Se replied with a smile, then said to the boss, “Boss, I’ll buy this rough stone. Also, could you give me that rough stone in the corner as a gift?”
The boss glanced at the rough stone in the corner, knowing it wouldn’t show any green, and nodded, “Certainly.”
After paying and completing the transaction, Li Se and Chen Bin headed to the cutting area. Coincidentally, Hong Zhixue was already there, cutting his rough stones.
“It showed green, it showed green!”
Someone exclaimed.
Hong Zhixue’s face was filled with pride, but as soon as he saw Li Se, his expression soured. He had decided that he wouldn’t let Li Se off the hook today.
“Damn it, the quality of this jade is quite good,” Chen Bin said, somewhat displeased.
Hong Zhixue had bought three rough stones in total, all of very good quality. One had failed, and two had shown green. By any calculation, he had made a profit.
Subsequently, Li Se took his purchased rough stones to be cut.
“With this kind of quality, you expect it to show green?” Hong Zhixue sneered.
The onlookers, seeing the appearance of the stones, lost any desire to watch. They assumed Li Se was someone with no money who insisted on gambling on stones, which usually resulted in losses.
The first rough stone was cut.
“It actually showed green!” Many people exclaimed.
“The quality of this jade is ice-type!” Chen Bin said excitedly.
Hong Zhixue’s face turned grim because he recognized this rough stone. It was the one he had sold to Li Se for fifty thousand. At that moment, he wished he could smash his head onto the cutting machine.
Next was the second stone, which also showed green.
The third stone, green!
The fourth stone, also green!
Down to the last one.
When the final rough stone was cut, everyone present was stunned. The jade cut from this last stone was clearly of better quality than the previous ones.
“What kind of green is this?”
“How could such a poor-looking rough stone yield such high-quality jade?”
Many were extremely shocked.
At this moment, someone knowledgeable gasped, “This is… Imperial Green!”
Upon hearing Imperial Green, everyone was even more astonished. Imperial Green was the best color and the most valuable green in jade, also known as emerald green.
Many people who frequented this rough stone market had never seen anyone successfully cut Imperial Green before!