Volume One, Chapter Seven: The Rough Gem Appreciation Gathering

A night passed in silence.

The next morning, Zhang Wenxuan set off early, heading straight to Jade Street. As he stepped off the vehicle, he happened to see Sun Ya emerging from within the street.

“Miss Sun.”

“Mr. Zhang!”

Zhang Wenxuan approached, and upon clearly seeing Sun Ya, his eyes lit up. Today, she wore a casual professional outfit, exuding the aura of a sophisticated urban woman. A black skirt paired with sheer black stockings emphasized her sharpness and competence.

“You’re just in time, Mr. Zhang. The appraisal event is about to start. Let’s head over now!” Sun Ya smiled.

“Alright!” Zhang quickly recovered himself, suppressing the urge to activate his heavenly eye to see through things. After all, he prided himself on being an upright gentleman—there was no way he’d spy using such powers.

Following Sun Ya to the parking lot, Zhang noticed a dazzling red Lamborghini parked there, as vibrant as a roaring flame. Sun Ya opened the door and slid in, giving him a meaningful glance.

Impressive—a wealthy woman indeed!

Zhang Wenxuan’s eyes gleamed with envy. The Lamborghini was obviously worth a fortune, easily several million yuan. With his current wealth, he couldn’t afford such a luxury car yet. It was clear he needed to work harder to earn more.

The engine roared like a beast as Sun Ya pressed the accelerator, and the red sports car shot forward like an arrow from a bow, quickly disappearing at the end of the street.

...

The fiery red car raced along until it finally stopped in front of a bustling market. The two stepped out and, under Sun Ya’s guidance, entered the market. The scene was a cacophony of voices and movement.

Although the raw stone appraisal conference hadn’t started yet, the market was already packed with people, a sea of heads pressing in every direction.

Numerous stalls were set up, displaying raw stones of various sizes. Beyond the uncut stones waiting for appraisal, there were also many jade products on display.

“Mr. Zhang, feel free to explore the market on your own for now. I’ll let you know when the appraisal event begins,” Sun Ya said.

“No problem!” Zhang nodded eagerly. This was exactly what he wanted. With so many raw stones at the appraisal, his heavenly eye was already tingling with anticipation. If luck were on his side today, by the end of the event his net worth might well reach into the tens of millions.

“Stay calm. I mustn’t let my actions become too extraordinary,” he reminded himself. “One successful guess is skill, twice is coincidence, but if I can always succeed, people will be suspicious,” Zhang mused with narrowed eyes.

He had reviewed his actions from the previous day and realized he had been too bold in Sun Ya’s raw stone shop, hitting jackpot three times in a row, the last being a top-quality ice-type jade worth over a million yuan. Such luck was almost unbelievable.

Therefore, he resolved to keep a low profile today and control his abilities carefully.

Soon he stood before a stall where dozens of raw stones were displayed, ranging from the size of a fist to that of a basketball.

Silently, he activated his heavenly eye and carefully examined the stones within. The internal structure and quality of the stones were laid bare before him.

“Little brother, feel free to pick any stone! All the stones in my stall are premium and guaranteed to appreciate in value!” the stall owner boasted.

Zhang rolled his eyes in silence. If any stone here could easily appreciate, why not just cut and sell the jade himself?

His heavenly eye scan showed that less than one-tenth of the stones contained jade inside, and most were just worthless common rough material.

Having crammed last night on jade classifications and appraisal techniques, he was no longer a complete novice.

In his judgment, the stones here were of little value. Buying any of them would be a gamble not likely to pay off.

He turned to leave, but then a familiar voice caught his attention.

“Zhang Wenxuan, so you’re here too!”

It was Wang Dong.

Turning his head, Zhang saw the corpulent Wang waddling toward him.

“Again you? Are you some kind of stubborn leech? Why won’t you leave me alone?” Zhang snapped, offering no kindness.

“Or maybe those three slaps from yesterday still haven’t taught you a lesson?”

Looking closely, Wang’s face was still red and swollen.

Upon hearing the mention of the three slaps, Wang’s expression darkened.

“Don’t get too arrogant, Zhang Wenxuan! Today is the annual raw stone appraisal conference in Shangjiang City. Is it so strange for me to attend?”

“Or are you here to scavenge for leftovers? Do you really think you’re some kind of jade master?”

“Luck let you pick up three stones yesterday; that’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance. You really don’t know when to be satisfied!” Wang sneered with scorn.

Heh.

Zhang couldn’t help but laugh.

Seems yesterday’s lesson wasn’t enough if this clown still dares to act up in front of him.

Well, he was in a good mood today—time to have some fun with this fool.

“I don’t need you to tell me how to do things. Mind your own business!” Zhang said, then turned and walked away.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Wang indeed trailing behind.

Zhang pretended not to notice and headed to a nearby raw stone stall.

Activating his heavenly eye, he carefully inspected the stones before selecting a roughly basketball-sized square raw stone.

“Boss, how much for this stone?”

“One hundred fifty thousand,” the owner replied.

“I’ll take it,” Zhang smiled.

With a swipe of his card, he paid and carried the hefty stone away in one smooth motion.

Wang hid in the crowd, watching Zhang closely.

Zhang ignored him and approached a stone-cutting machine.

“Master, please cut this stone for me,” he said, drawing two lines on the stone with chalk.

“Just cut along these lines.”

The cutter nodded. “Alright.”

As the cutting began, many nearby eyes turned toward them.

“Someone else is cutting a stone. I wonder how their luck will be.”

“Look, a young man. Judging by his outfit, he doesn’t seem wealthy. Probably another poor kid dreaming of striking it rich through gambling on jade.”

“Hahaha, I’ve seen too many like that. None of them ever walk away with anything but losses!”