For some reason, Antony felt a bit uneasy and added, “Let me make one thing clear, as long as the value of the jade I cut is higher than the price I bought it for, it’s considered a win, even if it’s just a dollar more!”
“That goes without saying. If the value of the jade you cut out is lower than ten million, then I win,” Leo responded.
“Leo, are you really that sure?” Coral asked in a hushed voice. She understood gambling and could see that Antony’s half-gambling stone had excellent quality, making the chances of a win quite high.
Leo smiled and whispered back, “Honestly, I don’t have much confidence. It’s just that I feel my luck is still good, so I thought I’d take the chance while it lasts.”
Antony overheard their conversation, and a sense of satisfaction washed over him. He couldn’t believe that Leo would rely on luck to win against him.
Nicola couldn’t help but scoff at Leo, saying, “You’re really a gambler through and through!”
Leo shrugged, looking at Antony, and said, “Mr. William, let’s get started.”
Since the bet was with Leo, Antony couldn’t let him do the cutting. He geared up with protective gear and took the stone-polishing machine.
He powered it up, and the grinding wheel on the machine started spinning rapidly.
The discussions among the onlookers ceased as they fixed their gaze on the half-gambling stone in front of Antony.
Antony began polishing the stone, following the usual direction, expanding from the cut outward.
After a few minutes of grinding, Antony raised the tool and Jim poured a ladle of water on it.
The water washed away the mud, revealing a green color.
“Look, there’s green on the outer part !” someone exclaimed.
“I feel like it’s going to rise, and it could be a big one!”
“If this stone rises, it will be the fourth rise today on this cutting machine. It’s a legend in the gambling world!”
“Could it be that the cutting machine is in the best position…”
Amid the discussions, Antony’s face showed a hint of joy. He continued grinding, eager to prove Leo wrong.
After another round of grinding, Jim poured water on it again.
The green color kept spreading.
“The green color hasn’t faded!”
“Looks like that lucky young man is going to lose!”
The atmosphere was tense as Antony’s half-gambling stone continued to reveal green. Coral and Nicola looked worried. Leo, on the other hand, remained calm.
Leo’s nonchalant expression left Nicola wondering if he was just a reckless gambler. 42 million dollars was no small sum, and not many people could make that much money in a lifetime.
“Keith, I should have challenged Antony again. If I could get this half-gambling stone, this gambling festival wouldn’t have been a waste,” Madame K regretted.
Antony kept grinding, and the crowd kept watching.
After a few more minutes, Antony had cut through half of the stone’s surface. Jim poured water over it once again.
This time, instead of green, they saw gray rock exposed, and the green color had disappeared.
“The green is gone…”
“Is it possible that the grinding wasn’t deep enough?”
“Could it be… that it’s collapsed?”
The expressions on everyone’s faces became even more intense, and Antony’s palms started sweating, his heart thumping.
Pressing the power switch, Antony continued to wipe the area he had just wiped before. He must have wiped too lightly, that must be it!
Antony applied more force, and the scraping sound became especially grating.
After five or six minutes of rubbing, Antony signaled Jim to pour water.
Jim poured a ladle of water on it.
All eyes focused on the wiped surface again, but the concave area that Antony had wiped was still devoid of any green.
The icy green, which had been apparent in the raw stone, had disappeared entirely.
“Could there just be jade near the original cut?”
“What’s going on today? Why aren’t the ones we expected to go up going up, but instead the ones we didn’t expect are soaring in value?”
“Could the jade be inside the raw stone?”
The delight on Antony’s face had completely vanished, replaced by a distressed expression that could almost squeeze out bitter tears.
Nicola’s expression was somewhat astonished. With her eye for detail, the half-gambled rough stone on the stone-cutting machine should have at least an 80% chance of revealing the green. But now, it had collapsed.
After the astonishment passed, Nicola couldn’t help but look at Leo, who was calm and composed, and asked, “Tell the truth, did you know it was going to collapse?”
“How could I know? It was just a gut feeling from my good luck,” Leo replied.
“Hmph, I don’t believe you!” Nicola snorted and reminded him, “Right now, he’s just failed to bring out the green. Be prepared mentally in case the jade is still inside.”
Seeing their young master standing in a daze in front of the stone, Jim reminded, “Young Master, should we continue to scrape?”
“No, let’s cut!” Antony took a deep breath, trying to calm his face, and secretly prayed in his heart that the jade must be inside.
Jim moved the half-gambled rough stone on the stone-cutting machine to the spot under the cutting blade.
Antony held the handle of the stone-cutting machine, activated the power, and started to apply downward pressure.
The cutting blade quickly penetrated the half-gambled rough stone, making a grating friction sound.
As the blade slowly cut through, Antony’s tension increased bit by bit. He was cutting it right from the middle – victory or defeat would be decided with one cut.
The tension spread, and everyone held their breath.
“Crack!”
The half-gambled rough stone split into two from the middle.
Jim poured a ladle of water on the cut surface.
The water washed away the mud debris from the surface.
The cut was smooth, but there was no trace of green.
“Oh, this one’s really a loss.”
“I can’t believe it. How did it collapse like that?”
“I wanted to witness four consecutive rises, but it seems like it won’t happen.”
Antony’s face darkened completely. He couldn’t handle this reality. So, he took another half of the stone and made another cut from the middle.
Another ladle of water was poured over it, but the surface showed no green.
The whole half-gambling stone, except for the five centimeters from the original cut extending outward and two centimeters down, was all rock. Even if they used the green jade to its full potential, its value would be at most two to three million dollars, but Antony had bought it for ten million.
A sense of frustration overwhelmed Antony as he realized he had lost.
Coral and Nicola both looked at Leo with complex expressions.