Frank must be incredibly wealthy to bid like this; he’s not giving anyone else a chance.
“Thirty-six million!” a well-fed middle-aged woman raised her sign.
“Forty million!” Frank didn’t hesitate to raise his bid again.
Now, no one dared to compete with him.
In the end, Frank secured the second stone with a staggering bid of fourty million dollars.
Next was the time for free selection and bidding. This meant the organizers would release many pieces of jade stones, and attendees could personally pick their favorites. If multiple attendees liked the same piece, they could bid against each other, with the highest bidder winning.
After the staff transported over a hundred pieces of jade stones to the front, Leo said, “Sophia, Dad, let’s also choose some.”
As the employee for the Wilde Jewelry Group, Leo needed to find at least one piece of jade stone each month that could yield a significant profit. Since they were already here, he might as well complete this month’s task.
Frank, who had just successfully bid for two high-quality jade stones, saw Leo and the others selecting jadeite and decided to join them with his wife.
Leo quickly spotted his target among the stones and pointed, “This piece looks good.”
People around him couldn’t help but chuckle and even burst into laughter when they saw Leo pointing at this particular piece. Some found it hilarious.
“Kid, you’ve got an interesting taste. This one is indeed exceptional!” someone teased.
Leo had indeed chosen a rather “eye-catching” piece. Its outer shell was grayish-white, with no moss or patterns, and it even had some pinkish hues mixed in.
In the world of jadeite, there was a saying about such pink hues: “Ten pink streaks, nine failures.” In other words, when a jade stone had pink hues, it was highly unlikely to contain jade.
This stone, which Leo chose, was essentially a worthless scrap. That’s why people couldn’t help but laugh when they saw it. Even Martin, who knew little about jadeite, could tell it wouldn’t yield any jade. He asked, “Leo, are you sure about buying this one?”
Leo nodded confidently and purchased it for five thousand dollars.
No one was interested in competing for such low-quality stone.
Seeing Leo buy it, Frank smirked and said, “Leo, you have a unique taste. How about we have an on-site jadeite carving competition?”
Leo had been waiting for Frank to propose this. With the assistance of the staff, both of them took their respective stones to a nearby mobile carving machine.
At the venue, there were dedicated staff members to assist attendees with jadeite carving. After Frank’s approval, two staff members placed the stone he had acquired on the carving machine, preparing to start carving it.
“Mr. Ricardo, where would you like us to start?” one of the staff members respectfully asked Frank.
Frank took a marker and drew a line along a foggy area on the stone’s surface, saying, “Let’s start from here to bring out the best green jade. I’ll give each of you a a-thousand-dollar bonus!”
Upon hearing about the bonus, the two staff members were delighted, and they quickly and skillfully started cutting the stone from the position Frank had marked.
As the blades made an ear-piercing, grating sound, they slowly cut into the stone.
In no time, there was a sharp crack, and the stone split into two pieces.
One of the staff members took a rinsing pipe and began to wash the surface of the cut.
Soon, the cross-section was completely exposed in front of everyone, displaying a grayish-white surface with not a trace of green.
“It actually failed…”
Onlookers gasped in shock. The expressions on people’s faces varied, some showed disappointment, while others couldn’t hide their schadenfreude.
Frank couldn’t accept this reality. His face darkened as he ordered the two staff members, “Cut it again, right from the middle!”
The two staff members promptly recut the two halves of stone, following Frank’s instructions, cutting directly from the center.
Soon, the two halves were divided into four. After rinsing the cross-sections clean with water, they still displayed a uniform grayish-white color, completely devoid of any green.
When one piece of jade stone was split into four like this, unless a miracle happened, it was undoubtedly a failure.
“I can’t believe such a high-quality jadeite failed like this. It’s unbelievable.”
“Twenty-four million gone down the drain. What a huge loss.”
“Lucky me, I didn’t bid earlier. If I had lost twenty-four million, my wife would have killed me when I got home.”
Hearing the discussions among the onlookers, Frank’s face became even darker.
Losing face in front of a son-in-law was something he couldn’t tolerate.
Thinking that he still had one more piece of stone, Frank quickly instructed the staff to move the second one to the carving machine.
Once the stone was on the carving machine, Frank took a marker and carefully drew a line along the foggy area on the surface. He then instructed the staff to start polishing the stone.
The second stone was worth forty million dollars, and any loss of green jade inside would be a significant waste. Therefore, opting for polishing was the most prudent choice.
The staff member handling the polishing machine was experienced and began skillfully.
After about ten minutes, they had nearly reached the marked area.
They stopped carving and rinsed the section with water. Suddenly, a hint of green appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“It’s green! It’s green!” someone exclaimed loudly. More and more people gathered around, craning their necks to see.
Frank breathed a sigh of relief secretly. Luckily, the second piece of jadeite had produced some green. If it had failed like the first one, he would have lost sixty-four million, and he couldn’t tolerate losing face in front of Leo.
Following Frank’s instructions, the staff members changed the angle of the stone and continued carving.
Ten more minutes passed, but there was still no trace of green.
They changed the angle again, but still, no green emerged.
Apart from the place they polished for the first time, the stone was grey.
Frank had a feeling of foreboding in his heart, and saw the two staff members looking at him with innocent faces and growling: “Cut it open, afrom green place just now!”
The carving machine’s blades spun rapidly, and with a harsh, grating noise, they cut into the jade stone.
The massive stone was soon split into two pieces.