Inside the stone, it was all grayish-blue with not a hint of green, except for a small section that had been polished earlier, and in terms of quality, it was just mid-range oil-green material.
The two staff members looked at Frank again.
“Cut it again!” Frank couldn’t accept this reality and was unwilling to give up.
The staff members quickly cut the two pieces of stone into four.
Frank still wasn’t satisfied; the four pieces became eight…
It continued until eight pieces became sixteen, yet not a trace of green was visible. Frank finally gave up, his face now ashen, and even fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He knew he had lost his $64 million, with nothing to show for it.
Having two promising stone pieces cut into nothing was beyond bad luck; it was downright unfortunate.
Sophia, watching Frank’s agony, couldn’t help but feel satisfied. This was the consequence of showing off in front of her!
The people around had various reactions. Some were simply astonished; although it wasn’t rare to see high-quality raw jadeite cut into nothing, doing it twice in a row was something most people couldn’t achieve.
Some of the businessmen who had bid against Frank earlier were secretly relieved. They were grateful they hadn’t tried to compete with Frank; otherwise, they would have been the unlucky ones.
“I can’t understand it. Two such high-quality stones, and only a tiny bit of average jade!”
“It’s all gone. This is fate. It’s better to keep a low profile.”
“$64 million, all gone in the blink of an eye. Terrifying!”
Hearing the discussions around him, Frank’s face grew darker. He wanted to leave, but Leo appeared in front of him, teasingly saying, “Mr. Wiliam, are you feeling unwell? Why do you look so bad? It’s just a little over $64 million. For someone as wealthy as you, that shouldn’t be a big deal, right?”
“I, Frank, don’t even consider this pocket change!” Frank, unwilling to lose face in front of Leo, retorted with a grim expression.
Hearing their conversation, the crowd suddenly remembered that Leo and Frank were supposed to compete in carving. Someone called out, “Young man, it’s your turn to carve; let us witness a miracle.”
The person spoke in a teasing tone, not believing that Leo could turn the low-quality stone he had chosen into something valuable.
The staff members wanted to finish the job quickly and move on to other tasks. They approached Leo and asked, “Sir, would you like to cut it yourself, or should we do it for you?”
Leo thought for a moment and replied, “I want to polish it.”
“Polish?” The staff members were puzzled. Why waste time polishing a worthless piece of stone?
Hearing Leo’s decision to polish, some of the onlookers chuckled.
“I think he’s just putting on a show. What a waste of time on a piece of junk. He should just cut it directly.”
“Exactly, even if there’s something inside, it won’t be anything valuable. Just cut it.”
While the staff members weren’t pleased with this decision, they asked Leo once more, “Sir, are you sure you want to polish the stone?”
Leo nodded confidently, “Polish it.”
Reluctantly, the two staff members followed Leo’s request, placing the jade stone on the carving machine and starting the polishing process.
As time passed, the gray dust that had sprayed out from under the polishing wheel began to turn green. The meaning behind this green dust was clear to everyone watching.
Someone exclaimed, “Look, green dust! It’s a sign of green jade coming out!”
Some spectators who had been about to leave rushed back, their eyes fixed on the unimpressive-looking stone.
Seeing the green dust, the staff members became more careful. After a while of polishing, they rinsed the stone with water and continued polishing another area.
Half an hour later, an elliptical, green, glistening object appeared in front of everyone.
Recalling the unattractive appearance of the jadeite moments before, and now seeing this gleaming green gem, it felt like witnessing the ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan.
“My goodness, it’s full green! Judging by the water head, it should be glass-type Imperial Green!”
“It’s definitely glass-type Imperial Green. With this kind of water quality, it’s bound to skyrocket!”
“This young man’s luck is incredible. He managed to extract Imperial Green from such a stone!”
“Today’s trip was worth it, seeing glass-type Imperial Green!”
“Young man, it’s possible that only the surface layer is glass-type Imperial Green. Until it’s completely cut open, there’s still a risk. I’ll offer 10 million; I’ll take that risk!”
“I’ll offer 15 million!”
“I’ll offer 20 million!”
The crowd spontaneously began to bid. Leo, familiar with this scene, just smiled and shook his head.
Sophia, on the other hand, was looking at Leo in amazement. First, it was the authentic calligraphy, then agarwood, and now glass-type Imperial Green jadeite. Did this guy really have some sort of supernatural vision?
Standing beside Frank, anger was burning in his eyes. His face could not be more ugly. His originally handsome face was twisted and his fists were clenched.
This wasn’t right; how could a freeloader like Leo have such astonishing luck? It defied logic. There had to be something wrong about it.
In Frank’s worldview, he was the absolute protagonist, the one entitled to a protagonist’s aura. Now, that aura seemed to have shifted to Leo, and Frank felt like a bomb, ready to explode at any moment.
“30 million! Young man, I’ll buy your jade for 30 million!” a chubby businessman eagerly shouted at Leo.
“35 million! I’ll offer 35 million!” a well-dressed middle-aged woman directly added 5 million.
Leo shook his head again, then announced loudly, “I’m sorry, everyone, but I won’t sell this piece.”
People sighed with regret.
Today, Sophia and Martin finally understood why Leo could casually buy luxury cars and villas. The appearance of the glass-type Imperial Green had turned Leo into a celebrity at the venue.
People didn’t care whether Leo had genuine expertise or just luck; they were all handing him their business cards, asking for guidance in choosing jadeite. In their eyes, Leo was having a remarkable stroke of luck today, and they wanted a piece of it.
Frank had quietly withdrawn from the crowd. He looked at Leo’s back with cold eyes, and the corners of his mouth outlined a sneer.
Sophia had originally planned to call Leo to leave, but the crowd had surrounded him several layers deep, making it impossible to move.