Zombie Bodyguard
Chapter 128 - 127 Jade Within Jade (Part 2)

Chapter 128: Chapter 127 Jade Within Jade (Part 2)

"Just stand there quietly and look. Isn’t it annoying with all your squawking? My ears are getting calluses from listening to you," Lin Tian said, clearly annoyed.

When he picked up the huge stone, he forcefully bumped Bai Yufeng out of the way. With his own weight and the three-hundred-pound heft of the stone, Bai Yuze was pushed back "thump thump thump" until Bai Zhengchu and Sun Decai managed to steady him.

The violent bump to his chest nearly left Bai Yuze unable to catch his breath, his face turned beet red. After catching his breath, he wanted to go and argue with Lin Tian, but when he saw Lin Tian forcefully place the stone on the cutting machine with a "bang," he was too scared to speak out.

"Hey, be gentle, you almost broke my cutting machine," the owner said, eyeing the machine with a pained expression, fearing it might fall apart from the impact.

But Lin Tian ignored him, focusing on positioning the stone. There was a top-quality red fei of immense value inside, not allowing for the slightest error—a small scrape could lead to a loss of millions. As for the other stones that were just making up numbers, he had no plans to cut them.

Thinking about the top-quality red fei soon to see the light of day under his hands, Lin Tian also felt a surge of excitement. He planned to first remove the cloudy outer layer and skin of the lower-grade red fei, then consider how to extract the top-quality red fei inside. Without a laser cutting machine, using an alloy grinding wheel was bound to cause some loss.

After drawing lines with a chalk, Lin Tian turned on the cutting machine, and a louder "buzzing" sound rose. He steadily pushed down on the handle, as the grinding wheel scraped against the stone, sparks flew, and dust billowed. In no time, the alloy grinding wheel had cut a third of the way through.

Onlookers outside watched the proceedings with trepidation, but some of the more knowledgeable ones shook their heads, not optimistic about this piece of stone.

"This stone doesn’t look promising. The young man is wasting so much effort; it’s a waste of time," one commented.

"True, look at the outer layer of the stone being eroded by iron elements. Even if there’s jadeite, it’s likely to be low-grade red fei. As for good quality red fei, that’s difficult, difficult, difficult!"

...

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, the grinding wheel had finished cutting in, but the stone was too thick to be severed in one go. Lin Tian retracted the wheel, turned the stone over, and continued cutting. This time it went much faster, and with a "snap," the cut piece of stone fell to the ground.

"There’s something in it..." an observant spectator exclaimed in surprise.

Lin Tian washed the cut surface with water, and now everyone could clearly see the jadeite in the stone.

"Bean-type red fei, the color slightly dark, flawed and not pure. Lin Tian, your skills aren’t very impressive," revelling in the opportunity to kick a man while he’s down, Bai Yufeng laughed and said, "But the stone is so big, even if it is just bean-type red fei, you won’t lose out. Maybe you can even make a few thousand from it, haha."

His last sentence was spoken sarcastically, with more derision than anything.

"Young man, take it easy, it’s just one slip of judgment, nothing serious," a kindly old man previously offered some words of comfort.

Why was there such a big gap between people? Lin Tian simply couldn’t understand. Did Bai Yuze have some kind of psychological issue?

He repositioned the stone and continued cutting. After half an hour of hard work, he finally removed the low-grade external stone layer, leaving a thick layer of powder on the ground. Lin Tian then washed both the red fei and the ground clean with water.

Even though a thick layer had been removed, the remaining red fei was still significant in size. Lin Tian weighed it in his hands, roughly around two hundred pounds. Bean-type red fei might be a bit inferior, but at a full two hundred pounds, it was still quite impressive to behold.

These low-grade red jasper pendants with a dull color are quite cheap, probably only costing two to three hundred yuan each. But one can’t ignore their quantity—when you add it up, two hundred jin is worth tens of thousands of yuan.

The shop owner’s face showed signs of pain at the potential loss, but he had seen this situation many times before and could only feel it was a pity. Merchants dealing in raw jade stone trade are more familiar with the betting stone market secrets and often don’t cut the stones themselves, as doing so would lead to more losses.

"Young man, are you selling your red jasper? I’ll offer two hundred thousand," a middle-aged man outside shouted an offer, wanting to purchase the red jasper.

"Two hundred fifty thousand, it’s mine!"

Before Lin Tian could speak, people had already started bidding. This kind of situation was common at the Gambling Stone Festival, where many would sell the stones they had cut for a profit. Most of the buyers were merchants dealing in jade jewelry, but their cost to acquire the jasper was also quite high.

Amidst the chaotic bidding, a few people walked in, and the onlookers seemed to recognize them, making way for them immediately.

"Haha, Brother Lin, I was wondering who was cutting stones and causing such a commotion—it’s you!" In walked Mr. and Mrs. Wan Gaoyuan. He greeted Lin Tian warmly and also recognized Zhou Botong and Ou Mengmeng.

The onlookers knew of Mr. and Mrs. Wan Gaoyuan’s reputation, but who was the young man they were treating so warmly?

No matter how others speculated, Lin Tian simply smiled and said, "Brother Wan, of course it’s me. I’ve been selecting for so long, and only this piece of red jasper caught my eye."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Wan Gaoyuan, seeing the red jasper on the ground, knew it wasn’t worth much and didn’t quite understand Lin Tian’s meaning.

Miss approached and greeted Song Yanan, briefly recounting to them what had just occurred. Wan Gaoyuan glanced disapprovingly at Bai Yuze; he truly felt fortunate for not having entered into a cooperation with the Bai Family. Bai Zhengchu was competent, but his grandson was a profound disappointment.

Bai Yuze, under their gazes, felt awkward and could only nod in greeting, too embarrassed to approach and speak.

"Brother Lin, from the sound of it, it seems this red jasper holds some kind of secret," Wan Gaoyuan guessed shrewdly, discerning a hint from the mere tone.

"Heh heh, just wait and see, Brother Wan, I will give you a big surprise," Lin Tian replied with a mysterious chuckle.

Having said that, Lin Tian secured the two hundred jin red jasper back onto the stone-cutting machine, leaving the audience puzzled as they saw him continue to cut.

"Buzzzz..." The alloy grinding wheel spun, making an incision in the bean seed red jasper which elicited a look of pity from the onlookers; some even cursed Lin Tian internally, labeling him a prodigal son, while only those inside the tent wore solemn expressions, as if they had guessed what was coming.

After reducing the thickness of the red jasper substantially, Lin Tian, seeing the edge of a superb piece of red jasper through the window, made a cut along that exact spot. When a large chunk of bean seed red jasper fell, all eyes were drawn to the newly exposed cross-section.

Lin Tian rinsed the cut with water, and a captivating fiery-red hue shone through. Even the water droplets remaining on the cut were tainted with a vivid red. Under the outdoor sunlight, the red shade resembled dancing flames, capturing everyone’s attention.

"What is that?" someone blurted out a rather foolish question. But no one answered him; those who hadn’t seen it before obviously had no idea, while those who did couldn’t believe their own eyes.

"Such a red color, so vibrant, and the texture so crystal-clear and transparent—I’m not mistaken, this is a top-grade red jasper, the glass-type cockscomb red!" Wan Gaoyuan murmured to himself, then exclaimed loudly in astonishment, "My God, jade within a stone, it’s actually jade within a stone!"

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