Zombie Bodyguard
Chapter 174 - 173: 580 Million Down the Drain

Chapter 174: Chapter 173: 580 Million Down the Drain

"Dad, what’s going on?" Bai Yuze was even more panicked than his father, and his shrewdness seemed a bit lacking.

"Continue to cut another ten centimeters!" Bai Yuanhao ordered again without providing an answer.

The people who were initially enthusiastic had now fallen silent, having crowded around when green was first revealed, pleased to be part of the spectacle. But with the situation looking grim, nobody wanted to invite bad luck by speaking out. In case someone got blamed for causing the stone to collapse, it could lead to a whole lot of trouble.

Amid the "buzzing" sound, the stone-cutting machine started up again. Bai Yuze’s hands trembled slightly as he suppressed the unease in his heart. Once the ten-centimeter depth was cut, Bai Yuze retracted the alloy saw blade and turned off the power.

"Yufeng, rinse it with water," Bai Yuanhao instructed.

After cleaning the cut, Bai Yuanhao examined it closely, and the onlookers craned their necks, eager to see the results.

The new cut still did not reveal any green. Lin Tian knew without looking that the real high-quality jade was only in the part near the window. Even if Bai Yuze cut off the entire upper section, no jade would appear beneath it.

"Hey, what are you dilly-dallying for! Just cut off the top part already!" Mr. Qian shouted impatiently.

It’s said that those who are overweight often have shortness of breath, and Mr. Qian was panting in his haste. Having lost the bid, he felt disgraced, and his manner of speaking was very unpleasant. Besides, he had another motive—if the second raw stone were to collapse, it would be a way to save face, as though he had his revenge.

"Mr. Qian, you’re just bitter about losing the bid. I’ll satisfy everyone’s demand and cut it off in one stroke," Bai Yuanhao said, glancing at Mr. Qian emotionlessly.

He signaled Bai Yuze to continue cutting. Since they decided to cut it off in one go, the speed increased significantly. However, the stone was 1 meter and 33 centimeters wide, while the saw blade had a diameter of only half a meter. Master Liu had to turn the stone over several times, cutting on each side to break the stone apart.

With a "crack," the stone finally broke apart and fell to the ground. The piece on the ground wasn’t big, weighing only around thirty to forty pounds. Bai Yuze had the staff open the water valve and clean the floor and the cut stone with a hose.

Green was revealed on the stone from the ground, and without a doubt, it was of the icy variety. Unfortunately, the volume was too small. But even a small piece was considered high-grade jade, and Bai Yuze used a small stone cutter to fully extract it.

The outcome was even more tragic than imagined. From the outside, it seemed like the entire stone was icy jade, but in reality, the jade extended less than ten centimeters to the center. The stone Lin Tian had cut revealed a jade within jade, but what Bai Yuze had cut turned out to be stone within jade.

"That’s not a good sign," sighed an elderly man, shaking his head. The older generation of Gambling Stone People believed in these signs, as if the presence of jade in the stone cut was somehow a matter of luck.

"The stone below has a misty quality, and there’s an eighty to ninety percent chance it still contains jade, depending on luck. With good luck, you’d have continuous pieces, with bad luck, just scattered bits. Worse still, if it contains the dry green or dry white type, it’s not even worth the shipping cost," some old experts couldn’t help but discuss, shaking their heads.

Bai Yuanhao wasn’t listening to them; he climbed onto the stone and drew several lines with chalk. Lin Tian watched as Bai Yuanhao seemed determined to slice off a layer of the entire massive stone, because it was too large, and it would be pointless to continue at a slower pace—it would take all night to finish.

Soon enough, a layer about ten or more centimeters thick was removed from the second raw material, making the entire stone smaller by one size. Below the raw material, jade finally appeared again, but sadly, it was of the very low-quality dry white type. The jewelry made from such low-grade jade was no different from the kind found at roadside stalls.

"It really is about to be cut into ruins." At this point, the most delighted was naturally Mr. Qian, who wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with relief, "My god, that was truly a lucky number, making me not win the bid—if I had, I’d have lost a fortune."

"Mr. Qian, you’re amazing. Did you already know that the second stone was a dud?" His mistress complimented him at just the right time, making Boss Qian somewhat elated.

Boss Qian really hated it when people said he didn’t understand gambling stones, so now, when someone praised his discernment, it was music to his ears.

"Ah, Boss Qian really does have some good luck, but the Bai Family’s judgement is a bit off. Who knows how the first stone is, but looking at how things are going, the second stone is already not worth watching."

"The Bai Family is a shade of its former self nowadays. Still, I hope this Gambling Stone Festival won’t be too disappointing. The outcome all depends on the first stone now."

The murmurs of the crowd reached Bai Yuze’s ears, and his expression became exceptionally ugly, flushing red and then turning white, yet he couldn’t refute what others were saying because he indeed had misjudged.

Looking towards Lin Tian’s direction, Bai Yuze saw Lin Tian shaking his head and sighing, "Ah, it’s no use, just cut it."

His words carried a double meaning, not only suggesting the first stone was useless, but also implying Bai Yuze himself was no good—and that it was better to just ’cut’ him out altogether. A few of the ladies caught his insinuation and burst into laughter.

"You’re too bad..." Xiao Manxuan pointed at him and laughed.

A man’s not bad, a woman doesn’t love him, Lin Tian thought to himself with a snicker.

Bai Yuze’s face swelled with red in irritation from their teasing. Gritting his teeth, he started the stone cutter and sliced through the remaining stone at its waist. The way he was gritting his teeth, it was as if the stone under the saw blade was Lin Tian himself. Bai Yuanhao no longer tried to stop things from progressing at this point, letting his son operate on his own.

The final result finally emerged: once the stone was split in the middle, what lay inside was clear at a glance.

"This luck, I don’t even know what to say. Could it be that Mr. Bai didn’t wash his hands after going to the bathroom? That’s some terrible luck."

The cut surface of the stone was still low-grade jadeite. The only piece of decent quality, a piece of ice-type full green jade in the very center, was also precisely cut in half by Bai Yuze. The high-speed spinning saw blade had vibrated and cracked the ice-type jadeite along several lines, completely ruining it!

Seeing this outcome, Bai Yuze was also stunned. The last piece of high-grade jadeite, now shattered by his own hand, had greatly dropped in value from what could have been worth tens of millions.

"Hey hey hey, why stop cutting?" Two more people squeezed into the crowd outside and shouted loudly.

"Brother Botong, you’re here too?" Lin Tian recognized Zhou Botong’s voice immediately; that guy always appeared at the last moment, almost as if he timed it.

"Brother Lin, how could I not come? Our Mr. Bai cutting the stone, such a splendid occasion. After all, we know each other; I’ve got to show my support," Zhou Botong said with a sarcastic tone.

He and Bai Yuze had a mixture of fresh and old grudges. He used to be constantly suppressed and humiliated by Bai Yuze in their circle until Lin Tian came along and turned the tide. The conflict only grew once Zhou arrived in Zhonghai City. Bai Yuze was helping a Japanese person bully Ou Mengmeng, which led to Zhou Botong racing cars recklessly.

"You two singing in duet, don’t get cocky," Bai Yuze raged, his face twisted with malice. "I admit, I boasted too much. But you think the first stone will fare any better? Wait till you’re crying uglier than me. I can play with five hundred million, but can you? Can the Xiao Family afford it?" he barked fiercely.

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