Part 22
/*unedited*/
Two stones from Joe Wang's group and the two from Vincent Lee, a total of four stones were put as their bet. If they lost the bet then it would cost them four million credits. When the two women heard this, they were scared.
Although Angel Mei Ong has money and can afford to pay, yet she would not gamble. So she felt hesitant at this moment.
"Little brother, I think that would be a high-risk gamble, right?" Melissa Krin said with a worried look.
Joe Wang smiled towards her as patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry big sister, I assure you that the two of you can win." Joe Wang said with confidence.
When Du Liang heard his words, he laughed loudly.
"Ha! Ha! Young man, you have no idea how high the heaven is." Du Liang snorted.
The people behind him also showed a sneering face as they too think that Joe Wang is just putting on airs just to empress the two women beside him.
"Okay, you can go first…" Joe Wang gestured to Du Liang.
With a nod from him, Vincent Lee didn't bother to react. Though Vincent Lee didn't know why Joe Wang is confident of the bet, yet as someone, they considered as a powerful person, he trusts his judgment.
When Du Liang saw that Vincent Lee seems to follow the young man he became curious about his background. But still, he didn't back down because of his pride and dislike of Joe Wang.
Plus he envies him because of the two beautiful young women beside him. He then mentally remind himself to cause them some trouble and maybe he can snatch the two. Because in these parts of the city, no one ever dares face him, Du Liang, the underground boss in these areas.
He gestured for the two men behind him to take out four stones from his haul. And instructed them to use the stone that they think would be the most precious.
When the two men finished picking, four basketball-sized raw stones are placed on the table.
"Hey, cut this one first." Du Liang commanded one of the stone cutters.
The man carefully carried the raw stone to his cutting tool.
"Master Liang, how do you want it cut?" the man asked politely.
"Show me a window first." Du Liang commanded with a smile.
"I will show you that I am the master of this place." Du Liang thought as he showed a smug look on his face.
The two men behind him are his most trusted stone picker with an almost 40% success rate in choosing precious materials.
So he trusted them for a long time now. And so far they didn't fail to live up to his expectations.
With the sound of stone being cut, everyone's eyes are looking at the man who is grinding the stone from the side. He didn't want to cut it anywhere due to the request of just showing a window.
After a thin layer was removed, everyone saw a pale green color.
"Wow, a low-grade jade. And from the looks of it, I'm guessing that it is fist-size." someone from the crowd gasped.
When Du Liang heard this he smirked as his confidence immediately went through the roof.
Then with a wave of his hand, he commanded.
"Open it!"
With his instruction, the stone cutter carefully follows and traces the possible size of the jade in the stone.
However, after some time, everyone was dumbfounded to discover that the jade may have been big but its thickness didn't even reach an inch.
Even Du Liang was dumbfounded at this result.
"Haha! That was nice. A perfectly… thin jade. I guess you are very lucky Mister." Joe Wang said with a smile.
With Joe Wang's word, Du Liang immediately threw him an angry look on his face.
"Careful on your words, young pup." He said while gnashing his teeth.
If there are no people in this place, he would have thrown some punches and beat the young man up. Although he looks innocent, Du Liang knows that his words are throwing insult to him.
"Woo, relax mister. This is just a friendly bet." Joe Wang said while smirking.
Then he gestured for them to continue.
With a heavy look on his face, Du Liang didn't bother with anything and just commanded to open the four stones.
It didn't take long enough and the four stones have been revealed.
Two of the stones have jade while one is a failure and just has a pea-size low-grade jade. However, one of the two which has jade on them is a medium-grade dark green jade. But the size is only enough to fit in one's hand.
However, this is the most precious jade that Du Liang has ever gotten so far.
Suddenly someone from the crowd steps forward.
"Master Liang, I want to offer 500,000 credits for this medium-grade dark green jade." A man wearing a business suit said politely.
When the offer was given, Du Liang sneered in his face.
"You think that the jade is small that you offer a low price. Do you think I'm that easy to bully?" Du Liang said with a frown.
But when Joe Wang heard the offer, his heart already skipped a beat.
"What the hell, that was a trash jade. If they can see the two stones that I just casually picked how would they react then?... Hehe… I think we can get a lot of money today… Hum… hum…" Joe Wang thought as he started to sing happily in his mind.
Seeing that he is feeling happy, Melissa Krin became curious. Then she whispers beside him.
"Why are you happy? He has 3 jades out of four."
When he heard her, Joe Wang couldn't help himself but smirk.
"You call those jades?" he replied in a low voice.
Hearing his confident words, Melissa Krin just shook her head helplessly. She decided to just trust him as she already has a grasp of his personality. She knows that Joe Wang would not boast on something that he is not confident with.
Then suddenly someone offered a higher price for the medium-grade jade and the rest of the jades for a total of 1 million. And Du Liang accepted but didn't process it yet because he is waiting for the bet between, Vincent Lee's group and him.
"I have opened my stones… it's your turn now… Master Lee." Du Liang said with a smile.
But his smile is a little sinister as if he is waiting for the group of Vincent Lee to fail or he is planning something else.
This made Joe Wang curious and feels a bit excited.
"Human nature is too predictable." Joe Wang muttered.
Then Vincent Lee clenched his fist and threw caution to the air and decided to just take this lost just to save his face.
He immediately gave the two stones he picks to the stone cutters.
But before he could hand them over, Joe Wang stepped forward.
He takes out a marker from the corner and began drawing something on the stones.
When the people saw this, they were flabbergasted. This is because; they knew that the lines he drew are the cutting lines for the stones. And those lines have marked more than half of each of the stones.
"Don't tell me he thinks that he can see inside the raw stones. That is impossible."
"Hey, maybe he is acting like that because he is trying to pressure Master Liang."
"I agree, the bet is too much. If they could not get a more precious jade or gem inside those two raw stones then they would lose millions."
"Let's see… who knows if that young boy is right."
As the people began discussing what Joe Wang did, Vincent Lee felt a little relieved upon seeing the marks. Then he asked with a confident tone.
"Brother Wang, are these the cutting lines for the stones?"
When Joe Wang heard his question, he suddenly frowns.
"Cutting lines? Oh… Do you mean where the stone should be cut? Ah no… I just found those lines from the stones. They look nice; I hope that the cutter can preserve them." Joe Wang explained.
When everyone heard his explanation, everyone laughs so hard.
"Haha… he is truly just a kid. An innocent little brat..."
"What a blunder, I thought he would have some strange powers."
"I guess he thought that his drawing is a lucky charm."
"Hahaha…"
Everyone laughed and commented at Joe Wang's seemingly innocent words.
Even Du Liang showed a grin on his face.
However, the confidence in Vincent Lee has already plummeted as cold sweat suddenly covers his back. If he truly losses this bet, then he would pay four million to Du Liang. Although it is not that much, still he hated the fact that he would lose his money to his enemy.
But without a choice, he greeted his teeth and nods towards the stone cutter to start cutting the first stone.
When the stone cutter began cutting, everyone has an expectant look on their face.
It didn't take long after a window was open and the stone cutter gave the raw stone back to Vincent Lee. He then carefully put it to the table in front of him.
As if praying that the raw stone could have at least a low-grade jade, Vincent Lee slowly slid the small part of the stone that was removed.
When he did that everyone craned their necks in anticipation.
Then suddenly everyone was stunned.