The two of them circled the platform, with Ethan suddenly feeling an itch in his right eyelid. He instinctively rubbed it with the back of his hand. When he looked back at the bronze vessel, he saw a faint wisp of pale blue smoke swirling around the lip of the vessel, like a thin thread curling around its surface.
Then something even more surprising happened—the wisp of smoke rose and drifted towards Ethan's right eye.
"Ah!"
Ethan cried out and took two steps back, covering his right eye. He could distinctly feel a cool sensation enter his eye, making even his eyeball feel cold. He shivered involuntarily.
"Hey man, what's wrong?" Grant rushed over, startled.
Ethan removed his hand, eyes wide. "Check my right eye…" Grant stared at Ethan's eye intently, and after a while, he shook his head. "Seems fine to me—actually, you have double eyelids, a bit more pronounced than mine."
Ethan was both amused and exasperated, hurriedly saying, "I meant to check if there's something in my eye, not how big it is."
"Oh!" Grant squinted at Ethan's right eye for a good while, nearly crossing his eyes in the process, but eventually, he just shook his head again.
"It's nothing." Ethan felt the cool sensation in his right eye fade away. He rubbed his eyelid hard and cast his gaze back at the bronze vessel on the table. Strangely, the wisp of smoke had disappeared.
Weird. Was it just an illusion? Ethan pondered, still unsure of what had happened. The crowd, briefly distracted by this incident, quickly refocused on the bronze vessel. Bids came in one after another, and before long, the price of the item rose to 500,000.
In the end, the bronze vessel was auctioned off for 620,000 to a portly middle-aged man. Juston continued to pull items from the wooden boxes for auction, and in less than two hours, both wooden crates were emptied, except for one particularly large wooden box.
Juston removed his gloves, cleared his throat, and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, the man-made antiques have all been auctioned. Now, we have a little surprise for you—a purely natural, pollution-free experience that has created overnight fortunes for millions. If luck is on your side, you could spend a thousand dollars and end up with something worth even more than the plum blossom bowl."
His words stirred up excitement in the crowd, who all turned their attention to the oversized wooden box, trying to guess what was inside. A thousand-dollar investment yielding a million-dollar return? It sounded too good to be true.
Juston, smiling, clapped his hands twice, producing crisp sounds. The doors opened again, and four security guards carried in two machines that looked like cutting equipment, setting them up in the center of the hall and quickly connecting them to a power source.
"Holy moly, they've brought in stone cutters. That box must contain raw jadeite material!" Mr. Zhuang immediately recognized the setup. As the head of a famous domestic jewelry firm, he had a particular fondness for such things.
"Even an idiot could guess that if there's a chance to turn a thousand dollars into a million, it's gotta be through jade betting. You, of all people, should know that after playing with gems for half your life," Samuel, another prominent figure in the jewelry world, couldn't resist teasing Mr. Zhuang.
"Haha! Still better than your obsession with cats." Mr. Zhuang let out a hearty laugh, returning the jab without hesitation.
The crowd couldn't help but burst into laughter. Samuel's hobby of raising cats had another meaning altogether, and everyone here was a seasoned socialite who understood the implication. Listening to these two old men bicker was quite entertaining.
Samuel was left speechless, his face flushing a deep red with frustration.
On stage, Juston kept his smile as he clapped his hands again, drawing everyone's attention back to him. The four security guards, as if on cue, opened the large wooden box and began placing stones of various sizes on the table—twenty in total. The largest stone was the size of a basketball, while the smallest was about the size of two eggs, all neatly arranged on the platform.
Samuel took one look at the stones and frowned. "All uncut raw stones, huh? Are you messing with us?"
In the jade trade, raw stones are referred to as "material" from jade mines. To date, there is no technology that can see inside a stone. Thus, nobody can determine if a stone contains jade, or what its quality might be, which is why the practice of "jade betting" exists. Cutting the stone is a skill, and any stone that has been partially cut is called a "windowed" stone. Experts can often make an educated guess based on the exposed surface, thus reducing the risk of betting on such stones. These are known as "half-gambling" stones or "semi-transparent" goods.
However, the stones on the table had no cuts whatsoever, making them completely raw and unexamined—essentially just rocks from the mountain. This made them what is known as "full-gamble" stones, meaning you're betting blind. The only guarantee was that these stones came from a jade mine, but whether they contained jade was anyone's guess.
As the saying goes, one cut can make you rich or make you poor—it's a gamble that can take you to heaven or hell. This is the truest essence of the jade betting trade. Some people strike it rich overnight, while others lose everything. The thrill lies in the very word "gamble," brought to its fullest expression.
Juston smiled and patted one of the stones casually. In his smooth voice, he said, "Everyone, I must remind you that this is just a little extra fun. But I can guarantee one thing: all of these stones are sourced from old jadeite pits in Myanmar. Prices range from 500 to 50,000 dollars. Even if you manage to extract a tiny bit of jade from one of these, it'll be worth your while."
After that, Juston dramatically showed off a jade ring on his finger, its emerald green hue shimmering as he said, "Just this little piece here cost me over a million bucks back then."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Samuel piped up, "Son, that ring was practically begged from my idiot son five years ago. You got it for a little over 100 grand, as I recall. What's wrong—regretting it now? Father here is happy to buy it back for 200 grand."
Juston smiled. The jade ring on his finger was indeed something he had half-bought, half-bartered from Samuel's eldest son. He even had to throw in a snuff bottle from the Athenian period to seal the deal for just over 100,000 dollars. Nowadays, the market price had tripled—he would be crazy to sell it back for 200,000.
But since the old man had spoken, it was time to play along.
"Mr. Samuel is a well-respected elder in the jewelry industry and a true authority in the jade business. Now, I invite Mr. Samuel to come up and inspect these stones to ensure they are indeed from Myanmar's old pits. I wouldn't want to present anything disreputable to our esteemed guests today."
Juston expertly flattered Samuel, who seemed to enjoy the praise. Stroking his goatee, he stepped up to the stage and began carefully inspecting the stones.
After a while, Samuel stood up, clearly satisfied, and said slowly, "Not bad. These are indeed from Myanmar's old pits. If any jade is cut from these later and anyone is willing to sell, I, Samuel Sparkle, will buy it on the spot."
With that, he pulled out two stacks of cash from his bag and slapped them on a stone priced at 20,000 dollars, saying, "Cut this stone for me. Let's see if I can start things off with some good luck."
Juston, smiling, collected the cash and signaled to the nearby security guard, who quickly stepped up, fixed the head-sized stone onto the cutting machine, and crouched down, motionless, waiting for instructions.
"Mr. Samuel, how would you like the stone cut?"