Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 154: Chapter 151: Don’t Buy

Those shadows were nothing else but sand holes.

Although Huo Sining didn’t understand much, it was clear that those densely packed sand holes weren’t just on the surface; they had already penetrated through the outer layer into the inner flesh of the jade.

No one could estimate how far those sand holes had spread. If the entire piece of jadeite was riddled with sand holes, then even if a Glass-Type Imperial Green was cut from this rough, it would be worthless.

However, such a large rough, if the sand holes only penetrated, say, three-quarters of it, a rough weighing over a hundred jin could yield more than ten kilograms of jadeite, which was a significant temptation for gamblers.

Huo Sining had seen gambling on cracks and sand holes online, and the rough she had purchased that Zhou Zhen had deemed worthless was a bet on black moss. Although her method was somewhat cheating, it was akin to a clever workaround.

But this rough was different. Cracks and sand holes appearing on the same piece, with the cracks extending over the entire surface of the rough and sand holes spread all over the window, made the riskiness of gambling on this rough far from ordinary.

Glancing down at the bid price, Huo Sining was immediately shocked.

Three million, the reserve price wasn’t low at all.

A silent auction was different from an open auction. If you liked something, you could trade right away but needed everyone to bid. Hence, price fluctuations were substantial, with the final price typically being three to four times the reserve.

Especially for controversial rough stones, the more people who are interested, the sharper the price increase. It wasn’t at all surprising for the transaction price of such a rough to be six to seven times the reserve.

Huo Sining was calculating in her mind; at six or seven times the price, this rough might sell for a sky-high price of twenty million.

The jade in this rough was rich in water content and had the right shade of green, seeming to be at least Ice-type or above.

Ice Seed Jadeite belonged to the high-end jadeite category. If you could cut a piece weighing over fifteen kilograms, it would be a safe and profitable deal.

But who could be certain that the jadeite inside this rough was definitely good? With cracks and sand holes, if it were to collapse during cutting, it would indeed be a colossal loss.

This enigmatic stone was unfathomable, yet who could bear to just leave it be? The reason was nothing else but the gambler’s heart, unwilling to concede.

If one could buy it and then cut out several tens of kilograms of Ice Seed Jadeite, the profit would be huge, possibly even becoming the new season’s King Biao, gaining a great deal of attention.

With such a huge temptation, who would dare to give up so easily? No wonder there were so many people hesitating around it.

Huo Sining too felt intrigued after finishing her inspection of the rough.

She picked up her bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and pretended to drink as she tilted her head back, but then pretended to fumble the bottle. Instantly, the bottle of mineral water slipped from her hand and landed on that sky-high-priced rough.

“Oh no! Disaster!” Huo Sining anxiously picked up the water bottle, but no matter how fast she acted, nearly half of the full bottle had already spilled out.

The clear water soaked the entire stone, especially making the green Jadeite that had been cut at the window area even more lustrously green, even the formerly creepy-looking sand holes seemed somewhat more pleasing to the eye.

The others also noticed the situation over at Huo Sining’s side, but gambling on stones is not like other things; even if it is washed by clear water several times, there would be no quality issue, so although everyone saw it, they didn’t really mind.

Huo Sining feigned panic on her face and even stretched out her hand to sweep the water stains at the window area to one side, but when her hand touched the stone, it paused slightly. She looked at the rough in front of her in surprise, pursed her lips, and then quietly stood up straight and retreated to the outskirts of the crowd.

Following that, people came one after another to check out the piece of rough stone. Huo Sining paid close attention to the reactions of the people around her, and apart from Gu Xu and Bai Yishan, everyone had laid hands on it.

The reactions were varied, with only a few people shaking their heads and sighing in reluctance, presumably because they didn’t have enough money. But the rest, anyone who could put forth three million, was enthusiastic without exception.

Even Su Jinyuan and Ouyang Jun’s group of four had the exact same expressions.

Seeing such a situation, Huo Sining subconsciously furrowed her brows.

Among the crowd, Huo Sining also spotted Zhou Zhen and the fat man she had encountered on the first day. For some reason, those two had gotten together and examined the rough for quite some time, seeming to think highly of it.

Huo Sining looked to the other side and sure enough, not far from the outskirts of the crowd, Ye Zixin and Liu Meiling were standing together, talking about something.

But at the moment, Huo Sining couldn’t concern herself with these irrelevant people. She knew Su Jinyuan came to buy Jadeite roughs, and although this rough had a high gambling nature, there was a high possibility of its value increasing after cutting. With such a huge temptation, Su Jinyuan definitely wouldn’t let it go easily.

That was precisely what Huo Sining worried about because just a moment ago she had found out through the Water-Repelling Pearl that the rough in front of her was nothing but an empty shell. She couldn’t bear to see Su Jinyuan dive headlong into this trap. Although there was no certainty that Su Jinyuan would win the bid for this rough, Huo Sining wanted to prevent him from trying even if there was only a slight chance.

“What’s your opinion?” Over at the other side, Qin Tian and Ouyang Jun finished examining the stone and walked out. Seeing Gu Xu over at Huo Sining’s side, they didn’t think too much of it. While approaching Gu Xu, they discussed the condition of the rough.

“The Jadeite is good in both quality and weight, but it has cracks and sandstones, making it a big gamble. What’s more, the starting price is too high. It would be risky to bet on it. To win this bid, you’ll need at least thirty million,” Ouyang Jun said, lowering his voice, but Huo Sining still heard every word clearly.

Thirty million?! Huo Sining’s heart tightened, then she couldn’t help but feel a mix of amusement and dismay. The gambling on stones indeed could kill a person; no wonder so many people go broke, committing suicide every year. If she didn’t have the Azure Pearl to help her assess, and if she had a lot of money, perhaps she would have been unable to resist the urge to take a chance as well.

But now that she knew the clear situation of this rough, to see people she was familiar with jumping into the pit, she felt some reluctance.

After all, thirty million was not a small sum, and although Ouyang Jun and Qin Tian were Gu Xu’s childhood friends and seemed quite wealthy, there was no need to just throw away thirty million – nobody’s money comes from being blown in by the wind.

Thinking this, Huo Sining didn’t know what came over her, she glanced at Gu Xu, moved closer to him, and signaled him to hand those few extra roughs to her.

Without suspicion, Gu Xu passed the roughs to Huo Sining. As she took them, she lowered her voice and said, “There’s something wrong with rough number 2547; the Jadeite inside is worthless. If you believe me, then advise your two childhood friends not to buy it!”