Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 322: Chapter 319: Betting on the Entire Hetian Jade Rough Stone

As they were walking, the courtyard door of the Mei Family suddenly opened from the inside, and a young man came out carrying a stone, followed by a woman in her fifties, who was crying and pulling at her son’s clothes.

The man struggled in vain, and in a fit of embarrassed rage, he actually turned around and attempted to smash the stone on the woman’s head.

Ouyang Jun and others changed their expression drastically upon seeing this and, without a second thought, shouted in unison, ”Stop!”

Mei Dekang’s mind was set on taking the stone, and seeing his own mother blocking him, he grew angry. The gambler’s mentality took over, and he completely lost his reason, and actually threw the stone at his own mother. Startled by Ouyang Jun and the others’ shouting, he turned around and, upon seeing Alimu, his face suddenly became embarrassed, and he stammered, ”Uncle...”

”Uncle” is a term of respect for older men in the Wei District language.

Alimu was the village chief, and in this village, he still had quite a bit of prestige. The younger generation also held a degree of awe for him, so when Alimu suddenly appeared behind Mei Dekang, who had planned on running away, Mei Dekang turned cowardly under Alimu’s stern gaze, and stood there quietly not daring to make a sound.

Auntie Mei seized the opportunity to snatch the stone from her son’s arms and directly thrust it into Alimu’s chest.

”Chief, these Han people have come to collect jade, right? You’ve seen what happened today. You came several times before to buy this stone, but I refused.”

”Now, my son Mei Dekang has grown too bold, and I, as his mother, can’t control him anymore. This stone will be ruined by him sooner or later at home; it’s better to sell it to these jade merchants.”

”You know the history of this stone, let them make an offer, I want to sell it!”

Auntie Mei’s face was pale, her eyes red and filled with tears, obviously she was also greatly agitated by her son.

Ouyang Jun, upon hearing this, exchanged a glance with Ji Kun and, as if by agreement, they both looked at the stone in Alimu’s arms. Even Huo Sining became curious, carefully scrutinizing the curious stone.

Mei Dekang, hearing his mother’s words, grew desperate, a fierce light flashing in his eyes. He took a few steps towards Auntie Mei as if he was about to scold her, but he was deterred by a glare from Alimu, who had turned his head back. He didn’t dare to come closer and could only stand there, his gaze fixed on the stone, his expression fluctuating.

Ouyang Jun didn’t say anything, yet Ji Kun nodded. Auntie Mei led everyone into the courtyard and they sat down in the stone pavilion.

Ouyang Jun took the stone from Alimu’s arms and began to look it over from all angles, while Ji Kun quickly took out a flashlight and a magnifying glass, and moved closer to inspect the condition of the stone.

Auntie Mei didn’t say much, letting Ouyang Jun and Ji Kun look at the stone, waiting for the buyers to speak.

The stone was not small, weighing twenty to thirty pounds, and its surface was smooth, apparently having been dug out from a riverbed.

However, unlike the small seed materials they had seen at the market earlier, this stone had not revealed the jade inside.

Just like the untouched gambling material Huo Sining and his group had purchased in Pingzhou before, the skin of this stone was indistinguishable from that of ordinary pebbles, being a gray-black stone skin.

Such fully gambled raw material naturally had a very high gambling nature. Of course, like jadeite raw material, the price of fully gambled raw material and cut jade seeds varies widely.

Jade seeds are calculated by the gram, but such fully gambled raw material is calculated by the pound or even by the piece.

However, Huo Sining was very curious about the origin of this stone because she saw the grief and forbearance on Auntie Mei’s face, as well as recalling a past argument when Auntie Mei had said to her son, ”This stone was bought with your father’s life.” Clearly, there was a gripping story behind this stone.

Ouyang Jun and Ji Kun were seriously looking at the rough jade, but had not made an offer yet. Perhaps guessing their thoughts, Alimu hurriedly began to narrate the origin of this stone.

It turned out that the Mei Family had migrated to the Wei District to mine and trade Jade. By the time of Mei Dekang’s father, they had been mining Hetian Jade for three generations.

Ten years ago, Auntie Mei’s husband had the misfortune to encounter a landslide while mining for Jade at the foot of Kunlun Mountain, resulting in his burial under the rocks.

By the time he was discovered, Mr. Mei had already stopped breathing due to severe injuries and excessive blood loss. Only after Mr. Mei’s body was excavated did people find that he was tightly clutching a stone in his arms.

”That stone is the piece of Jadeite rough you see before you,”

After explaining, Alimu looked at the stone, a flicker of regret and sorrow passing through his eyes.

On the other hand, after hearing the story, Auntie Mei’s eyes were red with tears, but Mei Dekang, standing behind her, showed no change in expression, seeming unmoved.

Such a tale astounded Huo Sining and the others. If this was not a coincidence, then Mr. Mei’s actions were surely meaningful.

But was such an inconspicuous piece of Jadeite rough really worth protecting with one’s life? Could there really be treasures worth cities hidden within?

Not just Huo Sining, but Ouyang Jun and Ji Kun also furrowed their brows, harboring doubts about this piece of Jadeite rough.

Ji Kun had studied and sold Hetian Jade many times, including fully speculative sale of rough Hetian Jade, but he could not see any sign of Jade in this rough.

Hetian Jade rough usually belongs to secondary deposits, generally found in riverbeds downstream in Hetian, where the impurities are washed away by the river, giving the rough a fine texture with few flaws and cracks but vibrant skin color.

However, while the surface of this stone was smooth, it was due to being washed by river water, but in fact, the interior of the stone was extremely coarse, with a mottled color and no signs of jadification. The likelihood of it containing Hetian Jade was not high.

Such a stone, if thrown elsewhere, would be no different from ordinary river pebbles. Ji Kun would not even have given it a second glance.

However, this was after all a stone for which Auntie Mei’s husband had exchanged his life, so he naturally could not speak plainly, but when he looked towards Ouyang Jun, he slightly shook his head.

Ouyang Jun was startled and hesitated before speaking, ”Auntie Mei, I’m sorry, but we’re also not sure about this piece of rough.”

As he spoke, Ouyang Jun was about to place the stone back on the stone table in Shiting.

Huo Sining saw this and hastily tugged at Ouyang Jun’s sleeve, her eyes fixed on the rough for quite a while, naturally she wanted to touch it herself.

Seeing her with such keen interest, Ouyang Jun handed the stone to Huo Sining.

The stone was not small, and Huo Sining carefully took it from him. As soon as she held it in her hands, her arm involuntarily paused, and she was taken aback.