Ghost Catching System

Wealth fortune manifested in two colors: gray for financial loss and red for financial gain, with varying shades of intensity.

Chu Hao glanced around and saw the auras of wealth above many people’s heads. Tina’s, for example, was a pale gray.

Mu Yuxun’s aura of wealth was neither gray nor red but a normal color, indicating she would neither lose nor gain money today.

Looking at Mu Yufei, her aura was red, and quite a deep shade at that. It signaled that Sister Yu Fei was due for good financial fortune today!

Chu Hao smiled and said, ”Sister Yu Fei, your financial luck is excellent today.”

Mu Yufei smiled gently, her demeanor poised and tender—the very image of the woman Chu Hao dreamed of. She asked, ”Really?”

Chu Hao nodded. ”Trust me. Buy some raw stones and try your luck. I guarantee you’ll cut out jade.”

Mu Yufei was quite easy-going. ”Is that so? If I cut out jade, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Chu Hao turned his gaze to the raw stones.

If a person’s aura of wealth could be seen, could it be the same for these raw stones?

With a single look, Chu Hao immediately noticed that the stones also displayed grayish auras and red auras of wealth. He was thoroughly astonished—the Three Wealth Copper Coins were truly heaven-defying.

Of course, there were also stones without any aura of color. These were rare, and if bought, one could usually cut jade worth the purchase price.

Chu Hao looked at a raw stone priced at 660 RMB and found it emitted a strong, grayish, mold-like aura. Only a few colorless stones showed a faint red aura.

He moved to the area with stones priced in the thousands, Tina following him.

The stones here were larger, but few showed any red. However, Chu Hao spotted one with a significant red aura encompassing about half the stone, its color vivid.

The price of this stone was 8,000.

Tina knew a bit about raw stones. Seeing Chu Hao pick that one up made her frown; this particular stone looked to be of poor quality.

Chu Hao announced, ”This one, then.”

He took the stone to the cutting area.

At this moment, Pang Zhengguang had also chosen his stone, one from the ten-thousand-RMB price range. His stone cost 50,000 RMB.

After paying, the two met face-to-face. Pang Zhengguang sneered, ”You’re done for! This stone is absolutely going to double my money.”

Chu Hao smiled. He looked at Pang Zhengguang’s stone; it indeed had a red aura, but it was inferior to the aura of his own stone.

He also saw a red aura above Pang Zhengguang’s head—this guy was clearly due for some financial luck today.

Chu Hao formed a hand seal and waved, absorbing the other man’s red aura of wealth. ”Bladder,” he said, ”your confidence is truly baffling.”

Pang Zhengguang angrily retorted, ”My name is Pang Zhengguang, not Bladder!”

He huffed and placed his stone on the cutting table.

WHIRR! The stone-cutting machine started.

The first cut revealed no jade.

The second cut also revealed nothing.

Pang Zhengguang grew nervous. The Knife-handling Master asked, ”Shall I cut through the middle?”

Customers had a choice; after two initial cuts, they could still opt to cut along the edges.

Pang Zhengguang clenched his teeth and commanded, ”Cut.”

The Knife-handling Master nodded, and the machine whirred as it made a cut down the middle.

The Knife-handling Master gave a wry smile. ”The value’s gone up, but...”

Pang Zhengguang also saw the stone’s value increase. But the cut! That middle incision had perfectly split the jade. What were originally two types—ink-green and Glass type—were now cleft apart.

”Damn it!” Seeing this, Pang Zhengguang couldn’t help but curse, his face extremely grim.

A middle-aged bystander shook his head. ”Such a pity. If it hadn’t been split through the middle, this piece of jade could have doubled in value. Now, it’s probably not worth half as much.”

He was absolutely right. A stone yielding two types of jade, each with a distinct ’water’ quality, was very rare—especially an ink-green and a Glass type. With that one cut, its potential was ruined.

This was stone gambling: one moment clearly promising an increase, the next resulting in a loss; or, when not expected to yield anything, it suddenly would. Nobody could truly explain it.

At the acquisition counter, the staff from Longhua Pavilion looked at the cut jade and shook their heads discreetly. ”What a pity,” one said, perhaps to a colleague, ”we at Longhua Pavilion would have bought this jade for 20,000.”

From 50,000 down to 20,000. Pang Zhengguang felt like he could vomit blood. Unless the next stone he cut increased in value, he would lose to Chu Hao.

Chu Hao was secretly delighted. A perfectly good piece of jade, ruined by such a cut! The Three Wealth Copper Coins are certainly powerful.

Now it was Chu Hao’s turn.

Grinding his teeth, Pang Zhengguang silently prayed, Chu Hao better not cut any jade this time, or the gap between us will widen even further!

A friend of Pang Zhengguang sneered, ”With that kind of stone, what jade can you possibly expect?”

Chu Hao retorted, ”What’s that? If there is jade, will you eat the scraps?”

The young man immediately shut his mouth, looking perplexed and not daring to repeat his comment.

Pang Zhengguang said with vexation, ”Your stone is too poor.”

Chu Hao gave him a sidelong glance. ”You talk as if you can see whether there’s jade inside or not, dumbass.”

Pang Zhengguang’s face turned even uglier; he had indeed uttered a piece of brainless rubbish.

Sister Yu Fei and her sister, Mu Yuxun, also came over, curious to see if Chu Hao’s second stone contained jade.

Chu Hao’s stone was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight centimeters long and oval-shaped. The Knife-handling Master positioned it carefully and began cutting.

As the knife descended, the edges of the stone peeled away, instantly revealing clear jade inside.

Mu Yuxun exclaimed in surprise, her voice filled with excitement, ”It’s a rise! It’s a rise!”

The middle-aged man from earlier also said happily, ”It’s gone up! And it’s Glass type too. The ’water head’ is quite good. Young man, you have a keen eye.”

Pang Zhengguang’s face turned even fouler, as if he had swallowed a dead fly. What in the world is going on? How can Chu Hao be this lucky? Most people wouldn’t buy a stone like this, yet he actually managed to gamble on it and win!

Hearing of the rise in value, many people crowded over to look, exclaiming with surprise, ”Glass type with a medium ’water head’! How much did you buy this stone for?”

Chu Hao replied, ”Eight thousand.”

Someone immediately called out, ”Young man, I’ll take this piece of jade! Thirty-five thousand for it, how about that?”

Thirty-five thousand! Just like that, Chu Hao’s 660 RMB had turned into 35,000 RMB. An astounding increase! It felt like it had multiplied by five hundred times!

Mu Yufei knew Chu Hao was inexperienced with stone gambling and explained, ”Ah-Hao, this is just the surface layer of the jade. There might be an even fuller piece of jade deeper inside this stone. Cutting further could increase its value, but it could also result in a loss. It all comes down to whether you decide to cut it or not.”

These were the rules of stone gambling. The person who made the offer had based it on the visible surface layer. If they bought it and cut it further, whether its value increased or not would depend on their judgment and luck.

Stone gambling wasn’t just for the stone’s owner; even onlookers could join in.

Chu Hao waved his hand. ”Continue cutting.”

The Knife-handling Master nodded.

The bidder said, ”Young man, think about it. If the next cuts are a bust, then it’ll be worthless.”

Chu Hao shook his head. ”My luck has always been very good.”

Since the stone’s owner had spoken, the bidder had no choice but to watch the Knife-handling Master continue cutting.

Pang Zhengguang clenched his teeth, his eyes fixed on the stone, truly wishing for the next cut to be a complete loss.

WHIRR!

More of the stone was shaved from the edges, revealing more of the Glass type jade, which appeared quite substantial and full.

”It went up again!” the crowd gasped.

Upon seeing this, Pang Zhengguang’s heart sank. It’s over for me!

The person who had bid earlier quickly interjected, ”Young man, I’ll offer 100,000! That’s likely the most you’ll get, even if you cut more.”

The middle-aged man, who had been watching the entire scene with a serious expression, then made his bid, ”I offer 110,000.”