Chapter 84: The Green Emerges

The old lady was also thrown into a state of agitation by the large sum of cash. She hid the two hundred thousand yuan and the bank card all over the house, but no matter where she put them, she felt uneasy.

Zhang Can and Zhu Senlin, naturally, had no intention of lingering here. Especially Zhu Senlin, whose mind was entirely preoccupied with those four stones reeking of manure. After bidding farewell to the old lady, the two rushed back to the city in their car.

Zhu Senlin had several old friends who were jade carving masters and owned stone-cutting machines, though none operated specialized stone-cutting factories. Most of them designed custom pieces for jewelry dealers. Jin City was not a jade trading hub like Tengchong or Ruili, so there were no large or formal stone-cutting factories. At most, there were small private workshops providing processing services for jewelry stores or antique shops.

Instead of returning to the Old Stone Studio, Zhu Senlin drove directly to his friend's workshop, which was in a remote part of the northern district. Since the machines often disturbed the neighbors, his friend lived in the most secluded building. The first floor was a shop selling jade pendants and statues, though the quality was mediocre, and most were fakes. In today’s market, if you don’t sell counterfeits, what else can you sell?

The second floor was his residence, with a basement below serving as the studio, about eighty square meters. The soundproofing was excellent, with thick sponge fabric wrapped around the door, and being in the basement, even when the machines ran, nothing could be heard outside.

Zhu Senlin’s old friend was named Mei Liansheng, a jade worker in his fifties. Years ago, he had worked as a stone-cutter in Tengchong, making some money before returning to Jin City to run a small business, selling jade pieces and occasionally taking on custom jobs. His income was steady.

Zhu Senlin had already called Master Mei while driving. As soon as the car arrived, Mei came out to greet them. Each carried a stone down to the basement, and Zhang Can, being younger, went back out to bring in the last one.

Mei Liansheng frowned and said, “Old Zhu, these aren’t raw materials—just stones from a toilet pit, aren’t they?”

Zhu Senlin laughed, “Old Mei, you’re exactly right this time. They’re pigsty stones from a pig pen.”

“All into the washing pool!” Master Mei pointed to a jade-cleaning sink in the corner. The stones stank too much, still smeared with pig manure; if they weren’t cleaned, his cutting machine would be fouled.

Zhu Senlin and Zhang Can grunted as they lifted the stones into the cleaning pool, poured in detergent, and blasted them with a water gun, thoroughly washing all four stones. After cleaning, the stones restored their original appearance, but none of them had a green outer layer. Upon close inspection, two of the stones had faint traces of green, sparsely distributed.

Those two were likely “clear water jade” inside, while the other two—glass-type jadeite raw stones—had gray-white skins, with only a few bean-sized green spots, like tiny patches of moss. If placed in a stone-gambling market, such stones would not fetch a price.

Only Zhang Can’s “clairvoyant eye” truly knew what lay inside. If one compared these stones with those whose surfaces were richly green, then the saying “stone gambling is like gambling your life” would make sense. Judging the quality of jade inside from the surface is impossible; the green outer layer is merely a reference, never a guarantee. If one pins all hope on that, the loss would be bitter.

To calm Zhu Senlin’s nerves, Zhang Can was the first to carry over a glass-type raw stone, placing it onto the cutting machine’s holder.

Mei Liansheng took a thick marker and sketched four shallow lines around the stone’s surface—these marked the initial cutting positions. The second and third cuts would be judged based on the results of the first. If green appeared in the first cut, one would slice the other sides, or simply grind the corners. If not, the depth of the next cut would be decided by experience.

Zhang Can could see that Master Mei was skilled and experienced, so he said nothing. As long as the cutting positions wouldn’t harm the jade inside, he had no reason to intervene.

This piece was the size of a basketball, elliptical in shape. Mei fixed it onto the machine, looked it over, and shook his head. By his judgment, it was a wasted effort; especially since Zhu Senlin claimed it came from a pig pen, it was likely just for amusement. Anyway, his stone-cutting fee was only two hundred yuan. Zhu Senlin could throw away a few hundred or a thousand on the fee without a second thought.

Zhu Senlin didn’t understand stone-cutting, but he had seen it before and knew the general process. Watching Mei prepare to cut, his eyes widened, his heart pounding.

Mei Liansheng, seeing Zhu Senlin’s nervousness, couldn’t help but laugh and scold, “Old Zhu, look at yourself—so tense over a few hundred yuan? Do you really think you’ve got a glass-type old pit jade here?”

Zhu Senlin’s forehead was drenched in sweat. He wanted to retort, but held back. If he revealed what Zhang Can had said—that this stone was worth tens of millions—it would frighten Mei to death. Even saying he had spent two million two hundred thousand yuan would be enough to astonish him.

Master Mei, unconcerned, started cutting. Though he only thought it was for fun, his technique was proper, not treating the stone as waste. After all, Zhu Senlin was paying.

Any stone-cutting master or workshop knows that if you ruin a stone, your reputation suffers—something stone gamblers care deeply about.

After the first cut, Mei wiped the cut surface, blew away the dust, and found it entirely gray-white—no green, not even a hint of color. He couldn’t help but smile wryly and shake his head, wondering what madness led Zhu Senlin to bring manure stones for cutting.

Zhu Senlin wiped his sweat repeatedly, not daring to blink. He wasn’t worried about losing two million two hundred thousand; that never bothered him. He was anxious about what Zhang Can had said regarding the true worth of these stones. If Zhang Can hadn’t told him, it would be easier, but now he knew, so he was tense.

Only Zhang Can was calm, having already seen through the stones with his special sight. He knew exactly where the jade was and simply waited for it to be revealed.

Following Master Mei’s markings, the second cut was about four centimeters from the jade core inside. A third cut would be needed, and normally, the third cut would only go one centimeter in, or even thinner, to avoid damaging the jade.

But Master Mei didn’t believe there was jade inside these smelly stones, so he cut without hesitation for the second and third slices. The third cut used almost three centimeters of width, leaving less than one centimeter to the jade.

Zhang Can didn’t stop him, as long as the jade inside wouldn’t be harmed. But Zhu Senlin grew more nervous; with each cut, no color appeared, and his heart was twisted in knots.

Master Mei swiftly made the third cut, shut off the power, glanced at Zhu Senlin’s sweating, tense face, and couldn’t help but laugh, “Old Zhu, you’re hopeless! If you’re really that nervous, I won’t charge you—I'll buy you a drink instead!”

But Zhu Senlin stared intently at the cut surface, suddenly pointing and shouting, “Green… green! The green is out!”

His reaction stunned Master Mei, who quickly looked at the cut. He, too, was startled.

After this cut, the upper left two-thirds of the cut surface revealed a patch of vibrant green, dazzling and moist, as if a drop of water would emerge if pressed.

This was superb color—green had appeared. With just this cut, the stone was worth over a million. Mei Liansheng was astonished; what he thought was worthless had yielded excellent green, and such quality!

Now, Master Mei dared not cut carelessly. He held his breath and studied the surface. The green was there, but only a hint seeped through from the jade core, just enough to show. Any further cutting would have to be extremely careful; he switched to the grinding machine.

Zhu Senlin was beside himself with excitement, scratching his head and ears. Experienced masters know that mere green does not guarantee top-quality jade; there could be only a poor patch inside, or nothing at all. Still, green usually means jade is present—its size determines how many pieces can be made, and thus the approximate value.

Mei Liansheng had not seen such color in years. Sometimes, jewelers in Jin City asked him to cut stones, but most yielded nothing of value, though their surfaces looked promising. Even when jade was found, it was often poor in quality and not worth much.

Now, Zhu Senlin had brought several pigsty stones, seemingly worthless, but they had revealed a million-yuan cut.

Mei Liansheng was rattled by the occasion, his hands trembling as he pondered whether to grind or cut another side.

To speed things up, Zhang Can pointed to another untouched surface, “Master Mei, cut from this side. Grinding is slow; it’s better to reveal the shape first.”

Mei nodded. He had experience, but the owner had final say on how to cut. If the owner instructed, the master would follow, and any mistakes wouldn’t be his responsibility. Usually, stone owners did not direct the process, as their expertise was no match for the master’s.

Mei prepared to cut from another side, glancing again at Zhu Senlin. He noticed that while Zhu Senlin was nervous, he never told him how to cut, always watching Zhang Can closely and following his lead, never offering his own opinion.

But the thought in Zhu Senlin’s mind was: the cut had risen in value!

This seemed to confirm Zhang Can’s insight—even if only a patch of green was visible, and not the entire jade core, Zhu Senlin believed Zhang Can was right. These four stones contained jade worth hundreds of millions!