Chapter 11: The Cruel Truth

  After the most intense and exciting bidding, that ordinary-looking stone was actually sold for 12.6 million, six hundred thousand more than what Ge Baozi bought last year. The buyer was a middle-aged bald businessman who made his fortune in building materials. After counting out two suitcases of cash on the spot, he handed them over to Ge Baozi and carefully took the stone from the old man, holding it in his arms with an expression that was more like he was holding a bomb studded with gems rather than excitement or tension.

  Withdrawing his gaze from the bald merchant, Liu Wenyu let out a long breath and slightly calmed down his agitated emotions. He looked at Shen Fang's smiling face with curiosity and asked: "Now that you've been bought by someone, what do you plan to do?"

  Shen Fang shrugged and said nothing, with an inscrutable expression.

  An ancient and solemn eight-immortal table was brought out and placed next to the cutting machine in the center of the hall. On the table, there was a stone statue about half a meter high, with an incense burner in front of it. Liu Wenyu and Ge Baozi held three incense sticks in their hands, and under everyone's silent gaze, they bowed three times with great reverence. Then, the middle-aged businessman drew several lines on the stone with white wax and handed them to the master operating the cutting machine. He himself took out a pair of black goggles from his pocket, knelt down in front of the eight-immortal table, and muttered a sincere prayer. Several close friends also went over to kneel beside him, their eyes fixed motionlessly on the stone.

  Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the stone stuck in the cutting machine. Even Shen Fang and Qiu Qinghe, outsiders to this world, were affected by the solemn atmosphere, their clasped hands involuntarily tightening, with sweat dripping from their palms.

  The humming of the machine enveloped everyone, coarse and heavy gasps, the high-speed rotating blade splashed with cooling oil slowly cutting through a corner of the stone, pairs of anxious, tense, and flustered eyes desperately peered into the gap cut by the blade, that knife seam was the slowly opening treasure chest door, in the dark depths, no one knew whether it was a dazzling treasure or a ferocious beast waiting to pounce.

  His throat was involuntarily dry, his heartbeat almost stopped, and this uncontrollable tension made Shen Fang's always calm and light expression become solemn. Qiu Qinghe beside him had her small mouth slightly open, tightly grasping Shen Fang's hand.

  Wow, the moment the stone slab fell off, a burst of exclamations erupted, and the crowd surged forward, "Is it? Is it?" "Green? Green?" The shouting was deafening. Liu Wenyu, Ge Huizi and other connoisseurs' Adam's apples bobbed up and down, their eyes wide with excitement.

  What was in Teacher Fu's hand was a murky green color!

  Green? What's going on? How can it be green?

  That murky green color, in Shen Fang's eyes, was like a sharp sword that pierced through, and he was stunned. Didn't they say it wouldn't cut open anything? Why is it different from what the news said? Did I remember wrong? No way, absolutely impossible!

  "Got it! Got it!" "What is it? Is the quality good or bad? How's the water?" Amidst the cheers, everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs, even more excited than the bald-headed merchant who was kneeling on the ground.

  "Is it? Is it really? Is it really?" The bald merchant raised his head, waving his hands in the air, and his originally pale lips turned fiery red.

  Ge Baozi walked over, pressing down on his shoulder, and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, it's just that the window was opened, and there is indeed something inside, but the seed and water aren't very good..."

  "Ah, ah." The bald merchant grasped Ge Bao's arm with both hands, "I'll wait for you, I'll wait for you, I believe in you, Ge Bao, I believe in you."

  Master Fu got the hint from Liu Wenyu and Ge Baozi, put down the small material, took a deep breath, turned the stone over, and cut another knife along the white line.

  Although he didn't quite understand the situation, seeing the green light at least meant that this stone still had a chance. At this time, Shen Fang's tension was palpable, and like the crazy people around him, he tiptoed up to stare intently, his facial expression extremely complex. He definitely didn't want to die before achieving his goal, only to be ridiculed by Qiu Qinghe.

  It was as if to prove Shen Fang's mistake, the knife wheel cut through again, and the jade that appeared was even better than before. Even Ge Huai Zi let out a sigh of relief, with a smile on his face, "This time's kindling isn't bad, it just has some cracks and white cotton, but overall it's a good omen, I wonder what's inside..."

  What is called white jade is the presence of block-shaped or strip-shaped white mineral impurities in the jadeite. This is well-known, but when he heard Ge Baozi's words, his heart still couldn't help but thump with excitement, and he wished to rush over and help the master craftsman complete the remaining cutting work as soon as possible.

  In the midst of everyone's bated breath, Shen Fang finally completed the task of opening the windows on the outer wall, which had been dragging on for what felt like years. Except for the first two places, all the others were pitch black and empty. At first, people let out cries of surprise, but later they all furrowed their brows and remained silent, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it felt like the air around them was being rapidly sucked away, making breathing extremely difficult.

  Although Shen Fang let out a sigh of relief, he didn't dare to relax too much. After all, Ge Baozi's chubby face was still full of confidence. He slowly walked over to the machine, picked up the small pieces that had been cut off and examined them carefully for a long time. He wiped his double chin with a towel and pointed to the second incision on the split surface, saying "Open it from here down!"

  "Lao Ge," Liu Wenyu paused, his expression serious and thoughtful. "Isn't this way of opening too risky? If one move goes wrong, the entire thing will be ruined."

  "This material is not good, and it's unlikely to produce anything valuable. Opening it up might reveal other good materials nearby!" Generally, after opening the window, if a very good material can be cut out, it can be sold at a higher price without having to continue cutting the entire thing open. This mainly depends on what the owner thinks, but in this situation, selling the stone is impossible. After all, five cuts have already been made and none of them were successful. Gu Baizi doesn't need to guess how the bald merchant will decide."

  As expected, Ge Baozi saw the bald merchant nod slightly and then said to Teacher Fu, "Let's open it like this!"

  Due to the large size of this cut, the feed rate of the knife wheel is extremely slow, almost giving people the illusion that it hasn't moved at all.

  Time ticked by in minutes and seconds, the smell of sweat spreading wantonly through the air, as the knife cut deeper, those standing nearby felt their hearts were about to jump out of their throats.

  No, no, no, still no!

  A basketball-sized rock suddenly split open, leaving Teacher Fu so shocked that he couldn't react in time.

  No one believed the fact in front of them, they strained their necks forward, rubbed their eyes hard, but what they saw was still two pieces of blackness, just like the mood of most people present.

  Dead silence, no one made a sound, and the middle-aged businessman kneeling on the ground also stopped praying, his body swaying as if he was about to collapse at any moment. From the reflection around him, he had already guessed it, such a huge blow that he almost fainted on the spot.

  There was a loud crash, and someone fell down!

  It was Ge Baozi who fell to the ground, his face deathly pale and his eyes rolled back in his head. His body convulsed violently as he suddenly grabbed onto the middle-aged businessman's hand again and let out a loud wail: "Don't blame Shi Tou! Blame me! Blame me! Blame me!"

  Three loud shouts from Xi'er, Ge Baozi fainted, and even Qiu Qinghe felt the surroundings spinning around him. One hundred and twenty-six thousand, ah! The stone split in two, and it was gone just like that.

  It's chilly and feels cold even on a hot day. The consequences of this knife are frightening to think about.

  Just as the scene was falling into a deep abyss of death, a sudden voice broke through the dead silence that bound everyone together, "Try cutting one more time!"

  No one noticed who shouted that sentence, but Qiu Qinghe knew, because the voice rang in her ear. She looked at Shen Fang with confusion, feeling that this guy was getting more and more incomprehensible.

  "Cut again! Cut again! Cut..." The sharp cries like a stormy wind tore through all the gloom and despair, everyone using their full strength to shout, just to dispel the fear in their hearts. Today for the bald merchant, wasn't it also their tomorrow?

  Once again, Ge Baozi's hopes were shattered, and he knew that this life was over for him. Liu Wenyu's eyes were filled with golden stars, and he blankly raised his head to look at Shen Fang. In fact, he didn't see anything; he just subconsciously wanted to look at the person who spoke first.

  "Boss? Boss?" Teacher Fu pushed Liu Wenyu, "Want another cut?"

  "Cut again? Cut what?" Liu Wenyu shook his head, oh-ed and moved to the side of the bald merchant, whispered something, then straightened up with difficulty, took a deep breath and said, "Open!"

  The cutter started again, and amidst everyone's roar, the sharp blade split the two stone slabs open once more!

  The first piece is pitch black, with only specks of white cotton!

  The second piece is still pitch black! Black to the point of making people shiver with fear!

  What does it feel like when the sky falls?

  What does it feel like when a rabbit dies and a fox grieves?

  No one can remain aloof, not even Shen Fang could do so. This life-and-death gamble that would decide the fate of millions in just a few seconds made him feel deeply empathetic and extremely nervous, as he tightly hugged the trembling Qiu Qinghe.

  "Alright, alright..." After an unknown period of time, the bald merchant finally removed his eye mask, revealing a face with a desperate and ashen color. He stood up shakily, his shoulder heavily colliding with the leg of the octagonal table.

  The stone statue on the table tilted and fell to the ground with a loud crash, rolling loudly under someone's feet.

  He didn't feel any pain, the bald merchant who was as good as dead, stumbled and staggered to the cutting machine, his eyes completely unfocused as he stared at those four pieces of stone that had nothing on them, wretchedly laughing, somewhat madly saying, "Cut again, cut again, cut until it's shredded, shred it until it's gone..."

  Liu Wenyu patted his shoulder and said some nonsense like "as long as you're still alive, there's a chance to make a comeback". Many middle-aged businessmen who knew him also got up from the ground, walked out of the crowd, and came forward to comfort him.

  "Rise from the ashes?" The bald merchant muttered, "All of it has been invested, where is there still money to rise from the ashes? Will you lend me some? Will you lend me some? You, will you lend me some?"

  As Qiu Qinghe said, gambling on stones is a highly risky business. Every time the bald merchant asked someone, that person would immediately lower their head and be speechless, leaving only his tragic and desperate roar in the entire world.

  Suddenly, Shen Fang pulled Qiu Qinghe to his side and whispered, "If you want Wang Dongshan to rise again, I can give it to you..."