As expected, the saying “nine out of ten gamblers lose” is no joke. James Bolton discovered that nearly ninety percent of the raw stones no longer showed any energy, and those with readings above one hundred were extremely rare.

James Bolton walked over to the rough stones with energy readings above one hundred. In fact, there were only about a dozen stones in the entire shop with energy above one hundred, and just one with energy above one thousand.

It seemed that the rough stones in this shop weren’t very good, but of course, that had nothing to do with James Bolton.

James Bolton walked up to the rough stone with an energy reading of 1285 and found that the whole piece looked black, shiny, and deep, weighing about ten kilograms. James Bolton called over the shop owner, who was busy serving other customers. “Boss, how do you sell these rough stones?”

“These here are five hundred each, regardless of size. The others are priced by weight, one thousand per kilogram. Those few windowed stones inside are priced separately!” The boss pointed to a pile of stones near the door.

James Bolton immediately felt it was hopeless, because a rough stone with over a thousand energy would weigh at least ten kilograms, and even though it was a full gamble, he only had about three thousand yuan on him!

So James Bolton looked over at the pile of rough stones priced at five hundred each and found that their outer appearance was really ugly. Not only were the surfaces pitted and uneven, but they also lacked that shiny black look, instead appearing whitish!

Among this pile, there was only one stone with energy above one hundred. James Bolton thought for a moment, then walked over to the pile of rough stones with terrible appearance and pretended to examine them back and forth a few times.

Finally, he picked up the stone with an energy value above one hundred and walked to the boss. “Boss, I’ll take this one! It’s my first time playing this—can you give me a discount?”

“Young man, five hundred each is definitely not expensive. The shipping cost alone was more than that.” The boss waved his hand helplessly.

If it weren’t for the fact that this batch of rough stones looked so bad, where else could you buy them for five hundred?

Seeing the boss say this, James Bolton didn’t argue further. After all, he could afford five hundred yuan. He counted out five bills and handed them to the boss, then took the rough stone over to the stone-cutting machine.

Probably because the rough stones looked so bad, after that middle-aged man’s stone turned out to be worthless, no one else came to cut stones. When James Bolton came to cut his stone, there was hardly anyone around. The stone-cutting master was sitting by the machine, chatting and smoking with a few regular customers.

Seeing James Bolton carrying a stone over, the master put down his cigarette. “Young man, want to cut it?”

Usually, stones around this price would be given to apprentices to cut, but since no one else was around today, the master came over to do it himself.

“Yes, let’s cut it. It’s my first time—let’s try my luck!”

The master didn’t say much. People hoping to get lucky like this weren’t rare throughout the year, but those who actually struck it rich were almost nonexistent!

The stone wasn’t big, and it didn’t look like it would produce jade, so no lines were drawn. The master, experienced as he was, made a cut. The stone-cutting machine buzzed, and suddenly he exclaimed, “It’s green! I can’t believe it!”

The master wasn’t someone who hadn’t seen the world, but he truly hadn’t expected to find jade in this kind of rough stone.

Hearing the master’s voice, the customers who had just been chatting all crowded over.

“It really is green—at least a dry green variety!”

“Even this thing can produce green? Unbelievable!”

...

Seeing the green, the master cut even more carefully. In just five or six minutes, he had revealed the entire piece of jade, about the size of an egg. It looked a bit grayish, probably because it had just been cut.

James Bolton couldn’t put it down, turning it over and over in his hands. He never expected that such a small stone could be worth over ten thousand yuan—more than he could earn in half a year of hard work!

The shop owner had clearly heard the commotion outside. Now he came out and, seeing that it really was jade, his face broke into a huge smile, his chubby cheeks almost scrunching into a ball. He looked even happier than James Bolton, who had just found the jade.

“Young man, you really are lucky! Want to sell it? If you do, I’ll buy it for fifteen thousand!”

The boss was obviously delighted that jade had been found in his shop’s rough stones, and he was offering a price above market value to buy the jade.

James Bolton glanced at the faces of the onlookers and saw that none of them looked surprised, so clearly the boss’s offer was generous!

“Alright, thank you, boss!”

“Young man, what’s your surname? My surname is Wang. If you see any other rough stones you like later, I’ll give you a twenty percent discount on all of them.”

As the boss counted out the money for James Bolton, he asked.

“Thank you, Boss Carter. Just call me Little James.” James Bolton took the cash from Boss Carter, feeling incredibly excited. He never imagined he could make more in such a short time than he could in half a year of working.

“Hehe, then I’ll be bold—Little James, still interested in rough stones? If you see any you like, except for those few windowed ones, all the rest are twenty percent off!” People who gamble on stones all believe in luck—sometimes, when luck is in your favor, you can get green from seven or eight stones in a row!

James Bolton smiled and said, “Then I’ll take a look at a few more! Thanks for your good wishes, Boss Carter. Maybe I’ll find a few more pieces of jade.”

“No problem, take your time, young man.” Boss Carter’s chubby face was beaming with joy as he hurried to say.

James Bolton walked over to the rough stone he had looked at earlier. “This one, then! It just feels right to me. I don’t really know much about this—just going with my gut!”