“小 brother, the rough stones you just mentioned are all the treasures of our shop. How about this: for a good start to the day, whichever one you like, I’ll give you a 20% discount—8,800 per kilogram, how does that sound?”

James Bolton looked himself over in frustration. Do I really look that much like a sucker? A 20% discount at 8,800? Last time, he got a stone with over 1,000 energy for just 800 per kilogram!

Actually, this was a misunderstanding on James Bolton’s part. The rough stones last time were of poor origin, all from new pits, and their appearance wasn’t great, so they were that cheap.

But the owner of this shop did have some connections; this batch of rough stones really was brought directly from Myanmar. However, the ones James Bolton was looking at now were just the leftovers that others had picked through, and their appearance was poor!

“Boss, that’s so expensive! Can you go a bit lower? Or maybe show me some cheaper ones.” James Bolton said, pretending not to care much.

Now the shop owner was conflicted. The last batch of rough stones was indeed good and sold well, but the few left over were so bad that even as freebies, people didn’t want them!

So he gritted his teeth and said, “Alright, you look like a good guy. Today I’ll sell at a loss, just to make a friend! 5,000 per kilogram, I really can’t go any lower!”

James Bolton saw that the boss didn’t seem to be lying, and didn’t want any trouble in the middle, so he walked over to the rough stone with 11,235 energy and casually picked two smaller pieces.

Finally, he picked up the piece that had been making James Bolton drool, and handed them all to the boss for weighing.

The shop owner was delighted to see James Bolton pick so quickly—just from his manner, he could tell this must be a rookie!

The smile on his face became even warmer. “Brother, you really have a good eye. I can tell you’re definitely going to get some high-quality jade!”

“Heh, thanks for the kind words, boss!” James Bolton replied with a smile.

……

“Okay, that’s a total of 25.2 kilograms, so let’s call it 125,000. How about that?” The boss said, smiling as he tapped on his calculator.

James Bolton winced at the number. Although he made quite a bit last time, he also spent a lot. Now he only had a little over a thousand in cash, and just over 130,000 in his bank account.

If he bought these rough stones and didn’t get any jade, he’d be finished! James Bolton trusted the energy exchange device, but what if it was wrong just this once?

Whatever, if I lose, I lose. After all, the money last time came easily.

James Bolton asked, “Boss, can I pay by card?” As he spoke, he handed over his card.

“Of course you can. …Alright, brother, check if it’s correct.” James Bolton took back the bank card the boss handed over, and soon received a text message from the bank.

Seeing his balance drop back to four digits, James Bolton felt a pang in his heart. Not wanting to think about it anymore, he followed the boss to the small courtyard behind the shop.

This shop was much bigger than the one James Bolton visited last time, and even had a backyard. When James Bolton came in, he saw quite a few people already cutting stones inside.

James Bolton casually used the scanning system to check the rough stones in other people’s hands and found that this batch was indeed much better than last time. There were at least five pieces with over 1,000 energy! There was even one with over 10,000 energy!

There were three stone-cutting machines in the yard, two of which were running, so the process was quite fast.

In less than half an hour, the people ahead of him had all finished cutting. Two of them even revealed jade worth over 300,000 on the spot, which was immediately bought by major jewelry companies present.

When it was James Bolton’s turn to cut, the onlookers started whispering, “Aren’t those the leftover old pit stones from last time? Even though they’re old pit, their appearance is terrible!”

“Yeah, exactly. Last time Old Howard tried to get me to buy them, but I didn’t believe his nonsense!”

……

The stone-cutting master took a smaller piece of rough stone from James Bolton and got to work. In less than five minutes, the stone joined the pile of trash!

James Bolton already knew the result, so he put on a pained expression, but felt nothing inside.

Next, the second piece was cut open, and inside was a palm-sized bean-green jade. Because it was low-end jade, no one came up to ask the price.

James Bolton took the jade and casually put it in his pocket.

Then he handed over the last piece of jade, and this time James Bolton’s heart tightened!

This was the rough stone with over 10,000 energy—his comeback depended on this one.

The stone-cutting master saw James Bolton getting nervous and thought the first two stones had been a bust, so James Bolton was losing confidence. He smiled and said, “Don’t worry, young man! I’ve been cutting stones for over ten years. If there’s jade inside, I definitely won’t ruin it.”

James Bolton nodded and said nothing. The master continued cutting, and with the first cut, a chorus of exclamations erupted around them.

“There’s green!”

“Really, there’s green! Looks like ice jade!”

“It really is! You can get high-quality jade from this kind of stone?”

……

A streak of bright green reflected dazzling light in the sunlight!

Chapter 8: Million-Yuan Jade

The green before his eyes flowed through James Bolton’s heart like a clear spring, and the scan results were indeed satisfying!

Several successful-looking men in suits nearby couldn’t help but come over for a look, and soon someone came up to ask if James Bolton was willing to sell.

The first to approach was actually an old acquaintance—the purchasing manager of Le Fu Jewelry, David Bolton.