"Yes, boss." Secretary Chen immediately, along with several employees from the branch store, lifted the stone onto the cutting table and began the cutting process.
Everyone present understood the acrimonious relationship between Jade Emperor Gambling Stone Market and Rich Fortune Gambling Stone Market. Zhao De's actions this time were not just to humiliate Li Yang, but more importantly, to embarrass Sister Shui in front of industry insiders.
If Zhao De gained the upper hand this time, regardless of other factors, he would certainly gain more prestige than Sister Shui within the industry.
And in business, prestige often played a crucial role.
At that point, the rivalry between the two establishments could very well see Sister Shui at a disadvantage.
Precisely because of this, Sister Shui's eyes betrayed her worry, yet she did not utter a single word of doubt towards Li Yang.
Li Yang held her jade-like hand and said, "Sister Shui, don't worry. The one who will stumble later is definitely this fellow surnamed Zhao."
"Mm, I believe you." Sister Shui felt the strength in his palm and felt somewhat reassured.
Zhao De sneered, "At this point, you're still being lovey-dovey. Madam Shui, I think you've truly been deceived by this pretty boy."
"Mr. Zhao, when you say things like that, can you first look at the color of the hat on your own head?" Li Yang retorted.
Zhao De's face immediately flushed red. "You brat, you won't shed tears until you see the coffin! Just wait, you'll see what happens."
"Waiting is fine, but can we stop the nonsense?"
"You,"
"Boss, it's cut open!"
Secretary Chen shouted as the stone was sliced into two halves.
Everyone immediately looked, only to see a layer of dark liquid on the cut surface, resembling petroleum. They were instantly astonished and exclaimed, "It's oozing oil!"
"Oh my, this must be something good."
"Indeed. As the saying goes, whether a stone is good or not depends on whether it oozes oil. As long as it oozes oil, it's definitely a good stone."
"Hahaha." Zhao De burst into laughter. "Kid, see that? It's oozing oil. What else do you have to say?"
"Oozing oil does prove the stone's quality is good, but I never said this stone's quality was poor, did I?" Li Yang replied. "Mr. Zhao, I suggest you have someone clean the surface of the stone before speaking further."
"Still talking tough!"
Zhao De said coldly, "Secretary Chen, use clean water to wash the surface and let certain people see the coffin!"
"Certainly!"
Secretary Chen immediately cleaned the cut surface of the stone.
The situation did not improve; instead, it worsened. While everyone still had some hope, after the cleaning, numerous cracks were visible on the stone's surface, severely damaging its aesthetic appeal and utility.
"Good heavens, so many cracks?"
"Not only are there many, but the cracks are also quite wide. With such width, what can be made from it?"
"Oh dear, it's ice-type jade, but unfortunately, this is a problem."
Upon seeing this, everyone shook their heads and sighed, "This thing is no good anymore."
"How could this happen?" Zhao De's expression changed drastically. He rushed forward and touched the cracks, his fingers almost fitting into them.
With such large cracks, any decent-sized finished jade product was out of the question, and its value would be greatly diminished.
The value of a raw jade material often depended on its intended use. The more versatile the raw material, the higher its value.
This was also why the price of jade was not only related to its variety but also to its size.
Li Yang smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, tell me, can this piece of jade you have still be worth fifty thousand yuan?"
"I,"
Zhao De gritted his teeth. "Pure luck! You just stepped in dog droppings and got lucky by guessing randomly."
"This stone isn't good, but there's still the old pit jade from Southern Myanmar, isn't there?"
"Right, right, boss, there's still the old pit one!" Secretary Chen quickly chimed in.
Immediately, Zhao De took a marker and drew lines on a piece of old pit jade. "Quickly, cut this stone for me."
"Understood." Secretary Chen and the others began cutting the stone again.
However, the moment the stone was cut, everyone was dumbfounded again.
They had initially believed that old pit jade would guarantee quality and should at least show some green. To their surprise, after being cut in half, it turned out to be waste material.
"Boss?" Secretary Chen's face turned a little pale, unsure whether to continue cutting.
Zhao De's face was also grim. He gritted his teeth and said, "What are you calling me for? Didn't I draw three lines? Keep cutting!"
"Yes, yes, I'll continue cutting the stone." Secretary Chen proceeded and made the second cut.
But after the second cut, he was even more dumbfounded.
Although green appeared this time, the color of the green was not right.
The onlookers were all bosses with some standing within the industry, possessing a certain ability to appraise jade. Upon seeing the green, they felt something was amiss.
Lin Xiaoyu asked suspiciously, "Brother Li, this green-colored thing, why does it look to me like it's not jade?"
"Of course, it's not jade, but aventurine." Li Yang said with a smile.
"Aventurine!"
Lin Xiaoyu was startled, blinking her eyes several times.
Someone among the crowd immediately applauded and said, "Ah, that's right, I also thought it looked like aventurine. Although the color is quite green, compared to green jade, it's a bit deep and dull."
"It is indeed green aventurine!"
"That's not right, how could something like this appear in an original raw stone of old pit jade?"
"There's something wrong with this stone. According to the professional terminology for counterfeiting, this is called 'stealing beams and replacing pillars' and 'crossing the sea under camouflage'," Li Yang stated calmly.
"Not just this one; the other few pieces of old pit jade in that batch were also faked using this method."
"You're saying I spent over twenty million and bought fake stones?" Zhao De shouted. "That's impossible!"
"Whether it's true or not, you'll know if you cut another one," Li Yang said with a smile.
Zhao De immediately randomly selected a stone and had Secretary Chen cut it.
Upon cutting it open, good heavens, it turned out Li Yang was right. It was indeed a trick of stealing beams and replacing pillars, where the outer layer was a shell of raw jade, and the inside was replaced with aventurine, cheap chalcedony, and other jade stones much cheaper than jade, thus fooling him and causing him immense loss.
"Damn it!"
Zhao De was about to go mad. He kicked the stone, but the stone remained unharmed, while his own leg was injured. He fell to the ground in pain.
A loss of twenty to thirty million yuan, while not small, was still within an acceptable range for him.
What drove him mad was that he had lost such significant face in public, and to Li Yang and Sister Shui at that. How could he face his peers in the future?
Seeing him like this, Secretary Chen quickly shouted, "Quick, quickly send Boss Zhao to the hospital."
"Ladies and gentlemen, I must take my leave. Please help yourselves."
With that, he led people carrying Zhao De and hurried out.
"Hilarious. He wanted to mock Sister Shui and Brother Li, but ended up having such bad luck," Lin Xiaoyu said with a smile.
Sister Shui felt a great sense of satisfaction. Her beautiful eyes shifted, and she fixed her gaze on Li Yang, saying, "Li Yang, you've done a great service. Tell me, how do you want me to thank you?"