The comparison that followed was between the remaining piece of raw stone and the one Ye Fei had selected.
Apart from Ye Fei, who was brimming with confidence in his choice, everyone else felt that Ye Fei’s raw stone stood no chance against the one belonging to the Ding siblings.
The stone-cutting master continued his work.
To everyone’s disappointment, this piece of raw stone also yielded nothing.
It was declared a dud stone.
“I truly never expected this to be a dud stone!”
“Looking at its color and the cracks, the chance of finding green was extremely high. What a shame.”
The onlookers lamented with great regret.
As for the Ding siblings, their expressions were also quite grim.
Everyone had lost interest in Ye Fei’s piece of raw stone, which was only the size of a basketball.
Ye Fei walked up to the stone-cutting master and demonstrated how the stone should be cut.
When they heard that this piece of raw stone could only be processed by rubbing, all eyes shifted to Ye Fei.
“Master, please, just listen to me. I’d be grateful if you would oblige!”
Ye Fei ignored the gazes of those around him.
He persisted in having the stone-cutting master follow his instructions.
“Brother, this kid is truly too arrogant!”
“With such a worthless piece of raw stone, he even dares to ask the master to process it by rubbing?”
“It’s utterly foolish!”
Although the second piece of raw stone did not yield any green, the Ding siblings remained full of confidence.
“Brat, why don’t you just admit defeat!”
“To avoid making a fool of yourself!”
The elder Ding glared at Ye Fei with a look of sarcasm, utterly disbelieving that such a worthless piece of raw stone could yield anything remarkable!
“The matter isn’t over yet, so don’t celebrate too soon!”
“Master, please do as I say!”
Ye Fei’s decisive tone prompted the stone-cutting master to follow Ye Fei’s instructions and begin rubbing the raw stone.
“Hmph, a mere charade!”
Seeing that Ye Fei was stubborn, the elder Ding waited aside, ready to witness Ye Fei’s downfall.
“How is this possible!”
The stone-cutting master was also bewildered. In less than a minute of rubbing, green was already appearing.
Stunned, the stone-cutting master became serious.
Yu Xiao, who had also been closely observing the stone-cutting, instantly covered her mouth, clearly unable to believe what she was seeing.
“What’s going on?”
“Why is the green appearing so quickly?”
Ming Ming, Yu Xiao’s classmate, also wore a look of shock.
He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing an illusion.
The Ding siblings, who had bet against Ye Fei, were even more astonished.
“Impossible, I must be hallucinating!”
“I don’t believe it!”
Miss Ding murmured, unwilling to accept what she saw.
As the seconds ticked by, more and more green was revealed.
“Incredible, absolutely incredible! It’s glass-type jade!”
“This kid is going to be rich!”
Finally, after a full half hour, a piece of imperial green jadeite came into everyone’s view.
Everyone’s breathing grew heavy, their eyes fixed on the jadeite in the stone-cutting master’s hands.
Even the stone-cutting master gazed at the jadeite in his hands with fascination.
He then returned the jadeite to Ye Fei.
The most heartbroken among them was the owner of the shop.
His expression was now as dark as it could be.
“Ye Fei, that’s wonderful, we won!”
Yu Xiao, having snapped back to reality, grabbed Ye Fei’s hand, her face filled with excitement.
The Ding siblings, on the other hand, looked furious.
They attempted to leave discreetly when no one was paying attention.
Ye Fei called out to them after they had taken a few steps.
“Hold on, where are you going?”
“Are you going to run away because you can’t handle the loss?”
Ye Fei said playfully, stroking his chin.
“You’re talking nonsense!”
“Don’t you dare slander me!”
The siblings were quite thick-skinned; despite being caught, they still tried to quibble.
“Since you’ve lost, hand over the money and the jadeite!”
Ye Fei yawned and urged them on.
The surrounding onlookers pointed and whispered at the siblings, seemingly convinced that they were trying to escape.
“Fine, we’ll give it to you!”
The elder Ding, who valued his reputation, had no choice but to hand over the jadeite he had just unearthed, along with the one million yuan, to Ye Fei in front of everyone.
He then said through gritted teeth.
“Kid, I’ll remember the humiliation you’ve brought me today!”
“Just you wait!”
“See how I deal with you later!”
With a dark expression, the elder Ding flicked his sleeve and left with his sister.
Yu Xiao, who had her spirits lifted, finally felt a sense of vindication.
“Ye Fei, I’m sorry I got angry with you earlier.”
“I really didn’t expect your stone gambling skills to be so high!”
“It seems I’ll have to listen to your advice more often from now on.”
Yu Xiao was in a great mood and apologized to Ye Fei.
“Ye Fei, I’d like to buy the imperial green jadeite you have. What do you say?”
Yu Xiao had come specifically for the imperial green jadeite from the old pit.
Now, wouldn’t this be killing two birds with one stone?
“Sure, as for the price, you can decide. Though it’s my first time gambling on stones, my old man is a veteran in the stone gambling world, and I’ve read all his notes. I’m considered half a veteran now!”
Ye Fei replied with a grin.
“Stop joking. This time, it was probably just your good luck.”
“A fortunate coincidence.”
“Alright, it’s getting late. Let’s go grab something to eat!”
“My treat today!”
Yu Xiao, in high spirits, placed the jadeite into a bag she carried and left the shop.
After seeing them leave the shop, the owner of the establishment gave a few instructions to the young man. The young man then led several burly men, armed and ready, to follow them.
Not long after Ye Fei and the others left the shop, Ye Fei sensed that someone was stealthily tailing them.
“Be careful, someone is following us!”
Ye Fei stopped and warned them.
“What?”
“Where are they?”
Hearing Ye Fei’s words, Yu Xiao immediately became vigilant and scanned her surroundings.
Even her classmate Ming Ming looked wary.
“Relax, it’s just a few people. I can handle them myself!”
“You don’t need to be so scared.”
Ye Fei reassured them.
He then shouted out into the surroundings.
“Hey, I’ve already spotted you guys, why don’t you come out?”
“If you don’t come out now, I’ll drag you out one by one!”
“Get out here, you scoundrels!”
The individuals who were trying to follow them hadn’t expected to be discovered.
A flicker of surprise crossed their faces.
However, after a moment, the young man clapped his hands, and five armed thugs rushed out.
They quickly positioned themselves in front of Ye Fei and the others.