NOVEL NEXT Chapter 61: I Lost
"What? You dare to say Master Liu's judgment is poor? Kid, who do you think you are!"
Before Liu Yuntuo had time to react, the two men in black by his side bristled, ready to make a move.
Seeing this, the bodyguards beside Fang Feifei stepped forward, prepared to protect Wang Ye.
After all, Wang Ye was the chief jewelry appraiser and someone Fang Feifei highly valued.
"Hold on!"
Liu Yuntuo promptly halted his men from advancing.
He then looked at Wang Ye with a venomous gaze and spoke, "Kid, since you say my judgment is poor, then tell me, where exactly is it lacking?"
Wang Ye glanced at Liu Yuntuo, picked up the stone that had been slightly damaged from the ground, and held it up again in front of Liu Yuntuo.
"This stone is worth over 1.5 billion, yet you treated it as a worthless rock and tossed it aside. Doesn't that prove your poor judgment?" Wang Ye countered.
"Hahaha!" Liu Yuntuo laughed dismissively. "Kid, you must be insane! A mere broken rock, and you dare claim it's worth over 1.5 billion? Don't get too full of yourself just because you were lucky enough to identify an Imperial Green!"
Not only did Liu Yuntuo disbelieve in the stone's value, but everyone around also shared the sentiment. After all, that stone had been declared worthless by many people. Even Wang Ye himself, had originally appraised it as worthless.
If it truly was worth 1.5 billion, why didn't Wang Ye say so earlier? In the last round of the appraisal conference, he could've made over 700 million from that stone.
With so much money at stake, who wouldn't be tempted?
"Is this guy insane? Despite knowing it's a worthless stone, he still insists it's worth 1.5 billion. What is he trying to do?"
"I guess he's trying to divert attention, waiting for reinforcements. Probably Patriarch Fang is on his way here!"
"Indeed, that could be possible. If Patriarch Fang arrives, there might be a chance to settle this matter."
The crowd whispered among themselves, yet Fang Feifei's expression wasn't good. She knew too well that Patriarch Fang wouldn't come.
The situation of the Fang Family was complicated. Even Patriarch Fang had to be on guard at all times. In such a case, he would not intervene. Otherwise, it would only attract trouble, which would be very disadvantageous for him.
Furthermore, if Fang Feifei couldn't handle this situation properly, her own status in the Fang Family would be greatly affected.
"Liu Yuntuo, I will cut open this stone! If it is worth over 1.5 billion, you will buy it without shortchanging a cent! If it's not, then I'll listen to whatever you decide," Wang Ye said seriously to Liu Yuntuo.
"Fine!" Liu Yuntuo readily agreed. "If it's not worth that much, then the Fang Family will compensate me fivefold for my losses. Plus, one of your hands!"
Liu Yuntuo was ruthless, leaving no room for Wang Ye.
"That's settled!" Wang Ye didn't hesitate and agreed on the spot.
The Fang Family could afford the ten billion. Moreover, a hand was not a life-ending catastrophe. And Wang Ye trusted his own judgment.
But Fang Feifei was far from calm at this point.
"Wang Ye, are you sure? This is the Fang Family's business; you don't need to do this! You can negotiate with him, just agree to pay him some more money," Fang Feifei whispered to Wang Ye.
In Fang Feifei's eyes, Wang Ye's hand was not worth ten billion.
"It's settled! Don't worry," Wang Ye replied confidently.
He understood that this was now a personal grudge between him and Liu Yuntuo. Liu Yuntuo wouldn't agree to Fang Feifei's suggestion. Without betting the hand, this matter couldn't proceed.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wang Ye approached the cutting machine with the stone in his arms.
After carefully adjusting the machine, Wang Ye began to cut.
This time, he started cutting from the middle of the stone, and instead of a straight line, he cut along a curve. The difficulty of such cutting was dozens of times greater than straight-line cutting.
If anything went wrong, not only could the rough stone be ruined, but Wang Ye himself was also at great risk of injury.
Given the sharpness of the cutting machine, it was easily capable of severing a person's hand.
Therefore, everyone present watched Wang Ye's cutting with bated breath.
The professional cutter by his side had an even more solemn expression and had moved far away early on, fearing that he might get injured in case of an accident.
However, relying on his superb cutting skills, Wang Ye ultimately managed to split the stone successfully.
Then, he washed away the debris from the cutting surface with water. And then, an astounding scene unveiled.
One of the segments, cut to resemble two mountain peaks, revealed the highest-quality Imperial Green Water-Type Jade.
While the other piece, resembling two deep abysses, also revealed another variety of top-quality Imperial Green Water-Type Jade.
The green hues of the two stones complemented each other, emitting a heart-stopping jade glow.
"Liu Yuntuo, do you see? Is this piece stone, or is it waste rock?" Wang Ye asked Liu Yuntuo, pointing at the two pieces of stone on the table.
At that moment, Liu Yuntuo was stunned.
What was just a worthless piece of rock had now become top-grade Imperial Green. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Liu Yuntuo would never have believed it.
And what shocked Liu Yuntuo the most was that he had just personally appraised it as a piece of waste rock.
However, after considering the finished product, Liu Yuntuo understood. It turned out that two types of top-quality Imperial Green overlapped in one piece, making it impossible to see through from the outside. The top-quality Imperial Green would be mistaken for an ordinary water-type stone, and ultimately, it was judged as waste rock.
If it weren't for Wang Ye's precise cutting, this stone would still have been treated as waste rock in the end.
But now, the stone had revealed its perfect finished product. The two mountain peaks and two valleys cut by Wang Ye could now be sculpted according to their form, creating two exquisite jade ornaments.
In other words, the final value of the raw stone would exceed 1.5 billion.
Although Liu Yuntuo was extremely reluctant to admit it, he knew he had lost.
The people around, having seen the quality of the stone, had already been stunned into silence. Even though they didn't fully understand the rarity of the Imperial Green, anyone could see that the value of the two pieces of cut raw stone was enormous.
Fang Feifei, upon seeing the finished product, also breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Wang Ye, you are truly formidable!"
Fang Feifei couldn't help but praise.
Wang Ye, however, remained calm, merely responding with a shallow smile.
After a long silence, Liu Yuntuo finally spoke.
His tone was very grave, "I've lost!"