"Let me take a look, Victor." Harold Han strode over, pulling out his powerful flashlight and magnifying glass to examine the rough stone.
Victor Liu, who had just revealed imperial green jade, was feeling extremely pleased with himself. He couldn't help but cast a victor's glance at Ian, only to find Ian's expression perfectly calm—without a hint of surprise or shock.
"Hmph, this guy's just pretending to stay calm—he's only putting on a brave face!"
As Harold Han continued examining the rough stone, his expression gradually changed. In the end, he stepped aside with a hint of disappointment and said, "Victor, go ahead and cut the stone."
"Master, you don't have high hopes for this rough stone?" Victor Liu asked, a bit worried.
"Just cut it first—you'll know once it's opened." Harold Han shook his head, unwilling to reveal more of his opinion.
Sure enough, twenty minutes later, the entire rough stone was cut open. The jade yielded was sizable, but oddly, only a tiny portion was imperial green jade—the rest was mid-grade water-type jadeite.
For a moment, Victor Liu's face didn't look so good.
But even with so little imperial green, the value of this jade was still extremely high. So Harold Han set the price at fifty-six million yuan.
In other words, Victor Liu's three rough stones were worth a total of 62.06 million yuan.
Victor Liu, whose face had looked a bit grim, regained his confidence. Three pieces of jade worth over sixty-two million—definitely a huge profit. He didn't believe Ian could cut out jade worth more than his.
"It's your turn!" Victor Liu said, looking at Ian.
"Alright!"
Ian smiled slightly and got to work.
"Whirr, whirr, whirr!"
He immediately sliced the first rough stone in half, then split those halves into quarters, and finally cut the whole stone into thirty-two small pieces.
"Busted!"
Seeing this, Victor Liu was delighted. Ian's cutting technique had zero skill—he was just recklessly hacking away.
"Is this what Master calls a stone-gambling expert? Looks like even Master can misjudge people sometimes!"
"Grandpa, did this guy really beat you before?" Sabrina Han was starting to doubt, and quietly asked Harold Han.
"Just keep watching," Harold Han said mysteriously.
He was already watching the three rough stones Ian had chosen. Judging by their appearance, they all looked like the type that would bust, but he remembered the last gambling match.
The stones Ian picked all looked terrible, but last time he ended up cutting out jade that shocked everyone and won the match—while most people got burned. Classic king of the pit.
Even after busting the first stone, Ian showed no sign of worry and moved on to the second rough.
Whirr!
With stone dust and sparks flying, the second rough stone was also cut into many small pieces. Every cut face was chalky white with no green at all—clearly, the second stone had busted too.
Seeing this, Victor Liu was completely at ease—he was certain he'd won this round.
"Grandpa, looks like I'm going to make five hundred million this time!" Sabrina Han said to Harold Han, brimming with pride.
"I'm not so sure," Harold Han replied in a deep voice.
"Master, aren't you giving him way too much credit?" Victor Liu sneered.
"Whether I am or not, you'll see soon enough."
Ian calmly secured the third rough stone and made a single cut through the middle.
Crack!
The long, bar-shaped rough stone split right down the middle.
And both cut faces were filled with green—almost the entire cross-section was jade.
"What the...?"
Seeing this, Victor Liu's eyes widened, and disbelief flashed across Sabrina Han's face as well.
Harold Han chuckled and stepped forward to inspect it. After a while, he said, "In terms of quality, this jade is just mid-grade water-type, but the skin is only a thin layer. I think the volume of jade inside is huge—it's a shame you cut it into two pieces, Ian. Otherwise, it could've been carved into a single jade winter melon!"
Forty minutes later, Ian finished grinding out the entire rough jade.
From the shape, it was basically a giant winter melon split in half.
"Master Han, what do you think these two pieces of jade are worth?" Ian glanced at Victor Liu and asked with a smile.
Harold Han pondered and said, "If you hadn't cut it in two, a bit of carving would have made a jade winter melon, worth over two hundred million. But as it is, we can only judge by the water-type quality. At market price, it should be worth about a hundred and twenty million."
A crowd had already gathered to watch the excitement. Hearing that Ian had just wasted eighty million with a single cut, many felt sorry for him—though some were secretly gloating.
When Harold Han gave his verdict, Victor Liu's face turned deathly pale.
His three pieces of jade were worth just over sixty million.
But with just one jade piece, Ian had double that. So, he lost this bet.
Sabrina Han, who lost five hundred million, wasn't upset at all. Instead, she curiously sized up Ian. His first two rough stones had busted, but the third turned the tables. She suspected he did it on purpose just to mess with her and Victor.
She wasn't wrong—Ian really was messing with them.
"Convinced now, you two?" Harold Han glanced at Victor Liu and Sabrina Han.
"No way! He just got lucky, that's all!" Victor Liu suddenly raised his head, glaring at Ian with unwilling eyes.
Seeing this, Harold Han's face darkened as he scolded, "You fool! Win or lose, you have to accept it. If you can't even do that, you don't deserve to be my disciple!"
Victor Liu was stunned. He never expected his master to speak so harshly to him.
Sabrina Han quickly tugged Victor Liu's sleeve and whispered, "Senior brother, we lost fair and square. Do you know who Ian is? He's the one who beat my grandpa!"
"What?"
Victor Liu stared at Ian in disbelief, full of shock. He'd heard his master once lost to a young man, but never imagined it was Ian. Suddenly, he realized—if Master knew Ian was so strong, yet still agreed to this bet, was he trying to set him up?
And Ian was even worse—he was clearly more skilled than Master, but kept pretending to be a rookie.
Thinking this, Victor Liu felt a bit resentful toward Harold Han, and even more hatred toward Ian.
Ian could easily read Victor Liu's shifting expressions. He shook his head, knowing Harold Han's plan had been wasted.
Originally, he planned to cancel the extra fifty million and five hundred million wagers out of respect for Harold Han. But now, he saw no need—Victor Liu was too narrow-minded, and even if he canceled the bet, Victor wouldn't feel grateful at all.
Harold Han also noticed Victor Liu's changing expression, and the resentment and hatred in his eyes. He couldn't help but feel disappointed, so he waved his hand and said, "Alright, since business is done, let's head back to Jadeport City!"
Just as Ian's group was leaving the Blackfield Public Auction venue, a man nearby quickly pulled out his phone and dialed, saying in a low voice, "Young Master, that kid just left the auction hall and should be heading back to Jadeport City!"