Instead of answering her, Alexander glanced at the rocks she was holding and said, “Let’s find a place
to cut them open.”
And so, Elise followed him into a store, and when people heard that they wanted to cut their stones,
many people in the store gathered around them. “You didn’t buy the stones from me, so there will be a
charge for the labor fee. For every stone we cut, it will cost 1,000 USD,” the owner of the store said.
Rich people really know ways to spend money, Elise thought in sarcasm and asked, “Do you still want
to cut the stones here, Mr. Griffith?”
The next second, Alexander took out his credit card and swiped it. Since this was how the situation had
turned out, the only thing left for Elise to do was pass the stones in her hands to the craftsman. At the
same time, the crowd in the store stared at the stones which were about to be cut open and moved in
closer.
The craftsman studied the first stone, and he reckoned that it wouldn’t show any signs of jadeite
judging from the pattern and the color of the stone, so he asked Elise, “How would you like to cut it?”
Before she could translate, Alexander interjected, “Start cutting from the left side and then cut it into
half.”
After she conveyed his message, the craftsman brought the stone to the machine straight away.
People in their line had very steady hands, and they were incredibly meticulous. Therefore, the cutting
process was a little slow, and as everyone watched in anticipation, the first stone proved to be a waste.
Everyone sighed, and even Elise felt that it was a
pity. Tens of thousands of dollars is gone just like that! she thought.
“Miss, are we going to continue cutting?” the craftsman asked, whereupon she turned to Alexander
“Continue cutting the others!” she
answered. Well, I don‘t feel the pinch since it‘s not my money, anyway!
Immediately, the craftsman cut another of Alexander’s stones, but after cutting three stones
continuously, not a single shard of jadeite could be seen. The crowd were beginning to lose their
interest, and amongst them, Elise sighed helplessly. On the other hand, Alexander peered at the last
stone composedly and said, “There’s still
one stone left. Cut it as well.”
After hesitating for a couple of seconds, Elise advised in a whisper, “Mr. Griffith, let’s not cut that last
one. We haven’t had any luck yet so far, and we’ll only make a joke out of ourselves if we continue with
the cutting.”
At her words, he looked around and asked, “Do you know anyone here?”
We‘re in a foreign country. How could we know anyone here? she thought in confusion and shook her
head in reply.
Unexpectedly, he said, “Since we don’t know anyone here, we don’t have to be afraid of being
embarrassed. Furthermore, even if we do make a joke out of ourselves, it won’t affect us because
nobody knows us.”
His words seem to make some sense! Elise thought to herself and realized that she could learn a thing
or two from him about being shameless.
The craftsman had nothing to say to their decision of cutting the last stone and simply brought the
stone to the cutting machine. This stone was about the same size as the ones before, but it felt a little
heavier in his hands. Could this one contain jadeite? he wondered as he started to work on the stone.
Carefully, he ground the surface of the stone with the machine. Barely three minutes had passed when
Alexander suddenly shouted for him to stop. “Wait a minute!”
“What is it?” Elise asked.
Looking at the stone, he said, “Tell him to start cutting from the bottom right, but it has to be done
slowly.”
Elise translated his words, and the craftsman did as he was told, changing the direction of the cut
hurriedly and began cutting from the bottom right. But with this cut, sporadic green started to appear on
the stone.
With sparkling eyes, the onlookers exclaimed, “It’s green!”
Immediately, all eyes turned to them as someone said, “This stone is not bad and looks like it will have
a good jadeite.”
Hearing that, Elise glanced at the stone nervously, and slowly, the amount of green surface began to
increase, but the color looked much better than regular jade.
“It’s the imperial jade!” someone exclaimed out of nowhere, and an uproar burst out amongst the
crowd.
I’ve been in this trade for years, but I’ve never seen an imperial jade being cut. I can’t believe I actually
got to witness it today!”.
“Only one inch has been cut, and nobody knows how big it will end up. If it’s only that small part, then
it’s worthless.”
Listening to their discussions, Elise watched the stone without blinking. It‘s just a regular–
looking stone, but it has the imperial jade inside. While gold has a price, jadeite is priceless. If there‘s re
ally a good piece of imperial jade inside, then he‘ll make a lot of money.
“Miss, does this stone belong to you?” a European middle-aged man asked, whereupon she hurriedly
shook her head.
“It’s not mine; it’s my boss” she explained.
Then, the man turned to Alexander and asked in fluent English, “Sir, will you sell your stone to me? I’ll
offer you three times the price you paid.”
Three times the price! Dumbfounded, Elise remembered that this stone was bought at 20,000, and
now, he could get 60,000 by selling it!
However, Alexander merely answered, “I’m sorry, but I don’t plan to sell this stone.”
Still, the man refused to give up as he added, “Sir, your stone has only shown one inch of green for
now, and nobody knows what lies inside. You won’t make a loss if you sell it to me now, but if your
stone really only has one inch of jadeite, then it will be worthless. Not even the jade it has now would
be worth anything then.”
Regardless, Alexander was unmoved and was determined not to sell his stone!
Seeing how unwilling he was to sell his stone, the man couldn’t help but say, “Young man, you should
stop while you’re ahead. It’s not easy to run into imperial jade, and you’re simply lucky to have one inch
of it. Judging from your stone, that’s probably how much it contains. In the end, it will just be a
worthless stone.”
Annoyed by his words, Elise retorted, “Since you already called it a worthless stone, why are you
willing to spend so much money to buy it from us? Are you an idiot knowing that it’s a bad deal but still
decided to go ahead with it?”
Her words made him flush angrily, and he glared at her before leaving in a huff.
While Elise was unbothered by him, Alexander couldn’t help but glance at her and commented, “I didn’t
know you had such a sharp tongue, Miss Sare.”
“I was merely speaking the truth. Clearly, he was trying to take advantage of us. Does he really think
that everyone else is as dumb as him?” Then, she turned to the stone. “Do you think there’s more
jadeite in this stone?”
He didn’t answer her, and they looked at the stone intensely. As the cut got deeper, the amount of
green grew, and the crowd cheered.
For the first time, Elise felt what it was like to take part in stone gambling adrenaline pumped through
her veins, and she didn’t even dare to blink as she kept her eyes fixed on the stone. When one surface
of the stone was completely ground away, a piece of imperial jade with a deep green color appeared
before everyone’s eyes. The craftsman stared wide-eyed at the stone in his hand because this was the
first time after years of being in this trade that he had encountered such a good piece of imperial jade.
“Sir, could you please sell this stone to me?” another European man stepped forward and asked.
This time, Alexander didn’t keep him hanging and asked instead, “How much are you willing to pay?”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda