Chapter 46: Lost

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Lost

"Make a cut here."

"The first cut... it’s all stone rind."

"Make the second cut here."

"Too bad. Still stone rind."

"The third cut, right here."

"Brother Jiang Fan, are you sure about this? We’ve already cut through half of it. What could possibly be in the other half?"

Jiang Fan chuckled inwardly. ’Trying to scheme against me? You’re far too young for that.’

He then picked up the scrap piece on the ground, the one that had been cut down to only half its size.

"Make a cut here, and then another one here."

"It’s just scraps now. There can’t be anything left to find, right?"

Yin Mountain also spoke up.

Yin Ruxue also shook her head. Seeing Jiang Fan’s confidence, she had been hoping for a miracle.

But it was clear there would be no miracle.

"One last cut. Right here."

"I say, Brother Jiang Fan, why don’t you just admit defeat? You still have two more chances. It’s no big deal if you lose this one."

Chen Xuan said with a smile from the side.

Jiang Fan said seriously, "I don’t think there’s a rule against making a few extra cuts, is there?"

"It’s just a desperate last struggle."

"Old Xu, cut it for him. Make him accept his loss completely."

Chen Xuan waved his hand, signaling his man to continue cutting.

The next second, a piece of the stone rind fell away.

Revealed within was the exquisite luster of bronze.

"He actually cut something out?"

"What is that?"

"Keep cutting! One more slice here."

The crowd surged forward to get a better look.

"Is that... a bronze artifact?"

"He actually uncovered a bronze artifact."

"How can there be a bronze artifact in a Jade Mine?"

Jiang Fan shot Chen Xuan a strange look. "Who said you can’t find anything good in a worthless scrap!"

Chen Xuan’s expression was uglier than words could describe.

"This bronze artifact is even carved with inscriptions! A single character is worth a fortune."

"Let alone this dense script."

"This three-legged, two-handled bronze ding is a priceless treasure."

A merchant who loved antiques stepped forward, his eyes filled with envy. If such a piece were in his collection, it would undoubtedly be the crown jewel.

Jiang Fan toyed with the bronze ding he had just revealed. It was surprisingly heavy. Though only the size of his palm, it felt like it weighed over ten pounds.

’This little ding must be made of more than just bronze.’

"This first round... counts as my win, right?"

The winner was obvious, clear for all to see.

"Nephew Chen is so magnanimous, to actually bring out one of the Chen Family’s treasures."

Many people praised Chen Xuan for his generosity.

Little did they know, Chen Xuan was grinding his back teeth so hard they were about to shatter.

’I clearly scanned it with the latest spectrometer! How could there be a bronze ding inside?’

’How is this possible?’

"Brother Chen Xuan, shall we proceed to the next round?"

Jiang Fan asked politely. The man before him was a big shot, after all.

’Can’t offend him, can’t offend him.’ He couldn’t put the bronze ding down; he absolutely loved it.

Yin Ruxue also felt like she was in a dream. "Jiang Fan actually won? How did he do that?"

Chen Xuan suppressed the fire in his heart. "Brother Jiang Fan, your luck is truly incredible."

"I didn’t expect it either. To think you, Brother Jiang Fan, would find such a treasure among the scraps."

"I didn’t expect it either."

Chen Xuan...

"But I don’t believe your luck will hold."

"You picked first last time. This time, it’s my turn."

Chen Xuan pointed directly at the Jade King.

"I choose this ore."

"Brother Jiang Fan, your turn."

By choosing the Jade King right off the bat, he had essentially handed Jiang Fan a death sentence.

Jiang Fan’s gaze, however, swept over the other ore stones one by one.

He continuously peered through the stones, seeing their true nature within.

Jiang Fan cursed inwardly. ’This machine really did a clean sweep. There’s nothing in them.’

A spectrometer could clearly see the internal cracks and colors.

Unless the thing inside wasn’t jade.

Jiang Fan was taking a gamble.

After a bit of searching with his X-ray vision, Jiang Fan breathed a sigh of relief. He’d actually found something.

He then walked over to a piece of jade stone roughly the size of a large bowl.

"This one."

"I don’t believe you can pull another bronze artifact out of that."

Jiang Fan gave a sly grin. "You never know."

"Just cut it open."

Chen Xuan didn’t want to waste any more time.

Soon, Chen Xuan’s stone was cut open.

"A top-grade hollowed-out ink jade crystal."

"It’s the size of a soccer ball!"

"Crystals are common, but to find Ink Jade and crystal together... you might not find a single piece in ten whole mining veins," someone exclaimed in admiration.

"I remember a top-grade Ink Jade Crystal auctioned in Hong Kong and Macau back in ’18. It fetched a hundred million."

"This one is three times the size of that one! Its diameter is over thirty centimeters."

"It must be worth at least three hundred million."

"Worth three hundred million."

"Three hundred million... that’s quite a lot."

This time, it seemed Jiang Fan was most likely going to lose.

Most of the onlookers could see it.

How could he possibly be that lucky again?

It’s not like a top-grade amethyst was just going to pop out.

An item like that is truly one in ten thousand.

"Jiang Fan, are you still going to cut yours?"

"Of course I’m cutting! You haven’t even seen mine yet, have you? Of course I’ll continue."

"Hmph. Old Xu, go and cut it for him."

"Alright." Old Xu nervously went to help Jiang Fan cut his stone.

The last one revealed a heaven-defying artifact. If he revealed another one this time, he’d be in deep trouble. He’d probably be fired.

’This kid can’t possibly be this lucky. Right, just take it slow,’ Old Xu told himself.

The sound of the wire saw buzzed.

After a short while, the first slice of stone fell away.

Still nothing.

The second cut was the same.

It wasn’t until the fourth and fifth cuts that the inside of the ore was revealed.

"I see a glint of something gold?"

"What is it?"

"Is it another antique?"

"No way, is this kid’s luck really that insane?"

"It might just be a piece of pyrite," Chen Xuan said.

The crowd nodded.

"That’s possible."

"You’re really not going to give up until you’re staring at the Yellow River, are you?" Jiang Fan had them continue cutting.

And soon, the inside of the ore was fully revealed.

It was a golden seal.

The golden seal wasn’t large, and it emitted a faint glow that only Jiang Fan seemed to notice.

"Is that thing glowing, or is it my imagination?"

Everyone else was speechless.

"Jiang Fan’s luck... it’s just too good, isn’t it?"

Chen Xuan said angrily, "Impossible! How did you know that was in there?"

Jiang Fan said softly, "There’s a little thing called luck."

"Absolutely impossible! I scanned every single piece of jade with a spectrometer!"

"Oh, so you scanned them all."

Jiang Fan raised his voice slightly.

Chen Xuan was done for now. In his agitation, he had lost all composure.

He had used a spectrometer to scan them. He was the one who had been cheating.

"I didn’t use a spectrometer!"

He repeated himself, a bit frantically, and tried to explain to Yin Ruxue, but she just turned her head away, clearly wanting nothing to do with him.

"Chen Xuan, it’s time to make good on your promise."

"You said you wouldn’t bother Xue’Er anymore."

Chen Xuan gritted his teeth and glared at Jiang Fan, a lump in his throat making it impossible to speak.

"Jiang Fan!"

Seeing that Chen Xuan couldn’t back down gracefully, Chen Feng’s expression also darkened.