Chapter 74: Western Fantasy Traveling Through Long Aotian

Young Master Duan's bet naturally attracted a lot of attention. Some even started to hype up the game. While most people openly supported Young Master Duan, some perceptive individuals, sensing the undercurrents between the Duan and Gu families, placed bets on Long Haoyu as a token of their loyalty. Whether there were other bets going on behind the scenes was unknown.

Both parties came to the gambling stone area and looked for raw stones separately.

"Don't you want to get involved with the Duan family? Now's your chance."

Duan Xingzhou smiled grimly.

Zhou Zhen looked to be struggling. He was wearing a plain black, old-fashioned suit with faint wrinkles on it. It was the only decent piece of clothing he had left.

A few months ago, the Jade Pavilion he opened was rumored by competitors to be involved in counterfeit goods and gambling on jadeite. It was something that needed to be clarified, but who would have thought that an old employee he had always relied on would turn against him and acted in a double act with "reporters" in public, replacing the real ones with fake materials, directly confirming the rumors.

Zhou Zhen was completely unprepared for such a vicious trick, and his business plummeted. He tried everything but saw no improvement, and he even owed a huge debt.

When he was in dire straits, his old friend told him that Young Master Duan would attend the Jade Feast. He immediately regained hope and begged for admission. He put aside his pride and followed Young Master Duan, begging him humbly and repeatedly. However, Duan Xingzhou had seen many people like him, so how could he pay attention to him?

It was not until Duan Xingzhou saw Long Haoyu and remembered Zhou Zhen's boasting about his ability to identify jade that he suddenly came up with the idea of ​​gambling on jade to humiliate Long Haoyu.

"Could it be that everything you said before was a lie?" Duan Xingzhou looked at Zhou Zhen with a sneer, as if he was going to deal with him on the spot if Zhou Zhen dared to deny it.

Zhou Zhen knew that if he didn't agree, the Emerald City that he had worked so hard to build would be completely ruined.

Zhou Zhen had heard of Long Haoyu. He'd also heard about the nationwide hit "Where Are We Going, Baby?" before, but he didn't like to pay attention to such things. How much fine jade could a performer have seen? He was said to be an orphan, so he probably didn't even know the different types of jade!

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhen felt more confident. He was confident in his ten years of experience in jade hunting and had never failed to identify the right one. So he replied boldly, "Master Duan, don't worry, I will definitely let you win!"

Duan Xingzhou smiled with satisfaction: "That's good."

Zhou Zhen's Jade Pavilion had only been established for a few years, but it had already become famous throughout the country. This was all thanks to Zhou Zhen's extraordinary talent in jade. However, it also attracted the envy of many of his peers. He had been doing well for a few years and had not witnessed many cruel tricks, so this time he was pecked in the eye by an eagle.

Duan Xingzhou had previously enjoyed the pleasure of this genius groveling before him, but now, he thought to himself:

If Zhou Zhen could defeat Long Haoyu, then he would not be merciful and help Zhou Zhen through this. As long as Zhou Zhen sold the ownership of the Jade Pavilion to him at a low price, he could also let Zhou Zhen continue to sit in the management position. Wouldn't this also fulfill Zhou Zhen's desire to devote himself to the Jade Pavilion?

Zhou Zhen had no idea what Duan Xingzhou was thinking; otherwise, he would have spit in his face. He would never give up the Jade Pavilion to try to turn things around. Otherwise, why wouldn't he have accepted the higher price offered by his competitor?

But at this time, Zhou Zhen was full of expectations. He carefully looked at each raw stone and used all his life's knowledge, determined to win this bet for Duan Shao and win the opportunity to revive the Jade Pavilion.

"How about we each pick one and see who picks the best?"

Long Lingnan raised her hand with a smile on her face and suggested that they compete in jade identification. She would see if she could prevent Duan Xingzhou from losing completely!

"No, Royal Sister, this is unfair. We can tell one, two, three just by smelling them. This competition is all about hand speed, okay?"

Long Zixuan firmly opposed it. He was no match for his sister in terms of speed, and he would not be foolish enough to participate in a game that he was bound to lose.

"Oh, okay."

Long Lingnan pouted and skipped towards the best one.

After hearing about the bet, the people who were originally gathered here to pick raw stones stopped and let the two parties choose freely. They watched with great interest and discussed which raw material should be selected.

"Oh, the little girl didn't choose well. Based on my many years of experience in gambling on stones, stones this big usually don't have anything valuable in them!" The passerby talked loudly, attracting a wave of agreement, and instantly raised his head with pride.

Unfortunately, uncle, you are wrong. It happens that this largest stone in the whole venue is the most fragrant and the most seductive to dragons.

Long Lingnan hummed a song, the scene of beating Duan Xingzhou replaying in his mind, holding the big rock firmly with both hands, very happy.

"The first one was chosen by the Imperial Sister, so I want the second one!"

Long Zixuan didn't dare to compete with Long Lingnan for the first place, but he wanted to compete with Long Haoyu for the second place.

Long Haoyu followed behind, letting the two children quarrel. As an adult, he thought he wasn't as childish as Long Zixuan, who argued over every little thing. Gu Yang watched from the sidelines as Long Haoyu let the children playfully choose rocks, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

He knew that the child was a little strong, but that didn't mean the child knew jade.

But seeing Long Haoyu's nonchalant look, he shut up silently. The more he said, the more mistakes he would make. Gu Yang didn't dare to squander the other party's good impression of him, which might not exist.

After getting the second one, several people were on their way to get the third one when they bumped into Zhou Zhen head-on. What Zhou Zhen was holding in his hand was the third raw stone with the strongest aura.

"Ah, it seems someone got there first."

Long Lingnan blinked, feeling somewhat disappointed as Zhou Zhen passed them without a word. She'd expected him to engage in some legendary verbal battles, and she'd already prepared several tirade against them, but unfortunately, none of them came to fruition.

It seems that the guy Duan Xingzhou found does have some skills. No wonder he dared to propose this bet.

However, hehe, the two best stones are in their hands, how can they lose with this flying dragon riding on their face?

After both parties had selected their stones, they came to the stone-cutting area, where professional stone-cutters were waiting. The organizers also heard about this shocking bet and quickly sent more security personnel and more professional masters to help out.

Everyone gathered around, wanting to witness the outcome of the bet with their own eyes. Fortunately, they were all well-known figures in the outside world, and they managed to maintain their composure and did not cause too much trouble to the security personnel.

"Who goes first?" asked the master.

Duan Xingzhou wanted to beat Long Haoyu so much that he immediately said, "Let's go first!" He urged Zhou Zhen with his eyes.

Long Haoyu played with the stone in his hand, with a faint smile on his lips, and had no intention of objecting.

Zhou Zhen's hands trembled slightly as he held the stone, his heart racing. Even though he was confident in his judgment, gambling on stones was never a sure thing. He steadied himself, his gaze fixed, and stepped forward, handing the piece he considered the best to the stone cutter.

“Which side to cut from?”

"This way."

Zhou Zhen drew on the stone with trembling fingers. The master nodded, confirmed the position, and then put the raw stone into the stone cutting machine for cutting.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the machine, their eyes fixed on the machine. Zhou Zhen was even more nervous, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest. Sweat had soaked through his underwear, but he was completely unaware.

"Green, green, green!"

"It's Gao Bingyang Lu, worthy of being Old Zhou, awesome!"

Zhou Zhen put his heart back into his stomach. The high ice and green jade was better than he expected. The jade was intact without any cracks. It was sure to be worth at least one million.

After it was completely cut open, I was even more shocked. The weight of this piece of jade was beyond imagination, and the reserve price could be multiplied several times.

Then he cut open the last two pieces of jade, one with a glacial glutinous color of floating sun green and one with a glacial color of fortune, wealth and longevity. They both turned out to be fine jade. Zhou Zhen lived up to his reputation as a genius at judging jade!

The three jade pieces were estimated to be worth between eight and ten million yuan. Duan Xingzhou was immediately brimming with pride and sarcastically said, "I wonder if someone still dares to step forward and gamble? Better to admit defeat quickly than lose face!"

"Humph! It's still unclear who will win or lose!"

Long Lingnan angrily handed the precious stone to the stone cutter. Everyone was extremely nervous. Could this... be a comeback?

The stone cutter cut with a knife, but there was not a speck of green. Someone's face suddenly changed. He cut again with a knife, but there was nothing green again. Now everyone started whispering.

"I'll tell you, there's definitely no such big information."

"As the saying goes, one knife makes you poor, one knife makes you rich, and one knife makes you wear sackcloth. I see, this one is hanging!"

Everyone present was not optimistic about Long Haoyu and his group. If they still hadn't produced any green, then this material was definitely useless.

Gu Yang couldn't help but say: "Haoyu, let me tell you, you shouldn't let children choose, children..." What do they know about jade?

Glancing at Long Haoyu's cold gaze, he stammered and stopped talking.

Furious, furious, furious, Long Lingnan knew she didn't need to worry about the spoiling words of those around her. This stone must be superb. But knowing that was enough, but she couldn't help being angry. She said in a rage, "Keep cutting!"

The little girl's childish voice had no deterrent effect at all, and the way she jumped up and down in anger was actually quite cute. The chef, respecting his customers, suppressed his laughter and continued cutting the meat with the machine. At that moment, his nonchalant expression suddenly changed.

"It's green!"

"This stone is actually green. Oh my god, it's, it's glass-type imperial green!"

The stone-cutting master's hands trembled as he completely peeled off the jade. Jade of this level, even a small scratch would be worth a fortune. This piece of jade took up half of the entire stone, without any lines or cracks, and was lush and green. The price was at least 30 million!

Just this one piece of material is enough to beat the other three pieces!

"Is this jade material available? I'll buy it for 50 million!"

"I'll give you six thousand!"

Even the security guards could not resist the enthusiasm of the crowd. They rushed to Long Haoyu and his companions, chattering and quoting prices, surrounding them tightly.

Long Lingnan huddled behind Long Haoyu, afraid of being squeezed out by the crowd. She puffed out her cheeks. Although it seemed like she had succeeded in slapping him in the face, she wasn't happy at all, because these guys didn't care at all about their previous disparagement of the jade!

Zhou Zhen's face turned pale as he fell to the ground, his face filled with despair. He knew that his Jade Pavilion was finished!

Duan Xingzhou's expression was gloomy and uncertain. He stared at the useless Zhou Zhen viciously and kicked him mercilessly. Even though he was treated like this, Zhou Zhen just looked stunned and did not react.

No! I can't lose!

Duan Xingzhou thought about the gambling game and his face turned as ugly as if he had swallowed a fly. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he just... shamelessly ran away!

“No, no, I really won’t sell it!”

With the help of the security guards, Long Haoyu finally broke through the crowd and saw Duan Xingzhou who was missing. He was not surprised. He looked at Zhou Zhen who was lying limp on the ground, raised his eyebrows, and said something to Gu Yang.

After hearing this, Gu Yang looked very surprised.

【Author’s words】

It shouldn't have been so late, I was too concerned about the price. Oh, don't worry about it (referring to the price of jade).

Actually, I wanted to hold it back, but I couldn't. This world, hehe, is not what everyone thinks.