Chapter 94 Suspicion Arises: "Who else is hiding something from me?"
As Cheng Zhao and Zhou Mingsheng described the rubble of the courtyard wall as ordinary stones, Master Bao, standing to the side, looked embarrassed.
As he stared at the rubble on the wall, which looked more and more like raw jade, he fell into self-doubt.
Could these really be imitation jadeite rough stones, and I've been mistaken about them from the start?
Thinking this, Master Bao glanced at Ye Hantao, puzzled.
He's not an expert in jade gambling, so why would Ye Hantao test his skills with fake rough stones?
Did I hear that right? Are Cheng Zhao and Maze undermining Ye Hantao?
[I initially thought Cheng Zhao had hired this bag maker to help Ye Hantao cultivate a wealthy image, but why did Cheng Zhao sabotage it?]
[What else could it be? He suddenly realized that Ye Hantao was being swayed by hype.]
[Why do you think Maze said the stones on the courtyard wall couldn't possibly be original stones? He was afraid Ye Hantao would exaggerate too much and make it impossible to back down!]
[Well, having watched the variety show since it started, I doubt that even if Ye Hantao said the sun rises in the west, Cheng Zhao and Maze would agree, so they wouldn't contradict her.]
Is it possible that Maze doesn't want her family to be too high-profile and is deliberately keeping Ye Hantao out of the public eye?
"Are your fans crazy?"
Although Cheng Zhao and his elder brother both believed that the pebbles on the courtyard wall could not possibly be jadeite, Ye Hantao did not look at Cheng Zhao, but instead stared intently at Zhou Mingsheng.
Before appearing on the show, if the credibility of her older brother was 100%, then after Maze's identity was revealed, it dropped to 80%, and then with her great-aunt's expertise in traditional Chinese medicine, it really dropped to only 50%.
Ye Hantao thought of the photos her grandmother had sent and the two large piles of stones that had been taken away, "..."
Based on a credibility score of 50, cut it in half again.
Zhou Mingsheng felt that Tao Tao's gaze was a little strange, but it shouldn't be a questioning of the truth of his words. After all, Cheng Zhao had also said that Tao Tao hadn't even looked at Cheng Zhao.
Therefore, Zhou Mingsheng's expression softened slightly.
It seems that in Tao Tao's heart, he, as her older brother, is still more important.
The workers neatly arranged the stone-cutting equipment, and everything was ready.
Ye Hantao was really curious about what kind of jadeite could be extracted from that rough stone with a fixed price of 600,000 yuan. After hearing Cheng Zhao say that we shouldn't forget to cut the stone, she hurriedly led Master Bao to the oil cutting machine.
The machine was placed in the very center of the yard.
On this trip, Ye Hantao unexpectedly saw someone she knew.
Bei Hong, a jade gambling tycoon, was once invited by the program team.
"Mr. Bei, what brings you here?!" Ye Hantao's tone was filled with joy and surprise. "I was just worrying about where to start cutting when I was cutting, and I had no one to guide Chef Bao."
The haters, seeing that Ye Hantao not only didn't seem guilty but was also quite happy, began to have some doubts.
Could these broken stones used to build the courtyard wall actually be fragments of raw jadeite?
Bei Hong smiled slightly.
He agreed to the show's invitation last time because of Professor Zhou Shumiao, but he was able to come to the courtyard this time entirely because of Cheng Zhao's invitation.
Bei Hong nodded: "Mr. Cheng asked me to come and take a look."
Master Bao asked Ye Hantao and the others which section they planned to open first.
Ye Hantao prioritized selecting the raw stone with a fixed price of 600,000.
The viewers in the live stream were glued to the screen, completely absorbed and unable to look away.
Bei Hong observes the rough stone, deciding where to begin.
He examined it carefully for a few seconds, then found a powerful flashlight and shone it back and forth. He immediately understood why the price of the rough stone had dropped to 600,000.
Bei Hong put down the flashlight. "Don't cut yet. Rub it here and clean the window."
Following Bei Hong's instructions, Master Bao used tools to grind down one side of the raw stone, but he couldn't find a trace of green.
Seeing this, Master Bao wiped the sweat from his forehead. Fortunately, he hadn't made any hasty conclusions about what kind of jade could be extracted from that piece of scrap.
Bei Hong, instead, curled the corners of his lips, pointed to the middle of the stone, and said decisively, "Cut it from here."
Master Bao had a meal.
"Cutting it like that is too risky."
They had only cleaned the windows before, which they could resell without losing everything.
Bei Hong looked at Cheng Zhao, who had invited him, while Cheng Zhao looked at Ye Hantao and asked, "Continue?"
Despite asking the question, he could guess Ye Hantao's answer.
Ye Han's almond-shaped eyes sparkled. "Continue!"
Master Bao sighed heavily.
He could tell that the stone shell was of excellent quality, like it could produce an icy variety.
However, since it's priced at a fixed amount of 600,000, it has a flaw that cannot be ignored—
Widely distributed, faintly visible cracks.
Even the finest jadeite is useless if it has numerous cracks.
However, since the employer who bought the rough stone said it had been cut, he naturally didn't argue.
Master Bao operated the machine to cut it down.
Stone chips flew everywhere.
While waiting for the rough stone to be cut, the viewers in the entire live stream were surprised to find that they didn't dare to breathe.
[That's strange, why am I nervous about the money Cheng Zhao spent?!]
[Haha, I don't bet on football or horse racing, but I get nervous watching matches too.]
[Holy crap!!! My master's expression changed!!!]
[It's turned green? No way???]
Master Bao's pupils constricted sharply as soon as he saw it clearly. "It's...it's out?!"
Although Bei Hong had a premonition, he was still stunned and stood there in shock.
The cut surface revealed a clear blue color, so pure that it contained not a trace of impurity.
"High-grade icy sky blue?!"
The key point is that the entire sky blue surface is completely free of cracks!
Zhou Mingsheng closed his eyes and sent his blessings to his grandparents from afar.
Ye Hantao's legs went weak, but fortunately her older brother and Cheng Zhao supported her on either side.
They were all observing Ye Hantao's condition.
What Zhou Mingsheng didn't mention was that when he and Cheng Zhao arrived, an entire medical team also came.
Since we used Cheng Zhao's private medical team, we didn't need to think of any other name.
Surprisingly, Tao Tao's face showed shock but not paleness; her rosy cheeks seemed to glow.
They had previously fooled Tao Tao by saying the courtyard wall wasn't made of raw stone.
Or perhaps, in Tao Tao's eyes, the shock of her maternal grandmother having raw stones was not as great as the shock of her great-aunt being Professor Zhou Shumiao.
Ye Hantao steadied herself and pretended to have expected it, saying, "What a coincidence, the jadeite from the rough stone at my grandmother's house is the same."
【？？？？？？？？】
That's hindsight!
[So what if it's hindsight?! Even hindsight can lead to finding jade!]
[Anyone can say so beforehand! If it's available, just say you picked it yourself; if it's not, say it's different from Grandma's!]
Bei Hong and the other Bao Master cleaned the cut noodles, their faces still flushed with excitement.
I bought a rough stone for 600,000 yuan and it turned out to be a high-quality, icy sky blue!
Taking advantage of the good atmosphere, Bei Hong instructed Master Bao to cut the remaining two pieces.
One of the pieces was indeed veneer material, just as customers in the store had guessed.
The third piece turned out to be of icy jadeite, but since there were no cotton-like inclusions or cracks, it could only be used to make two rings.
This is a huge loss compared to the cost price.
Bei Hong wasn't too surprised.
It is difficult for a small shop to have more than two large rough stones that can yield jadeite of the highest quality (icy type).
Bei Hong said, "Although these two pieces performed only so-so, this one piece of high-ice-quality sky blue has seen a significant increase in value."
After listening to Bei Hong's evaluation, Ye Hantao got to the price, which was of most concern to her.
“...With this size and water head,” Bei Hong declared, “it won’t be less than 50 million!”
Ye Hantao: "?!"
The audience: "?!?!"
[He said he'd take the young master?! He said he'd take the young master!!!]
【ah? ? ? ? ? ? 】
[Fifty million? The cost was only 600,000!!!]
[This slice is just as good as the violet one Ye Hantao picked!]
Is that the same thing?!
Ye Hantao felt her breathing quicken slightly as she stared intently at the newly opened high-grade ice-blue sky variety.
It was a sky blue with an icy feel, the shades just right, like the blue sky over the plateau, extremely lustrous and clear.
Ye Hantao knew this jade was expensive, but fifty million was just too much!
No, no, no, the high price of jade doesn't mean that the raw stones are also expensive.
At this moment, Bei Hong also said, "This rough stone is indeed very good. If it weren't for these cracks, the price would probably be over 9 million."
At this moment, Ye Hantao suddenly began to doubt whether the scrap piece at her grandmother's house could really be a raw jade stone.
The presence of the cameraman brought Ye Hantao back to her senses.
Ye Hantao cleared her throat. "Now you believe me, right?"
Audience: [?]
Believe in what?
"These are the only three stones in the shop that are considered the most valuable, and I just happened to pick the only one that can produce green jade." Ye Hantao crossed her arms, confident and proud. "Who told me to be so used to seeing them at my grandma's house since I was a child?"
What Ye Hantao said might actually be true...
[This was the cheapest of the three, but Ye Hantao chose it specifically because it resembled a certain rough stone from her grandmother's house!]
Ye Hantao tried her best not to think about the newly minted high-quality icy sky blue jade worth fifty million, to avoid contradicting herself when lying again.
“Raw stones like these…” Ye Hantao glanced at Cheng Zhao and boasted in a heavy voice, “My grandma’s family has a mine that’s as big as these!”
Audience: [...]
[Disease progression: 19%]
That night, #YeHantaoMadeOutOutrageousRemarks# and #YeHantaoMakesMillionsFromGamblingOnJade# both became trending topics.
The next day, when Ye Hantao met her grandparents, who claimed to have returned from Haicheng, in the courtyard, she asked with a smile, "Did you have a good time in Haicheng?"
Zhou Shuqiong repeatedly confirmed that Tao Tao's expression and condition were healthy, and was secretly relieved that the rubble on the courtyard wall had fooled everyone.
“How can I be happier than seeing you back?” Zhou Shuqiong pulled Tao Tao down to sit. “In Haicheng, all I did was have your uncle take your grandpa and me for a walk around the zoo.”
Ye Hantao's eyes crinkled into a smile. "I didn't get to go there to play this summer vacation."
As they were talking, Chef Jing and Chef Lao from Jinwan Hotel arrived with their team.
At the last food tasting event, one of the gifts Ye Hantao received was a home-cooked meal prepared by a chef himself.
Xie Bairong watched Tao Tao skip and hop to watch the chefs cook, then looked away and said with relief, "Luckily, Tao Tao didn't believe those on the wall were raw stones."
Zhou Shuqiong thought for a moment, "Have someone come over tonight and seal the entire courtyard wall with cement."
"Aren't you afraid Tao Tao will become suspicious?"
"I'm more afraid that people online will come and try to steal the wall."
The argument about whether the rubble on his courtyard wall is actually original stone has been going on since last night.
Zhou Shuqiong believes that precautions must be taken.
Ye Hantao picked at the vegetable leaves, glancing up at her grandparents whispering together, and her father helping her mother push the swing.
Previously, when she discovered that her older brother and great-aunt were concealing their identities, she immediately inquired about it.
I'm not going to do that this time.
Ye Hantao decided to see who else was hiding something from her.
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Author's Note: Updated ahead of schedule! [Sprinkling flowers]
Family members, please keep warm! There seem to be more flu cases lately, so please take proper precautions. [Please!]
These past two days have seen snow and a drop in temperature. I've been busy dressing my dog to keep him warm during walks, but I ended up catching a fever myself. I had to take the day off to rest at home. Taking advantage of feeling a bit better this afternoon, I quickly wrote a chapter (proudly).
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