Lin Tian’s "sincere" smile made Bai Yuze stupefied. What was Lin Tian up to? Did he know he was going to lose and suddenly decided to change his ways and make nice? But while he was still thinking this, Lin Tian’s raised hand clenched four fingers, leaving the middle finger extended in an offensive gesture to Bai Yuze.
"You..." Bai Yuze’s head heated up and he wanted to rush over and argue, but Bai Yuanhao held him back.
"Yuze, calm down. Haven’t you learned your lesson after suffering so much? How do I usually teach you! The stone cutting is about to start, the result will be known very soon. Why rush in just a few minutes? Remember my words, you have to learn to be patient!" Bai Yuanhao spoke solemnly, his voice deep as he instructed his son.
"Brother, Dad is right. As long as the Xiao family fails in their stone cutting this time, we can make a big issue out of it and oppress them to death!" Bai Yufeng said grimly, wishing he could trample Lin Tian beneath his feet.
The two brothers had been living a life of glory, enjoying treatment of great admiration and pursuing the Xiao sisters—all was beautiful, and the future bright. But ever since Lin Tian appeared, all seemed irretrievably lost.
Bai Yuze glared ominously at Lin Tian, then followed his father into the middle of the field.
"Miss, let’s go in too." Lin Tian also made his way through the crowd and entered.
By then, many tools were placed next to the two pieces of prime raw material, including stone cutting machines of various sizes and several prepared alloy grinding wheels to prevent any mid-process accidents. Even the laser cutting machine from the first floor had been brought out, but what drew the most attention was an extremely large stone cutter.
This stone cutter was over three meters tall, and the most exaggerated part was the alloy saw blade, half a meter in diameter, designed to handle two huge prime raw materials.
"Haha, Brother Lin, you’ve finally arrived." As soon as Lin Tian entered, Wan Gaoyuan greeted him with laughter, looking him up and down with a face full of admiration, "Brother, I had a feeling from the start that the mysterious bidder number 1314 was you. Haha, I found out later and indeed it was you, Brother, you’re truly amazing."
"Brother Lin, remember, if you cut out good jadeite, don’t forget your Sister Song," Song Yanan said, grinning broadly, just waiting for Lin Tian to cut the stone.
The volume of their voices was quite loud, revealing Lin Tian’s identity as bidder number 1314. The surrounding crowd heard this and started to discuss amongst themselves.
"Who would have thought that bidder number 1314 was so young!"
"Hey, you’re really out of the loop, aren’t you? The young man who cut the top-quality red jadeite in zone one yesterday was this youth. I was there at the time."
"Really, you have to tell me about what happened then."
The crowd buzzed with discussion, creating a heated atmosphere even before the stone cutting had started. Lin Tian knew he couldn’t hide his identity any longer. Since the stone cutting was public, others would definitely find out that he was the bidder number 1314. If he let someone else handle the cutting, he couldn’t trust them not to damage it, which could result in huge losses.
Especially the "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity" tricolor stone, a favorite among carvers; if it was cut poorly, Song Yanan would undoubtedly come after him.
"Brother Wan, Sister Song, don’t tease me. This raw material is still just a stone; if it turns out to be a worthless rock, I’ll have nowhere to cry..." Lin Tian waved his hand, deliberately saying so, not wanting to sound too confident to avoid suspicion.
"Brother, stop, stop, ah, jadeite is spiritual, don’t say such unlucky things before cutting the stone." Wan Gaoyuan quickly stopped him, his expression serious.
Even Song Yanan felt the same, and Lin Tian was caught between laughter and tears. The jade was right there; could it even run away? Yet, this was a routine for gambling stone, so Lin Tian just let them be.
While they were chatting and laughing comfortably, several horn sounds came from outside, followed by someone shouting, "Make way! Make way!"
Damn, the place was packed with people, and someone was driving in? Who was so arrogant? Lin Tian wondered, as he and everyone else turned to look. It turned out that a forklift was making its way through the crowd. Because of the too many people, the forklift driver had to honk and shout for people to make way.
That made sense; both of the featured rough stones were weighed by the ton. It was impossible to move them to the stone-cutting machine by manpower alone. Although Lin Tian could do it, it would be too shocking and he couldn’t possibly move them by hand.
The crowd also conscientiously made a path for the forklift driver to drive through. After parking the forklift, he looked at the people below and shouted, "Which two are Mr. Lin and Mr. Bai?"
Lin Tian and Bai Yuze waved their hands simultaneously to signal. The driver nodded and then said, "I’m Master Liu, assigned to assist you in cutting the stone. Which of you two will cut first?"
"Number two, cut number two first."
"Yes, number two has been windowed; start with number two first."
Before the two stone holders had spoken, someone already started stirring things up. Lin Tian glanced at Bai Yuze, saw his confident smile, and generously said, "Then let’s satisfy everyone’s wish. I’ll give Mr. Bai the chance to make the first cut. Hope he won’t disappoint everyone."
"Hmph, feeling nervous, aren’t you? Afraid to make the first cut." Bai Yuze was ungrateful. He then turned to bow to the crowd and shouted, "Thank you all for your support. With your good fortune, I’ll start with my number two raw material."
"Good, the young man has guts," a fan cheered.
Now that the order was determined, Master Liu started to work. He ignited the forklift, carefully controlled the speed, adjusted the direction, and aimed the front forks at the number two rough material, then gradually moved forward. With Master Liu’s precise control, the forks slid under the stone, which got locked between the two forks, and was then lifted and rotated in front of the super-sized stone-cutting machine.
"Boom," the stone was laid down, fixed on the cutting machine’s frame.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I’m starting now." Bai Yuze, as a gambling stone person, certainly knew how to operate the stone-cutting machine. First, he drew a line on the raw material, then adjusted the stone’s position using the stone-cutter, and finally activated the motor. The huge alloy saw blade started spinning quickly with a "buzzing" sound.
"This young man has a good eye; the cut line he drew is quite sensible," an expert nodded and praised.
His marked line was drawn a few centimeters from the window. Cutting along the window was the safest; the jade was visible there, so there was no worry about damaging the jade in other areas.
Under Bai Yuze’s control, the alloy saw blade precisely cut into the stone, producing screeching noises, sparks flying everywhere, and dust filling the air. Everyone watched the cutting line tensely, especially Bai Yuanhao, whose eyebrows were deeply furrowed; this was related to the reputation of the Bai Family.
With a "crack," a corner of the raw material was completely severed by the saw blade and dropped to the ground. Before the blade stopped, people swarmed in.
"It’s green, the value has increased!" Exclamations suddenly erupted.
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