Chapter Fifty: Kid, I Don’t Think You’ve Got What It Takes!

Gao Youde’s laughter echoed throughout the stone gambling arena, his eyes brimming with triumph. The staff swiftly secured the raw stone and began the cut. The cutting machine shrieked, every gaze fixed upon the stone. When the machine fell silent, the stone parted, revealing a vein of emerald jade within. The purity was not high... but it was still jade.

The staff took out their professional instruments and measured, finally announcing the price: “This raw stone is valued at 250,000.”

A smug smile curled at Gao Youde’s lips.

Next, the staff opened the sealed box, revealing the figure “280,000.” According to the rules of the stone gambling house, the compensation was double the difference, plus a penalty for misjudgment. My brow furrowed slightly at once.

“This time, you’ve lost big!” Gao Youde sneered.

I clenched my teeth, forcing myself to remain calm. By the rules, I needed to pay the three-thousand difference; double compensation made it six thousand, and with the fourfold penalty, it was twenty-four thousand. But since I could only count half my capital, my total loss was 480,000—nearly half a million.

I’d started with three million three hundred thousand, Sully had one million three hundred thousand, plus the three million Gao Youde had lent him. Together, our funds totaled seven million six hundred thousand... and now, with a single round, we’d lost half a million.

It didn’t seem much.

But this was an utterly ordinary piece of jade. After all, the difference calculated was only thirty thousand! If the rules kept playing out this way, and for such a small difference I had to pay out half a million, then with ten raw stones, I could be ruined outright!

Both Sully and I would be destroyed!

As I was brooding, from the corner of my eye I unconsciously caught sight of Old Leopard Chen standing at the end of the line.

I couldn’t tell if it was my imagination, but I felt as though Old Leopard Chen had just given Sully a subtle look.

That glance sent a shiver up my spine. Was there something amiss? Could it be that Sully was a pawn set in place by Old Leopard Chen?

I forced myself to stay calm, my mind racing. Sully’s sudden actions, combined with Old Leopard Chen’s look, seemed to hint at some hidden conspiracy.

“The next raw stone!” Lu Yier’s voice snapped me from my thoughts.

The second raw stone was slowly rolled before me. I took a deep breath and focused. This time, I couldn’t afford another mistake.

I scrutinized the raw stone’s texture and sheen, using the knowledge from “Blood-Eye Jade Appraisal” to judge.

“I choose this one.” I pressed the pause button without hesitation, signaling the staff to cut.

While the staff moved the stone away, I began to write my price tag.

It was then that I caught, faintly, the scent of Sully’s perfume again.

As I wrote the price tag, a sudden shock ran through me.

I remembered!

Yes, it was in “Blood-Eye Jade Appraisal.” In the chapter on the five senses, there was a tale from ancient times—using scent to affect vision!

For instance, if you smelled blood, the red you saw would appear even redder. If you smelled fresh grass, the green you saw would grow more vivid!

...

I stopped writing.

I realized something crucial!

The cutting machine screamed again, and all eyes fixed upon the raw stone. Time seemed to stretch, every second painfully long.

When the machine stopped, the stone split open, revealing a core of emerald jade.

Three minutes later.

“The price is eighty thousand,” the staff announced.

My face darkened.

I said nothing as they stepped forward and opened my price tag box.

“Mr. Wang Hu has submitted a price of two hundred thousand!”

The entire crowd was instantly abuzz!

I looked up at the others; Old Leopard Chen’s face had lost all color, Gao Youde wore a cold sneer, and Red Sister’s face betrayed her old worry for me.

But Sully’s gaze turned cold as she glared at me, saying icily, “Cousin, it seems I’ve misjudged you. Are you planning to lose all the money I gave you?”

Her voice was like an icy blade stabbing straight into my heart.

I clenched my fists, forcing myself to keep calm.

At this moment, I knew I had to respond.

“Sully, you know exactly how I lost!” I met her gaze, my voice firm. “The scent of flowers makes the moonlight sweeter!”

I looked at Sully and murmured.

At that, Sully’s expression finally changed.

But I turned to Red Sister next, saying slowly, “Red Sister, you really are a master at hiding your hand.”

She looked at me coldly. “Mr. Wang Hu, I don’t understand what you mean by that.”

I didn’t pursue the matter with Red Sister. I only wanted her to know.

When she first gave me “Blood-Eye Jade Appraisal,” she said it was a family heirloom. Supposedly, only those with a certain special bloodline could truly unlock its secrets and master it.

Now, it was clear—Sully was one of Red Sister’s people! And everything Sully had done was orchestrated by Red Sister from the shadows!

Suddenly, I remembered what I’d overheard outside Red Sister’s office that day: “Wang Hu is my man, you’d better treat him as such! He carries my reputation; your money’s not enough!”

So, from beginning to end, Red Sister had only ever dangled a cake before me, then struck me with a stick. She’d never intended for me to grow stronger!

Just as she did now—her motive in setting up Sully was to swallow me whole.

As soon as I finished speaking to Red Sister, Gao Youde sneered, “You brat, enough talk—settle the accounts! Settle up!”

The staff came over to tally the numbers.

Lu Yier spoke coolly: “The price is twelve thousand higher, so you’ll pay each subsequent participant twenty-four thousand... and with double compensation, that’s twenty-four times three times two equals one hundred forty-four thousand.”

Another loss of nearly a hundred and fifty thousand!

Two stones down, over two hundred thousand gone!

Sully and I together were now down to just five million.

At that moment, Sully’s tone turned mocking and sarcastic.

“Cousin, I thought you were family—how could you be so useless?”

I closed my eyes briefly, Sully’s mocking voice echoing in my ears.

I turned to Lu Yier and said, “Shopkeeper Lu, is it possible to make this woman shut up?”

Lu Yier looked at me and replied, “You’re not cutting or pricing at this moment, so it doesn’t count... When the roller coaster begins, I’ll naturally see that she keeps silent.”

I took a deep breath, a wave of helplessness washing over me.

Now, I had to calm myself and think of a new plan.

Sully’s ridicule and Red Sister’s scheming fanned the flames of anger in my chest, but I knew that anger would solve nothing.

I raised my hand to signal I had a request.

Lu Yier asked what I wanted.

I replied, “I need someone to burn a stick of incense before me.”