Chapter 40: Stone Gambling

After their public display of affection, Mabel Ruan and Silas Ruan began picking out stones.

The two had clearly done their homework. They held flashlights, meticulously scanning the raw stones and discussing their color and texture, looking quite professional.

Arthur Vane had never dabbled in stone gambling before. He had no interest in something that essentially functioned like a blind box. He lowered his voice and asked Seren Thorne, "The timing is about right. Should I go over and tell Danton Yang to let you read his fortune?"

Earlier at the entrance, he had worried the old rogue Danton would flip out and kick them out. Now that they were in the back room and other people were present, his granddaughter-in-law only had to drop a few massive "bombshells," and Danton would have to cough up money to shut them up, no matter how unwilling he was.

Seren scanned the room. "No rush for now. I want to pick a few stones first."

Arthur said, "Seren, stone gambling is no different from regular gambling. I knew several small business owners in my youth who went bankrupt over this. Very few people ever break even or make money. We shouldn't touch this stuff."

Throughout his life, Arthur had seen too many cases of families being ruined, mostly tied to the "three vices." Consequently, he never supported the younger generation touching such things. If it weren't for the purpose of finding Danton today, he probably would never have brought Seren to play at stone gambling in his life.

Seren replied, "Jade stones possess spirituality; I can see a faint aura of spiritual energy. Let's make a profit from the stones first, then we'll take Danton Yang’s money."

Arthur now had 100% trust in Seren. Since she said so, she must be confident in her choices, so he agreed.

"Alright, you pick them. I'll pay."

Seren arched an eyebrow. "Wasn't your bank card frozen by Alaric?"

"I'll just give Alaric a call. You’re his wife, after all. If he’s not even willing to pay a few million for you, what kind of man is he?"

Seren laughed, thinking that Arthur was quite cute sometimes. However, she was the one who wanted to buy them, and Alaric had no obligation to pay for her. She declined: "No need, I’ll use the money in my own card. If I make a profit later, I won't have to split it with him."

Arthur thought that made sense and didn't insist.

The two hadn't intentionally lowered their voices for those last few sentences, so the others heard them as well.

Danton Yang let out a sneer and said sarcastically, "You want to make money when you've never even played before? Do you think this is playing house? Don't be so confident now and end up losing your entire net worth later."

Mabel Ruan tugged on Danton’s sleeve. "Oh, Uncle Danton, don't pick on my sister. Having confidence is a good thing; whether she loses or not is another story. Anyway, my brother-in-law’s family is rich. Even if my sister spends millions a day, he can afford to support her for a lifetime."

Her words seemed like consolation, but Seren somehow heard a hint of bitterness in them. She was clearly still eyeing the Vane family's assets.

Ignoring the siblings, Seren walked over to pick her stones. She swept her gaze over the pile of raw materials and began pointing as if she were picking out cabbages: "This one, this one, and that one. Please take them all next door to be cut."

Seeing that she had made her selection without even checking the color or cracks of the raw stones—and choosing several at once—Danton couldn't help but laugh. The corners of his mouth almost reached his ears.

He had been in the stone gambling business for a while. Other people would hesitate and dawdle for ages just to pick one stone, and the final probability of a deal wasn't high. Seren was different; she came in, looked at nothing, and directly bought eight raw stones, handing him over four million yuan.

She wasn't here to crash the place; she was clearly the God of Wealth here to distribute riches!

"Good, good, good. Xiao Qian, Xiao Zhao, come here and help Mrs. Vane take these stones to the operation room."

Danton loudly called the staff members from outside. Soon, two employees came over to help lift Seren’s raw stones to the next room. Both were very handsome, and as they passed Danton, one even blew him a kiss.

Danton smiled back and gave the crotch of one of the men a squeeze as they passed by. He moved very quickly and thought he was being discreet, but Seren saw it clearly and screamed internally about how "blinding" it was to her eyes.

From Hunter Yang's angle, he couldn't see what Danton had just done; he only saw his father and the employee named Xiao Qian getting a bit close. He didn't think much of it and turned to ask Silas Ruan, "Silas, have you finished picking the stones you want?"

Silas said, "I've tentatively settled on two, but I'm not sure yet. See if you can talk to your dad and let me open a couple more 'windows'?"

"Opening a window" meant scraping off a small part of the outer skin of the raw jade to reveal an opening for observation. The two stones Silas had picked already had parts scraped away. Looking at those sections, the probability of finding jade was high, and the color looked good.

However, what the shopkeeper deliberately showed was very likely a "rogue window," masking other flaws or defects. Opening his own window couldn't guarantee finding green 100%, but it could at least slightly increase the odds.

Hunter Yang smiled and said, "We're friends. No need to talk to my dad; I'll just have someone help move your stones next door."

Hunter was a loyal friend. Silas looked at him with complex emotions, involuntarily remembering Seren's words. Although he didn't think Danton was a gay man who would betray his wife and son, Danton and that employee Xiao Qian really had been standing quite close just now. He was momentarily uncertain.

Hunter had been his good brother for many years; he decided to have someone look into this later. If Danton really was cheating, his friend could at least have some psychological preparation.

"Then thank you."

"Hey, why are you being so polite with me? We've been brothers for so many years." Hunter waved his hand and called people over to move Silas and Mabel's stones next door as well.

By now, Seren had already asked someone to put the largest stone into the machine. The cutting of a raw stone takes a long time, and since the piece she picked wasn't small, it would take at least 40 minutes to complete.

During the wait, she prepared to pay the money first, lest Danton regret it later.

"Mr. Yang, what’s the total price for these stones?"

Receiving such a large order for the first time since opening, Danton’s smile was brighter than a blooming chrysanthemum. "Since you're buying so many, I won't charge you for the labor. It’s a total of over 4.2 million. What do you think?"

Seren didn't haggle with him and agreed immediately.

After Danton received the money, the smile on his face was impossible to hide. This wife of the Vane family was truly a spendthrift. The batch of stones she picked didn't look like they could produce any "green" at all; it wasn't even certain if she could make back the change. But his money was in hand anyway; whether Seren lost money or not was none of his business.

While Seren's raw stone began its cut, Silas had also picked up tools to start opening windows on his side. He opened two holes in a row, and the quality of the jade revealed was good. If the jade meat ran deep, or if the interior of the stone was of the same quality, the value would be at least six million or more.

The fear was that the green was only skin-deep, with nothing but cracks and "cotton" underneath; in that case, it might not even be worth sixty thousand. Silas wanted to open another window to look closer, but Danton walked over. "Silas, how is your stone selection going?"