Chapter 149: Opening the Stones

For the next few days, He Zhixing remained at the temporary warehouse of Nuofeng Fashion to cut his jadeite stones. He was accompanied by eight women: Zheng Huizhen, the twin sisters Zhang Ling and Zhang Yan, Auntie Zhang, Lai Min, the beautiful Xiao Qian, Hou Juan, and Hu Li. He Zhixing decided to start by cutting the raw stone he had selected for its red ice-variety jadeite.

The raw jadeite stone, weighing about eighty jin, looked plain and unremarkable on the outside. It showed no signs of moss or spider-web cracking, only a grey-black sandy skin tinged with patches of dull yellow. After He Zhixing marked the cutting lines and applied the stone cutter, he sliced several centimeters deep without seeing any jadeite-bearing limestone dust. The women began to assume the stone was a dud and unlikely to yield any jadeite.

However, He Zhixing continued to cut deeper. When he reached a depth of eighteen centimeters, the sharp-eyed Zhang Ling immediately noticed something unusual and exclaimed, "Brother, it's jade! Red jadeite!"

He Zhixing stopped immediately, and the women crowded around to get a better look. Auntie Zhang poured water over the stone, and through the narrow slit made by the blade, a vibrant red hue emerged. Judging by its clarity, the jadeite had reached the level of ice-variety. They gasped in astonishment, "Ah... is that ice-variety red jadeite? It's incredible!"

He Zhixing smiled and picked up the machine to continue freeing the stone. As he proceeded step by step, the general shape of the red jadeite was revealed: an irregular, curved piece about thirty centimeters long and twelve centimeters thick. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a beautiful woman lying in a drunken slumber, a sight that warmed the heart. The women pressed their hands to their chests, too moved to speak.

Once the stone was fully extracted, the women took turns holding the ten-plus-jin piece of red jadeite, examining it over and over. It seemed its exquisite beauty touched their very souls, and they could hardly bear to put it down.

Watching them in their mesmerized state, He Zhixing chuckled, "You all see something beautiful and cast me aside. When I carve this into a masterpiece of a drunken beauty, your eyes will surely pop out of your heads! Hmm, I’ll open another piece of top-grade jadeite this morning that will stun you even further. Let’s see what kind of ecstatic expressions you’ll have then! To reward your beloved man for his hard work, how about a little treat, ladies...?"

As he spoke, He Zhixing leaned forward, cheek turned toward them, hoping for a kiss from each.

Seeing his lecherous expression, the women rolled their eyes and retorted, "Pfft, we’re not giving you anything. Forget about getting a kiss from us, hehehe..." The girls laughed and dodged him, refusing to provide any "rewards."

He Zhixing had no choice but to blow them a mock kiss with his hand, saying, "Haha, none of you are willing? Fine, forget it then. I’ll go back to my stones..."

Using his X-ray vision, He Zhixing scanned the pile and retrieved the small stone he had first selected in Pingzhou—the one containing the top-grade "purple eye." He fixed it onto the cutting table and began marking his lines.

This stone was smaller than the previous one, weighing about fifty-five to sixty jin. As He Zhixing moved the cutter across the bowl-shaped raw stone, it took less than fifteen minutes for a top-grade glass-variety purple jadeite to appear. The sight of the purple, eye-like orb of high-clarity jade brought yet another wave of shocking delight to the women.