Emerald

I was thinking about the stone, and the next morning I went to the hardware store. I bought a hand grinder, several types of grinding discs, and a powerful flashlight for examining raw stones.

This flashlight was something I'd longed for, but back then I couldn't even afford to eat, so this flashlight was just a fantasy.

I returned to my room, closed the door, took out the hand grinder, plugged it in to test it, then took out the stone. I first shone the flashlight on it. The rind was a bit thick, and nothing showed. So, I used the grinder to open a small window on a flat surface, to see if any color could be revealed.

The sound was a bit loud, so I didn't dare grind for too long, grinding for a bit and then pausing. The stone was very hard. After grinding for a while, it was still just the surface color.

I felt a little disheartened. Perhaps it was just a solid lump of stone.

I continued to grind. Finally, I saw a hint of bright color underneath. It was no longer white powder; sparks were flying.

Excitedly, I took it to the sink to rinse it. There was a patch of color the size of a small fingernail. I hastily grabbed the flashlight to shine on it. It was very transparent inside, like an ice jadeite, but the window was too small to see clearly.

I simply took the grinder and plugged it into the bathroom's hairdryer socket, continuing to grind around that small window.

The stone was incredibly hard. The hand grinder had low power to begin with, and after grinding for a while, the window only enlarged a tiny bit.

I quickly rinsed it and shone the light again. This time, the visible area was larger. It actually revealed green, very vibrant and deep. No cottony inclusions were visible, and the translucency was excellent.

As the saying goes, a revealed color isn't a certainty. I had only ground a fingernail-sized area. The jadeite and translucency I saw could only represent this small section and didn't indicate anything more. Unless it was cut or completely ground down, it couldn't be defined as good material.

However, this grinding alone confirmed I hadn't wasted my eight hundred yuan. It had at least doubled in value. If I sold it like this, it could easily fetch two to three thousand.

I gambled that it would be fully colored. I was definitely not content to sell it like this.

If I continued grinding, my small tool wouldn't be enough. Even grinding until tomorrow wouldn't reveal much. This stone was too hard; it would require professional tools.

I couldn't go to my master's shop. It didn't make sense to use his machines for a stone I hadn't bought from him. I had to go to a jade processing place and pay them to cut it.

I put away my tools, wrapped the stone in a paper bag, and put it in my backpack. I went out to find a place to cut stones.

The old street had both raw stone dealers and jade processing shops. Next to the jade processors, there were dedicated stone-cutting shops, but the labor fees were quite high, starting from twenty to thirty yuan for a cut, and two to three hundred for grinding.

The raw stone shops primarily sold stones; cutting stones was considered a service, just charging the craftsman's labor fee.

The stone-cutting places didn't sell raw stones; they made money from their machines, so charging more was understandable.

I took the stone to a shop. An elderly craftsman, wearing reading glasses, was sitting by the door smoking. I walked over, took out the stone, and handed it to him. He looked up at me and asked, "Do you want to grind or cut?"

I said, "Grind the already ground area a bit larger. I want to take a look first."

The master said, "Grinding the rind is twenty yuan. If you cut it, it's thirty."

I agreed and asked him to grind it first.

His machine was much better. He finished in a couple of passes. After rinsing it, he said, "Such old jadeite with good translucency. If the inside is unbroken high ice jadeite, do you want to cut it?"

There was no significant doubt about the jadeite and translucency in the window. But from the window, it was already comparable to emerald. However, it couldn't be determined if there would be cottony inclusions or water-veined jadeite inside. But the possibility of water-veined jadeite from old mining areas was small. If the jadeite and translucency held up, this piece of material would be worth it.

I said, "Cut a slice from the opposite side. I bet it's full of material."

The master looked at me again, as if disbelieving me, and said, "Young man, listen to me. With the window you've opened, you could sell it for five thousand. But if the cut on the opposite side ruins it, you'll only be able to take it back as a decoration."

I replied, "It's fine. I just want to verify my intuition. If it's ruined, it's ruined. Consider it a lesson learned with money."

The master picked up the stone and examined it. He said nothing further and fixed the stone under the cutting machine.

The master was well-intentioned. He was willing to forgo the money he could have earned rather than ruin the stone. He was doing this for my own good.

The master asked me, "How deep should I cut?"

I said, "Cut in a little bit. The rind of this stone is a bit thick."

He didn't say anything else. He took the blade, pressed it down to gauge the depth, turned on the switch, and began to cut.

The cutting machine emitted a sharp sound. Only very hard stones made such a noise. I silently prayed, please don't break, please don't break.

Why is it said that a revealed color isn't a certainty? Some stones have jadeite and color only in a layer beneath the rind, with dead stone inside. Only by grinding off the entire rind can the stone's quality be assessed.

This stone was so hard and had a thick rind. If I were to grind it, the labor cost would be more than the stone itself. Besides, they wouldn't do it.

The master cut a groove about a centimeter deep. If this cut didn't reveal the material, it would mean it was broken. Then, one could only see how much rind was left on the side that was ground. Even if there was a centimeter, it wouldn't be a total loss.

The stone was cut quickly. The master picked it up and rinsed it. The side opposite the ground area didn't have the same jadeite and translucency; it was a mist. When illuminated with the flashlight, a hint of green could be seen, not very transparent, but it wasn't a total loss because some color was visible. He asked if I wanted to cut again. I said, "Make another cut. If it's ruined, so be it."

The master also seemed unwilling to give up. The jadeite and translucency on that side were so good; it would be a shame to leave it at that.

I said, "Cut it vertically. Cut along the uneven side by one centimeter. This way, we can tell if it's broken or not."

The master fixed the stone as I instructed and then began to cut.

I was a little nervous and didn't dare to keep watching. I turned and stood outside the door, waiting for the master to call me when he was done.

It seems I need to learn to smoke. Smoking can relieve tension.

The machine's sound stopped. Before I turned around, I heard the master shouting from inside, "Got it!"

I hurried in to look. The entire side was the same color as the ground area. It was ice jadeite, with a uniform emerald green color. There were a few wisps of cottony inclusions, no cracks or impurities, crystal clear like a piece of green ice, making it irresistible to the touch.

The master was also excited. He held the stone in his hands, examining it repeatedly. He said to me, "What do you plan to do with it? Do you have a buyer? Should I introduce you to one?"

I said, "No need. My friend has a jewelry store. I'll hand it over to her for processing."

The master seemed a little regretful. I took out a hundred-yuan bill from my pocket and gave it to him. I thanked him for his hard work, took the material from his hands, wrapped it in a paper bag, and left.

I wanted to find Sister Zhang and hand the stone over to her. Such good material would only be worth its value in her hands.

This stone wasn't large, but it could yield a pair of bracelets, conservatively estimated at over five hundred thousand yuan.

I went outside and called her, asking where she was and saying I had something to discuss with her.

She said she was out and asked for my address, telling me not to move, and she would come to pick me up.