Chapter 157: Pei Qingzhi, the Jade Tycoon!

Ye Tianci looked down at Guo Jianglong with a smiling expression and said, "All the more than a thousand stone blocks have been cut open. I'm afraid to disappoint you, but not a single piece is a dud! I suppose I should thank you first for selling me so many good stones."

With his face pressed against the floor, Guo Jianglong gritted his teeth and glared at Ye Tianci. "How dare you step on my face, Guo Jianglong? Such humiliation! I will never let you off the hook!"

"Very well, I'll be waiting for you to settle accounts with me," Ye Tianci said with a cold laugh. Suddenly, he raised his arms to address the surrounding onlookers. "Everyone, please be quiet for a moment!"

The crowd immediately quieted down, all eyes focusing on Ye Tianci. Many of them sensed that a major drama was about to unfold.

"Every single stone in the Qingbao Jade Workshop capable of yielding jade has been picked out by me!" Ye Tianci announced. "I can tell you responsibly that out of the more than five thousand remaining stones across the three branches of the Qingbao Jade Workshop, every single one is a dud! Without exception! If any of you want to buy raw jade, don't bother coming to the Qingbao Jade Workshop! Feel free to try your luck if you don't believe me!"

Ye Tianci's voice was loud and clear, carrying to every corner of the hall so that everyone heard him distinctly!

Feng Xiaoyan's expression shifted instantly, and in a split second, she understood Ye Tianci's malicious intent! He had picked out all the jade-bearing stones and cut them open in public to prove his words. Now, no one would ever doubt him. Even Feng Xiaoyan herself was convinced that all the remaining stones in her shop were worthless duds. Since they were duds, who would be foolish enough to spend money on ordinary rocks?

In this way, the losses suffered by the Qingbao Jade Workshop were not just the thousands of stones stuck in their inventory, but all their prospective customers as well!

Sure enough, the onlookers began to mutter and shout: "Since this brother says the rest are duds, I'm certain they are! No doubt about it!"

"He hit the jackpot on over twelve hundred stones straight; his skill is right there for everyone to see. How could anyone doubt him?"

"If they're all duds, why stay here? Let's go, let's go!"

"Only a fool would come here to give away money for worthless stones. I need to warn all my friends never to send their money here!"

Listening to the chatter of the onlookers and watching the customers leave one after another without looking back, Feng Xiaoyan felt as though her heart had turned to ash!

"Ye Tianci, what a vicious trick!" Feng Xiaoyan couldn't help shouting, her face extremely unsightly.

Ignoring her, Ye Tianci turned to Shen Zun and said calmly, "Shen Zun, evaluate these stones and tell me how much they're worth."

Shen Zun finally understood Ye Tianci's profound intentions! On the surface, Ye Tianci had looked like a fool, spending nearly a hundred million to buy out the opponent's stock. Yet, by cutting the stones in public and staging such a magnificent performance, he had made everyone marvel and implicitly trust every word he said. Over five thousand worthless stones were now unsellable! For at least half a year, the Qingbao Jade Workshop wouldn't even be able to open its doors for stone-gambling! The blow to the workshop was unprecedented. It was entirely possible that the Qingbao Jade Workshop would go bankrupt!

Shen Zun said excitedly, "Mr. Ye, you are simply miraculous! I've inspected these jades, and there are at least ten pieces worth tens of millions each! There are dozens more worth several millions! Even the cheapest ones are worth at least one hundred thousand! These twelve hundred-plus stones are worth at least half a billion!"

He was making a conservative estimate; several pieces were rare jade varieties whose prices would double if put up for auction. "We spent less than a hundred million and made over half a billion. Mr. Ye, we made a killing on this wave!" Shen Zun beamed from ear to ear.

Ye Tianci snapped his fingers and said indifferently, "Send a hundred medium-grade pieces to my residence, and handle the rest yourself. Based on a total value of four hundred million, we'll split it evenly—half and half."

Flattered, Shen Zun tactfully replied, "Mr. Ye, I only provided some investment. Without your discerning eye, how could we ever have acquired these twelve hundred fine jades? I don't want a single penny of the profit; they are all yours!"

"I said what I meant, just do as I say."

"Since that's the case, I'll follow your instructions completely, Mr. Ye," Shen Zun conceded smoothly. He immediately made a phone call, summoned all the men he could mobilize, and waved his hand to order, "Move all these jade pieces out and take them away!"

"Thinking of leaving? It's not that easy!" Feng Xiaoyan stepped forward with a cold expression.

Shen Zun also spoke coldly, "Feng Xiaoyan, you sold me a jade carving containing a malevolent ghost doll, and I haven't even settled that score with you yet! If Mr. Ye hadn't stopped me, I would have smashed your jade shop long ago. How dare you try to stop us now?"

Feng Xiaoyan asserted aggressively, "Shen Zun, you know who the real boss of the Qingbao Jade Workshop is. You can't afford to provoke him. I advise you not to push things too far!"

Guo Jianglong, still pinned to the floor with Ye Tianci's foot on his face, shouted stubbornly, "Let me go right now!"

"Who is causing trouble in my jade shop?"

A sharp, shrill voice suddenly rang out, drawing everyone's attention. The crowd turned around and hurriedly cleared a pathway.

A young woman was supporting a white-haired elderly man as they walked in. Feng Xiaoyan hurried forward and said, "Dad, you're here?"

The old man was none other than her adoptive father, Pei Qingzhi, the jade tycoon of Shucheng and the true owner of the Qingbao Jade Workshop. The young woman by his side was his granddaughter, Pei Yurou, who had also been present when Ye Tianci and Zhao Xiaojie placed their bet on Jade Street a few days ago.

Pei Qingzhi glanced at her and asked with a frown, "What is going on here?"

Pointing at Ye Tianci and Shen Zun, Feng Xiaoyan hurriedly explained, "This Shen Zun is the son of the Southern God of Wealth, Shen Wanshan. He bought a jade carving from our shop, then came back after leaving to frame me, claiming there was some harmful ghost doll hidden inside it. He insisted on demanding compensation from us and even brought this man surnamed Ye here to gamble on stones. Who knows what tricks this fellow used, but every single stone he picked turned out to contain jade! Dad, we absolutely cannot let them leave, and we certainly cannot let them take the jade!"

Feng Xiaoyan was brazenly shifting the blame.

Pei Qingzhi's gaze fell on Ye Tianci, and he was immediately startled: "It's you?!"

He recognized Ye Tianci. Back at Zhang Mingyu's shop on Jade Street, Ye Tianci's stone-gambling skills had utterly shocked him. He hadn't expected such a true master to visit his own jade workshop.

"Old sir, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon," Ye Tianci said calmly. "Do you remember what I said that day? Your condition is even more critical compared to then. If you don't seek treatment now, I'm afraid even immortals won't be able to save you."

Looking at Pei Qingzhi's complexion, Ye Tianci spoke in an even tone.

"It's you again! How dare you continue talking nonsense and cursing my grandfather?" Pei Yurou glared at Ye Tianci with undisguised disgust.

Pei Qingzhi furrowed his brows deeply and said with a solemn expression, "Young brother, why do you repeatedly make such remarks about my health? Could it be that just by glancing at me, you know my health is failing? Forgive me for finding that hard to believe!"

Pointing to the smashed ghost doll not far away on the floor, Ye Tianci said indifferently, "Do you recognize this thing?"

Pei Qingzhi shook his head.

Pei Yurou scoffed disdainfully, "Who knows what kind of freakish thing you dug up from goodness knows where?"

The corner of Ye Tianci's mouth curved upward as he said, "If I'm not mistaken, your grandfather has a jade carving in his bedroom as well."

"That's right, there is a jade carving. How did you know?" Pei Yurou asked suspiciously.

Pointing at the ghost doll on the ground, Ye Tianci declared, "Inside the jade carving in your grandfather's bedroom, there is this exact same thing!"

As his words fell, Feng Xiaoyan's expression underwent a drastic and instantaneous change!