The stone in front of her, although denser and finer than ordinary stones, was still just a stone, incomparable to the delicate feeling of jade. But when she touched it earlier, why did she have the smooth and oily feeling of touching jade? Was there something wrong with her sense of touch?

  Thinking of this, she couldn't help but stretch out her hand to another stone beside her. She wanted to know if all the stones could give her the same feeling.

  However, the stone gave her an extremely rough feeling as soon as she touched it. The delicate and smooth feeling that had surged in her heart when she touched the stone just now seemed like an illusion, as if it had never appeared at all.

  Ye furrowed her brow again, and put her hand back on the stone where she first touched it. At this time, that feeling like touching jade, rose up in her heart once more.

  What's going on? Can she feel whether there is jade inside the stone through her hands or something?

  Ye Zhu suppressed her racing heart and walked to the other stone, stretching out her hand once again. This time, the stone in front of her was just like the second one, she could feel its coarse and even slightly loose texture. She concentrated her mind and felt all the stones in the shop, finally discovering that among the more than 30 stones on display, only four gave her that smooth and oily feeling, with varying degrees of intensity, and the strongest sensation came from the stone beside her hand.

  She took a deep breath, just about to wave at the boss and negotiate the price, when a familiar voice sounded from the doorway: "Miss Ye, what a coincidence, I didn't expect to run into you here."

  She furrowed her brow, turned her head to look towards the door, and indeed saw that Xie Gongzi she met on the mountain was standing at the door, shaking his fan with a flirtatious air.

  As she went down the mountain, she suddenly remembered who Xie Gongzi was. The Xie family was the wealthiest family in Nanshan Town and owned the largest jade carving workshop here. Ye Yiqi and Ye Yuzhang were once apprentices in the Xie family's workshop when they were young. Later, Ye Yiqi had a high talent and was envied by others, eventually inviting disaster; Ye Yuzhang also started building his own workshop from that time on, and finally became rich.

  However, even if she knew who this Mr. Xie was, her attitude didn't change in the slightest. She just slightly nodded and greeted him with a "Mr. Xie." Then she turned to the boss and asked, "Boss, how much is this raw stone?"

  To prove that her feelings were right, she decided to buy one of the stones with a feeling, even if she didn't have enough money on hand, and was willing to sell the jewelry on her body, then open it to take a look.

  "Twenty taels of silver." The shop owner replied while walking out from behind the counter, bowing his hands warmly to greet Xie Yunfeng: "Young Master Xie, what brings you to visit my humble shop today?"

  "Boss Wang, business is good! My friend here has come to take care of your business, Boss Wang should give us a discount!" Xie Yunfeng closed his fan and pointed at Ye Zhuo with a smile.

  The boss was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly enlightened, saying: "Good, good, since it's Mr. Xie's friend, of course, we'll give you a discount. How about this, that raw stone, I'll give it to you for 17 taels and 5 mace of silver, Miss can take it away." His gaze at Ye Zhuo and Xie Yunfeng was filled with ambiguity.

  Although the boss Wang automatically lowered the price by three taels of silver, Ye Zhuo was not very happy. Xie Yunfeng's tone seemed to imply that she was his person, and Boss Wang's gaze at her was also full of ambiguity, which made her feel very disgusted.

  But those emotions were just a flash. Now the most important thing is to be able to buy the stone in front of her, to prove her own conjecture in her heart. It's just that the price of this jade makes her feel powerless. Even if it's seventeen taels and five mace of silver, she can't even afford the down payment with the money on hand.

  She had to walk to the other end and pointed at a stone asking: "What about this one?"

  When she just came in, the boss introduced the price. These rough stones have different prices in different areas. The one on that side is the most expensive, and this one is the cheapest. But what she asked now is this piece, which is the weakest of the four pieces with aura.

  Xie Yunfeng glanced at the stone she was asking about and shook his head secretly. Before Wang Laoban could speak, he smiled and said: "Miss Ye, you've never gambled on stones before, have you? Let me tell you, there's a lot to learn when it comes to gambling on stones. First, look at the skin, then look at the python belt and pine flowers on the stone..." After finishing his explanation, he pointed to a high-priced area and said: "If you want to buy an original stone, I suggest you buy this one."

  Ye Zhuo acknowledged that Xie Yunfeng's theories made sense. The stone in her hand looked like it had a loose texture, a thick shell, and no signs of jadeite or serpentine patterns; at first glance, it was just an ordinary roadside rock, with a very low probability of containing jade from a theoretical perspective. But for some reason, when she put her hand on it, she felt a sensation as if she had touched jade material. Now she only wanted to know whether there was actually jade inside.

  "No, thank you. I still think this one is good." She turned her head and asked Boss Wang, "Boss, how much does this raw stone cost?"

  "That piece?" Mr. Wang saw that Xie Gongzi had said so much, but the girl in front of him seemed unimpressed, and he couldn't help but shake his head, glancing at the stone with a nonchalant expression, saying: "If you like it, miss, just take it and play with it, no need to pay."

  Those dozen or so stones were just waste rocks he picked up by the mine pit, there's nothing valuable inside. Putting them here is just to fool those outsiders. Now that Master Xie is being so attentive to this young lady, he'd naturally be happy to send a personal gift.

  "How can that be? Boss Wang should make an offer." Ye Zhuo was extremely serious.

  "Since the girl wants to give, then give three cents of silver." Wang said. The stone that was usually five cents of silver, no discount. However, with Xie Yunfeng here today, he couldn't set a high price, after all, everyone knew it was some scrap material, cheating others is possible, but this Ye girl can't be cheated.

  "Alright, I'll take it." Ye Zhuo took out her silver and handed it to Old Man Wang, then asked, "I wonder how this stone is solved?"

  Jian Ye didn't listen to his own advice, Xie Yunfeng felt a bit embarrassed, but still said: "Our Xie family has a special stone-unsealing shop, I'll take you there."

  Although Ye Zhuo didn't know how to carve stones, to cut open such a large stone, some large tools should be used. It was obvious that there were no such things in this shop, so she had to accept Xie Yunfeng's kindness and nodded: "Then thank you, sir."

  "Miss Ye, don't be polite." Seeing that he could finally do something for Ye Zhuo, Xie Yunfeng was very happy. Pointing to the stone he had just explained, he said to Old Master Wang: "I'll take this stone." He waved his hand and let his attendant pay the silver. He planned to open up the stone in a while and show Ye Zhuo what he had just said wasn't nonsense.

  Xie Yunfeng bought a stone that he couldn't feel when he touched it, and Ye Zhuo was delighted. By comparing the two, they could better determine whether her sense of touch was correct or not.

  The boss Wang sent a partner, together with Xie Yunteng's entourage, to transport the stone to a shop diagonally opposite.

  At this time, a customer is having his stone cut. Two jade workers are sitting on stools, with the original stone purchased by the customer placed on a wooden frame between them. Each of them holds one end of a large saw blade and they pull it back and forth. The saw blade used to cut the jade is mainly a steel wire. However, the steel wire cannot cut through the jade, so a teapot must be hung above it, with holes in the bottom of the pot containing black stone sand and water. Water mixed with black stone sand drips down drop by drop onto the original stone, increasing the sharpness of the saw blade. Through this back-and-forth friction and cutting, the stone skin can be cut off.

  "Alas, nothing again." Several people beside him were staring at the stone on the wooden frame. Seeing that the last piece was cut open and still no jade was found, they couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh.

  "Bad luck." The guest was extremely disappointed, paid a sum of silver for the divination fee, and turned to leave.

  Ye Zhuang saw the situation, and her originally somewhat confident heart also became apprehensive. To know that after buying that piece of stone, she was penniless. And this unsealing, not only required strength, but also technique, every person who came to unseal, no matter if there was jade material inside the stone or not, had to pay money. Looking at it, it seemed like it should be one tael of silver. Although Xie Yunfeng wouldn't likely ask her for money, she didn't want to owe someone a favor for just one tael of silver.

  Thank you jykuan4569 for the sachet and Qin Mu Jin, Ning Yu for the peace amulet!