"Ye Luo?"

Situ Luoyun’s eyes swept toward Ye Luo, revealing a surprised expression as they had already descended the stairs and arrived on this floor.

"What are you doing here?"

Situ Luoyun asked with an elegant, noble smile while looking at Ye Luo.

"I’m obviously here to buy something,"

Ye Luo said, gesturing to the cauldron he was holding in front of him.

"You came to buy this cauldron?"

Situ Luoyun’s phoenix eyes were fixed on the pitch-black cauldron in front of Ye Luo, filled with surprise. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Miss Situ, do you know each other?"

At this point, the old man in a grey robe couldn’t help but ask, looking from Ye Luo to Situ Luoyun.

"Mhm."

Situ Luoyun nodded her head and said to Ye Luo, "What do you need this cauldron for? It doesn’t look valuable at all."

"How can it not be valuable? I just spent thirty thousand on it."

Ye Luo retorted with a pout.

"Thirty thousand?"

Situ Luoyun’s face froze for a moment, then she turned to the old man and asked, "Old Chen, is this cauldron really worth so much?"

"This... that..."

The old man’s face changed multiple times as he glanced at the cauldron Ye Luo was holding, clearly embarrassed. The cauldron was not worth thirty thousand. He had received it as a freebie during a purchase, and it had no significant value. He had been keeping it as a piece of idle stock, how could it possibly be worth thirty thousand.

"Liu Qing, come over here. What’s going on?"

Afterward, the old man looked toward the young man who had just sold the cauldron to Ye Luo and called out to him.

At this time, the young man was already dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected the situation to turn out this way. The youngster who had been taken for a fool actually knew such a beautiful woman, and what’s more, this woman seemed to make his boss very wary. What a mess this had become.

A myriad of thoughts flashed through his mind, but the young man still braced himself and went over.

The old man looked unkindly at the young man and said, "What’s going on here? Did you sell this cauldron to this gentleman?"

"This... I..."

The young man didn’t know what to say and appeared awkward.

"Alright, boss, let it be. I bought the cauldron myself for thirty thousand."

Ye Luo involuntarily spoke up, knowing that the cauldron seemed worthless in the eyes of these people and that he had wasted his money, but to him, spending the thirty thousand was an incredible bargain.

The old man’s face was etched with embarrassment as he looked at Ye Luo, glancing at Situ Luoyun occasionally, fearing she might become upset.

"I really don’t know what you’re thinking?"

Situ Luoyun seemed puzzled as she gazed at Ye Luo.

However, at that moment Ye Luo’s expression intensified as he scanned Situ Luoyun.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ye Luo’s unabashed stare made Situ Luoyun’s pretty face blush, and she couldn’t help but recall the scene when he had treated her, feeling a sudden warmth inside her.

Soon, Ye Luo’s gaze moved away from her to one of the girls in black behind her who was holding a box. He activated his Clairvoyant Eye.

"What’s inside there?"

Ye Luo pointed at that box and spoke.

"This is a jade Guanyin that I just purchased from Old Chen to give to my grandfather as a birthday gift for his grand celebration."

Situ Luoyun looked at the box and said,

"May I have a look?"

Ye Luo spoke directly.

Situ Luoyun nodded, and with a wave of her hand, the woman in black opened the box. Inside lay a jade Guanyin, white as jade and shimmering with a lustrous sheen. It was obviously of great value."

"Can you sell this jade Guanyin to me? I’ll pay double the price."

Ye Luo’s gaze went straight to Situ Luoyun.

Situ Luoyun slightly furrowed her brows and said, "What do you need it for?"

"It’s of great use to me. Whatever amount you ask for, I’m willing to purchase it."

Ye Luo said without hesitation.

"It’s not about the money. I’m not short of cash. It took me a long time to find this jade Guanyin, and I feel it’s perfectly suitable as a birthday gift for my grandfather. If I sell it to you, what am I supposed to give my grandfather for his birthday?"

Situ Luoyun couldn’t help but look at Ye Luo.

"A birthday gift is just that—I can give you something better than this jade Guanyin for your grandfather’s birthday, and I guarantee he will be satisfied."

Ye Luo said directly.

"My grandfather is no ordinary man. He has no need for common jewels or jadeite."

"Don’t worry, whatever I give will be liked by any elder, whether they are an ordinary citizen or a person of power and influence."

A confident smile appeared at the corners of Ye Luo’s mouth.

Situ Luoyun glanced at Ye Luo and said, "What is it? Show me."

"I can’t show it to you just yet, but just give me one day’s time, and I can hand it to you tomorrow, guaranteed to your satisfaction."

"Then wait until you have that thing to show me, and I’ll consider whether or not to sell you this jade Guanyin."

Situ Luoyun pursed her lips as she spoke.

"Alright, I’ll come to you tomorrow."

Ye Luo nodded, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the jade Guanyin.

He so dearly wanted this jade Guanyin primarily because he had discovered that it contained a significant amount of spiritual energy. He wanted to acquire it to absorb the spiritual energy and enhance his own strength.

"I’ll be going then."

After leaving these words, Ye Luo walked out with the furnace. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly spotted a jade store next door, surrounded by a large crowd.

The store’s entrance displayed various rocks—not ordinary ones but raw jade stones containing jadeite. Among these stones could potentially be top-grade jadeite.

Buying one and properly cutting it open could lead to a windfall overnight. Many people here were buying stones, then cutting them open to verify if there were precious gems within—an activity known as stone gambling.

If one was to cut open a stone of high-value jadeite, the gain was immense. But if it turned out to be a worthless rock, one could lose everything.

Seeing this, Ye Luo spun his eyes and walked straight over.

At the entrance of the store lay a half-meter-tall rock. A worker was carefully cutting it, an undertaking referred to in the industry as ’stone solving.’

There were two methods of stone solving: one was windowing, which meant cutting a small area on the raw stone to reveal the jadeite inside. If the quality was good, it indicated profit and the stone could be sold or cut further.

The other method was to cut the stone entirely open to reveal the form of the jadeite within, gambling right to the end. The outcome could be a huge windfall or a massive loss.

There’s a saying in the jade stone gambling industry, "One stroke poor, one stroke rich," precisely describing this situation.