Miss Goldsmith smirked as Hera and Zhane arrived at the waiting stone master.


    "Shall we begin by opening your stones?" the stone master inquired.


    Hera turned to Zhane with a smile. "Zhane, why don’t you go first?" She then nced at the girl who had been trailing them. Although the girl remained silent, Hera could sense that she was eager to see her make a mistake. Not feeling concerned, Hera decided to let her watch, noting that the girl’s curiosity seemed harmless.


    Zhane didn’t attempt to suggest otherwise, sensing that Hera might be hesitant to open her purchases for fear of discovering a mistake. Instead, he stepped forward and handed the basket to the stone master. "Please help me open this," he requested.


    The stone master first inspected the stones and made some markings. Since Zhane had not provided specific instructions on how to open them, the master made his own judgment and began opening each stone one by one.


    "Oh!" The stone master chuckled as he made a small cut along the edge of the stone, revealing a hint of green. He decided to make a deeper incision to see if there was something more significant inside. After a bit more effort, he confirmed there was indeed something within. "Unfortunately..."


    "Unfortunately, what?" Zhane asked, tilting his head as he noticed the jade inside the stone. Despite this, the stone master seemed dissatisfied with what he saw. Miss Goldsmith stepped forward to exin the reason behind the stone master’s reaction.


    "That one is Nephrite jade," she exined. "It’s the mostmon type of jade and isn’t worth nearly as much as jadeite. To put it in perspective, it’s likeparing ss to a real diamond—the difference is substantial." Without needing a closer inspection, she could tell from the sound of the cut that it wasn’t jadeite. Nephrite jade is slightly softer and has a duller colorpared to the vibrant luster of true jadeite.


    Zhane sighed but wasn’t too disheartened. The stone the master had opened was the least expensive of the ones he’d chosen, costing him $55,000. However, it seemed unlikely he would recoup that amount. Nephrite jade of that size could only fetch between $5,000 and $10,000 at most.


    Zhane urged the stone master to continue. While the second stone turned out to be a disappointment, thest one revealed a high-quality ck jade. Seeing this, Zhane let out a sigh of relief. If the final stone had also been a letdown, he was worried he might embarrass himself in front of Hera.


    Hera pped happily seeing that Zhane got a good one.


    "Wow! You really lucked out with this one!" Miss Goldsmith eximed. "This jade could be sold for four times what you paid for it! If you’re interested, I can buy it from you directly!" Her eyes stayed fixed on the ck jade as she mentally envisioned the essories she could create from it.


    "I’m sorry, Miss Goldsmith, but I’ll leave the decision to my girlfriend," Zhane said, attempting to offer constion to Hera. Unbeknownst to him, he had just passed the hot potato to Hera. Miss Goldsmith’s intense gaze now focused on Hera, who could only manage a wry smile and try to ignore the scrutiny. She urged the assistant to present her stones to the stone master.


    Since the girl was also interested in her first purchase, Hera allowed the stone master to open therge ck stone. There was little suspense, as Miss Goldsmith seemed to expect a valuable gem inside. However, when the stone was finally opened, Miss Goldsmith couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.


    "Holy shit!" Miss Goldsmith eximed in surprise, quickly covering her mouth with her hands as she realized her outburst. Her eyes, however, remained wide with astonishment.


    Hera merely smiled, appearingpletely unfazed, which irritated Miss Goldsmith. She assumed Hera was unaware of the significance of her random choice. "Hey! You might not realize it, but that’s an imperial jade!" Miss Goldsmith tried to maintain herposure, but her voice still rose in excitement at the mention of ’imperial jade.


    Hera only chuckled softly. "I know."


    <i>’You know, you know what? Do you even realize what you’ve found? There’s a huge difference between ordinary jade and imperial jade!’</i> Miss Goldsmith thought in disbelief. The stone master was equally bbergasted, staring at the jade in his hand. Fortunately, he had only made a small cut at the edge, preserving therge piece of imperial jade intact.


    Even Zhane was dumbfounded, instinctively reaching for Hera’s hand. Hera responded with a reassuring smile and even had to remind the stone master to proceed with the next stone. This time, the stone master handled the task with extra caution, feeling a sense of pressure. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl who brought the jade, acting so nonchntly, might be a hidden expert—a scenario he had often read about in novels.