Chapter 135
Wood gambling, much like stone gambling, typically involved immediately cutting the material to reveal
the oue.
However, wood gambling was even more straightforwardpared to stone gambling. Assessing raw
jadeites was more intricate, while scentedwood was basically cut in half with a saw to check for any
ghost-faced patterns in the wood grain. It’s a really simple and direct process.
Manuel totally trusted Oliver, as his personal judgment didn’t discern any potential value in this piece of
wood.
After receiving the payment, the wood dealer inquired with a smile and asked Manuel, “Sir, do you want
to make the cut now?”
Manuel waved his hand and said, “Of course, let’s cut it. I can’t take this chunk of wood home intact,
can I?”
The wood dealer nodded and asked Manuel, “Where do you want to make the cut?”
Manuel asked Oliver, “Where should we cut it?”
Oliver casually pointed to a spot and said, “Let’s cut it from here.”
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The wood dealer immediately started cutting the wood at the spot indicated by Oliver. With a buzzing
sound, the wood was severed. As soon as the cut was made, the wood dealer bent down and, upon
seeing the cut section, eximed, “Oh my… It’s a win! It’s got the ghost-faced pattern.”
The wood dealer’s sudden exmation drew a few people over to the area that had previously
garnered little attention, and they all stared at the cut end of the wood.
The cut surface of the wood resembled a ck eight-legged spider. In wood gambling, the stakes were
all about the branch’s burls. Wood with these features would turn into valuable treasures, whereas
wood without them would be deemed firewood, suitable only for burning.
As soon as the crowd saw it was a win, someone immediately asked Manuel, “My friend, how much did
you pay for this piece of wood?”
Manuel opened his hand and said, “11,000 dors.”
The person immediately made an offer, “You paid 11,000 dors for the wood, and I’ll
Il give you 20,000 dors for it. Scentedwood is all about luck. This burl has a ghost-faced pattern
indeed, but that doesn’t guarantee the ghost-faced pattern will appear in other ces. If you take my
offer, you’ll make a safe profit of 9,000 dors. What do you say?”
Manuel tilted his head and looked at Oliver. Of course, he relied on Oliver’s opinion in such matters.
Oliver didn’t say anything. He simply pointed to the positions on the wood and instructed the owner
holding the saw, “Sir, help me make a few more cuts here, here, and here. I need you to cut these
five… no, these six locations for me.”
The person immediately understood that Oliver wouldn’t sell for 20,000 dors and was continuing with
the gamble. He didn’t say anything further and just watched.
The owner took an oil-based marker and drew lines on the six positions ording to Oliver’s
instructions before cutting them one by one.
Every time a location was cut, the onlookers would exim, “Wow, it’s another ghost face!”
Once all six positions were cut, they all revealed ghost-faced patterns, resembling eight-legged ck
spiders.
Those watching could estimate the potential value of the wood pieces based on their appearance and
style, as well as what kind of jewelry or products they could be.
However, no matter how much they tried to downy it, 20,000 dors was far from enough.
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The person who initially made the offer admired Manuel’s luck, though there was a hint of bitterness.
He realized that the one making the decisions wasn’t the seemingly astute Manuel but the young man
who didn’t talk much.
Looking at the wood cut into six or seven pieces, the person extended a hand and said with a smile,
“You’re lucky, my friend. With this gamble, the value has surged. Congrattions! It’s almost clear-cut
now. These pieces, when processed, will be worth approximately 300 to 400 thousand dors. I’ll offer
200 thousand dors for these pieces. What do you say?”
Manuel once again turned to Oliver. Oliver nodded and said, “Sure, 200 thousand dors will do. Let’s
make a friend through this deal.”
In fact, if Oliver had negotiated, the scentedwood might have sold for 220 thousand dors, but Oliver
wasn’t that petty. He wasn’t fond of haggling, and building a rtionship with these businesspeople
was more important.
The person smiled and promptly transferred the money. In this business, transactions were either cash
or electronic transfers, with most transactions below 200 thousand dors being in cash, which added
an extra thrill.
Over the other side, a fewrge pieces with the best appearance were taken, and Felix spent 1.52
million to acquire two wood pieces, the second and fourth highest-priced..
The most expensive piece, valued at 1.8 million, was acquired by the Woods family. The person who
attended on their behalf was a man in his thirties, and beside him was a beautifuldy. To Oliver’s
surprise, he realized thedy was Jenifer!
The Woods family showed their financial prowess by acquiring the five best wood pieces, numbered
one, three, five, six, and seven. Only the pieces of number two and number four, which were among
the top seven, went to Felix.
Next came the process of cutting the wood on-site. Felix didn’t start the cutting; instead, he watched as
the Woods family began cutting.
The Woods family’s representative, a man named Will Woods, was Jenifer’s older brother.
Will called over the most experienced master craftsman on-site to start cutting. He decided to cut the
wood in order of value, beginning with number seven, the lowest in value.
Number seven was initially cut near a significant branch because if thisrge piece of wood had the
coveted ghost face in the burl, it would be more valuable than gold.
However, when it was cut, there were countless tree rings around the core of the branch, with a ck
spot at the center and nothing else.
This first cut of the substantial piece of wood was a disappointment.
Will remained expressionless, instructing the craftsman with a calm tone and said, “Proceed.”
The second cut also yielded nothing of value.
Following the third cut, the fourth, and all the way to thest branch where the facial burl was expected,
not a single spot developed into the coveted facial burl.
The piece of wood, which was initially priced at 660,000 dors, was now virtually worthless, leading to
a substantial loss.
Fortunately, it was the Woods family who had bet on this piece, and with their wealth in the billions, this
amount of money didn’t mean much to them.
Will remainedposed, showing no change in his expression, and instructed to cut the sixth piece.
Felix watched nervously as he had invested over 1 million dors in two high-priced pieces, hoping
they would yield the desired result.
However, Will’s second piece was as unremarkable as the first, devoid of any excitement, and most
importantly, no ghost -face appeared.,
Then, Will moved on to the fifth and third pieces, but neither of them revealed the desired ghost face.
The total value of the four high-priced pieces they had bet on was already 3.36 million dors.
Will had lost 3.36 million dors on these four pieces alone.
The onlookers began to feel nervous.
The saying “Nine out of ten bets are lost” was an understatement. This was more like “Ten out of ten
bets are lost”
3.36 million dors, when piled together, probably resembled a small mountain. However, this mound of
money had now vanished into thin air.
Will remainedposed, his facé turning dark and gloomy. Jenifer, who stood nearby, also had an
unpleasant expression.
Will had one more wager remaining, the most expensive scentedwood of today, the number one item
with the highest price tag, at 1.8 million dors.
If the most expensive seentedwood turned out to be a win, Will would at least break even.
The Woods family could afford to lose this money, with the total sum reaching 4.18 million dors.
Losing wouldn’t seriously affect their wealth, but their pride was at stake. If none of the five wood items
turned out to be valuable, it would indeed be embarrassing.
Will’s fate rested solely on the most expensive scentedwood.
“Begin!”
Will clenched his fist and instructed the craftsman.
The craftsman nodded and started sawing through the thick scentedwood, which was thicker than a
washbasin.