The venue for the stone gambling convention wasn’t far. It was a small-scale event, attended only by some people in the jewelry business. Including their family, there were fewer than thirty people in total.

Grace Winslow looked around curiously as soon as she walked in.

The venue was quite large, probably about five hundred square meters. The first thing you saw upon entering was a garden, its lawn piled high with stones of all sizes, placed about randomly. A sign with prices was stuck in the ground nearby.

These were all rejects, considered scrap material. The probability of finding any jade inside was low, so they were cheap and sold by the pound.

Grace Winslow was a complete novice when it came to stone gambling. She was utterly clueless; every stone looked like a common rock she might find on the side of the road. She couldn’t see any difference between them and had no idea which ones might be valuable.

Nolan Winslow and Brandon Winslow had already headed to the area up front.

The stones over there had been carefully selected and were expensive. The cheapest ones started at several hundred, with some even costing several thousand.

Grace Winslow, Hayley, Joanne Chase, and Lily Callahan gathered together.

"Hayley, Joanne, do you know how to read these stones? They aren’t cheap here. I feel like the little money we have on us isn’t even enough to blow." Grace Winslow whispered, glancing around.

’You can tell by their clothes that the people here come from prominent families. They must have considerable assets—tens of millions at least, maybe even hundreds.’

’Compared to them, we look a little shabby.’

"Let’s just have fun with it," Hayley said, waving her hand dismissively. "I told your brother our starting budget is just five thousand. Once that’s gone, we’re done. We’ll pick a few to play around with and see if we can find anything good."

’That’s true,’ Grace Winslow thought.

’As long as they stay away from the premium section with stones costing hundreds or even thousands, they won’t lose much even if they don’t find anything.’

’Losing a hundred or so would just be the price of gaining some experience.’

"Let’s go take a look, then. I’m actually pretty interested," Grace Winslow said, happily pulling Joanne Chase away.

"Joy, if you see any stones you like, just let me know," Grace Winslow said, pulling Joanne Chase close and speaking in a low voice. "We’re just buying them for fun, so it doesn’t matter if they turn out to be duds. The ones over here are cheap; you can get one for just a few dollars."

Joanne Chase nodded. "I know, Grace."

"But... I think I might be able to tell which of these stones are good," Joanne Chase added, looking thoughtfully at the stones covering the ground.

"Really?" Grace Winslow was a little surprised, but she trusted Joanne Chase completely and didn’t doubt her for a second. "Then you pick them out, and I’ll pay. If we find something valuable and make a profit, we’ll split it fifty-fifty."

After thinking for a moment, Joanne Chase shook her head. "No, I can’t do that. You’re putting up the money, so how could I take half? Any profit should be yours. I can’t take your money."

"Don’t worry about ’mine’ and ’yours’. If you see one you like, we’ll each pay half, and we’ll split any profit evenly. All right, that’s settled. Let’s go."

Grace Winslow pulled Joanne Chase along, and they squeezed their way toward the densest piles of stones.

There were plenty of other clueless people like them, just hoping to strike it rich.

They were all treasure hunting in this section, picking out their favorites from a pile of rejected rough stones before taking them to be cut.

Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase took their time. Joanne Chase was responsible for picking the stones, and Grace Winslow was responsible for paying. They ended up buying quite a few.

Just like that, they had spent two thousand.

Grace Winslow belatedly realized she had only brought five thousand with her. If she spent it all, she wouldn’t have any money left.

Joanne Chase scanned the remaining stones and shook her head. "Grace, I don’t see anything else promising. Let’s call it a day."

"Okay. Let’s go get the stones we bought cut open and see if there’s anything good inside," Grace Winslow said with a nod, pulling Joanne Chase along. "If there is, we can have jewelry made for everyone in the family, one piece each. We’ll sell off whatever is left over."

Once they paid, their stones were tagged and piled all together. To their surprise, there were over a hundred pieces of various sizes, stacked into a small mountain.

Joanne Chase looked a little embarrassed. "Grace, we spent quite a bit of money, didn’t we?"

"Not that much. I brought five thousand and we’ve spent less than two," Grace Winslow said, shaking her head. She then found an experienced cutter and asked for his help.

A lot of people were having their stones cut in this area, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers. Some were hoping to see someone strike green so they could swoop in and buy the find for a bargain.

Others who had lost money were sitting on the ground, wailing and beating their chests in despair.

Watching the scene unfold, both Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase felt that gambling was a truly destructive habit.

A staff member brought their stones over, and the first one was placed on the cutting machine.

This one was only about the size of a soccer ball. It was irregularly shaped and looked no different from any other rock you’d find on the roadside.

Grace Winslow certainly couldn’t tell good from bad, so she pulled Joanne Chase aside. "Do you think there’s anything inside?"

"Even if it’s just common jade, that would be great. This one was only about a dozen pounds and cost less than thirty, anyway."

Joanne Chase was getting nervous. After all, she had been the one to pick most of the stones. Grace Winslow had only grabbed a few at random; the rest were all her selections.

’She was worried that if none of them contained anything valuable, she’d have made Grace waste two thousand. She’d blame herself forever.’

"I... I don’t know either. I don’t have much experience," Joanne Chase said, shaking her head nervously.

Grace Winslow squeezed her hand. "It’s fine. It doesn’t matter if we lose money on this. We can always earn more. Let’s just chalk it up to gaining experience. You have to try everything at least once in life, right?"

"Mm-hm." Joanne Chase nodded emphatically and rubbed her hands together.

Grace Winslow recognized this as a nervous habit, so she simply stood beside her, holding her hand without a word.

Soon, the cutter sliced off the outer layer of the stone. It was still just rock underneath; there was no sign of green.

The people in the crowd were all making comments, sounding like experts.

The cutter drew another line and resumed cutting.

Grace Winslow stood on her tiptoes to get a better look. "Even if only the very center has any green, we’ll have made our money back."

A man standing nearby overheard her and couldn’t help but laugh. "Young lady, this is your first time stone gambling, isn’t it? Do you have any idea what ’striking green’ means? It means you’ve found something valuable. It’s nowhere near that easy."

"See those people crying over there? They all went bust. Some of them have even lost their entire fortunes."

Grace Winslow followed his pointing finger and saw that he was right. Quite a few people were over there crying and making a scene, having to be restrained by security guards.

’I’m not about to gamble away my entire fortune, so I don’t really care if this is a bust.’

The WHIR of the cutting machine filled the air, and soon, the second cut was finished.

A splash of water washed the surface clean, and a faint hint of green came into view.

"It’s green!" the man from before exclaimed, his face a picture of surprise. "The quality looks average, but you’ve made your money back on this stone. It’s not a loss."

Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase exchanged a look, their eyes filled with excitement.

As far as they were concerned, not losing money was a win in itself.