"Look at that section we just polished. It's cloud-grade jade all the way through. I'm telling you, this stone is going to be yielding a massive return."
"I wouldn't be so sure. What if the jade only goes skin-deep? That would be a catastrophic loss."
The crowd around the cutting platform buzzed with speculation, necks craning and fingers pointing as Arthur Kingsley continued working the precision stone-polisher against the rough surface of his partially exposed geode. The high-pitched whine of the machine filled the air, punctuated by the hiss of water meeting heated stone.
Someone stepped forward from the throng, a middle-aged man in an expensive linen shirt, and raised his voice politely over the noise. "Sir, you don't need to keep cutting. I watched you purchase this ore for $1.8 mi
