Chapter 229 It's a Sapphire!
Isabella couldn't wait to confirm her hunch.
"Quick, help me cut this stone!"
Everyone turned to look at her when they heard this.
Francis was stunned for a moment, not quite catching on. "You want to buy this stone?"
Isabella nodded. "Yes, can I buy it?"
"Of course you can," Francis said with a smile.
He glanced at the fat man, then said to Isabella, "Since he doesn't want it anymore, you can naturally buy this stone."
"Great."
Isabella directly transferred a hundred thousand dollars to him.
The tourists around, seeing how pretty and innocent Isabella looked, were worried she'd get ripped off. They all chimed in: "Why don't you pick a different stone? That fat guy has terrible luck. Any stone he doesn't want definitely won't have anything good inside."
"No need, I want this one. I think this stone looks really pretty, so it should have something good inside."
Francis and the knowledgeable people around all laughed when they heard this.
"Hahaha! Pretty?"
"Identifying gemstones isn't just about whether they look pretty or not."
"Sometimes, the prettier the stone looks, the more useless it is."
"..."
"But since you like this stone so much, I'll cut it open for you." Francis directly had the cutter start cutting.
The fat man hadn't left yet. He glanced at Isabella with disdain.
He'd cut open six rough stones without finding any gems—this one definitely wouldn't have anything either!
He knew what it felt like to lose money, and he actually wanted to see if she'd break down crying when she lost this hundred thousand dollars for nothing.
The cutter skillfully began cutting the stone.
As the blade slowly went deeper, the cutter's movements paused, and a trace of surprise appeared on his face.
Everyone noticed this movement from the cutter.
"What's wrong?"
"What did you find?"
Francis also sensed something unusual. He walked over, looked at the cut, and froze.
Because inside, he actually saw a hint of bluish color.
"This could very well be a sapphire!"
As soon as he said this, the onlookers were shocked.
"What? A sapphire?"
"Is it real?"
"If it's really a sapphire, she's hit the jackpot!"
"..."
Francis was extremely excited. Based on his twenty-plus years of experience cutting stones, this very likely was a sapphire, so he quickly urged, "Keep cutting inward."
The cutter also got nervous and slowed down, becoming even more careful.
As the stone was completely cut open, a large area of sapphire came into view.
The cutter held the stone, completely stunned.
"It really is, it really is a sapphire!"
Francis was thrilled, excitedly reaching out to touch the gemstone's cut surface.
"Top-grade sapphire! This is a top-grade sapphire!"
"Look how beautiful it is!"
Earlier when Isabella said this stone was pretty, they'd laughed at her, but now that it was cut open, it really was beautiful!
Francis wasn't satisfied and specially called over his gemstone appraiser to check if this was really a sapphire.
The appraiser looked at it and said without hesitation, "It is! This is a sapphire!"
Getting this definite answer, the onlookers immediately erupted.
"This stone must be worth a lot! It's a sapphire!"
"This sapphire isn't very big, but I'd estimate it's worth at least five million dollars!"
Five million dollars.
The fat man's heart sank.
He stared blankly as Francis congratulated Isabella and handed her the sapphire, watching as Isabella eagerly took the sapphire. His mind went completely blank.
"How is this possible? This can't be."
Why had he cut open six rough stones and found nothing, while she cut open one and found a sapphire?
No.
This stone was his!
This stone should have been his!
"This is my stone! This sapphire is mine!"
The fat man looked at Isabella furiously.
He was the one who picked out this stone. If he hadn't picked it out, how could she have found a sapphire?
His eyes red, the fat man rushed over to snatch the sapphire from Isabella's hands. "Give it back! Give me back my stone! It's mine!"
"Watch out!"
Francis shouted, and immediately several shop assistants rushed over and blocked the space between the fat man and Isabella.
The fat man shouted at Isabella, "That's my stone! Give it back to me!"
A sapphire worth five million dollars—it should have been his, it should have been his!
Francis watched this crazy scene and sighed helplessly.
This kind of thing had happened before. Some customers would throw away stones that others picked up, and when something good was found inside, conflicts would arise. It happened all the time.
He walked up to the fat man and tried to reason with him. "You were the one who said you didn't want this stone just now. Whoever pays for it owns it. You didn't pay, and in the end she paid for this stone, so naturally it belongs to her. I have the transfer records here, and there are security cameras nearby. No matter how you look at it, this stone has nothing to do with you! You're being unreasonable trying to grab someone else's property."
The fat man was furious. "I was the one who picked out the stone. If I hadn't picked out such a good stone, could she have found a sapphire?"
"Now you're just being unreasonable, aren't you? The stones are sitting here, anyone can pick them, but not everyone who touches a stone will buy it," Francis said.
The people around also spoke up: "Exactly! You clearly didn't want this stone, but now you're jealous seeing someone else found a sapphire!"
"Now you're saying you picked out the stone, but if this stone hadn't had a sapphire inside, would you still be saying you picked it out?"
"Really shameless."
"We all know that whoever pays for the stone owns it. You didn't pay, but you still want someone else's sapphire? Why don't you just go rob people?"
"..."
Everyone was speaking up for Isabella.
The fat man clenched his fists, full of hatred and anger.
"You bitch!" He was very angry, glaring viciously at Isabella, and snorted coldly. "Blind fool, you dare to steal my stone—I won't let you leave here alive!"
After dropping these words, he turned and stormed off angrily.
Francis watched the fat man's retreating figure. "Miss, it looks like you'll need to be careful. I'm afraid he won't let this go. If anything happens, you should contact the police here right away."
"Thank you, I'll be careful."