Ouyang Jun's eyes darted around, and he said, "Alright, we'll do it your way. But brother, what happens if we lose?"
"Tch, if you lose, it's all on you. What, you're too scared to gamble?"
Zhuang Rui looked at Ouyang Jun with a half-smile, deliberately putting him in a difficult position.
"Damn, did you think your fourth brother was raised to be easily scared?"
Ouyang Jun curled his lip, glared at Zhuang Rui, then quickly wrote a number on the checkbook, tore the check off with a "smear" sound, and handed it to Zhuang Rui.
Chapter 1074 Heavy Note
"Fourth...Fourth Brother, you're...aren't you being a bit too ruthless?"
Zhuang Rui had just tricked Ouyang Jun, and in the blink of an eye, his brother had returned the favor. Looking at the amount on the check, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but open his mouth wide. It wasn't that he hadn't seen so much money before, but rather that Ouyang Jun had bet on a 1 to 5 payout system. If he won, the other party would have to pay out five times the amount. Although those bookmakers were wealthy and powerful, it was probably enough to give these guys a run for their money.
"Didn't you say that Fourth Brother doesn't trust you? That's all for now. Fourth Brother's funds are all tied up in real estate in Fangshan recently, so this is all the liquid capital he can offer..."
Ouyang Jun smiled slyly. Putting everything else aside, he had personally witnessed Zhuang Rui go to Beijing and build such a large business from scratch. Anyone who had a lot of contact with Zhuang Rui had an almost superstitious belief in his ability to appraise antiques and jadeite, and Ouyang Jun was no exception.
Zhuang Rui held the check in his left hand, flicked it with his right index finger, and said with a smile, "Alright, Fourth Brother, we're brothers, so let's keep things clear. If we make a profit, I'll take half; if we lose, you can cry about it yourself..."
Ouyang Jun glared at Zhuang Rui, annoyed, and said, "Why are you being so slow? Do you think Fourth Brother is the type to renege on his debts? Alright, give it to me, I'm going to place my bet..."
Ouyang Jun knew Zhuang Rui's wealth; the kid had at least one or two billion yuan in cash. If he really lost money, he would use the museum land as leverage to force Zhuang Rui to return the money.
The thought of Zhuang Rui's museum infuriated Ouyang Jun. As Zhuang Rui's collection grew, the museum expanded as well. Zhuang Rui had managed to take away the original public facilities in Ouyang Jun's residential community, such as the garden, gym, and members' center, which caused great dissatisfaction among the residents.
Left with no other choice, Ouyang Jun changed the entire development plan. The two high-rise residential buildings originally planned to be built were changed to related supporting facilities. However, as a result, Ouyang Jun would earn at least 200 million less, while Zhuang Rui only received a small share of the African mine and tens of millions of yuan for the land in front of him.
Of course, as the Dingguang Museum gained fame, it also had a certain positive effect on the community. Because of the existence of the Dingguang Museum, a tourist route was established there, which doubled the property prices in the vicinity, making Ouyang Jun's second and third phases of development very profitable.
"Hehe, I wonder if Mr. Wang is interested in having a few more drinks with me tonight?"
Watching Ouyang Jun walk towards the betting area with the check and betting slip, Zhuang Rui chuckled. "Why do these rich people have to get involved in jade gambling when they have nothing better to do than play with finished jade pieces? Aren't they just asking for trouble?"
"One...one hundred million RMB? Mr. Ouyang, you didn't make a mistake, did you?"
Not to mention Zhuang Rui secretly rejoicing from afar, after Ouyang Jun handed the betting slip and check to President Wang, President Wang was so frightened that he could hardly speak. Although he claimed to be worth over a billion, a large part of that was fixed assets. If those and bank loans were removed, President Wang probably wouldn't even be able to come up with a hundred million in cash.
So before Mr. Wang could even look at the rough stone that Ouyang Jun had bet on, he exclaimed in surprise. The two bookmakers and the people next to them heard this and gathered around. A single bet of 100 million RMB is rare even in casinos in Macau and Las Vegas.
"Hey, it really is one hundred million, with eight zeros after the 'one'..."
"My God, what kind of wealth does one need to gamble so big?"
"Didn't you hear President Qi calling this guy 'Fourth Brother' just now? He must be a celebrity in Beijing. One hundred million is nothing to them..."
Those with better eyesight had already seen the cash check in Mr. Wang's hand. In their astonishment, they began to discuss among themselves. These people could all be considered successful in the local area, but to gamble a hundred million yuan on a single jade stone was something that these people had never seen or even heard of before.
In the world of jade gambling, it's quite common to see rough stones worth 100 million RMB, but those are stones that are gambled on. The stones themselves have a gambling element and can create higher value, unlike gambling on the sidelines like this, where the wins and losses are more determined by the house and the gamblers.
"Hehe, I heard that the betting odds on dogfights here at Qi Zi's place often exceed 100 million. Doesn't President Wang handle that?"
Ouyang Jun smiled nonchalantly, but his words were a dig at President Wang. If President Wang and his group didn't dare to take the order, they shouldn't be allowed to stay in the Beijing club circle in the future. Having the guts to gamble but not the guts to accept bets would be a laughing stock if word got out.
"this……"
Mr. Wang hesitated for a moment, feeling somewhat doubtful. His money didn't come easily; if he really lost, he would probably have to demolish his house and sell his land to pay off the bet. He had no choice but to be cautious.
While Mr. Wang was still hesitating, one of the dealers behind him suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Ouyang, we've accepted this order..."
"Old Zhao, you..."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Wang was taken aback. Just as he turned away to speak, Old Zhao suddenly took the betting slip from his hand and pointed to the raw stone number on it.
"Raw Stone No. 7?"
Mr. Wang's eyes swept over the ten rough stones. When he saw the seventh rough stone, his initial anxiety and unease subsided considerably. It turned out that the material that Ouyang Jun had invested 100 million in was actually that black jadeite rough stone that didn't look like jadeite at all.
“Mr. Ouyang, let’s discuss this further. Please wait a moment…”
Just to be on the safe side, Mr. Wang smiled apologetically at Ouyang Jun, then pulled the other two bookmakers into the room. This bet was simply too big for him to handle alone, so they needed to agree on a story to avoid any unexpected problems later.
"Mr. Wang, what's there to hesitate about? If he dares to bet, we brothers will take the hit..."
After entering the room, Mr. Zhao spoke first, "If he had bet on the 3:1 odds of getting icy jadeite, I might not have dared to accept it. But Lao Wang, he's betting on 5:1 odds. I just don't believe that even if that piece of black sand can yield jadeite, its quality can be higher than the pieces we selected earlier."
Among these ten carefully selected rough stones, three or four stones showed extremely high quality in their cuts and window polishing. Judging from their appearance, they could at least reach the level of icy jadeite, or even high-icy jadeite. Compared to the black jadeite stone that showed no signs of quality, Lao Zhao naturally did not think it would win the championship in the end.
Although Mr. Wang felt that Old Zhao's words made sense, he was relatively older and more cautious. After thinking for a moment, he said, "But... this is 100 million! If he wins, we'll have to pay out 500 million..."
Upon hearing Mr. Wang's words, another shareholder curled his lip and said, "Old Wang, the older you get in the business, the more timid you become. Let alone the fact that he has no chance of winning, even if he does win, can't the three of us split the money evenly and come up with 500 million?"
As the saying goes, money moves people's hearts. Even though it's divided among three people, each person can still get more than 30 million. Who wouldn't like real gold and silver?
"Alright, then we'll accept it..."
After thinking for a while, Mr. Wang nodded heavily. However, unlike the two guys who were thinking of stuffing the bet into their pockets, Mr. Wang was thinking about how to return the money to Ouyang Jun after winning. A person who could be called Fourth Brother by Mr. Qi must have an extraordinary status. If he could get on his good side, perhaps the value of a single approval document in the future would be more than 30 million.
"Mr. Ouyang, we've accepted this order..."
After reaching a consensus, President Wang and the others returned to the lobby. He personally wrote a receipt and handed it to Ouyang Jun. Ouyang Jun nodded, took it, and stuffed it into his pocket without even looking at it. He wasn't worried about these people reneging on their debt after he won. If that happened, the Fourth Young Master Ouyang wouldn't mind making them pay a little more.
"Mr. Wang, which rough stone did that gentleman bid on?"
"Yes, tell us about it, let us see it..."
"Old Zhao, stop being so secretive, just tell everyone..."
After Ouyang Jun returned to Zhuang Rui's side, the remaining "stone gambling experts" swarmed around the three bookmakers. They had only seen Ouyang Jun's check, but none of them had seen the number on Ouyang Jun's betting slip.
Even if the other party is very wealthy, they would still consider it carefully before betting 100 million on a stone. They must be very optimistic about it before making a move. Ouyang Jun's behavior was like that of a big player in the stock market. Naturally, the other members and owners of the stone gambling clubs also wanted to get a share of the profits.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please hear me out first..."
Seeing the somewhat chaotic scene in the hall, Mr. Wang raised his hand to quell the confusion and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the rough stones chosen by each person are confidential, and we cannot reveal them casually. They will be announced after the betting is over. Please wait a moment..."
This was a mature and prudent approach by President Wang. If it were up to the two shareholders, they would have wanted everyone to bet on this piece of black sand. However, the two did not know that it was President Wang's actions that prevented them from suffering even greater losses.
Hearing what President Wang said, everyone was unhappy, but there was nothing they could do. They had no connection with Zhuang Rui, so they were too embarrassed to ask him about it.
However, with Ouyang Jun's massive bet of 100 million yuan ahead of them, whether out of spite or for some other reason, everyone placed bets that were significantly higher than their original bottom line.
After all the betting had ended, the staff of several clubs helped count the betting slips, and the final total betting amount reached a staggering 230 million.
Chapter 1076 Counterfeit Goods
"Could that young man surnamed Zhuang really be the Jade King, on par with Old Master Tang?"
As the saying goes, a person's reputation precedes them. The title of "Jade King" was not self-proclaimed by Zhuang Rui, but rather spread within the jade gambling circle. After seeing the attitude of the two jade association experts towards Zhuang Rui, President Zhao and the others finally felt the pressure.
"Well... that's hard to say. By the way, what did Elder Tang say about that piece of black jadeite?"
Another dealer also got anxious. People tend to follow the crowd, so when everyone says the item is bad, they naturally believe it. Now that Zhuang Rui's identity seems to have been confirmed, the "broken stone" suddenly gained a lot of attention among them.
"Old Tang said that this kind of black jadeite is highly risky to gamble on. He can't even tell if there's jadeite inside, let alone gamble on the quality of the jadeite..."
Mr. Wang shook his head and continued, "Even a god can't judge the quality of jade. If even Old Master Tang wouldn't dare to make a prediction, that young man might not be able to win the gamble. Alright, don't think about it too much. We'll know once the stone is cut open..."
Mr. Wang was one of the people in the room who knew a lot about jade gambling. He was now regretting organizing this jade gambling gathering. It seemed that jade gambling was not as simple as he had thought. Moreover, judging from the way Old Tang hesitated when he was selecting stones, the old man must have something he didn't say.
Actually, Mr. Wang misunderstood Mr. Tang. The reason why Mr. Tang didn't say that those items were fake was firstly because it was the rule in the industry, and he couldn't ruin someone's livelihood. Secondly, although the people here weren't very good at appraising raw stones, they were all very concerned about their reputation. If he said it himself, they probably wouldn't appreciate it, and that would be unpleasant.
Besides, Mr. Tang has a relationship with Mr. Wang. Even if this thing is fake and there's no jade inside, Mr. Wang will be the one who wins the money. So, Mr. Tang has even less reason to explain to these jade novice what fake means.
Of course, Old Tang's assessment of that piece of black jade was quite accurate. Black jade is notoriously difficult to gamble on, ranking first among all rough stones. Many seasoned collectors have failed miserably on it. Old Tang also didn't have a very good method for identifying black jade. ...
Everyone gathered in the backyard. Since the rough stones selected this time were not large, only a small stone-cutting machine and two grinding wheels were placed in the backyard. In front of Zhuang Rui, Director Yu did not dare to act like an expert. After seeing that the rough stones had been moved over, he walked up to Zhuang Rui and said in a low voice, "Teacher Zhuang, since you are here, we two will not embarrass ourselves. Or... should you do it?"
"No, you two, I'm just here to join in the fun. You can just pretend I'm not here..."
Zhuang Rui waved his hand repeatedly. It wasn't that he was putting on airs; it was just that these rough stones didn't interest him at all. Putting aside the fake ones, even the other rough stones were lackluster, with the best one barely reaching the level of bean green jadeite.
If these stones were placed at a Myanmar jade auction, they would be sold as scraps. Anyone who knows anything about raw stones would look down on them. Those raw stone merchants who are more "honest" than those who fake them are just trying to fool these laymen.
"Alright, then I'll cut the stone. If there's anything wrong, please give me some pointers, Teacher Zhuang..."
Director Qin, who hadn't said much until now, stepped forward. He had spent some time in Yunnan and Myanmar in his early years and had also worked as a consultant for others when it came to gambling on stones. Director Qin knew that his skill in appraising raw stones was not as good as Zhuang Rui's or Tang Lao's, but he was still quite confident when it came to cutting stones.
"Hehe, Director Qin has produced quite a few famous talents under his command. Let's see for ourselves today..."
Zhuang Rui smiled. He knew his own situation well. The reason he was able to thrive in the jade gambling circle was entirely due to his keen eye. When it came to real knowledge, Zhuang Rui admitted that he was still somewhat inferior to these experts. Therefore, he respected everyone with expertise. These days, you can't get by on just talking without real skills.
"You flatter me, Professor Zhuang..."
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Director Qin's face seemed to brighten slightly. He immediately took off his suit jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and looked at President Wang, asking, "President Wang, which piece of fabric should we cut first?"
The two directors, Qin and his companion, were invited to cut stones and appraise jade. When they received the invitation, a check for 50,000 RMB was attached. Director Qin wanted to show some respect to his benefactors.
"Let's start cutting them in order, beginning with number one, but we'll save number seven for last..."
After discussing it with the other two, Mr. Wang made this decision. If the rough stone could yield high-quality jadeite, then there would be no need to worry about this piece of black jadeite. To be honest, the three dealers were really a little anxious at this moment.
"good……"
Director Qin nodded, stepped forward, selected the No. 1 rough stone, and fixed it on the stone-cutting machine. This piece of material weighed only twenty or thirty pounds, was semi-circular, and was a rough stone that had been cut in half. On the cut surface, there was a palm-sized patch of green, which looked somewhat enchanting under the sunlight.
"Mr. Li, this is your material..."
"Yeah, Lao Li, once we make that cut, we'll know whether it's a gain or a loss..."
“I think this piece of jade has potential for appreciation, didn’t you see? The cut surface has already revealed green…”
While Director Qin was examining the rough stone and searching for a cutting point, the people around him started to discuss it. This was the first activity of the gambling stone club organized by Boss Wang, and these members were also experiencing gambling stones for the first time. Almost none of them had ever seen gambling stones before, but they all acted like experts.
"It's definitely going to yield green jade. I bought this from a rough stone dealer in Guangdong. Someone offered 2 million yuan for it, but I paid 2.6 million yuan to get that person to sell it to me..."
Mr. Li is from Shaanxi, and he still speaks with a slight Shaanxi accent. After buying this rough stone, Mr. Li consulted many experts. However, there are many people who play with jade in Shaanxi, but very few who play with jadeite. Few people could say anything about it. So Mr. Li searched for a lot of information online and learned a lot about jadeite. He became more and more optimistic about this piece of material.
"Pfft...cough, cough cough..."
As soon as Mr. Li finished speaking, Zhuang Rui, who was standing next to Mr. Tang, spat out the bottle of mineral water he had just drunk. Zhuang Rui quickly lowered his head and pretended to cough, which was very impolite.
However, Zhuang Rui couldn't hold back any longer. The green color displayed on that piece of jade was completely fake, made with dye, and the technique wasn't very sophisticated. Only someone blind would spend 2 million to compete with Boss Li for this piece of jade.
It's obvious this is a trap set by someone else. It's a wonder this Mr. Li treated it like a treasure; he'll probably be crying soon.
The identification of jade and other precious stones, like the appreciation of antiques, cannot be learned by reading a few books. It requires a lot of hands-on experience with real objects. For example, the reason why Jin Pangzi's teacher is a leading figure in the appreciation of calligraphy and painting antiques in China is because he has seen almost all the original works of famous people in China, both ancient and modern. By comparing the two, he can naturally judge the authenticity at a glance.
Director Qin also heard the discussions around him and a hint of disdain appeared in his eyes. When he first touched the facet, he could tell that it didn't look like a real jade crystal. After examining it carefully with a magnifying glass, he was even more certain of his idea that it was a fake rough stone.