The stall owner was a young man in his early twenties, not very tall, a bit short and chubby, but not too fat. When he saw Zhou Xuan and Zhao Lao Er approaching, especially Zhao Lao Er with his local accent, he knew they were from out of town and immediately greeted them warmly.
The one in Old Zhao's hand was a beautifully carved Guanyin statue, its vibrant green color extremely alluring under the light. The color was no different from the jadeite he had sold for over 20 million yuan. He then looked at the stall and saw several rows of Guanyin statues, each resembling a bodhisattva, with at least ninety or a hundred of them. He was somewhat stunned: "Is this really Tengchong? There are so many good things at roadside stalls!"
The stall owner, all smiles, said, "Ladies and gentlemen, want a Guanyin statue? Hehe, it's a small piece of old Burmese jade. Glassy texture, absolutely genuine, quality guaranteed!"
Upon hearing his tone, Zhou Xuan knew that this was a boastful braggart. Nowadays, out of every hundred street vendors, probably one hundred and one are all braggarts, each one more boastful than the last.
With a smile, Zhou Xuan asked, "Boss, since it's a piece of high-quality Burmese jade from an old mine, how much is it per piece?"
"1200, no bargaining!" the stall owner answered casually, but judging from his expression, it was more like he was ready for a price war.
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Too cheap!" He wasn't joking. If it were top-grade jadeite, a piece like this would cost at least seven or eight million!
"That's right. I only earn a little money through hard work. My stuff is the best and cheapest. If you don't believe me, go to the Xiaoyu Market in Tengchong and come back to me to compare!" The young boss spoke with great enthusiasm, getting more and more excited as he talked, truly unafraid to exaggerate the quality of his goods.
Zheng Bing and his group didn't care about this. They just casually walked with Zhou Xuan, neither speaking nor expressing their opinions, nor interrupting to ask any questions. They didn't offer any opinions on whether to buy or not, leaving it to Zhou Xuan and his group to decide. Except when it came to taking action, it was the same with Zhou Bo and Lin Shitu. When Zhou Xuan was doing business, they didn't say a word, but if someone made a move, they would immediately rush forward.
Only Zhou Xuan and Zhao Lao Er were speaking. After hearing the boss's price, Zhao Lao Er wished he could immediately take out his money and buy all the goods on the stall. However, Zhao Lao Er was not stupid. Although he did not know much about jade, he knew that he had to listen to Zhou Xuan. He turned his head to look at Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan smiled faintly. In recent days, he had bought a lot of books to make up for his lack of knowledge and listened to the experience of the master craftsmen. More importantly, he used his ice energy detection to compare the two. This kind of experience was more practical than that of the old masters because Zhou Xuan detected real jadeite. No matter how good other people's experience was, they could only rely on their experience to observe and estimate. They could not guarantee that there was jade in the rough material!
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Boss, can you explain how to distinguish between real and fake jade, and between good and bad jade?"
The young boss thought Zhou Xuan and his group were novices. He assumed that out-of-towners visiting Tengchong would buy a few items to take back as gifts for their relatives and friends, and that's the kind of people they made their money from!
Hearing Zhou Xuan's words, he chuckled and took a Bodhisattva statue, holding it up to the lamp. The light shone through, revealing a truly vibrant green with hints of blue. The surrounding faces were bathed in a green glow, like gauze or a dream.
The shopkeeper said proudly, "Look, this is jade. The best jade is all about color, transparency, and no impurities. Look how transparent this jade is, as clear as water, without a single impurity. This green is an exceptionally vibrant green, like the green of a top-grade emerald. Every piece is genuine, and the price is cheap too. I just do a low-profit, high-volume business, so I basically don't make any money!"
Listening to his arrogant words, Zhou Xuan found it somewhat amusing and said, "Boss, but I have heard that you shouldn't judge the color under artificial light. I've heard that the quality of any jewelry should not be determined under artificial light, and this is especially important for jadeite. Because the color of jadeite, especially those with grayish, bluish, or oily green hues, looks much better under artificial light than under natural light. If you really want to identify the color of jadeite, you should do so under natural light, not artificial light. Under artificial light, you can only look at the cracks, the length of the translucency, the degree of reflection, or other characteristics!"
The young boss was taken aback. He hadn't expected Zhou Xuan to speak like a true expert. Of course, he knew that none of his goods were genuine; they were all fake, made by machines.
Zhou Xuan picked up another Guanyin statue and said, "The craftsmanship of top-quality jadeite is also very important. A good piece of high-quality jadeite requires a highly skilled craftsman to carve it in order to show its value. All of your Guanyin statues are the same. Hehe, look, there's even a small dot on the bottom that's the same. That's a mark left by the machine. If it's truly valuable jadeite, you could say that it's all hand-carved. Then it's impossible for any two to be exactly the same. But all of yours are exactly the same!"
The young boss was stunned for a moment. He understood Zhou Xuan's meaning: he was simply saying that Zhou Xuan's product was fake. Judging from his words, he did sound like an expert. He said sullenly, "Take it or leave it. Why all the nonsense?"
This was Zhao Lao Er's first time entering this business. He couldn't understand how he could make over 20 million yuan just by picking up a random piece of broken stone, and now he had so many good items on the market, each costing over a thousand yuan. If he bought just a few, wouldn't he make a fortune?
Looking at Zhou Xuan, Zhao Lao Er said sheepishly, "Little brother, I'll buy the one that costs around ten thousand yuan. This thing looks really good!"
Zhao Lao Er thought to himself that since he had already made tens of millions, it didn't matter whether he made a profit or not by spending ten thousand or so. Besides, this jade did look quite beautiful.
If Zhou Xuan and Zhao Lao Er were not working together and did not know each other, then Zhou Xuan's words would be considered sabotaging someone else's business. Even if he was cheating, this action would still be hateful. But the key point is that Zhou Xuan and Zhao Lao Er are working together, so the young boss had no reason to say anything even if he was angry.
Zhou Xuan wasn't trying to show off; he was just casually strolling around when he came across a roadside stall. He wanted to use his experience and judgment to assess what level it would reach if he didn't use ice energy to measure it.
But Zhao Lao Er genuinely wanted to buy. It wasn't that he was stupid; in fact, he was quite shrewd in business and had rarely been cheated. However, today he had just made a fortune—an astronomical sum he might never earn in his lifetime—so he was excited and thrilled. The money had come too easily, and it also came from jade. Therefore, upon seeing these exquisitely beautiful jade carvings, his heart immediately warmed!
Seeing that Zhou Xuan didn't want them, Zhao Lao Er said to the young stall owner, "Boss, give me a discount, I'll buy a few!" Since he had spoken up, the stall owner glanced at Zhou Xuan, his tone less arrogant, and nodded, saying, "If you really want them, I can give you a discount. How many do you want?"
Seeing that Zhao Lao Er really wanted it, Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Lao Er, you're really far from good at this. You were just lucky today. If you keep gambling with this kind of thinking, you'll lose everything sooner or later. Hehe, let me tell you a few simple principles. Try them out and then decide!"
Zhao Lao Er chuckled and said, "Speak, I don't think you have much more experience than me. Let's see what you have to say!"
"Hehe, alright then, since we're out for a stroll anyway, I'll tell you about it!"
Zhou Xuan ignored the young boss's wary look and said to Zhao Lao Er, "Lao Er, what we played with during the day is called rough jadeite, which is unpolished jadeite ore. That kind of game is called gambling on stones, which is very risky. I can't explain it to you all at once. I'll just tell you a little bit of experience about the semi-finished and finished products that have been polished!"
"What is a semi-finished product? What is a finished product?" Zhao Lao Er asked again. He didn't even know this, yet he came to gamble on stones. If anyone knew, they would laugh their teeth out. However, Zhou Xuan didn't laugh at him because he was almost the same. He was even worse than Zhao Lao Er at first, but he had the ability to use ice energy.
"Semi-finished products generally refer to jade that has been cut and polished from rough stones, but has not yet been carved into its final form; it's just a rough shape of jadeite. Finished products are those that have been carved and are sold in stores."
Zhou Xuan explained to Zhao Lao Er, "Right now, jadeite artifacts are selling very well in the market. Anything that can make money will have fakes. You've been in business before, so you know without me explaining. Anything that makes money, there are always fakes. Jadeite has even higher profit margins, so it's not surprising that there are fakes. The quality of jadeite is generally determined by its color, transparency, purity, and size. Of course, counterfeiters will focus on these aspects. For coloring, it's usually called 'gunmetal', which involves heating the jadeite to over 200 degrees Celsius and then soaking it in an iridium salt solution for two hours. The chromium salt will penetrate the jadeite's crystal structure, giving inferior jadeite a beautiful green color!"
Zhou Xuan tried to combine the knowledge he gained from books with the results he obtained from detecting ice and gas. He then explained the two in simple and understandable terms to Zhao Lao Er.
"Besides the 'color matching' method, there's another technique called 'dressing up,' which, as the name suggests, involves coating the surface of inferior jadeite or glass with an organic green color to give it a vibrant green hue. Another method is 'brightening without polishing,' which involves spraying a layer of green or colorless brightening varnish onto the jadeite jewelry instead of polishing it!"
Although Zhao Lao Er didn't understand, he could understand and was quite interested in what Zhou Xuan was saying. He chuckled and said, "Little brother, when did you learn so much about jade? It sounds quite interesting. Let me see."
As Zhao Lao Er spoke, he examined the Guanyin statue in his hand carefully for a long time, but he couldn't make out anything. He scratched his head and said, "How can I recognize those that you're talking about?"
The young boss was finally certain that Zhou Xuan was a knowledgeable person, and it would be difficult to swindle money from them. So he just stared at them with his eyes wide open and kept his mouth shut without saying a word.
"This..." Zhou Xuan scratched his head, somewhat troubled. He had no problem distinguishing between the real and fake Fei, as he could immediately tell the difference with a single breath of ice. However, he was at a loss when it came to explaining it to Zhao Lao Er.
When the young boss saw that Zhou Xuan was also speechless, he immediately perked up. He thought to himself that Zhou Xuan was only a half-baked expert. If he were a real expert, he would have plenty of ways to distinguish between truth and falsehood. If he couldn't say, it meant that he was just good at talking but didn't really understand.
"If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense. Every single item here is genuine. If you don't know, don't pretend to know." The stall owner then said to Zhao Lao Er, "Do you want some? If you do, I'll give you a discount!"
"No, I don't want it!" Zhao Lao Er said decisively.
The shopkeeper was puzzled and asked, "Didn't you just want it? Why did you change your mind? Actually, it doesn't matter whether you want it or not. What's your reason?"
The boss thought Zhao Lao Er had figured something out. If he knew that everything was fake, that would be fine, but they didn't seem to know.
"Nothing else, just because you were rude to my brother. With that attitude of yours, why would I need your goods?" Zhao Lao Er said casually, which made the young jade stall owner pause for a moment.
The stall owner snorted and said, "Just for this? Hmph, I thought there was some special reason. If you can't tell the difference, don't pretend to know. Pretending to know what you don't is the most annoying thing. If you say someone else's goods are fake, you won't just get scolded, you might even get beaten up!"
Zhou Xuan smiled faintly and said, "Don't put it so harshly. It's actually very easy to distinguish between truth and falsehood. What's true is true, and what's false is false. The truth can't be made false, and the false can't be made true!"
The shop owner, also getting angry, slammed his hand on his stall and said, "Then you'd better figure it out for me, or you'll be sorry!"
Zhou Xuan snorted, picked up a Guanyin statue from his stall, took down a glass mirror hanging to the side, and slashed the Guanyin statue hard against the glass mirror. With a "smash," the Guanyin statue shattered into several pieces!
Volume 1, Chapter 171: Eating Golden Ice