Moreover, Xu Juncheng understood that even if he took 500 million and left Zhou's Jewelry and Zhou Xuan, he would still be nothing. 500 million might be an enormous sum for an ordinary person, but for Xu Juncheng's ambition to develop his business, without strong connections, his 500 million would only be swallowed up by other large companies.
Xu Juncheng now adheres to only one belief: no matter how high one stands, one must clearly understand one's own position.
Zhou Tao and Zhou Ying are in charge of the company's finance and human resources. The rapid development of Zhou's Jewelry has left them feeling quite overwhelmed. Initially, they were in charge of human resources and finance, but now they are only in charge of the senior talents they have recruited. Their vision and abilities are much better than before, so when Zhou Xuan said that he wanted to bring back another batch of jade rough from the south, they naturally applauded and agreed.
It can be said that the real reason for the rise of Zhou's Jewelry lies in the batch of high-quality jadeite that Zhou Xuan gambled back from the south. It was this batch of priceless jadeite that gave Zhou's Jewelry the upper hand in the competition with various international companies.
Generally speaking, the biggest weakness for small companies when competing with large companies is their financial strength. However, this is not an issue for Zhou Xuan. If those large companies were to purchase this batch of jade, it would cost at least 5 billion, but Zhou Xuan's investment was less than 10 million. With such capabilities, which company would dare to compare?
Whether it's price wars or financial resources, Zhou Xuan is no less capable than those large companies. Therefore, although his company is smaller than that of international giants, he has never been at a disadvantage in the competition.
I never expected that after considering this for several hours, no one in the family would object to it. I didn't even have to come up with the reasons I had made up for so long, which saved me a lot of trouble.
It seems that it was mostly thanks to Xiao Sizhou, as Mom and Fu Ying hugged each other tightly and couldn't bear to let go.
The next morning, as Zhou Xuan left with his small suitcase, Fu Ying saw him off at the door, carrying little Si Zhou in her arms. Before leaving, she said, "Zhou Xuan, come back soon. Si Zhou and I are looking forward to your return."
Zhou Xuan chuckled and leaned over to give Fu Ying and Xiao Sizhou a big kiss on the cheek before laughingly picking up his suitcase and walking out of the residential area.
Zhou Xuan didn't mention this trip to anyone. Because of the secrecy of this operation, he didn't want to cause too much of a stir and wanted to act quietly to avoid trouble for his friends and family. Fu Yuanshan knew about it and they had already discussed it. It was best for them to have as little contact as possible, unless absolutely necessary or after obtaining sufficient evidence. After arriving in the south, Zhou Xuan would not have any contact with any other party, and his contact with Fu Yuanshan would be a one-way street. This would inevitably cause conflict with the southern police, which was something Zhou Xuan had to be careful about.
After the plane arrived at Ruili Airport, it was not yet noon. Zhou Xuan booked a room at the hotel and then tried to call his drug supplier from the room, but the other party's phone was switched off.
Since he was going to Ruili instead of Tengchong, and Zhou Xuan didn't know any friends there, he decided to go out alone to browse the jade wholesale market.
In the south, Tengchong and Ruili are the only two jade wholesale markets in China, and also the most famous jade distribution centers in the country. China does not produce jadeite, but the popularity of jadeite has risen to an unprecedented level, both domestically and internationally. Of course, this may be due to the decreasing availability of jadeite mines. All mineral raw materials on Earth become increasingly scarce as they are mined, and their value naturally increases.
Furthermore, jade is a topic of great interest among Chinese people worldwide, and the Chinese have a long history of liking jade.
Jadeite has now become a powerful member of the high-end jewelry industry and has gained widespread popularity. Zhouxuan Jewelry Company regards jadeite items as the most important strategic focus of the company's development.
If you can't contact the drug dealers for the time being, then you might as well go and visit the jade rough factories in Ruili. If you can buy a batch of rough stones, that would be even better.
Having had experience in Tengchong, Zhou Xuan was quite familiar with the jade market. The jade market is generally divided into two categories: one is pure raw jade, and the other is raw jade that has been cut open. In other words, if you want to make a fortune, you gamble on jade, although it may result in losing everything.
Another type of person who wants to make money steadily can buy cut jadeite. This type is more stable. Of course, it is far from the stories of getting rich overnight like gambling on stones. Generally speaking, the price of cut jadeite is not too far from the real market price. The only profit is a small price difference and the craftsman's labor fee.
This type of procurement is very costly. Buying inferior products naturally yields less profit. It focuses on low-end products, while buying high-end products would be too costly. Zhou Xuan basically doesn't consider this type of procurement. It's not that he doesn't have the money; he does. But if he did, he would be no different from other companies in terms of procurement, which would weaken his competitiveness. He can only use his special ability to gamble for high-value raw materials, so that he can obtain the highest profit at the lowest cost.
Zhou Xuan hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the rough jade market. The driver, of course, knew that half of the customers who came to Ruili and Tengchong were there specifically for rough jade; the biggest attraction was "gambling on stones."
Whether in the streets and alleys or in teahouses and restaurants, the most talked-about topic among adults and children is the legend of jade gambling. The legend of getting rich overnight makes everyone dream of it. In fact, everyone knows that the chance of winning a jade gambling prize is less than one in a thousand, or even one in ten thousand. But that's the mentality of gamblers. In Tengchong or Ruili, among all the people who come, they would rather use their last meal money to gamble than buy a fast food meal.
The taxi driver took Zhou Xuan to Ruili's largest jade raw material distribution center. This wholesale market, which houses more than a dozen of Ruili's largest wholesalers and covers an area of over 100 acres, is somewhat different from the dispersed distribution in Tengchong.
Wholesalers in Tengchong are scattered all over the place, some even in rural towns, while in Ruili it's the opposite. Basically, all the jade wholesalers are concentrated in one place, but the number of jade merchants is not much different.
However, this was actually a good thing for Zhou Xuan, as the stones were all gathered together, saving him the trouble of searching for them everywhere.
The jade factory has more than a dozen sections, each belonging to a dozen wholesalers. The flat square, covering hundreds of acres, is all dirt, not paved with cement. Large trucks come and go, and the vast flat area is littered with piles of stones of all sizes. The stones on the square are all substandard, meaning they have poor color. The vast majority of the stones are completely colorless, referring to the color of jadeite. They all come from Myanmar, supposedly from old mines, but that's hard to say. Where are there so many old mines?
Moreover, all raw materials in Myanmar are now under the jurisdiction of the government. The mined raw stones are handed over to the government for a public referendum. If the bid is successful, the money is distributed proportionally, with the government taking the lion's share.
The Burmese government is financially strapped and unable to mine, so it can only cooperate in this way, leasing out the mines. The investors who lease the mines are mostly Chinese, while the workers are Burmese. The geographical and natural conditions in the jade-producing areas are extremely harsh, and deaths occur frequently.
Although the government's control is extremely strict, more than half of the ore is still smuggled out under the lure of money and then sold across the border to jade merchants in Ruili and Tengchong. These merchants are mostly their old customers or relatives.
In order not to miss anything, Zhou Xuan chose the first shop in the square according to the order. He first found the manager of this wholesaler and then asked him some questions.
The manager was a tall, thin man in his forties, whom Zhou Xuan heard others refer to as "Manager Gao".
Zhou Xuan, like the others, addressed him as Manager Gao: "Manager Gao, hello, I'd like to purchase a batch of raw materials. What's the price?"
Manager Gao pointed to their store's large warehouse and said, "The stones outside are all low-quality, colorless material, but they're all from old mines, so they're cheaper, but still two thousand yuan per ton. If you want better quality stones, we have the best-colored ones picked out from the factory; you can try your luck."
Zhou Xuan knew he was talking about jade gambling. Usually, the owners of wholesale markets like jade gambling the most in every transaction. After separating the superior and inferior pieces of the rough stones that are brought back each time, the superior pieces can earn more than half of the profit in the jade gambling transaction. This is because the stones they pick out are basically colored, and the color is only divided into superior, medium and inferior grades. In the end, no matter whether the rough stones are superior or medium and inferior, they are usually sold out. The good ones sell for a good price, and the bad ones sell for a low price.
The worst-quality ore from outside is sold off at rock-bottom prices. Some are even sold piece by piece, pile by pile, regardless of the tonnage. Whoever pays that price gets it.
Zhou Xuan naturally had no intention of gambling on the rough stones with good color. In his experience, those rough stones were not easy to cut into good, high-quality jadeite. Usually, the good pieces were mostly from those with poor color or even garbage material. The good ones were sold through auctions. At the jade gambling site, wholesalers never traded individually. If they traded individually, there would be no competition, and without competition, the price would not go up. Therefore, wholesalers would gather all the customers together and then auction off the rough stones. In this way, the price of the rough stones would rise wildly in the bidding, in order to maximize their profits.
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Manager Gao, to be honest, I'm here to purchase a batch of rough stones. I only care about low prices and a large quantity. What I want to ask you is, it's impossible for me to buy all of these stones in this large area, but I do need a considerable amount. So I'd like to select some from these piles of rough stones. I'll mark the stones with paint, and you can send workers to help me carry them out. As for the price, I'll offer a slightly higher price. Is that alright?"
Manager Gao was taken aback. In this large square, the raw jade stones were all selected and leftover; very few customers actually bought them, so the price couldn't be raised. It was just that they were from old mines; simply mentioning "old mine jade" could significantly increase the price.
The domain name of P-site is simply the pinyin of Shenma Novels followed by .com, which is very easy to remember.
Volume 1, Chapter 590: Suffering a Loss
The stones that were selected were mostly colored, with a green surface, and their prices were naturally very different. The value of one stone could buy up all the stones in the quarry outside.
Zhou Xuan naturally disliked getting involved with those merchants who were arguing and driving up prices. Even if he won the bid, it would be the jade merchants who would suffer losses. And if the final result of cutting the stone was a losing proposition, losing money was inevitable. Just think about it: in a casino, 99% of people lose money, and only 1% win. And the next time, that 1% who wins will also lose, because luck won't always be on his side!
Of course, people like Zhou Xuan are an exception. He doesn't rely on luck at all; under the detection of his special abilities, everything about him is exposed.
However, it's still worth taking a look, because I talked to Manager Gao outside. Manager Gao saw that my focus was on these substandard materials, so he didn't care much. Even if all of these materials were sold, their value would only be a very small part for them. The bulk of the profit would be in the room.
"Okay, let's go in and take a look!" Zhou Xuan nodded and followed Manager Gao into the stone warehouse. Unlike the outside, the inside was decorated quite nicely, with very bright lights to allow guests to see the rows of stones on the shelves.
Upon entering, Zhou Xuan saw dozens of people browsing and selecting stones. The factory was enormous, over two thousand square meters, with a steel frame roof. At the front were five stone-cutting machines, provided for on-site stone gamblers to cut stones after they had gambled on them.
The jade gambling hadn't officially started yet. After four or five more people arrived, Manager Gao finally smiled. Zhou Xuan thought the jade gambling was about to begin, but Manager Gao still didn't open it. He simply smiled and welcomed everyone to look around, first selecting their favorite stones.
"I thought it was about to start, but I didn't expect Manager Gao to still not make a move." Zhou Xuan smiled. Although he could detect the authenticity of these rough stones and everything was under his control, he still couldn't help but want to see the scene of people gambling on stones in a frenzy.
Zhou Xuan used his supernatural ability to probe. "This factory is about 20 meters wide, but much longer, about 100 meters. Although the factory is huge, it is still within Zhou Xuan's detection range." He used his supernatural ability to probe. There were about a thousand stones of various sizes on the shelves. "So many stones!" There was only one good piece and about ten pieces of oily green jadeite. "That good piece is indeed a top-quality glass-like jadeite, but it is not very big, not much bigger than a fist." There is enough material for a bracelet, and the rest can be used to make about ten rings. If the price is based on the quality of the jadeite, it can reach a value of 20 million. The value of that bracelet alone is over 10 million.
This piece of material is quite large, about the size of a basket. The surface of the stone is mostly grayish-white, interspersed with some star-like green dots. The green color is quite beautiful, and it is an internal pattern, meaning that the green color comes from the outside in. Generally speaking, this kind of pattern has a much higher probability of yielding jadeite than an external pattern.