About seven or eight centimeters further in from the side where Zhuang Rui was standing, a thin, pale red, mist-like crystal came into Zhuang Rui's view. Zhuang Rui's heart tightened involuntarily, and he subconsciously put the cigarette in his hand into his mouth and took a deep drag.
It is known that the appearance of "fog" in rough jadeite usually indicates the presence of jadeite. Generally speaking, the jadeite under the white fog must be a top-quality jadeite that is "pure", "bright", "sunny", and "even". However, Zhuang Rui had never heard of red fog before, and his heart was filled with anticipation.
Looking down, the red intensified. Suddenly, an indescribable crimson appeared before Zhuang Rui's eyes, an extremely alluring and dazzling red, like a fiery sunset, stimulating Zhuang Rui's optic nerves. For a moment, Zhuang Rui's thoughts seemed to stop, and he was completely immersed in this bright color.
"Ouch..."
Without noticing, the cigarette butt burned to the very end, causing Zhuang Rui to cry out, which attracted the attention of the people who were still looking at the raw materials.
"What's wrong? Zhuang Rui, is something the matter?"
Song Jun asked a question.
Zhuang Rui forced himself not to look at the rough stone at the bottom, and said in a normal tone, "It's nothing, Brother Song. I'm thinking about going to Shanxi at the end of the month, and I have some things to tell Da Chuan. Have you guys picked out the stones yet?"
"It'll be done soon, there are still three or five pieces left to look at."
Song Jun replied, but Master Peng didn't even look up, still staring at the raw material in his hand.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but turn his gaze back to the rough stone. Although he knew the saying that red jadeite is called "fei" and green jadeite is called "cui", Zhuang Rui had always thought that jadeite should be green. However, the jadeite in the rough stone in front of him had obviously overturned his understanding.
In fact, jadeite originally comes in a variety of colors. As the ancients said, "Jade has five colors," but jadeite has six colors. With the addition of purple, it becomes six colors: green, purple, white, yellow, red, and black. In fact, the colors of jadeite are far more than these. Its variations and combinations are very rich and colorful. Even within the same color of green, there are great variations, such as emerald green, bright green, bean green, and oily green.
Since green is the most common color, jadeite has always been considered the most prized. However, in recent years, the other five colors have also become increasingly popular, with red jadeite being the most valuable.
Chapter 182 Split lock
Jadeite has not been popular in China for very long. Although it appeared very early, it was only during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period that it was recognized and accepted by the world.
The rise of jade fashion must be mentioned in connection with two famous women who led this trend. Both of them were influential figures in modern Chinese history: Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, who ruled China for half a century, and Soong Mei-ling, who was once the "First Lady" of the Kuomintang.
Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty was fond of jade carvings throughout her life. After her death, many jade carvings and rubies and sapphires were buried with her. Among them were two jade watermelons with green skin, red flesh, black seeds and white veins, which were worth 5 million taels of silver at the time.
Two jade cabbages, with green leaves and white stems, each bearing a vibrant green cricket perched on its heart, and two yellow bees beside the leaves, were valued at 10 million taels of silver. This demonstrates Empress Dowager Cixi's high regard for jade and highlights the extreme extravagance of this "ruling from behind the curtain" ruler. However, all these items were later looted by Sun Dianying. One of the jade cabbages is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, while the whereabouts of the other remains unknown.
Soong Mei-ling's love for jadeite was also well-known. In the 1930s, a jadeite tycoon in Beijing acquired a piece of jadeite with exceptional color. He found a skilled craftsman to carve it into a pair of bracelets. The bracelets were unique in design, with a vibrant and translucent quality, like water. Du Yuesheng, the leader of the Shanghai Green Gang, bought the bracelets for 40,000 yuan. When Soong Mei-ling saw the jadeite bracelets worn by Du's wife, she fell in love with them at first sight and couldn't bear to part with them. Du's wife had no choice but to part with her beloved bracelets and give them to Soong Mei-ling.
At Soong Mei-ling's 100th birthday banquet in 1997, this renowned woman, with her traditional hairstyle and black cheongsam, appeared before many guests and media, stunning everyone. She wore a complete set of jade jewelry: jade earrings, a jade beaded necklace, a jade bracelet, and a jade ring. The entire set of jade jewelry was of the highest quality in color and texture. Adorned with this jade jewelry, even at a hundred years old, she remained elegant and dignified, exuding grace and nobility.
According to some experts, the jadeite jewelry worn by Soong Mei-ling is worth more than 100 million yuan, which shows her love for jadeite.
Because of the love these two famous figures in modern times had for jadeite, jadeite has thus earned the title of "King of Jade"!
It is a beautiful name.
The two women mentioned above both favored high-quality green jadeite, reflecting the early days of the jadeite craze in China. Green jadeite was highly prized, and in the 1980s and 90s, green rough jadeite commanded prices several times, even dozens of times, higher than jadeite of other colors. This was because other colors of jadeite were generally mixed together, leading many to disregard red, yellow, blue, and purple jadeite.
However, in recent years, jadeite with a single, pure color has gradually become sought after, especially the blood jade bracelet made of the top-grade red jadeite "cockscomb red", which can cost tens of millions of yuan. It is even rarer than jadeite jewelry made of glass-type imperial green.
The reason Zhuang Rui was dumbfounded when he saw this rough jade was because he knew the value of red jade. Not long ago, when he was still working at the pawnshop, a multinational auction jointly operated by China Overseas and overseas sold a pair of blood jade bracelets made of top-quality red jade for 13.88 million RMB.
Zhuang Rui had the opportunity to observe the bracelets up close at the time. Their color and texture were extremely similar to the red jade in the rough stone. Perhaps because the jade in the rough stone was larger, Zhuang Rui even had a feeling that the color of the bracelets was not as bright and vivid as the jade in the rough stone.
Zhuang Rui took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with slightly trembling hands, and inhaled the smoke deeply. Perhaps it was the nicotine that worked, but Zhuang Rui's excited mood gradually calmed down. He didn't rush to look at the rough stone again, but quietly finished the cigarette in his hand before turning his gaze back to the rough stone.
This time, Zhuang Rui was much calmer. He was no longer attracted by the bright red color. Instead, he observed the distribution of red jade in the entire rough stone and then quickly withdrew his spiritual energy.
Even though Zhuang Rui had calmed down earlier, his heart was still pounding like a drum, as if it was about to jump out of his throat. Zhuang Rui quickly stood up, went back to the pile of rough stones, found the drink he had left, and gulped it all down in one go before he calmed down again.
Zhuang Rui is usually a very composed person, and he has seen a lot of the world. Even Ma Pangzi's forty million had never excited him so much. But the scene he just saw made his heart race and his blood boil just by thinking about it for a moment.
This piece of rough jade measures between 40 and 60 centimeters in length and width, making it quite a large piece. A rough estimate puts it at over 100 kilograms. What Zhuang Rui saw was that in the middle of this piece, about one-third of the way up to the size of two footballs, was entirely composed of top-quality red jadeite that was almost transparent and had a vibrant, bright luster.
To the lower right of this piece of red jadeite, there is a small area separated by red mist, which is also red jadeite, but the water content is not as pure, and there is a slight brownish tinge in the red. In other words, this piece of rough jadeite weighing more than 100 kilograms can yield at least 30 kilograms of top-quality red jadeite.
Zhuang Rui quickly calculated in his mind that the large piece of red jade should yield at least twenty pairs of bracelets, and the remaining material could easily be carved into a hundred or so pendants and playthings. These items alone were worth hundreds of millions, not even counting the piece of jade next to it that wasn't of very good quality.
Although Zhuang Rui wasn't short of money after gaining his superpower, and could even firmly refuse Ma Pangzi's offer of 40 million to buy the white lion, he could no longer remain calm when faced with a top-quality jadeite worth hundreds of millions. Anyone in his shoes would likely find it difficult to resist such temptation.
In fact, Zhuang Rui's calculation of the value of this rough jade was somewhat off. A pair of top-quality red jadeite bracelets made of blood jade could indeed fetch tens of millions of yuan at auction, but if more than twenty pairs of blood jade bracelets appeared at the same time, their price would definitely drop sharply. So if he wanted to sell them at his desired price, he could only release one pair every few years. If he wanted to sell all twenty-odd bracelets, it would probably take decades.
At this moment, Zhuang Rui naturally wasn't thinking about any of that. All he could think about was how to buy this rough jade. If it weren't for the remaining rationality telling him to stay calm, Zhuang Rui would have even considered throwing all his money at it and taking the rough jade away immediately. As long as this rough jade didn't belong to him, Zhuang Rui wouldn't feel at ease for even a moment.
"Boss Yu, these are the pieces. Let's take them out and put them together first."
Song Jun's voice rang out in the warehouse. Then, Boss Yu and the broker with the mustache pushed a simple luggage cart, put the few rough stones that Master Peng had selected and marked onto the cart, and pulled them together to a table by the door.
"There are five rough stones in total, and three of them are in very good condition. The total weight is 140 kilograms. Master Peng is an expert, so I don't dare to set a price randomly. The total is 6.6 million. Everyone wants good luck. What do you think, Mr. Song?"
Boss Yu held a calculator in his hand, looking at each of the half-finished rough stones on the ground, pressing the keys rapidly. After a while, he calculated this number.
Zhuang Rui also went over and looked at the pieces of raw jade that Master Peng had selected.
These are all semi-rough stones with windows opened. Judging from the green color revealed by the polishing, they all have excellent qualities. Among them, the green color revealed by polishing three stones has reached the level of icy jade. Moreover, these three rough stones are not small, each weighing around 40 kilograms. If the green color revealed by polishing can penetrate deeper, even by only 7 or 8 centimeters, it should be possible to extract two or three icy jade bracelets, which would be a sure profit.
However, these rough stones all have very fine "cracks" in the areas where the green color appears, which makes the situation uncertain. There's a saying in the jade gambling circle: "Not afraid of big cracks, but afraid of small cracks." Cracks are extremely harmful to jade. Large cracks are easy to observe and their impact on jade is easy to see. However, cracks are small and extremely changeable, varying in size and depth, making them difficult to detect. Because of the concealment and variability of cracks, they are hard to grasp, hence the saying "Not afraid of big cracks, but afraid of small cracks."
However, with risk comes opportunity. Jadeite rough is unpredictable. Rough stones with cracks are extremely risky, as the jade structure inside may be destroyed by these cracks. However, these cracks may also be post-formed cracks. Post-formed cracks refer to cracks that form after the jadeite is formed. Such cracks do not affect the jadeite inside and have a very high chance of producing top-quality jadeite.
Most people gamble on stones primarily on color, but others gamble on type or location. Some people with a strong speculative mentality gamble on cracks or fog, which is very risky, but rough stones with cracks are generally not very expensive. If the gamble pays off, the returns are quite high, proportional to the risk. Obviously, Master Peng belongs to this category.
After examining the fine cracks on the rough stones with his flashlight, Zhuang Rui released his spiritual energy to look inside. Upon seeing this, he was immediately impressed by Master Peng, who was a man of few words and somewhat dull-witted.
Through his spiritual energy, Zhuang Rui saw that the green color of the three rough stones appeared about four or five centimeters below the cracks, and the cracks disappeared. The jadeite inside was also of good quality, with two pieces almost reaching the glassy level, and the other piece being slightly inferior to the icy level. Even so, he was confident that these three rough stones could be sold for tens of millions of yuan once they were cut open.
"Boss Yu, this price is a bit unfair..."
Just as Zhuang Rui squatted down to examine the rough stones, the other side started negotiating the price. Master Peng was an expert at examining rough stones, but haggling was what Boss Song, Song Jun, excelled at.
Chapter 183 Asking for an exorbitant price, bargaining on the spot
"Boss Yu, you must know the risks of gambling on cracks better than I do. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll buy these three rough stones. Whether they'll rise or fall after cracking is anyone's guess. You're offering over six million, which clearly shows you're not being sincere..."
Song Jun's smiling face tightened when he heard the price quoted by Boss Yu. This rough stone boss was too greedy, actually charging nearly 50,000 yuan per kilogram for a piece and a half of rough stone. If that's the case, he might as well bid at the auction the day after tomorrow.
"Mr. Song, that's not how it works. You've seen the open windows on these three rough stones; they're all bright green. As long as the green seeps in, it's a sure thing. The price isn't high at all."
Although Mr. Yu spoke slowly and deliberately, he remained unyielding about the price.
"What if it doesn't penetrate? Gambling on rough stones is all about luck, but Boss Yu, the price you're offering is too unfair. A semi-rough stone with cracks, and it's only of the icy type, at 50,000 yuan per kilogram—if you can sell it, I, Song Jun, will buy up all the rough stones in your warehouse, what's wrong with that!"
Song Jun was getting a little angry. This skinny old man was obviously trying to rip them off. In fact, Song Jun didn't quite understand the ins and outs of inspecting smuggled goods, which was why he got angry.
In Pingzhou, there are generally three channels for gambling on rough stones. The first is the so-called "Jade Bidding and Trading Fair" held by the government, where the rough stones are all placed there and the highest bidder wins. This is a sealed bid. The second is an open bid, where many people may be interested in a piece of rough stone, so they bid on it on the spot, and naturally the highest bidder wins. This method is the most exciting because the person who buys the rough stone will often cut it on the spot. Whether the gamble goes well or not depends on one cut, and it is the most exciting thing for onlookers to watch.
Another method involves viewing smuggled goods. Prices here are not very transparent; often, raw material merchants ask for exorbitant prices, and buyers haggle on the spot, but the final price is usually agreed upon by both parties. However, the Song army was clearly getting impatient, and their tone became less pleasant.
"Ahem... Mr. Song, Mr. Yu was just saying that. There's still room for negotiation on the price. Let's discuss it calmly and not get angry..."
Seeing the tense situation, the broker with the mustache quickly stepped in to smooth things over. Song Jun's expression softened, but he refused to negotiate with Boss Yu anymore. He gestured to Master Peng, signaling him to go up and talk.
"These three pieces of rough jade with cracks are worth 20,000 yuan per kilogram, and the remaining two are worth 10,000 yuan each..."
Master Peng was clearly not good at negotiating prices; his tone was even more curt than Song Jun's. After quoting the price, he didn't say anything more. Under the dim, swaying light, Boss Yu's face appeared unpredictable, shifting between light and shadow.
“Master Peng, isn’t this price a bit too low? At this price, I can’t even cover the cost of bringing it back from Myanmar. How about you offer the rough stones with cracks for 30,000 yuan per kilogram, and the remaining two pieces for 10,000 yuan per kilogram, as you said?
After thinking for a while, Boss Yu gritted his teeth and said, his face looking as if someone had poked his anus with a stick, displaying an expression of unbearable pain.
“The risk of three cracked pieces is too high, and 30,000 is not worth it. As for Myanmar, I have lived there for more than ten years, and I know a thing or two about this business, Mr. Yu. This is the price. If you don’t agree, you can keep it for others to see, and we will buy the remaining two and a half pieces of rough jade.”
Master Peng remained as stern as ever, sticking to his quoted price.
Boss Yu knew he had met someone knowledgeable. He understood the implication in Master Peng's words, and he understood that these few rough stones were leftovers from other buyers. If that were true, five or six groups of people had come to the warehouse in the past few days, all unsure about these three and a half rough stones. Some had offered prices, but the highest they had ever offered was 15,000 yuan per kilogram. The price Master Peng mentioned was already the highest.
After thinking it over in his mind, Boss Yu realized that while there were people who gambled on rough stones, there weren't many. Rather than keeping these rough stones in his hands, he decided to sell them. He said, "Alright, this is our first transaction. There's plenty of time in the future. Consider this my way of making friends with you all. Let's settle on Master Peng's price. Would you like to pay in cash or by bank transfer?"
In places like this, checks are not accepted, not even cash checks. These raw material merchants will not accept them, which is why Boss Yu asked this question.
"Transfer the money, Mr. Yu, please calculate the price..."
As soon as Song Jun said this, the atmosphere in the warehouse immediately eased. Seeing that the deal was done, a smile immediately appeared on Song Jun's face. With his shrewdness, his anger just now was obviously feigned, but Zhuang Rui didn't see it and was still thinking to himself that Song Jun's face changed too quickly.
"The three cracked rough stones weigh a total of 101 kilograms. Let's leave the odd amount out and say 100 kilograms. The other two pieces weigh 40 kilograms in total, for a total of 2.4 million."
Mr. Yu quickly calculated the price with a calculator, then opened the drawer of the table by the door. Inside were four bank POS machines connected to the wall, including those from the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Agricultural Bank of China—truly a complete range of services.
"Mr. Yu, don't be in such a hurry. I still have one piece of raw jade to examine."
Zhuang Rui was a little annoyed. Did he think he didn't have to spend money when he bought things? They were ignoring him completely.
"Hehe, young man, don't be in a hurry. I've looked at this rough stone. In front of Master Peng, I won't mince words. Although this rough stone isn't very good, it's still from the old mine in Pak Kong. It's six thousand yuan per kilogram. What do you think?"
When Boss Yu was chatting with Zhuang Rui earlier, he had already seen through this rough stone. To be honest, he was not optimistic about this completely gambled stone, otherwise he would have already cut a window or polished out an edge.
"Mr. Zhuang, this piece of jade doesn't have much of a gamble..."
Master Peng squatted down and carefully examined the rough stone that Zhuang Rui had brought out. He slowly shook his head, the meaning of which was clear: it wasn't even worth six thousand yuan. However, Zhuang Rui wasn't his boss, so he couldn't be too explicit.
“Master Peng, you know the price of this old mine material. I’m not asking for it blindly.”
Upon hearing this, Boss Yu became somewhat anxious. He had quite a few such raw stones, and if he couldn't sell them, they would all be stuck in his hands. Although the price of 6,000 yuan per kilogram wasn't very high, this piece of raw stone should weigh more than 20 kilograms, which would be worth at least 100,000 yuan.
"Six thousand yuan per kilogram, twenty kilograms would be 120,000 yuan! Forget it, I'd better not. Boss Yu, I just wanted to indulge my passion for stone cutting, but spending over 100,000 yuan on a single stone is too extravagant. Forget it..."
After hearing what Boss Yu and Master Peng said, Zhuang Rui counted on his fingers and shook his head repeatedly, looking as if he knew nothing about gambling on stones.
“Young man, that’s not how you do it. If you can find jade in here, it’ll be worth more than 120,000 yuan. Even if you only find a piece of jade the size of a fist, you’ll break even. Plus, you can get some fun with it. It’s a win-win situation, isn’t it?”
Even Boss Yu himself didn't quite believe what he said. The performance of this piece of rough jade was really poor, and the possibility of it turning green was extremely small. Otherwise, it would have been picked up by someone else long ago.
Zhuang Rui looked hesitant, glanced at the raw material on the ground, and turned to Song Jun, asking, "Brother Song, what do you think? Should I buy it or not?"
"Alright, kid, don't ask me. Make your own decisions, or I'll end up complaining if I cut things down too much."
Song Jun ignored Zhuang Rui's request. Although a hundred thousand or so men wasn't a lot, he wasn't willing to help Zhuang Rui make this decision.
"That's true. A single cut and you've lost tens of thousands. That's not satisfying at all."
Zhuang Rui said to himself.
"I guess I'm just unlucky. How about this, young man, I'll give you a little something extra?"
When Boss Yu saw that Zhuang Rui still preferred not to buy, he couldn't help but get a little anxious. Even a small amount is still something. Besides, more than 100,000 yuan is not a small amount. Even though the raw material didn't look good, it cost him tens of thousands of yuan to bring it back from Myanmar.
"Add-on? What kind of add-on?"
Zhuang Rui feigned a blank expression and asked.
Boss Yu pointed to the stone at the foot of the shelf and said, "Look, that piece, the rough stone you just looked at, together with this one, is worth seven thousand yuan per kilogram. How about that? I only charged you one thousand yuan per kilogram for that one. Isn't that a freebie?"