Zhuang Rui cursed himself inwardly for being a big mouth, calling the other party by their nickname in front of their parents—wasn't that just like protesting too much?
"Oh, I see. I heard from Xiao Lei that Zhuang Sheng is truly a promising young man. He really shone at the jade trade fair held in Pingzhou..."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Qin Haoran did not dwell on the matter any further. Instead, he smiled and praised Zhuang Rui.
"Not at all, Mr. Qin is the senior in the jewelry industry. I was just lucky. Please have a seat, I'll go and get the two pieces of jade I left behind."
Perhaps it was psychological, but after Qin Haoran smiled, Zhuang Rui felt much more relaxed. However, he couldn't bring himself to call him "uncle" anymore. Everyone had pointed out that he and Lei Lei were classmates, so they couldn't rely on Qin Xuanbing to establish their relationship.
Each of the two jade pieces weighed nearly twenty kilograms. Zhuang Rui called out to Wei Ge to go move the jade pieces, leaving Qin Haoran and his wife sitting on the chairs waiting.
"Haoran, Xuanbing doesn't have many friends..."
After Zhuang Rui left, Qin Xuanbing's mother, Fang Yi, whispered to her husband, Qin Haoran, who understood her meaning. She meant that her daughter didn't have many male friends, and Qin Haoran knew it too—not just few, but practically none.
"The young man called his daughter's name so naturally, he must call her that often, right?"
Seeing that her husband didn't respond, Fang Yi continued, "Women are always very sensitive about this."
Qin Haoran looked at his wife and said nonchalantly, "We're here to buy jade..."
"What's wrong with buying jade? Xuanbing has a boyfriend, can't we even ask about it?"
Fang Yi was very dissatisfied with her husband's attitude, and her voice rose slightly.
"Shh, keep your voice down, don't let that young man hear you. It would be so embarrassing if it wasn't true."
Qin Haoran was quite helpless about his wife's behavior at the moment. She was usually a strong woman at the company, but now when it came to their daughter, she was no different from any other mother in the world.
Fang Yi knew that her daughter was proud and aloof, and the family had introduced her to no less than a dozen boyfriends, but none of them were to her liking. She was about to turn twenty-five after the New Year, and Qin Xuanbing had already been born when she was that age. As a mother, she couldn't help but feel anxious.
"Haoran, I think this young man is quite good. He's tall and has a good appearance. Lei Lei said he's worth nearly 100 million. He's a good match for our Xuanbing..."
"Yes, this young man is polite and knows how to behave. He must be from some family in the mainland, right? Sigh, what are you saying? I'm getting confused too. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. We're here to buy jade today, you can just ask your daughter about it when you have time."
Qin Haoran was initially led astray by Fang Yi's words, only realizing halfway through his sentence that he had come to look at jade today, not to find a son-in-law.
“You may not care about your daughter, but I will. Alright, go look at the jade. I'll go call Xuanbing.”
Fang Yi rolled her eyes at her husband, picked up her phone, stood up, and went to the side to make a call.
At this moment, Zhuang Rui and Wei Ge also came over carrying the jadeite. After placing it on the table next to Qin Haoran, Zhuang Rui said, "Mr. Qin, the winning bid of this jade gambling competition yielded eighteen pieces of icy jadeite with floating flowers. The quality and weight are similar to these two pieces. Please take a look..."
Upon hearing this, Qin Haoran stood up, took out a magnifying glass from his bag, and carefully examined the jadeite on the table. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became. One piece was a high-ice type of floating green jadeite, and the other was a high-ice type of floating blue jadeite. Both were of extremely high quality and could fill the gap in Qin's Jewelry's recent supply of mid-to-high-end jadeite.
"Who knows, maybe my daughter really does have some kind of relationship with this young man?"
Putting down the magnifying glass, Qin Haoran had a thought: such precious top-grade jadeite would definitely fetch a much higher price at auction than he had offered. But his daughter's phone call had convinced her to keep two pieces. As someone with experience, Qin Haoran absolutely did not believe there was no trickery involved.
Thinking of this, Qin Haoran's tone became much warmer: "Xiao Zhuang, Lei Lei just told us that you auctioned off a total of sixteen pieces of jadeite today, and the prices of the last four pieces all exceeded 20 million. We're already embarrassed to be late, so how about this, I'll offer a total of 40 million Hong Kong dollars for these two pieces of jadeite, or RMB if you prefer. Is this price acceptable?"
In 2004, the exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar and the RMB was approximately 1 to 1.06, with the Hong Kong dollar being slightly more expensive than the RMB. The price Qin Haoran offered was already considered quite high.
"If it's not too much trouble, let's use RMB. This top-priced lot was won by three people together, so paying in RMB will be more convenient."
Zhuang Rui didn't want to make a profit of 0.06%, and as someone who studied finance, he knew that the exchange rate might drop at any time, so the RMB was more stable.
"Haoran, let's do as Xiaozhuang says. By the way, Xiaozhuang, how old are you this year? Who else is in your family?"
Before Qin Haoran could reply, Fang Yi had already finished her call and walked over with a smile. However, the question she asked left Zhuang Rui and Qin Haoran feeling rather helpless.
Chapter 231 Myanmar
"Uncle Qin, take care. Aunt Fang, take care..."
Zhuang Rui raised his right hand and waved it forcefully at the Mercedes-Benz with Hong Kong license plates that had already started moving.
Just as Zhuang Rui was about to lower his hand after the Mercedes had driven more than ten meters away, the car window suddenly opened, and Fang Yi called out to him, "Little Zhuang, you must come to Hong Kong to play when you have time. Xuanbing will accompany you then."
"Okay, okay, I'll definitely go..."
Zhuang Rui had just lowered his right hand halfway when, as if springy, he quickly raised it again, but the smile on his face was more like a grimace.
The Mercedes finally disappeared from sight, and Zhuang Rui felt completely paralyzed. If it weren't for Wei Ge supporting him, Zhuang Rui would have collapsed onto the ground right now.
This couple wasn't there to buy jade at all; they were practically interrogating people. They were even more inquisitive than the neighborhood committee ladies with their red armbands. They questioned everyone from Zhuang Rui's grandfather to his sister's niece, even about the size and gender of their pet white lion. Aunt Fang didn't spare them any details.
"No, we need to call and ask what Xuanbing said to her mother."
Zhuang Rui took out his phone and dialed Qin Xuanbing's number.
"Zhuang Rui, what did my mom ask you?"
"Xuanbing, what did you say to your mother?"
As soon as the call connected, both sides started asking questions simultaneously.
"You go first!" "You go first!"
"Your mom checked my family's records, she was just short of asking me how many times I've been married..."
Zhuang Rui said irritably.
"Hehe, I only said we're friends, I didn't say anything else. That's just how she is, don't take it to heart."
Qin Xuanbing felt a little embarrassed after hearing Zhuang Rui's words.
"I don't really care, but your mom seems to be quite concerned about whether we've done 'that'..."
Zhuang Rui recalled Qin Xuanbing's mother's question earlier and couldn't help but find it a little funny; a mother is always afraid that her daughter will suffer.
"What did you say?"
Qin Xuanbing was a little nervous.
"What do you mean, 'what did you say'? I didn't do anything, yet I was interrogated for so long..."
Zhuang Rui was immediately furious. If something had actually happened, he wouldn't be angry anymore.
"Okay, okay, don't be angry. Wait for me to get back, at most... at most..."
Qin Xuanbing found it hard to say.
"What's the most?"
Zhuang Rui asked the question knowing the answer already.
"I'm not talking to you anymore, it's the middle of the night here, I need to go to sleep..."
After hanging up the phone, Qin Xuanbing's face turned bright red, and her body felt slightly hot, as if the air conditioner that was blowing out cold air had broken down.
"Youngest, we're done flirting, and your mother-in-law has already questioned us. Shouldn't we go eat?"
Viagra walked over with a bitter face.
"My goodness, I wasn't this tired even after working on rocks all day yesterday..."
Recalling Qin Xuanbing's mother's overly enthusiastic manner, Zhuang Rui still felt lingering fear. They were just friends, yet Fang Yi immediately made Zhuang Rui call her "Auntie." Not only that, but while speaking, her eyes were constantly staring at Zhuang Rui, making him feel uneasy all over, and sweat dripped down his back.
"You're just being smug, aren't you? Someone handed you forty million and even gave you their daughter. What's so tiring about that? I'm handsome and dashing, but nobody's interested in me..."
"Come on, let's go eat. I'll ask Lao Si to find some professionals to take care of you later."
Unable to bear Wei Ge's resentful expression, Zhuang Rui returned to the meeting room, called out to the bank employee, and drove towards the hotel booked by Fatty Ma. ...
"How much did you make in total?"
Sitting in the bank's VIP room, Zhuang Rui asked Fatty Ma, who was furiously typing on a calculator.
After lunch, Wei Ge and Lao Si went back to the hotel first. Yan Zi, who had been following Ma Pangzi, was also sent back by him. Zhuang Rui, Song Jun, and Ma Pangzi went straight to the bank. Although the jade gambling convention still had five days to go, which was a good time for individual gamblers, for them, the jade gambling convention had already come to a successful end.
"Look at you, all eager, haven't you ever seen so much money before?"
Fatty Ma pressed the wrong number and said unhappily.
Zhuang Rui chuckled and said, "I have seen it, but that money isn't mine, Brother Ma. How much is it in total?"
"Including the 40 million from the last two pieces of jade, the total is 318.3 million. The 300,000 is considered a bonus. The total is 318 million. We invested a total of 66.6 million and made a net profit of 251.4 million. Damn, this is incredibly profitable!"
Even Fatty Ma couldn't help but get excited when he finally finished calculating, and he blurted out a curse.
"Look at the two of you, Lao Ma, you're worth billions, is this all you've got? Calm down, calm down."
Song Jun remained calm, picked up the coffee that was supposedly brewed by the bank manager himself, took a sip, and then spat it out!
He spat it out with a "whoosh".
"Damn. This coffee doesn't have any sugar at all?"
"Brother Song, when someone asked you if you wanted sugar, you said you added it yourself. Calm down, calm down."
Zhuang Rui suppressed a laugh and countered with the same words Song Jun had just said.
"Of course he's calm. The money is still in his account. Old Song, let's go transfer it. This money is fucking awesome. I've been mining coal for over ten years, and this is all I have."
Fatty Ma, who is usually cheerful, was unusually excited today. He turned around, patted Zhuang Rui, and said, "There's a jade auction in Yangon, Myanmar next January. Let's go together, brother..."
"We'll see, we'll talk about it later..."
Zhuang Rui answered absentmindedly, his mind entirely focused on the three hundred million. If he got his share, that would be over a hundred million! To say Zhuang Rui wasn't excited would be pure nonsense.
"Look at how pathetic you all are. Come on, let's transfer the money..."
Song Jun knew that neither of them would feel at ease until the money was in their pockets. These days, people would even fall out over a few hundred thousand, let alone three hundred million. Even Song Jun's heart was in turmoil, far from the calm that appeared on his face.
According to the prior agreement, each of the three would receive 106 million, but Zhuang Rui only took 90 million, leaving the remaining 16 million in Song Jun's account. That was the money Zhuang Rui planned to use to buy a villa. According to Song Jun, 16 million would be enough, and he would take care of it when he flew back to Pengcheng tomorrow.
With the remaining ten million or so, Zhuang Rui's net worth was now over one hundred million. According to Song Jun, Zhuang Rui was now qualified to mingle in Fatty Ma's circle. Of course, this qualification only referred to his net worth. If he wanted to enter Song Jun's circle in Beijing, it wasn't enough to just have money; he also needed status.
After the transfer, Fatty Ma pulled Zhuang Rui aside and said with a grin, "Brother, you've got the money. How about we go to Myanmar with me next year? I've heard the quality there is top-notch. The rough jade we're seeing now is what they didn't pick out..."
Zhuang Rui was also tempted by this. Gambling on stones was indeed a good way to make money. So many people win big every day, but no one paid attention to him. He could make another fortune if he had the chance. Although a hundred million seemed like a lot, money doesn't last long. Buying a house would take away one-tenth of his wealth.
"Old Ma, know when to quit while you're ahead. In China, this is our territory, and we can handle anything here. But once you're in Myanmar, you won't have that luxury anymore. Don't end up with money to burn but no life to enjoy it..."
Before Zhuang Rui could answer, Song Jun poured cold water on his enthusiasm. The local forces in Burma were far too complex; a slight misstep could lead to being targeted. Not to mention, among the merchants in Guangdong who traded raw materials, six or seven out of ten had been kidnapped in Burma. Some paid ransoms to save their lives, but others, even after paying, still lost their lives in a foreign land.
After hearing Song Jun's explanation, Zhuang Rui and Fatty Ma gasped. They hadn't expected the situation in Myanmar to be so chaotic, something unimaginable in China, which had enjoyed decades of peace.
"Cough...cough...Want to go to Myanmar? It's not impossible. Follow me, Brother Song, and I'll guarantee your safety. But if you follow Old Ma, well, that's another story..."
Seeing that he had frightened the two men quite a bit, Song Jun coughed twice to bring their attention back.
"Hey, Lao Song, what are you talking about? Do you think I, Lao Ma, have 'rich' written all over my face or something? If all else fails, I can just hire a bunch of mercenaries in Myanmar and that'll be the end of it..."