"Alright, that's enough. Uncle Qin even took advantage of you. Come on, let's go get the paperwork done..."
Qin Haoran asked someone from the organizing committee to find a few burlap sacks, tear them open, wrap the pieces of raw material in them, and then haul them to the organizing committee's office on a cart.
A little over an hour later, the organizing committee staff member helped Zhuang Rui obtain the customs clearance certificate for the jade pieces. Qin Haoran was very efficient and immediately issued Zhuang Rui a Swiss bank draft for 20 million euros. After obtaining the red jade, Qin Haoran decided on the spot to leave Myanmar immediately and personally escort the jade back to Hong Kong. He had no choice, because he estimated that no logistics company in Myanmar would be willing to take the order, as they could not afford to lose money. If anything went wrong, the company would go bankrupt.
In the end, Qin Haoran didn't even go back to the hotel. With the help of the organizing committee, he bought a plane ticket, contacted the Hong Kong authorities, and then the organizing committee provided a car and sent armed soldiers to take Qin Haoran on a flight back to Hong Kong.
Chapter 466 Secret Bidding (10)
Because these rough stones were too valuable and quite large to be carried around, Qin Haoran took the stone that belonged to Zhuang Rui back with him. After the auction, Qin Haoran would have it delivered to Zhuang Rui.
After leaving the organizing committee, Zhuang Rui felt very tired. He did not continue to inspect the raw materials in the afternoon, but went back to the hotel to rest. At the request of many buyers, the organizing committee decided to extend the public auction from one week to twelve days. In this way, Zhuang Rui would have plenty of time to select raw materials.
As for today's open auction, there were three rough stones that Zhuang Rui had his eye on. He gave the bid numbers to Peng Fei and, based on the specific characteristics of each stone, gave Peng Fei three prices, allowing him to decide based on the bidding situation. Peng Fei, unfazed, readily agreed to the deal, which involved tens of millions of RMB.
After returning to the hotel, Zhuang Rui contacted the domestic authorities. The 4S dealership was doing very well under the management of a professional manager. There were many car buyers before the Lunar New Year, and the business had basically stabilized, with millions of yuan in net profit every month.
Zhao Guodong's auto repair shop has monopolized the auto repair business near the national highway. In terms of both technology and location, it has squeezed out the other shops quite a bit. It's not that no one has bad intentions, but with the reputation of "Zhen Guanxi" and the fact that he is an old subordinate of Liu Chuan's father, who has been promoted to deputy director of the district, several auto repair shops are considering whether to follow Zhen Guanxi's example and sell their shops to Zhao Guodong.
However, Zhuang Rui's jade processing factory is now facing the problem of shutdown because Zhuang Rui's piece of icy jade has basically been carved into finished products. However, Luo Jiang knows that Zhuang Rui is currently in Myanmar, so he is not in a hurry. He has seen Zhuang Rui's inventory and has no doubt about this young boss's eye for gambling on stones.
The news that made Zhuang Rui happiest was that Qin Xuanbing was going back to China at the end of this month, just three to five days before the Lunar New Year. The project she was hosting in the UK would be completed soon, allowing her to return home for the New Year. Fang Yi wanted to hold an engagement ceremony before the New Year to settle things regarding their two children.
Zhuang Rui wholeheartedly agreed with Fang Yi's suggestion. With this matter settled, Qin Xuanbing would have even more reason to stay in Beijing. He had been holding back for several months, and his heart was already itching to go. Especially after meeting those Russian exchange students from the China exchange group at Bai Feng's house, he missed Qin Xuanbing even more.
"Brother Zhuang, Brother Zhuang, I'm back..."
After making several phone calls, Zhuang Rui lay down on the bed and fell asleep. The stone-cutting in the morning had been very tiring. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Peng Fei knocked on the door.
"What's wrong? Is it getting dark?"
Zhuang Rui stepped into the living room and realized it was already dark outside. He took two cans of drinks from the refrigerator, tossed one to Peng Fei, and said with a smile, "What's with the excitement? Did you win a few bids?"
"Brother Zhuang, we won all three bids, and all of them used the second bid you gave us. We paid a total of four million euros..."
Today, Peng Fei witnessed firsthand what it meant for money to be treated like toilet paper. The numbers flashing on the big screen added up to several hundred million yuan, and he alone had processed over 40 million yuan in payments. Although he had served in the military since childhood and didn't have a deep understanding of money, Peng Fei was still quite excited.
"Well, it's all just numbers. Once that matter is settled, you won't even care about this little bit of money..."
Zhuang Rui couldn't help but laugh when he heard Peng Fei's words. This was also within his expectations. Those rough stones were all icy jadeite, and one of them was blue floating flower jadeite, which is extremely rare. However, the performance of these rough stones was not very good. He had paid more than one million euros for each of them, so it was normal for him to acquire them.
“Brother Zhuang, my sister is my only family now. I’m already grateful that you think highly of me, treat me like a brother, and treat my sister like a sister. I’ll follow you for the rest of my life. Whether that matter is true or not, it has nothing to do with me…”
Peng Fei spoke very seriously. He knew money was a good thing, but he also knew that he had no other skills besides what he had learned in the army. Was he just going to live off that money and wait to die? Compared to that kind of life, he would rather stay by Zhuang Rui's side. In just a few days, he had already broadened his horizons considerably.
Furthermore, his younger sister was living happily at Zhuang Rui's house, and Peng Fei was satisfied with his current living environment. He did not want to change his current life because of that vague and illusory so-called treasure.
"Let's talk about this later. You're going to get married soon, you know. Hmm, you can stay at my place after you get married, there are plenty of rooms..."
It's all about fate between people. Zhuang Rui just inexplicably felt a connection with Peng Fei and was willing to trust him. Putting himself in Peng Fei's shoes, what Peng Fei was saying now was the best reward for Zhuang Rui.
"What's wrong? Is there something else?"
Seeing Peng Fei's hesitant expression, Zhuang Rui asked him a question.
When Zhuang Rui asked Peng Fei, his fair face suddenly turned red, and he stammered, "Brother Zhuang... I... I want to make a phone call back home, I don't know if that's okay?"
"Missing Yaya? You've finished typing. Didn't we activate global roaming for your phone?"
Zhuang Rui asked in surprise, explaining that he had already told Peng Fei to call Ya Ya every day, worried that she might have a relapse since she had just moved to a new environment and her brother wasn't around.
"No...it's not for Yaya, it's for one of my classmates..."
Peng Fei lowered his head as if he had done something wrong.
"Female classmate?"
"Um……"
"Haha, you little rascal, go ahead and make the call. We're not short of a few phone calls. You're killing me with laughter. Go to your room and make the call. Come out and tell me what's going on..."
Zhuang Rui burst into laughter upon hearing this. This guy was truly honest, even more so than he had been back then.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Peng Fei dashed into his room, but less than a minute later, he emerged with a grim expression.
"What's wrong?"
Zhuang Rui could tell at a glance that Peng Fei's expression was not good.
Under Zhuang Rui's persistent questioning, Peng Fei finally revealed what had happened. It turned out that during a year when Peng Fei was serving in the army, he returned home to visit his family and, at a class reunion, started dating a female classmate from junior high school.
The two had always had a good relationship, but after that incident last year, Peng Fei has not been able to get over the two things: being discharged from the army and the death of his parents. Not only is his younger sister autistic, but he himself has also developed some autism.
Feeling like he had nothing left, Peng Fei abruptly drove away his girlfriend who had come to comfort him. After moving and becoming a mover, he cut off all contact with the girl. He felt that he couldn't give her happiness, so he might as well let her go and pursue it.
However, after following Zhuang Rui, Peng Fei's mindset changed, so he called that girl just now, but what happened? She hung up on him as soon as the call connected.
"That girl doesn't have a boyfriend, does she?"
Zhuang Rui asked.
"No, I ran into a classmate last month who said she doesn't have a boyfriend yet..."
Peng Fei shook his head.
"Alright, then what are you worried about? When others wanted to help you, you refused, and then they disappeared without a word. What kind of friendly attitude do you expect from them? Don't overthink it. When we get back to Beijing, you can go and apologize to them yourself..."
"Really? Brother Zhuang?"
Peng Fei's eyes lit up.
"Of course it's true. Otherwise, if you had been a little sweeter, you probably could have settled things over the phone right now..."
Zhuang Rui laughed. This Peng Fei looks a bit like a pretty boy, but he doesn't have Ximen Qing's methods.
"Then...then let's just wait until we get back..."
Hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Peng Fei felt relieved.
For the next few days, Zhuang Rui spent his time wandering around the sealed-bid area. However, since he had plenty of time, he didn't work as hard and only looked at about five thousand pieces of rough stones each day. In his notebook, he wrote down more than two hundred bid numbers.
These two hundred-plus lots all consist of rough stones with poor outer appearance but great inner quality. With Zhuang Rui's capital, it's not that he can't snatch up those rough stones with excellent cut surfaces, but even with the 20 million euros Qin Haoran just gave him, he can only bid on two or three at most.
As for the open bidding, in addition to the three pieces that Peng Fei won, Zhuang Rui won five more, spending a total of 11 million euros. However, the value of these raw materials is definitely over 30 million euros. After being polished into jewelry, the price will double. Zhuang Rui decided to only cut two pieces for Qin Ruilin's shop and keep the rest to see how the market develops in a few years.
After receiving the labels from Zhuang Rui, Song Jun and Fatty Ma have made several successes in the past few days, bidding on five or six rough stones in succession. Fatty Ma, that show-off, is even planning to cut a stone on-site tomorrow to satisfy his craving.
Now Zhuang Rui only has the 20 million euros Qin Haoran gave him left. He has almost spent the more than 10 million euros he brought with him. And there are no good jade materials in the upcoming open auctions. So Zhuang Rui plans to put all his energy into the sealed auctions and try to get a few good quality and cheap rough stones.
"Damn it, do they think money isn't money?"
When Zhuang Rui walked up to the first piece of icy jadeite with a starting price of 30,000 euros, he cursed inwardly. This piece of jadeite was not good; it was completely black and a rough, uncut piece. Unexpectedly, in just a few days, there were more than twenty bids for it.
After checking each bid, Zhuang Rui discovered that the highest bidder had offered 180,000 euros, while his own bid of 31,000 euros was sitting alone at the bottom of the drawer.
Chapter 467 Secret Bidding (11)
Sealed bidding and open bidding are different. Open bidding is conducted in sequence according to the bidding number, and bids can be opened every day. As long as you like something, you can bid on it on the same day. Moreover, it is a one-time transaction. Once you buy it and sign the "Winning Bid Contract", no one else can take it from you.
However, the bidding period for sealed bids is very long, now extended to 12 days. After your first bid, if you feel unsure, you can fill out another bid form and submit it. Therefore, many people feel that their first bid was too low and will bid multiple times on the same piece of rough stone.
Sometimes you might just put in 1 million euros, and the next person might immediately put in 1.2 million euros. Although no one knows the other's bottom price, it doesn't stop everyone from raising the price based on the performance of the raw material. You could say that a sealed bid is a battle of wits, courage, and money.
Zhuang Rui estimated that this piece of icy jadeite could only yield about ten kilograms of jade meat. Its value was only around three million RMB. It wouldn't be worth investing more. After thinking for a moment, Zhuang Rui took out a bidding form, wrote down a price of 185,000 euros, and threw it into the bidding box.
Zhuang Rui doesn't lack jadeite, but he lacks money. Although he still has around 20 million euros, the prices on the betting slips for those rough stones with good outer skin and great inner quality are mostly over five million euros. Zhuang Rui's little money is simply not enough to compete with them.
Of course, there aren't many such rough stones, only seven or eight pieces. Among them, the one with a glassy texture on the cut surface has already been offered 13 million euros, which is more than 130 million yuan. I wonder if anyone will be able to surpass that figure.
Zhuang Rui wouldn't chase after this rough stone. The glass-type jade inside only weighs three or four pounds, while the rest are ice-type and golden-thread-type jade, which are far less valuable than that. Buying it would definitely be a loss.
The other rough stones that performed well also contained jade of varying quality. However, even the best ones were only worth a few million euros more than the current highest price. Zhuang Rui wouldn't invest his money in such rough stones with high input and low output.
The more than 100 rough stones that Zhuang Rui has his eye on have poor outer appearance but contain jade inside. Only three or five of them have no bids, while the rest are worth at least 100,000 euros. The total value of these stones is far beyond what Zhuang Rui can afford.
"Brother Ma, are you with Brother Song? Let's meet up tonight..."
"Uncle Qin, let's have dinner together tonight. I've got my eye on a lot of materials; I can give you some to keep an eye on..."
After wandering around the venue all day, Zhuang Rui made phone calls to Fatty Ma, Qin Haoran, and others.
Although labeling them would arouse suspicion among these individuals, Zhuang Rui had no choice. So many excellent rough stones were beyond his capacity to acquire; watching others snatch them up was something he was absolutely unwilling to accept. It was better to let his own people benefit from them. ...
"Uncle Qin, how much money do you have left?"
Zhuang Rui arranged to meet Qin Haoran and Song Jun at different times, and he is currently in Qin Haoran's hotel room.
The day after Qin Haoran returned to Hong Kong, he went back to Myanmar. During this time, he had been selecting raw materials in the sealed-bid area. He had much more funds than Zhuang Rui, but he also spent a lot of money, so he probably didn't have much money left.
"There are still about forty million euros left..."
Excluding the 20 million euros given to Zhuang Rui, Qin Haoran spent nearly 30 million euros on the open bids Zhuang Rui gave him. Now, all of this money is intended to be invested in sealed bids.
Zhuang Rui pondered for a moment, then took out a piece of paper and, referring to his notebook, began to write in great detail. He simply wrote down his opinions next to the numbers, though he wouldn't specify exactly what kind of jadeite would be found in those rough stones.
Not only that, Zhuang Rui also deliberately wrote many things wrong, such as writing "ice type" as "glass type" and "glass type" as "probably ice type", making the tone very vague. He would rather make Qin Haoran spend more money than have Qin Haoran and others doubt anything because of his accurate judgment in the future.
After a full half hour, Zhuang Rui handed Qin Haoran a piece of paper covered in writing on both sides. He said, "Uncle Qin, let's not compete for those with good outer appearances. These 30-odd rough stones were carefully selected by me. Although the outer appearance is average, the chances of finding jade inside are relatively high. You should focus your efforts on these. If you can secure them all, Qin's Jewelry probably won't have to worry about jade raw materials for the next ten years..."
The raw stones Zhuang Rui wrote down on the paper included almost all qualities of jadeite, from bean-type to glass-type. If Qin's Jewelry could really acquire them all, as Zhuang Rui said, within ten years, Qin's Jewelry could absolutely be self-sufficient in jadeite raw materials.
Among the rough stones that Zhuang Rui provided, besides the good ones, there were also three or four pieces with extremely poor quality. Two of them were of very poor quality, and the other two contained no jadeite at all. These were just a few rough stones that Zhuang Rui had looked at today. It was unlikely that you would find imperial green jadeite in this venue, but there were plenty of low-quality stones everywhere.
If Qin Haoran could bid on all of them, his doubts would likely dissipate when he saw these rough stones during the cutting process. Zhuang Rui only came up with this idea out of desperation, since it would be too outrageous if all the rough stones he offered turned out to be worthwhile.
"Xiao Rui, are you sure?"
When Qin Haoran took the paper, he was startled. He had been looking at it for almost a week and could only identify fourteen or fifteen pieces of rough jade as his main focus. Zhuang Rui, on the other hand, offered twice as many.
"I'm not entirely sure. I generally don't look at rough stones that look good. Good stones are expensive, and the profit margin isn't high, so it's not worth it. The point of gambling on rough stones is to gamble on those that look average or even bad. That's how you can make the biggest profit with the lowest cost..."
Feeling that he had spoken too boldly, Zhuang Rui tried to smooth things over. Even so, Qin Haoran still had some doubts. If Zhuang Rui's previous achievements hadn't been so outstanding, Qin Haoran wouldn't have even considered one of the raw stones on this piece of paper.
"Honey, Xiao Rui is right. The competition for the best-performing rough stones will definitely be fierce. Why don't we do as Xiao Rui suggests and focus our bids on the average-performing ones? Maybe we can make a big splash..."
Fang Yi didn't know how to judge the quality of raw materials, but from a business perspective, she agreed with Zhuang Rui's statement.
“Okay, let’s do as Xiao Rui says. Starting tomorrow, I’ll focus on these rough stones and try to get them on the auction…”
Qin Haoran recalled his father's excited reaction when he personally picked him up at the airport upon his return to Hong Kong, and ultimately chose to trust Zhuang Rui's decision. This decision allowed Qin's Jewelry to surpass the market share of the jewelry industry's giant, King Fook, in the jadeite jewelry market in the following years—but that's a story for another time.