Practicing this style of boxing not only strengthens muscles and bones, but also seems to positively improve the body's microcirculation system and blood circulation.
However, Yang Hongtao's physical condition is currently too poor. Although Niu-style Tai Chi is very powerful, it is impossible to turn a sickly person into Schwarzenegger in just a few days. There will be some improvement, but it must be done step by step.
Yang Hongtao estimates that if he continues to train like this, it will take about three or four months for his current physique to reach the level of an average person's health.
Don't underestimate the health of an ordinary person. Anyway, Yang Hongtao has superpowers, so even if he encounters a powerful enemy, he doesn't need to rely on his strength to fight to the death.
So as long as he has the physique of an ordinary person, enough to ensure that he doesn't get out of breath after running a few steps, that's enough for him.
Yang Hongtao slept soundly that night, as he was quite exhausted from the life-or-death struggle on the plane the previous day. However, at 5:30 in the morning, he woke up promptly, practiced Niu-style Tai Chi as usual, and took a shower after working up a sweat.
Seeing that it was only a little past six o'clock, he figured the grandmother and grandson probably wouldn't get up so early, so he simply lay back down on the bed for a nap. But he slept until late morning when he was startled awake by a loud knocking on the door.
Yang Hongtao opened the door, and Xin Yue, dressed neatly, immediately walked in, bringing with her an alluring fragrance.
"What a lazybones! Look at the time! Humph... If your sister hadn't come to wake you, would you have slept until dark?"
Seeing that Yang Hongtao was only wearing a nightgown, Xin Yue didn't feel shy at all. She boldly ran to Yang Hongtao's bed and sat down on it.
Upon hearing this, Yang Hongtao glanced at his watch and realized that it was already past noon. He had slept for quite a long time!
"I'm so sorry, I actually got up quite early this morning, but I was afraid you weren't up yet, so I didn't dare to disturb you. I went back to bed and took a nap, and ended up oversleeping! I'm sorry... I hope I didn't delay your plans!"
Xin Yue covered her mouth and chuckled, saying, "Alright, there's no need for formalities between us! Actually, my main task in coming to Kunming was to transport a precious ruby. Once the ruby is delivered, my mission is complete. I went to the bank early this morning to settle the contents of the safe deposit box with my cousin, and that's it! As for the jewelry exchange, it doesn't really matter whether I go or not. I saw you weren't up yet, so I decided to stay here with you. I just didn't expect you to sleep so soundly, actually sleeping until noon... I've been here with you all morning, but I haven't even had breakfast yet! I was so hungry that I couldn't stand it anymore, so I came to knock on the door... Besides, the jewelry exchange was almost over this morning, and the highlight this afternoon is the auction of jadeite rough from the old mines of Myanmar. I was afraid you'd miss the auction if you kept sleeping, so I had to disturb your sweet dreams!"
Although Yang Hongtao didn't have a good impression of Xin Yue, his opinion of her improved somewhat after hearing these words.
Regardless of whether Xin Yue was so attentive to Yang Hongtao because she saw him as a capable person, it was still quite remarkable that a beautiful woman in a high position would put aside her official duties and wait for him here for a whole morning on an empty stomach.
Yang Hongtao had just finished washing up and came out of the bathroom when he smelled an enticing aroma of food and wine. It turned out that Xin Yue had already ordered the meal and was waiting for him to get up and eat together!
After dinner, Yang Hongtao, accompanied by Xin Yue, went downstairs and quickly drove to the jewelry exchange meeting in the same luxurious Cadillac they had driven the day before.
The two arrived relatively timely; the afternoon jadeite rough auction hadn't started yet, but many people were already waiting outside the exhibition hall.
As soon as the two arrived, they heard everyone discussing the exquisite ruby, the Heart of the Phoenix, which had been auctioned off that morning.
Yang Hongtao listened carefully and learned that the ruby had been auctioned off for a staggering 760 million yuan, and the buyer was said to be a foreigner, a princess from some Arab kingdom.
Xin Yue clearly already knew the news, and she looked quite pleased with herself as she listened to the discussions.
Turning around, she saw Yang Hongtao looking at her, and blushed. She whispered, "I know you guessed it a long time ago... That's right, the ruby they were talking about is the one I brought from Dangyang this time."
Yang Hongtao frowned and said, "Do you know that because of this ruby, hundreds of people on the plane almost died! I mean... your Bairui Group is so big and powerful, couldn't you have used other means to transport such a valuable gem? Why did you have to sneak a woman like you onto the plane... And... how did such a priceless treasure come from that wretched place like Dangyang?"
Upon hearing this, Xin Yue stuck out her tongue and said, "I'm just in a hurry... uh... don't tell anyone else what I'm about to say..."
Xin Yue leaned affectionately against Yang Hongtao's shoulder, pressing her sensual lips tightly against his ear again, and whispered, "This ruby was just dug up from an ancient tomb by a tomb-raiding gang. My trip to Dangyang was actually to trade with those scoundrels. But keeping such a priceless treasure of unknown origin for too long is always a hassle, so I had to bring it to Kunming before today to sell it at today's jewelry exchange conference. Hehe... The reason it was auctioned to a foreigner is because my grandfather had contacted a regular customer beforehand. After all, it's safer to sell this stuff abroad."
Upon hearing this, Yang Hongtao suddenly realized what was going on, but seeing that Xin Yue had gone to such lengths to explain the origin of the ruby to him without any concealment, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
Just as Yang Hongtao was about to tell Xin Yue that she didn't need to tell him about things involving their company secrets anymore, he suddenly heard a voice behind him that he would never forget for the rest of his life...
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 66: Enemies from a Past Life
"Miss Xin, I didn't expect you to be in Kunming too... Haha... What a pleasure to meet you!"
Upon hearing this, Xin Yue straightened up and turned around. She saw a middle-aged man, about thirty-six or thirty-seven years old, wearing a limited edition Versace casual suit, with a refined appearance and gold-rimmed glasses, striding towards her surrounded by a group of bodyguards.
A fleeting look of disgust crossed Xin Yue's eyes, but out of politeness, she smiled, shook hands with the man, and said, "So it's Mr. Huang! Hehe... Our Bairui Group makes its living from the catering and jewelry businesses, so it's only natural that we, Bairui, would attend a jewelry exchange conference of this scale. On the other hand, Mr. Huang... you're a well-known real estate tycoon in Zhongdu! What brings you here today?"
The boss, Mr. Huang, chuckled and reluctantly released Xin Yue's soft little hand. He deliberately put on a pitiful look and said, "These days, the real estate business isn't easy either! Houses are built every year, and house prices rise every year, but rich people have already bought several houses, while poor people can never hope to afford even one in their entire lives. So... sigh... don't mention it."
"Well... I've heard people say that gold is king in times of chaos, and collectibles are king in times of prosperity. It seems like these days, only the antique and jewelry business is profitable. My business is also shifting in that direction. From now on... we'll be practically in the same industry. I'll need your grandfather's guidance a lot!"
Xin Yue curled her lip and said, "Haven't you heard the saying 'rivals in the same trade'? You, Boss Huang, are giving up your perfectly good real estate business to come and steal business from Bai Rui, and you're even hoping my grandfather will give you some pointers? Humph..."
"Haha...who says competitors are always enemies?" Boss Huang said dismissively, "Actually, I already talked to your grandfather this morning, and we've reached an initial cooperation agreement...hehe...the Chinese market is so big, no one can take all the money, right? So...win-win cooperation is the key! Miss Xin, don't you think that makes sense?"
"We at Bairui want to cooperate with you?"
Xin Yue frowned upon hearing this, but said nothing. Although she disliked this Boss Huang, she had no power to object if the cooperation was decided by her grandfather.
"Hmm... who is this friend? He looks unfamiliar... he doesn't seem to be a high-ranking member of your Bairui!"
It seemed as if Boss Huang had only just noticed Yang Hongtao. He looked at Yang Hongtao with some curiosity, feeling that the man looked somewhat familiar, but upon closer inspection, he was clearly a complete stranger.
Actually, when Boss Huang saw Xin Yue and Yang Hongtao looking very intimate together, he had already started to secretly pay attention to Yang Hongtao. For some reason, when he met Yang Hongtao's eyes, he couldn't help but feel a strange chill from the bottom of his heart, which made him even more surprised.
Mr. Huang muttered to himself: Since I don't know this person at all, I shouldn't have any business dealings with him, right? Could this person be Xin Yue's boyfriend, and has already figured out that I'm after Xin Yue... But how could that be!
"Oh... his name is Zhou Ziwei, he's a friend I met in Dangyang..." Xin Yue quickly introduced the two when Boss Huang asked.
"This is Mr. Huang Lianshu, the richest man in Zhongdu... Hehe... He's on the Forbes list in China!"
"Hello--"
"Hello--"
The two men, introduced by the beautiful woman, naturally shook hands politely. However, in this seemingly simple handshake, this celebrity on the Forbes China list had unknowingly experienced several life-and-death situations.
Faced with his enemy from his past life, Yang Hongtao almost completely lost control.
Huang Lianshu has done many bad things, and he is always afraid that someone will shoot him when he walks on the street. Therefore, he always pays great attention to his own safety. Under normal circumstances, a stranger cannot get within three meters of him.
Now, Yang Hongtao has not only entered within three meters of Huang Lianshu, but has even made physical contact with him. If Yang Hongtao only wanted to kill him for revenge, this would be a golden opportunity.
With Yang Hongtao's current abilities, he could easily kill him without leaving a trace.
For example... he could use his superpowers to directly capture the guns hidden on the bodies of Huang Lianshu's bodyguards, give those guns an independent soul, and then he could use his soul to request them to shoot Huang Lianshu... At that time, as long as he spent a certain amount of soul power, he could completely kill Huang Lianshu without any suspicion of murder.
But... given the deep-seated hatred between him and Huang Lianshu, which was like a sea of blood, how could Yang Hongtao be willing to kill him so easily, especially since Huang Lianshu didn't even know that it was Yang Hongtao who was taking revenge before he died...
No! Yang Hongtao would never let Huang Lianshu die so easily. He would make Huang Lianshu taste the bitterness of being disgraced, penniless, and abandoned by everyone before he died. He would also make Huang Lianshu know clearly who had personally sent him to the abyss of despair!
Yang Hongtao is someone who has truly died once, so he naturally understands the true meaning of death even more, and knows even more that... death itself is not scary; what is truly scary is the mental torment one experiences while waiting to die, the kind of torment that fills a person with despair.
Relatively speaking, if a person is happy and joyful before dying, completely unaware that death is about to befall them, and is suddenly shot in the head and killed... then such a death is practically a blessing!
Yang Hongtao could not allow Huang Lianshu to die "happily," so he could only endure it for now, keeping the seeds of hatred buried in his heart, waiting for a better opportunity to carry out his revenge plan step by step...
The doors to the raw stone auction hall finally opened on time, but Huang Lianshu had already entered through other channels.
It seems this person wields considerable power. On the surface, he appears to be just the richest man in Zhongdu, but in reality, he is far more than that. Even in Kunming, far from Zhongdu, he can enjoy such privileges, which speaks volumes.
At this time, Xin Yue's cousin Zheng Jingren also arrived. However, Grandpa Zheng Minghui did not come. According to Zheng Jingren, Grandpa Zheng Minghui felt a little tired after attending the jewelry exchange conference in the morning and had returned to the hotel to rest. He missed Yang Hongtao and the others on the way.
Zheng Jingren was the young man in the white suit who picked him up at the airport last night. When Xin Yue introduced him, Yang Hongtao almost burst out laughing. What a brilliant name!
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 67 Even Stones Go Crazy (Part 1)
The jadeite rough auction was set up like an indoor ecological park, with six or seven hundred jadeite rough stones of various sizes arranged in a large exhibition hall of several hundred square meters.
These jadeite rough stones range in size from as large as a wheel to as small as a fist. They are divided into two categories based on quality. On the left side of the exhibition hall, which occupies almost three-quarters of the entire hall, there are only a little over a hundred jadeite rough stones placed on some temporary shelves. They are arranged very sparsely, and some flower baskets and bonsai are placed between the rough stones.
On the right side of the exhibition hall, in a very narrow corner, there were five or six hundred pieces of jadeite rough stones. These jadeite rough stones were just piled up here and there in a messy way, and they looked no different from the stones that had just been mined in the quarry in the mountains.
The raw stones displayed on the shelves all looked quite good. They had been polished, had windows cut into them, and some had even been cut open. Most of them had already revealed a pleasing green color.
Of course... the green color mentioned here doesn't necessarily mean jadeite has been found, but rather it's just a mottled color mixed in with the stone. However, the chances of finding jadeite in a stone with this appearance are greatly increased. Stones like these are considered semi-gambling material.
In preparation for his jade gambling trip, Yang Hongtao had already crammed some knowledge about jade gambling at home. He knew that jade rough stone merchants themselves generally don't gamble on stones. They mostly just buy jade rough stones from Myanmar, transport them back to the mainland, and then convene major jewelry merchants or private jade gambling enthusiasts to hold auctions like this to sell the stones directly.
Whether there is jade inside the stone or not is none of their business; all they earn is the price difference.
However, experienced jadeite rough dealers usually conduct a preliminary analysis of some of the better-performing jadeite roughs before the auction.
The so-called initial cutting is simply rubbing a little bit of the surface of the stone to make a window, or making a thin cut.
If a piece of jadeite rough is sold intact, the starting price might be around 300,000 to 500,000 yuan. However, if you rub a piece off its surface and happen to find a green part inside the stone, the starting price of that rough stone would probably rise to at least 3 to 5 million yuan.
That's a difference of at least tenfold! And if this rubbing actually reveals the jadeite inside, and the quality looks good... then it's not impossible for the starting price of this rough stone to jump to ten or twenty million.
Therefore, although jadeite rough stone merchants themselves do not gamble on stones, they often use this preliminary cutting method to maximize their profits.
Often, if just a few good pieces of material are found in the initial analysis, the cost of the entire batch of raw stones may be fully recovered from those few pieces.
Of course... this initial analysis also carries certain risks. After all, if you manage to find green, the base price of the rough stone will skyrocket. However, if you can't find anything, the value of the rough stone may plummet.
Therefore, the initial analysis of this raw stone is a highly difficult task that requires both experience and skill, and it is something that ordinary people simply cannot do.
Otherwise... wouldn't that mean anyone, even a Tom, Dick, or Harry, could become a jadeite rough merchant?
As soon as Yang Hongtao entered the jadeite rough auction hall, he couldn't wait to release a wisp of his soul power and tentatively penetrate into the jadeite rough placed at the front.
Thank goodness, although there wasn't a single hair inside this jadeite rough, Yang Hongtao was relieved, as his soul power could still penetrate the jadeite rough.
In this way, when he gambles on stones, he is absolutely certain of success and can always make a profit!
Xin Yue knew that Yang Hongtao was new to jade gambling, so she stayed by his side and patiently explained to him the knowledge about jade gambling, as well as the rules and taboos in the jade gambling industry.
As for Zheng Jingren, he was there to represent Bairui to select some jadeite rough stones. Naturally, he didn't have time to accompany Yang Hongtao and had already gone ahead to look at the stones.
Keep in mind that this jadeite rough auction only lasts for one afternoon, so you can't be careless if you can pick out a good rough stone.
More than fifty jewelry companies from across the country attended the jewelry exchange conference. After the conference, almost all of them came here to look at the jadeite rough stones. In addition, some pure jadeite gambling enthusiasts also came to join in the fun.
So, although the auction hall wasn't large, it still managed to squeeze in two or three hundred people.
Seeing that almost without exception, all two or three hundred people crowded into the left side of the auction hall where more than a hundred semi-gambled rough stones were displayed, while no one paid any attention to the fully gambled rough stones on the right side of the auction hall, Yang Hongtao couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why didn't these people go to look at the fully gambled stones?"
Xin Yue shook her head and said, "These days, jadeite rough stone merchants are very shrewd. After these rough stones brought from Myanmar pass through their hands, almost every stone with a slight possibility of yielding jadeite has already been partially cut. The chances of finding jadeite in the remaining completely gambled rough stones are almost one in ten thousand. Think about it... if you buy ten thousand rough stones, you might not even find one that yields jadeite. How can you gamble like that? Not to mention the issue of profit or loss, just cutting open ten thousand rough stones would take so much time and effort! So even though completely gambled rough stones are much cheaper than semi-gambled rough stones, very few people would even bother with them."
Yang Hongtao then asked in confusion, "If no one cares, why are they putting these stones out here?"
“Jewelry companies wouldn’t buy these completely rough stones with no chance of yielding jade, but casual jade enthusiasts would…” Xin Yue explained, “After all, the price of semi-rough stones is ridiculously high for ordinary people. The money that an average wage earner saves up in a lifetime is probably not enough to buy a fist-sized semi-rough stone. But many people still dream of getting rich overnight. Even though they know that the chance of finding jade in a completely rough stone is extremely slim, some people will still try to buy a few pieces, cut them open, and see what happens, just like buying a lottery ticket.”
Winning a bet can instantly elevate one to the ranks of the wealthy, and even if nothing is cut out, it won't bankrupt them. However, these jade gamblers are like hardcore fans, filled with curiosity and desire for raw jade. Even if they can't afford to buy, they still want to feast their eyes or learn from experts. Therefore, at the very beginning of the auction, most people won't immediately buy the fully rough jade. It's estimated that once the semi-rough jade is auctioned off, people will pay to cut and see the fully rough jade.
However, with so many fully-drugged rough stones and such a short auction time, it's estimated that only a few will be sold. The remaining jadeite rough stone merchants will either sell them off at rock-bottom prices to the next batch of rough stone dealers, or keep them for themselves to cut and enjoy. Anyway, as long as more than half of the semi-drugged rough stones are sold, they'll definitely recoup their costs for this batch of rough stones; whether the remaining junk can be cut into jade is irrelevant.
Upon hearing this, Yang Hongtao had a pretty good idea of what was going on. It seemed that the stones that might yield jadeite were concentrated in about a hundred pieces, while the remaining five or six hundred pieces were unlikely to yield any jadeite at all.
Since that's the case, I'll start by looking at these half-gamble rough stones! Anyway, no one's looking at the fully gambled rough stones, so even if there are real jade stones, I'm not afraid someone else will snatch them up first.
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 68 Even Stones Go Crazy (Part 2)