Even if he swallowed all the high-quality soul beads on his body, he would still not be able to replenish two thousand.
With such a small amount of soul power, if Zhou Ziwei were to encounter any danger in Tengchong, he would have no powerful means to deal with it.
However, since he had Liu Xiaofei with him, Zhou Ziwei couldn't just leave her alone on the mountain road and go off on his own.
After what happened last time, Liu Xiaofei seemed to have become even more attached to Zhou Ziwei. Her clingy behavior was just like that of a young child clinging to their parents, which made Zhou Ziwei both happy and troubled.
If you were to suggest leaving her here alone at this point, Liu Xiaofei would most likely refuse.
Even if Liu Xiaofei were to agree, Zhou Ziwei was still a little uneasy.
Left with no other choice, Zhou Ziwei could only shake his head and decide to send Liu Xiaofei to Wu Di's place first, and then make a trip back later that evening. After all, this place wasn't far from Tengchong, and it would be easy to make a round trip in one night.
However, just as Zhou Ziwei was about to accelerate and drive through this area, he suddenly felt the bullet hanging in his chest begin to throb violently on its own...
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 305: I'll Invest One Billion First.
When Zhou Ziwei felt the bullet hanging on his chest start to throb, his expression changed drastically.
You should know that there is a solidified soul locked inside this bullet. Ever since this soul had the misfortune of accidentally crawling into the bullet, it has been behaving very well. Zhou Ziwei thought that the guy had completely turned into pure energy and lost all his original consciousness... But now it seems that this guy seems to have sensed that his lair is nearby, which is why he is so excited.
"What's wrong? You don't look too good!" Liu Xiaofei, noticing the change in Zhou Ziwei's expression, asked with concern. At this moment, the car had reached a fork in the road. Last time, Liu Xiaofei had mistakenly driven the car onto that long-abandoned road from here, which led to her crashing into the ghost bat.
This time, upon seeing the fork in the road, Liu Xiaofei quickly pointed ahead and shouted, "Remember to take the left road... The right road is a dead end... Honestly, since it's an abandoned road, why hasn't anyone blocked it off completely...?"
When Zhou Ziwei saw the look of fear on Liu Xiaofei's face as she looked towards the road to the right, he knew that she probably still remembered the scene of the last battle with that group of blood bats. He shook his head slightly, ignored the increasingly intense changes in the bullet in his chest, drove the car onto the left side road, stepped on the gas, and quickly drove towards Tengchong.
Zhou Ziwei had long suspected that his bullet had undergone some unknown change and was no longer an ordinary object. So, although he was constantly worried that the soul locked inside his head might suddenly escape, after hesitating for a moment, he still couldn't bear to throw the bullet away. He could only grit his teeth and keep a close watch on the bullet, which could explode at any moment, while driving the car faster and faster to speed up his escape.
Five or six minutes later, long after the Audi had driven far away from the bat cave, the bullet in Zhou Ziwei's chest gradually calmed down and stopped throbbing violently.
Zhou Ziwei secretly wiped away a cold sweat, feeling utterly bewildered. He couldn't understand what had gotten into the bullet-shaped creature. Could it really be the solidified soul hidden inside, "Homesick"? If that were the case, it would probably be just as dangerous for him to come here again... Zhou Ziwei was still hoping to absorb a large number of the ghost bats' souls to replenish his own soul power and try to conquer the chip in his head in one fell swoop. Therefore, he absolutely had to come to this bat cave.
This...is something that Master Vincent is quite conflicted about...
After feeling anxious for a while, Zhou Ziwei realized there was no other way to resolve the situation, so he gritted his teeth, put these worries aside for the time being, and focused all his attention on driving straight to Tengchong...
Li Yifeng had known that Zhou Ziwei was coming, so he drove his very eye-catching Mercedes-Benz RV and waited at the intersection outside Tengchong County. As soon as he saw Zhou Ziwei's Audi coming, he jumped out of the car excitedly and pounced on the front of the car in an exaggerated manner.
Zhou Ziwei shook his head helplessly and had no choice but to stop the car. He jumped out and was about to greet Li Yifeng when Li Yifeng pounced on him like a hungry tiger, giving him an awkward bear hug and laughing loudly, "Good lad... I never realized you had such charm before! It's been over a month since I last saw you, and I've actually missed you quite a bit... Ah... life is so lonely... You just dumped me in this godforsaken place and left me like that. I've been waiting for you for ages!"
Seeing Li Yifeng's resentful look, Zhou Ziwei felt a chill run down his spine. He hurriedly pushed the guy away, exaggeratedly scrubbing himself, and snorted, "Is it because this place is close to Thailand? I feel like someone is becoming more and more like a ladyboy."
Upon hearing this, Li Yifeng immediately adopted a villainous demeanor, snorting coldly, "Pah, pah, pah... You're the one who's a transvestite... I was just missing you, wasn't I? Fine... You ungrateful bastard, I'm too lazy to deal with you... Haha... Your sister-in-law came along this time too... That's great... Come on, get in my car! Look... how comfortable my car is, don't squeeze into that little car with that kid and suffer, hehe..."
Liu Xiaofei was overjoyed when Li Yifeng called her "sister-in-law," but she simply shook her head, indicating that she had no interest in the Mercedes-Benz.
Zhou Ziwei punched Li Yifeng hard in the chest again, laughing and cursing, "Alright... stop showing off now... Xiaofei saw your Mercedes RV last time, what's so special about it... Let's go! This time we'll go to Xiaofei's cousin's house first. He's already prepared a welcome feast for us, cooked by Xiaofei's cousin herself. That old man's cooking skills are even better than those of chefs in big hotels, you're in for a treat."
Li Yifeng was genuinely envious upon hearing this, but he immediately shook his head and said, "This... isn't a good idea! You four are enjoying a family reunion and happiness, why would I go and join in the fun... I'm not going... I absolutely won't go."
Liu Xiaofei blushed at Li Yifeng's words, glared at him fiercely, and said, "My cousin said he's going to take you to Myanmar this time to see the world... If you're not going, then forget it!"
"What... Gu Lao is actually going to personally lead us to Myanmar?"
Upon hearing this, Li Yifeng's eyes widened immediately, and he hurriedly rubbed his hands together, saying, "Hehe... Since we've met to discuss business, then as the manager of the jadeite rough exchange, I absolutely must be present... Hehe... But... Old Master Gu is so old, does he really have to go to Myanmar in person?"
Zhou Ziwei nodded slightly and said, "Grandpa Gu said that his health has recovered quite well during this period. With his health improved, his mind has become more active. He said he misses some old friends he met in Myanmar and is worried that he will not have time to go there again. So this time, he said that he must make a trip in person no matter what."
Li Yifeng nodded slightly upon hearing this and said, "Oh... I understand... Grandpa Gu mainly wanted to meet up with old friends... Hmm... Do you think... Grandpa Gu might have some old flame... Oh dear... I was wrong, I was just talking nonsense."
Li Yifeng was only halfway through his sentence when he was hit squarely by a car seat cushion that flew out of the Audi. Only then did he remember that Liu Xiaofei and Gu Dongfeng were relatives. Naturally, Liu Xiaofei would not tolerate him joking about Grandpa Gu behind his back.
This time, Zhou Ziwei also planned to personally go to the jadeite mines in Myanmar to see for himself, and also use his soul ability to make a small fortune. After all, when he went to the jadeite mines or some large jadeite dealers, he would have the opportunity to come into contact with a larger quantity of jadeite. With a foundation of quantity, the chances of encountering some top-quality jadeite would naturally be much greater.
Zhou Ziwei has decided that if he were to propose to Liu Xiaofei in the future, he would at least have to present her with a glass-type imperial green jadeite bracelet to make it seem respectable. However, it seems that such top-quality materials are now impossible to buy on the market, even if one has the money. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei has no choice but to find a way to acquire one himself.
In addition... Zhou Ziwei had already called Wu Di and asked if A Da and A Er had set off for Dangyang yet. He decided to choose one or two more people to go to Myanmar with them for training. He might also need to leave one or two trusted men behind to help out at the jadeite rough exchange in Tengchong.
Li Yifeng is only one person, and it's probably too much for him to handle such a large business. Moreover, once a large amount of jadeite rough is collected from Myanmar, the security situation here will also be very tense. Zhou Ziwei can't rely on Wu Di for everything, or he will lose his autonomy.
Therefore, it is essential to leave a trusted confidant here who Zhou Ziwei can trust and who is also quite skilled.
Zhou Ziwei hadn't initially planned to leave one of the Yelü brothers here. However, he later considered that it wasn't easy for the two brothers to get together, and that the reason they were willing to stay was entirely to have the opportunity to be by his side, to get close to him and learn some special skills. If Zhou Ziwei had directly exiled them to Tengchong to be guards, the two brothers probably wouldn't have been able to endure the loneliness.
In that sense, Ah Da and Ah Er are more reliable. After all, Zhou Ziwei has erased their original consciousness and memories. What they have been receiving from Wu Di recently is almost a brainwashing-style education, which has made them almost worship Zhou Ziwei like a god. Last time, Wu Di told Zhou Ziwei on the phone that the only person the two brothers trust now is Zhou Ziwei, and no matter what order Zhou Ziwei gives, even if it means they have to harm themselves, they will not flinch.
Zhou Ziwei was quite satisfied with the outcome. Those two guys used to be thugs of the Storm Mercenary Group with their hands stained with blood. Zhou Ziwei wasn't bothered by their current predicament. Although Zhou Ziwei's own hands were certainly stained with more blood than those two, he was the victor. As the victor, he naturally represented justice and righteousness. The winner is king, the loser is a bandit—this is an age-old truth, and Zhou Ziwei naturally wouldn't try to change it.
The selection of people for Myanmar has been basically finalized: A Da, A Er, Zhou Ziwei, Liu Xiaofei, Li Yifeng, and Old Master Gu. Yelü Huage and his group will wait in Tengchong until Zhou Ziwei returns, after which they will return to Dangyang together.
Zhou Ziwei and his two companions arrived at Old Master Gu's house again. Old Master Gu, beaming with pride, shook hands with Zhou Ziwei and happily welcomed them into the house. Without saying a word, he took out an old-fashioned map from his study, unfolded it, and showed it to the two, saying, "Because Myanmar has been closed for a long time, the supply and export of jadeite rough has become much tighter. Recently, almost all the old mines have been bought up by the most powerful jadeite rough merchants. If we want to get some good quality jadeite near the border, we can forget about it. So I'm going to take you here..."
This place is quite far from the China-Myanmar border, and transportation here is rather isolated. There are definitely no trains, so once we get the goods, we'll have to rely on our own off-road vehicles to transport the rough stones out. Also… this route probably won't be very safe, so you should be prepared. We'll need to bring some armed forces to protect this batch of jadeite rough stones. Hmm… I can get some guns through my old friends in Myanmar, but… if the local government forces find them, it could be quite a problem. Mr. Zhou… the final decision is up to you.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei hurriedly waved his hand with a wry smile and said, "Old Master Gu, please don't call me Boss Zhou. You're making me look bad, aren't you? Didn't you see how Xiao Fei was looking at me? If you think highly of me, just call me Ziwei."
Upon hearing this, Gu Dongfeng glanced at Liu Xiaofei, then at Zhou Ziwei, and immediately burst into laughter, nodding and saying, "Alright... Since Ziwei says so, then I'll take advantage of my age this time! Hehe... As long as you treat this young lady well, I'd gladly give you the rest of my life!"
Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed to receive Gu Dongfeng's promise. The saying "Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure" is no exaggeration. Given Gu Dongfeng's prestige in jade carving, with his help, Zhou Ziwei would find it difficult to lose money in the jadeite rough business in the future…
Zhou Ziwei was somewhat prepared for what Gu Dongfeng had said. They were just some local bandits, so Zhou Ziwei didn't take them seriously. There was no need to risk carrying guns and weapons. As far as Zhou Ziwei was concerned, as long as the other side didn't deploy a large army, no one could do anything to them.
After briefly confirming the route and agreeing to depart the morning after tomorrow, Gu Dongfeng's wife had already prepared and served all the food. The group immediately began to eat and talk, continuing to discuss the specific details of this jadeite rough acquisition.
Gu Dongfeng said with some concern, "This surge in jadeite rough prices is probably just the beginning. I've received news that three large mines in Myanmar have been depleted recently. To prevent the jadeite rough from being completely exhausted at once, the Myanmar government is planning to introduce a new policy, which seems to restrict the annual trading volume of jadeite rough to a fixed level. If that new policy is passed, it's conceivable that jadeite rough will become even more scarce, and prices will naturally rise, continuing to soar once again. So... Ziwei, you should buy as much jadeite rough as possible this time. If you have enough funds, we don't even need to do anything. Just buy a large amount of rough and store it in a warehouse for two or three years. By then, your investment will probably have increased in value by at least two or three times."
Hearing Old Master Gu's analysis, Zhou Ziwei nodded in agreement. He didn't lack funds at the moment, but... it would take two or three years to accumulate raw stones for his investment to increase two or three times, which seemed a bit slow for Zhou Ziwei.
Of course... this only applies to Zhou Ziwei, this freak. If it were an ordinary person, being able to double or triple their investment within two or three years would already be a pretty good business.
However, Zhou Ziwei did not refute Old Master Gu's meaning. Anyway, he was not relying on this business to speculate and make money. It didn't matter how much he made. At worst, after acquiring a large number of jadeite rough stones, he would first roughly sort through them and select the truly valuable and good materials. It was estimated that the value of the rough stones selected in this way would exceed the purchase price of the entire batch of rough stones. The rest could be considered as extra income. It didn't matter if he put them in the warehouse and waited for them to appreciate in value before selling them.
Seeing Zhou Ziwei nod, Gu Dongfeng continued, "Right now, most of the major raw stone middlemen in Tengchong are busy going to Myanmar to source raw stones. It's not easy to find some high-performance off-road vehicles these days. Oh... tell me how much you plan to invest in this acquisition so I can roughly estimate how many vehicles I need to take. Once the number is decided, we need to contact them about borrowing vehicles immediately."
How much should we invest?
This really presents Zhou Ziwei with a small problem. He currently has about one billion yuan in funds at his disposal, but... the Zhou Group is about to invest in the production and advertising of the Life Spring, and the Zhou Group's own working capital is almost exhausted. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei will probably have to pay for some of the initial advertising expenses and working capital himself. So, when you think about it... Zhou Ziwei really doesn't have much money to spare.
However, Zhou Ziwei then realized that a jadeite rough stone trade fair was about to be held in Tengchong. Even if the rough stones he had acquired in Myanmar weren't of particularly high quality, he could easily gamble on a few stones at the fair and recoup his investment effortlessly. Given this, why should he hold onto his funds?
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei immediately stretched out his hands and said, "I'll invest one billion first... Do you think that's enough?"
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 306: I Haven't Taken a Shower
"What... ten... ten billion..."
Gu Dongfeng was so startled by Zhou Ziwei's words that he dropped the magnifying glass he was holding and it shattered on the ground.
Li Yifeng and Liu Xiaofei were equally shocked by Zhou Ziwei. Although they both vaguely knew that Zhou Ziwei should have some money—after all, who would dare to do business in jadeite rough stones if they didn't have money?—it was just too terrifying that he would spend a billion yuan like that. If they didn't trust Zhou Ziwei's character, anyone else would probably think he was just bragging…
Let alone Zhou Ziwei, who is only just starting out in the jadeite rough business, even those veteran jadeite rough middlemen who have been in the business for many years, would dare to be so impulsive as to invest such a huge amount of money in a batch of goods all at once.
Although many people have made the same analysis as Gu Dongfeng, believing that the price of jadeite rough will skyrocket in the next few years, it is just an analysis. Who dares to make a 100% guarantee? If he has just stockpiled a large amount of jadeite rough, and then a huge jadeite rough vein is discovered in Myanmar, then it is not impossible for the price of jadeite to plummet instantly.
Moreover, the current high price of jadeite is mainly due to the large demand in the domestic market, and consumers' pursuit of the quality of jewelry is somewhat trendy.
If we go back a few decades, people only liked gold and silver jewelry, and these jade pieces wouldn't have been worth much money. Otherwise, if jade had been very valuable back then, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't have had the opportunity to dig up so many jade fragments all at once.
Although jade jewelry still seems to have a huge market, the fashion trend in China is gradually shifting. Diamond jewelry, which was not very popular before, is now rapidly taking over the market at an alarming rate. Therefore, no one can guarantee that jade jewelry will not be suddenly squeezed out of the market and devalued to nothing at any time.
This means that... stockpiling a large amount of jadeite rough now could indeed lead to a several-fold increase in profits in two years, and the possibility is quite high.
However... at the same time, there is also a certain possibility that the price may suddenly plummet by many times, causing investors to lose everything.
While the latter possibility is relatively smaller, it is not impossible.
No matter what business you do in this world, you will always take on some risk. There are certainly businesses that are guaranteed to make a profit, but they certainly don't include the business of reselling raw jadeite.
After Gu Dongfeng patiently explained all the reasons to Zhou Ziwei, Zhou Ziwei nodded seemingly indifferently and said, "I understand. There are risks, right? I'm well aware of that. Even if we lose money, don't worry, I certainly won't blame you. This decision was made by me, and I will bear the consequences myself... Alright, let's invest one billion first. That's settled for now. Gu Dongfeng, you should consider how many cars we need to rent and how many people we need to take!"
Gu Dongfeng gave Zhou Ziwei a meaningful look, then stopped trying to persuade him. Instead, he frowned and said, "A billion yuan investment... That's a huge sum of money, enough for you to buy several small to medium-sized jadeite mines... If all of that were used to buy raw jadeite, how many raw jadeite would you have to buy... Uh... wait a minute... let me do the math..."
After saying this, Gu Dongfeng frowned, counted on his fingers for a long time, and then said with a wry smile, "Well... my conservative estimate is that if you really invest 1 billion yuan in the jade mines in Myanmar to buy raw stones... it would probably take at least 70 or 80 truckloads to bring all those raw stones back. Isn't that a bit too much?"
Upon hearing "seventy or eighty vehicles," Zhou Ziwei was speechless. This wasn't just "a bit big," it was "far too big!" He could imagine that if he went to buy raw stones with a convoy of seventy or eighty vehicles, wouldn't he scare the mine owners? Perhaps even the Burmese government army would think it was some anti-government armed uprising…
"No, no... this... is too conspicuous!" Zhou Ziwei shook his head repeatedly and said, "Old Gu, you must have miscalculated, right? How could we possibly need so many cars? Please calculate it again..."
Gu Dongfeng said with a wry smile, "It's true that under normal circumstances, if we use cargo trucks to load these raw stones, then naturally we wouldn't need many trucks. But the problem is... the jadeite mines I introduced to you are located in remote areas. There are no proper roads there yet, so large vehicles can't get in at all. We can only drive off-road vehicles there to conduct the transactions."
Think about it... how much space does an off-road jeep have? At most, how many rough stones can you fit in one vehicle? In fact, unless we cut the larger rough stones in half, we can't even fit them in the vehicle... And this is based on the assumption that we buy only first-grade and second-grade rough stones, which have a relatively high chance of yielding green stones.
If we were to buy a mix of different qualities of rough stones as usual... even if we brought seven or eight hundred off-road vehicles, it definitely wouldn't be enough. You see... the rough stone mine I introduced to you is located in a remote area, so the price of its rough stones is already about 20-30% lower than the average price. As for third and fourth grade rough stones, they are practically no different from ordinary rotten stones there.
Because it's so inconvenient to get to that place, no raw stone trading association would bring out so many low-quality stones from that godforsaken place that are almost impossible to mine for green. So, there, level three and four raw stones are basically piled up like mountains, and many people use these raw stones directly to build their houses. When it rains and mining is impossible, the owners of the raw stone mines usually organize workers in the warehouse to cut those junk stones themselves.
However, the chances of finding jade in that level of ore are extremely slim. Hundreds of workers might not be able to cut a single piece of ore worth much even after several years. I reckon if some rough stone dealer were to get carried away and try to buy those carefully selected, bottom-grade stones, the jade mine owner would probably give them all away for free without asking for a single penny.
"This kind of ore is really being given away for free?" Li Yifeng's eyes lit up when he heard about this good deal. He hadn't wasted his time in Tengchong; he had absorbed some knowledge of the jade gambling business and knew that people in the jade rough business generally had many rules, especially regarding jade rough... Even if everyone knew it was just a worthless rock, as long as it was dug out of a jade rough mine, it had to be sold for some money; giving it away for free was absolutely out of the question.
They would rather throw these utterly useless stones into the latrine than give them away for free.
Gu Dongfeng gave a wry smile upon hearing this and said, "What good is giving them away for free? In this godforsaken place, it's a miracle if they can even sell the better quality rough stones. As for those rotten stones pulled out of the mine, they can't be sold, and they can't extract any jadeite from them. If someone wants them, they'd be happy for you to take those rotten stones away and make room for them... If you really want those rotten stones, you can hire a few trucks to go in yourself. I guarantee you won't have to spend an extra penny to fill your trucks to the brim."
Upon hearing this, Li Yifeng curled his lip and said, "Since they are all rotten stones that can't be mined into jade, what would I do with them... Hmm... According to what you said, a grade four rough stone like that would probably only sell for a few dozen yuan here, right? If I were to transport it all the way here, I wouldn't even cover the shipping costs!"
Gu Dongfeng chuckled and said, "Isn't that the logic? If everyone thought the same way you do, then naturally no one would want their grade three or four rough stones. Over the years, those rough stones have piled up more and more, and they have nowhere to throw them away. If you want them, they would be happy to give them all to you for free."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei's heart stirred. He knew that after jadeite rough stones were first mined, they would be examined by experienced masters to determine their grade and quality. They would generally be classified as low-grade, meaning the probability of finding green jadeite would be less than one in ten thousand. For others, such stones were not worth gambling on and could only be displayed on the street to deceive uninformed tourists.
However, Zhou Ziwei possesses the scanning ability of soul power, which allows him to see through every stone within a radius of twenty meters in an instant. Presumably, even if there were a mountain of stones in front of him, he would not need to spend much time to examine them all. If he does not find any raw stones containing jade, that would be fine, but if he does find them, wouldn't that be like getting something for free?
Thinking about this, Zhou Ziwei became even more eager to go to that remote mine.
However, it's definitely not possible to bring seventy or eighty cars as Gu Dongfeng said. Even if he had that plan, he would need to be able to rent seventy or eighty off-road jeeps... Tengchong is a county-level city with a small population. Although many families own jeeps because it is located in a border mountainous area, it is simply unrealistic to borrow so many cars in one or two days.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Ziwei finally decided to take only ten cars to Myanmar. As for how many jadeite rough stones these ten cars could bring back, he didn't need to worry about it.
Although he planned to invest 1 billion yuan directly this time, if he really couldn't spend the money, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't have to buy a bunch of worthless stones to make up the difference.
After the matter was briefly settled, Old Master Gu was left to arrange for hiring cars and handling exit procedures. Zhou Ziwei then called Wu Di and asked all his trusted troops to come over, along with the little princess and the other children. Since ten cars were needed to travel to Myanmar, it wouldn't be too many for all of them. In fact, Wu Di would have to arrange a few extra drivers.
After making the call, Zhou Ziwei took Liu Xiaofei and Li Yifeng back to the newly built building.
The building doesn't occupy a very large area, but with four floors above ground and one floor below ground, the total area of five floors isn't small.
The fourth floor is mostly living quarters, divided into about ten rooms. The largest room is over forty square meters and is Li Yifeng's private bedroom. It is the only room that has undergone some simple renovations and is fully equipped with all the necessities. Li Yifeng has already moved here to avoid staying in a hotel every day.
However, now that Zhou Ziwei has arrived, he naturally took over the largest bedroom without any hesitation. The reason was simple: the bed that Li Yifeng bought was big enough. He figured that cuddling Liu Xiaofei on it and doing some activities that adults like to do would feel pretty good... Of course, the premise was that the sheets and stuff had to be replaced with brand new ones. Zhou Ziwei believed that Li Yifeng hadn't been idle for a while. He didn't know how many beauties that kid had engaged in physical battles on this battlefield. Zhou Ziwei didn't want to accidentally get his hands on someone's bodily fluids again; that would make him feel disgusted to death.