The remaining merchants followed. This is where the real fun and excitement of jade gambling begins.
Zhou Xuan knew that his main scheme was already complete. The only way to make a huge profit was with ordinary rough stones, because they were cheap. He would only earn more if he found rough stones containing jadeite. If the rough stones contained green jadeite, the price would be much higher. Unless he gambled on top-quality jadeite, the idea of winning big was just a legend.
But Zhou Xuan also knew that the time had come to deal with those two little devils! To find out what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!
Volume 1, Chapter 154: The Crazy Stone Gambling (4)
B and Ito Zanji were merely intrigued by Zhou Fu's behavior, but not to the point of being genuinely interested.
Inside Zhou Bo's wool factory, the place was much more secure than the square outside. The windows were fitted with security bars, and the doors were iron. The workers first turned on the lights in the factory, illuminating the interior brightly.
This factory building isn't really a factory; it's more like a warehouse. Inside, there are rows and rows of steel frames, unlike the wooden frames Zhou Xuan saw in Shenzhen and Yangzhou. Each row of steel frames has three layers, and each layer is filled with raw materials. However, these raw materials are clearly incomparable to the gray stones outside.
Every piece of raw jade has some green on its surface, more or less. The particularly large pieces are lined up along the wall and placed on the ground. The amount of raw jade in this warehouse alone is more than ten times more than the amount Zhou Xuan saw in Yangzhou and Shenzhen!
At the other end of the warehouse, there are several stone-cutting tools of various sizes. This is for gamblers who need on-site stone cutting. Some pure stone gamblers will ask the boss's workers to cut the stone on the spot after gambling on it. If a good green color is cut out on the first or second cut, the price will rise sharply. Ordinary players will choose to make a profit at this time and then pass the risk to other players.
This kind of gameplay only adds more excitement and makes it harder for people to stop playing.
There were forty or fifty people who came in together, but Zhou Xuan's group, plus Fujimoto and two others, made up a total of ten people. The others were Zhou Bo's old customers, but he didn't have any particularly large customers. Of course, the main reason was that the raw materials didn't come from the old mines in Myanmar.
Zhou Bo instructed the workers to turn on all the lights so that every piece of raw jade could be clearly seen from any direction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, all the best raw materials from my factory are here. Please take your pick, and I hope you old friends have good luck!"
Zhou Bo clapped his hands, said a few words loudly, and then walked over to Zhou Xuan with a smile.
His main focus was still on Zhou Xuan. After all, Zhou Xuan had just bought over a million yuan worth of goods from him, and he calculated that there was almost no loss. Because of the goods Zhou Xuan selected, none of the rough stones in his plaza were missing anything; some piles were only missing ten or twenty yuan, others only one or two. The remaining stones would still be sold at the original price, resulting in virtually no loss for Zhou Bo. He had sold over a million yuan worth of goods, and the remaining rough stones could still fetch the same amount. How could he not value such a customer?
Judging from his expression, Zhou Xuan seemed to have more to say. Perhaps he could close an even bigger deal. These high-quality, green jade stones were Zhou Bo's main focus. The jade stones in the square were just a tasteless quick meal; the real feast was these locked-up jade stones.
"Brother Zhou, what do you think of these goods?" Zhou Bo's way of addressing Zhou Xuan changed at this point, becoming much more affectionate.
On the surface, these goods are incomparable to those outside. Almost every piece of these raw materials has green, only the depth and amount of green color vary.
Zhou Bo did indeed have a bit of a show-off intention; just now outside, Zhou Xuan spent over 1.2 million to buy a whole truckload of those gray and white stones, some of which were green, and some even had a very deep and rich green. Zhou Xuan'an will probably make an even bigger move, right?
However, this is just an estimate; the actual outcome will depend on the situation on-site.
As soon as they entered the warehouse, the merchants went crazy, scattering to look at the stones on the shelves as if they had seen gold.
When the topic of gold came up, Zhou Xuan paused for a moment. If they pulled that trick again, it wouldn't be good. After all, Fujimoto and Ito Kinji had used the same tactic last time; if they suddenly saw it again, they might become suspicious, and perhaps even direct their suspicions at him.
Zhou Xuan turned to Zhao Lao Er and the others and said, "Hehe, all of you take a look, since we're all free now. Look at these stones, see how people gamble on stones. Lao Er, you should learn from them, find a stone and try your luck. You'll gain experience later, there's always a first time for everything!"
Zhao Lao Er asked in surprise, "I can gamble too?"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Just gamble. Watch how others play and play the same way. I'll pay for the gambling on the stones, so don't worry about the money. If you win, you can pay back my initial investment. The winnings are yours, and if you lose, it's on me."
Zhao Lao Er chuckled. Where else could you find something so sure to make a profit? He excitedly ran off to look at the stones, and under the lure of money, he even forgot about Zhong Qin.
Fujimoto and Ito Kinji also followed along, seemingly interested in examining the stones. Fujimoto spoke fluent Chinese, while Ito, though less fluent, could speak and understand, and communicate with the guide. However, it was immediately obvious he wasn't Chinese when he spoke. Zhou Xuan then stepped forward, channeling his ice energy to probe along the copper frames one by one. He was quite disappointed; he hadn't missed a single stone, not even the large piles along the wall. His ice energy revealed nothing. Only a few, about ten rough stones, contained jade with a bluish-green hue. The quality was poor; if the price was based on the outer layer, the actual jade wouldn't be worth the purchase price. Zhou Xuan frowned. This meant that Fujimoto and Ito's plan wouldn't work.
Alright.
While Zhou Xuan hesitated, some merchants had already selected their rough stones and Zhou Bo was bidding on them. The first rough stone was priced at 200,000, and after several rounds of bidding, it was sold for 650,000. The second rough stone had better green color, and the starting price was 800,000.
Zhou Xuan was somewhat moved. This place was indeed a distribution center for raw jade, and the prices were much cheaper than after being transported back to the mainland. Take this piece of raw jade with relatively good green color, for example. Zhou Bo's starting price was 800,000 yuan. If this were taken to Shenzhen and Yangzhou, the two places Zhou Xuan had been to, the starting price would be no less than 4 million yuan.
Fujimoto's interest was piqued at this point, and he watched intently as the merchants fiercely bid against each other. It was as if they weren't talking about money, but just irrelevant numbers. Although he and Ito themselves weren't directly involved, they undoubtedly experienced the intense atmosphere of jade gambling.
However, Zhou Xuan understood that Fujimoto and his two Japanese soldiers had only experienced the atmosphere of gambling on stones. They hadn't yet witnessed the thrill of a single cut leading to life or death, nor had they experienced the feeling of becoming rich overnight. Without that kind of top-tier excitement, their gambling instincts hadn't kicked in.
"One million seven hundred thousand!" "I'll offer one million eight hundred thousand!"
Two million four hundred thousand
Seeing this bidding war, Zhou Xuan grew increasingly anxious. However, there was no jade in the rough stone, and he couldn't conjure it out of thin air unless he transformed it into gold. But Fujimoto and Ito had already learned their lesson once; if they tried again, they would definitely become suspicious, and might even suspect him. Besides, Zhou Xuan didn't want to resort to such self-defeating tactics unless absolutely necessary.
This stone, which started at 800,000, was eventually won in a gamble for 3.2 million. It was won by one of Zhou Bo's old customers. This price is considered a very high transaction for Zhou Bo. Of course, the price comes from the quality of the goods. This piece of rough stone is considered the best one in the factory.
The merchants who won the bids all planned to transport the raw materials back to their own homes along with the other raw materials they bought elsewhere, and did not intend to have them cut at Zhou Bo's place.
People who want their stones cut on-site are usually serious gamblers who come with the idea of making a huge profit.
Zhou Xuan also understood that if there wasn't a stone that could be gambled on and found on-site, creating that kind of atmosphere for Fujimoto and the others, it would be impossible to arouse their interest.
Next, Zhou Bo sold about ten more stones. However, the price never reached more than two million again, and the quality of the stones was indeed somewhat inferior.
With prices lowered, merchants' interest in gambling on stones naturally diminished considerably, and Fujimoto and Ito seemed somewhat unconvinced.
Zhou Xuan hesitated whether to ask Zhong Qin to take them to the second stone factory to try their luck, but just then, he saw Zhao Lao Er carrying a stone over with great effort. When he got closer, he gritted his teeth and slowly squatted down to put the stone on the ground. The stone was about the size of a washbasin and weighed about 100 pounds. Zhao Lao Er was not having an easy time, and his face was covered in sweat.
Zhou Xuan glanced at it; the stone was entirely grayish-white, without a trace of green, and he found it rather strange. The raw stones in the factory were all carefully selected by Zhou Bo, and each one at least had some green in it. Where did Zhao Lao Er find this completely unrelated gray stone?
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Second brother, what are you talking about?"
"Damn it, these people are gambling like crazy, I have to join in the fun, right? Look at all those shelves they've got, even a piece of junk is worth hundreds of thousands or millions, I think they're just bored out of their minds."
Zhao Lao Er chuckled and said, “Zhou Xuan, our brothers have luxury cars and bodyguards, so the style is pretty impressive. We should at least get a stone to make up for it, so we can’t be too weak and lose face, right? I saw that they picked out a round stone from the stones used to support the machine over there. They spent hundreds of thousands on it, so let’s just spend a few hundred to make a show and save face!”
Zhou Xuan followed Zhao Lao Er's hand and looked over. He saw that at the far end, where the stone-cutting machine was placed, some stones were needed to hold it down so that the vibrations after the machine was turned on would prevent it from moving.
There were at least seven or eight of these gray stones that Old Zhao had brought over, but the other stones were not very attractive, with jagged edges and were not easy to carry.
Before Zhou Xuan could say anything, several merchants nearby chuckled. Even those like Fujimoto and Ito, who weren't particularly knowledgeable, knew that Zhao Lao Er's stone was a worthless piece of junk.
Zhao Lao Er was naturally completely ignorant about jade rough stones. Hearing everyone laugh, he blushed slightly. He didn't understand, but he didn't want to lose face. He thought he might as well get a stone to save face, since Zhou Xuan was paying for it anyway. A few hundred yuan would be enough to make things interesting.