Zhuang Rui knew he was too conspicuous. The moment he entered the jade gambling venue, he was stared at like a celebrity, with gazes that practically wanted to strip him naked and see what he was thinking. He just couldn't understand why male and female celebrities liked being stared at so much. Did all celebrities have some kind of exhibitionist fetish? ...
The next morning, after meeting with Song Jun, Qin Haoran, and others, Zhuang Rui arrived at the jade gambling venue.
Myanmar's weather only has two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. It's currently the dry season, with sunshine almost every day. However, the weather is a bit strange today. The dark clouds are hanging low in the sky, which looks like a sign of a downpour.
Fortunately, the bid boxes were all waterproofed, so even if it rained, the rainwater couldn't get into them. However, the weather made people feel very depressed, with a sense of impending doom and impending doom, which seemed to be linked to tomorrow's bid opening. This made people feel heavy-hearted, and when they saw acquaintances, they didn't greet them with smiles like they had a few days ago. Everyone's face was tense.
This is understandable. Whether they can leave with jade after a twelve-day jade auction depends entirely on today. After arriving at the venue, almost everyone shed their pretenses from the previous days and went straight for the rough jade they had their eye on. They wanted to decide whether they needed to adjust their bids based on the situation of today's bidders.
"Peng Fei, go ahead, no need to rush to submit them. Just put them all in the ballot box before this afternoon..."
Zhuang Rui gave Peng Fei a wink, then wandered aimlessly around the venue. Occasionally, he would run into an acquaintance near a piece of rough jade and chat for a few minutes. He seemed very relaxed, which didn't surprise anyone. They knew he had already won hundreds of millions in gambling, so of course he had no pressure.
In the morning, almost no one bid. They were all chatting next to the rough stones they had their eyes on, but they all looked a little distracted. However, after lunch, many people got busy.
One by one, bids, some already prepared and some just filled out, were thrown into the bid boxes. Unlike open bidding, there was no price for them to refer to; they could only bid their highest bid at the last minute based on the quality of the raw materials.
"Brother Zhuang, they've all gone in..."
With two hours left before the bid deadline, Peng Fei returned to Zhuang Rui's side.
Chapter 470 Secret Bidding (14)
Zhuang Rui raised his wrist and glanced at his watch. The second hand had just struck... There were only two hours left before the bidding phase of the Myanmar jade auction ended, and the entire following week would be dedicated to the opening of bids.
Don't be surprised, it's only a week of bidding time. Because there are so many sealed bids, the bidding process is supervised by special personnel every day in order to ensure fairness, impartiality and transparency. It's impossible to speed it up, after all, it takes a lot of manpower and energy to compile and input all that data into the computer.
Each container opening requires dedicated supervision, and the process of tallying the bids and entering the winning bids into the computer requires repeated verification by three people before confirmation, ensuring that no problems arise.
The opening of the Myanmar jade auction is one of the most important events in Myanmar. Almost all government officials from cities near Yangon are temporarily transferred here to help, and the venue where the raw stones are displayed is sealed off by the military during the bidding period.
"Peng Fei, you rest for a bit, I'm going to take another walk..."
Zhuang Rui greeted Peng Fei and then walked into the sealed bidding area. At this time, there were almost no people walking back and forth in the sealed bidding area. Most people had their own rough stones to look at and were standing next to them, waiting for the deadline for sealed bidding.
Seeing Zhuang Rui walking towards them, these people all became nervous, fearing that Zhuang Rui would throw a bid into the bid box next to them. They only breathed a sigh of relief when Zhuang Rui walked past without stopping.
In reality, they knew that their actions were futile. If others wanted to invest, they would have already done so. If the price was higher than theirs, they would be left with nothing to do but watch helplessly. These people were simply seeking some psychological comfort.
Following the junction of the sealed and open bids, Zhuang Rui seemed to be wandering aimlessly, sometimes stopping to observe a rough stone. To outsiders, this looked like Zhuang Rui was cramming at the last minute, doing useless work. But only Zhuang Rui himself knew that he was checking the bid boxes he had submitted.
"Boss Zhuang, are you still selecting raw materials?"
"Hehe, just wandering around, maybe I'll find something I like, and throw in a dollar or two..."
Along the way, people greeted Zhuang Rui. Although the sealed-bid area was not small, it was still quite a sight to see two or three thousand people crammed inside. Basically, there was a person standing next to every few pieces of raw jade, pretending to examine the jade around them. In fact, everyone knew that they were asserting their dominance, much like a white lion urinating in the corner of a yard.
However, a sealed bid doesn't guarantee you'll win just because you're there. The first person to bid might be the one who wins in the end. It all depends on each person's financial resources, courage, and vision.
"Huh? So many people?"
After examining twelve rough jade stones, Zhuang Rui's heart gradually calmed down. No one was paying attention to them, which confirmed his prediction. The previous bids inside were just some buyers trying their luck. However, when Zhuang Rui reached a spot not far from the piece of yellow jade, his pace slowed down.
Next to the rough stone, five or six people were chatting casually, but Zhuang Rui could tell that their smiles were a bit forced, and they were probably secretly competing with each other. Among them was Boss Zhang, who had greeted him the day before yesterday.
"Boss Zhuang, have you taken a liking to this piece of jade?"
When Mr. Zhang saw Zhuang Rui approaching, he quickly greeted him, but a hint of panic was visible in his eyes.
"Hehe, I was just wandering around. This piece of material is pretty good. I bid on it yesterday. You can take a look. I have a few more bids left..."
Zhuang Rui chuckled at the man and walked over without stopping. He glanced discreetly at the bid box. Fortunately, Peng Fei's bid was currently at the top, and the figures on the other bids below him did not exceed 2 million euros.
"Xiao Rui, I saw you wandering around by yourself from afar. Time's almost up, stop wandering..."
When Zhuang Rui reached the entrance of the sealed-bid area, Qin Haoran greeted him. The first hundred or so rough stones were also the most fiercely contested. Although Qin Haoran had followed Zhuang Rui's advice and placed bids on those few dozen stones, he still didn't give up on the best-performing ones, placing his bids on each of them.
"It's alright, Uncle Qin, we've submitted all the applications we could. Whether we win or not depends on luck..."
Zhuang Rui smiled. He had figured it out. He couldn't possibly run back and forth between those 20-odd rough stones before the bidding deadline, could he? It had already taken him more than half an hour to walk around once, so there was no way he could stop others from raising their bids at the last minute.
Thinking of this, Zhuang Rui relaxed and started chatting with Qin Haoran and Fang Yi. As time went by, the hands on his watch slowly approached five o'clock in the afternoon.
"Uncle Qin, I'm going to check my bid..."
With five minutes left before the bidding ended, Zhuang Rui was getting impatient. He didn't care about the other bids, but he absolutely couldn't let that top-quality yellow jadeite fall into someone else's hands.
"Boss Zhuang, what brings you back again?"
When Zhuang Rui walked back to the rough stone that was suspected to be red jade, the jeweler surnamed Zhang looked very unhappy.
"Mr. Zhang, I've also taken a liking to this piece of material. What's wrong? You're the only one who can bid, and I'm not allowed to?"
Zhuang Rui's words made the boss grit his teeth in secret. He took out a bid form from his pocket. The bid form should have already been filled in with the bid number. Now he only needed to fill in one more number.
"The time for this year's sealed bid has come. Please do not crowd and exit in order. Attention guests, the time for this year's sealed bid has come. Please do not crowd and exit in order..."
When the minute hand stopped at 12 and the hour hand stopped at five o'clock, the staff's voice came from the loudspeaker in the venue, but no one paid any attention to it, because at that moment, many people were busy with their tasks.
As soon as the loudspeaker blared, countless hands reached for the bid boxes beside them. Bids that had already been written or had just been revised were thrown in. Mr. Zhang, who was standing next to Zhuang Rui, also reacted quickly and threw in his last bid, while intentionally or unintentionally blocking Zhuang Rui from entering.
After submitting his bid, Mr. Zhang let out a long sigh of relief, looked at Zhuang Rui, and laughed, "Hehe, Mr. Zhuang, this is my last bid anyway. Whether I win or not, I'll leave it to fate..."
"Yes, I submitted my application yesterday. I'm just here today to put my mind at ease..."
Zhuang Rui smiled. Actually, he also had a bid form with his number filled in in his pants pocket. The reason he didn't take it out was because he saw that Boss Zhang's final bid was 3.15 million euros, which was exactly 30,000 euros less than his own 3.18 million euros. Zhuang Rui breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go, Boss Zhuang, if we don't leave now, the soldiers will be here to kick us out..."
Fearing that Zhuang Rui might do the same at the last minute and throw in another bid, Boss Zhang affectionately took Zhuang Rui's arm and walked towards the exit of the jade trading center. Little did he know, his actions were exactly what Zhuang Rui wanted. Zhuang Rui was also worried that he might change his mind again…
"Hey, hey, Old Li, move aside..."
"Hey Lao Wu, can you tell me the price now?"
"Let's go back and talk, let's go back and talk..."
Old Wu isn't buying it. He's telling me he can fill out a form in 10 seconds. Why would I make things difficult for myself?
As Zhuang Rui walked towards the main entrance of the venue, all he saw and heard was this scene, somewhat like the moment before the open bidding, except that the numbers on the big screen were replaced by hands reaching for the bid box.
At this moment, many people even overturned their bids from just minutes earlier, and in a matter of seconds, filled out new bid forms and put them into the bidding box. Compared to the gambling on jade in Pingzhou, this is truly madness, because the numbers that are changed inadvertently often amount to millions of euros.
However, the Myanmar organizing committee didn't give everyone much time to go wild. Just as the broadcast started, squads of soldiers in camouflage uniforms and armed with guns rushed out from the three entrances of the venue, driving away everyone who remained in the raw stone area. Their attitude wasn't exactly brutal, but it was definitely not friendly.
Some people who still wanted to back out and change their bids were driven reluctantly towards the exit by the soldiers. Their constant turning back every three steps and then another five steps resembled Old Mrs. Zhao dancing the tango with that effeminate gentleman. ...
"Come on, let's drink to the end of this Myanmar jade auction bidding..."
Zhuang Rui went outside and contacted Qin Haoran and the others by phone before returning to the hotel. Qin Haoran had specially booked a private room for the celebration. Song Jun and Fatty Ma, who were on good terms with Zhuang Rui, also came to join in the fun. There was another guest, Hu Rong, a jade tycoon from Myanmar.
For Qin's Jewelry, this trip to Myanmar has yielded unexpected gains. That piece of red jadeite rough is enough to make Qin's Jewelry shine in the world of jadeite jewelry. Of course, Qin Haoran is also full of expectations for the rough stones that Zhuang Rui gave him.
"Brother Zhuang, your skill in appraising rough stones is far superior to mine. I was preparing to take over a new mine a while ago, and I'd like to ask you to help me take a look in a few days..."
After everyone toasted and sat down, Hu Rong, who was sitting next to Zhuang Rui, gave Zhuang Rui a thumbs up. He was one of the appraisers of the rough jadeite in this bidding. At the time, Hu Rong was not very optimistic about that piece of red jadeite, but he did not expect Zhuang Rui to win big with his bet.
Chapter 471 Bidding Opening (Part 1)
"Brother Hu, please don't make fun of me. I just got lucky. I have no experience in mining..."
Zhuang Rui smiled. He knew his own situation. The discovery of that jade mine in Xinjiang was purely by luck.
To be honest, this really depends on luck. Otherwise, the mineral vein in Yeniugou is not buried very deep, but for thousands of years, no one would have thought that there was a mineral vein hidden at the mouth of the river.
"Hehe, you don't need to be modest. The Jade King of China speaks highly of you. Maybe if you take a look at my new mine, you can actually find some problems..."
Although Hu Rong is a jade tycoon in Myanmar, he is also a jewelry designer with extensive experience in nephrite jade. He is quite familiar with Mr. Adila from Xinjiang. A few days ago, after hearing Zhuang Rui mention that he had jade veins in Xinjiang, Hu Rong inquired about Zhuang Rui with Mr. Adila. Hu Rong was surprised to learn that Zhuang Rui, with whom he was about to be related, not only had a strong background in mainland China but also possessed exceptional talent.
"Oh? Brother Hu, what's going on with your new mine?"
Zhuang Rui was a little curious. The Myanmar Ministry of Mines now has very strict restrictions on the application and mining of jade mines. You could say that if you can get the application approved, it's like owning a gold mine. But judging from Hu Rong's appearance, he didn't seem very satisfied with his new mine.
"Don't even mention it. I've already spent nearly 10 million euros on initial exploration, but after mining, the rough stones we've found aren't good, and the yield is very low. It's highly likely to be a dead vein..."
The abandoned mine that Hu Rong mentioned refers to a vein where jadeite had already begun to form, but due to crustal movement, the environment in which the jadeite was formed changed. The jadeite that was about to form jadeite underwent a transformation. Such a vein may contain a very small number of jadeite that has completed the transformation, but most of it will just be stone, at most with some color.
This type of jade cannot be classified as jadeite; it's more accurately described as a type of Burmese jade. Its price is vastly different from that of jadeite. If Hu Rong's new mine is indeed a failed mine, the losses will be enormous.
"Hehe, let's re-examine it. Maybe we didn't choose the right location. Don't worry, Brother Hu..."
Zhuang Rui didn't really know much about this, so he could only offer Hu Rong some words of comfort. He explained that he wasn't particularly interested in jade mines; the only reason he agreed to go to Myitkyina was for that treasure map. ...
Although the open and sealed bids for this Myanmar jade auction have all ended, the even more nerve-wracking and breathless sealed bid opening officially begins today. Compared to the bidding process, the moment of bid opening is a greater test of one's heart strength.
In previous Myanmar jade auctions, some people have fainted and died while selecting rough jade under the scorching sun, while others suffered cerebral hemorrhages due to excessive excitement during the bidding process and could not be saved. These real-life examples demonstrate that without a strong heart, it's best to take it easy when gambling on jade.
The bidding process was over, but everyone still got up early in the morning and rushed to the Myanmar Jade Exchange Center. At this time, the original rough jade area had been completely sealed off, with guards stationed every three steps and sentries every five steps. Even the staff of the jade exchange center had to be checked by the soldiers several times before they could enter.
The original open bidding site has now been transformed into a sealed bidding site. The hall has been renovated overnight. All the partitions that separated the hall have been removed. Although the chairs are still there, the bidding devices on them have been taken away. The ten auction rooms have been transformed into a spacious auditorium that can accommodate about two thousand people.
However, the ten huge electronic screens are still preserved on the four walls. Merchants participating in this Myanmar jade auction do not need to crowd to the front to see whether their bids for rough stones have been successful. At nine o'clock in the morning, the numbers of the lots to be drawn that day, as well as the winning bids and the winning bidders' numbers, will be displayed on the big screens.
"Xiao Rui, how are you? Are you nervous?"
It was just past eight o'clock. The bidding site was already packed with people. Although the bidding was over, the results were not yet out, and no one could truly relax. Their mood was like that of students waiting for their final exam results after the college entrance examination.
"It's alright, Uncle Qin. The bids I submitted all had poor external performance, so there won't be many competitors..."
Zhuang Rui smiled, feeling a little smug. If anyone had to say who had the biggest win at this Myanmar jade auction, it would definitely be him. Including the money Qin Haoran spent on the two pieces of red jade, Zhuang Rui had invested nearly 400 million RMB in total. It seemed like a lot, but if he stockpiled those raw materials for a few years before selling them, Zhuang Rui was confident that he could increase their value to around 3 billion RMB.
Many people might not understand why someone with their own jewelry store would sell their pieces. The truth is, a jewelry store like Zhuang Rui's, Qin Ruilin in Beijing, only sells jadeite jewelry for around 30 million yuan a year. That's about 30% of their total jewelry sales, and the amount of jadeite raw material they use isn't that large.
Moreover, the sale of jade jewelry has a cycle. It's not like you can carve the raw material into ornaments, put them in a store, and immediately sell them, especially top-quality jade, which has an astronomical price that is beyond the reach of ordinary people. However, once it is sold, the profit is quite considerable, somewhat like an antique shop that may not make a sale for three years, but can live off its profits for three years.
Furthermore, objects carved from top-quality jadeite must maintain their uniqueness, as rarity increases value, and only then can they fetch astronomical prices. Otherwise, if a dozen or so pieces were produced at once, they would only sell for a pittance. Therefore, Zhuang Rui did not intend to cut all of this batch of jadeite into ornaments.
Those twenty pieces of raw jade, if you take any one of them and cut it open, would be enough for Qin Ruilin to use for a year and a half. If it were glass-type jade, the finished products would only need to be displayed and sold in three to five pieces at most each year. This would not only ensure Qin Ruilin's reputation for high-end jewelry, but also maximize the price of the jewelry.
The reason Zhuang Rui bought so many pieces of jadeite in one go was that he wanted to invest in and hoard jadeite. Note that these are jadeite pieces, not raw stones. Unlike those raw stone merchants, even if Zhuang Rui sells them later, he will extract the jadeite inside and sell it, not sell it at the price of a raw stone.
"It's time, it's starting, it's about to begin..."
Just as Zhuang Rui and his group were chatting, it was already nine o'clock in the morning. Those who had been sitting in chairs with their eyes closed, resting, all stood up and rushed towards the various display screens. Their faces showed a variety of expressions of tension and excitement. After all, before the bidding was opened, no one dared to say that they could win the bid with certainty. Of course, Zhuang was an exception.
"The 2005 Yangon Jade Auction sealed bid opening is about to begin. Please note that if you are the successful bidder, please bring your identification documents to the window to sign the 'Winning Bid Contract.' Please take note..."
With one minute left before the bid opening, the hall echoed with announcements from the organizing committee staff about the successful bidders, but few people paid any attention to them; their eyes were fixed on the large screens.
Suddenly, the large screen lit up, and a string of numbers appeared on it: "Lot No. 3469, winning bid: 390,000 euros, winning bid number: XXXXXXX". This string of red numbers was extremely eye-catching on the black background of the large screen. After about five seconds, it scrolled up one page, and then another set of winning bid numbers appeared below.