Xu Juncheng was also deeply attracted by the green color cut from the four pieces of raw jade, and had long forgotten that he came to Yunli to sell the factory to Zhou Xuan.
Along the other sides, following the lines drawn by Zhou Xuan, the four craftsmen precisely cut to the location where the green appeared, without damaging the integrity of the jade at all, and also reducing the time considerably. It was as if Zhou Xuan could see the jade inside with the naked eye! However, the first cut of Zhou Xuan's lines was usually empty, and sometimes several cuts were made empty, but the last line was extremely accurate, which greatly impressed Master Chen and the others. Just based on this skill, Zhou Xuan was better than them!
About an hour later, the outer layers of stone on the four rough stones had been mostly removed, leaving only the core of the jadeite, which needed to be polished with a fine grinding wheel. Even in this state, the value of these four stones was already quite evident.
After rubbing for a few minutes, as soon as one side of the jadeite surface was revealed, the other side was immediately rubbed off. This process took a little longer, but it didn't reveal the entire jadeite. It only roughly revealed the individual pieces of jadeite on the surface. There were four pieces! Each piece of jadeite was shaped like two hands holding it. Judging from the exposed jadeite, it was green like jade, with a watery sheen. From the exposed jadeite, it seemed that you could see very deep into it with the naked eye, without any impurities.
Because the exposed jade is not wide, most of the area has not been properly polished. However, if it is to be completely polished to reveal its true appearance, it will take at least a week. This is a slow process.
Even so, several experienced craftsmen are still estimating the value of this piece of jade. In their view, they might only encounter such a piece once in their lifetime. But today, Kui has warded off evil spirits and has casually unearthed four pieces, and each one is so good. Judging from the quality, clarity, and color, these four pieces are priceless treasures and are the best grade of jade!
Xu Juncheng started his business in jewelry and jadeite, so he knew this stuff like the back of his hand. The moment he saw these four gem-quality jadeite pieces, his eyes lit up. He immediately started calculating how many bracelets could be made from one piece, and how many rings from the rest. He made a preliminary estimate: "The total value of these four pieces of jadeite rough should be over 200 million yuan. If they were raw materials, the price should be no less than 100 million yuan. If they were auctioned, the price would be even higher!"
Just an hour or two later, the current value and the value when the green side was cut off are two completely different concepts. Although both bets have gone up, which would you choose: 20 million or 100 million?
Of course, anyone who isn't a fool would choose 100 million, but who has the guts of Zhou Xuan? Perhaps if you cut it in half, there's no green on the other side, and the green appears on the first side, then it's all for nothing, and the 20 million becomes worthless. That's an unbearable outcome!
Xu Juncheng was stunned for a moment, then murmured enviously, "Mr. Zhou, I don't know how to describe your luck. You are the luckiest person I have ever met. I have never seen such luck before. Everyone says that nine out of ten gamblers lose, or even more often than not, but you have won every single time!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Boss Xu, to be honest, when it comes to gambling on jadeite, it's true that nine out of ten times you lose. The reason I won is because I studied with others and did a lot of research on jadeite rough. It's a unique skill that I worked hard to learn. But I also know that you will lose if you gamble for too long, so after winning a few times, I'm going to quit!"
Xu Juncheng, Master Chen, and the others were stunned. For a long time, they were still thinking that if they could really learn such skills and such eyesight, it would be worth spending any amount of money and effort!
However, Zhou Xuan's last words reminded them that gambling on stones is always a gamble, and in the long run, you will inevitably lose!
Master Chen paused for a moment, then suddenly asked in surprise, "Young Master Zhou, you just said you have a deep understanding of raw jade stones. Does that mean all the raw jade stones you brought back have been carefully examined by you? Every single one?"
Zhou Xuan smiled and nodded, then said, "Master Chen, now you should understand why I asked you to recruit more people, right? Hehe, if you still have doubts, pick another piece of rough jade and cut it open to take a look. Of course, I can't guarantee 100% accuracy; I'm just using my experience to select it."
Old Chen was stunned. Although he was just amazed by Zhou Xuan's luck, he still couldn't believe that there was jadeite in the rough stones in Zhou Xuan's entire factory. These were rough stones worth hundreds or even thousands of yuan. If there was jadeite in them, what would that mean?
Even the largest jade wholesalers probably don't have this many high-quality jadeite rough stones. This is a one-time event. Usually, in the major jadeite distribution centers of Tengchong and Ruili in Yunnan, it's probably impossible to get so many jadeite rough stones in one go.
Of course, none of them knew that Zhou Xuan had practically taken all the raw jade stones from the jade merchants in Tengchong, leaving nothing of good quality left, though that doesn't mean there weren't any.
Zhou Xuan didn't choose those jade pieces with green on the surface that sold for a relatively high price, because he didn't want them because they wouldn't generate a high profit compared to the jade that could be extracted from them.
There is also irrefutable evidence from the Western Zhou Dynasty: the rough stones that yield the best jadeite are almost always those with undesirable outer layers, and most of them have no attractive colors or patterns on the surface.
Master Chen shook his head, almost in disbelief, and examined the rough stones. He deliberately picked out a relatively small piece, grayish-white in color, with a smooth surface. According to the theory of gambling on stones, it was the least likely to yield jade.
This rough stone was about the size of a small watermelon and weighed about thirty pounds, making it the smallest among all the rough stones. Master Chen moved the rough stone to the cutting platform, and the other three masters and Xu Juncheng stepped forward to examine it carefully.
The group of people were all quite experienced, especially Xu Juncheng, but Xu Juncheng also lost everything in the process.
Master Chen looked at Zhou Xuan and asked, "Young Master Zhou, take another look at this rough stone. How should we cut it?"
Zhou Shi asked his younger brother Zhou Tao to bring the pen again. He used the ice to measure the shape of the jade inside, and then drew a few lines with the pen. The stone was small, so the lines were basically two-tenths of the way through.
Master Chen took a look, then positioned the stone, turned on the power, and after the first cut, the rough stone did not yield any green.
Of course, Lao Chen wouldn't think that the rough stone was wasted, nor would he think that there was actually jade inside. Then, after a distance of two centimeters, he cut along the second line. Because it was too thin, the stone pieces cut off by the grinding wheel shattered into pieces and scattered down.
At this moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the cut. Xu Juncheng was especially nervous. After Old Chen moved the grinding wheel, Xu Juncheng saw a patch of green and couldn't help but shout, "It's green again... it's green again!" After Old Chen moved the wheel away, he looked closely and saw that there was indeed green again at the cut! It was about the size of a palm. Actually, the color of this patch was not pure green, but purple!
Zhou Xuan already knew that this was a piece of violet jadeite. The color of the jadeite was white with a hint of purple, and there was a layer of eggplant color, but the purple was relatively light.
However, its original appearance is still not visible from the current cut; only a short, palm-sized patch of pale purple is visible on the cut surface.
Xu Juncheng was initially focused on whether the rough stone would actually yield jade, so he was watching to see if it would develop any color and didn't notice what color it was. After exclaiming and looking more closely, he realized it was purple. He paused for a moment, then said, "Hey, this is purple! It's violet jadeite!"
Indeed, every piece turned out to be jade, regardless of the type of tooth pattern, which proves that Zhou Xuan does have a method for identifying rough jade!
Among the onlookers, only Mou Ying didn't find it strange, because she knew Zhou Xuan's abilities. Detecting rough stones and finding jade was just a piece of cake for him. If they were to see Zhou Xuan killing pirates, transforming monsters, and curing terminal illnesses, they would probably be so shocked that their eyes would pop out!
Only then did Zhou Ying and Zhou Tao realize the reason why their brother had told them to keep a close eye on these rough stones. At first, they were just following Zhou Xuan's instructions, but now they knew that there really was jade in these rough stones. Although they didn't know how much it was worth, it was definitely something valuable.
Zhao Lao Er was a bit stunned. He understood that he and Zhou Xuan had each won a piece of jade in Tengchong, Yunnan. The quality of that jade was similar to the four pieces that had just been unearthed. Zhou Xuan's piece sold for more than 30 million, while his own piece sold for more than 20 million. Yun'er had four pieces, so how much would they be worth?
What's even more astonishing is that there are thousands of raw jade pieces in the factory. Zhao Lao Er knows very well that "Zhou Xuan painted on them and selected them. Judging from the current situation, could it be that every piece is actually jade? This is too frightening!"
Back in Tengchong, Zhao Lao Er always thought Zhou Xuan was just randomly picking rough stones, but now it seems that's not the case at all. If only a portion of them yielded jade, that would be remarkable, but now every single piece has jade. It seems that Zhou Xuan really has a unique skill in picking rough stones!
Xu Juncheng paused for a moment, then said, "Violet jadeite isn't very common; it's quite rare. But that doesn't mean it's more valuable than glass jadeite. In the industry, violet jadeite is called 'spring jadeite,' referring to the purple color of violet flowers. In ancient China, purple was the color of Taoism and imperial worship, as seen in phrases like 'purple aura coming from the east' and 'purple robes and sashes,' which symbolize the status of purple. Violet jadeite is generally divided into pinkish-purple, eggplant-purple, and blue-purple, among others. Pinkish-purple has a finer texture, and those with better transparency are rarer. Eggplant-purple is of lower quality, while blue-purple generally has a coarser texture and can also be called 'purple bean jadeite.' Violet jadeite is further divided into purple spring and red spring, with red spring being more valuable and purple spring slightly less so. Although violet jadeite isn't the absolute best among jadeite, it's a variety that jadeite merchants and collectors cherish."
Volume 1, Chapter 211: Royal Purple
Zhou Xuan was not familiar with violet jade and red jadeite, and had never seen them before. He only found out about them in advance by using ice energy to explore them, but he did not understand their actual value. However, as long as it did not cost a lot of money, he would buy it if it contained jade.
Xu Juncheng, however, was an expert. He could basically estimate how many pieces of jade could be made from it, what it was best suited for, and the approximate selling price just by looking at it.
Of course, Xu Juncheng is not sure how much this purple rough stone is worth yet, because Master Chen has not yet cut it open. He only cut it open recently and the color was revealed. Based on the current light purple color of the cut surface, this rough stone is worth between one million and two million. Because violet jadeite is also divided into color and saturation, we will only know what level of quality it is after it is fully cut open.
Moreover, this only indicates that the color has been revealed. The presence of color usually only means that the probability of finding jadeite inside has increased, but it does not necessarily mean that there is jadeite inside.
Li Wei was the least knowledgeable person at the event. After Xu Juncheng explained it to him, he couldn't help but praise, "Old Xu, you know quite a lot! I'll find some time to learn from you!"
Li Wei saw that Zhou Xuan had set up such a stone-cutting factory, and since he was a jade enthusiast, he really wanted to learn from Xu Juncheng so that he wouldn't look so clueless in front of Zhou Xuan. In his opinion, among everyone present, Xu Juncheng was the most knowledgeable about jade.
Xu Juncheng smiled wryly and said, "If Third Brother wants to learn, of course I will teach him everything I know. But it's not very interesting for you to learn this. You don't need to work hard or worry about making a living. Unlike me!"
Seeing that Zhou Xuan hadn't said he wouldn't cut it anymore, Master Chen guessed that Zhou Xuan still wanted to cut it completely. When the first four pieces of rough jade turned out green and were worth 20 million, he wasn't planning to sell them. Now, this piece of purple rough jade was probably only worth one or two million, so it was normal for Zhou Xuan not to sell it.
Then cut along the lines on the other side. This piece of rough stone was small, so it was quick to cut. At this point, Master Chen was truly impressed by Zhou Xuan's eye for detail!
Ultimately, it all comes down to ability. At this point, no one doubted Zhou Xuan anymore; instead, they were filled with anticipation. They wondered how much jadeite could be extracted from the thousands of rough stones in the factory. But undeniably, the few pieces of jadeite that had been extracted so far represented a huge fortune that ordinary people could never earn in a lifetime.
The second side only required two cuts to turn light purple again. Then, the third side required three cuts to turn purple, and the fourth side only required two cuts.