Yue Jing was very dissatisfied with Zhuang Rui's words and said, "Alright, youngest brother, why are you taking this so seriously? If there's nothing inside that stone, then the money is yours, okay?"
"Hehe, I'm afraid those few won't agree."
These guys weren't concerned about money, so Zhuang Rui felt relieved. He picked up the grinding wheel and prepared to polish the stone first. Once the surface of the rough stone was removed, it was basically all jade inside. If he cut it with a knife, it would destroy its internal structure. He could only polish out the green little by little.
It's been over two hours since the opening of the jade gambling convention. However, most of the people who came today are from the industry, and they are mostly asking about prices and looking at stones. Not many people are actually buying. A few people are cutting stones, but their luck is similar to that of the middle-aged people; they've all lost money gambling. So when Zhuang Rui starts polishing a stone, a large group of people swarm around him again.
The flow of people in the venue was very high. Although the news that booth number 83 had gone bankrupt had spread throughout the venue, only about a hundred people had actually seen it. They had all wandered off to who knows where by now. The people watching now were all newcomers, and not many of them knew that the rough stone Zhuang Rui was about to polish was scrap material that he had bought for 10,000 yuan.
"Young man, this rough stone of yours has already been cut. There's no green showing in either of the windows, so it's basically waste material. Is it even worth polishing?"
Among the crowd were many experts in jade gambling. A small old man in his fifties, standing next to the stone cutting machine, raised his question.
"Hehe, old sir, we brothers just bought some rough jade that others had cut up to practice with. Anyway, it's not worth much money."
Zhuang Rui answered casually.
Upon hearing this, the old man's face immediately showed disappointment. As he prepared to leave, he found that the area behind him was crowded with people. Helpless, he could only wait for Zhuang Rui to finish wiping the stone before he could go out.
"Why bother rubbing a stone like this? Just cut it in half and you're done."
"Yeah, it's a waste of our time."
Those at the very back of the circle felt cheated and began to speak up.
"Dude, I didn't invite you guys to come..."
Zhuang Rui ignored these people, turned on the grinding wheel, and started rubbing the side of the jade about seven or eight centimeters away from it.
Zhuang Rui didn't cut in and rub in a straight line; instead, he rubbed out a small window, pushing in layer by layer, because he knew that white mist would appear at the edge of the jade.
After the first few people relayed the news, the onlookers realized that the piece of material was worthless and became impatient. The people on the outermost edge of the circle had already left, and the rest of the people were discussing their own experiences that day, with no one paying any attention to the material.
Zhuang Rui rubbed the stone very slowly, rinsing it clean with water after only rubbing in a centimeter or two. After the third rinse, a layer of fine, misty crystals appeared before everyone.
"Huh? It's fogging up?"
The old man, with his sharp eyes, spotted the white mist immediately. Ignoring the rapidly spinning grinder in Zhuang Rui's hand, he leaned closer to examine it closely.
"Not bad, young man, keep rubbing. Judging from this, there's a good chance it will turn green."
After watching for a few minutes, the old man said to Zhuang Rui with a serious expression.
As everyone knows, rough stones that can actually yield jadeite all have a layer of skin on the outside. Underneath this skin is usually a layer of mist, and the fresh jadeite is located beneath the mist. Rough stones with mist are generally not far from yielding green jadeite. Of course, not all rough stones will have mist, and the presence of mist does not guarantee that the jadeite will yield green jadeite. These are all based on the experience of our predecessors. However, the chances of a rough stone with mist yielding green jadeite are quite high.
"Hey old man up ahead, how's the fog doing?"
At this moment, news of the fog breaking out spread among the crowd, and the previous noise immediately disappeared. They were all experts and naturally knew what the fog meant. Some impatient people in the back shouted it out.
"The white mist has a slight green tinge, so there should be jadeite underneath. And the green of this jadeite is quite good. I can't say about the quality or clarity, but the green is definitely pure, vibrant, bright, and even. Not bad, young man, you've hit the jackpot with this piece."
Although Zhuang Rui hadn't yet detected any green, the old man, with his keen eye, had already described the jadeite inside with great accuracy. Zhuang Rui secretly admired him; the dry green jadeite in this rough stone was indeed of average quality, but the green color was excellent and very vibrant.
"Young man, I heard you bought this rough jade for 10,000 yuan. I'll offer 100,000. Are you willing to sell?"
"Based on what Boss Qi said, this raw material is worth more than 100,000. Young man, I'll offer 150,000, how about it?"
The old man who was commenting on the rough stone seemed to be quite prestigious in the jade gambling circle. For a while, everyone was talking about it. It was only white mist with a hint of green, and people were already offering prices for Zhuang Rui. Of course, these people wanted to get a good deal. Once the green was revealed, the price would skyrocket.
"Youngest brother, this...this has increased fifteenfold? Should we sell?"
The third brother had been following Zhuang Rui the whole time. He never expected that in the blink of an eye, a stone that was originally considered waste could be sold for 150,000 yuan. This made the third brother's relatively strong heart pound.
"Not selling? We've only just begun..."
Zhuang Rui completely ignored the bidders, not even raising his head. He thought the price should be ten times higher. He had valued the rough stone at 1.5 million. He was initially a little nervous, worried that no one would buy it after it was cut open. But judging from the current situation, he figured that these people would be scrambling to buy it after it was cut open.
To be honest, Zhuang Rui was a novice. He didn't know much about the domestic jade market. Currently, the domestic jade jewelry industry is facing a shortage of raw materials. At this kind of national jade gambling conference, as long as you can find green jade, you don't have to worry about finding buyers. In order to ensure the supply of goods and retain customers, some jade companies offer prices for good-looking jade rough that are almost the same as the price of finished products, making only a small profit.
"Crazy people buy, crazy people sell, and crazy people are waiting"—this is the most accurate description of the jadeite rough stone gambling conference.
As the grinding wheel rubbed against the stone, a hint of green finally appeared on the edge of the rough stone. After grinding out a small window the size of a baby's palm, Zhuang Rui stopped, took the tissue Zhang Rong handed him, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Yang green, it's yang green, the color is pure and not distorted, not bad, not bad at all. It's a pity, if this water could reach the glassy level, this rough stone would be extraordinary..."
It was that old man surnamed Qi who was the first to step forward and check. He shook his head as he looked, as if Zhuang Rui had wiped it all off.
"Young man, stop rubbing! If you keep rubbing, it might break. I'll offer you 300,000. Want to sell?"
"Four hundred thousand. Although the seed is dry green, jewelry made from this bright green seed is the best-selling. I'll offer four hundred thousand."
After several jade merchants came forward to examine the newly polished skylight, they all offered Zhuang Rui prices. Wei Ge and the others, who had never witnessed such a scene before, looked at each other in disbelief.
Bidding was incessant. In the short time it took Zhuang Rui to wipe his sweat and take a sip of water, the rough stone with only a small window cut into it had already risen to 600,000 RMB. A smile appeared on Zhuang Rui's face. It seemed that the price would not be low once the rough stone was made into a finished piece.
Yang Hao, who was standing next to Zhuang Rui serving him tea and water, was also full of excitement. Zhuang Rui's heart was moved, and he handed the grinder in his hand to Yang Hao, saying, "Brother Yang, please help me unravel this."
Chapter 194 The Crazy Stone (4)
"Shall I solve it?"
Yang Hao was taken aback at first, then overjoyed. Zhuang Rui had asked him to cut this rough stone, which was a huge favor to him. After all, this rough stone came from his stall, and his hands would be the best form of publicity. Just as Zhuang Rui had revealed the green color, the onlookers were already asking about the origin of the rough stone.
"Yes, if you rub along the green area to the side, I reckon the jade inside won't be small."
Although Zhuang Rui let Yang Hao handle the rough stone, he still didn't want Yang Hao to cut it directly, and gave Yang Hao a word of advice.
"I know, let's peel off the outer skin first and see how it performs."
With Zhuang Rui trusting him so much, and so many people watching, Yang Hao naturally couldn't afford to mess things up; his method was the safest.
"Youngest brother, you're amazing! How did you know there would definitely be jade inside this stone?"
Seeing that Zhuang Rui had given up his spot to polish the stone, the group of guys eagerly surrounded him, offering him water and tobacco and even lighting it for him. They were being incredibly attentive. It was Wei Ge who, on behalf of the group, asked the question that had been on their minds.
"I don't know anything. You guys go around asking around, is there any old mine jadeite that sells for 10,000 yuan? I'm just looking for a cheap deal. If I find green jadeite, I'll make a profit. Even if we gamble it all away, we can still afford it."
Zhuang Rui naturally wouldn't tell the truth, but this reason put Wei Ge and the others at ease. They had just gone around and knew that a rough stone of this size would cost at least 100,000 yuan. If someone hadn't gambled away this third of the rough stone, they wouldn't have been able to buy it for 10,000 yuan.
"Damn, so it was just a lucky break..."
The group all gave Zhuang Rui the middle finger, put away the towels they were using to wipe their sweat, and put out their cigarettes before they could even be lit. Only the third brother was somewhat decent, but the Wanglaoji herbal tea they were about to offer him turned into ordinary mineral water.
Zhuang Rui knew his friends were joking with him, so he didn't pay any attention and focused his attention on Yang Hao, who was preparing to cut the stone.
Yang Hao, worthy of his family's background in jade, was very experienced in stone cutting, even though he was about the same age as Zhuang Rui. His hands, in particular, were extremely steady as he held the grinding wheel, constantly scraping away the stone chips next to the skylight.
As the skylight grew larger, the pupils of the onlookers shrank, and everyone's attention was drawn to the hissing sound of the stone being scraped.
After about twenty minutes, Yang Hao stopped, covered in sweat. It wasn't that he didn't want to continue, but the sweat on his forehead was dripping into his eyes, and his hands were becoming unsteady from exerting force for so long. He had to stop and rest. Yang Jun, who was next to him, immediately handed him a slice of watermelon and used a wet towel to wipe his cousin's sweat.
Half of the rough stone has been cut open, revealing a piece of jade about half the size of a football. Fortunately, the exposed jade has a very even color, and the rich green, under the sunlight, looks like a newly sprouted blade of grass, exuding vitality.
“Young man, stop rubbing it. The edge is getting foggy again. It’s a pity. If you had stopped earlier, this piece of rough jade would have been worth at least 1.5 million. Now it’s probably worth at most 1.2 million.”
Old Qi was the first to rush over and carefully examine the jadeite beneath the skin. From the perspective of gambling on jade, Yang Hao had just made a mistake because he failed to observe the white mist underneath.
However, Zhuang Rui didn't care, because he knew that if he brushed past another two or three centimeters, there would be more jadeite under the white mist. Moreover, on the other half, apart from a thin layer of skin only about two centimeters thick, it was all jadeite, and its volume was one-third larger than what was currently exposed.
"Young man, look at this rough stone. It's almost completely cut open. Are you planning to sell it? Old Qi just said it's worth 1.2 million. I'll offer 1.3 million now. How about it, sell it to me..."
A plump, fair-skinned middle-aged man squeezed through the crowd to Zhuang Rui's side. He took out a lighter, clasped his hands together to light Zhuang Rui's cigarette, and then quoted a price. Judging from the current condition of the rough stone, the price offered by this plump merchant was fair.
"Where were you all just now? Of all the people who were looking down on me, your voice was the loudest..."
Zhuang Rui glanced at the fat man, slowly shook his head, and felt a surge of satisfaction. Now he wouldn't be offering any advice, would he?
"This piece of raw jade..."
Zhuang Rui spoke, and everyone pricked up their ears, but he stopped after saying just one sentence, causing everyone to curse inwardly.
After taking a sip of water, Zhuang Rui continued, "Of course we'll sell them, but since we've already gone this far, we'll just sell them as clear cuts. If you're interested, please wait a little longer..."
"Same, same, but when you solve it, young man, you should consider me first."
The outdoor temperature in Guangdong in June has already reached 35 degrees Celsius, and everyone is standing under the scorching sun. The chubby guy keeps wiping his sweat with a towel, saying nice things but actually cursing Zhuang Rui in his heart.
Can the price of a finished piece of jade be the same as that of a semi-finished piece? If it's cut open and sold as finished jade, the price will be transparent. Plus, there are quite a few people eyeing this piece of jade, so it won't be easy to get it for a lower price. At this moment, many of the onlookers are secretly cursing Zhuang Rui for being a sly fox.
"Brother Zhuang, this is fogging up. Should we cut it or...?"
After resting for a while and recovering, Yang Hao looked at Zhuang Rui with some embarrassment. He knew that if he had stopped before the white mist appeared, the value of the rough stone would have been much higher. However, he had already been polishing it for more than ten minutes, and his attention was not as focused as it had been at the beginning, so some problems inevitably arose.
"It's alright, keep wiping. Let's put in a little more effort and see if there's any green behind this white mist."
Zhuang Rui's words drew a barrage of criticism from the crowd, who accused him of insatiable greed. The jadeite had already been polished from beneath the fog, yet he still expected to find green on the back as well. Several experts in jade gambling even wanted to bet with Zhuang Rui that if he could polish out more green, they might as well find a block of tofu and smash their heads against it.
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
Yang Hao stood up, picked up the grinding wheel again, and began to grind along the white mist. Perhaps he didn't have much hope, because he moved much faster than before. After grinding about three centimeters, a beautiful green appeared again at the edge where the grinding wheel touched the raw material.
"It's gone up...it's gone up..."
Yang Hao stopped the grinding machine, rinsed the green spot with water, and shouted loudly. The previously noisy crowd suddenly fell silent. A piece of material that was generally considered waste had actually turned out to be worthless twice in a row. This fact surprised many people who considered themselves experts in jade gambling.
"Wow, this is a huge increase! Yang Jun, go get the firecrackers..."
Yang Hao shouted in a slightly trembling voice. Although he was exhausted both physically and mentally, the rough jade in his hand was like a poppy stimulating his nerves. The white mist just now, and the bright green now, such ups and downs were something that most people could not withstand.
Upon hearing his cousin's greeting, Yang Jun immediately squeezed through the crowd and returned with a tray of red paper firecrackers stacked several times. Yang Hao took the firecrackers, parted the crowd surrounding the tent, hung the firecrackers on a corner of the tent, and said to Zhuang Rui, "Brother Zhuang, you can light them."
Setting off firecrackers when the bet is successful has always been a tradition among raw jade merchants. The person who lights the firecrackers is usually the owner of the raw jade. There's a reason for this, just like dotting the eyes of the lion before a lion dance, it's a very honorable thing.
Zhuang Rui was unaware of the rules and casually stepped forward, lighting the firecrackers with his cigarette butt. Instantly, deafening firecracker sounds echoed throughout the entire venue.
Most of the guests invited to the opening ceremony today are from the jade gambling circle. Upon hearing the firecrackers, they naturally understood what was happening, put down the rough stones they were looking at, and followed the sound.
The stall, which originally had only a couple hundred people watching, was now completely packed with people, and those behind were still desperately trying to squeeze in. The purpose of these people coming here was to buy some better rough stones to take back. A successful gamble usually meant that there were rough stones for sale, so it would be strange if they didn't fight desperately.
Seeing that his stall was crowded with people, Yang Hao's face lit up with joy. He was no longer tired and took one last step to cut out Zhuang Rui's rough stone.
The rough jadeite now presented to everyone should be called a finished jadeite piece. Its mysterious veil has been lifted. The entire piece of jadeite is spherical, slightly larger than a football, with the green color distributed quite evenly. Under the sunlight, it looks like a jade watermelon.
Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that in the middle of this jadeite, there is a layer of white mist about two centimeters thick, which neatly divides the jadeite into two distinct halves.
Unfortunately, this piece of jadeite is a typical rough stone from the Baibi mine. While the color is pure, the translucency is average, and the transparency is not very good. It barely reaches the level of dry green jadeite. If it were icy jadeite, it would be worth at least tens of millions of yuan, and if it were glassy jadeite, it would probably be worth hundreds of millions of yuan.
"Young man, you're really lucky! You managed to cut such a large piece of jade out of a piece of scrap. You just said you'd sell this jade. I'll offer two million RMB. What do you think?"
"I'll offer two million five hundred thousand..."
"Two million eight thousand..."
"I'll offer two and a half million, no, that doesn't sound right, two and a half million..."