As Master Chen cut the mortar, he sighed. Sure enough, this young boss Zhou was no ordinary person. It seemed that his previous thoughts about him were all wrong. He was not a reckless gambler, but a smart man with a plan, wit, and great skills.
During the process of cutting this purple rough stone, the value of each side that came out was different. Then, when the last side turned out to be purple, the price had already multiplied.
Xu Juncheng stared wide-eyed, barely daring to breathe, intently watching Master Chen carefully polish the stone. When a spherical piece of purple jade, about 200 centimeters in diameter, was polished out, his mouth gaped open in a semi-circle.
Master Chen and the other three masters had only seen violet jadeite before, but violet jadeite is relatively rare and not commonly seen. In their experience of cutting stones, they had never cut one, so they were not familiar with this piece of violet jadeite.
Xu Juncheng steadied his trembling hands and said, "Master Chen, let me take a look at this piece of jade!" Master Chen handed it over, and Xu Juncheng carefully took it and examined it closely in his hands.
Xu Juncheng squinted, his surprise growing with each look. Then he glanced at Zhou Xuan and said, "Boss Zhou, this is the finest 'Royal Purple' among purple jade!"
Zhou Xuan really didn't know that. The ice energy had already clearly detected the violet jadeite, and there was also a piece of red jadeite in the rough. However, compared to the top-quality jadeite he had obtained before, Zhou Xuan thought that violet and red jadeite were cheaper, so he didn't care much. In addition, the price of buying rough jadeite was low, so he bought it as well.
However, when Zhou Xuan heard the name "Royal Purple," he still estimated that it wouldn't be too bad, because anything associated with the word "emperor" was usually not bad. After all, "the difference between an emperor and a commoner is immeasurable. Hehe, I don't really understand this, can you explain it to me?" Zhou Xuan smiled and then said to Xu Juncheng.
In the eyes of Xu Juncheng and Master Chen, his words were merely modesty. How could someone who could gamble on stones with such astonishing efficiency be someone who didn't understand jade? They probably wanted to hear Xu Juncheng's opinion first.
Xu Juncheng didn't stand on ceremony and spoke in Yu language. He couldn't be polite anymore. He was full of excitement. Seeing other people's wealth made him not only envious but also excited. Even though it wasn't his own, it was like buying a lottery ticket. If someone won a multi-million dollar prize, it would cause a sensation throughout the country for at least ten days or half a month, with everyone talking about the lucky winner.
But for the general public, winning the lottery is always just a phantom, unlike Zhou Xuan, who is right in front of them—a living, breathing person!
"Purple jadeite is also known as purple jade, and its color is called spring color, spring flowers, etc." Xu Juncheng sighed, unable to help but show his envy of Zhou Xuan, and then continued: "Purple is rich and elegant, while purple is light and beautiful, and reddish-purple is solemn and magnificent. They are all unique. In the market, purple jadeite is divided into five types according to its color and saturation. These five types are royal purple, reddish-purple, bluish-purple, violet, and pinkish-purple!"
Xu Juncheng then counted on his fingers and said, "Pinkish purple is a lighter shade of purple. It can have a reddish or bluish feel, but it doesn't reach the level of reddish purple or bluish purple. Although the purple is still relatively bright, the saturation is relatively low. In terms of commercial value, pinkish purple has the lowest."
"Violet is the most common color in commercial jadeite. The purple ranges from medium to light, and this shade often appears in jadeite of varying textures, sometimes together with green. This is called 'spring with color,' and it's the standard color for violet jadeite!"
"Blue-purple is a purple that leans towards blue. Its saturation varies greatly, ranging from no blue to deep blue-purple. It's a relatively common type of purple, known in trade as 'eggplant purple,' because it has the color of an eggplant. When the saturation is high, the color often has a grayish-blue feel, and its brightness is generally lower than other types." Zhou Shi and the dozen or so people present all understood.
They listened with great interest, and seeing how engaged they were, Xu Juncheng spoke even more enthusiastically. "I've already mentioned three types. The fourth type, reddish-purple, is a purple that leans towards thistle red. Its color saturation is usually medium, but highly saturated types are rare. However, it's not common even among purple jadeite, and it's quite valuable."
Li Wei listened with interest, but looking at the purple jadeite in Xu Juncheng's hand, he asked again, "After all this talk, you still haven't said what kind of jadeite this one is, or how much it's worth?" Li Wei's question was impulsive and direct, but it was also the question most people wanted to ask. Xu Juncheng chuckled awkwardly, "Third Brother, don't rush me, I'll explain slowly."
Hearing Xu Juncheng, who was in his forties, call Li, who was in his twenties, "Third Brother" made everyone laugh. But Zhou Xuan understood that in today's society, those with ability or outstanding status are a cut above others. No matter how loudly some people shout "equality for all" or so, in the face of reality, there are still differences in status.
Xu Juncheng then continued, "The fifth type of purple jadeite is royal purple. This purple is extremely rich and pure, with a high saturation, but only a medium level. This color gives off a sense of wealth and elegance. However, this purple is actually extremely rare. Like the top-grade glass clock among green jadeite, it is only theoretical. Among purple jadeite, it is one in ten thousand, and its value is immeasurable!"
At this point, Xu Juncheng held up some more of the purple jade in his hand and said to everyone, "Look, this piece is royal purple!"
After listening to him talk for a long time, everyone finally heard him say that the piece was "Royal Purple," and they all gathered around him again.
Xu Juncheng sighed, "To be honest, the last time I saw royal purple jewelry was three years ago at the Zhou's Jewelry Exhibition in Hong Kong. It was a Guanyin statue, priced at seventeen million Hong Kong dollars, and that Guanyin statue was only 1.5 inches tall. Now look at the size of this royal purple piece in my hand—it's almost twenty centimeters in diameter! It could make six or seven bracelets, and countless rings. I estimate that the raw royal purple stone alone is worth over eighty million RMB. After being processed into finished products, its value will at least double!" "Eighty million!" Li Wei was speechless with astonishment! "My God!"
Fu Ying knew Zhou Xuan's capabilities and had some estimate of them, but she was still shocked by the amount of wealth he had revealed. Such a level of wealth was terrifying. Her family had accumulated a vast amount of wealth through generations of hard work. Although it was far more than Zhou Xuan's, it was hard to imagine what level Zhou Xuan's wealth would reach in the future, given his terrifying and astonishing level of wealth accumulation.
Besides, their family is engaged in real businesses. Xi Zhouxuan's business is like a business with no capital investment. "The capital invested is very small, but the money earned is extremely astonishing. They rely on supernatural abilities, which is something that others cannot possess."
Zhou Xuan himself was also a little surprised. He thought that this purple jade and the other red jade were not worth much money, but because the raw material was too poor in appearance and had no color, the cost was not much, so he bought them. He never expected that he would hit the jackpot again.
Zhou Xuan was no longer excited about wealth, but he was always happy to get his hands on something valuable. After thinking for a while, he had an idea and wanted to ask Xu Juncheng what the price of red jadeite was. If it was the same as this royal purple jadeite, then it would be incredible. The jadeite pieces that were unearthed today were worth over 200 million!
There are still thousands of pieces in this factory. Although most of them are of lower quality than these few, there are still four pieces of top-quality glass. Once they are all unearthed, the total value should theoretically exceed 500 million. I wonder if the antique shop can handle such a large quantity!
Before Zhou Xuan could ask about Hong Cui, Xu Juncheng took a few deep breaths and suddenly pulled Zhou Xuan aside, whispering, "Mr. Zhou... could we go to a quieter place to talk alone?"
Zhou Xuan saw that he was excited and didn't know what he was excited about. No matter how valuable these jadeite pieces were, they weren't his. Why was he so excited? Was it because he saw that such good jadeite had been cut out and wanted to raise the price of the factory again?
Doubts are doubts, but until they are spoken out, they are not facts.
Zhou Xuan smiled, waved to Fu Ying, and then said to the others, "Master Chen, you can continue cutting the stones. Today we're officially starting work. Anyway, the jadeite you cut will be given a certain bonus according to its actual value!"
"Good!" Master Chen clapped his hands first, full of enthusiasm. His initial doubts and hesitations had long been gone. Just for the five pieces of green and purple jadeite that were cut today, Zhou Xuan would give them at least tens of thousands of yuan in commission. Moreover, there were still so many raw materials in the factory. With the four of them, it would probably take at least a few months to work. If they were to do all the fine work and polish them, of course, if all of these raw materials contained jade, it would take a year!
Zhou Tao, Zhou Ying, Zhao Lao Er, and the others stared blankly as the master craftsmen meticulously polished the stone. They had known nothing about this before, but faced with such immense wealth, their interest naturally surged. Zhou Shi then invited Fu Ying to join them, and together they led Xu Juncheng out of the factory.
Yun'er was Zhang-Juncheng's old lair, and he knew it better than Zhou Xuan. He quickened his pace as he walked out, and instead led Zhou Xuan and Yun'er to the office building in front.
The office building was a two-story villa. On the ground floor, Xu Juncheng entered the room and quickly pulled out chairs for Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying to sit down.
Zhou Shi first introduced Fu Ying to Xu Juncheng: "Mr. Xu, this is my fiancée, Fu Ying!"
Xu Juncheng nodded and said, "Miss Fu, hello!" Xu Juncheng was naturally extremely amazed by Fu Ying's beauty. She was as stunning as Shangguan Mingyue, and her noble and elegant temperament made people dare not look up at her.
Zhou Xuan waved for Xu Juncheng to sit down, then asked, "Mr. Xu, please speak freely. Is it about this factory?"
Xu Juncheng waved his hand and said, "Boss Zhou, given my current situation, calling me Boss Xu is too kind of you. Just call me Lao Xu, it'll feel more natural. As for the factory, Boss Zhou said yesterday, it's up to you, I don't care about that. I want to talk to Boss Zhou about something else, which is also a request!"
Zhou Xuan was genuinely confused. Seeing Xu Juncheng's sincere yet pessimistic expression, he asked, "Alright, I'm a straightforward person too. I don't beat around the bush. Old Xu, what is it?"
Volume 1, Chapter 212: The Golden Knee
“Mr. Zhou, as you know, I’m in the jewelry business. Xu’s Jewelry was once a well-known brand in Beijing, and its scale was quite large. But in the past two years, I’ve been gambling on stones like crazy and lost nearly a billion yuan. My cash flow has dried up, and now I’m struggling to make ends meet!”
“I used to have a lot of connections, but when I fell on hard times, those connections stopped working. That’s just how life is. Relationships are based on mutual interests. Once those interests are gone, the connections naturally disappear too!”
Xu Juncheng sighed and said, "Several large jewelers are trying to take this opportunity to acquire me, and they're using every means possible to suppress and reduce my business. I've done the math myself. My total capital is about 1.4 billion, but I've lost 1 billion gambling on jade in recent years, and I still have 350 million in bank loans. Based on that, I only have 50 million in assets. But my forty-odd shops are all high-quality assets. It's just that I don't have working capital right now, so my turnover is almost zero, and I'm on the verge of bankruptcy. But if you count the intangible assets of my shops, they're definitely no less than 200 million. And the large merchants who are suppressing me want to acquire me, but they're only offering 200 million. Sigh, 200 million, that's too greedy!" Zhou Xuan felt a pang of sympathy, then understood a bit and asked, "Old Xu, do you mean you want me to acquire your jewelry store?"
Xu Juncheng shook his head, his eyes reddening slightly. He sighed and then said, "No, Mr. Zhou, what I mean is this: Mr. Zhou, you sold these five top-quality green and purple jadeite pieces today, right? I think if you use these pieces as collateral, you can apply for a loan suspension from the bank. Then you can turn these jadeite pieces into finished products and sell them. After that, you can repay the loan of over 300 million yuan. My original intention is that, if Mr. Zhou is willing, I want to resell Xu's Jewelry for the price of that 300 million yuan loan. In my experience, as long as the loan is repaid and there is new capital investment, Xu's Jewelry's prospects are still very good!"
Zhou Xuan finally understood. He was calculating in his mind that if he could exchange the few pieces of jade he had just cut for a jewelry store without having to pay cash, it would be worth it. Xu Juncheng was not bad at business, but he failed because of gambling on jade, which happened to be Zhou Xuan's forte. If he could exchange it, he would have a sufficient supply of goods and a steady stream of products, which would not be a bad thing.
Seeing Zhou Xuan deep in thought, Xu Juncheng assumed he was unwilling and continued, "Boss Zhou, I was already very grateful for your generosity yesterday. When I was down on my luck, none of my friends were willing to lend a hand, but you, a complete stranger, were able to help me. I am truly grateful to you. If you disagree with what I'm discussing with you, I won't blame you. I just don't want my hard work to be taken away by someone I hate. It would truly hurt me to see my child suffer like that!"
Zhou Xuan looked at Xu Juncheng, a grown man in his teens, with red eyes, and felt genuinely distressed. He smiled and said, "Old Xu, that's not what I meant. As you just said, I hadn't really considered getting involved in this industry before. However, I have considerable knowledge of jade gambling, so it's not like I can't do it. If you're interested, I'm willing to accept it. But let's do this: I can't go too far. Besides..."
Xu Juncheng was stunned for a moment. When he heard Zhou Xuan say he was willing, he didn't react for a moment. Then he said with great joy, "Okay, okay, tell me, tell me!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "How about this, I'll acquire your company for 400 million, of which 350 million will be used to repay bank loans, and the other 50 million will be your money. However, I have two more conditions. I wonder if Lao Xu can agree to them?"