In the fifth pile, more than thirty pieces were picked. The sixth, seventh, and eighth piles had fewer pieces, with only seven or eight pieces each. The ninth pile had more pieces, with more than twenty pieces. Between the tenth and fourteenth piles, more than two hundred pieces were picked in total. The later piles had fewer pieces, but the total number was still forty or fifty pieces.
In Manager Gao's factory, a total of more than 400 pieces were selected, probably amounting to 20 or 30 tons, which surprised Manager Gao!
Volume 1, Chapter 595: Unexpected Gain
Chapter 595 Unexpected Gain
When Manager Gao saw that Zhou Xuan had still picked out so many stones, he was surprised. He thought Zhou Xuan was just picking a few to fool people, but he didn't expect to pick out so many. It would take several ten-ton trucks to transport these stones back to Beijing.
Manager Gao's materials, if a customer wants them, they'll ask for them in huge quantities, or even tons. If someone wants to pick them out like Zhou Xuan, they usually won't allow it. But Zhou Xuan is different. Someone just casually gave him a five million tip. When it comes to such things, it's a small matter, considering the relationship.
Moreover, Zhou Xuan hadn't even mentioned a lower price; he was just letting him choose. Let's see what Zhou Xuan has to say. He picked out dozens of tons of stone, which is no less than what other merchants wanted stone, and the quantity is probably even greater.
Zhou Xuan was overjoyed to see how many he had picked out. Although he had obtained more this time than in Tengchong last year, the number of top-quality jadeite was still about half that of last time, while the number of medium-quality jadeite was much greater. Overall, the harvest was still considerable. It seemed that it was indeed true that stones with good color and high value were far less valuable than those with extremely poor color. The truly valuable stones were actually those with poor color. This explained that in the world of jade gambling, experience and skills were all unreliable; it was all about luck. No expert could confidently say that they could accurately tell whether there was jadeite inside a stone.
Unless you have eyes that can see through stones—which is impossible, given how advanced technology is today—there is no instrument that can see through stones and understand what's inside.
They never imagined that there would be such an anomaly as Zhou Xuan in this world, whose superpowers were more advanced than all high-tech equipment.
"Manager Gao, there are about thirty tons here, right? Hehe, I have to thank you. How much is it per ton?" Zhou Xuan looked at the stones and, to be honest, was really happy. The total value was not less than last time, only the top-grade stones were fewer, but the medium-grade stones were much more numerous. By taking advantage of the best and making up for the worst, the total value was actually about the same.
Manager Gao hesitated for a moment before smiling ingratiatingly and saying, "Although these materials are of lower quality, they were all dug from old mines in Myanmar. It's not uncommon to find high-quality jadeite from them. As for the price, the market price is 10,000 yuan per ton. If you want them, I can lower the price a bit, just a small token."
"No need," Zhou Xuan said with a smile, waving his hand. "I'll raise the price by another ten thousand, making it twenty thousand per ton. I appreciate Manager Gao's kindness, but I don't want to put you in a difficult position. A few hundred thousand is just a small amount; consider this extra money as an invitation to Manager Gao and the workers to have some tea."
Manager Gao was taken aback. He hadn't expected Zhou Xuan to not only refuse to lower the price but actually double it. It seemed Zhou Xuan truly didn't care about small sums; he'd even proactively added 10,000 yuan to the price per ton of raw material. After thinking for a moment, he quickly smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Little Zhou, do you want to see raw materials from other factories? If so, let me know, and you can choose from those as well. At your price, there's absolutely no problem. Actually, even without the extra charge, given my relationship with them, I can still give them that much face."
Zhou Xuan immediately nodded and replied, "That's great! As long as they're willing and Manager Gao doesn't mind the trouble, I'll go and pick some. Since I'm already here, I might as well make do and pick a lot. The price isn't too expensive anyway. If I transport it back to Beijing, even if I sell it in small quantities, it'll be more than 20,000 yuan per ton. Hehe, I'll just consider it practice."
Manager Gao chuckled and led Zhou Xuan to the nearby stone quarry. The price was 10,000, but he insisted on offering 20,000. Who would refuse? Besides, he had carefully examined the rough stones Zhou Xuan had picked out. They were no different from other stones; to the naked eye, they were just ordinary rocks, without a trace of green. It seemed that Zhou Xuan was just rich and had an odd personality. He guessed he was either some rich scoundrel or a super-rich second-generation. But such people were exactly to his liking. Knowing a few more such wealthy young men would bring him more tips than his annual salary. However, such people were hard to come by. To be honest, he had never met someone as generous as Zhou Xuan before.
Zhou Xuan was certainly not a kind person. He gave him a five million tip, but he made a profit of more than a thousand times from the raw materials. No one else could have imagined the reason behind this.
Manager Gao accompanied Zhou Xuan to other factories. By the time they had finished selecting from more than a dozen factories in the entire square, it was already dark. However, Zhou Xuan had gained even more. The amount of raw materials he selected later was nearly a hundred tons, more than twice the amount he had obtained from Manager Gao. In total, this batch of goods was at least more than double the amount he had received in Tengchong last year. Zhou Xuan had not expected such a haul when he came.
Actually, it's mostly ordinary merchants who come to wholesale factories, gambling on the good quality materials with good colors. These scrap materials in the square are basically unwanted, and after a year or two, they pile up like mountains. For Zhou Xuan, this means that his inventory of one or two years has been gathered together and then given to him. In fact, more than 90% of the real jadeite material is in this kind of scrap material. So Zhou Xuan got much more this time than last year. Just from the goods he got last time, his jewelry company has grown from a medium-sized company to a near-large company. If this batch of goods goes back, he may not be able to swallow up one or two international companies, but at least he will not be weaker than the largest companies. These raw materials are his greatest strength.
Zhou Xuan then said to Manager Gao, "Manager Gao, I need to trouble you again. Could you rent a factory building for me? I'll store these raw materials for the night. It's late now, so I'll find a truck to transport them back to Beijing tomorrow."
"Why talk about renting? I'll find you a factory. Brother, don't talk to me about renting or not. If you talk about money again, then you're not treating me, Gao Mingyuan, as a friend." Manager Gao agreed without further ado and generously forbade Zhou Xuan from discussing money. In fact, it made sense. Renting a factory for one or two nights would only cost a few hundred or a thousand yuan at most, which was already considered high. Zhou Xuan had given him so many benefits, so it would be awkward to ask him for a few hundred or a thousand yuan.
Zhou Xuan didn't stand on ceremony with him; any more politeness would only make Manager Gao feel uncomfortable. He immediately said, "Manager Gao, regarding that 45 million check, you can cash it tomorrow and pay me 35 million. The remaining 10 million, 5 million is Mr. Yang's payment for Manager Gao's meal and tea, and the other 5 million is the purchase price for today's raw materials, a total of 120 tons, at 20,000 per ton, totaling 2.4 million. The remaining 2.6 million is my extra tea money for Manager Gao."
Gao Mingyuan was practically ecstatic. He'd just gone through the motions with Zhou Xuan, which was essentially his job, but Zhou Xuan's tips kept coming in, amounting to seven or eight million in half a day. And Zhou Xuan was quite the smooth talker, insisting that the initial five million be attributed to Mr. Yang. While that was how he put it, Gao Mingyuan knew perfectly well that the five million wasn't from Mr. Yang. Mr. Yang was indeed wealthy and influential, having tipped him tens of thousands before, and considered him a truly generous customer. But compared to Zhou Xuan, he was nothing. Zhou Xuan had given him five million right off the bat, then raised the price by ten thousand, adding another two hundred thousand, and finally gave him two million six hundred thousand—which, in Zhou Xuan's words, was just a drop in the bucket.
Zhou Xuan's generosity emboldened Gao Mingyuan, who became even more careful and considerate. He personally directed the workers to transport hundreds of tons of raw materials into the warehouse, then locked the gate. Finally, he handed the key to Zhou Xuan, chuckling, "Brother, keep this key. No one but you can enter this warehouse. Give it back to me after you've moved it all. And..."
Manager Gao then said to Zhou Xuan, "Let's not talk about today or tomorrow for this warehouse. Brother, you can return the keys to me whenever you move the raw materials away."
Zhou Xuan smiled, took the key, and said, "Then thank you, Brother Gao. I'll accept your kind offer." Zhou Xuan took the key and casually put it into his pocket.
It wasn't that he was stingy, but he was worried that someone might take the rough stones he had picked out and cut them open to test them. If that happened, the flaws would be exposed, and that would cause a big problem. So when Manager Gao gave him the keys, he didn't stand on ceremony at all. Compared to his behavior of lavishly giving Manager Gao money, he seemed rather stingy.
However, Gao Mingyuan had no idea about any of that. He was already incredibly excited. He had received nearly eight million yuan in cash in just one day. This was nothing compared to his annual salary of one million yuan. After deducting expenses, he was lucky to save two or three hundred thousand yuan a year. But today, Zhou Xuan had given him seven or eight million yuan directly. This was a figure that he would have to save for almost twenty or even thirty years to achieve. How could he not be overjoyed?
Therefore, Gao Mingyuan had no doubts about Zhou Xuan's subtle actions. In his mind, these rough stones were just waste stones, worthless waste stones. He thought that Zhou Xuan was just helping him clean up the garbage in the square by buying them at a high price.
After storing over a hundred tons of raw materials, Zhou Xuan was about to return to the hotel. Manager Gao instructed the workers to close the gate and distributed Zhou Xuan's wages to them on the spot, five hundred yuan to each person. Then he personally escorted Zhou Xuan back to the hotel.
Manager Gao's car is a Ford Focus, a car worth over 100,000 yuan. Among ordinary people, he can be considered a very successful person. But in his own heart, he knows that he is still far from it, especially in front of someone like Zhou Xuan. A little pocket money given by Zhou Xuan is a huge amount that would take him decades to save.
As they approached the hotel, Gao Mingyuan added, "Brother, I'll personally pick you up at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. It's just a sightseeing trip; don't worry about the truck, I'll take care of everything."
Gao Mingyuan's purpose in saying this was, of course, to kill two birds with one stone. First, he helped his friend find a job, and given Zhou Xuan's personality and background, he would certainly not lose money on the fare and would only pay more than others. Second, he pleased Zhou Xuan, making him feel that everything was helping him.
Zhou Xuan got out of the car with a smile and said goodbye to him. Although Gao Mingyuan was snobbish, he still had a good eye for people and things, especially when it came to flattery. In life, you can't do without people like that, just like the eunuchs around the emperor in ancient times. Those famous eunuchs in the legends of the past, such as Wei Zhongxian and Li Lianying, were extremely famous, of course, infamous. But the emperors couldn't do without them. Sometimes, even if they knew that these eunuchs were lying and causing trouble, they still had to keep them by their side. That's the reason.
After returning to his hotel room, Zhou Xuan first took a nice shower, then lay down on the bed to rest for a while. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the phone again and called the mysterious supplier, but all he heard on the other end was the telecom operator announcing that the other party's phone was switched off.
This supplier is too cunning. Zhou Xuan has no choice but to continue waiting. He can only wait for the other party's call, who might be secretly watching him from somewhere.
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Xuan pondered for a while. Now he could only stay in Ruili and wait. Drug traffickers are extremely cautious, needless to say. They are doing things that could cost them their lives. They would investigate thoroughly before meeting with their suppliers and would only meet with them when they felt there was no danger. Zhou Xuan had only just arrived in Ruili, and he estimated that he would have to wait quite a while longer before he could actually meet with them.
Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to wait while wandering around Ruili, hoping to buy more jadeite rough. To my surprise, I managed to get so many rough stones as soon as I arrived in Ruili today, which was a wonderful surprise.
To be honest, although Zhou Xuan has superpowers, and he used his superpowers to detect these rough stones, having superpowers is useless if you don't have the rough stones. This place is full of mountains, and there are plenty of stones on the mountains. But can you find jade in these stones?
The answer is definitely yes, it cannot.
Even the most skilled cook can't cook without rice, and Zhou Xuan was no exception. Obtaining so many jadeite rough stones was indeed an unexpected delight. Overjoyed, Zhou Xuan called home to let them know he had arrived safely in Ruili and purchased a large quantity of rough stones that day. However, he wouldn't be returning to Beijing anytime soon and would stay there longer to purchase even more rough stones for the strategic development of his jewelry company.
During the phone call, Zhou Xuan also heard Xiao Si Zhou's shouting. Fu Ying had deliberately brought Xiao Si Zhou to the phone so that Zhou Xuan could hear it. Zhou Xuan chuckled, gave two kisses on the phone, and then hung up.
A wave of tenderness washed over him. His son, wife, and family were all perfectly reconciled, like a complete family. However, he still felt a dull ache in his heart, unable to forget Wei Xiaoyu's death.
After sighing for a while, Zhou Xuan resumed practicing his superpower. Because he could absorb and convert sunlight energy during the day to replenish himself, he didn't practice as excessively as before during his nighttime rest. Now, his pursuit of superpower had weakened, and he no longer wanted to reach higher levels. This might be partly due to the lack of opponents.
Those former rivals, Ma Shu, the assassins in Tu's hands, including the ringleaders, are basically all dead. The only one left, Mao Feng, is insignificant. Mao Feng's energy all comes from the evil energy of that Fire Meteor Blade, but the Fire Meteor Blade is destroyed, and he will never be able to regain his superpowers.
After so much time and so many things, Zhou Xuan has come to realize that there are probably not many people like him in this world. Maybe there are, maybe there aren't. In any case, it's unlikely that he would encounter one easily.
He considered going to Tengchong again to meet his old friend and maybe snag some more raw materials, but decided against it. The main purpose of this trip was to find his drug supplier; buying raw materials was secondary. He just didn't know how patient this drug supplier would be, how long it would take before he contacted him, and what the consequences would be afterward. Fu Yuanshan's intentions weren't just about this one drug supplier, but about developing an entire supply chain across the country.
The next morning at 9:30, Gao Mingyuan excitedly came to the hotel to pick him up. After Zhou Xuan got into the car, he said with a smile, "Brother, Mr. Yang's check has been cashed yesterday. Just give me a bank account number to transfer your 35 million to."
Zhou Xuan smiled and wrote down his bank account number for him. Gao Mingyuan immediately picked up the phone and dialed the number, then relayed the bank account number Zhou Xuan had written down to the other party over the phone.
Less than ten minutes later, Zhou Xuan received a text message from the bank on his phone, showing that 35 million yuan had been deposited into his account. He immediately smiled and nodded to Gao Mingyuan, indicating that the money had been received.