However, the old man also wanted to know what this semi-gambled rough stone was like, so he said to Xu Wei, "How about this, I'll draw a few lines for you. You follow the lines I draw, make a cut first, and then see how this rough stone performs."
Xu Wei, who was initially somewhat disappointed, was overjoyed upon hearing this. Everyone had just witnessed the skill of Old Master Gu in cutting stones. Now that he was willing to draw the cutting lines on the rough stone, it wouldn't be much different from cutting it himself. Even if he accidentally damaged the jade inside, he could explain it to his family, since he was cutting it under Old Master Gu's guidance. Thinking of this, Xu Wei quickly handed over the chalk.
"Hey Wood, do you think there's any jade in the stone this kid bought? I was annoyed by his cocky attitude earlier."
Liu Chuan nudged Zhuang Rui with his elbow and asked in a low voice.
"Anyway, I have a bad feeling about it. You know I buy antiques entirely based on my gut feeling. That rough stone is probably not good. But seriously, why do you care so much? You've made 20 million for nothing. You're eating the meat yourself but not letting others have a sip of soup."
Zhuang Rui spoke very softly for the first few sentences, but he deliberately raised his voice for the last few sentences, so that people more than ten meters away could hear him clearly.
"That's right, that's right. I'm just afraid that some people won't even get to drink the soup."
Liu Chuan said with a smile.
Xu Wei ignored the two men, picked up the rough stone that Old Master Gu had marked, and walked to the stone-cutting machine. At this time, more and more people were gathering in Hall D. Not only the jade merchants and tourists, but also the various exhibitors came to watch the excitement. After all, it would be a good story if word got out that two stones with huge profits were cut from one stall.
Moreover, Xu Wei is now preparing to cut the stone again. If he wins again, it will be an extremely rare occurrence, not only in this not-so-formal jadeite trade fair, but also at major jadeite auctions. It will definitely become a topic of conversation among the people in the market in the future.
The huge exhibition hall was packed with people, but it was completely silent. No one made a sound; everyone held their breath and watched Xu Wei prepare to cut the stone.
"Ouch..."
Xu Wei started the stone-cutting machine, aimed it at the white line drawn by the old master, and was about to cut when a loud sound came from his ear. Xu Wei, who was already very nervous, was so frightened that he almost cut the green side that was exposed. Xu Wei looked up angrily, only to see Liu Chuan looking at him with a worried expression.
"Hey General Manager Xu, can't you hurry up? My stomach is hurting terribly right now, and I need to go to the toilet, but I'm afraid I'll miss the show. Hurry up and cut it quickly, can't you see there are hundreds of people waiting outside?"
Liu Chuan's words made everyone in the room curse inwardly. If he hadn't interrupted others, the stone would have been solved long ago. But looking at Liu Chuan's unreasonable face, no one stepped forward to uphold justice.
Standing beside the stone-cutting machine, Xu Wei took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and started the machine to cut along the white line. This time, Liu Chuan didn't say anything to cause trouble. With a series of ear-piercing "crack" sounds, the half-gambled rough stone was split in two.
"well……"
A huge sigh came from the crowd tightly surrounding the front. Those behind knew without asking that the cut had ruined the piece. Xu Wei, meanwhile, stared blankly at the smooth cut surface of the rough stone on the ground with an incredulous expression.
The old man stood up, picked up the half of the rough stone with the window cut out, looked at it for about a minute, shook his head and said, "This rough stone can only yield three or five pendants at most, it's basically wasted. Young man, just consider it a lesson learned."
Old Master Gu's words left Xu Wei speechless with despair. This lesson was far too costly. He only had five million yuan available for purchasing jade raw materials, and now he had already thrown away three million yuan. In addition, with the controversy caused by that British jewelry designer a while ago, those in the family who were trying to undermine him had probably found another excuse to attack him.
Almost rudely snatching the half of the rough stone from the old man's hand, Xu Wei cut it in half again. However, the cut surface was still a stone with a slightly white misty appearance, with no trace of green. A little anxious, Xu Wei started rubbing the stone from the window where the green had appeared.
After a long while, Xu Wei finally stopped, looking dejected. In his hand was just a flat piece of jade, only the size of a palm. Just as the old man had said, it was only enough to make three or five Guanyin pendants. Moreover, it was just a piece of egg-blue jade. If three or five pendants could sell for a hundred thousand or so, that would be considered very good.
"Hey Wood, I accidentally made 20 million today. Do you think the Tibetan Antelope I bought is a bit low-end? With my net worth, I should at least be driving a Mercedes. Tsk tsk, some people are really pitiful, they even gambled away their pants. Was the old man talking about that person when he talked about heaven and hell?"
Liu Chuan was in an incredibly cheerful mood, like after being exposed to the scorching sun for hours in temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius, he had just downed a glass of draft beer and felt completely relaxed and refreshed from head to toe.
Upon hearing this, Xu Wei could no longer suppress his anger, but he still maintained his composure. Instead of throwing away the valuable material worth over 100,000 yuan, he rushed towards Liu Chuan, as if he wanted to argue with him.
Before he could take two steps, Xu Wei was grabbed by a man who had just squeezed through the crowd. The man cursed and said, "Damn it, Xu Wei, you tricked me! You didn't even tell me those two girls had bodyguards with them, and now I've been slapped. You better explain yourself, or I'll kick you out of Nanjing tomorrow."
The newcomer was Wang Kun, who had just embarrassed himself in Hall A. The five finger marks on his face had not yet faded. He grabbed Xu Wei and dragged him out of the crowd, presumably to vent his anger on President Xu.
"Go to hell, you want to play around with women and then blame me."
Xu Wei, who always seemed very refined, swore and forcefully shook off Wang Kun's hand. He was too ashamed to stay there any longer, so he took the jade, lowered his head, and squeezed through the crowd. When Wang Kun came to his senses and saw Liu Chuan and the others, he was so frightened that he ran away as fast as he could, afraid that he would be too slow. Five finger marks were imprinted on the other half of his face.
Chapter 141 Viagra's Driving Skills
Listening to Dao Lang's deep, hoarse voice playing on the car stereo, Zhuang Rui drove alone on the Nanjing-Zhonghai Expressway. It felt like he was back in Tibet a while ago. Looking at his little white lion sitting in the passenger seat, Zhuang Rui's mood was as bright and cheerful as the spring sunshine in March.
Reaching out to touch the jade Guanyin pendant on his chest, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but recall what had happened at the Nanjing trade fair not long ago, and couldn't help but laugh out loud. The little white lion beside him immediately turned its head towards its master, its eyes revealing a look of confusion.
Because his boss in Zhonghai made several calls urging him to hurry up, Zhuang Rui bid farewell to Old Master Gu and Qin Xuanbing and others shortly after Xu Wei cut the stone, and drove back to Zhonghai alone. This trip to Nanjing not only brought him a cash check of 1.5 million yuan, but also a set of purple clay teaware worth hundreds of thousands of yuan in his car, so it can be said that he had made a great harvest.
What pleased Zhuang Rui most was that, before leaving, Qin Xuanbing gave him a valuable glass-ground jade Guanyin pendant, along with a kiss. This time, Zhuang Rui didn't miss the opportunity. After Qin Xuanbing gave him a light, fleeting kiss on the cheek, Zhuang Rui pulled Qin Xuanbing close and fiercely covered her cherry-like lips with his own.
At first, Qin Xuanbing resisted, but under Zhuang Rui's aggressive kiss, she gradually reciprocated. It was like a thunderbolt striking the earth, and once it started, it was unstoppable. Even when Lei Lei and Liu Chuan approached, neither of them noticed. However, this also caused the shy Qin Xuanbing to hide in the exhibition booth until Zhuang Rui drove away, and she never came out again.
Zhuang Rui now had two more business cards in his pocket. One was from Old Master Gu, who had handwritten his address in Beijing on the card and invited Zhuang Rui to visit him if he ever had the chance to go to Beijing.
The other business card, however, was given to Zhuang Rui by Yang Hao, the rough stone merchant. Within half an hour of Zhuang Rui and the others cutting the stones on site, the hundred or so rough stones of various sizes that Yang Hao brought were snapped up by the frenzied jade merchants and tourists, bringing in more than two million yuan. Although it could not compare with the two finished stones that Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan had won in their gamble, the rough stones that were originally planned to be sold for more than ten days were sold out in less than a day, which was enough to make Yang Hao extremely excited.
The reason Yang Hao gave Zhuang Rui his business card was simple: he had also extended an invitation to Zhuang Rui. He told him that he must visit the Chaoshan region if he had the chance, saying that with Zhuang Rui's good luck, he might be able to gamble and find a piece of jade worth a fortune. Zhuang Rui was both amused and exasperated by this. In terms of luck alone, he was far inferior to Liu Chuan, who had picked the only piece of jade among hundreds of rough stones.
However, Zhuang Rui was quite interested in Yang Hao's invitation. Firstly, gambling on jade was indeed a good way to make money quickly. Secondly, Zhuang Rui's college classmate, Lao Si, was from Chaoshan and came from a well-off family. Lao Si had invited Zhuang Rui to visit several times, but Zhuang Rui had been too busy making a living to go. Now, work seemed to be dispensable to Zhuang Rui, and he made up his mind that he must go to a large jade trading market to see for himself in the future.
Zhao Guodong called Zhuang Rui around noon. They had returned to Pengcheng. He told Zhuang Rui to be careful on his way to Zhonghai and that if things didn't go well in Zhonghai, he should resign and return to Pengcheng. Zhao Guodong now knew roughly how much money Zhuang Rui had, so at least he didn't need to worry about making a living and run around everywhere anymore.
In truth, Zhuang Rui had wavered on the idea of working at Zhonghai, but he thought about how good Uncle De had been to him, securing him the manager position. Also, Zhuang Rui wanted to systematically learn about the appraisal of antiques, artifacts, and luxury goods, because he felt that the supernatural power of his glasses had come on suddenly and might disappear at any time. Antiques had already brought him many surprises, and Zhuang Rui was determined to dedicate himself to this industry from now on. ...
Nanjing is only about 300 kilometers away from Zhonghai, and the entire route is accessible by expressway. It should have taken only two or three hours to reach Zhonghai. However, Zhuang Rui was driving a new car that was still in its break-in period, so he kept the speed at around 60 or 70 kilometers per hour. He had just left Nanjing, and by the time he entered Zhonghai, it was already dark. He checked the time and it was almost 8 o'clock.
Yang Wei had told Zhuang Rui on the phone that afternoon that Zhuang Rui should pick him up from his house, so Zhuang Rui parked his car under a big tree outside Yang Wei's villa area before taking out his phone to make the call.
"Boss, over here, what are you looking at?"
Seeing Yang Wei stroll out of the residential area with his hands in his pockets, a backpack slung over his shoulder, and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Zhuang Rui quickly rolled down his car window and called out to him. After looking around, Yang Wei even squatted down at the entrance to smoke.
"Damn, you've upgraded your gear! It's only been a few days, and you've really bought a car? I thought you were lying to me on the phone. Come on, get out, let me drive..."
Although Zhuang Rui had already told his boss over the phone, Yang Wei was still shocked to see the brand-new, unregistered Grand Cherokee. He opened the driver's side door and dragged Zhuang Rui out of the driver's seat.
"Holy crap, that scared me to death!"
After getting into the driver's seat, Yang Wei was adjusting the seat when he suddenly saw a huge head, like a lion's, sticking out in front of him, which startled him so much that he screamed.
"White Lion, go to the back..."
Zhuang Rui snorted and herded the white lion into the back seat of the car. Looking at the still-shaken Yang Wei, he said, "Why are you making such a fuss? Didn't I tell you to bring a Tibetan Mastiff? Don't worry, as long as you don't lay a hand on me, the white lion won't bite you."
Hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Yang Wei finally snapped out of his daze. He glanced at the white lion in the rearview mirror with lingering fear and said, "What, am I sick or what? I'd only lay a hand on you if I had nothing better to do. It would be more likely to be a beautiful woman. Hey, didn't you say it was a puppy? This one is so big. It doesn't look like a puppy at all. It's probably a year or two old, isn't it?"
"One or two years old? That's because you haven't seen a fully grown Tibetan Mastiff. I'll show you a picture of White Lion's father later. When my White Lion is one or two years old, he'll definitely look like a little lion. By the way, how's the dog license I asked you to get? Did you get it?"
Zhuang Rui glanced affectionately at the white lion in the back seat, reached out and stroked its big head before turning back to talk to Yang Wei. Zhonghai is an international metropolis, and the restrictions on keeping pets are much stricter than in Pengcheng. Zhuang Rui was worried that his boss might not be able to get the white lion's ID card, which would mean keeping the white lion locked up at home all day, and Zhuang Rui didn't want to do that.
"Nonsense, you know how I handle things, buddy. But this guy is a whole size bigger than the photos you sent online. Yeah, you should thank Uncle De for getting this dog license. Your pawnshop had some trouble recently, and Uncle De applied for a large guard dog in the pawnshop's name, which is how it got approved. You wouldn't have gotten it if you had worked for another company."
As Yang Wei spoke, he opened the hiking backpack he had brought, took out a small green notebook, and handed it to Zhuang Rui. Zhuang Rui saw that there were several sets of underwear in the bag and asked curiously, "Why are you carrying all this underwear with you? Are you planning to run away from home?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Boss, I bought this for you. I threw away all the tattered clothes you had in that rented room in Zhabei. Look at your bra collar. It's all worn white. You still have the nerve to wear it? Little brother, you'll be a manager in the future. You need to pay more attention to your appearance."
Yang Wei glared at Zhuang Rui with annoyance, but what he said next warmed Zhuang Rui's heart. Although the eldest brother had many flaws, he still inherited the advantages of Zhonghai men: being meticulous and caring. Back in the university dormitory, he would take his brothers out for a meal every few days, which earned him the support of the other four bachelors.
"Come on, let's not talk about those sentimental things. You've struck it rich, so just let me borrow this car if you need to..."
Seeing the expression on Zhuang Rui's face, Yang Wei waved his hand to stop Zhuang Rui from saying what he was about to say, and started the car. However, after hearing Yang Wei's words, Zhuang Rui's face immediately fell. It's true that a car is a man's second wife, and it's not that this "second wife" can't be lent out. The key is that Yang Wei is not the kind of person who cherishes women. Whatever car he gets his hands on, it will be in the repair shop within three days. And yet, he just loves to drive.
"Boss, where's your Santana? Why aren't you driving it out?"
Zhuang Rui asked cautiously, thinking that even driving an Alto for his boss would be a luxury.
"Don't mention that car. I switched to a Honda, but it got scratched a few days ago and some paint chipped off. I took it to a repair shop to get it repainted."
Yang Wei answered somewhat awkwardly, his expression revealing his guilty conscience. It seemed that Yang Wei had probably bumped into someone else's car.
"Alright, it's already past eight o'clock, stop dawdling. You haven't eaten yet, have you? Let's find a street food stall to eat something, and I'll take you to your new place later. I'm staying there tonight too. Let me tell you, finding that place took me a lot of effort. By the way, the rent is three thousand yuan a month, and you need to pay three months' deposit in advance. If you're short on cash, you can keep the deposit for me and pay me back when you move out."
Yang Wei didn't want to bring up the topic of cars anymore, so he quickly changed the subject to divert Zhuang Rui's attention. He often used this trick in college, and his buddies were all fooled by him.
"Money is no problem, I have it on me. I'll give it to you later. You should focus on driving."
Seeing that Yang Wei had already driven the car onto the road, Zhuang Rui quickly fastened his seatbelt. The car had four airbags, so as long as Yang Wei didn't crawl under the semi-trailer truck, there shouldn't be any accidents.
The streetlights on both sides of the road were very bright. Yang Wei held the steering wheel with one hand and pointed to a police motorcycle not far ahead with the other, saying, "You don't even trust my driving skills? I've been driving for four or five years longer than you. Hey, Lao Yao, look at that policewoman on the motorcycle ahead, isn't she a woman?"
Zhuang Rui looked in the direction Yang Wei was pointing, and there was indeed a motorcycle driving near the curb. It was the kind of white motorcycle with two spare boxes on the back and a license plate starting with "警" (jing). This kind of motorcycle was very popular in the 1990s and was essential equipment for patrol officers. However, as motorcycles were banned in various cities, police motorcycles gradually disappeared from people's sight and were mostly used for welcoming guests or for traffic police to handle emergencies.
At the end of 2002, Zhonghai launched a citywide campaign to eliminate unlicensed and unregistered two-wheeled motorcycles. Subsequently, it strictly controlled the issuance of motorcycle license plates. Two years have passed, and there are far fewer motorcycles on the market. The white police motorcycles that Zhuang Rui sees most often are these.
"Um...it's a woman, so what?"
Zhuang Rui took a closer look and the long hair peeking out from under the brim of the hat did indeed reveal the policeman's gender.
"How novel! Of course it's a woman. Look at that waist, so slender! Little brother... let's go over and take a look. These days, pretty policewomen are rarer than dinosaurs."
When it comes to Wei Ge's talent, knowledge, and interpersonal skills, he is first-rate. However, he has a flaw similar to Liu Chuan's: when he sees a beautiful woman, he always shows off his masculine muscles. This is what Zhuang Rui finds most unbearable. He's like a rooster in heat.
With the steering wheel in Yang Wei's hands, he didn't even bother to ask Zhuang Rui's opinion. He stepped on the gas, and the car suddenly accelerated, instantly overtaking the police car more than 20 meters ahead.
"Hey...hey, Wei-ge, hold the steering wheel tight! Don't...don't turn the wheel! We're going to crash!"
Zhuang Rui had turned his face toward the car window, wanting to see the policewoman's face, but he was surprised to find that his car was getting closer and closer to the policewoman's motorcycle. What was originally a distance of five or six meters was now almost touching. This shocked Zhuang Rui. When he turned back to look at Yang Wei, the guy was craning his neck to look out, his hands unconsciously moving the steering wheel little by little toward the motorcycle.
It's common knowledge that Wei Ge's driving skills are terrible. In this situation, he only needed to slightly steer the wheel towards the middle of the road. But in his panic, Wei Ge couldn't tell left from right, and the steering wheel steered a little closer to the motorcycle. Zhuang Rui could clearly see the policewoman's face through the car window.
Before Zhuang Rui could get a good look, the poor rider was suddenly squeezed onto the curb by the Grand Cherokee, the motorcycle tilted to one side and fell over.
Yang Wei realized he had caused trouble, but he was indeed not suited to driving. His reaction time was too slow. After knocking the person to the ground, he drove forward for more than 30 meters before he remembered to slam on the brakes.
Chapter 142 Miao Feifei
"Little one...did I bump into that person just now?"
Yang Wei looked back in the rearview mirror. The man on the police car was lying on the ground and hadn't gotten up for a long time, which made Wei Ge very flustered. Somewhat at a loss, he asked Zhuang Rui.
"I don't think so. I didn't see any contact between the car and the motorcycle. Maybe the policeman saw that the car was too close and fell down on his own. Let's go back and take a look."
Zhuang Rui wasn't sure either, but after rolling down the window, he stuck his head out and found that there were no scratches on the side of the car, which confirmed that he hadn't hit the policeman.
"It's good that no one was hit. That's not our problem. The guy got up, so he should be fine. Let's go..."
For some reason, Wei Ge, who is usually very chivalrous, was so heartless today and actually wanted to drive away. This made Zhuang Rui both amused and exasperated. He pointed to the surveillance camera ahead and said, "Where are you going? Can't you see the surveillance camera ahead? Even if my car doesn't have license plates, I guarantee that if the police shout on their walkie-talkies, you won't get more than five kilometers before you're stuck in traffic."
"What are you still standing there for? I'll get out of the car first. You back the car up. If you hit someone, get them to the hospital right away."
Zhuang Rui pushed open the car door and got out. The little white lion jumped out of the car right after him. It had been sitting in the car for five or six hours and was getting restless. Yang Wei opened his mouth and moved his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything.
This road is a specially constructed road connecting Yang Wei's villa area to the city center. It is divided into two lanes, one on the left and one on the right, with a flower bed separated by a curb in the middle. The road is frequented by residents of the villa area. Zhuang Rui wondered why the policewoman was riding a motorcycle on this road. As he thought this, he walked quickly towards the road. Thirty meters was only a few steps. With Zhuang Rui quickening his pace, he soon arrived at the fallen motorcycle.
"Comrade... no, miss, no, officer. Are you alright?"
Zhuang Rui approached and saw that the policewoman seemed to have injured her foot. She had been standing up halfway, but after swaying a few times, she sat back down on the ground. Zhuang Rui wanted to help her up, but seeing that she seemed to be a relatively young woman, he ultimately did not reach out.
Judging from her uniform, the person who fell to the ground was indeed a policewoman, but her hat had fallen off and her hair was disheveled in front of her forehead. In addition, she was backlit, so Zhuang Rui couldn't see her face clearly for a moment.
"Try getting run over by a motorcycle and see if you're okay. What's wrong with you? You knocked someone down, and you don't even know how to help me out."
A clear female voice rang out. Zhuang Rui could tell from the voice that it wasn't from Zhonghai dialect, but rather had a Beijing accent. The policewoman looked up and saw the Grand Cherokee falling backward, realizing that it wasn't the man in front of her who had bumped into her.