"Oh? If I pick out a piece of glass-type jade, wouldn't Brother Hu be making a huge loss?"
Zhuang Rui stopped upon hearing this and looked at Hu Rong's stall. His stall was obviously much larger than the ones next to it, with about a hundred rough stones on the ground, most of which were gambling stones, and several people were picking through them.
"What, you look down on me? Even if you can find imperial jadeite, I can still afford to give it to you..."
Hu Rong pretended to be angry and put on a stern face, explaining, "How about this, we each pick one and see who has the better eye, okay?"
To be honest, Hu Rong brought Zhuang Rui to this market with the intention of testing him. Hu Rong himself had been playing with raw jadeite since he was a toddler, when others were playing with mud. However, after this Myanmar jadeite auction, Hu Rong realized that his skills in identifying raw jadeite were much worse than Zhuang Rui's.
As the saying goes, "In literature, there is no first place, but in martial arts, there is no second place." Hu Rong also wanted to compare himself with Zhuang Rui.
"Alright, since Brother Hu has put it that way, I'll certainly oblige..."
Given the relationship between Zhuang Rui and Hu Rong, they wouldn't let the outcome of this bet ruin their harmony. Hearing Hu Rong's suggestion, Zhuang Rui became interested as well.
"Here, take this..."
Hu Rong took two magnifying glasses and a flashlight from the stall owner, handed one set to Zhuang Rui, and then the two separated to examine the rough stones.
"Hmm? There really are old mine jade pieces..."
Zhuang Rui was standing next to a pile of fist-sized jadeite rough stones. Even without using his spiritual energy, he could tell that these were all black jadeite from the Ma Meng factory.
Chapter 483 The Bet (Part 1)
Rough stones produced in the Ma Mong mine in Myanmar. Also known as black jade, they are generally not very large, and the outer skin is as black as the bottom of a pot. Although they often have full green jadeite, the texture and water content are average, and the quality is not particularly good.
However, the chances of finding green jadeite in black jadeite are quite high. Therefore, people who collect raw stones especially like to gamble on stones from the Ma Meng factory. Generally speaking, as long as the purchase price is not too high, the chances of winning are very high. Moreover, it is not uncommon for top-quality black jadeite to be found.
After squatting down and picking through the pieces for a while, Zhuang Rui frowned. These thirty or forty pieces of black jadeite were indeed from the old mine of Ma Meng Factory, and most of them contained jadeite, but the quality and clarity were not satisfactory. At least none of them were to Zhuang Rui's liking.
"What, Brother Hu, are you also going to pick out a piece of black jade to cut?"
Zhuang Rui watched for a while, then shook his head and stood up. Only then did he realize that Hu Rong had also come over and was selecting materials behind him.
Hu Rong examines raw stones very quickly. He basically doesn't even look at stones without any flaws or veins, but he will observe rough stones with cracks for a while.
Gambling on cracks is worse than gambling on color. Although the weathered patterns left on the outer skin of a jadeite rough can roughly indicate the quality of the jadeite inside, the uncertainty is too high, and it is even uncertain whether there is jadeite inside at all.
However, if there are cracks in the raw stone, it usually contains jadeite. The only difference is the depth of the cracks, which determines whether the jadeite has been damaged and the quality of the jadeite.
Hu Rong was clearly an expert at gambling on cracks. When observing cracks, he would use a strong flashlight to see the direction of the weathered crystals at the cracks. Moreover, the pieces he shook his head and put down were all rough stones that Zhuang Rui had seen before and that did not contain much jade.
Hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Hu Rong laughed and said, "The chances of finding jadeite in black sand are high. If I were to choose something else and still not be able to find jadeite, I'd be incredibly embarrassed..."
Having set his sights on victory, Hu Rong was determined to go all out; otherwise, he would be nothing short of the "King of Burmese Jade!"
The title was somewhat undeserved. Although it was just a joke-like bet, Hu Rong didn't want to lose to Zhuang Rui.
Seeing that Zhuang Rui didn't seem very interested in the pile of black jade, Hu Rong said, "Brother Zhuang, to tell you the truth, of all the materials I have here, only this black jade is from an old mine. The rest are from new mines. I can't even say whether they contain jadeite..."
"Hehe, I'm just browsing. Some of the rough stones from the new mine are quite good..."
Zhuang Rui smiled, stood up and walked towards another pile of rough stones. He had already seen through what Hu Rong had said, but the black jadeite in that pile was really not very good. The best quality was only bean green, and the color was not right. It was worth at most a hundred thousand yuan.
There are still so many rough stones to examine. If there aren't any good ones, Zhuang Rui plans to go back and pick out that greenish-brown stone to cut. He certainly won't lose to Hu Rong.
"Damn it, no wonder Uncle Qin and the others don't come here..."
When Zhuang Rui saw that most of the raw stone was there, his brows furrowed even more deeply.
As Hu Rong just said, the jadeite rough stones produced by these new factories are indeed appalling. Not only is the outer skin completely devoid of jadeite, but there is not a single piece of jadeite inside either. They are like watermelons without flesh, with nothing inside or out.
Some of the cut jade pieces were unrecognizable; there wasn't even any mist on the cut surface, let alone any green. Zhuang Rui wondered if such pieces, displayed here, could actually fool people into buying them.
Hu Rong owns eighteen jade mines, making him a big shot even in Myanmar. Yet his stall is so shabby; one can only imagine what the smaller stalls must look like.
After examining several pieces of clear material, Zhuang Rui became too lazy to bother and started looking at those completely unreliable, unsecured pieces.
In fact, Zhuang Rui didn't know that it was rare to find good things in this kind of market.
Those buyers of raw jadeite that frequently travel between China and Myanmar would never come to such places. Just like the middle-aged man he met on the plane, they all know specific brokers in Myanmar who take them to local people's homes to see the goods.
Only beginners with limited experience in jade gambling would choose this market. Hu Rong brought Zhuang Rui here simply to let him try it out.
After walking around the stall enclosed by ropes, Zhuang Rui shook his head. Although gambling is said to result in nine losses out of ten, if you're lucky when you first sit down at the table, you can win four or five out of ten rounds.
However, the chances of winning at jade gambling are extremely slim. At least Zhuang Rui didn't find a single piece of jade with good jade inside after wandering around for a while. Basically, he lost every time he gambled.
When Zhuang Rui walked to the outermost edge of the stall, he saw three or four pieces of new factory rough jade that were still on display. Even from two or three meters away, he could see that there was no green on the cut surface.
Zhuang Rui lost interest in looking any further and turned to walk towards the pile of black sandstone rough stones. At least there was something decent there. As he turned, Zhuang Rui casually glanced at the rough stones with the spiritual energy in his eyes.
"Huh? What is that?"
Zhuang Rui's body, which had already turned around, abruptly stopped. His brain's command came a little too late; his entire body had twisted, but his head remained still, still staring at the rough stones.
After turning his body around, Zhuang Rui twisted his neck hard, thankfully without hurting himself.
Just as he turned around, his eyes seemed to sense that these jade pieces contained extremely rich spiritual energy. However, Zhuang Rui withdrew his gaze too quickly and could not identify which raw stone it was.
Zhuang Rui glanced around furtively, and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he slowly walked to the few raw stones and released his spiritual energy. He began to examine them one by one.
The three rough stones were quite large, each weighing around 30 to 40 kilograms, and they had all been cut open, but no green jade was found on the cut surfaces, which is why they were thrown to the edge of the stall.
Given its enormous size and poor performance, isn't it afraid of being stolen? If Zhuang Rui hadn't glanced at it just now, he wouldn't have taken this raw stone even if it were given to him for free.
After examining two pieces of jadeite without finding any, Zhuang Rui turned his attention to the last piece of semi-rough jadeite. As soon as his spiritual energy seeped into it, he sensed something different.
"It's an icy jadeite, the green is nice, very green. Hmm, what's this?"
About two centimeters inside the cut surface of the rough stone, a touch of green caught Zhuang Rui's eye. The texture and water content were very good, reaching the level of high-ice jadeite, and the green color was very pure. As Zhuang Rui continued to look inside, he even discovered several clusters of yellow and red jadeite about the size of a thumb.
It would be more accurate to say there are several, because these red and yellow jadeite pieces are extremely small, the largest being no more than the length of an index finger. They are intertwined with the green jadeite, somewhat resembling caterpillars growing on a tree.
"Damn, this stone-cutting skill is absolutely top-notch..."
After thoroughly examining the internal structure of the rough stone, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but curse under his breath. He couldn't help but admire the skill of this stone cutter to the point of prostration.
The rough stone was cut twice from both sides, and now it is in the shape of a pyramid. However, both cuts were about two or three centimeters away from the jade inside, and they still couldn't cut it out.
This is what a blind man could do with the handle of a stone-cutting machine; he could probably cut this piece of jade out. The original stone-cutting master, however, wandered around for a while but couldn't get his hands on the jade inside. Fortunately, otherwise this tree-shaped piece of jade might have been cut in half.
The jadeite inside grows in a rather strange way, somewhat like coral in the sea, with several branches that are extremely irregular. The red and yellow jadeite that looks like jade worms appears on the branched green jadeite.
"If this were carved into a tree, with branches or leaves carved into the forked parts, and the red and yellow jade carved into insects, wouldn't it be a rare masterpiece?"
Looking at the rough stone, Zhuang Rui felt excited. Although the texture and clarity did not reach the top-grade glass type, this kind of jadeite was extremely rare. Moreover, the three or four naturally formed jade insects added to its beauty.
"What's wrong, Brother Zhuang? You've taken a fancy to this piece of material? It's practically scrap..."
Zhuang Rui squatted down and tried to hug the rough stone. It was indeed quite heavy. He could lift it, but walking on it was a bit difficult. Just as he put the rough stone on the ground, he heard Hu Rong's voice.
Looking up, Hu Rong was staring at Zhuang Rui's actions with a surprised expression. Hu Rong did have some impression of this piece of rough jade; back then, this piece of new factory jade actually had blemishes on its outer skin.
Several family members were very optimistic about this piece of jade at the time, but after one cut, there was nothing. Some, unwilling to give up, cut it again, but still no green appeared, so it was left here. If even a little bit of green had appeared, it would probably have been sent to a public auction.
"Hmm, Brother Hu, this piece should be a new mine rough stone, right? Look at the blemishes at the bottom, there's no reason it won't yield green. I'll bet on this one..."
Actually, there was a blemish underneath, which Zhuang Rui only noticed after he put the rough stone down, but it gave him a convenient excuse.
"Alright, I didn't expect there would still be someone who's still not giving up on this piece. I've made my selection too, let's go get it cut open..."
Hu Rong burst into laughter. At the time, a younger member of the family was still not giving up and made a second cut, but he was laughed at for a long time. He did not expect Zhuang Rui to be even more stubborn than that younger member, and actually wanted to make another cut before he would give up.
"Brother Hu, have you chosen your materials yet?"
As Zhuang Rui spoke, he noticed the piece of black lacquer that Hu Rong was holding. It was only slightly larger than a fist and looked quite ordinary, without any pine flower pattern or python pattern.
Upon seeing this piece of jade, Zhuang Rui secretly praised Hu Rong, whose title as the "King of Jade" was indeed well-deserved.
Chapter 484 The Bet (Part 2)
The piece of black jadeite rough that Hu Rong selected had neither python patterns nor pine flower patterns on its outer skin, and there were no weathering marks on the surface of the jadeite. There was only an extremely fine crack on one side. Hu Rong made his judgment based on this crack, which made Zhuang Rui secretly admire him.
The rough stone that Hu Rong is holding is the best piece of bean-green jadeite from that pile of black jadeite. Apart from the semi-gambled rough stone at Zhuang Rui's feet, there is no other rough stone in the entire place that is better than the one in Hu Rong's hand.
Among that pile of rough stones, there were many with better outer skins than this one, but Hu Rong chose this one by chance. If Zhuang Rui hadn't found this icy jadeite in front of him, he probably would have lost the bet to Hu Rong today.
"Brother Zhuang, you've chosen this spot? No regrets?"
"Hey, Brother Hu, we're not gambling. If I lose, it just means my judgment isn't as good as yours, which is normal. There's nothing to regret..."
Zhuang Rui laughed. "After we cut the jade, just don't regret giving me this material."
"Okay, let's go, let's go get the stone cut..."
Hu Rong called out to the person watching the stall and asked him to bring over a small cart, the kind of simple cart used for pulling luggage. After Zhuang Rui put the rough stone on it, he used the two elastic straps on the cart to secure the stone and pulled it behind him to follow Hu Rong.
The news that Boss Hu was going to have the stone cut caused a sensation throughout the market. Zhuang Rui and Hu Rong walked in front, followed by several people from time to time. Merchants who were selecting rough stones, and even stall owners from various stalls, all followed. Before they even reached the market gate, there were already dozens of people following behind them.
Next to the market, there were many jade processing workshops. After walking for less than three minutes, Zhuang Rui followed Hu Rong into a courtyard where seven or eight people were busy at work.
As soon as Hu Rong entered the courtyard, he said to a young man, "Xiao Wang, can I borrow your space for a bit? I need to cut two stones..."
"Uncle Hu, you've had your fill. It's been a long time since we've seen you cut stones. Let's broaden our horizons today..."
The young man surnamed Wang was probably also Chinese, as he spoke in Mandarin. While speaking, he instructed several people who were working to tidy up the middle of the area, and then went to the door to pull the light cord and turn on the main light in the yard.
"Does Brother Hu often have stones cut here?"
Zhuang Rui was a little surprised to see how familiar Hu Rong was with this person. Wasn't it said that people who specialize in the raw stone business usually don't gamble on stones?
Hu Rong seemed to sense Zhuang Rui's question and said with a smile, "For some stones that look good, we'll cut them open or make a window before selling them. If green comes out, the selling price will be much higher than for completely uncut stones. Sometimes when I'm browsing the market here, I'll cut a few pieces to play with..."
Cutting stones and gambling on stones are two completely different concepts. Raw stone merchants cut stones in order to increase the price of the raw stones, while those who gamble on stones are gambling on whether there is jadeite in the raw stones and what grade of jadeite it is.
Those who gamble on stones may not necessarily know how to cut them, but experienced stone cutters are definitely experts, because they need to show people the best aspects of the stone in order to stimulate merchants' desire to buy.
Over the years since taking over the Hu family business, Hu Rong has personally cut at least tens of thousands of raw stones, and his experience in cutting stones far surpasses that of Zhuang Rui.
"Brother Zhuang, would you like to go first?"
Hu Rong turned his head to look at Zhuang Rui.
"Brother Hu, you go first, I'd like to learn a bit..."
Zhuang Rui waved his hands repeatedly.
"You little rascal, you're as shrewd as a monkey when it comes to gambling on stones. You've even dared to cut open red jade worth hundreds of millions, so what are you afraid of?"