His initial aggressive bidding of ten million was a show of force, designed to make others believe he was incredibly bold and indifferent to money, caring nothing for the price of a rough stone, thus deterring others from challenging him. He did spend several million more on the first rough stone, but successfully leveraged the psychological pressure. He then acquired the second, best rough stone at a much lower price.
Of course, this low price only refers to Manager Gao's expected price. After the stone is cut open, nobody would want it for even 100 yuan. These rough stones, ranked first and fourth in color, are just grayish-white stones inside; they're just stones, stones imported from Myanmar, worthless.
Manager Gao realized he had been tricked. Then, Mr. Yang bet on the second, third, and fifth pieces of rough jade. As soon as he made a bid, no one else spoke up or made any more bids, which almost made Manager Gao cry.
Although the price was lower than he expected, the total value of the five rough stones still reached an astonishing 80 million. In a rough stone wholesale factory, just four or five rough stones had fetched nearly 100 million in cash – truly remarkable.
Manager Gao secretly groaned, but dared not offend Mr. Yang. He had originally intended to invite him to help him make more money, but he did not expect that Mr. Yang was a gambling expert who used a few tricks to intimidate the others.
Fortunately, after Mr. Yang gambled on the five pieces of raw jade with the best color, he did not take any further action.
As soon as Mr. Yang remained silent, Manager Gao became delighted and immediately said excitedly, "If anyone has any rough stones they like, please let us know. Let's continue, let's continue!"
The others remained silent, and Manager Gao grew anxious again, realizing that he had ruined Mr. Yang's plans for the day.
Seeing that everyone was waiting, Zhou Xuan realized that they had all come here hoping to take a gamble, aiming to maximize profits with minimal investment. While they waited, Zhou Xuan himself didn't want to wait any longer. He waved his hand and said, "Manager Gao, I'm quite interested in number 901. What's your bottom line?"
Manager Gao immediately lost interest upon hearing "number 901". Generally speaking, the color of raw materials after number 300 is relatively poor, but they still have color. They are not worth a lot of money, but they are still much more valuable than the inferior materials outside.
The image data of No. 901 was retrieved. Manager Gao gave a brief introduction and then stated the bottom price: 250,000.
His mind was focused on the high-quality raw materials, waiting for the next round of bidding so he could make some money to make up for the profits Mr. Yang had taken.
Zhou Xuan smiled and replied, "Two hundred and sixty thousand." It seemed that no one was going to compete with him, so why be a fool? He would just add another ten thousand. He would deal with it if someone else raised the price. No one else had the ability to know the details of this rough stone like he did. If they wanted to compete with him, they probably wouldn't be able to win.
As expected, no one else was paying attention to this stone. Manager Gao's factory had thousands of rough stones, and it was obviously impossible to sell them all at auction. As long as the good ones were sold, the profits would be enough to cover all the raw material costs and expenses. The remaining less desirable stones and the scraps from outside were pure profit. Although this price was the wholesale price, the price of rough stones was worlds apart from the prices in Myanmar. It was nearly ten times higher than the prices in Myanmar, and sometimes even higher. However, rough stones obtained through government referendums were priced higher.
Manager Gao called out a few times, but no one answered. Zhou Xuan's piece of jade was sold for 260,000. After that, Zhou Xuan lost interest. He knew exactly what the other rough jade pieces were like, so he just watched the excitement from the sidelines.
After dozens of customers had gambled on the rough stones they had selected, Manager Gao, seeing that there was probably no chance left, turned on the lights, making them bright and clear, which basically indicated that the stone gambling was over and the next stage was about to begin.
Of course, this only means that the jade gambling at Manager Gao's factory has ended, not that other aspects have also ended. Usually, after the jade gambling, there is another aspect that gamblers like the most.
That is on-site stone cutting. Some people choose to cut the stone on the spot after gambling on it. If they are lucky, a buyer will offer a high price to buy it on the spot. Many people even cut out a deep green color and sell it to someone at a high price, making a fortune immediately. However, this cut does not mean that there is jade inside the stone. You have to wait until there is a definite possibility. That can only be confirmed after the rough stone is completely cut out. This leads to many stories.
Thus began the legendary tale of life and death with a single strike.
Of course, most people who like to have stones cut on-site are just trying their luck. They dream of making a fortune by chance. However, long-term jade merchants generally do not choose to have stones cut on-site. There are also some middlemen who take the stones back to their hometowns and then gather more people to gamble on stones, transferring the risk to others while making a bigger profit themselves.
Those who are experts in jade gambling know that the best way to make money steadily is not to gamble on jade at all, or to only profit from the price difference. They buy jade from Ruili and Tengchong, or gamble on jade, but never cut it after returning home. Instead, they gamble on it again. This way, the chances of making money are quite high. As long as you are willing to cut the jade, the chances of being unlucky are more than 90%.
In jade gambling, the possibility of losing all ten bets is common, and losing nine out of ten bets is a regular occurrence.
Manager Gao was a bit out of control, mainly because today's auction hadn't gone well. Almost all of the stones had been ruined by Mr. Yang. Now, it wouldn't matter to him if they were to cut the stones on the spot again. After the stones were cut, they might buy back the cut jadeite, or they might gamble with other players to cut out the green jadeite. But overall, it wouldn't be as good as his previous stone gambling.
But this is the part that players like the most, and it's also the most exciting and hand-to-hand combat part.
Of the dozens of jade merchants, about a dozen immediately stepped forward to prepare to cut the stone on the spot. Zhou Xuan thought for a moment and also stepped forward. Manager Gao didn't seem to value him much, so he figured he might as well cut the jade on the spot and then auction it off. That way, he would get Manager Gao's attention. However, Zhou Xuan understood that it was only thanks to the jade that Manager Gao valued him. But once Manager Gao paid more attention to Zhou Xuan, it would be much easier to buy the scraps later. Besides, Zhou Xuan had done many things that made money without even having to pay any capital.
Standing at the very front was none other than Mr. Yang, who gestured to Manager Gao: "Cut all five pieces of raw material."
Zhou Xuan wasn't in a hurry. Since he couldn't contact the drug dealer's supplier anyway, he figured it was because the dealer was being too cautious. He had to wait patiently. Watching the stone being cut on-site was a good way to pass the time. Once his own rough stone was cut open, that would be the end of the story.
There are four stone-cutting machines in total, one for polishing. Manager Gao has enough stone-cutting masters, but Mr. Yang, in order to concentrate, asked that his five pieces of material be cut one by one in order. The others did not compete for this time and simply waited to see.
Mr. Yang didn't stand on ceremony and immediately took out his best piece of raw jade to cut.
The craftsman sent by Manager Gao was the most experienced. He first made a visual assessment, then drew a few dotted lines to determine the location and thickness to be cut. After that, he still asked Mr. Yang, "Is this cutting method acceptable?"
When cutting a stone on-site, the stone-cutting master usually asks for the owner's opinion. If the owner wants it cut however he wants, then the stone-cutting master has to cut it however he wants. No matter how it turns out or if the jade inside is damaged, it is not the master's business.
Mr. Yang clearly didn't know much about stone cutting, and waved his hand, saying, "You take the lead, use your experience to cut it."
Mr. Yang was quite clear on this point. He believed that the stone-cutting master's skills and insight were definitely better than his own, and that making decisions haphazardly was certainly not as reliable as the stone-cutting master's advice.
The stone cutter nodded, then decided on the position for the first cut, turned on the power, and aimed the blade of the stone cutter at the line and cut down.
The first cut is actually very thin. If there is no jade inside, this cut will basically not damage the inside. The stone cutter's main purpose is to see if he can cut out the green color in this position.
After the first cut, dozens of eyes were fixed on it. The stone-cutting master blew away the powder and then wiped it with his hand. The inside of the stone was grayish-white, without a trace of green.
No one spoke up, so it was impossible to say that the knife had broken the structure based on just one cut.
The stone cutter moved two centimeters closer, aligned the blade with the drawn lines, and then made the cut. If the green doesn't come out after this cut, it will be a problem. The cutter was cutting the side with more green on the surface and a wider, straighter shape. These two cuts went in three or four centimeters, and it would be dangerous if the green didn't come out.
In fact, Zhou Xuan knew this. Of course, it was his superpower that cleared the way. However, with his superpower as a reference, he could still tell that although the color of this piece of raw material was excellent, the pattern was an internal pattern, meaning it came from the inside. Based on his experience, even without his superpower, he could tell that this piece was not a good material.
However, most jade gamblers, as well as many experts, would not share his view. This color is the best and most valuable rough jade among all the old mine jade.
After the cut, some people started to say "oh," and Zhou Xuan even heard someone whisper, "It's collapsed."
The result was as expected. After several more cuts, the 20 million yuan stone was almost sliced through layer by layer, but in the end, not a trace of green was revealed. Apart from the bright green ring on the surface, not a single bit could be seen.
Mr. Yang's expression was cold and stern. With just a few cuts, his 20 million yuan had vanished into thin air. This piece of jade with the best color hadn't even given him the experience of life or death from a single cut.
After a pause, Mr. Yang said with a grim face, "Cut the second piece."
Anyone would find it unbearable to lose 20 million in cash in just a few minutes, and Mr. Yang is no exception. No matter how rich you are, you can't lose like this, right?
Volume 1, Chapter 592: Comparison is the thief of joy
Chapter 592 Comparison is the thief of joy
Strangely enough, as Mr. Yang's five rough stones were cut open one after another, not a single piece of green was revealed after each cut. It wasn't until one stone was completely pulverized that a stone worth tens of millions was reduced to nothing.
Mr. Yang's face darkened as he cut the jade, but that's how gamblers usually are; when they lose, they refuse to leave and will continue to gamble. So he continued to cut the other pieces of raw jade.
None of the five rough stones yielded any green jade in a single cut. The approximately 80 million yuan in cash vanished in less than ten minutes, turning to water.