Volume 1: Chapter 9 - The Divine Difficulty of Cutting Jade

  Two people were talking, when suddenly the venue erupted in thunderous applause "Green! Green!", amidst the cheers, a man in his 40s wearing glasses shouted at the top of his lungs and tightly hugged his elderly wife who was already old and frail, with an excited expression as if his wife was still 21 or 22 years old, he almost wanted to merge her into his body.

  From a distance, it was unclear, but it seemed that a stone had been cut in half and taken out of the machine and presented to the old man. Qiu Qinghe stood up involuntarily and found that the cut surface of the stone indeed had a large area of dark green color. She couldn't judge the value of jade from its color, luster, or texture, so she curiously pulled Shen Fang's arm and asked, "Is this the one we won? Such a big piece of jade must be worth a lot of money, right?"

  "Want me to tell the truth?" Shen Fang scratched his head, "Don't look at me talking like I know it all, actually I don't understand much about this line of work, just knowing some basic common sense. Let alone evaluating the value of jade, even wanting to pick out 'the real deal' from a bunch of rough stones is beyond my power."

  "Really?" Qiu Qinghe looked at Shen Fang in surprise, "Then where does your confidence come from?"

  I still remember that report vividly, including the specific time and place it happened, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find it! However, these can't be used as a reason to tell Qiu Qinghe, so Shen Fang could only brush it off by saying: "In short, I have my own way of doing things, just watch and see."

  The two quickly had a clear understanding of the price of that piece of jade, and several people on the spot offered to buy the half-opened stone from Mr. Yan's hands, with the highest price reaching 680,000, but Mr. Yan did not accept it, and instead walked out with his wife with his head held high and his chest out, amidst the admiring and envious glances of the crowd.

  This is a typical overnight sensation, and it's precisely because of such examples that so many crazy people are willing to dive in without hesitation. But since it's a gamble, there will always be winners and losers. For instance, the young man who sold stones to an old gentleman was squatting on the ground, holding his head in his hands and wailing uncontrollably. He had spent 5,000 yuan to bring the stones from Tengchong, Yunnan, and although he sold them for 38,000 yuan, making a handsome profit, he soon found himself facing losses of over 600,000 yuan. If the stone were cut open, its internal value would likely exceed one million yuan, which explains why he was so remorseful and despondent. Meanwhile, the people around him seemed to be accustomed to such scenes and didn't bother to offer any consolation, instead continuing their search for suitable deals.

  "Hmm, Qiu Qinghe licked her tongue, and she had a preliminary understanding of the exorbitant profits from gambling on stones. However, she didn't know how Shen Fang planned to swindle people out of their money without spending any himself. Just as she was about to ask, she found that Shen Fang's gaze had been fixed on the door all along. 'What's wrong? Are you waiting for someone?'"

  "Ah, it's almost time...” Shen Fang raised his head to glance at the wall clock in the corner, smiled and tore open the two bags of instant noodles in Qiu Qinghe's hands, saying while chewing, "We still have a bit more to endure, let's eat something to fill our stomachs first."

  Suddenly, a middle-aged man with a dignified appearance walked straight towards them from the crowd. He wore silver-rimmed glasses, a grey Changshan suit and shiny black leather shoes, sporting a standard Confucian merchant look. As he approached, he first bowed slightly to Qiu Qinghe with great courtesy, smiled and then turned his head to say in a warm tone: "My name is Liu Wenyu, I'm the owner of this jade stone club. You two must be here for the first time?"

  Club? In '93, only a handful of returned overseas intellectuals had such an idea. Shen Fang couldn't help but take a few more glances at him, and actually quite liked the elegant and refined air about this person. "Hm, I heard this place isn't bad, so I came to take a look. Didn't expect that a rock could have such huge profits inside."

  "Haha, with huge profits come great risks. As the saying goes, one madman is buying, another madman is selling, and yet another madman is waiting. This is indeed a true portrayal of us speculators...” Liu Wenyu's bright and piercing glasses stared unwaveringly at Shen Fang, without even sneaking a glance at Qiu Qinghe beside him. "I don't know which friend introduced you, but we don't welcome unfamiliar guests here."

  "Hello, I'm Shen Fang." Standing up and shaking hands with Liu Wenyu, Shen Fang smiled and said, "Now we're acquainted, can't be considered a stranger anymore, right?"

  Liu Wenyu smiled awkwardly and shifted his gaze to Qiu Qinghe beside him.

  Qiu Qinghe didn't get up, but responded with a gentle smile, lowering her head to continue eating her instant noodles.

  "Here!" Shen Fang softly exclaimed, his gaze immediately passing over Liu Wenyu and falling on an old peasant who had just entered from outside the door. In front of the old man was a fat man with a big belly, holding a towel and constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead and neck. The whole person was illuminated by the sunlight pouring in through the window, shining with a greasy light.

  "Oh, that's Ge Baozi, a regular here. He has also produced some high-quality ice jade and glass jade... Do you know what ice jade and glass jade are?" Liu Wenyu asked casually.

  Qiu Qinghe also looked at herself curiously, and Shen Fang smiled and said: "The quality and value of jade are mainly determined by the variety and water. The variety refers to the size of the jade crystal particles, that is, the degree of maturity, while the water is the transparency, transparency."

  "So you're not an outsider after all." Liu Wenyu nodded and said.

  "What kind of soup is good?" Qiu Qinghe asked persistently, as if Shen Fang's reticence was a challenge she couldn't resist.

  "How to put it?" Shen Fang stroked his chin, "Generally speaking, the smaller the crystal particles, the denser the texture, the better the quality. The better the transparency, the better the water quality. If the water quality is good, then it's jadeite, and it's valuable. Like what Liu boss said earlier, 'ice type' or 'glass type', that's high-end jadeite, right, Liu boss?"

  Liu Wenyu hummed in agreement, seeing Qiu Qinghe still looking puzzled and blinking her eyes, helped to explain: "Ice type, the surface is very shiny, most of them are semi-transparent, clear as water, giving people a sense of clarity. Glass type, as the name suggests, has a glassy luster, high transparency, sufficient moisture, fine texture, pure and flawless."

  Qiu Qinghe glanced at Shen Fang with disdain, as if saying, "Look how poetic and articulate others are when they speak, unlike you who only knows how to recite books.

  "The glass kind is not the best, there's the old pit kind, and above that, there's the dragon kind!" Shen Fang deliberately raised his tone, "Let's not mention the old pit kind, let's talk about the dragon kind. It's the king of jadeite, with a smooth and delicate yet cold and icy feel to it. Its appearance is warm and radiant, yet deep and vast like the ocean, full of endless charm. It can warm the body in cold winter, and cool down naturally in hot summer. It's the dream lover of every jade enthusiast..."

  Qiu Qinghe couldn't help but laugh at Shen Fang's exaggerated performance, and said with a snort, "Nonsense, where in the world is there such a good thing."

  "Haha, this isn't nonsense." Liu Wenyu spoke up, "Mr. Shen is right, the dragon species is indeed the highest realm of jade, worthy of the title of king."

  Shen Fang shook his head in dismay, sighed and sat back down, propping up his legs and mumbling indistinctly as he chewed on instant noodles: "Earlier you mentioned Ge Baozi, I didn't see him wearing gold and silver, or carrying jade and pearls either. Isn't making a profit from gambling stones pretty good?"

  Liu Wenyu's stone gambling club has been open for two years, and he knows everyone here. He has seen many legendary rises and meteoric falls. Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but sigh, "It's hard to predict the value of a jade! The Ge family has been in this business for three generations, and they've experienced countless ups and downs, yet they still can't see through this stone..."

  Liu Wenyu seemed to be in a good mood, not minding Shen Fang's indifferent attitude at all. "Once he brought back a piece of jade from Myanmar and as soon as it was revealed here, someone offered 10 million yuan to buy it from him on the spot. The profit was over 40 times, but that person processed the stone into a jade Buddha, which had a base price of 6 million yuan. Several hundred thousand yuan just slipped away like this."

  Seeing many people surrounding Ge Baozi and the rural old man, Shen Fang was not in a hurry. He looked up and smiled: "Then isn't he also making a profit? If you're really afraid of losing out, why don't you cut and process the stone yourself?"

  "It's easy to say, but how many people can really let go?" Liu Wenyu squatted down next to Shen Fang, pulled out a cigarette and handed one over, then lit one himself and took a hard drag. "Ge Baozi rarely buys other people's stones, he usually goes straight to Yunnan or Myanmar to dig them up himself. But once, it was at my place, he spotted a large black tourmaline stone and even got his already retired old father to come take a look. The two of them thought it was very likely to produce a rare treasure, and almost sold all their property, scraping together 1.2 million to buy the black tourmaline. And the result... haha, even gods can't predict jade, let alone ordinary people..."

  He crumpled up the empty instant noodle bag and stuffed it into his pants pocket. Shen Fang rubbed his mouth and patted his hands, saying: "Boss Liu, I've got a business proposition for you."