Chapter 23: Meeting Card
2177 Words
What Boss Zeng said to me, claiming to be well-meaning advice, was actually an insult. After he finished speaking, he looked up at me, and that attitude was nauseating.
Boss Wei looked at me, then at Boss Zeng, and said, "Boss Zeng, betting on stones is 70% luck and 30% skill. Relying entirely on luck is impossible; you still need some skill. This young man has bet three times with me and has won every time, raking in several million. I think he has some skill."
Boss Zeng listened to Boss Wei's words, glanced at me sideways a couple of times, then clasped his hands behind his back, looking indifferent, and said, "If there were any knowledge or experience in stone gambling, wouldn't you have turned your life around by now? Look at you, you look so down and out, like you've turned your life around?"
I chuckled and said, "Boss Zeng, whether I turn over or not has nothing to do with you."
Boss Zeng snorted coldly and said, "If it weren't for the fact that your father used to be my driver, I wouldn't bother lecturing you. I'm doing this for your own good."
I smiled and said, "Thanks, Boss Zeng. If there's nothing else, I won't keep you. I still have to bet on stones. If you have the ability, let the facts speak for themselves."
After I finished speaking, I turned around and left. Boss Zeng glanced at me, but I ignored him. However, I overheard him talking bad about me to Boss Wei, saying that my father used to be his family's driver and took care of me since I was little. He also said that I was an ingrate who turned against him, and that all the good he did for me was in vain.
I don't know how much money Boss Zeng has, but this person is insincere and very hypocritical. Whatever he has, his daughter has too. Zeng Hong is just as bad as he is.
I walked to the water stone rough area, and I still prefer to gamble on water stones. The skin is thin, it's easy to sell, and once sold, the quality is high, so you earn more money. However, similarly, the price of water stones is also very high.
I hadn't picked out the stones yet when Boss Wei came over again. He smiled and asked me, "Brother Zhao Fei, when it comes to gambling on stones, Boss Zeng doesn't understand. Experts know that it's 70% luck and 30% knowledge. But without that 30% knowledge, it's impossible to win just by luck. I think you understand this well. So, I recently bought a piece from Myanmar. Take a look, it's an absolute top-grade piece."
I frowned when I heard that. I don't like it when others recommend materials to me. Last time, that old man recommended materials to my dad, and they turned out to be fake, which led my dad to hang himself. That's why I have a psychological scar.
"Boss Wei, he doesn't know anything about materials. Aiya, if you have good materials, bring them out earlier. I've been waiting here for half a day," Boss Zeng said unhappily.
Boss Wei listened and, feeling a bit helpless, said, "Alright, I'll take it out for everyone to see. Please wait a moment."
Boss Wei finished speaking and quickly went to his office. Wang Gui came over and said to me, "Fei Ge, who is this fat guy? He's always targeting you. Why don't you hit him once? He looks like an outsider to me."
I looked at Wang Gui. This guy is fearless, he dares to insult anyone and fight anyone. If I told him to beat up Boss Zeng right now, I believe he would do it. But I can't do that. Beating up Boss Zeng might feel good for a moment, but afterward, I'd be the one who suffers the consequences. So I have to endure it.
Brother Guang waved at me, and I walked over. He looked at me and asked, "Don't cause trouble."
I nodded. I knew Qian Guang wasn't afraid of causing trouble, but this wasn't the time for that. We were here to gamble on stones, so of course, the focus should be on that.
At this moment, Boss Wei came out, pulling a trailer behind him. On the trailer was a large stone, weighing nearly a hundred or so pounds. When I saw this piece, I found it a bit strange. The piece had no skin, was grayish-white, and looked somewhat like a rock. However, this was just an appearance.
This grayish-white skin is the outer layer of this material. People in the industry refer to this type of skin as elephant skin because the outer layer of this material resembles the surface skin of an elephant.
Looking at the material, I can roughly tell which mine it comes from; it should be from the Huika mine, and it's first-layer material. Huika is located in the southeastern part of the Xiangdong mining area, where many small rivers converge to form the Huika River. There are dozens of large and small mines here, but the material produced by these mines is collectively referred to as Huika material. The only difference is the varying quality of the material produced.
The material that gets stuck is divided into three layers. The upper layer is a yellow gravel layer, mostly consisting of elephant skin, grayish-white, sanded, aged, and often produces high-quality colored materials.
The middle layer is rust-colored, mostly with red chili oil shells, some good and some bad, some with high color and some with low quality, uneven.
The lower layer is black-gray, mostly consisting of black waxy caps. Below the black-gray layer, the bedrock is visible, which is a relatively hard blue-green schist.
So, as soon as I saw the color of the skin on this piece, I knew it was going to be a first-layer piece. Moreover, it's quite large. The place where it was mined is one of the top ten famous pits, known for its significance and fame. Due to the long mining period and low reserves of the old pit, the yield is relatively low, so large pieces like this are rare. Just this piece of rough stone alone must be worth over a million, right?
After the stone was pulled out, Boss Wei said, "I bought this piece at an auction from the public auction in Myanmar, just received it, got it for 200,000 euros. It's a very rare piece, look at how beautiful the python pattern is. If it were to be polished, this piece would start at a minimum of ten million."
I squatted down to look at the stone. This stone is an irregular cube, over a foot high. On the skin, a python skin is wrapped around the stone. Just this python skin alone is worth a hundred thousand yuan.
The so-called "python band" refers to some strip-like or irregular patch-like, undulating bands distributed on the surface of the jadeite rough stone skin. The colors are variable, and some even wrap around most of the jadeite rough stone. Some are formed by the arrangement of sand grains, resembling the shape of a python or a rope, which we call "python," "rope," or "python band."
This python also has dozens of varieties, very fine. The type of jadeite that appears inside the stone represented by each type of python is not certain.
But the presence of a python can prove that there is material inside. I looked at the python belt, which is black. This is a black python. Black pythons are mostly composed of jadeite impurities. In fact, they are just black jadeite distributed in bands. I touched it, and it was very smooth and delicate. Just from this python belt, I can conclude that this piece of material might exhibit the phenomenon of jadeite with green.
That is to say, there is green material under the python belt, but it's hard to find material in other areas. However, this is a piece that can be carded, very much a gamble. As long as the gamble reveals material, it will definitely be high-quality goods, a great opportunity to make a small investment for a big return.
Boss Zeng chuckled and asked me, "You've been looking for so long, tell me, is this material in stock or not?"
I looked at Boss Zeng, and he really seemed very disdainful. I didn't say anything but instead walked up to Brother Guang and said, "Brother Guang, this material is quite rare on the market. It only appears at the Myanmar public auction, has python patterns, good skin quality, and sells well..."
Brother Guang took a sip of tea and said, "Don't talk to me about these things, I don't understand. Just tell me if we can gamble and how confident you are."
Brother Guang is a very straightforward person; he wouldn't ask me about this knowledge. I looked at the stone and said, "Four layers of understanding..."
"Damn it, only four layers? Are you stupid? Not even half? The risk is so high..." Qian Laowu cursed.
I looked at Qian Laowu and said, "Boss Wei bought this piece for two million. If we buy it, it would cost us at least two hundred fifty million. This piece is very large and can be used to make bracelets. Initially, we estimate that we can make fifty pairs of bracelets without any problem. If we can make an icy type, even if it's a semi-icy type, twenty thousand per pair is not an issue. So we are investing two hundred fifty million to aim
"Ten million? Is that for real?" Qian Laowu asked, somewhat incredulously.
Qian Guang didn't speak, his twenty hands clasped together, deep in thought. At that moment, Boss Wei walked over and said, "Brother Guang, this piece is not worth two million five hundred thousand; it should be at least five million..."
Boss Wei's words surprised us all; I incredulously said, "So expensive?"
Boss Wei said, "Of course, the ticket to the Myanmar public auction is 50,000 euros. The materials inside are three times higher than the market price, and with a 100% tax, the materials I bought for 200,000 euros will cost me 400,000 euros. When I return to the country, if I want to break even, I need at least 500,000 euros."
After I heard that, I was a bit taken aback. The stones from the Myanmar public auction are very expensive, and the taxes are quite heavy.
The so-called public auction is a method adopted by Myanmar to centrally sell jade. Every year, the Myanmar government invites mainland merchants to participate in the auction. There are many top-quality stones at the auction, and the highest bidder wins. Moreover, after the auction, buyers have to pay a heavy tax equivalent to the auction proceeds. So, if you buy a stone for one dollar, you end up paying two dollars when you finalize the transaction and pick it up.
So, looking at it this way, Brother Guang's two million isn't even half the price of this piece. Gambling on stones is truly a money-burning endeavor. One million, two million—sometimes it's even less than the value of a single stone. It really fits the saying: madmen buy, madmen sell, and there are always madmen waiting. No matter how much money it takes to gamble on stones, there will always be people willing to do it.
Brother Guang looked at me and said, "How much can you offer?"
This made me a bit helpless, and I said, "Two hundred thousand..."
Brother Guang smiled, and Old Man Qian also smiled. Their smiles made me feel a bit embarrassed. Two hundred thousand looked like a lot to me, but compared to this stone, it was less than one-twentieth.
Brother Guang said, "The risk is too high, five million..."
He didn't finish his sentence, just sighed. Clearly, even if Qian Guang wanted to gamble, he didn't have the strength to do so...
Boss Wei chuckled and said, "Brother Guang, I also like betting on stones. I originally wanted to cut this piece myself, but a five-million-yuan piece is really too big. How about we go halves on it? You pay half, and I'll pay half."
Boss Wei's words made me very happy because I want to bet on this material. He has a python, which is a material that can be carded, and it's so big. As long as it's excellent, we'll make a profit. Moreover, with Boss Wei joining in, I feel even more at ease. At least I don't have to worry about him using fake material. If it's fake, then Boss Wei would be slapping himself in the face, and he can forget about doing business in the future
But the final decision still lies with Brother Guang...
Waiting for him to make a decision is really torturous. If I had my own money, why would I need to wait?
- Writer
