Chapter 20: Bargaining
Lin Ruoxi was about to go crazy. Cheng Yuan had been so confident, she’d actually thought he had a few tricks up his sleeve, but...
Forget it. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up over Cheng Yuan.
Lin Ruoxi suppressed her disappointment and explained, "Jadeite quality, or ’zhong shui,’ is graded from high to low as follows: Glassy, High Ice, Jelly, Ice, Glutinous Ice, Hibiscus, and Bean. For stones of the same quality grade, the fuller and more vibrant the green, the more expensive it is."
"What does ’zhong shui’ mean?"
"I won’t use the technical jargon. In simple terms, it’s about purity and transparency. The higher the purity and transparency, the more valuable the stone."
Cheng Yuan nodded thoughtfully. "I think I get the gist of it. Just watch me."
Lin Xinghe and Hua Yao shook their heads nonstop. They no longer held out any hope for Cheng Yuan.
Even veteran jewelry dealers like them could make a bad call.
Could a novice who was just cramming at the last minute really strike it rich?
What an absolute joke!
Suddenly, Shen Manwen’s voice called out from a short distance away, "Dr. Cheng, Ruoxi, Uncle, Auntie, come quick! The raw stones at this stall look pretty good!"
The group hurried over.
It was a relatively large stall, over a hundred square meters, displaying over a thousand raw stones of all sizes.
The appearance of these raw stones was truly excellent. About a third had mottled rinds, while the rest had either black or green rinds, and their colors were quite uniform.
Lin Xinghe’s eyes lit up. The appearance of these raw stones was just too good, especially the ones with green rinds. They could definitely yield high-grade jadeite! Could today be the day he turned his fortunes around?
"Stall owner, how much for these stones?"
The stall owner looked Lin Xinghe up and down. Seeing he was dressed in designer brands, the owner’s eyes instantly lit up.
"Boss, you’ve got a great eye. All my stones are brought back from Myanmar, pure Hpakant material! The ones with green rinds are thirty thousand a jin, black rinds are twenty thousand a jin, and mottled rinds are ten thousand a jin."
Cheng Yuan was secretly speechless. Thirty thousand a jin? Many of these stones had to be over ten, even twenty jin. The money he had on him was definitely not enough.
Lin Xinghe narrowed his eyes. Judging by their appearance, these stones really did seem to be pure Hpakant material, making the price quite fair.
Out of caution, Lin Xinghe questioned him:
"Stall owner, don’t try to fool me. Pure Hpakant stones are all bought up by the major jewelry companies. How could they possibly fall into your hands?"
The stall owner’s pupils contracted slightly. ’Ah, I’ve run into an expert!’
’But these days, the easiest people to fool are the experts!’
The stall owner lowered his voice. "Boss, I didn’t realize you were such a pro! You’re right, Hpakant stones are bought up the moment they leave the mine! But there’s an inside story you don’t know. A lot of Hpakant material never officially leaves the mine. It’s secretly smuggled out by the miners to be sold, and that’s how I got these."
"So they’re stolen goods, huh? That means I’m taking on a lot of risk. You’ll have to give me a discount, boss. How about twenty thousand for the green rinds, ten thousand for the black, and five thousand for the mottled?"
The stall owner looked conflicted for a long moment, then grit his teeth. "Fine. It’s my first sale of the day. We’ll go with your prices, boss."
Lin Xinghe gave a slight nod and turned to Cheng Yuan. "You’re in luck, kid. You’ve stumbled upon a great batch of stones. There’s a real chance to strike it rich. It all comes down to your eye for it now."
Cheng Yuan activated his Double Pupil, instantly seeing through the over one thousand raw stones.
And then... Cheng Yuan was left speechless. Among the thousand-plus stones, there wasn’t a single speck of green!
"Uncle Lin, these stones are no good. They’re either leftover Waste Stones or they’re man-made fakes. We should check another stall."
The stall owner was not pleased. "Watch your mouth, kid," he said coldly. "With this kind of quality, how dare you call them Waste Stones and fakes? If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t run your mouth!"
Lin Xinghe was very confident in himself and naturally wouldn’t believe a layman like Cheng Yuan.
"Stall owner, no need to lower yourself to a layman’s level. This one, this one, and this one... Weigh them for me."
Lin Xinghe picked out more than ten stones in one go.
"Boss, you really have a great eye! You’ve picked out all the best-looking stones I have. You’re guaranteed a huge win!"
Cheng Yuan couldn’t bear to watch Lin Xinghe be a sucker, so he quickly intervened. "Stall owner, stop weighing them. I’m the one who makes the decisions for our family! We don’t want a single one of these stones!"
The stall owner shot Lin Xinghe a mocking look. "Well now, Boss. I thought you were the head of the household, but it turns out the younger generation calls the shots in your family? Tsk, tsk..."
Lin Xinghe’s face hardened with embarrassment. "Cheng Yuan," he said coldly, "what right do you have to make decisions for me? I’m buying these stones, and that’s final!"
Just then, two middle-aged men walked over from a distance. Trailing behind them were five or six well-built young men, who could have been either bodyguards or assistants.
"President Yu, I heard you made a killing a few days ago?"
"Hahaha, that’s right. I got a batch of stones from Old Sun a few days ago, found a sucker at the public auction in Northern Myanmar, and flipped them for a cool ten million!"
"Say what you will, Old Sun’s stones really look the part. His forgery technique is practically an art form. Even some master stone gamblers have been fooled."
"You can say that again."
"Shh, keep it down. Old Sun has a customer. Don’t ruin his sale."
"Right."
The two men stopped talking, quickened their pace, and arrived at Old Sun’s stall.
"Old Sun, however many stones you’ve got here, I’ll take them all!"
Old Sun laughed. "Not so fast, Old Yu. First come, first served!"
With that, Old Sun turned to Lin Xinghe. "So, boss, are you buying or not? You heard him. President Yu wants to buy out my entire stock."
Lin Xinghe thought Old Yu looked a little familiar, like he’d seen him at the public auction in Northern Myanmar. That meant Old Yu couldn’t be a shill.
Worried he’d miss this ’once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity, Lin Xinghe shouted, "Yes! Of course, I’m buying! In fact, I’ll pick a few more!"
"Uncle Lin, these stones..."
Cheng Yuan tried to reason with him again, but Lin Xinghe cut him off rudely.
"Cheng Yuan, don’t you dare tell me what to do! I’m buying these damn stones, and that’s final! You’d better hurry up and pick your own! I suggest you pick from here, otherwise, you’ll never win this gamble!"
Cheng Yuan just shook his head, not bothering to argue anymore.
"Let’s go, Ruoxi. We’ll go pick our stones."
"I’ll go too!"
Shen Manwen followed along with Cheng Yuan.
The raw stone market in Luocheng wasn’t large. In less than half an hour, the three of them had browsed every stall.
Cheng Yuan was a little disappointed. Most of the stones were just Bean type; anything above Glutinous type was few and far between, and there wasn’t a single Glassy type to be found. Fortunately, he did spot one High Ice type stone, weighing about three jin.
"Boss, how much for this stone?"
Seeing how young Cheng Yuan and his companions were, the stall owner, Old Zhang, immediately started trying to swindle them. "This here is top-quality Mogok material. It often produces Glassy-type jade. Fifty thousand a jin."