Episode 86: Gambling on Stones
Qishi Workshop, affiliated with Qishi Jewelry Group, is not only the leader in the jade and jewelry industry in Longtan City, but also one of the top players in the domestic jewelry industry. Even internationally, it has a very high reputation. The types of jade operated by Qishi include white jade, yellow jade, green jade, blue jade, ink jade, sugar jade, Hanbai jade, Jingbai jade, Nanyang jade, and Lantian jade, among many others. The scale is so large that it's hard for ordinary people to imagine.
Located on Jade Street, this Qishi Workshop is a relatively large jewelry specialty store of the Qishi Jewelry Group in Donghai, mainly featuring various jade and stone ornaments.
Upon entering the Qishi Workshop, one's gaze falls upon rows of neatly arranged jade stone counters, filling a spacious first-floor hall that measures hundreds of square meters. At this moment, people are coming and going, and the salesgirls inside are almost overwhelmed with work, yet some still manage to welcome Fangyuan and Liyan's group.
"I'm here to find your boss, Lu. My name is Fang Yuan." The fat man leered at the pretty salesgirl in front of him, his expression as sleazy as possible.
However, perhaps having seen many people, the salesgirl was also a seasoned veteran, completely ignoring Fang Yuan's gaze, still with a sweet smile, saying: "So it's President Fang, our General Manager Lu has been waiting for you for a while, please follow me." As she spoke, she led several people towards the staircase.
On this road, Li Yan saw only some finished jade jewelry, and the quality was also good or bad. Unfortunately, there were too few of them, which couldn't meet his needs at all.
As the shopping guide led them, a group of people quickly took the elevator. The first floor hall of Qishi Workshop mainly sold some mid-to-low-end jade jewelry, the second floor was mid-to-high-end, and the third floor was top-notch, but only accepted some special members and VIPs. The fourth floor was a warehouse, while the fifth floor was where the raw materials for this batch of jade were stored.
"Haha... Brother Fang, you've finally arrived. This time the air transport goods are not many, if you were late for a moment, there wouldn't be any left for you." The salesgirl led several people to the front of a large hall-like warehouse door, and just saw a spirited young man walking out from inside, who immediately burst into exaggerated laughter upon seeing Fang Yuan.
"Come on, Brother Fang, I didn't know you were after the money in my pocket!" The two of them were very familiar with each other, so Fang Yuan could also joke around.
"Who is this?" Lu Feng didn't think much of it and greeted Fang Yuan before looking at Li Yan with a hint of inquiry.
"This is Li Yan, Mr. Li. He's absolutely a man of great ability and vision. Moreover, he has connections with your father, Lu Lao. Peak brother, you must treat him well." Fang Yuan solemnly introduced Li Yan, not to mention the mysterious power that Li Yan showed, from the moment he saw Li Yan take out dozens of hundred-year-old medicinal materials at once, he knew that Li Yan was absolutely not an ordinary person.
Lu Feng was also shocked by the words, Fang Pao's identity, he knew that being called "hand and eye in harmony" by Fang Pao was not a simple person. Moreover, the other party actually had dealings with his father, which was truly unexpected. From then on, his gaze at Li Yan changed completely. As for clothing, he didn't care about it, even if Li Yan's clothes were shabby, but in this era, there are many wealthy people who are low-key and unassuming.
"Mr. Li, this is my business card, I hope you can take care of me in the future." Lu Feng showed great enthusiasm, which was also consistent with the nature of a businessman.
Several emerald green cards were handed over, including business cards and VIP cards. Li Yan didn't think much of it and casually took them, stuffing them into his wallet.
Lu Feng took a glance, but saw that Li Yan's wallet was stuffed with dozens of various high-end cards, and he couldn't help but take in a cold breath.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, he immediately came to his senses and hastily invited Li Yan and Fang Yuan inside. The interior was an extremely spacious warehouse with excellent ventilation, warm sunlight streaming in through the glass windows, illuminating every nook and cranny of the room.
In the hall, against the wall, there were rows of shelves, on which were placed large and small stones of various shapes, some of which had been cut or had friction marks, revealing green patches, while others were intact. On the floor in the middle, there were larger blocks, with the largest one in the center being as big as a millstone.
"Two gentlemen, this is all the woolen goods I have here. Take a look and let me know which one you want. Mr. Li, although it's your first time here, Fang is an old friend, so you should know that my place is trustworthy, don't worry. Alright, you two go ahead and choose the raw materials, I'll go notify other regular customers. If not for taking care of you, I would have notified them all at once." Lu Feng let out a wry smile, then turned to walk away on his own.
What he said was true, mainly referring to the fact that all these woolen goods were of good origin and would not be counterfeit. On this point, Fang Yuan did admit that although he had lost a lot of money here before, he could still guarantee that the woolen goods here were genuine and reasonably priced.
"Mr. Li, you take a look first!" Fang Yuan seemed very excited and ran off to select the raw stones he liked.
Li Yan smiled slightly and began to look around, the warehouse had hundreds of pieces of fur, about a third of which were semi-finished products, the rest were all finished goods. Li Yan looked at these semi-finished products first.
What is meant by "half-gambling" refers to a complete raw jade stone being cut open, called "opening the window", or grinding some surface skin, called "rubbing the stone". Through this means, the green material is exposed. As long as it turns green, it proves that there is jadeite in the stone. Then the buyer needs to gamble on the size and grade of the jadeite.
To judge the value of a jade, it is generally started from its "yuan" and "song hua". "Yuan" is Burmese, meaning hidden things, while "song hua" refers to the green accumulation that can analyze and judge the jade.
The surface of the jade rough has a pattern, under which high green may appear. If there is only a pattern without accompanying pine flowers, the green color under the skin will be light and not dense, even if it is jade, it is a lower grade. If the pattern is accompanied by pine flowers, it is not only possible to have jade but also high green, which is a pretty good grade of jade.
Gambling on jade, although most of it is about luck, because the outer layer of jade is formed over millions of years, ordinary practitioners and even scattered immortals can hardly see through it, so there is a saying "even gods cannot tell an inch of jade", which has been passed down to this day.
However, after all, it is a thing, and over time, there are still some experiences that can be used as a reference. To determine whether a piece of wool fabric is worth betting on, the main aspects to consider are its thickness, fluffiness, pilling, cracking, and dryness.
The term "cancer" refers to a blackish-blue substance of varying shapes on the surface of jadeite, which has an invasive effect on the green color of jadeite. The cancer has layers and directions on the skin, or is distributed in pieces, strips, or dots, having a significant impact on the interior of the block.
And "裂" refers to cracks, according to the saying, large ones are called "裂", small ones are called "绺". It can also be used to determine whether it has invaded the jade under the skin.
When it comes to dryness, it looks like a piece of wood that has been burned, either gray or black or brown, mainly the impurities decomposed from green during the transition period. In the industry, there is also a saying that "where there is dryness, there is color". If a hair material appears dry, then its dyeing property will be very strong.
Li Yan didn't know much about gambling on stones, but as a loose immortal, he naturally had spiritual powers. The Hunyuan Dali Tianjing he cultivated recorded a kind of spiritual power called "Tianyan Eye", which means that even the sky can be explored, let alone small jade stones.
Under his piercing gaze, all the rough stones in this warehouse were laid bare before his eyes. He was not entirely ignorant of jade either - he knew a thing or two about oil green, bean green, flower green, dry green, golden thread, frost, ice, and even glass.
In just a few minutes, Li Yan had seen through almost all the woolen goods in the warehouse, which also proved a saying that was widely circulated among the jade gambling community: "Ten bets, nine empties."
Although not every piece is empty, at least many of the wool fabrics look good on the surface but are actually very poor inside. Those with goods are mostly some lower-quality ones. Only three pieces can catch his eye, among which only one is semi-wool fabric and the other two are all full-wool fabrics.
At this moment, he picked out the three blocks. Suddenly, Lu Feng, who had just entered again, couldn't help but be surprised: "Mr. Li, you've chosen so quickly!"
"Mr. Li, you're not just picking randomly, are you?" Fang Yuan couldn't help but shout: "I've only looked at a few pieces!"
Li Yan lazily stretched out his hand, although he didn't say anything, but the meaning was self-evident. Of course, he couldn't say that his Heaven's Eye had already investigated most of the original stones in the warehouse...