Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The vendors might look shabby, but that was a misleading impression. In reality, they were pretty well off and the rocks they had with them were worth several hundred thousand in total.
Several dishes of local food were served. Li Du mindlessly ate some of it and drank some milk tea before letting the little bugs out to shuttle back and forth amongst the vendors’ stones.
The people in this teahouse hailed from all around the globe and were all of various ethnicities, though the majority of them were East Asians, of which the majority were Chinese. Most of the people were absorbed in their own discussions as they ate, so the atmosphere was pretty lively.
“The goods here are a lot cheaper than at Ruili, bro, we should have come here sooner.”
“Such a waste with the rock yesterday. After the washing, the entire shell was a black python stripe with several marbling patterns; you could even see some green under the light. But when it was cut open? It’s true that it had a great color, but there was a lot of cotton and dirt. 500,000 gone just like that!”
“That bastard Old Chen from Liangjiang got lucky. He split a 40kg rock that had python stripes after it was sanded down, and there was green right under those stripes. They sanded it down some more and there was white. And you know what else? All of the green was ice-grade jade. He made more than two million!”
“F*ck, let’s turn back and help him celebrate…”
The discussions centered around similar topics and the people were extremely excited. They spoke in terms of millions, and this was not bravado. This was just how things were in this market.
Zhong Dapao’s companion was filled with excitement too, and mumbled, “Brother Pao, why aren’t we this lucky?”
Li Du asked, “Do you guys dabble in this too?”
The bald man smiled. “We don’t play, per se, it’s not a game to us. We want to make our living off this but Brother Pao has really bad luck and sucks big time at picking rocks. No matter how pretty the rock looks, we always lose money after it’s cut.”
Zhong Dapao waved his hands about. “Away with you! You ate so much just now, wasn’t that enough to stuff your mouth?”
At this moment, a few people stumbled into the teahouse. They saw an empty table and walked towards it, but bumped into more people in the short distance they had to cover.
At the sight, Zhong Dapao shook his head. “We’re done for.”
Some people recognized the group and asked, “Boss Zhang, Boss Duan? Hey, where are you guys from? What’s going on?”
One of them picked up a teacup and gulped down its contents before smiling sadly. “Listen to me, man, just leave. This is a dangerous industry, and these are some deep, deep waters.”
“What happened?”
The man smiled but there was no humor to it. “I cut a rock worth 18 million and could see the bottom really clearly, you know? Snow-white and ice-grade jade. It looked good under light, too. There was green and a deep blue…”
“Didn’t I hear something like that yesterday?”
At the sound of that, the man seemed even more upset than before. “F*ck that sh*t. Green and ice-grade? I thought it would make my fortune, so I spent 18 million, and you know what happened? When I had it cut, there was nothing but cotton inside. It was foam, damn it!”
The buzz picked up and everyone heaved a deep sigh, though a few people were silently gloating.
Li Du asked quietly, “What does he mean by ‘foam’?”
Zhong Dapao told him, “Its scientific name is ‘albite’, and it’s also a type of jade. It’s rather pretty, actually, and rather similar to ice-grade jade because it’s a very transparent white. It’s also why a lot of people lose money.”
Li Du asked, “So it’s not worth much even though it’s similar to ice-grade jade?”
Zhong Dapao nodded. “Its value is really low. This isn’t the same thing as real jade. First of all, albite is lighter, so it doesn’t feel as sturdy and it doesn’t make for good bangles. Another thing to note is that it has a very low refractive index. This is the killer. The value of a piece of jade is entirely dependent on how much light it gives off but with albite, it’s pretty much just a White Pagoda even if it gives off light.”
Liu Zi, the bald, middle-aged man, eyed Li Du as he spoke. “Listen, you’re a real rookie, huh? You don’t even know this much?”
Li Du was not angered by Liu Zi’s suspicions. Instead, he smiled. “I’ve already told you I’m a rookie, just one who happens to be lucky.”
Zhong Dapao held Liu Zi back as he said, “Shut that mouth of yours. We’re not rookies but our luck is bad, so what use is that?”
A lady carrying some raw rocks skirted by them. Li Du snapped his fingers at her and asked, “How much for those?”
The lady responded in broken Chinese, “Which one you mean?”
“All of them.” Li Du drew a circle with his finger.
The lady looked at him, visibly shocked. The people around them were equally surprised. These were raw rocks that contained jade, not heads of cabbage in the market. People usually deliberated before they bought a rock. Who would buy jade ore so carelessly?
Liu Zi almost spat out his tea. “All of them?”
The lady turned it over in her mind before saying, “In RMB? It would be large medium six.”
Li Du glanced at Zhong Dapao. Liu Zi looked like he was going to lose his mind. “Are you seriously–”
Zhong Dapao kicked the man hard before glaring at him. He then huddled close to Li Du and whispered, “She’s quoting you a price, six hundred thousand—”
Li Du exclaimed in exasperation, “I know what she’s saying, but that’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking if that’s a good price for this market.”
Li Du did not come to Hpakant without doing his research. When it came to trading in jade, it was best to iron out all the details as early as possible. There was a local jargon specifically used to quote prices. Of the numbers, one to three were ‘small’, four to six ‘medium’, and seven to nine ‘large’. A large medium was 6, a medium large was 7, a small small was 1, a medium small was 3, and a large large was 9. It could be pretty confusing for newbies.
The reported number referred to the price figure. Ten thousand was five figures, a hundred thousand six figures, and a million seven figures. When the lady from earlier said medium large 6, she had meant above 600,000 but below 700,000.
Zhong Dapao smirked. “We underestimated Brother Li. This price seems just about right. In this teahouse, a plate usually sells for about 500,000 to 1.8 million.”
Li Du eyed the lady. “Large medium six, bottom line?”
The lady hesitated. “Let’s go to the top,” She said.
The ‘bottom line’ referred to the lowest price in the mentioned range while ‘going to the top’ referred to the highest price. They were talking specifics now.
Li Du threw Zhong Dapao a look and the man stood up and said, “Let’s stick to the bottom line. Isn’t if good if you sell out this early in the morning? This would be a good sign for your business.”
The lady started to say something but a random man cut her off, laughing. “Just sell it to him, Sang Bo, it’s not like anyone else is going to buy this. Master Pao has the worst luck. If it caught his eye, it must be really bad. The rock is done for now that he’s asked for a quote!”
“The f*ck did you just say?” Liu Zi was riled up, slamming his hands down on the table as he stood up.
The armed security guard who was patrolling outside immediately stepped in to deal with the commotion. Zhong Dapao reached out and pulled Liu Zi back, forcing him to sit, before reassuring the security guard. “It’s fine, all is good here, sir.”
The security guard stared coldly at them, his hand still tightly clutching his shotgun.
The man that Liu Zi cursed sauntered over to him, picking at his teeth with a toothpick. He said through his chuckles, “Master Liu’s getting real brave these days. What next, you’re gonna hit me?”
