Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“What about the flaws of this rock?” Li Du asked.
Zhong Dapao spread his arms. “There’s one very distinct flaw. The quality of the jade from this rock is either outstanding, translucent like ice or glass, or it’s complete and utter garbage. Jade of poor quality is liable to be polluted by the black fog, so the price is likely to be low.”
This was the reason why there were so many customers here at Longken. Longken attracted people who liked to gamble and take risks. The jade produced locally was mined in conditions where the soil, water, and type of jade complemented each other, so making a windfall was really likely. Of course, if one blew a fortune but it did not pay off, it was possible to go bankrupt just as easily. Of the two possibilities, the latter was markedly more common than the former.
There were some people in the Chinese Village who suffered great losses from their gambles, and Zhong Dapao told Li Du as much in hopes that the latter would be more careful with the risks he took.
It was not as if all the risks Li Du took had paid off; there had been instances where he made several losses. It was just that he had managed to recoup the losses so, on the whole, he did make a profit. However, at Longken, things would become tricky the moment one lost because the stone was expensive.
Li Du nodded to acknowledge Dapao’s words. So far, the stones he saw here were not particularly impressive. They were mostly regular mountain jade.
They had not been in the market for long before an argument flared up abruptly. People were hotly debating in the local tongue, but also in Chinese and a language that sounded like Japanese or Korean. Li Du could not understand a single word.
Liu Zi, on the other hand, managed to catch bits and pieces of the conversation and he
piped up excitedly, “Let’s go over to the public market. Someone from Hong Kong has bought Abakar and he’s going to cut it. Everyone’s heading over to see.”
Li Du asked curiously, “What’s Abakar?”
Zhong Dapao explained, “It’s the name of a rock. You know, rocks that are really good and have a reputation will get their own name, and Abakar is one of those. Its starting price was 5 million dollars!”
“Hong Kong dollars?”
Zhong Dapao retorted, “No, American dollars!”
Li Du grinned. It was astounding that a rock was priced so high even though it was not cut yet.
Here’s the thing: this was Myanmar, the place jade originated from. As it was with any product, things were usually cheaper at their place of origin. Raw jade sold for the highest price in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Now that China was becoming richer, the price for raw jade has been rising accordingly.
Li Du knew all about it. In most cases, the value of jade would rise substantially after it had been shipping from Hpakant to the foreign market. This was the reason why so many in the jade business were willing to travel here – the profit margin was definitely worth it!
Bearing this in mind, how much could Abakar be worth after it left the country if it was already selling for 5 million dollars now? A billion? Two billion? Anything was possible. Longken was a relatively new market and a rather large space, but as of now, it was already full.
Li Du and his company arrived late so they could not squeeze in, but Zhong Dapao was calm. Lighting a cigarette, he said, “Rocks like this will make it on the elevated platform, so let’s just wait and see.”
To make it to the elevated platform meant literally that people would hoist the rock onto a stand. The public market had a platform that functioned like an elevator, which would rise if they were to display a rock that caught the public’s eye. The boss and the expert would be on it, too.
Soon after, there was the sound of a motor starting up and a metal board that would function as the platform was suspended in the air. Li Du and his friends were still some distance away from the platform, so Zhong Dapao found a random person who managed to get them through the thick crowd and into the public market.
Their guide was a local. He had small eyes and a big mouth and his complexion was tan. He smiled. “Master Pao, you know how loyal I am to you. I’m letting you guys in even though you’re only here to see and not buy.”
Liu Zi shoved him. “Hey, who said we weren’t buying? We brought money along with us.” He fished out the credit card for the other person to see.
Li Du looked up to stare at the stage, alarmed. “That rock is huge!”
What he had bought before were jade pebbles. Even the bigger ones were only as big as volleyballs or basketballs, but this rock was 3 meters long and 2 meters wide and tall, and it probably weighed several tons!
“So this is worth 5 million,” Zhong Dapao said.
It was a piece of mountain jade. It looked good on the outside: the bulk of it was green and some parts were a richer green than others, while other parts were lighter.
“The rock has a good outer layer, dense grains, and a rich color. Under the light, it looks like it’s a good piece. There’s a 20, 30 percent chance that there will be glass-like jade in it!” someone nearby said.
Zhong Dapao was drooling. “I’d definitely bet on this if I had the money. D*mn, if I had glass-like jade from Longken, I could turn all the dilapidated houses in the village into bungalows!”
However, someone shook his head. “You’re wrong. There’s no doubt that it looks good. The shell is thin and there are many spots of green as if you’d see top-quality jade as soon as you split it open, but it seems fake. It will definitely have jade in it, but I doubt the jade would have that glossy sheen to it.”
Zhong Dapao twisted around. “You’re saying a rock from Longken will produce that kind of jade? You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
The person seemed younger than Li Du and the people around them thought he seemed unreliable. “Hey man, just drop it. The owner will think you’re jinxing things!”
The teen smiled. “I’m just stating facts. You see, the rock’s big, it’s true, but there are so many cracks on it and there’s fog in those cracks. What does that mean? That there’ll be a lot of cotton inside! I dare say the boss will be dealing with a load of cotton today.”
“That’s enough from you. What would a little whelp like you know anyway? Get lost!” A number of people had enough of his words and shooed him away.
Li Du stared at the teenager in shock: this boy was an expert! Li Du already knew that the rock would have a lot of jade in it when he released the little bugs into the rock. Unfortunately, the big chunks of jade would not be worth much, because there were too many cracks inside. On top of that, it was not transparent enough and there were turbid areas in it as if it were stuffed full of cotton.
This was different from the first piece of jade Li Du received, which was glass-like. The quality of this piece was superior and was indeed as transparent as glass. It was mostly green with hints of light blue; the quality was excellent, with dense crystal particles. It was top-grade jade!
In the industry of luxury gems, the price of glass-grade jade has skyrocketed over the past few years. As far as Li Du knew, perfect glass-grade jade sold for a 100,000 per gram, which was more expensive than Mutton Fat Jade, which sold for 10,000 to 30,000 per gram. The piece Li Du had weighed about 600 grams or so, so it should be worth about several million.
However, ‘price’ here referred to the price of a finished product, of a perfect glass-grade jade no less. When it was just raw material, its texture was not perfect and therefore it was not worth as much.
Bigger chunks of jade were mostly used to make bracelets. It was complicated work that required much attention during the cutting stage. This meant it was easy for the material to be damaged, and the damages would add up to the price of the cost.
At this time, the polishing master started washing his hands. Everyone’s focus was drawn to the rock and they stared at it intensely. Li Du stared at the rock as well
