Chapter 1493: Scam
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Godanwei knew how chaotic the Hpakant area was. Gangsters and thugs were everywhere, and he preferred not to alarm anyone because he did not want to provoke the big bosses behind the swindlers.
Li Du, however, had more powerful people supporting him. Godanwei was afraid that Li Du would blame him if he was cheated, saying that he did not live up to his responsibilities as his tour guide.
Ignoring him, Li Du rubbed the stone and said with a smile, “How much do you want for it?”
Lu Dayou smiled and held out a finger. Li Du guessed, “Ten thousand yuan?”
Hearing this, Lu Dayou burst into laughter and said, “You are joking with me. Ten thousand for this? I want one hundred thousand, and that’s my final word. I assure you that you will not regret!”
For a stone of this quality, Li Du felt a hundred thousand was not expensive. The coloring of the jade was particularly striking, and the transparency, the so-called ‘water source’, was very well balanced. It would be beautiful if it was made into a bracelet.
‘Water source’ was a term in the jade industry, referring to transparency. The texture of jade was generally divided into four points, one point of turbidity and three points of transparency.
However, Li Du was not a jade industry expert and was not good at valuing the price of raw jade. The value of jade depended not just on the water source, but also the type of the stone and how much processing it would require. The price point did not have firm rules like in the diamond industry.
The stone in Li Du’s hand was not that big. At most, it would make two bracelets, and it was hard to say how much every such bracelet could cost.
However, one hundred thousand was not much for him. It was the first piece of raw stone he handled, and it was of some commemorative value. Therefore, after he thought about it, he pulled out a bunch of green dollar bills from his bag and handed them to Lu Dayou, saying, “OK, I’ll take it.”
Seeing him being so quick to decide, Lu Dayou was surprised and said, “You’re buying the stone just like that? Aren’t you afraid that I’m a swindler? Don’t you need a professional to give you their opinion?”
Li Du shook his head and said, “I don’t need one. I have some trust in my fellow countrymen. One hundred thousand, I’ll take it.”
Hearing this, Lu Dayou laughed. “Good, brother, very good. We Nanshan men are forthright! Let’s strike a deal, and I assure you it’s a good one!”
There were two kinds of circulating currency in Hpakant, yuan and dollars. Kyat, which was the official currency and was often used in banks, was far less popular.
Seeing Li Du pull out a stack of dollar bills, many eyes in the teahouse lit up.
Soon someone came up and said, “Hello, brother. Would you mind sharing the table?”
Lu Dayou looked at this man and said, “What do you want?”
The man laughed and said, “Let’s come straight to the point. You are here to buy some jade, right? I’ve got a good stone here, too. Would you like to take a look?”
Li Du nodded, while Godanwei gave him another look. He was extremely worried. The boss was quite smart when dealing with him, so how would he be so dumb when it came to business?
The second man sat down and took out a piece of ore from his backpack.
Similarly, this piece of ore was relatively small, only about the size of an apple, about the size of Lu Dayou’s stone.
The difference was that the stone was perfectly oval. Both ends were a bit pointed and the outer layer was black.
The man stroked the stone and smiled. “How is this? Are you familiar with ore of this type? The black sand of old Hpakant is quite a treasure.”
Old Hpakant did not refer to the ancient Hpakant area, but to a most famous local mine, a field that has produced a lot of jade in the course of history.
Looking at this stone, Li Du was surprised. “Does black sand still exist? Hadn’t it run out many years ago?”
The stranger said, “Big black sand had indeed run out, but this kind of little stones still exist, and a lot of people had kept them. I want to try my luck since the market is hungry for high-quality ore now.”
Looking at this stone, Lu Dayou took out a small flashlight from his pocket. The snow-white beam shone in like a knife, but it only penetrated the outer layer of the stone, casting a dull grey light which seemed to be tinged with mist. It looked interesting.
After looking at it carefully for a while, Lu Dayou changed to a magnifying glass again to look at the stone. Then he raised his head and put a couple of eye drops in his eyes. He closed his eyes and said, “Brother, this stone is good.”
The man smiled and said, “Sure, we are not scammers. You ask anyone about how many years I, Malanian, have been in Hpakant. I have a solid reputation.”
Lu Dayou said, “So are you short of money now?”
The man stunned and said, “Huh? What do you mean?”
Lu Dayou, his eyes still closed, said slowly, “Since you have built a good reputation during your many years in Hpakant, why should you use a broken stone to try to fool our brother now?”
The man laughed and said, “What do you…”
“Is this black sand? Do you take us Chinese people for idiots? I bet it’s fake! You see, this black sand is tinged with gray, the bottom is wrapped in white fog, and the only bit of green is a little bluish, so where is the black sand?” Lu Dayou suddenly opened his eyes and showed a little anger.
The man subconsciously leaned back and frowned. “Hemp? It can’t be…”
Lu Dayou sneered and looked at Li Du. “Brother Su, you have to do some homework before buying jade. The depth of the old Hpakant mine has reached more than 20 meters, and the jade dug out was-mainly black coated. Due to the weather, the output of raw materials is way different from years ago. Now the skin casing is thin and tight, and the color is mainly brownish grey, grayish-black, occasionally with a black wax shell, but this is no black sand.”
“Hey, Dalu, are you pretending to be a professional here?” A cynical voice sounded at the door of the teahouse.
“How would old Hpakant have no black sand? Now we have dug to the fifth layer. The fourth layer is the matter of two years ago, and it often has a black sand coating. We have produced many bean greens, melon greens, light green, and dark greens, right?” The man continued.
Li Du looked at the stranger. He was about forty years old, wore stuffers and big goggles, and walked shakily like a gangster.
Lu Dayou looked at him coldly and said, “Oh, you came, Master Dao? Yes, I admit, old Hpakant occasionally comes out with fine regal green with a good water source. But let’s be frank, you should know all about the changes in the source in the fourth layer of the Old Hpakant mine.”
When Master Dao was about to speak, Lu Dayou did not give him a chance, and continued, “It has changed too much, from bean seeds to glass species, so there will naturally be some variety. Some pieces of jade are fine, but some are rough like the hemp granite. Buying the black sand from the fourth layer is a risk. Who would take it?”
At his words, the man called Malanian could not help nodding his head and said, “This brother is an expert. Indeed, the black sand produced by old Hpakant now is usually not that good.”
Master Dao laughed, “Then how would your Manang and Damakan mines produce good stuff? Two cheaters, lying without even blinking their eyes.”
