Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At Da Mao’s words, the good-natured stall owner’s face changed immediately. He fished out a drill rod from behind his back and brandished it, ready to hit Da Mao. A litany of Burmese fell from his lips as he prattled on aggressively.
Liu Zi stopped him. “What? Bad enough that your stock is bad, now you’re not letting our colleague tell us as much?”
He then turned to glare at Da Mao. “F*ck, hold your damned tongue. Are you looking to get hit? Why are you running your mouth at a place like this?”
Da Mao looked indignant. “Master Liu, I’m your consultant, I have to give you my honest opinion.”
Liu Zi shot back angrily, “But you don’t have to be so loud about it. We’re the only ones who need to know!”
In the business of betting on rocks, the ‘betting’ part was of more importance: it entailed mystery. No one knew how much a rock could potentially be worth before it was split open. Hamlet was different for every one of its readers. Likewise, a thousand people in the business of betting on rocks would have a thousand different judgments and price tags for the very same rock. In this business, people detested those who broadcasted their opinions, because it could affect someone’s judgment, and by extension, even the actual pricing of the rock.
Of course, there were no issues with insider communication, so Liu Zi turned to the stall owner after he admonished Da Mao. “Hey, you’re quite the tyrant, aren’t you? You have an issue with us discussing this amongst ourselves?”
The stall owner was stunned. He switched back to Chinese, “Why you alls insiders with this bastard? He an idiot, you all listen to him? Haha!”
It was a struggle trying to understand the man, so Liu Zi switched to Burmese to communicate with him. He then turned back to Li Du and relayed, “Turns out the kid’s been making his rounds and he hasn’t had a single good thing to say about any of the rocks. The stall owners recognize him, but they all think he’s just a fool so they’ve been going easy on him.”
At this, he pointed to Da Mao and said, “You’re lucky. If it were not for the fact that everyone thinks you’re an idiot, they’d have f*cking killed you already.”
Da Mao retorted angrily, “But what I’m saying is true! Look at this piece, will you? Yes, it’s a black sand rock, but so what? That doesn’t mean it’ll definitely produce good jade. What’s the point of betting on a rock like this? Everyone would just be buying black sand rocks if it were so simple.”
“Come over here and see for yourselves. What kind of black sand rock is this? There’s oil on the surface, right? This means that a lot of people have touched the rock, but not a single one of them was confident about it so they left without buying it. Look again at the color of the rock. It’s black, but it’s not black enough…”
“There are python stripes on the rock,” Zhong Dapao said as he patted the surface.
Da Mao chuckled coldly. “You call these python stripes? Master Pao, this is straight-up python skin! A huge python shed its skin and hung it over this rock. The real thing is long gone!”
Li Du chuckled at the boy’s words. “That’s interesting. What do you think is the deal with this rock, then?”
“If you spend 80 dollars on a black rock, all you’ll get back is some attention,” Da Mao declared confidently.
Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi looked at Li Du who had nothing to offer except a question, “What did you do before all of this? How do you know so much about jade?”
Da Mao looked a little upset at this question. “I was an employee in the biggest jade store in Ruili, The Flying Phoenix. You can do a background check on me if you don’t believe me. My grandfather was a professional in the jade business and also a professor at the University of Diannan. My father and his brother were consultants to people who gathered jade ore. I was exposed to all of this at a young age.”
Liu Zi was puzzled. “You come from a reputable family, so what are you doing here? Without any money, no less. Are you here just for the thrill?”
Da Mao’s eyes looked a little red. “My father and my uncle were murdered.”
His words struck them like a bolt of lightning. “What?!”
Da Mao said through gritted teeth, “They say that what happened to my dad and my uncle was a car accident. My grandfather was so affected by the news that his blood pressure rose, and it caused a cerebral hemorrhage, which f*cking killed him. I came here to investigate their deaths after I found out about it.”
“Maybe it really was just an accident?” Li Du offered.
Da Mao sneered coldly, “Do you actually believe that? The van didn’t slow down after it rammed into the car. It sped up until it crashed into a wall!
“I know for sure that they were murdered. I have to find the murderer and kill him.” Da Mao had never looked more threatening than he did at this moment. “I did a quick check. Their last stop was at Longken, and the accident happened after they left the place. Something must have happened here, and I must find out what!”
Liu Zi said, “This is life. You could end up dead if you keep investigating and stumble upon something fishy!”
Da Mao was not bothered by his warning. “If I were really afraid of dying, I’d have stayed home. I would have gotten a job at the store, gotten married and lived the rest of my days out peacefully with my family. Before I came here, I bought myself a burial site and arranged for someone to bury me if I end up dead.”
Liu Zi patted the teen’s back after hearing what he said. “D*mn brat, you’re quite the man! I was wrong about you before!”
Da Mao rubbed his eyes and said, pretending to be unaffected, “It’s no big deal. Even though you love beating people up, I know you are a bunch of good guys. I’m not just good at reading rocks, I’m also good at reading people.”
Liu Zi burst out laughing. “Just listen to this boy!”
“Alright,” Li Du piped in, “Let’s not talk about this. We’ll go look at the rocks for now. Let’s go, let’s keep looking.”
Zhong Dapao eyed the black sand rock. “And this?”
Li Du responded, “Da Mao is completely right.”
They marched on. Da Mao waved his arms. “Follow me! I have my eyes on this one and it should still be at the stall. You won’t make a loss if you buy it.”
Zhong Dapao asked as they walked along, “What is it?”
“Aung Bar Lay.”
Zhong Dapao pursed his lips. “It’s from Aung Bar Lay? It’s not a good one. Everyone says the outer layer of the rock from that area is thin and there’s a lot of content in it, but from what I know, there rarely is any jade. And even if there were, the quality isn’t stellar. There’s a very high chance you’ll make a loss after you have the rock cut open.”
Da Mao responded, “That’s because you guys don’t know how to look. I’ll be honest with you, the ice-grade jade that’s been appearing in the new factories for the past two years all comes from Aung Bar Lay.”
Aung Bar Lay was an area to the northwest of the newer areas, slightly closer to the old ones. The jade ore from there had thin outer layers with obvious marbling. The rocks rarely had a rough outer layer; they were mostly covered in a thin layer of sand and mud and did not feel sandy to the touch. Because it was not known far and wide like the bigger markets, there were very few people from the outside who bet on the rocks which came from that region.
Guided by Da Mao, they stopped in front of a big stall that was offering a lot of rocks. These rocks had a yellow outer layer that was bordering on red. There were patterns on them, as was typical of Aung Bar Lay rocks.
It was obvious that the stall owner knew Da Mao. At the sight of him, the owner rolled his eyes. “I feed you once and you’re leeching off me now?”
Da Mao giggled. “Brother Ping, I brought you business. We Diannan people believe in repaying our debts, and I’m here to discharge mine!”
The stall owner eyed the bunch of men suspiciously. Zhong Dapao said, “Hey, the boy’s been here just now?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
Liu Zi offered carelessly, “If you’re not new around here, you should know who we are.”
Da Mao wasted no time now that he was at the stall. He went straight for a stone that looked to weigh about 10kg and said, “Look at this. Its outer layer is yellowish-white and it’s very thin. There are white and gray python stripes, proving that it’s still trapped in the rock and has not shed its skin yet. This one’s worth a gamble!”
