Chapter 39

When Mom woke up, Wu Di was still circling the stone, holding a magnifying glass and examining it inch by inch. He couldn't find a single crack on any of its sides, which left him deeply frustrated. Not being able to see the true nature of a good thing was itself a torment.

Mom asked in confusion, "This child, have you been looking at this thing all along? Didn't you take a nap?"

"Hehe, I can't quite figure it out. This is clearly from the Ming Dynasty, but who would be so uninteresting as to keep such a large piece of stone for so many years?"

"You've only been studying for a few days and you're already spending money recklessly. I don't think any of those three brothers are good. Who knows what kind of junk they might have hidden inside."

Wu Di couldn't help but admire his mom's astonishing intuition. How did she know there was something inside? But it wasn't junk; it was a truly amazing thing!

Wu Di was about to wrap the thing in a bedsheet when Mom stopped him. She had him pick up the stone, take away the bedsheet, and throw it in the trash. Then she took an old bedsheet from the cabinet and gestured for Wu Di to use that.

Wu Di bitterly smiled as he moved the jade back to his room. Although it weighed several dozen pounds, he couldn't feel its exact weight. But Wu Di felt this thing definitely didn't weigh 38 kilograms. He should have been angry, but now that he had a big advantage, he might as well be secretly happy.

In the evening, Dad and his sister studied the big thing for a while but couldn't say much about it, so no one paid attention to it anymore. Wu Di secretly told Mom that no one should see or take this thing. Mom immediately became nervous:

"You say this is a good thing?"

"It's definitely strange. I'll take it back to the capital and see."

Soon, guests started coming to the house, one after another. They were all old neighbors from the factory and a few of Mom's mahjong friends. A few aunts sat down and started asking Wu Di about his life in the capital, more detailed than a police officer checking the household registration. Wu Di couldn't take it anymore and fled with his phone, going out for a walk with Pang Kuan and Zhu Ziming.

The next day, Wu Di and his mom and sister went back to their hometown, paid respects at Grandma and Grandpa's graves, and visited Uncle's house. Wu Di's mandatory tasks were finally completed.

On Wednesday, Wu Di and Wu Dan started visiting the jade market.

Yudu is the birthplace of Dushan jade, one of the four famous jades of China. Dushan jade is almost as hard as jadeite, hence the name "Yudu Jadeite." The best Dushan jade is characterized by its correct color, high transparency, fine texture, and lack of impurities and cracks. Among them, the most valuable are rose quartz, translucent white jade, and green jade. Additionally, due to its mixed colors, it is often used to create natural-looking jade carvings.

The jade market in Yudu mainly consists of two areas. The area below Wolong Ridge is a mix of high and low quality, while the market on Qilu Road, where the Yudu Jade Factory is located, is of a higher grade.

Wu Di started from Wolong Ridge. Wolong Ridge is built on a hill, and he had only been there on a school trip when he was a child. In recent years, there had been fierce competition over the thatched cottage with Fan Cheng.

The street opposite the entrance to Wolong Ridge is lined with jade shops, and there are no shortage of shops selling agate and crystal. However, Wu Di noticed that most of the items were artificially colored. If the agate were naturally pure to that extent, how much would it cost? A bracelet for fifty yuan, if it's not glass, it's already a good deal.

As he walked along, he saw jadeite, yellow jade, Afghan jade, Russian jade, white jade, and Xiuyu... a mix of various types of jade, with Dushan jade being the main type.

Dushan jade carvings are mainly divided into two types: landscapes and flowers and birds in mixed colors of brown, green, and white, and animal carvings in black and white. The prices are not high, generally around three thousand yuan.

The colors of the bracelets and pendants are mostly mixed, with occasional green ones, which are more expensive, but rarely over a thousand yuan. The jade is generally dry, the craftsmanship is rough, and the waxing marks are obvious.

After a round of browsing, Wu Di didn't find anything he liked. Wu Dan, however, bought a few small pendants, including a Buddha and a Guanyin, with the most expensive one not exceeding fifty yuan.

Wu Di shook his head. These shops might have good things, but ordinary people can't see them. Wu Di didn't plan to use the Heavenly Book here and didn't trust his own eyes, so he just wandered around to feel the market's prosperity.

The Yudu Jade Factory had a different atmosphere. The exhibition halls were mainly filled with jadeite, as Dushan jade is more suitable for carvings. The jadeite jewelry in the glass counters was more attractive. Wu Di was interested in a pair of lavender jadeite bracelets, which were not transparent but had a uniform pinkish-purple color. After the discount, they cost only a little over three thousand yuan. Thinking about the stones he had opened in the capital, he shook his head and put them down. If these were real A-grade jadeite, such a full-color bracelet would probably cost several hundred thousand yuan.

Wu Di also saw a transparent glass-type laughing Buddha, priced at 180,000 yuan, with a few white cotton-like inclusions. This was just an ice-type jadeite, not even high ice, clearly meant to deceive tourists who came for the name.

At the烙画厂 (Lohua Factory), Wu Di decided to buy a few sets of烙画筷子 (Lohua chopsticks) to replace the chopsticks at his godmother's house. The Lohua Factory also had a jade counter, but the quality was slightly lower than that of the jade factory. As Wu Di was lamenting the lack of good things, a middle-aged man who looked like a loafer stopped him, flipped open his collar, and showed Wu Di his jade.

It was a completely transparent Guanyin with a clear water base, evenly distributed with a dozen or so green threads about a millimeter long, very beautiful. Wu Di asked how much it cost, and the man replied:

"I spent five million on a stone, and it turned into this. How much do you think it's worth?"

Wu Di noticed that the pendant was thinner than usual, likely cut from a green-skinned stone. Because it was thin, it was transparent, and the quality had improved by one level. After the man left, the salesperson said he was the factory manager. Since the manager wasn't reliable, Wu Di decided to move on.

Next to the jade factory was the Jade Carving World, where necklaces, bracelets, prayer beads, and various small trinkets were piled on the counters, leaving Wu Di uninterested. Some were clearly just glass, and he heard that in the jade carving village, they were sold by the shovel (a local term, a shovel is a spade used for digging).

After a round of browsing, Wu Di found a good thing: agate chess sets. The imitation rosewood box, when opened, revealed a gilded chessboard, and the red agate chess pieces were very clear and transparent. They weren't expensive, costing only a hundred or two yuan per set, making them good as small gifts. He bought a few sets and then thought of Go sets. Using these would be better than plastic pieces, right?

He asked, and the shop owner took out a few bags for Wu Di to choose from. Wu Di picked two and asked:

"Boss, do you have any better ones?"

The boss smiled, looking at Wu Di like a wolf looking at a sheep:

"Yes, there is a set of natural agate, but the price is very high."

"Ah, so these aren't natural agate? Are they glass?"

"You're a smart guy. How can you get real things for a few hundred yuan? But this is definitely natural agate, just heat-treated."

Agate is a sub-species of chalcedony, with a loose structure and many micro-pores. This structure determines some of its properties, such as being slightly transparent, having good toughness, and being easy to penetrate, which also makes it easy to artificially color.

Some agate is heat-treated, but since no other non-natural components are added, it is still considered natural and does not fade. The boss was clearly playing a game of dodging the important points.

"How much is the natural set?"

"Little brother, take a look first."

The boss took out a set of chess pieces from under the counter, and Wu Di examined them carefully. The pieces were well-polished and shiny, but the transparency was poor, especially the white pieces, which still showed some impurities. Wu Di tried the feel of a handful of pieces and put them down, feeling that they were still deceptive.

He pushed the chess box to the boss, who smiled and let the pieces fall one by one into the box, saying:

"Good stuff, little brother, don't you want to take another look?"

"I can't tell, let's just forget it."

If it's good, would you play a high-altitude drop? Wu Di turned to look at other small trinkets. Suddenly, he noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye. Patina? It seemed that one of the black pieces had patina. He pretended not to care and asked:

"Boss, how much are you selling this Go set for?"

"Ten thousand, this is real natural agate from Fuxin."

"Hehe, even if it's natural, it's not worth that much. One thousand."

"Little brother, if you're not serious about buying, give me a better price, and I'll help you out."

"The two sets cost nine hundred yuan, and this one costs a thousand, which is already high."

"This price is too low, I can't even come here."

"We're both from Yudu, no need to talk so much. One thousand two, if you agree, I'll pay and leave. If not, I'll take the two sets."

Wu Di switched to the Yudu dialect.

"Let's not argue, three sets for three thousand, what do you think?"

"Two thousand four, if you agree, I'll take them."

"Two thousand eight, not a penny less!"

"Two thousand six, count the money. Get me a sturdy bag."

The boss poured the chess pieces into two bags and said:

"The box is not for sale."

Wu Di smiled. He originally wanted a large plastic bag, but the boss was quick, saving a few yuan. He didn't argue, as the plastic-woven boxes were not usable anyway, and gift packaging is a science.

Wu Di roughly counted the pieces and noticed a few more that seemed to have patina. Afraid the boss would notice, he quickly paid and left.

He put the items in the car and continued browsing. He found a store and bought a few jadeite pendants worth a few dozen yuan each, planning to give them to Li Qinglong and others back in the capital. Then he took Wu Dan and returned home, fully loaded.