Chapter 40

Wu Di returned home, and his father hadn't come back from work yet. His mother saw the pile of things he had bought and said,

"It would have been cheaper to go to the Jade Carving Village."

"I'll make a trip there someday."

The Jade Carving Village consists of over a hundred villages, where every household has a jade carving machine. Cheap jade materials like yellow jade, Afghan jade, and Russian jade all come from there. Jade goods from the Jade Carving Village are found all over the country, mixed with genuine and fake items, making it hard to distinguish, but most are of medium to low quality.

Wu Di wanted to go there not to see these things, but mainly to try his luck with jade gambling, without relying on the Heavenly Book, just to practice his skills. He had heard that the raw jade from the Jade Carving Village could form a comprehensive collection of fake raw jade, which was one of the reasons he wanted to go.

Wu Di poured the black Go stones he had bought onto the bed and began to identify them one by one. He first found an old stone with a patina and asked Wu Dan to find similar ones. After about half an hour, they found about twenty different stones. Wu Di checked them again, threw back a few, and kept a total of eighteen stones that were clearly different from the others. Then he went online to look up information about black gemstones.

Obsidian, black agate, black jade, black emerald...

There was plenty of information about black gemstones online, with black emerald and black jade being the most expensive. Wu Di took out a strong flashlight and examined each stone one by one. Two of them showed a hint of green, seemingly black emerald, but he wasn't sure. The rest showed no reaction.

Wu Di didn't plan to use the Heavenly Book to identify them; he couldn't afford it. Besides, even if they were all top-grade black emerald, such a small amount wouldn't make much of a difference. He decided to take them back to the capital and have someone help him identify them. As long as he didn't lose money on the 2,000 yuan he spent, it would be fine.

Wu Di browsed a jade gambling forum for a while, reinforcing the knowledge he had learned online, and asked a few questions before moving on. He then took out "A History of Chinese Ceramics" and continued his studies.

The next day, Wu Di made an excuse to stay home and left his sister behind, driving straight to the Jade Carving Village.

The Jade Carving Village mainly has three streets, each lined with small shops. In the middle of the streets is a river, and the riverbank is full of stalls. Wu Di asked someone for directions and easily found the place for jade gambling. It was a small street with about a dozen shops, each with stones of various sizes displayed outside. One family had the most and the most exaggerated display, as their front was piled with a mountain of raw jade, all the size of a baby's fist, priced at 50 yuan each.

Wu Di arrived early, and there weren't many people. He started from the first shop.

The shop was called "Jade Gambling World," a grand name for a shop that was less than thirty square meters. Wu Di first looked at the raw jade with windows cut into them. After going through them once, he noticed that the shop was clearly a "Fake Jade World." This was too damn unfair! There were all kinds of fake techniques, from attaching pieces, restoring, dusting, and drilling. Wu Di was initially afraid he wouldn't recognize them, but to his surprise, he could easily connect them with the information he had. He asked about the prices of two stones, which were not expensive, probably because the owner didn't put much effort into faking them.

He visited three shops without making a single purchase. The good ones were expensive, and he was afraid they were fakes he couldn't identify. The bad ones weren't even worth buying. Was he really a lucky superhero?

Stepping out of the shop, Wu Di stood in the sun for a moment, realizing that with his current level, this trip was probably a waste. He only thought about big wins without the corresponding skills and was suspicious of everything. He might as well go back directly.

The fourth shop was called "Jade轩" (Jade轩 is a name, so it's kept as is). There were no clerks, only an old man dozing at the door. Wu Di immediately spotted a piece of raw jade, an irregular square, weighing over 200 pounds, with a grayish-white skin, similar to the skin of an elephant in a zoo.

Wu Di, who had never seen real old elephant skin before, was pleasantly surprised to recognize it at first glance. He quickly approached the stone, as old elephant skin is legendary raw jade, often of glass or high-ice quality, and any green would be high-quality jade. He couldn't let anyone else take it.

Wu Di squatted down and circled the stone, which was a full-gambling piece with no windows. He then checked for cracks, finding none, and noticed two areas where the sand had fallen off, suggesting it might be glass quality. Could his luck be that good? Such a stone should have been snatched up as soon as it appeared!

Wu Di calmed down, took out his flashlight, and prepared to examine the areas where the sand had fallen off. Suddenly, he heard a surprised voice:

"Old elephant skin!"

Wu Di stood up, and three people were quickly approaching. The leader was a middle-aged man with a big belly, his hair neatly parted, looking like a successful businessman. The other two were clearly his assistants.

A young man pointed at the stone in Wu Di's hand and asked:

"How much is this one?"

The old man, who had been dozing, woke up and looked at Wu Di, saying:

"That young brother is still looking at it!"

The young man turned to Wu Di and asked:

"Brother, can I take a look at the stone?"

Wu Di shook his head and asked the old man:

"How much is this stone?"

The old man, expressionless, replied:

"Five million, no negotiation."

The other young man was about to speak but was silenced by a glare from the middle-aged man, who lowered his head. Seeing Wu Di hesitate, the middle-aged man stepped forward, handed him a business card, and said in broken Mandarin:

"Brother, I have a shop in Guangzhou. I understand the rules. You can talk first, and if you can't agree, then we'll talk. Oh, old elephant skin from Moxisha, I haven't seen one this big in over a year! Old Qin, you're not being fair. I came yesterday, why didn't you show it to me? Afraid I couldn't afford it?"

Wu Di smiled but said nothing, turned, and squatted down again, using his body to shield himself as he quietly took out the Heavenly Book, scanned it, and saw several small black marks, putting his mind at ease.

One of the young men with the businessman shouted at the old man in the local dialect:

"Right! Old Qin, why didn't we see this thing yesterday?"

Old Qin rolled his eyes and lazily said:

"A new batch arrived in the middle of the night. Qiangzi and the others are still sorting them in the warehouse. They just threw a couple out here, and they'll probably be all displayed by the afternoon."

"Great, looks like I'll have to spend some money this time. Old Qin's stones are good and not fake. I hear he's the best on this street."

The middle-aged man spoke in Guangdong-accented Mandarin and gave a thumbs up.

"Don't flatter me. The stone is what it is. No discounts!"

Old Qin was stubborn and gave no face.

The middle-aged man awkwardly rubbed his belly and smiled, then turned and motioned to one of the young men, who nodded and approached Old Qin to whisper:

"Old man, Mr. Mao wants to buy a batch of goods from your warehouse. Is it okay?"

"No, the warehouse is not open to the public. If you want to see the new batch from last night, there are a few pieces inside, but no access to the warehouse."

The young man turned and shrugged, and Mr. Mao smiled:

"Alright, let's go look at the front. If this young brother doesn't want it, can you hold it for us for a moment?"

"I don't care. I'll sell it to whoever wants it!"

Old Qin was blunt.

The middle-aged man turned to Wu Di, looking troubled:

"Brother, have you made up your mind?"

Wu Di had already decided. Since the Heavenly Book showed several characters, it proved there was something inside. Otherwise, it would only show "jade raw stone." He had to buy this stone! When Mr. Mao asked him, he nodded and directly asked Old Qin:

"Boss, can you give me a discount?"

Old Qin pointed at the middle-aged man, too lazy to speak. Wu Di smiled bitterly:

"Alright, I'll buy it."

The middle-aged man groaned, congratulated Wu Di with grace, and left with his assistants.

Wu Di paid with his card, took some photos of the stone, and stored it at Old Qin's counter before continuing his tour.

The next shop saw Wu Di buy a five-million-yuan stone without haggling and immediately welcomed him, leading him inside and mysteriously bringing out two pieces of raw jade from the safe.

The raw jade pieces were not large, one the size of a watermelon and the other an irregular shape, no more than five kilograms. Wu Di took out his flashlight and examined the watermelon-sized piece first. It had a black, coal-like skin. Wu Di wasn't sure if it was from Lao Pagan or Mamo. He touched it, and the stone felt fine and had good water content. There was a clear patch of pine flower on the upper right, but the flashlight didn't reveal any green, indicating a thick skin. He wasn't sure about the python patterns and found only two possible ones. On the back of the raw jade, there were scattered patches of pine flower.

Wu Di examined the raw jade thoroughly and found no obvious signs of faking. He then looked at the second piece, which was even better. The small stone had three patches of pine flower, a smooth and fine skin, typical of Dama Kan water stone. The flashlight revealed a faint green, indicating a thin skin. It could also be high-quality green under the skin, but Dama Kan water stone is like this: it shows color but doesn't penetrate deep, making it more of a gamble than the first piece. However, these two pieces wouldn't be cheap.

Sure enough, the watermelon-sized piece was priced at 1.2 million, and the other at 2.7 million. Wu Di didn't even think about haggling and shook his head, leaving. Was he really a rookie? The boss knew he had priced it too high and scared away a big customer, shouting a few times, but seeing he couldn't keep him, regretfully slapped himself in the face.

The next few shops had average raw jade, with few fakes. Wu Di began to doubt his own judgment. Had he been too suspicious at the first shop? The prices here were fair compared to the capital, so he spent 100,000 yuan on six pieces of raw jade, one large and five small.

As it was nearly noon, Wu Di decided to open the new large piece of raw jade. It was actually not that big, only about five kilograms, smaller than a child's head. However, the shop owner refused, saying the market rules didn't allow opening stones on the street, as it might affect other customers. He suggested going to a dedicated stone-opening site on the outskirts of town, where he would provide a pass for free stone opening.

Wu Di had seen enough and the weather was getting hot, so he decided to go back and open the old elephant skin. Passing a stall, he saw the middle-aged man from Guangdong, who seemed to be competing for raw jade with someone else. Wu Di didn't think much of it, greeted him, and left.

At Old Qin's, he confirmed the market rules: no stone opening on the street, but a dedicated site on the outskirts. Old Qin sent some clerks to help Wu Di load the raw jade onto his car and pointed out the direction. Wu Di drove to the stone-opening site.

The car's music played "Living for You." It was a call from Pang Kuan. When he heard Wu Di was gambling with jade in the Jade Carving Village, he exclaimed:

"Damn, you didn't even call me? Are we even brothers? Be careful, I heard there are more fake raw jade than real ones there. I have a relative who runs a stone-opening factory. You can go there for a free meal. If you really want to buy, have him take you. At least you won't get fake goods."

"It's too late, I'm already looking for a place to open the stone!"

"Damn, you're probably in trouble. How much did you spend?"

Wu Di didn't want to scare him and played it down, smiling:

"Not much, 100,000!"

"Damn! 100,000! That's not a small amount! I can't save that much in ten years! But for you, it's just a drop in the bucket. Remember, if you buy more, call my relative. I'll send you his number."

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