Chapter 73

Although disappointed with the public auction, Wu Di still prepared to take a good look, especially at the prices of the open stones, which represented the trend of domestic jadeite prices. Upon closer inspection, there were still many good items on the public auction. Among the open stones, mid-to-high-end jadeite such as golden thread, ice-mo, and ice types accounted for about 50% of the total, far higher than the usual configuration in regular stores. Wu Di thought for a moment and understood: "Ten jadeites, nine are pea soup!" In fact, many of the stones that gamblers opened and found worthless were still jadeite, just the low-value pea soup type, and the color was rather poor. This was the source of most small store goods, commonly known as brick material. However, after a series of processes such as mechanical carving, polishing, and waxing, they would look lustrous under the lights.

Of course, good pea soup types were not cheap, but most consumers were people with little knowledge. They just wanted to buy genuine goods, and if the color was good, it was even better. This supported the vast jadeite market.

Most of these open stones were cut into bracelet materials, and the better the quality, the more likely they were to be cut this way. Although display pieces were more expensive, they were hard to sell over the long term. Bracelets and pendants were the best sellers, so the materials were mainly cut for bracelets.

In front of Wu Di was a piece of ice-type lavender jadeite, a high-quality purple, but the price was really not cheap. There were three pieces of material, which could produce six pairs of bracelets, with a base price of three million. If the bidding started, it could easily reach five million.

Wu Di continued to look, and soon circled the venue, examining all the open stones. There were a total of five pieces of ice-glass type, and each one had a crowd of people around it. However, he did not see a single piece of true old pit glass type. He couldn't help but think, "It looks like in two years, the standard for jadeite will change, and ice-glass will be upgraded to glass type. If it's like this in China, it's probably not much better in Myanmar."

Wu Di calculated that the only true glass-type jadeite he could currently offer was the imperial green and blue sprite, both from the "Second Master." He needed to hurry and store a piece of glass-type purple eyes, bright red jadeite, and chicken oil yellow, not for selling or giving away, but just for the sake of owning them.

There were about two thousand pieces of rough jadeite with windows, a mix of trash and high-quality materials, testing people's discernment. Wu Di examined each piece one by one, gradually forgetting the time and his initial disdain, immersed in the sea of green.

Someone patted his shoulder heavily, and he turned to see Qian Fatso and a stranger. Seeing Wu Di stand up, the fatso smiled and said, "Little Wu, let me introduce you. This is my close friend, Lu Gang. He runs a jadeite gambling store in Guangzhou, the largest in the area. He heard about your heroic deeds and is quite envious, hoping you can visit his place and help with some publicity one day."

The lean middle-aged man bowed and handed over a business card, speaking in Guangdong Mandarin, calling Wu Di "Mr. Wu." Wu Di, while looking at the card, said unhappily, "If you're a friend, call me Little Wu. If you call me Mr. Wu, I won't recognize you."

Businessmen are adept at going with the flow, and Lu Gang quickly became familiar with Wu Di. Wu Di gave him a card with only his name and phone number, which he had prepared after leaving his job. Intellectuals now all did this, and Wu Di couldn't be an exception.

"The Stone from Another Mountain" was an interesting name, and Wu Di immediately remembered it. He asked, "Brother Lu, this store name is interesting. Do you deal with other types of stones besides rough jadeite?"

The man gave a thumbs up and smiled, "Yes, I deal with Tianhuang, chicken blood, Qingtian, Balin, Hetian jade, Russian material, Qinghai material, and agate, but jadeite is the most. Little brother, chicken blood stone is also a good type of gambling stone."

The three of them had a pleasant lunch and then split up to look at stones.

Wu Di spent the morning looking and found himself unconsciously immersed in it again. He couldn't help but smile bitterly, "I'm probably going to deal with stones for the rest of my life. There are so many people who say one thing and do another; I never thought I would be one of them."

Thinking of the bad idea he had when he first came in, Wu Di no longer felt as strongly about it. However, he still wanted to try his hand at opening stones at the public auction. He decided not to use the Heavenly Book and only open ten pieces of rough jadeite, five by his true skills, and five chosen randomly, to see if he had Chang Linlin's luck.

Unexpectedly, he ran into Zhong Qi and his wife in the commercial area. They were opening stones at Liu Li's stall. Zhong Qi's T-shirt was already covered in dust. Chang Linlin saw Wu Di and greeted him happily, "This is the second stone we're opening. The first one already collapsed."

Seeing her cheerful demeanor, it seemed as if the collapse wasn't her stone. Upon inquiry, there was indeed a story. She and Zhong Qi had a bet, each choosing a piece of rough jadeite. Whoever opened a stone with higher value would have the other listen to them for the next month. The one they just opened was Zhong Qi's.

"Those two, using such a noble cause as gambling stones for such an ambiguous bet? But, it seems Wen Lan also likes gambling stones. If I could get her to accept such a bet, hehe... would I dare to win?"

Some people who had finished eating and were digesting their food were watching. After a moment, the sound of the grinding wheel stopped, and a sigh went through the crowd, "It collapsed, barely able to extract some pea soup, worth a few thousand yuan."

Chang Linlin pulled Liu Li over and said, "The referee is here, Brother Liu, you decide."

"Hehe, Brother Zhong got nothing, and Sister Chang's stone is worth three to five thousand. Naturally, Sister Chang wins. Hehe, congratulations, Sister Chang, you've got a new slave!"

Chang Linlin gently held Zhong Qi's arm and said, "Honey, it's okay. Let's have dinner and continue."

Zhong Qi's face brightened at Chang Linlin's gentle attitude, "This woman, except for when she shows her true colors in front of Wu Di and the others, she's actually quite good the rest of the time. Hang in there, after Grandpa's birthday, she'll start working, and then, ha ha..."

Zhong Qi greeted Wu Di and left with Chang Linlin, drawing envious looks from the crowd. Wu Di, who knew their true relationship, smiled, "No matter what others think, what matters is what you feel is right. Looking at these two, they seem to be quite content with each other."

Wu Di originally planned to randomly pick a few stones from Liu Li and cut them to support his friend's business, but since two had already collapsed, he decided against it. If more collapsed, he might be hated by the three major families, which wouldn't be fun.

Wu Di explained the reason, and Liu Li didn't mind. He knew from the police station that he couldn't afford to offend these people. Now that Wu Di was considering his feelings and explaining, he was very satisfied.

Wu Di strolled to a large stall, looked up, and saw "Yuan Yuan," the stall of Win Stone Company, where the "Prince of Stone Opening," Wang Sheng, worked. He didn't see Wang Sheng, so he thought, "Because this brat went to the police station, I'll take revenge on his company! I'll just randomly pick five stones here."

Wu Di started looking at the stones. One was round and cute, another was ugly and unpleasant, and one had even dirtied his pants. Another had a traitor's face and was grinning...

In no time, he had picked five stones, without even bending down. He called over a helper, pointed randomly, and haggled a bit, then had them dragged out and cut one by one. The people around him were shocked. Who was this rich kid? Was he playing? A beautiful girl by an old man's side looked at Wu Di with gentle eyes, "Two million plus, and he didn't even blink. Ah, he looks so cool when he smokes, and his dark skin is so sexy. I can't take it..."

The girl's eyes darted, and she whispered in the old man's ear. They quickly left, making Wu Di, who was enjoying the rich kid feeling, curse them as adulterers!

The crowd grew, putting pressure on the young helper, who asked Wu Di nervously, "Boss, which one should we open first?"

Wu Di pointed to the round and cute one and said with a smile, "Fatso, let's start with that fat one! One horizontal cut, one vertical cut, and let's cut it into eight pieces!"

There were quite a few fat people in that direction, and they all shuddered, "I haven't offended this crazy guy, have I?" When they saw the helper go to move the rough stone, they sighed in relief, "It's clear, that stone is so cute, even though it's fat, it's round and cute, just like me, making people love it."

The helper asked again, "Boss, how should we open it? Should we clean it first?"

"Didn't I say? One horizontal cut, one vertical cut, right in the middle!"

More people gathered, mostly to see the spectacle. Song Hongyan also came over, and upon seeing Wu Di, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, "What is this little junior up to?"

The grinding wheel started, and the stone opening began. The young helper had some skill, and the two cuts were perfectly straight, dividing the fat stone into four pieces, all white and empty. Wu Di sat in a chair, lit a cigarette, and pointed, "That one, yes, the skinny one. Start from the top, divide it evenly, and cut it into four sections!"

The skinny people in that direction shuddered, "Damn, this kid talks so rudely. Is he cursing someone by sticking a note on the stone?"

When the stone was cut into four pieces and rolled on the ground, Wu Di had already set his eyes on another stone, "When I walked in, it brushed against my leg. Cut off its sharp corners first, then cut it into pieces."

The onlookers cursed in their hearts, "What a wasteful rich kid! Just because it brushed against you, you're going to spend hundreds of thousands to cut it? Too wasteful! Why isn't it me sitting there?!"

Zhong Qi and Chang Linlin had heard about the incident while having lunch and guessed it was Wu Di. Not knowing what the kid was up to, they hurried over to see what was happening. Upon hearing, they felt it was not good. "Forget it, kid, it's not that I won't save you, but I need to preserve the party's and the army's face for future battles. We'll pretend we don't know you." Chang Linlin was even more extreme, her eyes filled with admiration and passion, making a few people almost rush to pick some stones and cut them.

Zhong Qi muttered, "Lingling, I'm jealous. You've never looked at me like that."

"Shut up, don't interrupt. I'm trying to imagine Little Wu as you."

Zhong Qi was pleased, and his view of Wu Di improved. The people around him took a step back, "Phew, just now, a man shouted, 'Who touched my butt?' It turns out we have a hidden rabbit among us!"