Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six: Gambling on Stones

Although Liu Dong didn't know much about gambling on stones, he was aware that experienced stone gamblers in the industry knew the principle of "not fearing large cracks but small fissures." Often, it was these seemingly insignificant small fissures that ruined all the jade inside the rough stone!

Of course, there were exceptions, like the one in Liu Dong's hand. Although the surface crack significantly reduced the value of this Longtang material, it didn't penetrate too deeply. The jade inside was still well-preserved, and the quality was quite good. Liu Dong, who was well-versed in jade grades, almost immediately recognized that the water clarity of the jade in this rough stone reached the level of Golden Silk Jade. The color was also decent, not the top-grade full green or yang green, but it met the standard of apple green. The green color was distributed in a smooth, thread-like pattern, and more than 60% of the jade had green roots, barely reaching the level of high-grade jade.

Moreover, the entire piece of jade weighed over one kilogram and was shaped like an oval disc, about one centimeter wide, with some unevenness on the surface. However, Liu Dong estimated that with his skills, he could easily carve a bracelet from this piece of jade. Even the remaining material could be made into two or three pendants or five or six ring faces. Given the current market prices for jade jewelry, selling these pieces for two million yuan would be quite easy.

Thinking about this, Liu Dong naturally developed a strong desire to buy this rough stone. So, he quickly turned around, waved to a pretty female receptionist in a red qipao, and asked, "How much is this piece of material?"

"Hello, sir! The rough stone in your hand costs 400 yuan per kilogram! If you want to buy it, please go to the front desk to pay. If you want to process the stone on-site, you can go to the back. We have professional stone processing equipment and skilled workers who can process the stone for you for free," the receptionist replied with a very friendly attitude and detailed explanation.

"Got it!" Liu Dong nodded. However, he had only just finished examining the fully gambled rough stones in the center and hadn't looked much at the semi-gambled stones around the edges. So, after inquiring, he picked up a basket from under the iron rack, similar to a supermarket shopping basket, specifically for customers to store rough stones, and placed the Golden Silk Jade rough stone he had selected into it.

"Xiao Dong, have you made your selection?" Hearing familiar footsteps behind him, Zhou Bin put back the semi-gambled rough stone he was holding, turned around, and looked at the rough stone in Liu Dong's basket, smiling.

"Yes, hey! Zhou Ge, why haven't you picked any rough stones?" Seeing Zhou Bin's empty hands, Liu Dong nodded and asked.

"Ha ha, I originally wanted to try a few, but I didn't find any that I liked!"

Hearing this, Liu Dong also nodded. Generally, the rough stones placed at the front didn't perform well. To make a profit, many stone dealers would mix in a lot of inferior stones that weren't even jade, just to sell to tourists and casual customers who didn't understand gambling on stones and were just there for fun.

Even the semi-gambled stones on the iron racks around the edges were the same. Although they had been partially opened, none of them had good quality. They were mostly low-grade jade like flower green, bean green, oil green, and horse-tooth green, with poor color and low value, but high prices. The better-performing stones cost over a thousand yuan per kilogram, or even several thousand yuan. Liu Dong didn't find any reliable stones after looking around.

"What? Have you finished looking at all the stones here?"

Liu Dong smiled and said, "It's only been half an hour, how could I have finished looking at all these stones? But apart from this one, I didn't find anything else that interested me, so I came to find Zhou Ge!" As he spoke, he lifted the basket to indicate to Zhou Bin.

"Alright, I'm not very interested in the stones here either. Let's go to the back. I know the owner of this shop, and the better-performing stones are not here!" Zhou Bin pointed to the side door.

Actually, if it weren't for Liu Dong, who was experiencing gambling on stones for the first time, Zhou Bin wouldn't even have looked at the stones sold to amateurs, which had already been picked over many times.

Hearing this, Liu Dong nodded. He had already used his special ability to examine the stones here, and finding a good Golden Silk Jade rough stone was already a pleasant surprise.

So, he was also looking forward to the better-performing stones Zhou Bin mentioned, hoping for even greater surprises.

Following Zhou Bin, who was familiar with the place, they entered the side door and then walked through a corridor less than ten meters long. Suddenly, a spacious courtyard of nearly 300 square meters appeared before Liu Dong. On the north side of the courtyard were three rooms with windows, and from the clothes hanging outside, it seemed that they were where the shop owner or employees lived.

On the east side of the courtyard was a reinforced concrete structure with no windows. The front wall had a steel door nearly three meters high and two meters wide, which gleamed silver under the sunlight, giving a sense of strength and solidity. Two tall men, over 1.8 meters tall, stood guard in front of the door, looking like security guards.

From the heavily guarded appearance, it was clear that this reinforced concrete building was the most valuable rough stone storage of the gambling stone shop.

When Liu Dong and the others entered, not many people noticed them because the stone processing equipment on the east side of the courtyard was making a loud noise, and a crowd of curious people surrounded it in layers. Many couldn't get in and were standing on chairs, leaning over the crowd to look inside.

"Xiao Dong, it looks like we came at the right time. Someone is processing a stone inside!" Zhou Bin said, smiling at the crowd.

"Um!" Liu Dong nodded, and his face also showed interest because this was the first time he was seeing someone process a stone on-site.

Seeing his eager expression, Zhou Bin was also curious and said, "Let's go in and take a look?"

"Sure, let's go!" Liu Dong naturally had no reason to refuse.

Agreeing, the group quickly moved forward. With Zhou Bin's two strong bodyguards clearing the way, they didn't have much trouble reaching the innermost part of the crowd.

A few people who had been pushed to the back saw the two tough, sunglasses-wearing bodyguards, reminiscent of Hong Kong gangster movies, and grumbled a bit, but their anger slowly subsided, and they didn't dare to say anything.

"Ah, it's a bust!"

"Right, the white-yellow sand skin from the old Pagon mine, with pine flower and green spots, and no cracks. Who would have thought that despite its good external appearance, it would turn out to be a bust after processing!"

"As they say, 'ten gambles, nine losses'! Even if the external appearance is good, there's still a chance of losing!"

"Old Wang is in trouble now!"

"Right, Old Wang spent over 500,000 yuan on this rough stone, and now it's all lost!"

Listening to the surrounding comments, Liu Dong roughly understood what had just happened.

Without a doubt, looking at the rough stone on the ground, split into two halves, revealing only white stone with no trace of green, and the middle-aged man standing next to the stone processing machine, looking dejected but well-dressed and distinguished, Liu Dong could imagine a common scenario in the stone gambling industry: a bust!

"Old Wang, for 50,000 yuan, will you transfer the remaining two pieces of material to me?" At this moment, a middle-aged man with a balding head, wearing a black T-shirt and a phone holder on his belt, said.

Although the rough stone had turned out to be a bust, the remaining two pieces of raw stone still had a good appearance. The pine flower spots and the green spots on the surface still made them quite attractive, and they had some value.