Chapter 42: At the Jade Factory Entrance

Under the dim light, a large amount of rough jade was piled up in nine rectangular stacks, each seven meters long and two meters wide. Each stack contained hundreds of pieces of rough jade, varying in size. Unlike the pieces in the front shop, these unopened rough jades were directly piled on the ground.

Seeing so many pieces of rough jade stacked together, Liu Dong's heart began to race. At this moment, what lay before him seemed not to be cold stones, but stacks of newly bundled banknotes.

Noticing someone nearby already holding a flashlight, Liu Dong quickly took a deep breath, calmed his boiling heart, and turned on his own flashlight, pretending to examine the rough jade. At the same time, after a pulse in his brow, everything within a three-meter radius became clearly visible in his mind. Now, Liu Dong truly enjoyed this state of secretly controlling everything.

However, after half an hour, having examined most of the rough jade on the ground, Liu Dong felt deeply disappointed. Although many of these full-gambling rough jades contained jadeite, they were mostly low-grade types like dry green, oily green, and horse-tooth jadeite, and the pieces were not large. Even if they were opened, they could only earn tens of thousands of yuan, which Liu Dong, who had just made over ten million, found unappealing.

Of course, he wasn't entirely without gains. At least he had already placed three pieces of rough jade in the basket in front of him. Besides the initial piece of full-gambling golden-silk jadeite, the other two were found here.

One piece was a lotus-pink parrot-green jadeite, not very large, only slightly bigger than an adult's fist. The jade inside was not suitable for making bracelets but could be polished into a dozen or so ring faces or some jadeite pendants and earrings. However, lotus-pink jadeite is a high-grade material, and parrot green is a rare bright green, so this piece of rough jade, though not very profitable, could still easily earn a million yuan.

The other piece was much larger, about the size of a basketball, weighing six to seven kilograms. Liu Dong estimated that it could yield a piece of jadeite about the size of a bowl, weighing around three kilograms. However, the quality and color of the jadeite inside were poorer, being pea-green jadeite. In terms of value, it was inferior to the small lotus-pink parrot-green piece. However, Liu Dong planned to keep this piece for practicing jade carving. Such mid-to-low-grade jadeite was suitable for him. Otherwise, if it were high-grade lotus-pink or ice jadeite, his carving skills might not do it justice.

"Brother Liu, do you want to check out the half-gambling rough jades? There are quite a few good pieces with windows opened!" Just as Liu Dong finished examining the last stack of rough jade and was shaking his head in disappointment, Ma Fatso suddenly appeared behind him, startling Liu Dong, who was focused on the rough jade.

Turning around, Liu Dong was momentarily stunned, and a strange look flashed in his eyes. Due to his ability, Ma Fatso's entire body appeared completely naked to Liu Dong. What made Liu Dong inwardly chuckle was that the man was wearing a large pair of yellow shorts with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoon characters embroidered on them, which looked particularly ridiculous on his fat body.

However, Liu Dong had good self-control, so he only pursed his lips and didn't laugh out loud. "Hehe, Boss Ma is right. I was just about to check out those half-gambling rough jades."

Although he said this, Liu Dong had no intention of moving. While examining the full-gambling rough jades on the ground, he had already looked through the half-gambling rough jades on the shelves. Although some looked promising, the prices of the half-gambling rough jades with windows opened were not cheap, ranging from tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram. A few pieces with a fingernail-sized window revealing ice jadeite even cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. However, the ice jadeite inside was too small to compare with the ice jadeite piece he had previously gambled on. Additionally, the cost-effectiveness of the half-gambling rough jades was far worse than that of the full-gambling rough jades. Therefore, Liu Dong was not enthusiastic about the expensive half-gambling rough jades.

Because the light in the warehouse was too dim, Ma Youde didn't notice the change in Liu Dong's expression. He looked at the rough jades in Liu Dong's basket and asked, "Are these the pieces you've chosen, Brother Liu?"

"Yes, I'd trouble Boss Ma to give me a price," Liu Dong smiled.

"Brother Liu is too polite!" After saying this, Ma Fatso took the basket from Liu Dong and examined the stones under the dim light.

Of course, he didn't need a powerful flashlight to examine these stones. When these rough jades were bought from the public auctions in Myanmar, they had already been classified. The better-performing pieces with pine flowers and python bands had mostly had windows opened and were placed as half-gambling rough jades. The full-gambling rough jades on the ground were mostly those that performed poorly or had failed to open. They were priced at less than ten thousand yuan per kilogram.

After a brief look, Ma Fatso said, "Brother Liu, this piece of yellow-sand-skin rough jade, though it doesn't perform well, is from the old Houtian mine. I won't charge you much, eight thousand yuan per kilogram. What do you think?"

The Houtian mine is located on the north side of the Wulujian River, known as the Kangdi River. The jadeite mining area is along the river, hence the name Houtian mine. Mining began in the early 16th century, later than the old mines like Pagon. Like all the old mines in Myanmar, the Houtian mine is divided into old and new Houtian. The old Houtian material comes from the bottom of the alluvial layer, with a thin, gray-green-yellow skin, and is very small, rarely exceeding 0.3 kilograms. It has good water and base, often producing full-green high-quality jadeite, with few mists and many cracks. The color of the finished product is better than the original stone (i.e., enhanced color) and has good processing properties, making it ideal for ring faces. The new Houtian material has a thicker skin and is larger, generally around 3 kilograms, with poorer water and base than the old Houtian. It has a lower density and hardness, more cracks, and the color after polishing is not as good as the original stone, even if it is full-green, high-quality jadeite, it is difficult to make high-end jewelry.

Although this piece of rough jade had a pitted surface with no pine flowers or python bands and looked unremarkable, and even a small crack less than two centimeters long could be seen with a flashlight, it was still material from an old mine. With the increasing mechanization of mining, the resources of jadeite rough jade are becoming increasingly scarce, and the material from old mines is becoming more expensive. Therefore, Ma Fatso didn't overcharge, asking for eight thousand yuan per kilogram.

Moreover, this piece of rough jade, weighing less than three kilograms, contained a piece of lotus-pink jadeite slightly smaller than a baby's fist, worth over a million yuan. So, after hearing Ma Fatso's quote, Liu Dong didn't hesitate to agree.

Seeing Liu Dong agree, Ma Fatso didn't fuss and pointed to the remaining piece of rough jade in Liu Dong's basket, a basketball-sized piece with a black sandy skin, indistinguishable from ordinary stones, and said, "This piece is from the Masa mine, and it doesn't perform well. Let's say three thousand yuan per kilogram."

Liu Dong nodded. Although the Masa mine is a new mine, it is one of the ten famous mines in Myanmar. Compared to old mines, the jadeite from the Masa mine is lighter in green, with varying water and base quality, mainly used for low-grade bracelet material or large decorative pieces. However, good-performing rough jades are also valuable. The price of three thousand yuan per kilogram for Liu Dong's piece was reasonable.

"As for the remaining piece, I'll give it to you, Brother Liu," Ma Youde said. When this batch of rough jades was transported from Myanmar, they encountered significant difficulties, and Zhou Bin had helped a lot. Seeing that Liu Dong was familiar with Zhou Bin, the shrewd Ma Fatso wanted to build a good relationship with him. Besides, since this piece was in the front shop, it wasn't worth much, so giving it away for free didn't hurt him.

However, although Ma Fatso wanted to give it away for free, Liu Dong was unwilling to accept it for free. The jadeite inside was high-grade golden-silk material, worth nearly two million yuan. If it were opened and Ma Fatso wanted to renege, it could lead to complications. After three years of struggling alone in the bustling city, Liu Dong was no longer the naive young man from the village. He had seen many dark sides of society and had personally experienced a few cases of people breaking their promises for money.