Chapter 53

This courtyard has no door and doesn’t look good. After chopping the firewood, Xie Xuan dismantled a broken door panel from the house and placed it at the entrance of the courtyard.

Xie Xuan was busy going in and out for a long time, but inside the room, Li Lao Da was snoring loudly, completely unaffected. Xie Xuan was so frustrated that he felt itchy all over, but since he was conscripted by Qin Feng, he could only obediently work.

"Xiao Pang, crush the coal briquettes and throw them into the stove. The fire in the coal stove is too small!"

Most families in the north have stoves. Seeing that the coal stove couldn't meet the required temperature, Qin Feng moved the boiling iron pot to the stove and, together with Xie Xuan, crushed the coal briquettes and threw them in. With a few already burning coal briquettes as kindling, plus the dry firewood Xie Xuan brought, the long-unused stove soon caught fire, with flames shooting out through the stove's air holes.

Seeing the bubbles rising in the water, Qin Feng picked up the stone from the stove and gently placed it in the iron pot, then tightly covered the pot.

"Brother Feng, what... what are you doing? This... this stone can't be eaten, right?"

Xie Xuan, who was squatting beside the stove adding firewood, was stunned. It wasn't until this moment that he understood the purpose of the boiling water, but he was even more confused.

If Qin Feng hadn't been so orderly in his actions, Xie Xuan would have thought he had a mental problem. Putting a stone in a pot to boil was something Xie Xuan had never seen or even heard of.

"You only think about eating, don't you?"

Qin Feng glared at the chubby boy, feeling a bit nervous himself. After all, the procedures he was following were all verbally described by his master, and Qin Feng had never tried them himself. He had no confidence in whether they would succeed.

"No, this fire isn't strong enough. Xiao Pang, go pull the bellows!"

Qin Feng took out an industrial thermometer from his pocket, which he had bought along with the chromium salt solution. This thermometer would be useful in the subsequent steps.

He tested the temperature of the boiling water, looked at it, and then handed the thermometer to Xie Xuan, saying, "It's still a few degrees short. Keep this, and when it reaches 212 degrees, stop heating it."

Xie Xuan, holding the thermometer, was at a loss. He shouted to Qin Feng, who was walking out of the room, "Hey, Brother Feng, I... I don't know how to use this thing."

"Just put the metal end in, it's not difficult."

Qin Feng walked out of the house without looking back, glanced at the sky, and muttered, "It sounds easy to do something, but it's really hard to carry out."

Ignoring Xie Xuan's shouts in the kitchen, Qin Feng walked out of the courtyard. It was still a bit cold in early April in the north. It was already nine o'clock, and the street was unusually quiet. Qin Feng's figure quickly disappeared into the night.

About half an hour later, Qin Feng returned to the courtyard. He had gone out empty-handed but now held two glass jars in his hands, which seemed to contain some liquid, swaying constantly.

"Hey, Xiao Pang, did you run to Africa in this short time?"

When Qin Feng entered the kitchen with the glass jars, he laughed. Xie Xuan, who originally had fair skin, was now completely black, except for his teeth.

"Brother Feng, Grandpa Feng, you're finally back!"

Seeing Qin Feng, Xie Xuan felt a wave of sadness. When had he ever done such work? He had to burn the fire and pull the bellows, and he couldn't forget to check the water temperature. He wished he had two more hands.

"Xuanzi, don't complain. Once you learn this skill, you won't have to worry about food and drink for the rest of your life."

Qin Feng carefully placed the glass jars on the ground, approached the stove, and took the thermometer. After testing the water, he smiled.

"Xiao Pang, you're really cut out for this!" Qin Feng patted Xie Xuan's shoulder and said, "Remember this process and the water temperature."

"Brother Feng, I've already memorized it. Isn't it 212 degrees?" Although Xie Xuan didn't understand why, he knew Qin Feng had his reasons.

"Alright, no more heating." Qin Feng saw that the temperature was about right and stopped Xie Xuan.

Watching Qin Feng bring a basin from the room and pour the liquids from the two jars into it, Xie Xuan couldn't help but ask, "Brother Feng, what are these jars? Where did you get them?"

"Hey, don't get so close. If it touches your skin, you'll suffer."

Qin Feng stopped Xie Xuan from getting closer and said, "One is concentrated hydrochloric acid, and the other is concentrated nitric acid. Remember, use 40% concentrated hydrochloric acid and 60% concentrated nitric acid. When mixed, it's called aqua regia!"

Xie Xuan scratched his head and said with a bitter face, "What's concentrated hydrochloric acid and concentrated nitric acid? Brother Feng, I don't understand!"

Qin Feng looked at Xie Xuan helplessly and said, "You need to study chemistry better. This is a strong acid, much more corrosive than sulfuric acid. Got it?"

"Sulfuric acid? I... I know that!"

Hearing Qin Feng's words, Xie Xuan involuntarily took a few steps back and asked with wide eyes, "Brother Feng, where did you get this stuff?"

In the mid-1980s, a foreign film called "The Nightingale's Song" was shown in China. The protagonist was disfigured by sulfuric acid, and the image was so ugly that it scared many people.

Xie Xuan, who had terrible chemistry grades, knew the power of sulfuric acid from that movie. His face turned strange. Could it be that Brother Feng was making this to rob people?

Qin Feng casually replied, "There's plenty in the school laboratory. This is industrial sulfuric acid, not worth much."

On the way back, Qin Feng had already spotted the Shijiazhuang University of Science and Technology, not far from Li Tianyuan's house. It was still light then, so he didn't act.

Of course, Qin Feng made it sound easy, but stealing these two jars of strong acid took a lot of effort. He almost got caught by the school patrol.

Chromium salt solution could be bought from outside, but strong acids and other dangerous materials couldn't be bought casually. They required a unit certificate, a risk Qin Feng had to take.

While talking, Qin Feng didn't stop. When the two strong acids were mixed, a pungent yellow smoke rose from the iron basin.

Putting down the glass jars, Qin Feng used a ladle to take out the jade stone from the pot and placed it directly into the basin. The scalding stone met the strong acid with a hiss, and the smoke became even thicker, making Xie Xuan, who was standing nearby, cry.

"Alright, let's go out."

Qin Feng couldn't stand the smell in the kitchen and pulled Xie Xuan out. It took about half an hour for the smoke to clear, but the unpleasant smell filled the entire courtyard.

"Brother Feng, what's the point of this?"

Xie Xuan wasn't stupid. He had already seen some of the method. Qin Feng seemed to be trying to change the stone, but he couldn't see the deeper secrets.

"Xiao Pang, soaking the jade stone in strong acid can dissolve the impurities between the jade grains. Without these impurities, the jade will become transparent. Jade from dog shit ground can turn into glass jade..."

Qin Feng, intending to train Xie Xuan, explained in detail, "Actually, it's best not to heat the jade during soaking. That's used when adding color. But we don't have time, so we're taking a shortcut."

"Dog shit ground turning into glass jade? How... how is that possible?"

Xie Xuan's mouth opened wider and wider, and he said in disbelief, "Brother Feng, with this technology, won't we become rich?"

After following Qin Feng for two days, Xie Xuan still understood the differences between the grades of jade. Although jade jewelry in China wasn't as expensive as Hetian jade, the value of top-grade glass jade was at least hundreds of thousands of yuan.

"What are you thinking? This is aging, or rather, faking. Real can't be fake, and fake can't be real, understand?"

Qin Feng slapped Xie Xuan, who was dreaming of getting rich, and said angrily, "After soaking in strong acid, the internal structure of the jade will be severely damaged, making it unstable. The bright and beautiful colors will gradually fade. If the process is done carefully, the fading might take three to five years..."

Qin Feng glanced at the kitchen, thought for a moment, and continued, "We're doing rough work, only looking at the present, not the future. I estimate that in about twenty to thirty days, the damaged structure inside the jade will become apparent, and it might shatter even without touching it..."

At this point, Qin Feng's expression became serious, "The most important thing is that jade treated with chemical corrosives may contain radiation, which is harmful to wear. Xie Xuan, this method goes against nature and should only be used against unscrupulous merchants, not lightly..."

Jade was popular in the early and 1920s of this century. The profits from faking were very high. After much experimentation, this method was passed down to Qin Feng by Zai Shi.

According to Zai Shi, even in the 1920s, few people knew about this method. He obtained it by chance from a disciple of the Qianmen sect.

So Qin Feng had reason to believe that the third wave of jade fever in China was just beginning, and the unscrupulous merchants who specialized in faking hadn't yet discovered this method. This was the basis of his confidence in the subsequent plan.

"Brother Feng, I understand, but I feel like we're the unscrupulous merchants?"

Although Xie Xuan still didn't fully understand, he remembered Qin Feng's words well. No one could have imagined that the largest jade merchant in China would start in such a dilapidated courtyard.

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