"Is this where Hetian jade is produced?" Gege, who had just stepped off the plane, asked Yang Jing in astonishment. No wonder she had such an expression, because the Hotan Airport was actually built on the edge of the desert, or more precisely, on the edge of the Gobi Desert between the Hotan Oasis and the Kunlun Mountains.

When the plane was landing and circling just now, we could clearly see the snow-capped Kunlun Mountains in the south from the air, as well as the Hotan Oasis, and of course, the vast yellow Gobi Desert between the two.

The green, yellow and white colors were very clear in the sky, and this feeling became even stronger when I got off the plane.

Hotan is not too cold in late February. Compared with northern Xinjiang, it is like the south of the Yangtze River. The Pamir Plateau in the west and the Tianshan Mountains in the north are like two heavy arms, firmly guarding the southern Xinjiang basin and keeping out the cold air blowing from Siberia. Therefore, even though Hotan's latitude is similar to that of Tianqu, the weather in Hotan feels even warmer than that of Tianqu.

The only unpleasant thing is that the wind here is too dry, and it feels like being shaved by a knife when it blows on your face.

Gege tightened her headscarf and followed Yang Jing to get into the car parked outside the airport. Since Yang Jing acquired a Hetian jade processing factory from Hetian in the late 1980s, the factory has been operating. Thanks to the overseas connections of the Dragon Fund, this jade carving factory, which is nominally under the Pacific Mining Company, has always been profitable, at least much better than other state-owned jade carving factories in Hetian.

Now, this jade carving factory is also considered a famous jade carving factory in Hotan. When the big boss Yang Jing came in person, all the senior executives of the jade carving factory came to greet him in person.

Sitting in the comfortable Desert Prince off-road vehicle, Gege looked at the scenery outside and marveled at it.

Compared to Hotan more than 30 years ago, the current Hotan is undoubtedly much more beautiful. There are many more high-rise buildings in the city center, the roads are much wider, and the greening is getting better and better. Although most areas of the city still have many bungalows, Hotan is much better than it was more than 30 years ago.

In the evening, after having a sumptuous lunch with Hotan characteristics in the canteen of the jade carving factory, the group checked into the Silver Star Hotel. Early the next morning, led by Director Wang of the jade carving factory, the group took five off-road vehicles and headed straight to the Aqik mining area.

When crossing the Yulong Kashi River, the princess asked curiously, "Is this the Yulong River that produces Hetian jade seed jade?"

"Yes, it is this river. But the seed jade in this river has probably been almost mined out. Now it is difficult for people to find seed jade in the riverbed of this river."

"Then where did you get all those seed jades?"

"Hehe, this is a long story. My cheap master told me about his visit here. He told me that when he came to Hotan in the late 1980s, the price of Hotan jade was still very low, and at that time, except for the locals, outsiders did not know how to look for seed jade in the Yulong Kashi River. At that time, my master invested a lot of money in Hotan, and then helped the local government to clean up the Yulong Kashi River and build a levee for free, and then..." Yang Jing shrugged his shoulders and made a you-know-what expression. There was no one else in the car, except for him and his wife, there were Liu Zhentao and Morris who was driving, so Yang Jing didn't have any taboos.

Liu Zhentao and Gege both shook their heads.

The river was cleaned up in the late 1980s. It would be unjust if we still can't get a large amount of seed jade.

Liu Zhentao asked: "Xiao Jing, do you know how much money your master invested back then?"

"Well, let me think about it. It seems that when my master arrived in Urumqi, he donated 20 million US dollars to the local government. Then when he arrived in Aral on the way, he donated another 10 million US dollars to the Aral agricultural reclamation troops. When he finally arrived in Hotan, not counting the money he spent on purchasing Hotan jade from some jade carving factory warehouses, he invested 50 million US dollars in the Hotan government alone. If the funds for purchasing Hotan jade in Hotan are included, it is estimated that he directly invested nearly 100 million US dollars in that trip to Xinjiang."

Liu Zhentao couldn't help but stick out his tongue at this figure. One hundred million US dollars, even now, is a huge sum of money, not to mention that thirty years ago when China's foreign exchange was extremely tight, one hundred million US dollars was an incredible investment.

If you think about it this way, it is not surprising that Master Yang Jing was able to obtain so much Hetian jade.

You have to know that at that time, the price of Hetian jade was still very low. Isn't there a legend circulating in the jade circle? It is said that a woman went to Hetian with her family to play, and met a child selling "pebbles" in Hetian. At that time, the child gave the woman a bag of "pebbles", saying that they were stones found in the Yulong Kashi River, and she only needed fifty yuan to buy them.

Although fifty yuan was a lot of money at that time, the woman felt sorry for the child and the "pebbles" were really pretty, so she gritted her teeth and bought the bag of "pebbles" for fifty yuan. The bag of "pebbles" weighed about five or six kilograms. When the woman got home, she felt that she had no place to put the stones, so she threw them into the fish tank.

As a result, more than 20 years passed unknowingly. When Hetian jade became popular, a friend of the woman's husband went to visit the woman's home and accidentally discovered the "pebbles" at the bottom of the fish tank. His eyes almost popped out of his head.

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