During a casual conversation with a jade shop owner, Li Baolong learned that the most prominent jade tycoon in the area was the Ming family, and the head of the family was named Ming Xuechang. This Ming Xuechang was truly remarkable; his family owned three massive jade mines, earning hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan annually—a staggering sum!
It is said that Ming Xuechang had two wives and concubines in his lifetime. His first wife bore him a son, while his concubine gave birth to a daughter. His eldest son was exceptionally intelligent from a young age and was sent to the United States for further studies, but he has not yet returned home. Only his youngest daughter, Minglan, has always stayed by her father's side and helped manage the sales business of the family's jade and gemstone mall, which is considered the largest in the area.
Speaking of Minglan, she was truly blessed with natural beauty, like a fairy! She studied in Thailand for three years, and upon her return, she devoted herself to the family business without hesitation. With her outstanding talent and wisdom, she made the business thrive. As a result, many talented young men fell in love with her.
Among them, Bai Hu, the son of the Bai family, was one of his many suitors. However, no matter how persistent Bai Hu was in his pursuit, Minglan remained unmoved, ruthlessly rejecting his marriage proposals time and time again. It should be noted that Bai Hu was no pushover; he was used to acting arrogantly and domineeringly, relying on his family's power. After being rejected this time, although the Ming family employed several highly skilled assassins, preventing Bai Hu from resorting to force, he still refused to give up, even threatening, "I'll make sure Minglan never marries! Anyone who dares to marry Minglan will be in deep trouble!" Thus, due to Bai Hu's threats and intimidation, even though Minglan was already twenty-four years old, she still hadn't found a suitable husband. Li Baolong found this interesting and decided to visit Minglan's jade shop to see if they had any good jade to buy to aid his cultivation.
Li Baolong arrived at the jade and gemstone city. It had three floors, each piled high with jade and gemstones, and several jade carvers were processing them. Li Baolong wandered around the city and saw dozens of people making a racket in the backyard. He went over to investigate and found they were gambling on rough stones. A young man had spent 100,000 yuan on a rough stone and was cutting it. Unfortunately, he hadn't found any jade inside, so he sold the inferior material for 2,000 yuan. Li Baolong walked to a large pile of rough stones and scanned them with his spiritual power. He found one stone that was very translucent. Li Baolong picked up this stone, which weighed about 20-30 jin (approximately 10-15 kg). The stall owner said, "This kind of rough stone is 100 yuan per jin." Li Baolong didn't say anything and paid 3,200 yuan. He then found a free craftsman to cut the stone open and extract the jade. "100 yuan," the craftsman said, and Li Baolong immediately paid 100 yuan. The craftsman quickly began cutting the stone, and after about ten minutes, he shouted, "It's done! It's done!" Dozens of people immediately gathered around. Li Baolong noticed that a third of the jadeite inside the rough stone was already visible, crystal clear and emerald green—clearly a top-grade jadeite. Li Baolong instructed his craftsman to continue cutting and polishing. The craftsman became more careful, and half an hour later, a piece of jadeite weighing four or five pounds had been cut out. Li Baolong admired it for a moment, then gave the craftsman a hundred-yuan red envelope, asking him to find a cloth bag to wrap it up. A middle-aged man, well-dressed and with an air of refinement, stepped out from the crowd. He said, "Sir, I am the owner of Yunnan Fuhao Jewelry Store. I often come here to buy jade. Are you selling this piece of jadeite? I'm willing to offer two million." The crowd gasped in astonishment. "Wow, two million! That's enough to live on for a lifetime!" Li Baolong smiled faintly and said, "I'm not selling this stone. I'll keep it for myself." For Li Baolong, two million was like two yuan; he didn't care about it at all. He needed the jade to improve his cultivation.
Li Baolong said to the middle-aged man, "Do you have any high-grade jadeite here? I'd like to buy a few pieces." The middle-aged man became interested and said, "Sir, my name is Cai Lun. I'm somewhat knowledgeable about jewelry and jade. The best stuff in this jade market is on the third floor. There are many high-quality raw stones from old mines, costing several thousand yuan per kilogram. A single stone can easily cost hundreds of thousands. Raw stones with windows cut open are even more expensive, tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram." Li Baolong was intrigued. "I'll go upstairs and take a look, I'll buy a few stones."
Li Baolong, carrying a cloth bag, followed Cai Lun to the third floor. The third-floor hall was over a thousand square meters, with shelves displaying hundreds of rough stones of various sizes. Three or four people were selecting stones. One of the older men recognized Cai Lun and asked, "How was your harvest today, Boss Cai? Did you find any stones you liked?" Cai Lun shook his head, "I gambled on a stone today and lost money." "This gentleman had good luck today; he cut out a high-quality piece." The old man approached Li Baolong and said, "This gentleman is also a jade merchant, isn't he?" Li Baolong smiled slightly and said, "I use them myself; I don't do jade business. I came here to select a few more stones to see if I can sell them." The old man nodded and said, "Although the stones here are a bit more expensive, there are some high-quality pieces that can yield excellent results." The old man said he had already selected one and was preparing to go downstairs to cut it. Li Baolong didn't say anything more and admired the rough stones alone. Li Baolong used his spiritual power to scan the stones in front of him and saw a good quality rough stone, about the size of a watermelon. He picked it up and estimated it weighed over twenty pounds. A man and a woman approached and asked, "Sir, would you like to buy this rough stone?" Li Baolong nodded and said, "Yes, I'll buy this stone." "Okay, please wait a moment while I weigh it for you. This stone is from an old mine, it's 10,000 yuan per jin (500 grams)." At this moment, Cai Lun walked over and said, "This is my friend. Can you give him a discount and sell it to him at the member price I gave you?" The female salesperson said, "Okay, Mr. Cai, we'll do it at the discounted price of 8,000 yuan per jin. This stone weighs 22 jin, so it's 176,000 yuan in total." Li Baolong took out two bundles of Chinese yuan from his backpack. After paying, Li Baolong put the cut rough stone into his backpack and, holding the stone he had just bought, prepared to go downstairs to have it cut. In a workshop in the lobby on the first floor, several craftsmen were cutting stones. The old man from before was also carefully watching his stone being cut open little by little, revealing a small piece of jadeite, about the size of an apple. The old man shook his head and said, "I can only say he's breaking even. This rough stone cost over 200,000 yuan, and even a small piece cut out is only worth 200,000 yuan on the market." Li Baolong handed over the stone he had chosen and paid the craftsman 200 yuan. The craftsman then got to work. A dozen minutes later, the outer layer of the rough stone had been cut away. Ten minutes later, most of the stone had been cut, but still no jadeite was found. The old man and Cai Lun both shook their heads. The old man said softly, "This young man will probably lose money again this time."
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