◇ 【112】 The Nemesis of Wool Merchants
"Oh, what a pity." Someone among the onlookers couldn't help but sigh with regret.
It's no wonder he did that. After wiping off the pine flowers, there was only a thin layer left.
The stone-cutting master was very calm and patiently rubbed the two easiest pine flowers, and did the same thing.
Gu Juan also had a bad feeling in his heart.
The stonecutter said to him and Xi Lang, "It would be best to use the stonecutter next."
Gu Juan nodded, "Just do as you say."
After observing it for a while, the stone-cutting master drew a line on the rough material, and then used a stone cutter to cut the rough material into two parts, revealing white stone on both sections.
There were sighs of regret from the crowd.
"It's a shame that 2 million yuan has gone down the drain."
"Yes, otherwise why would there be the saying 'one knife makes you poor, one knife makes you rich, and one knife makes you wear sackcloth'?"
"With the 2 million, I might as well buy a lot of raw materials by the pound and polish them slowly. Maybe I can reduce some losses."
“…”
The audience gradually dispersed while talking.
Gu Juan reluctantly scanned with his spiritual sense, and found that there was indeed no jade inside. He curled his lips in disappointment.
Xi Lang didn't care much, "Try another store?"
Gu Juan shook his head and said, "First, untie the piece I like."
Xi Lang had no objection; this was the kind of fun that came with playing.
Gu Juan pointed to the piece of raw material he liked and said to the clerk, "I want that one. How much is it?"
The guy looked in the direction of his finger and said, "30,000 yuan."
After Gu Juan transferred the money, the clerk helped him move the raw material to the stone cutting machine.
Some tourists who had not left were talking in low voices.
"This piece looks even worse than the previous one. What good can be cut out of it?"
"It's hard to say. Yesterday, someone spent 10 million on a piece of rough stone that was better quality than this one, but when they cut it open, it turned out to be shit. The guy went crazy on the spot!"
"Even a god can't cut a piece of jade. Until it's cut, anything is possible."
“…”
"Cut it." Gu Juan said to the stone cutter directly. He bought this rough stone just to satisfy his gambling addiction, so whether it could increase in value or not was not important.
The stone-cutting master nodded without saying much. He looked at the rough material, drew a few lines, and started cutting.
When the rough material's skin was cut open, revealing a layer of mist, Gu Juan felt a slight sense of relief. The mist is part of the jadeite, the transition zone between the skin and the flesh. The mist indicates that the stone is old and has high hardness.
Most of the onlookers had some knowledge about gambling on stones, and their interest was also stronger at this time.
The stonecutter continued to cut down along the already cut area, and when a little green appeared under the fog, almost everyone couldn't help but shout.
"Seeing green!"
Someone in the jade business couldn't help but say, "Sir, I'll pay 200,000 yuan, sell this rough stone to me!"
"I'll give you 300,000!"
Gu Juan waved his hand and shook his head, saying calmly, "Even if you offer 3 million, I won't buy it. This is my first time gambling on stones, and even if I fail, I will keep it as a souvenir."
When everyone heard this, they realized that this person was not short of money, so they had to give up their plan and continue watching.
The stonecutter was still running, unable to suppress the crowd's exclamations.
“Oh my god, it’s imperial green!”
The green smudge grew larger and larger, its vibrant hue so rich it seemed to be dripping. Another twenty minutes passed before the entire cut was complete. The stone cutter, holding the imperial green, now larger than an egg, was filled with excitement, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
Gu Juan took the jadeite and was pleasantly surprised. "Old man, it really has increased in value!" He had never used his spiritual sense to examine the rough material, but he intuitively believed it would increase in value. He never expected to find Imperial Green. Imperial Green is the most valuable jadeite, and many jadeites are worth a fortune because of this.
Xi Lang was also surprised. He pecked him on the cheek and said with a smile, "You're lucky."
The audience was still immersed in excitement. Some people saw his intimate behavior but didn't care and kept talking about it.
The whole store was in an uproar, and more and more people gathered to watch.
"Will you sell this jade? I'll give you 8 million!"
"I'll give you 9 million!"
"I'll give you 10 million!"
“…”
"I'm not selling them. Let's sell them all." Gu Juan said loudly, took out the wallet from Xi Lang's pocket, and casually pulled out a few red banknotes. Without even looking at the total amount, he gave them all to the stone-cutting master as a tip.
Afterwards, he left with Xi Lang.
Several people quietly followed the two men, who pretended not to notice, continuing their enthusiastic browsing through other jade shops. They hadn't gone far when they heard firecrackers behind them. It was the shop that had just set off the celebratory firecrackers. Those in the industry knew immediately that the shop had just experienced a price increase. Many tourists flocked over, hoping to share in Gu Juan's luck.
Next, Gu Juan and Xi Lang put their abilities to use when buying raw materials. They bought any that showed signs of spiritual energy, but they didn't plan to decipher it here; they would do it themselves after returning. If they came across a raw material they already had in their inventory but was being priced low because it looked unattractive, they would buy it without hesitation. But they weren't too ruthless; they mostly selected the raw materials from piles marked by the owners as being sold by the pound.
The two men squatted beside the pile of raw materials and picked and chose in a very ungraceful manner. There were many other people like them.
"Old man, I think I'll go to Myanmar to gamble on stones in the future," Gu Juan said. He felt a little sorry for his compatriots, but he wouldn't feel guilty about going to Myanmar to cheat foreigners.
Xi Lang smiled and said, "Okay, let's go to Myanmar next time."
The two men were carrying the items when they suddenly noticed that the guys next to them were all looking in the same direction, and their faces turned ugly at the same time.
Gu Juan followed their gaze and was secretly surprised, "Old man, look over there."
Four powerful men were walking towards this side with arrogant expressions.
Xi Lang glanced at them, his brows furrowed. Of the four cultivators, the lowest was in the early stages of Heartbeat, and the highest was in the middle stages of Spiritual Silence.
Gu Juan put on a curious expression and asked the waiter, "Hey, who are they?"
The fat man who had followed him and Xi Lang continued to follow after Gu Juan recovered. He said his surname was Jiang. He was eloquent and had a similar impression to Liu Hui, so Gu Juan tacitly agreed to his following.
Fatty Jiang also looked curious, "Yeah. You seem to be very afraid of him?"
The clerk gave a wry laugh, picked up a piece of rough stone, and sat down. "Actually, there's nothing to hide. These four people are Ye Yinze, Sun Mohui, Zhou Wanzhong, and Wu Suiyu. I don't know where they came from, but they're quite good at gambling on jade. Any rough stone they choose will be cut on the spot, and the value of it will increase. And the ones they cut are basically all high-quality jadeite. Last May, they only spent 100,000 yuan on two "brick stones" at the Fugui Jade Shop, but they cut out two old pit glass-type jades with a total value of over 40 million yuan. The owner of the Fugui Jade Shop died of a myocardial infarction on the spot. This incident was even reported on our local TV station. These people come once a month at the beginning of the month and never leave empty-handed. Every jade shop on Jade Street has been raided by them. Privately, we all call them the "Nemesis of Rough Stone Merchants." But they are really capable, what can we do to them? Sigh..."
The guy kept shaking his head as he spoke.
Gu Juan suddenly realized and whispered to Xi Lang, "We should have thought of this earlier. We're smart, and the other cultivators aren't stupid either." He felt a certain disdain for these four people. You said you picked out all the raw materials with spiritual energy, which is fine. That's for cultivation, and there's nothing wrong with that. But why did you have to unravel everything in front of them? Wouldn't that be deliberately provocative? Learning to unravel stone isn't difficult, and it's even easier for cultivators.
The guys looked at those people getting closer and closer, and they were all a little absent-minded.
Xi Lang looked at the rough materials that Gu Juan had picked out and piled together, and quietly placed a talisman to cover up the spiritual energy underneath so as not to attract the attention of the four monks.
"Old man, are you interested in robbing the rich?" Gu Juan looked at the four men thoughtfully, and an idea suddenly came to his mind.
Xi Lang asked with a smile, "What do you want to do?"
"Follow me." Gu Juan asked the clerk to put the selected raw materials on a cart and take it to the store first.
"Hey, wait for me." Fatty Jiang wanted to catch up again.
Gu Juan waved his hand, "We have something to do, Mr. Jiang, please stay."
Fatty Jiang had no choice but to stop.
After coming out of the jade shop, Gu Juan and Xi Lang found a secluded place to change their appearance and walked into a jade shop at random.
Gu Juan patted the counter and said, "Is your boss here? Go tell him we want to discuss a big deal with him."
The waiter responded and ran upstairs quickly. After a while, he brought down a middle-aged woman who looked very noble.
The middle-aged woman smiled politely and asked, "Welcome, both of you. Do you want to discuss a big business deal with me?"
Gu Juan nodded.
"My surname is Niu. Please come to the elegant room and have a seat."
After entering the elegant room, Gu Juan said straight to the point, "We have a way to teach the nemesis of the wool merchants a lesson. I wonder if Mr. Niu is interested in discussing it?"
Boss Niu was stunned and said coldly, "I don't understand what you are talking about."
"Boss Niu is probably worried that we are in cahoots with those four guys." Gu Juan smiled faintly and said affirmatively.
Boss Niu frowned and said nothing.
"How about this." Gu Juan took a step back. "To prove our sincerity, this time, we'll help you drive them away for free. If they dare to show up again next time, we'll charge you a protection fee. Every time we drive away a "nemesis" for Boss Niu, you must allow us to freely choose a piece of raw material from your store for free. Of course, if Boss Niu can get other shop owners involved, we'll also only buy one piece of raw material each time. You can take turns paying the "protection fee." The more shop owners unite, the less financial loss you will suffer. What do you think of this, Boss Niu?"
Boss Niu was immediately tempted. If the young man kept his word, this would indeed be a very good solution. After all, ever since those four men showed up a few years ago, they, the wool merchants, have been truly terrified. Even more frustrating, even the most powerful among them couldn't find out where those four men came from. You can only imagine how terrifying they are. If someone could actually take care of them, it would be fantastic.
Gu Juan saw that she was moved and pulled Xi Lang up, "Let's wait for the news."
At this time, Ye Yinze, Sun Mohui, Zhou Wanzhong, and Wu Suiyu had already reached the door of the store with the address 116. Ye Yinze was obviously the eldest of the four and took the lead to walk into the store.
Boss Liang Xiaoshan looked at the four of them coldly with a gloomy face. He was full of anger towards them, but he said nothing because he was very afraid of them.
When the customers in the store saw that something was wrong, they timidly lowered their heads and left quickly. The braver ones and the slower ones did not think much about it and looked at Ye Yinze and the other three curiously.
"Boss Liang, why do you have to put on such a face? Harmony brings wealth." Sun Mohui said with a smile, "You opened the door to do business. It's not like we don't pay."
Liang Xiaoshan said indifferently: "All the goods in our store are here, you can do whatever you want."
Ye Yinze took a quick look and immediately noticed something was wrong.
“Why are there no prices on these raw materials?”
Liang Xiaoshan said calmly, "No matter which piece of raw material you four like, it will be 500,000."
After Zhou Wanzhong took a look around, he said to Ye Yinze, "Brother, the appearance of these raw materials is average."
Upon hearing this, Ye Yinze immediately understood what was going on. To minimize losses, Liang Xiaoshan had deliberately collected all the top-quality raw materials, but he didn't dare to go too far and instead of keeping only the inferior ones, he put out the mid-range ones.
Ye Yinze smiled faintly, and Wu Suiyu tactfully brought a chair for him to sit on.
"Boss Liang, we're planning to spend a lot of money in your store today. So, we'd like to take a look at your warehouse."
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