Zhao Qirui shook his head. "So that's what happened. These people really stop at nothing!"
Chu Chen nodded. "Speaking of opal counterfeits, there's another imitation called 'opal essence.' On the surface, it's enough to pass for the real thing, but in reality, it uses a glass-like substance to encase a platy crystal with play-of-color. You can see what it really is with a microscope or a high-powered magnifying glass. Besides, the crystal's specific gravity and refractive index are both higher than those of genuine opal, so there's a significant difference. It's still relatively easy to identify."
Jiang Jiachang smiled bitterly when he heard that. "Easy for an expert like you, Young Master Chu. Just like this necklace of mine—it's very simple to authenticate, and anyone could learn how after being shown once. But I didn't know anything about it before, so there wasn't much I could do."
"You learn from your mistakes."
Zhao Qirui patted Jiang Jiachang on the shoulder. "But how did you come up with the idea of buying an opal necklace?"
"Hey! My little girl kept pestering me for one. Her birthday happened to be coming up, so I bought her a necklace as a present."
Jiang Jiachang explained, "After I bought the necklace, I happened to see these three jadeite pieces. I thought they were pretty good, so I bought them too. Who would've thought the things I picked up on the side would all be genuine, while the main item turned out to have a problem! I'm going to ask him later what he means by this. I've been doing business with him for years, and he actually dared to cheat me!"
By the end, he could barely suppress his anger. He had asked Chu Chen to examine the jadeite merely to confirm its quality.