The Agreement

Chu Chen found it inconvenient to say much more about the matter, so he changed the subject.

"At the very least, Mr. Liu, after all these years in the rough-stone gambling business, you must have seen a great deal. Mr. Liu, did you come here today because you took a fancy to a particularly promising piece of rough stone?"

"No."

Mr. Liu shook his head and sighed. "I'm all alone now, and rough-stone gambling is my only hobby. But I've come to my senses. From now on, I'd better make fewer moves. Without outstanding skill and luck, rough-stone gambling is sure to be nine losses out of ten. I've gained something over the years, but I'm still far from being an expert."

"Heh, with your level of skill, you're already a senior expert in my eyes. I'll have to ask you for your guidance in the future." After saying that, Chu Chen respectfully handed over one of his business cards.

Mr. Liu seemed to have a favorable impression of Chu Chen, and took the opportunity to exchange business cards with him as well. He smiled and said, "Don't say that. I heard from others that you haven't been involved with jadeite for a short time either. We can exchange pointers when the time comes. I actually envy your mindset. You learned the tricks of rough-stone gambling while spending so little money. Unlike me..."

It was only after taking the card that Chu Chen learned that Mr. Liu's name was Liu Zhiqing. Seeing that he had fallen into sadness again, Chu Chen comforted him. "Mr. Liu, people have to look ahead. May I ask, though it might be presumptuous, do you have any plans for the future?"

"Sorry. I lost my composure."

Liu Zhiqing regained some of his spirits and answered, "I've spent all these years on rough-stone gambling, and it's the only thing I'm interested in now. So I plan to open a shop in the future, specializing in rough-stone sales. I still have several friends in southern Yunnan, and I'm planning to go there next month to inspect the market."

At that, Chu Chen immediately had an idea and said, "Mr. Liu, I have a presumptuous request. Could you take me with you when you go?"

"Of course. What's presumptuous about that?" Liu Zhiqing readily agreed. "I'll probably set out around the fifth of next month. I'll call you on the third. If I forget, just remind me. It's no trouble."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Liu." Chu Chen was delighted when he agreed.

Liu Zhiqing joked, "There's no need to thank me. When the shop opens, coming by often to patronize it will be the best thanks you can give me."

"Of course I will. Let me wish you great success with the opening in advance." Chu Chen smiled.

"Then I'll thank you for your good wishes. Little Chu, we've gotten to know each other, so calling me Mr. Liu sounds a little distant. If you don't mind, you can call me Brother Liu."

After seeing Chu Chen nod in agreement, he continued, "Little Chu, did you come here today planning to make a big move?"

"Not at all. How could the little money I have be enough for a big move? I just won a little yesterday, which gave me some confidence, so I came back today to try my luck."

After waving his hand in reply, Chu Chen asked curiously, "Brother Liu, you got here before me. Have you come across any promising pieces?"

"Heh, I haven't been here long either. I only looked through the thousand-yuan section, and the pieces here don't look very good." Liu Zhiqing shook his head.

After hearing that, Chu Chen also swept his eyes over the rough stones in the thousand-yuan section. He was immediately disappointed. The rough stones here came in all shapes and sizes, and some were quite large, but it was not difficult to tell that most of them were new-mine rough stones.

Generally speaking, rough jadeite stones on the market could be divided into three categories: new-mine jade, sandstone-skin rough stones, and water-worn stones.

New-mine jade referred to jadeite material dug directly from the mountains. It had little or no skin, and there was not much change between the inside and outside. What was cut out was often low- to mid-grade material with green on a white base, which had little market value.

However, since it was still rough jadeite, some unscrupulous merchants often polished new-mine jade into gravel-like shapes and then made fake skins on it to imitate yellow-sand-skin or black-wusa rough stones, or water-worn stones.

Water-worn rough stones were jadeite gravel without skins, formed after mountain material was weathered and eroded, then carried by river water. Because the loose parts had been completely worn away during transport, only the harder and denser portions remained. Combined with the forces of nature, this gave them a relatively fine texture and better color, often resulting in high-quality jadeite.

Sandstone-skin rough stones were jadeite gravel formed when gravel that had long been buried underwater was lifted by movements in the earth's crust and exposed above the water's surface, where it underwent a second round of weathering and erosion. Because they had been weathered again, a layer of sandy skin formed over their surfaces. These were called sandstone-skin rough stones, and they were the primary type of rough stone used for gambling on the market.

Most of the rough stones in this thousand-yuan section were the first type, new-mine jade. As for the other rough stones, they also looked unpromising from a distance, which was why Chu Chen felt disappointed.

Seeing the disappointment on Chu Chen's face, Liu Zhiqing patted him on the shoulder and said, "Little Chu, your mindset isn't right. Think about it—yesterday, your jadeite even came from a brick material. Our trade is like your antique collecting: you have to be bold and careful. As long as there's a possibility, don't give up on any piece of rough stone. Of course, I'm not encouraging you to gamble on brick material. I'm only saying that you should wait until you've examined it before reaching a conclusion. People can't be judged by appearances, after all."

Chu Chen realized that he was right. He had indeed been too shallow just now. If jadeite only came from promising-looking rough stones, could it still be called rough-stone gambling? Liu Zhiqing was absolutely right: people could not be judged by appearances, let alone rough stones, in which even immortals could not see through an inch of jade.

Seeing Chu Chen deep in thought, Liu Zhiqing smiled faintly and said, "All right, it's getting late. I won't waste any more of your time. Let's focus on looking at the rough stones."

Chu Chen quickly came back to himself. After thanking Liu Zhiqing for his guidance, he also began searching for a target he liked today.

Although Liu Zhiqing's words made a great deal of sense, Chu Chen still planned to start by selecting rough stones from the ten-thousand-yuan section. He had no choice—his ability could only be used three times a day.

After entering the ten-thousand-yuan section, Chu Chen was disappointed again. This time, it was not because the rough stones were poor, but because Baojue, which he had placed high hopes in, showed no reaction at all.

It was certainly impossible that there was no jadeite among the rough stones here. Even if the chance of producing high-grade jadeite was not high, the appearance of the rough stones in this section was not so poor that they could not produce any jadeite at all.

This showed that Baojue's ability to sense jadeite was ineffective. Of course, this situation might change in the future, but for Chu Chen right now, it was of no help whatsoever.

Fine, he would rely on himself. Without Butcher Zhang, did that mean he had to eat pork with its hair still on? Chu Chen was not too disappointed. After rallying his spirits, he brought out his magnifying glass and high-intensity flashlight and began his work.

There were far fewer rough stones here than in the thousand-yuan section, and the area for rough stones priced above five hundred thousand yuan had even fewer. After all, spending tens of thousands on rough-stone gambling was fairly common in this era, but spending hundreds of thousands or even over a million was still uncommon for individuals, apart from companies.

The two ten-thousand-yuan sections were each divided into two areas. One contained semi-gambling rough stones—that is, rough stones with a "small window" or "small door" opened in them. Because these rough stones reduced the risk as much as possible, they were popular with some jewelry companies and customers who were not very familiar with rough-stone gambling.

Although a small window had been opened, there was still a chance of losing the gamble. After all, no one could know what was really inside the rough stone. It might contain fractures or moss, or the jadeite inside might consist only of a thin layer of green clinging to the skin. Any of these situations could greatly reduce the value of the jadeite, or even lead to total ruin.

Even so, the possibility of an accident was still much lower than with fully covered rough stones. Before Chu Chen had acquired his ability, he had also thought that once he had more money, he would invest in semi-gambling rough stones. The profits were smaller, but the odds of making money were higher.

The most expensive semi-gambling stone in this ten-thousand-yuan section was a yellow-sand-skin piece weighing roughly a dozen kilograms. The window that had been opened showed excellent water content and looked extremely fine. Under the flashlight, it appeared to be somewhere between ice jadeite and glass jadeite.

Unfortunately, this rough stone had many small fractures. As the saying went, people did not fear large cracks as much as small fissures. Cracks and fissures were extremely harmful to jadeite, directly affecting how it could be cut and its appearance.

Large cracks were easy to observe, and it was also easy to see how much they affected the jadeite. Fissures, however, were tiny and changed easily. They could be large or small, deep or shallow, making them difficult to grasp.

Because of the fissures, this semi-gambling rough stone's value had been greatly reduced. Otherwise, its starting price would have been at least five hundred thousand yuan.

Just as Chu Chen was preparing to give up on the semi-gambling material, he suddenly remembered that he possessed an ability. If the inside of the rough stone was not as it appeared, wouldn't he be getting a bargain?

His heart stirred. Chu Chen immediately pressed his left hand against the raw stone, lowered his head as if examining it, and activated his ability.

However, his expression soon became extremely strange. The spiritual energy inside the raw stone was actually only at the level of a thousand-yuan piece. In other words, the interior was filled with fissures of all sizes, which had completely destroyed the jadeite inside.

Under normal circumstances, this was possible, but the odds were vanishingly small. The most likely possibility was that this piece of rough stone was the green-clinging-to-the-skin he had just mentioned, with jadeite only in the area exposed by the window.

This rough stone was truly a case of whoever cut it losing everything, all the way to total ruin. Chu Chen could not help sighing inwardly. Nature was truly mysterious.

After leaving this semi-gambling stone, he examined several others, but found nothing satisfactory. The key issue was that an ability usable only three times a day was simply too limiting for rough-stone gambling. Chu Chen could only hope that when his ability leveled up next time, the number of uses would increase.

After finishing with the semi-gambling materials, Chu Chen began looking through the fully covered rough stones beside them. The appearance of these fully covered rough stones lived up to their prices. Most had python bands and pine flowers, and there was even a large black-wusa stone with a fairly good appearance. Unfortunately, this black-wusa stone had a waxy shell skin without a sandy skin.