Only after finishing lunch did Qu Nanzhu charge his phone and turn it on, planning to visit a nearby antiques market.
The moment his phone turned on, a call came in from an unknown number. Qu Nanzhu swiped to answer, and the person on the other end sounded extremely excited.
"Hello, Mr. Qu! I'm Ji Shu, an agent at Flying Heaven Entertainment. Are you currently interested in signing with a talent agency?"
Qu Nanzhu frowned, not quite understanding why this person had approached him, but he still declined politely. "Sorry, I'm not interested. Goodbye."
With that, he quickly hung up without giving the other person a chance to keep persuading him.
But before he could open his messages, which were covered in red notification dots, another call came in. He answered to hear the same pitch, only from a different company.
This time, Qu Nanzhu hung up immediately. He didn't answer any of the subsequent calls and only got some peace after enabling spam call blocking.
Not in the mood to puzzle over why these people were looking for him, he searched directly for the nearest antiques market.
Forty minutes later, Qu Nanzhu appeared on a street lined with traditional architecture.
With a clear goal in mind, he followed the navigation to a stone-gambling shop. There weren't many people inside. A few young women were imitating people in videos, shining flashlights onto rough stones, while the owner humored them from the side, occasionally offering pointers and answering questions.
Seeing a new customer enter whose appearance and bearing suggested this wasn't his first visit to a place like this, the owner immediately walked over with a warm smile and asked what he wanted to look at.
The young women looked over too.
Unlike their cautious, "careful selection," Qu Nanzhu looked as though he were browsing a vegetable market. He casually scanned the tables piled with rough stones on either side and spoke offhandedly.
"This one."
"This one, this one... this one, and this one."
"And this one."
"Hmm... I'll take this one too."
Honestly, Qu Nanzhu knew nothing about stone gambling. He chose purely by looking at spiritual qi. Naturally, jade that took a thousand years to form contained plenty of spiritual qi, and to Qu Nanzhu, it was visible to the naked eye.
As long as he wanted to, he could get it right every time.
But tall trees caught the wind, and he also wanted to avoid being blacklisted by stone-gambling circles too soon, so Qu Nanzhu chose nine rough stones in total. Only one would actually yield jade.
When he really did cut jade out of it, others would simply think he was lucky.
Seeing him spend so freely, the owner was so delighted he couldn't stop grinning. Whenever Qu Nanzhu pointed at a stone, he picked it up.
The cheaper ones cost a little over three hundred, while the expensive ones went for over ninety thousand.
Of the nine Qu Nanzhu chose, three cost ninety-eight thousand each, two cost thirty-four thousand each, and the rest ranged from several hundred to over a thousand. The owner thumped his chest and threw in the three-hundred-yuan one for free.
The final total came to 378,600 yuan, and the owner generously rounded it down.
Qu Nanzhu, watching the owner treat the stone that would yield jade as a freebie: "..."
How were these prices calculated? Such a small one cost ninety thousand, while one bigger than it only cost three hundred.
The owner came over, rubbing his hands like a fly. "Handsome, will that be by card or bank transfer?"
Qu Nanzhu fell silent for a moment, then took out the bank card the Su Family had given him. "By card. You can cut them here, right?"
"Yes! Of course! We can even work the jade for you for free!"
After delivering those words in a booming voice, the owner took the bank card, charged 378,000 yuan on the terminal, and gestured for Qu Nanzhu to head farther inside.
Having witnessed a transaction worth over 370,000 yuan firsthand, the young women were left gaping.
"So this is what a rich guy looks like?"
"Holy crap, I saw him dressed head to toe in street-stall clothes. Who would've thought he was a rich second generation!?"
"Wait, don't you think he looks familiar?"
"What handsome guy doesn't look familiar to you?"
"They're going to cut them. Should we go watch?"
"Let's go, let's go! I've never seen it before!"
Inside the cutting room, the owner spread out the nine stones Qu Nanzhu had bought and asked which one he wanted cut first.
Qu Nanzhu picked up the three-hundred-yuan freebie that came with spending 370,000 yuan and tossed it over. "This one."
He looked so calm and casual, as though it wouldn't matter even if this pile of stones worth 370,000 yuan yielded nothing.
The owner asked a few more questions about how to cut it. Qu Nanzhu simply looked at him with clear eyes. He genuinely didn't know. He could only see the spiritual qi, not the shape of the jade.
After a moment's thought, he said, "Just go by your experience."
The more one looked at him, the more he seemed like a rich second generation whose family had more money than they knew what to do with.
The owner smiled and decided to cut a small piece off the edge.
Honestly, he had no hopes whatsoever for this rough stone the size of an adult's palm. Cutting along the edge was very much in keeping with what a completely inexperienced novice would do.
The sharp blade slowly touched the stone's surface and cut downward. The young women watching were genuinely nervous. By comparison, Qu Nanzhu and the owner were much calmer.
One knew the outcome, and the other "knew" the outcome.
-Crack.
The final cut went through, and the cut surfaces knocked together with a crack.
Thinking there was nothing worth seeing, the owner simply turned the two pieces over to show them.
At the sight, everyone gathered around immediately cried out.
The owner's hands actually started trembling.
One glance was all he needed to know this was true ice-grade jadeite!
And this was only one exposed surface. If the whole piece was like this, without cracks... at this size, making bangles would be no problem at all. With the offcuts made into other small pieces of jewelry, it would fetch at least six hundred thousand.
The owner had been running his stone-gambling shop for six years, and this was his first time cutting out jade of this grade.
The young women watching couldn't identify the variety and had only exclaimed because it looked beautiful. When the owner said nothing, they all began asking how it was.
The owner didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Qu Nanzhu and asked, "Young man, shall I keep cutting?"
Qu Nanzhu said, "Go ahead. Isn't the outside just a layer of shell? Cut all of it off for me."
The owner knew he assumed that because this exposed surface looked like that, the whole interior must be jade. His feelings were complicated, and he didn't know how to explain, so he simply cut it as requested.
While he was cutting, the young women pointed at jade in videos, trying to identify what variety they had just seen.
However they compared it, the conclusion was one word-expensive.
By the time he had cut away the entire outer layer, the owner's hands were shaking.
The ice-grade jadeite was even more intact than he had imagined. His earlier estimate had been wrong. This piece was worth at least eight hundred thousand.
Eight hundred thousand!
Fortunately, the young man had picked this stone himself. If the owner had really chosen it and given it away, he could have coughed up blood from sheer frustration on the spot.
Having been in the stone-gambling business for six years, the owner soon composed himself. Remembering his earlier promise, he said awkwardly, "Young man, this piece of jadeite is beyond what my little shop can handle... You should find a professional jadeite workshop!"
Amid several cries of "Wow," Qu Nanzhu nodded and accepted the jadeite the owner handed him, intending to take his advice and find a professional workshop.
Honestly, this piece was bigger than he had expected. He had originally planned to visit a few more shops to gather enough material, but unexpectedly, this one piece was enough.
At this size, it was more than enough to make six peace buckles.
He pointed at the remaining stones and chose his words carefully. "As for the rest, hmm... just cut them the same way as before. I'll leave you my contact details, and we can get in touch later."
The owner was shocked by his words. "You're not staying to watch? Aren't you afraid I'll pocket them or swap them out!?"
What's there to pocket about a few lousy rocks? Qu Nanzhu thought, but what he said was, "I trust you."
With that, under the owner's ardent, grateful gaze, the two exchanged contact details.
As soon as he left, the young women couldn't resist gathering around to ask all sorts of questions.
The owner was kind and patient, answering everything they asked.
Hearing that the jadeite could sell for at least eight hundred thousand after being worked, the young women were filled with envy and longing.
The owner reminded them at just the right moment, "Girls, stay within your means."
They immediately lost heart.