Bo Nan knew with a single glance who would win between the two men outside.
The so-called “kilogram material” refers to raw jadeite stones sold by weight say, one hundred or two hundred yuan per kilo. These stones are the leftovers of the industry. By the time they travel from the mines to the owners, then through middlemen to shops in an inland city, they have been screened countless times.
If you were buying by the kilo at a mine in Myanmar, you might have a chance of “cutting a rise” (finding value). There, the volume is so high that owners might miss something or have standards so high they discard decent stones. But in a city like this? Expecting to strike it rich on kilogram material was practically impossible.
Although there is a saying that “even a god cannot judge an inch of jade,” most good raw stones show some hint of their quality on the outer crust. If a stone shows absolutely nothing and is sold for three hundred yuan, only to reveal ice-quality jadeite inside, then that buyer’s ancestral graves must be emitting green smoke from sheer luck. With luck like that, why buy jade? Buy a lottery ticket!
Truly good material is always appraised and priced individually based on size and “performance” (surface indicators). Sometimes a piece smaller than a palm can sell for hundreds of thousands or even millions. Experienced players know what they are buying; they don’t bet on the “luck” of raw, unexamined stones.
Bo Nan, considering himself a seasoned expert, knew the rules well and headed straight for the section of individually priced stones.
The shop was divided into kilogram material, “windowed” material (where a small part of the skin is ground away to show the jade inside), and “clear” material (fully peeled). The air was damp and smelled of wet stone. The shop owner, seeing Bo Nan enter, gave a half-hearted wave and sent a young employee over.
Young people were usually more trouble than they were worth—lots of questions, no money, and their parents often came back later to demand refunds. The owner was tired of the drama and couldn’t be bothered to greet Bo Nan personally.
The boy who approached looked no more than twenty, with a bright, honest face. “Hello! Looking for something specific? Is this your first time gambling on stones? Should I give you an introduction, or do you want to browse?”
“I’ll just browse,” Bo Nan said casually. He studied the boy’s aura—it was unusually distinct. It was a solid, condensed greyish-white.
In Feng Shui, grey is rarely a good sign; on a person, it often signaled an impending disaster or a major trial.
“Great! I’m Xiao Zhao! Just call me if you see something!” The boy hurried off to continue his work.
As Bo Nan scanned the stones, he noticed Xiao Zhao lifting a crate of raw stones that must have weighed fifty pounds. He struggled slightly but moved quickly, showing hands that didn’t match his youthful face. They were the hands of a manual laborer—rough, scarred, and calloused. Bo Nan noticed with a sharp eye that the nail on the boy’s pinky finger was missing entirely.
Bo Nan circled the shop and selected two pieces with strong Qi fields. Luck was on his side; these weren’t priced high. He found two pieces of “Muna” material, about three or four kilograms each, with yellow-white crusts.
In the jadeite world, there is a saying: Muna produces miracles. Muna stones usually have a thick outer “mist” that hides the interior from flashlights. But Muna is famous for “internalization”—the jade forms from the inside out. A stone that looks plain on the outside can hide a miracle within.
“Brother Zhao, could you come here a moment?” Bo Nan pointed to the two stones. “I’m interested in these two. Can we talk about the price?”
Xiao Zhao started to walk over, but the owner barked from across the room, “Four thousand yuan each. No haggling.”
“Four thousand?” Bo Nan asked. “The price tag says three thousand.”
“Price tag is wrong.” The owner didn’t hide his disdain. “Young man, we don’t do refunds here. Think carefully before you waste your parents’ hard-earned money. I don’t need your family coming here making a scene later.”
Xiao Zhao hesitated. “Boss, if he’s sincere, maybe we can—”
“I’ll look at a few more,” Bo Nan interrupted smoothly.
As Bo Nan continued his search, he heard the owner explode at Xiao Zhao. “You think you’re some big shot? I shouldn’t have brought you out of those mines! You should have stayed there digging until you died! All you do is bring me bad luck!”
Bo Nan looked over to see the owner kick Xiao Zhao quite hard. Xiao Zhao staggered but whispered a plea to not drive away customers. The owner just threw a dirty rag in his face. “Get back to work! I’m not selling those stones anymore! A few thousand yuan isn’t worth my time. Get out!”
A thin, polite smile appeared on Bo Nan’s face. Anyone who knew him would know he was now very, very annoyed.
He stepped forward and pointed at a large, dark stone on a high shelf the shop’s “anchor” piece. “I’ll take the two Muna stones, and I’ll take that one too.”
The owner laughed. “That one is 660,000 yuan. Fixed price. Can you even afford it? Tell you what I’ll give it to you for half price. 330,000. If you buy it, I’ll write the slip right now, no regrets.”
The onlookers whispered. “Wow, Old Li is really letting out a ‘leak’ because he’s mad!” “He’s just talking tough. He turned down 500,000 for that stone last month.”
The owner looked at the crowd. “My word is my bond! If he can pay, I’ll sell it!”
Bo Nan pulled out his wallet and fished out his brother’s black secondary card. “Fine. 338,000 total. Do you take cards?”
The Bo family wasn’t “old money,” but they were billionaires. Bo Nan currently had access to his father’s and brother’s accounts. While he might not drop billions on a whim, anything under a hundred million was fair game. This stone was less expensive than the watch on his wrist.
The owner’s face turned red as he pulled out a POS machine. “Fine! Swipe it! But I’m warning you, that’s ‘Moxi-sha’ material. If it ‘collapses’ (reveals poor quality), we aren’t responsible!”
Moxi-sha material is legendary: “one cut to heaven, one cut to hell.” They are often black-skinned stones that look green under a light, but can easily turn out to be “Black Chicken” jade worthless grey-black stone or a total dud. The owner didn’t believe Bo Nan had the money; he thought the kid was bluffing.
In truth, the owner had bought that stone for 350,000 yuan in a moment of madness and had been too afraid to cut it himself, fearing it would be a “collapse.” He’d been waiting for a “fat sheep” to buy it.
The POS machine spat out the receipt. The transaction was successful. The owner’s heart winced—he’d just sold it for a loss—but then he comforted himself: The stone is definitely a dud. At least I got my capital back.
“Can I open them here?” Bo Nan asked pleasantly. “I feel a connection with Brother Zhao. Can he open them for me?”
The owner bit his lip. “Fine. But if they’re duds, don’t blame me!” He tried to insist on a master cutter, but Bo Nan was firm: “No, Brother Zhao. He brings me luck.”
Bo Nan offered Xiao Zhao a 10,000 yuan “red envelope” for each stone he opened, with a bonus if they were good. Xiao Zhao, seeing the boss nod, agreed.
A crowd gathered. This was high-stakes drama. People even started calling their friends to come watch the “anchor” stone be cut.
“Which one first?” Xiao Zhao asked.
Bo Nan pointed at the 330,000 yuan Moxi-sha stone. “That one.”
“How should I cut it?”
“Straight down the middle.”
The crowd gasped. “So bold! Most people just shave the top first!”
“No need,” Bo Nan smiled. “Brother Zhao brings me luck.”
Xiao Zhao expertly secured the stone. As the saw whirred and water sprayed, he watched the dust carefully. He saw something that made him lean in with a spark of joy, though he stayed silent.
After fifteen minutes, the cut was finished. Xiao Zhao used a small crowbar to pry the halves apart. He splashed water on the exposed surface and wiped it.
The crowd erupted.
“It’s green! No black, it’s a massive rise!!” “Holy sh*t! Ice-quality! You can get bracelets out of this!” “Are you blind? That’s High-Ice quality!” “I should have bought it! Dammit!”