Chapter 117: New Intel

Yang Ming suddenly remembered that Zhan Jiefang was involved with this field. He might have heard of old man Liu. Hence, he hopefully asked,  “Uncle Zhang, have you heard of Liu Weishan?”

“Liu Weishan? The old man you mentioned is Liu Weishan?” said Zhang Jiefang full of surprise.

“Why? Is Liu Weishan famous?” Yang Ming wasn’t in this field, and naturally, he never heard of him.

“Of course, Liu Weishan is an expert in sculpting jadeite. He is a master of gemstone appraisal himself! As such, he is the honorary advisor of multiple jewelry companies!” Zhang Jiefang said, “My company had tried multiple times to recruit him as an honorary advisor, but it was to no avail. A gemstone that was appraised by the old man will have its price hike up quite a bit!”

“So impressive!” Yang Ming was surprised. He never thought that he would encounter a supreme master. “Uncle Zhang, Elder Liu left a name card for me. If there was something I didn’t know, I could learn from him. Do you think I should call him?”

“Of course you should. Elder Liu rarely passed his contact number to others. Also, he wouldn’t do it just out of courtesy. If he lets you call him, naturally it is his wish, or else he wouldn’t pass you his name card!” Zhang Jiefang also said, “Yang Ming, this is a great opportunity. If you can have Elder Liu as your teacher, you will be the new master of the jewelry industry!”

Zhang Jiefang had his own plan as well. If Yang Ming established a connection with Liu Weishan, that would benefit his jewelry company a lot!

“I understand.” Yang Ming nodded his head. Yang Ming didn’t plan to be Elder Liu’s apprentice yet. He couldn’t be gambling jadeite as a career or for the rest of his life. Right now, it was merely an avenue to earn money. Hence, it didn’t matter for him to learn sculpting or appraising. His priority was picking out something great among the gemstones. Regarding the person processing it or how would it be after the processing, Yang Ming didn’t want to be involved.

Zhang Jiefang saw that Yang Ming wasn’t interested, so he didn’t pursue further, but he suggested, “Take it into consideration. It isn’t easy to have such an opportunity. A lot of people want to be his apprentice, but can’t achieve that!”

“Probably, Elder Liu only considered myself to be a youngster that is eager to learn. He may not have the intention for me to be his apprentice!” Yang Ming laughed.

“What you said can also be true. Since he had proposed it, you’d better consider it!” Zhang Jiefang said, “Let’s go and grab some food.”

Zhang Bing didn’t eat anything this afternoon. He was hungry a while ago, so, he was quite excited. On the other hand, Yang Ming and Lan Ling weren’t hungry.

“Oh, ya, Yang Ming. How about your two stones? Are you embarrassed to show us because they are merely garbage inside?” Zhang Bing suddenly recalled their competition.

“I haven’t open it yet…” Yang Ming broke out in a cold sweat. He indulged himself in a “couple activity” with Lan Ling. He had completely forgotten about the competition!

“Did you think the two stones that I picked was so bada** to the point where you lost confidence in your broken stone?” Zhang Bing boasted himself.

“Probably what would come out is an imperial jade!” Yang Ming laughed as if that were true.

“Imperial jade? Yes, what exactly is imperial jade? Isn’t it a jadeite as well?” Zhang Bing couldn’t figure out the difference between the two.

“Zhang Bing, imperial jade and jadeite are easily confused. In fact, imperial jade is a jadeite, but a jadeite doesn’t necessarily equate to imperial jade.” Zhang Jiefang heard his son and explained, “Jade is the name of the stone naturally produced from a mixture of minerals. Natural jade stone has various types which are determined by its own unique chemical component, density, hardness, and refractive index. Hence, jadeite and nephrite are two types of natural jade stone. Myanmar produces a jade called jadeite. Jadeite portrayed its fine quality in its content. Imperial jade has a superb quality, and it was crowned as the ‘king of jades’ and favored by the majority. Nephrite with its hardness belongs to a naturally made jade that is lower than jadeite. Our country’s production of natural jade stone belongs to nephrite. Xinjiang produces the typical Heitian Jade. That is the most outstanding one among China’s jades.”

“In other words, as we gamble rocks, it is possible to obtain an imperial jade?” Zhang Bing was surprised.

“Yes, Guangdong and Hong Kong have a lot of jewelers who got rich overnight. They rely on their jadeite gambling!” Zhang Jiefang continued, “But, only in the first few years did one have a greater chance to acquire imperial jade though gambling. The stones at that time were quite cheap. A pile of it didn’t cost much. Later on, the businessmen who sold the raw stones became smarter. They inflated the price several times. If you bought a big pile of gemstones, you couldn’t earn much, even if you acquired an imperial jade.”

“Then, why are you in jadeite gambling?” Zhang Bing felt it was a little odd.

“Hehe, jadeite gambling is just a hobby. Getting involved in it once in a while wouldn’t be bad. Just like lottery tickets, if you spend few hundred yuan on it for every month, it’s fine. But if you were to spend few hundred thousand on it, that would be inappropriate!” Zhang Jiefang explained, “The reason we came here is just for your exposure, and so that you get some experience with it.”

Based on the situation, it seemed that Zhang Bing had learned quite a lot about it without him noticing. In other words, his son was already at entry level! Zhang Jiefang was delighted as he felt the trip was worth it. Moreover, he was glad that he brought along Yang Ming! It was due to Yang Ming’s interest that it caught Zhang Bing’s attention!

One should not underestimate the entry level. As the Chinese idiom goes, the master leads you to the door [1], the rest is up to you. In other words, it is important to enter the door first. Once one gets through the door, one can make improvements later.

If one can’t even reach the door, how could any improvements be made?

They discovered an authentic Northeastern restaurant. Zhang Jiefang and they walked in. It seemed that they had Yunnan dishes for the past few days. Hence, Zhang Jiefang missed his hometown food. On the other hand, Lan Ling was quite excited since this was her first time to get to taste dishes from the northeast.

Shredded pork with chili and soy sauce, double fried pork, spicy beancurd as well as sautéed potato, green pepper, and eggplant served together with rice [2]. That was the ultimate way to enjoy northeastern dishes. Northeasterners weren’t fond of noodles. Rice was essential for every meal.

Zhang Jiefang ordered several types of northeastern special sauce. All of them started digging in. However, Lan Ling couldn’t eat much. She tasted a few dishes, and she was full.

“Are you bosses from the northeast?” The boss of the restaurant seemed to be free as he came over and joined the conversation.

“Yes, I didn’t expect myself to enjoy northeastern dishes here!” Zhang Jiefang gasped in amazement.

“Of course, I am an authentic northeasterner. My spouse is a cook as well. She is a northeasterner, and her skills are authentic!” The restaurant boss boasted.

“Hehe, we are actually from the same town after all. We are from Song Jiang City, Eastern Three Province. Since we are from Eastern Three Province, we are a family after all!” Since Zhang Jiefang was a businessman, he had a straightforward personality and was easy to talk to.

“Yup, there are quite a few customers here. But, northeasterners will be the minorities. Those who came here to acquire goods are mostly the southerners.” The restaurant boss continued, “Are you in the gemstone business?”

“I am in jewelry. I am involved in gemstone on a small scale which is incomparable to the bosses from the north.” Zhang Jiefang said it truthfully as his scale wasn’t big enough.

“Where do you acquire your goods?” The restaurant boss asked.

“Wu Facai. Why?” Zhang Jiefang asked, “Are you familiar with this as well?”

“Just slightly. Wu Facai’s goods were from last month. A few waves have already picked through them. What you guys picked are the remaining ones. I heard from another customer that Liang Jinya has imported new goods in the garage. If you are interested, you should head over and see. The early bird gets the worm.” The restaurant boss said.

“Liang Jinya?” Zhang Jiefang didn’t frequent here. Naturally, he didn’t know the name of the other merchant.

“It is Liang Jinya. It is due to his golden front teeth that everyone called him Liang Jinya.” [3] The restaurant boss laughed, “If all of you are looking forward to it, hang tight with this opportunity. Don’t spread the news around. The newly imported goods are the center of attention. Once it has reached a later period, the owner of the goods will only spread the news to have more buyers.”

Zhang Jiefang nodded his heard as he heard it. It seemed that he was invited by Wu Facai in this manner as well. In fact, it was understandable since he wasn’t always into rock gambling. Wu Facai would prioritize his goods for his frequent clients.

However, it seemed that Liang Jinya had newly imported goods this time. Zhang Jiefang wanted to take a look, but he would be there only to hang around. He wasn’t an expert in this field and being early there wasn’t much use.

However, Yang Ming was different. When he heard what the restaurant boss said, he didn’t want to miss this opportunity. It was because his status and origin wouldn’t allow him to frequent Yunnan, so, why not take this opportunity and do something about it?

With that, the toughest problem would be the sale. What excuse should Yang Ming think of so that Zhang Jiefang won’t suspect him? Yang Ming frowned uncontrollably.

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