Encouraged by Xu Zifan, Xu Mengyao personally picked up the rough stone she had bought for 50,000 yuan and placed it on the stone-cutting platform, asking the master to cut it.
This is the best-performing piece of raw material she selected; if this one isn't good enough, the rest will be even worse.
The stone cutter observed for a moment, slowly drew lines, and began to concentrate on cutting the stone. Xu Mengyao watched from the side without blinking, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists.
Xu Zifan walked over, loosely placed his hand on her shoulder, and smiled at her, "What's there to be nervous about? It's just a few tens of thousands of yuan, it's not like we can't afford to play around. Have you forgotten our family's bottom line? Remember to set a bottom line for yourself too, and learn to remain calm in the face of adversity.
Xu Mengyao nodded, leaning against her brother and gradually relaxing, her fists loosening. However, the stone cutter remained completely still, silently cutting the stone.
Xiao Liu examined the raw jade with suspicion, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper. "This shouldn't be happening, how could it not produce green..."
He was the one who explained the details of this rough jade. If he praised it so much that it still doesn't turn out green, it will have a significant impact on him. First of all, his master will have to punish him severely.
The stone was cut piece by piece, one small piece at a time, for fear of missing anything. In the end, a rough stone the size of a football yielded only a small patch of green, about the size of a spoon. It was a type of icy jadeite, suitable for earrings, cabochons, and pendants, worth around eight thousand.
The gamble failed! Fifty thousand turned into eight thousand. Xu Mengyao's disappointment was obvious, but the failure also gave her a sense of relief, as if the worst outcome had already been reached and that she wouldn't lose this much no matter what happened next. She wasn't actually that upset; she was quite excited, holding the first piece of jade she had found.
"Brother, look, it's so beautiful!" Xu Mengyao's smile grew wider and wider, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Xu Zifan.
Xu Zifan glanced at it and said, "It's very pretty. I'll make you some little trinkets to play with later."
Xu Mengyao nodded repeatedly, carefully put the jade stone into her bag, and impatiently urged the stone cutter to continue, as she still had three stones to cut.
The second one is the one that Xiao Liu said performed the least well. Xu Mengyao hesitated when buying it, so Xu Zifan helped her choose it.
Xu Mengyao hadn't held out much hope when she saw it was this, but to her surprise, she found a very fine piece of jadeite, about the size of two fists, enough to make two bracelets and several pendants and cabochons!
Xu Mengyao stared in astonishment at the jade on the stone-cutting platform, then instinctively glanced at Xiao Liu, whose face was already quite grim. She then looked at Xu Zifan, "Brother, we won this gamble, right?"
Xu Zifan chuckled and said, "That's right, this stone that cost three thousand yuan is now worth fifty thousand, and it would be even more valuable if made into jewelry."
Xu Mengyao experienced both huge and huge losses in a short period of time, with the stakes fluctuating between several thousand and tens of thousands. She couldn't help but exclaim, "So this is what gambling on stones is like! One cut to heaven, one cut to hell. My mood is like a roller coaster, going up and down. It's so exciting! Brother, I don't think I'm really suited to this. I prefer the feeling of being down-to-earth and at ease."
"Hmm, let's give it a try. If we don't like it, we won't play. Should we solve the remaining two stones?"
"Untie them all and let me see. I don't want to touch them again."
Next, the stone cutter cut open the other two rough stones that showed slightly better results. One yielded nothing, while the other turned out to be an icy jadeite worth around 80,000 yuan. Xiao Liu's expression finally improved somewhat; at least he had found one that he liked, so he wasn't completely humiliated.
Three pieces of jadeite were extracted from four rough stones. Originally priced at 120,000 yuan, they are now worth about 140,000 yuan. If they are taken back to the jewelry store under the Xu family for processing, they could be worth about 300,000 yuan.
Xu Mengyao's gamble paid off handsomely; she'll have a whole bunch of jewelry when she gets back.
She breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes brimming with joy. "Thank goodness we didn't lose money. Brother, let's go. I don't want to play anymore. I'll watch you play this afternoon. This really isn't for me."
Xu Zifan told the bodyguard to put the jade away and took her away from the mall. Once they were in the car, he said to her, "Nine out of ten gamblers lose. You won today because you were lucky. But no one is lucky forever. Remember to have a bottom line in everything you do. As long as you don't cross that line, there's always a chance to turn things around."
Xu Mengyao nodded seriously, "Brother, I know. I only picked one piece and lost. You picked the other three for me, so they weren't mine at all. I can't get involved in any kind of gambling. I'm not interested in gambling. I've learned something today, that's enough. I know what you're worried about, brother. Don't worry, I have my bottom line."
A family like the Xu family, which started out in jade gambling, will inevitably be involved in jade gambling in the future. Wang Yalin has some talent in this area and learns relatively quickly. He didn't want Xu Mengyao to compete with her later, so he simply introduced Xu Mengyao to it first.
There's nothing to be curious about. The Xu family doesn't need a windfall. They can gamble on stones with available funds, but they can't cross the line. He believes Xu Mengyao already understands.
In the afternoon, they went to a store in a somewhat out-of-the-way location, but once inside, there were quite a few people, and judging from their clothes, they were all wealthy and influential.
The shop has rows of tables displaying stones of various sizes, some with windows cut in half, some raw stones. Each stone has a number tag in front of it, and everyone can look at them freely. Once they choose a stone, they put it in a cart, take the number tag, and pay.
The stones in this shop are priced much higher than in the market; tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan per stone are common, and some even cost over a million yuan. The stones with a clear view of green from the window are especially expensive.
Xu Mengyao had calmed down and wasn't excited by what she saw; she was just curious which one Xu Zifan would choose.
She glanced at the stones in the shop, pointed to a small pile on the ground by the door, and asked, "What's with those? Why weren't they displayed?"
Xiao Liu explained, "Those are stones that the shop staff think won't turn green. They're usually extras or smuggled in when they buy new stock. The shop filters them out and decides they're not worth displaying, so they put them at the entrance and set a price of 1,000 yuan per stone. Anyone who wants to find a bargain can pick one there. And some people have indeed found bargains and made a fortune. After all, appearances don't tell the whole story."
Xu Mengyao nodded knowingly, "The huge increase must be extremely rare, otherwise the shop owner would have just unpacked them all himself. Anyway, this small pile doesn't add up to much money for the shop owner."
Xiao Liu laughed, "Miss Xu is right. Someone else bought all of these before, but they only found a few pieces the size of a fingernail, which were worthless. The rest were just a pile of stones."
Xu Zifan also had Shao Hua scan it once, and there really wasn't anything good in that small pile; finding a bargain wasn't so easy.
Shaohua can scan a range of 500 meters, covering all the stones in the store. The shape of the jade inside each stone is displayed on the virtual screen right in front of Xu Zifan. Each piece of jade is also labeled with its name and estimated price.
Xu Zifan saw two jadeite pieces worth tens of millions, while the raw materials were only worth a few hundred thousand, and they were the best raw materials in the store.
He glanced around the crowd, then casually walked past, taking out a flashlight and magnifying glass to examine the jade closely. Knowing what was inside, examining the case seemed to confirm his knowledge. Although he was young, this was his first time dealing with jade gambling, and he wanted to learn something practical.
To others, his appearance appeared as one of focused and attentive examination of the raw materials. Even Secretary Zhang, after her initial surprise, felt relieved and began to believe that the young master had indeed come to Myanmar on important business.
However, someone who hadn't dealt with raw jade for over a decade and refused to consult an expert didn't have much hope that the young master would win the bet; the young lady was already lucky to have won even a little.
Xu Zifan glanced at them, put the two rough stones in the car, paid the bill, and pocketed the good stuff.
Then he followed the price list given by Shaohua, looking at them from highest to lowest, and bought them one by one.
When Xiao Liu saw him buy a piece of raw cloth with a little bit of moss, she got a little anxious. "Young Master Xu, do you need me to help you take a look?"
"No need." Xu Zifan didn't even look up and continued to look at the next piece of raw material.
Xiao Liu was a little embarrassed, but since he couldn't guarantee he could see it accurately, he kept quiet.
When Xu Zifan bought six rough stones, Secretary Zhang coughed lightly and advised, "Young Master Xu, you've been looking at them for a while now. Why don't you open one and take a break?" He felt that if Xu Zifan lost money on these six stones, he probably wouldn't be interested in continuing. Didn't he see that Xu Mengyao lost interest after winning a little?
Xu Zifan put the rough stone in the car, gestured for Xu Mengyao to take Xiao Qing to pay, and stretched his arms, saying, "Okay then, let's find a place to sit for a while, and start one." He looked at the seven stones in the car, pointed to the first one he had put in, and said, "Let's start this one."
Secretary Zhang busied himself making arrangements. By the time they arrived, chairs and fruits were already laid out. They only needed to sit there and wait for the stone cutter to cut the stone. Some other customers came over to watch, but it wasn't noisy at all; it was much more orderly than the market.
The first stone chosen was the best rough stone in the shop. Before the stone cutter could begin, Xu Zifan called out, "Wait a minute, let me draw the lines."
He examined it closely; the entire perspective view of the stone appeared on the virtual screen, and it was even three-dimensional. He subtly moved the virtual screen to align it with the stone and drew a few lines on it.
"Make a cut here, cut off a little bit from here, and then wipe it from this side, wiping it slowly."
One of the onlookers said speechlessly to his companion, "This rough jade is just so-so. Is he just pretending to know what he's talking about?"
His companion, unfazed, said, "Haven't you seen enough of these kinds of people? Half of the people who come here love to show off, but when it comes to gambling on stones, they'll eventually learn their lesson."
Many people shared the same thought. Shao Hua relayed their conversation to Xu Zifan, who didn't even blink and directly signaled the stone cutter to begin.
The stone cutter's hands were steady. He made two cuts strictly according to Xu Zifan's instructions, then suddenly paused, splashed some water on the stone, and exclaimed, "It's green! It looks quite large, and the water content is good!"
He quickly moved the machine, carefully wiping away the excess stone, revealing more and more green on the cut surface. The customer who had previously criticized Xu Zifan for being pretentious suddenly spoke up, "Sir, I'd offer two million for this stone. Are you interested in reselling it?"
"I'll offer 2.6 million, sir. Gambling on jade is risky. You've already doubled your money at this price."
Before anyone else could speak, Xu Zifan raised his hand to stop them, "Excuse me, I am a member of the Xu family of China, and this jade will not be transferred."
The Xu family of China is very famous in Myanmar. Their jewelry company has always focused on jade and gemstones, so naturally they would not sell it.
They looked at the stones on the stone-cutting platform with a mixture of regret and anticipation. Would the stone that Xu had chosen yield a profit or a loss?