Back home, Jing Lei helped Lan Ya tidy up the room.
At this moment, an old Burmese man with a full beard came in from outside. He saw Brother Qing from afar and greeted him as if they hadn't seen each other in a long time.
Brother Qing beckoned him over and introduced him to Brother Bao.
Brother Qing said, "This is Mr. Teng Ji, an old friend of mine. He owns five or six mines in Da Ma Kan, and many of the rough stones at this public auction were supplied by him."
Brother Bao stood up. Brother Qing continued, "This is my brother Ah Bao from the mainland. He's a powerful figure in Ruili. You two should keep in touch, exchange ideas, and cooperate more. Let this old man benefit from your success."
Teng Ji didn't speak much Chinese, but he understood and nodded repeatedly. Then, the two shook hands and performed the Burmese greeting, signifying their acquaintance.
I didn't know Brother Qing's intention in introducing this bearded man to Brother Bao. Was Brother Bao planning to get into the jade business, or did Brother Qing have other plans?
Teng Ji said a few words in Burmese. Brother Qing relayed, "Teng Ji wants you to inspect his mines. He can directly pass stones weighing up to 100 kilograms through customs without needing to report to government departments."
Brother Bao nodded and said to Brother Qing, "We'll decide after the public auction concludes."
Indeed, Brother Bao was looking to venture into the rough stone business. In that case, Brother Qing was definitely more than just a simple mediator. There must be some kind of transaction involved. Da Feng Novel Network
If that was the case, dealing with that giant stone would be much simpler. At least subjectively, Brother Qing wouldn't tamper with it. Whether it yielded anything would be purely a matter of luck.
At that moment, a bell chimed from outside. Brother Qing invited everyone to head out; the public auction had begun.
On a temporarily erected platform, an official-looking person was speaking, entirely in Burmese without any translation. Everyone looked bewildered.
Even though this was an internal public auction with guests mostly from the mainland, they should have considered the guests' feelings.
Fortunately, most of the service staff communicated in Chinese, which made things much easier.
After the man finished speaking, another bell rang, signifying the official opening. Bidding for stones could now commence.
Brother Bao was here for that giant stone and wasn't interested in other roughs. I told Brother Bao that the giant stone hadn't been presented yet and that I would go look at other stones first.
I had heard from my master that public auctions were the true rough stone exhibitions. One could find true top-quality pieces, but if one misjudged, they could also go bankrupt.
In other words, here, besides fully exposed raw jade (ming liao), the gamble in the covered raw jade (meng tou liao) was all about skill and luck.
I didn't linger in the ming liao section. The ming liao were almost all top-grade, with prices set at the ceiling. Unless one was in the finished product business, gamblers wouldn't stop here.
I went directly to the meng tou liao area.
There were many meng tou liao from various mining areas, their skins brushed clean. They were divided into piles by weight.
When I arrived, I had requested a card from Jing Lei. If I found anything suitable, I would try my luck at the public auction.
I bypassed the black sand stones and went straight to the Da Ma Kan rough stone area.
The Da Ma Kan mining area is located downstream of the Wulu River, west of the old mining area. Da Ma Kan is adjacent to the old Pa Gan mining area, about 30km from Pa Gan. Centered around Da Ma Kan, the jadeite blocks are collectively referred to as Da Ma Kan gamble stones. The jade deposits are mostly alluvial. In the early days, surface sand mines along the riverbanks were exploited. The jade deposits here had not undergone significant water impact and had not been transported far, so the rounding was not significant. These are semi-weathered, semi-transported, accumulated semi-mountain, semi-water sand pit jade materials. The lower mineral layers are very hard, with carbonate calcium and clay as the main cementing materials, becoming more difficult to mine as one goes deeper. Da Ma Kan has not been mined for a very long time. Represented by the Da Ma Kan mining area, there are famous mining areas including Da Ma Kan, Que Bing, Da San Ka, Ying Ge Die, Huang Ba, and nearly 20 other mining areas.
The highest quality from Da Ma Kan is the semi-mountain, semi-water stone. The rough stones generally have thinner skins, and the individual jadeite pieces are smaller, usually not exceeding five kilograms. This type of rough stone is gambled for its mist, which is divided into red, yellow, black, white, and other types. Generally, nine out of ten stones with mist have water.
Brother Qing mentioned earlier that Teng Ji's mine was in Da Ma Kan. These materials likely came from his mine. The Da Ma Kan materials were placed in three areas: mountain stones, semi-mountain semi-water stones, and water stones.
Mountain stones are on the surface of the mineral deposit. They are much larger than semi-mountain semi-water stones and have distinct edges and varied shapes, like a pile of rubble used for building foundations.
I walked over to a pile of semi-mountain semi-water stones and squatted down to look for a piece I liked.
Having been mined for many years, Da Ma Kan's mine pits have reached depths of twenty to thirty meters. From the original surface to the current fifth and sixth layers, semi-mountain semi-water stones have become very scarce, with most being water stones.
These are likely leftover stock.
Semi-mountain semi-water stones have undergone river transport, so their edges are somewhat blurred but not as rounded as water stones, making them relatively easy to distinguish.
I picked a piece weighing around five kilograms. It was ochre yellow, with a very tight skin. When illuminated, it didn't seem very translucent, suggesting it might have a dark mist that absorbed the light.
This stone was about one and a half palm-sizes, ten centimeters thick, and flat, like a flattened pancake made from northern corn flour.
If this rough stone had good meat, a fine texture, and sufficient water content, it could yield bangles, pendants, and charms.
I touched the surface. The grain wasn't very pronounced, like fine sandpaper. I didn't see any fissures or cracks. The color was uniform, like a very large mango that had been flattened.
I glanced at the number and the reserve price: 03236, with a bid of one thousand US dollars.
This reserve price was not low. The final transaction price would incur a 40% tax, so the tax needed to be factored into the bid.
I wrote down a bid of one thousand eight hundred and placed the completed bid form into the bid box.
There were thousands upon thousands of meng tou liao here. As long as no one maliciously competed with you, bids were usually accepted.
The bid boxes were opened once an hour. One person read out the bids, and another recorded them, similar to a village vote. The highest bidder wins.
The ming liao were opened only once a day, not until the afternoon.
After waiting for a while, I heard the bell and guessed that the meng tou liao were about to be opened. I walked over to the platform to wait for the staff to announce the bids.
As the auction had just started, there weren't many bidders. After a few were called, it was time for the stone I had bid on. It was at my bid price, and no one else bid higher by the end.
I went to the cashier to pay with my card. The staff helped me process the international exchange.
One thousand eight hundred plus a tax of seven hundred and twenty, totaling two thousand five hundred and twenty US dollars, which was about twenty thousand Renminbi.
The staff returned my card shortly. I took the receipt and went to collect my prize.
On the other side of the platform, a row of cutting machines was set up, ready to cut stones for customers.
I took the stone over and handed it to a young craftsman, asking him to make one cut at the top.
The craftsman secured the stone and made a cut about one centimeter deep from the smaller end.
After cutting the stone, the craftsman handed it to me. The cut surface was very smooth and flat. The water content was not visible; it was a layer of blackish-gray mist. Even when illuminated with a flashlight, the inside was not visible. It looked like a lump of black stone.