The sudden sound drew everyone's attention.
Upon seeing the newcomers, Zhou Huiren's brow furrowed slightly, and the faces of the crowd turned cold.
The arrivals were the heads of Fuding Jewelry, their competitor.
Fuding Jewelry and Ruixiang Jewelry had a long-standing feud. It was common knowledge that wherever Ruixiang Jewelry appeared, Fuding Jewelry was sure to follow.
Their aggressive discount promotions had siphoned off a significant number of Ruixiang Jewelry's customers. If one were to ask who was primarily responsible for Ruixiang Jewelry's near collapse, Fuding Jewelry would undoubtedly be implicated.
"Mr. Shen, please mind your words," Zhou Huiren said, his face darkening with displeasure.
Shen Xinjie sneered, "Heh heh, Mr. Zhou, it's just a joke, don't take it so seriously. After all, you are still a Qin family enterprise. The Qin family is wealthy and powerful; a little investment wouldn't hurt. How could you possibly go bankrupt?"
This remark made Zhao Zhihong and the others' faces even more grim. They all understood that this was a blatant mockery.
"Mr. Shen, how Ruixiang Jewelry and the Qin family decide their fate has nothing to do with Fuding Jewelry. Your actions are rather like a dog meddling in other people's business," Zhou Huiren said coldly.
"Zhou Huiren, how dare you insult our Young Master Shen!" a middle-aged man standing behind Shen Xinjie roared.
Shen Xinjie waved his hand, signaling the middle-aged man to be quiet. He wasn't angry; instead, he smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou, how can Ruixiang Jewelry's affairs not concern me? If one day Ruixiang Jewelry goes bankrupt, I'll be waiting to acquire your stores. We have too many customers, and a thousand square meters is simply not enough. However, our stores are adjacent. Once we acquire your stores, with two thousand square meters, we can open a large jewelry mall, and we'll surely have even more customers then."
Immediately, the people behind Shen Xinjie burst into laughter, their eyes filled with mockery.
Zhou Huiren and the others' faces turned extremely somber.
However, they also knew that Shen Xinjie had powerful families backing him. Otherwise, a jewelry company wouldn't dare to provoke a Qin family enterprise.
"I say, it's their Ruixiang Jewelry's appraisers who are incompetent. I heard that at the last gem appraisal competition, they lost two consecutive duels, and even in the final blind auction, they only won three pieces. It's almost laughable."
"Right, right. At last year's gem appraisal competition, Tang Yuchen from Ruixiang Jewelry truly stole the spotlight."
"It seems they lost to two very small jewelry companies. The Qin family is so large, yet they found such a useless person. Compared to our Master Cao, he's far inferior."
"Oh? Mr. Zhou, why don't we see your Ruixiang Jewelry's Tang Yuchen?"
"I reckon he's too ashamed to show his face."
The Fuding Jewelry group continued their sarcastic remarks.
Tang Yuchen, standing among the crowd, had already turned beet red. He lowered his head, wishing he could disappear into a crack in the ground.
But just then, a man stepped out from the crowd. "Our Ruixiang Jewelry has invited a very formidable master this year for the duel. You Fuding Jewelry can just wait to lose!"
Shen Xinjie and the others chuckled playfully. "Oh? Is that so? I'm very curious, who is this master you've invited?"
The man, with a proud expression, pointed towards Chen Fan. "This is the master we've invited, Mr. Chen Fan. Compared to our Mr. Chen, your so-called Master Cao is nothing but渣渣 (zha zha)."
Chen Fan frowned slightly upon hearing this. While it sounded like praise, he felt something was off.
As Shen Xinjie and the others' gazes fell upon Chen Fan, the crowd burst into laughter again.
"Hahaha!"
"What did you just say? This kid is the gem appraisal master you've invited?!"
"Mr. Zhou, if you can't find anyone, you can call me. We have plenty of appraisers in our store; I can pick two for you, and they'd be better than finding a greenhorn kid!"
Shen Xinjie laughed until tears streamed down his face. Several men were laughing so hard they couldn't stand up straight.
The young man standing next to Shen Xinjie said mockingly, "Mr. Zhou, if that's the case, you might as well just transfer the store to us."
"Exactly, Mr. Zhou. Perhaps our Mr. Shen will even give you a good price," another man chimed in.
Upon seeing that Ruixiang Jewelry had brought such a young man as Chen Fan to participate in the gem appraisal competition, Shen Xinjie lost interest. He stepped forward and said to Zhou Huiren, "Mr. Zhou, what they said is right. You should consider it carefully."
With a dismissive glance at Chen Fan, Shen Xinjie led his group away from the entrance of the jade market.
"Those people from Fuding Jewelry are simply going too far!"
"Mr. Zhou, we must teach them a lesson this time and let them know that Ruixiang Jewelry isn't to be trifled with!"
"What are they so arrogant about? They just got a bid winner last year, what's so great about that."
Seeing Shen Xinjie and the others leave, Zhao Zhihong and the others grumbled unhappily in the crowd.
"Enough! Are you not embarrassed enough yet?" Zhou Huiren glared at the few people behind him and reprimanded them.
By now, quite a few people around them were discussing Zhou Huiren and his group with mocking expressions.
Last year's gem appraisal competition had indeed brought great shame to Ruixiang Jewelry.
"Mr. Chen, let's head in," Zhou Huiren said, approaching Chen Fan and gesturing for him to proceed.
As they walked, Zhou Huiren explained the details of the gem appraisal competition to Chen Fan.
It was divided into two parts. The first part was the duel competition, which started at 8:30 AM. The jade market would provide a batch of raw stones for jewelers to duel over. The stakes could be the raw stones themselves or cash. To participate in the afternoon's blind auction, one had to win at least two matches in the morning duel competition.
Furthermore, both in duels and blind auctions, Chen Fan would receive a five percent commission, which was a customary practice in the jade industry.
As he spoke, they arrived at the venue for the duel competition.
It was essentially a large warehouse. Each stall displayed raw stones, and each was clearly priced.
Seeing the prices of these raw stones, Chen Fan was astonished. He noticed that the cheapest raw stone was priced at a staggering one hundred thousand.
"Master Cao, it's them! It's these people from Ruixiang Jewelry. They just called you渣渣 (zha zha)."
Suddenly, from a group standing not far away, a man pointed in the direction of Chen Fan and his companions.
A middle-aged man standing in the crowd heard this and looked towards Chen Fan's group, his eyes filled with disdain. "Ruixiang Jewelry? Just a bunch of trash. It seems last year's lesson wasn't enough."
"What a coincidence! It's those people from Fuding Jewelry again!" Zhao Zhihong and the others exclaimed unhappily.
However, the man standing beside Zhou Huiren's mouth curved into a slight smile. He stepped forward and shouted loudly, "Does our Ruixiang Jewelry fear you Fuding Jewelry? With Mr. Chen here, I dare say all the gem appraisal masters present are a bunch of trash!"