"You're not around the Imperial Capital, huh. No problem, could you let us know the city you're residing in right now? We'll arrange someone to contact you."
The enthusiasm on the other end was still palpable, so much so that Chen Yiyang started to suspect whether he had dialed the wrong number and contacted a group of scammers.
"I'm currently in Jin City. Just reach out to me when you're here."
"No problem," the person agreed readily and added, "We have a small request—please don't sell that painting before we arrive."
"No problem."
After responding, Chen Yiyang thought to himself that even if he wanted to sell it, no one would probably buy it.
However, since they valued the painting so much, there must be a story behind it that he wasn't aware of.
He figured that once he got home tonight, he'd need to do some research. Otherwise, when they came to purchase the painting, he would be really passive in negotiating the price.
After hanging up, the car was nearing the Jade Trading Market.
"Boss, do you need me to accompany you inside?" Zhou Jianjun asked.
"No need, just give me a hand moving stones when I call you later."
"Understood. Boss, if you encounter any danger inside, call me," Zhou Jianjun said while pulling out a baseball bat from beside him. "To prevent any accidents, I brought something today."
"You've read too many novels, huh? In broad daylight, what accidents could occur?" Chen Yiyang replied as he prepared to get off the car.
However, he reconsidered, thinking that if his treasure hunt business grew in the future, he might indeed encounter some brainless bandits.
So he turned to Zhou Jianjun and asked, "Did you serve in the military before?"
"No, but I learned martial arts at the Shaolin Temple. Later, I wanted to switch careers to become a stuntman, but I was too ugly, no one wanted me."
"Your skills should be decent then," Chen Yiyang said as he patted Zhou Jianjun's arm. "Next time, remember to buy two pairs of baseball gloves, a baseball cap, and a baseball to keep in the trunk."
"Why's that?" Zhou Jianjun asked, puzzled.
"The sentencing will be lighter."
Chen Yiyang finished speaking and got out of the car, walking into the massive Jade Trading Market.
This is the largest jade trading market in the entire East River Province, with a mix of people and transactions that range from jade raw stones to jade products, all-inclusive.
Just as Chen Yiyang arrived at the market entrance, he saw several streamers holding their phones walking into the market.
Thanks to the downtrend of live streaming and e-commerce markets.
Now, many streamers selling jade directly carry cameras to live stream at the jade market. If viewers like a particular jade, the streamer will directly negotiate with the vendor.
Of course, there's always the possibility of secret collusion between streamers and vendors, working together to sell fake jade to their fans.
When the profit is large enough, and the money comes easily enough, laws and morals will always be the first to be trampled upon.
Chen Yiyang worried that an unexpected incident might occur, so he walked straight toward the stall described in the intelligence upon entering the market.
This massive Jade Trading Market houses several hundred stalls of various kinds.
The closer to the front, the higher the rent and the more concentrated it is on raw stones.
"Boss, here to buy stones!"
The owner of the tenth stall was a forty-year-old woman. Seeing Chen Yiyang stop, she immediately enthusiastically greeted him.
"All the stones you sell here have windows opened," Chen Yiyang glanced around and noticed all the jade raw stones for sale here had windows opened.
"Opening a window" is the process of polishing a part of the jade raw stone's surface to see the jade flesh inside clearly.
If the jade raw stone revealed by the window is of good quality, the price naturally rises accordingly.
The process from raw stone to final jade product is quite complicated.
For many, the industry is about making quick money, where each slice determines wealth or ruin.
So they don't even consider turning the stones they purchase and cut into products to find channels to sell them.
Most would buy the raw stones directly, try to open a window, ascertain the stone's basic quality, then sell it quickly, converting it into funds for the next gambling stone venture.
"Yes, my stones are all consignment." The lady easily identified Chen Yiyang's outsider status, thus patiently explained to him,
"My stones were bought by others who opened the windows and consigned them to be sold here. If you fancy any, just name a price, I'll call the seller, and then you two finalize a price. I'll take a five percent commission."
"Hmm," Chen Yiyang nodded.
In this business, intermediaries are indeed needed to separate buyers and sellers.
It's best if buyers and sellers are completely unaware of each other's identities.
Otherwise, you open a window on a raw stone and find the quality isn't good, so you sell it.
The next day, you hear that the buyer of your stone cut it open and the value increased tenfold.
Not only would enmity grow between both parties, but it would also be detrimental to their mental well-being.
Skeptical people can try gambling on sports with a few bucks and see.
Losing doesn't matter, but if you win, you'll probably regret not betting more for a long time.
Since this lady wasn't the seller herself, Chen Yiyang didn't bother to disguise.
He immediately started searching for the stone he wanted to buy.
A glance at the largest stones revealed none that he wanted.
Chen Yiyang moved on to looking for smaller ones.
Still none.
The lady saw Chen Yiyang looking at the biggest stone first and confirmed that he was a newbie. She simply sat down to quietly watch Chen Yiyang fuss over them.
She was reluctant to explain anything to this newbie, afraid of causing trouble later, so she let Chen Yiyang look for himself.
Seems like this is it.
After a full twenty minutes of looking, he checked every stone on the lady's stall.
Only then did Chen Yiyang find the stone he needed to buy.
Although the system had sent him a photo beforehand, the photo didn't have any reference objects, making Chen Yiyang mistakenly think he was buying a large stone.
In the end, it turned out to be just a stone about the size of a fist and a half.
Chen Yiyang could carry it himself in his pocket and felt it was a waste having Zhou Jianjun drive over.
"What's the price of this stone?" Chen Yiyang asked.
"The seller didn't provide a price. You need to estimate a price first, then I'll inquire over there." The lady replied.
This put Chen Yiyang in a difficult position.
He was completely clueless.
If he randomly set a price, he could lose money if it's too high, and offend the other side if it's too low, possibly leading them to reject the deal directly.
Finally, Chen Yiyang calculated internally: since it would be a good catch within fifty thousand, he set the price at forty thousand, planning to go no higher than fifty thousand if they weren't satisfied, and then leave.
Just as Chen Yiyang was about to offer a price, a man about thirty years old suddenly came over.
He glanced at the exposed part of the stone in Chen Yiyang's hand and said quietly, "The exposed section of this stone looks beautiful."
"You know stones?" Chen Yiyang turned to look at this man.
"Sorry, according to the rules, I shouldn't talk about a stone you've picked. Couldn't help it just now."
The man thought Chen Yiyang was mocking him, so he immediately apologized.
"No, I'm just a newbie. This is my first time buying a stone." Chen Yiyang knew that to insiders, he couldn't hide the fact that he was an outsider.
Rather than being suspected, he might as well openly admit it.
"You've got a good eye." The man introduced himself, "My last name is Niu, people usually call me A Niu."
"Brother Niu, what price do you think is suitable for this stone?"
Chen Yiyang took the opportunity to ask A Niu to estimate the stone's price.
"Looking at the exposed section, it's pure ice species, vibrant in color, with a hint of blue tone in the ice blue. Inside, there's faintly visible snowflake cotton, the quality is impeccable. For this exposed part alone, I estimate the seller's price range to be between fifty thousand and sixty thousand."
"Such a high price?" Chen Yiyang was a bit surprised.
"The fifty thousand to sixty thousand is the seller's price range, not the buyer's."
A Niu patiently explained to Chen Yiyang, "If the entire stone has jade quality like the exposed section, the price could rise to three hundred thousand.
But that's generally impossible. So the seller would estimate a price as if at least a quarter of the jade is like the exposed section, which is between fifty thousand and sixty thousand.
However, as a buyer, I typically estimate based on the worst possible scenario. If it were me buying, I'd offer at most thirty thousand, which is the value of that exposed section."
"Thank you." Chen Yiyang thanked A Niu, then turned to the lady at the stall and said, "I'll offer thirty-five thousand. Ask if they're willing to sell."
After hearing Chen Yiyang's offer, the lady picked up her phone and called a number.
She then went to the corner and communicated with the other side for a few minutes.
"They want fifty-five thousand," the lady returned and said.
"Just tell them only thirty-five thousand and see what they say." Before Chen Yiyang could respond, A Niu nudged him in the waist with his elbow and whispered.
"In our trade, selling raw exposed stones is usually done by gamblers with a strong gambling tendency. They're in a hurry to use the money to bet on the next round; you have to haggle a few times to get the real price."
A Niu's words made Chen Yiyang temporarily put aside the idea of raising his offer to forty thousand.
This wasn't like a street stall where many elderly sellers were expecting to strike it rich by catching a fool.
So many things will not be negotiated unless you offer even more.
But it's different here.
As A Niu said, the sellers are waiting to gamble on their next round, so there's actually great flexibility in the price.
"Tell them I'll offer thirty-five thousand and no more."
"Alright." The lady continued to make calls in the corner.
It went back and forth like this for three or four rounds.
Indeed, the seller's side couldn't hold out first.
"They said thirty-five thousand won't work; you've got to add a few more thousand."
"Hmm." Chen Yiyang looked at the stone in front of him and then at A Niu who was watching the fun beside him.
"Brother Niu, want to partner up in buying the stone? I'll increase by two thousand, and you cover that two thousand. Once the stone is sold, we split the profit proportionally."
"Sure." A Niu had actually been eyeing the stone for some time. Seeing Chen Yiyang speak up, he immediately agreed.
He didn't question Chen Yiyang's intent in asking to partner up.
Gambling on stones is like making films; both are high-cost projects with unclear returns. Thus, even many powerful big buyers prefer partnering up to buy a stone.
Although a profit means sharing, it also avoids the fate of bankruptcy should the stone turn out to be worthless.