"You've really stumped me with that one. How should I put it?"
Wang Donglai, sitting across from Fang Zhen, scratched his head, seeming to think it over seriously.
After a moment, Wang Donglai said, "It's actually pretty hard to say because the Cinnabar Ore trade isn't a very mature market at all."
"When I go to stock up, I always go to the legal, state-regulated ore markets—official places with all the proper permits. But once you're inside the trading floor, it's like a chaotic bazaar. It's not just the environment that's a mess; the prices are all over the place too."
"Let me put it this way. In the same market, you could have two stalls just a few meters apart. I'll go ask for a price, and the guy has medium-quality Cinnabar Ore. Let's say he's asking 20 yuan a gram. Then you walk a few steps, just a few meters away, and another vendor has bags of ore on display—the quality isn't even as good as the first guy's—and he'll have the nerve to ask for 40 yuan a gram."
