"Did I hear that right? Boss Zhao, are you kidding me?"
"The thirty-eight thousand you are talking about, is that thirty-eight thousand?"
The man named Zhao curled his lips and said, "What do you think I said?"
It took me two minutes to calm down.
We hid here and there for this stone, not even daring to show it in Yinchuan. As a result, the difference in the value of this stone between the two sides was so huge that there was no need to discuss it.
The man surnamed Zhao played with the cigarette case and said thoughtfully: "Brother, the price for the agate is already high. Generally, the top quality Alxa agate of this size is only 10,000 yuan. I am not trying to offend you.
Random bidding, I, Zhao Qiang, do business openly and with no evil heart."
"Stop looking! Stop looking!"
Dou Sprout directly wrapped the stone in newspaper and said angrily: "Thirty-eight thousand? You still say you don't have a black heart? I see that the heart and brain blood vessels are black."
"Don't panic, Yazai."
"What's there to talk about? You can't sell it even if you throw it into the river!" Dou Sprout looked really angry.
No one has ever seen this piece of blood agate from the Alxa Desert, so there is no market price standard. In Zhao Qiang's opinion, a good agate only costs 18,000, so he paid 38,000, which can be considered a high reward.
If it were really worth so much, I don't believe Aza would pay so much to hide it.
"Boss Zhao, let's not talk about it then. I take back what I just said about selling rough stones. What if I go to the master?"
At this time, the waitress obediently brought a glass of water. Zhao Qiang took a sip of water and said, "I do have a good relationship with a Jieyang jade carving master. This person happens to be working at the agricultural exhibition. The trouble is that this master's schedule is full.
, you want to add a blockade?"
I nodded and asked what the price would be for an extra plug.
Zhao Qiang shook his head and said: "I'm responsible for introducing you. Just treat it as making friends. Besides, you don't just give money to carving. They also want to see the materials. You have to discuss this yourself."
There are jewelry and jade exhibitions held three times a year at the Sanhuan Agricultural Exhibition Hall. I had heard about it, and it was the first time I went there. When we went there, the exhibition was already in its last two days. Zhao Qiang didn't come because he had something to do, so he called the master and arranged for us to meet briefly.
Three hundred and sixty years later, he was the number one scholar. His surname was Zou. He was a little fat. He was over 50 years old and his ancestral home was Sichuan. He lived in Jieyang all year round and had been engaged in jade carving for more than 30 years. He participated in the World Exposition and the Hundred Flowers Competition.
He has won gold medals and is known for his understanding of subject matter and skillful carving. He is indeed a very powerful craftsman.
"Boss Zhao is talking about you three, right? I personally don't carve agate," the man said directly when we met at the agricultural exhibition hall.
I said, Master, please take a look at the stone first. It’s easy to talk about the cost.
He smiled and said: "No need to look at a few people. I am not very interested in Alxa agate. Please go back."
Although he didn't say it explicitly, I guessed that he thought our Alxa agate was too low-grade and not worthy of his carving.
I winked at Dou Sprout, and Dou Sprout nodded, directly opened the zipper of my backpack, and took out the original stone from the newspaper bag.
"Let's see," said Bean Sprout.
Zou Xiaotong turned his head and glanced impatiently.
"Huh?"
"This is red."
All the booths in the Agricultural Exhibition Hall used white lights, and the newspapers were not all removed. Only a small part of our stone was exposed. The almost demonic red color on the surface of the original stone was too eye-catching.
Zou Xiaotong was attracted. He walked over and removed the newspaper and read it for five or six minutes, becoming fascinated by it.
"This, this thing is Alxa agate? Why is the foundation so thin? Aren't all Alxa agates the same kind of pitted?"
I said look carefully, you haven't peeled it off, the skin is still there, it's not Alxa agate.
"Absolute, absolutely amazing, this is really amazing"
Depend on
There were many colleagues in the exhibition hall. Zou Xiaotong, a master sculptor, said three unique words in a row, which immediately attracted many people to come and watch.
I heard some people talking quietly.
"Isn't this a raw amber stone? Is this agate?"
"No, the original blood amber stone is not that big. I can see faint growth ring-shaped stone patterns inside the stone. There is no doubt that this thing is agate, but why does Alxa agate have such a color? It's strange."
"There are so many people, let's go in and talk," Zou Xiaotong said, looking at the stone and attracting the attention of the crowd, and immediately led us into the inner room of the exhibition hall.
"Please let me take another look at the stone," he said after sitting down.
Bean sprouts handed it to him.
Back and forth, left and right, his eyes became more and more radiant.
"This red color is so rare that I already have inspiration in my mind."
"I made this stone." Zou Xiaotong said touching the stone fondly.
Just now he looked down on Alxa Agate, but his attitude changed too quickly. Dou Sprout was stunned for a moment before he said: "Master, what is your salary?"
Zou Xiaotong nodded and said: "My wages in the industry have always been very stable. For such a large carving, the price is around 8."
"What?" Bean Sprout stared: "The salary is 80,000!"
"No, no, we won't do it. It's too expensive."
Zou Xiaotong said anxiously: "This stone is very special. I can give you a friend a price. How about 70,000 yuan for the labor?"
Forget it, Douyazai shook his head and said it was still too expensive.
At that time, Zou Xiaotong was a very popular craftsman in the jade industry. Others would always ask him to carve his work, and those who could afford it would not care how much the wages were, unlike Dou Sprout.
He said: "Tell me how much you want to pay. The salary is not an issue. The main thing is that I got inspiration for this stone."
Dou Sprout thought for two minutes and stretched out three fingers. "Thirty thousand?" Zou Xiaotong shook his head with a serious expression: "It's too low. This will lower the average price in the industry that I have maintained in recent years. Please please respect my craftsmanship and set a new price."
Douyazai was a little embarrassed. He said, Master, you made a mistake again. I didn't say thirty thousand, I said three thousand. I think it is already very high.
"What!"
"Three thousand!?" Zou Xiaotong's face changed drastically.
This is not the price of a master craftsman, but the price of an apprentice.
I think Bean Sprouts is a bit too much, and I feel that around 30,000 is more appropriate.
Just as I was about to speak, Bean Sprout Zai was already wrapping the rocks in his hands.
"Why are you panicking? We haven't reached an agreement yet!" Zou Xiaotong held down the stone.
Later we reached a secret agreement.
The reason why it is called a secret agreement is because Zou Xiaotong said that three thousand is three thousand, but we must keep this price strictly confidential and cannot disclose it to outsiders. Even Zhao Qiang cannot let him know.
I was still puzzled at the time, and I only found out the reason later.
It turned out that the most authoritative award in the domestic jade carving industry at that time was the Hundred Flowers Award of the China Treasures Association. He had already won this award once, but it was also in this year that the China Treasures Association held a new large-scale competition.
It is the first Tiangong Collection and the first Tiangong Award.
Zou Xiaotong himself won the gold medal of the World Expo and the China Treasures Association Hundred Flowers Sculpture Competition. He originally did not plan to participate in the first Tiangong Award that was about to be held this year, but he changed his mind when he saw this Alxa blood agate.
The results of it.
He is the first craft carving master of Ten Thousand Kingdoms, Hundred Flowers, Tiangong, and Three Gold Grand Slam. This kind of craftsmanship is very difficult, especially in the selection of materials, which is similar to the ancient Lianzhong Sanyuan.
It was with this piece of agate that he completed the three-prize grand slam and became famous on the list of top talents.
This piece of blood agate has transformed from an ugly duckling into a black swan through the hands of a craftsman, which is why it was named by Zou Xiaotong.