After negotiating with Zhao Bao, He Qing and Lin Haitao set off and drove straight to the jade trading market that Zhao Bao mentioned.
The place was located in the suburbs, some distance from the hotel where they were staying, and there was serious traffic jam on the road, so it took almost an hour to get close to the destination.
Because the area around the Hotan Jade Market was very crowded, with motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians on the road, He Qing and the others were unable to drive, so they had to park the car in a relatively open area, get out of the car, and walk there.
On the way, I heard Zhao Bao introduce: "Xiao He, this is your first time here and you may not know that there are many people coming to Hotan to look for jade. Some of them come directly to buy jade, because the jade and finished products here are
The price of jade is relatively cheap, and some people go to the river to pick up jade by themselves, just rummaging through rivers and rivers. However, those places have been searched many times by others. Only with good luck can they find jade, and if you want to find it,
It’s almost impossible to get the best Hetian jade seed material now.”
"Well, I've heard this from my kids before." He Qing nodded.
Zhao Bao said: "There are many Hotan jade trading markets here, most of them are on the banks of the Yulong River, but the order is relatively chaotic and not well managed. If you go straight from here, you can see people selling Hotan jade and jade articles almost everywhere.
Street stalls and sales can also be found everywhere, but most of them are temporary transactions."
He Qing looked around, frowned slightly and said: "It's really a bit chaotic around here, mainly because there are too many people, and the government can't control it even if it wants to. Uncle Zhao, let's not go to other places first, and go directly to that place.
Find Boss Xia at the market."
"Yes, I know. We are almost there." Zhao Bao nodded in agreement.
Under his leadership, He Qing and the others quickened their pace and walked towards the jade market.
After a while, they came to the place where Hetian jade was traded. The market was crowded with people, and pedestrians rubbed shoulders with each other. The densely packed stalls on both sides were filled with various kinds of Hetian jade, including rough Hetian jade and finished products.
Hetian jade. However, He Qing and the others did not stop and wait and see at all, because they were not shopping at the street stalls yet. There were more important things ahead that needed to be resolved.
"Brother Qing, there are many people here, so be careful." Suddenly, Zhu Zai whispered in He Qing's ear.
He Qing nodded and said, "I know, I will be careful."
He had a lot of cash and other valuable things on him. In a place with such chaos, you had to be careful, and don't let someone with three hands steal the things he had on him.
Soon they came to a market. There were many relatively large stones on the market, but those stones looked "unattractive". They were obviously made from mountain materials and blanks cut during processing, and were very rough.
The kind of Hetian jade.
He Qing couldn't cheer up those rocks, and of course he didn't have time to find out now.
"Xiao He, here we are." Zhao Bao greeted. "This is where I bought my batch of stones. The two bosses who sold the stones to me are sitting there. One of them, I told you, he
My name is Boss Xia. The other one is from Xinjiang. I don’t know him and I don’t know his name.”
He Qing said: "Let's go over and ask them first."
"Well, let's go." Zhao Bao nodded and agreed.
They immediately walked up to Boss Xia and the others. As soon as they saw Boss Xia and the others, Zhao Bao explained their purpose straight to the point and asked if there were any more stones with the batch of stones sold to him before.
Boss Xia is in his forties, looks strong, and is a rough-looking man, while the other Xinjiang boss is an older man wearing a hat and a long gray beard.
say.
"Boss Zhao, I'm very surprised. Why do people always ask me the same question these two days?" After listening to Zhao Bao's words, Boss Xia smiled bitterly and said, "Why are you all looking for those stones? There are BMWs in those stones.
?Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask, how did the batch of stones you shipped back last time turn out?"
Zhao Bao said calmly: "Just so so. Boss Xia, you said someone has asked you this question before? Are they also looking for those stones?"
Not only was he surprised by this, but He Qing and Lin Haitao were also surprised. They didn't expect that someone had already arrived first, but they didn't know who it was.
He Qing thought to himself: "It can't be Boss Zhong and the others, right?"
Boss Zhong from Urumqi knew about this. At that time, he wanted to buy the top-grade mutton-fat jade that He Qing had, but He Qing didn't consider it at all and resolutely rejected him.
Although Boss Zhong has no chance of getting the mutton-fat jade that He Qing has already obtained, he definitely wants to bet on such a good stone, so he may have sent someone to Hotan to inquire about the relevant information. After all, everyone wants to get it. Since
If such a good piece of jade is found in that batch of stones, the chance of getting good jade from stones from the same mining area is much greater.
When he thought about this possibility, He Qing felt a little uneasy. He was afraid that Boss Zhong and the others would buy the huge piece of mutton-fat jade he had "anticipated" before him, thus making all his work in vain.
"Yes, the situation is exactly the same as yours. There are more than one group of people here." Boss Xia nodded, "What on earth are you doing? Are those stones that good?"
Zhao Bao said seriously: "Boss Xia, please stop asking so many questions. Please tell me, do you still have those stones? If not, where were they sold?"
Boss Xia replied: "It's gone a long time ago. It's all sold."
He Qing suddenly spoke: "Boss Xia, how big is the largest piece of the batch of stones you brought?"
Boss Xia replied: "That's relatively big, almost weighing a ton."
"Oh, thank you." He Qing nodded thoughtfully, "Then where did it go? Can you tell us? Also, tell us the mining area where the stones were produced. Please."
Boss Xia agreed without hesitation: "Okay, it's nothing."
At that moment, he explained in detail the whereabouts of that batch of stones. They sold them twice in total. One was sold to a jade market in the south. They were shipped to Guangzhou early. It is estimated that the stones have been processed by now, and the other
One side was sold to a local boss, who was a professional jade collector. He had a large collection of Hetian jades at home, and most of them were large pieces. The largest pieces of the stones in that batch were taken away by the jade collector.
.
"Uncle Zhao, sure, let's go find the jade collector first. The batch of stones in Guangdong was shipped to the jade processing factory and must have been cut. Even if the jade we are looking for was bought by them,
We can’t get it either, they can’t give us any more stones.”
After asking about the situation, He Qing immediately made a decision. In fact, he should be lucky that those big stones were bought by a collector. The collector usually does not untie the stones quickly after taking them away, so they have a chance.
Take another bet.
Zhao Bao frowned and said: "Xiao He, I know that boss too. He is very famous. He is a tycoon in the jade collecting industry. Especially in the collection of Hetian jade, no one can match him. He has collected a piece of Hetian green jade.
Do you know how much that rock weighs? Sixty-six tons, that’s scary!”
"Sixty-six tons of Hetian jade?! So big?! How is that possible?!" He Qing said in surprise, that was unbelievable.
"How is it impossible? It's true!" Zhao Bao nodded vigorously, "He has exhibited before, and I even came here to see it. He holds an exhibition every year, but he has to wait until the Jade Chemical Festival opens.
He will take out the stones for exhibition only that day. Xiaohe, the batch of stones we are after may have fallen into the hands of the "King of Hotan". Once they fall into his hands, there will be no way in and no way out, and there will be no way to get them back.
He has come out, so even if we go to find him and pay a high price to buy him, it will be in vain."
He Qing insisted: "If we don't try, there will definitely be no hope, but we may not be able to get it. Uncle Zhao, you also know that there is a chance of getting the best mutton-fat jade, a one-in-a-million chance."
, once you miss it, it will be difficult to encounter it in the future.”
"Xiao He, you are right. Let's do what you said. Let's go visit the 'King of Hotan' first and see if he can give us those stones." Zhao Bao agreed.
He Qing said: "I think that batch of stones is interesting, so we have to try it anyway. Of course, if he really doesn't want to talk to us, then we have no choice but to find another way to gamble, jade mine
If it’s still there, we can go directly to the mining area to gamble, maybe with luck we can get better jade there.”
In fact, He Qing is not sure. He knows that it is very difficult to receive something from a collector, not to mention that he is a very rich collector. You can only sell stones to him.
How can I want to take the stone from the other party's hand?
But it's okay to go and take a look. If you see something abnormal inside those stones, and you have a great chance of getting a good jade, then you can look for a way to get it from the opponent later.
After discussing with Zhao Bao, He Qing and the others left the jade market. They had to rush to the house of "King Hotan" to investigate the situation.
Zhao Bao knew the "King of Hotan" and had been to his house before, so he knew where his jade collection was.
Under the leadership of Zhao Bao, He Qing and the others drove to the house of "King Hotan", which was located in the suburbs, but in another direction.
It took He Qing and the others a long time to drive there. It turned out that the "King of Hotan" lived in a large villa surrounded by mountains and rivers with beautiful scenery.
When they came to the gate, He Qing and the others couldn't help being surprised.