"Boss Huang, what's the strength of Li Yongqian's processing plant? Is it so big? After Huang Bingyu's words, Qin Feng's heart moved.
Qin Feng received a call from Feng Yongkang and Xie Xuan yesterday. They have reached an agreement with the Hotan Jade Mine in Xinjiang Province to purchase a batch of high-quality Hotan jade rough stones from there every year at a relatively low price.
In this way, there is no problem with the supply of soft jade jewelry in "Zhen Jade Square". What needs to be solved now is the source of jade jewelry. The reason why Qin Feng insisted on following Huang Bingyu here was also with this intention.
Now that he had just arrived in Jie, he met a master carver with good skills. Qin Feng was thinking about it in his mind. Can he hand over the processing of his jade jewelry to Li Yongqian in the future?
"Boss Qin, although Li Yongqian is good at carving, he is a craftsman and his business is a bit rigid. He also doesn't seem to have sufficient funds. This processing factory's work is average."
Huang Bingyu shook his head and said: "He is too demanding on craftsmanship. He has to polish some craftsmanship by hand, which can be replaced by machines. This consumes a lot of time and energy..."
From Huang Bingyu's point of view, Li Yongqian seems to have some of the skills of an ancient craftsman. He has always been adhering to the traditional skills of hand-carving jade. The so-called processing factory means that he brought several apprentices to work.
However, there are many problems arising from this. Firstly, the processing cost of hand-carved jade is much higher than that of machine. Secondly, the time is slow and the shipment is slow. On several occasions, Li Yongqian's processing factory has delayed the shipment time.
After several attempts, some of the jade merchants who originally came here to admire Li Yongqian's reputation stopped doing business with Li Yongqian.
For those businessmen, the average customer simply does not understand the difference between machine processing and manual processing. There is no need for them to spend high processing fees to ask Li Yongqian to carve it by hand.
"It's a good thing to be careful."
After hearing Huang Bingyu's explanation, Qin Feng smiled and said: "Why, Boss Huang, after you bought the jade, you also planned to give it to Li Yongqian to do it?"
"Me? Well, brother, I'm not afraid of your jokes, but I can't afford to invite him."
Huang Bingyu smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said, "It takes Lao Li three days to make a pendant. Even if we include his few apprentices, how many objects can we produce in a month?"
And even if he carves the simplest jade ornament, his asking price is more than three hundred, which is even more expensive than the price of the jade itself. Do you think I can afford it?"
"It takes three days for a pendant to work. That's a bit slow."
Qin Feng frowned when he heard this. When he saw that he had arrived outside the room, he immediately said: "Let's put away our things and go to eat first. Boss Li is still waiting below."
"Okay, by the way, Qin Feng."
Huang Bingyu suddenly said: "I'll pay for dinner later. I owe you too many favors. When it comes time to discuss business, it won't be easy for me to open my mouth..."
Huang Bingyu's business is not big, and he only has a million dollars in capital. He just wants to buy some ordinary jadeite rough stones and process them into jewelry worth three to five hundred yuan for sale, so he is unwilling to accept Li Yongqian's offer. Humane.
Qin Feng smiled and didn't say much. He was really hoping that Li Yongqian was not doing well in business, so that he could concentrate on processing jade for him. However, Qin Feng was a little confused as to why Li Yongqian's efficiency in carving jade was so low.
You must know that Qin Feng himself is a master of jade carving. For him, a simple pendant can be carved in an hour, but it takes Li Yongqian three days, which makes Qin Feng a little confused. Already.
Regarding this question, after arriving at the hotel and sitting down, Qin Feng asked Li Yongqian face to face.
After hearing Qin Feng's question, Li Yongqian said bitterly: "Boss Qin, I use old techniques. Whether it is the removal of impurities in the jadeite or the later polishing, everything is done by hand."
"Is it all done by hand? It does take three or four days, but Boss Li, using a machine for this urgent process shouldn't affect the value of the finished jade, right?"
Qin Feng was a little stunned when he heard this. The technical requirements for removing impurities and polishing jewelry are not very high and can be replaced by machines. He doesn't know why Li Yongqian is so stubborn?
"I know this too, well, let's be honest..."
Li Yongqian sighed and said: "I have been working for people in the past few years, and although I have saved some money, after I started working in a factory, I bet a stone with someone, and the bet failed, so I didn't even buy the machine. All the money is gone..."
The people who have the most contact with stone gambling, apart from the original stone owners and gamblers, are probably the craftsmen who carve jadeite.
I have seen this a lot. Many jade carving craftsmen themselves have rich experience in stone gambling. They know what kind of stone skin is most likely to produce good jadeite.
Li Yongqian has a good eye. Before he came out to work in the processing factory alone, he once helped others to bet on stones.
Moreover, Li Yongqian was very lucky. A rough stone with black sand the size of a fist turned out to be a light green jadeite made of glass the size of an egg. The rough stone he bought for more than 1,000 yuan at that time helped the man earn more than 1 million by changing hands. .
It was only after receiving more than 100,000 in hard-earned money from that person that Li Yongqian decided to go it alone.
However, when he had just completed preparations for his processing plant and had not yet purchased it, a man from the same village came to him and said that he had great eyesight! He teamed up with Li Yongqian to gamble on stones.
Speaking of the gambling stones in Yangmei, we must first introduce the history of Yangmei.
Yangmei is a village in Jiejiedong region, known as the "Hometown of Gold and Jade". Since 1991, villagers have been engaged in jade processing, production and trade, which has a history of nearly a hundred years.
Yangmei Village has a total population of more than 600 households.
There are more than 400 large and small jade processing, production and trade companies, and more than 1,500 people specialize in jade processing, production and trade. It can be said that almost every family in Yangmei has an indissoluble bond with jade.
With a history of nearly a hundred years of jade processing, production and trade, stone gambling is also very popular in Yangmei. As early as before jade jewelry was popular in China, people from Yangmei went to Myanmar to gamble on stones, and many people hid the best ones. Jadeite rough.
When the jade craze started in China, stone gambling became a shortcut for many Yangmei people to get rich. Due to financial constraints, they joined together with a few well-connected families to form a joint venture for stone gambling.
In the early days of the stone gambling market, most of the stones that appeared on the market were rough stones from old pits.
The so-called old pits refer to those old pits that are famous for their large output and fine quality of jade. People who cooperated with Yangmei to bet on stones took a big advantage and sold them at very low prices. Bought a lot of high-quality jadeite.
But last year, as the output of the old jade pits in Myanmar decreased, some raw stones from the newly developed jade mines entered the country. Li Yongqian was unlucky and just caught up with this group.
At that time, he and his friends from the same village jointly invested one million yuan and went to Myanmar to participate in a jade sale. However, the result was that Li Yongqian was in tears. The rough stone he bought for one million yuan was cut into pieces and cost 100,000 yuan. Not worth it.
No one can blame him for his bad luck, so Li Yongqian could only stop gambling on stones and concentrate on building his jade processing factory.
It's just that he has no money, and Li Yonggan's processing factory is not even as good as other workshops. If he hadn't made some achievements in jade carving, he might not even be able to recruit apprentices.
"Boss Li, your craftsmanship is so good. If you borrow some more money, why don't you buy the machine back?"
Qin Feng was a little surprised when he heard this and said: "As long as the processing business is on track, hundreds of thousands a year won't be a problem, right? Why do you still insist on doing every process by hand?"
In Qin Feng's opinion, every household in Yangmei is doing business, and it should not be very difficult for private people to borrow hundreds of thousands, so he is a little confused about Li Yongqian's behavior.
After hearing what Qin Feng said, Li Yongqian drank a glass of wine in a depressed manner and said: "Boss Qin, that's not the case. You lost everything by gambling, and no one is willing to lend you money..."
In Yangmei, not only does every household do business, but every household also gambles on stones, and these people are very superstitious. If your bet goes up, everyone will rush to join you in betting on stones, hoping to get some happiness.
But if the bet fails, it will definitely be defeated by everyone.
Not to mention asking neighbors to borrow money, even my own relatives are impersonal and can provide food if they don't have money, but there is no way to borrow money for business, which is exactly what the saying goes, "There are no fathers and sons in business."
"Boss Li, there will be a way to reach the mountain. You don't have to worry. Maybe there will be some solution. Boss Li, this Kung Fu tea is good. Is it this year's new tea?"
After figuring out what was going on, Qin Feng took up the wine and toasted Li Yong, but he never mentioned the stone gambling and the processing plant, and just discussed with him the taste of Kung Fu tea and Chaoshan cuisine on the table.
"Thank you, Boss Qin. I still have some tea. If Boss Qin likes it, I can give you some later..."
Li Yongqian had no intention of talking about tea with Qin Feng. He turned to Huang Bingyu and said, "Boss Huang, are you determined to start a jade business?"
"Yes, the jade market is pretty good now. It almost accounts for half of the jade market. I want to change my career."
Huang Bingyu nodded and said: "Boss Li, it seems that the scope of Yangmei Stone Gambling is not large. They are all brought by regular customers. I have to rely on you this time..."
When it comes to the stone gambling market, the first one is naturally the Burmese jade auction that takes place two to three times a year. However, the threshold there is too high. With Huang Bingyu’s strength, even if he goes to various places, he can’t compete with the major jewelers from Southeast Asia. of.
In China, only Pingzhou, Guangdong Province has jadeite public sales open to the public, but the scale is far from comparable to that in Myanmar, and it only happens once a year. It was already open this year.
For example, Yangmei's jadeite rough trading, to put it bluntly, is actually a secondary transaction conducted internally by some powerful merchants in the village of Yangmei after returning some stones from public gambling in Myanmar.
Compared with Pingzhou's jade public sale, the scale of this kind of transaction is even smaller and can basically be digested in Yangmei. Therefore, if it is not led by an acquaintance, outsiders cannot even enter the trading venue.
