Chapter 109 - The Jade
Chapter 109 The Jade
The Queen’s eyes flashed the color of shyness, and she said with a cold voice, “No gains without pains. I will never accept a gift from a stranger.”
“This is not a gift. It is a reward. I need a favor from you later!”
Ding Ning was not affected by her coldness at all. He still smiled, turned around, picked up the herbal bag and carried it on his back, and said to Mr. Liu and the other apothecaries, “I am leaving now, and will come back to talk over with you again later.”
“Little brother, when you come again, call in advance.”
“Yeah, little brother, and don’t forget about me if you find any good herbs.”
“You have my name card, right. Pay me a visit when you are free.”
“My shop is next door. Let’s keep in touch and be friends.”
… Mr. Liu and the other apothecaries talked to Ding Ning passionately. Other than that he could manage to find herbs with a high price but no market, he gave the pendants worth more than three million dollars as presents. And that was enough for them to make Ding Ning a son from a rich and powerful family in their eyes.
Ding Ning smiled brightly, greeted the crowd, turned and walked out without taking a look at the Queen. He only said with an undoubted voice when passing by her, “Follow me.”
The Queen looked at him walking outside with an air of nonchalance and got fulminated with anger. She had never met a man who ignored her willfully and treated her like giving orders to a servant girl from his house without giving her a decent look.
She was reluctant to follow him with such obedience. However, when she saw that all the people in the hall looked at her with a sense of ambiguity, she felt so embarrassed that she wanted to find a place to hide.
She secretly bit her teeth and thought, “This damn bastard, I want to see what you want to play.”
She stamped her feet with anger and followed up with her waist swaying beautifully and her feet in high-inch tall heels.
Mr. Liu said stroking his beard and shaking his head, “They look such a perfect pair like pearls and jade put together.”
“I really wonder what his background is. Although he looked ordinary and unimpressive at the first impression, his temperament got more extraordinary when I observed him.”
“Yeah, I also have this feeling. This little brother definitely has a great background.”
“Bollocks. Is it possible to give gifts that are worth over three million dollars at will without a great background?”
“I don’t know if his Jiuqiansui is true. If it is true, it is worth several cities. Would three million dollars be a lot for him?”
“Yeah, to be honest, I feel unsure in my heart. Otherwise, I would want to take down the Jiuqiansui.”
“Come on, you. I think it must be true, but you can’t afford even if you tie your whole family together and sell them. Stop thinking about it.”
…
The group of apothecaries sighed with emotions. Some wondered Ding Ning’s background. Some wondered the authenticity of the Jiuqiansui. Some wondered if Ding Ning could win the Queen’s heart…
And some wondered why Ding Ning would sculpt the dragon on the moon and the Phoenix on the sun. According to the rules, the sun and the dragon both belonged to Yang, and the moon and the Phoenix belonged to Yin. The Phoenix should be sculpted on the moon and the dragon on the sun. That was the right way to accord with the Yin and Yang.
“Moon-dragon, sun-Phoenix, moon-dragon, sun-Phoenix, is there any mystery behind that? Ah, I understand…”
Liu Wei, who liked to ponder, suddenly gave out a scream and made everyone shocked. They all asked him what happened.
Liu Wei laughed despicably and said, “The little brother is not ordinary. He even makes no bones about his courting to women.”
“What do you mean, don’t keep us guessing. Go on.”
Chen Tingjun urged impatiently.
Liu Wei laughed lewdly with complete confidence. “Think about it. Did the little brother give the moon-dragon to the girl and kept the sun-Phoenix to himself.”
“Yeah, what then? Tell me quick. You are driving me crazy.”
Li Qian frowned, could not understand the mystery, and others were also confused.
Liu Wei smiled mysteriously. “What’s the other name of the sun?”
“What is the sun? Jiao Yang, Lie Ri… Ri?”
Chen Tingjun suddenly understood and shouted, “Oh, man. This guy is truly a man of courage. What he meant was “I will ‘Ri’ (fuck) the Phoenix. Hahaha…”
The crowd realized that and filled the room with laughter, praising Ding Ning as a witty man who courted with such a straightforward purpose.
Only Mr. Liu looked at Ding Ning’s signature on the bet thoughtfully, and then he smiled slightly. “It’s him.”
“Go ahead. What do you need from me?”
Although the Queen’s expression was cold, her heart was tangling.
She really wanted to return the jade carving to this man whose eyes were very aggressive, but she liked this pendant so much that she wanted to keep it.
From the perspective of carving, this pendant was already qualified to be listed as a product that would be handed on from age to age and could be passed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom.
After all, even if a top jade carving master could not make every piece of work as vivid as life and with charm.
“Take me to the place where people gamble on stones, then tell me in detail what kind of jade is the most valuable, and that pendant is my tuition.”
Ding Ning acted calmer than the Queen with his eyes clean and clear as if he had no attempt at her.
“That’s it?”
The Queen got stunned. She did not know that the man’s request was that simple.
Not to mention the pendants of more than three million dollars, he could find anyone who would be willing to teach him the basic knowledge on the antique street for two hundred dollars, but why did he want her with a pendant worth more than three million dollars?
“It’s that simple, or what do you think?”
Ding Ning’s eyes sparkled. He looked at this queen who had a temperament.
The Queen looked at his sly smile and got surer that this guy had an attempt at herself. This womanizer was no different from those flies!
“Huh, so what then. I felt ashamed to accept. But now since you are willing to be a loser and do this deal, wouldn’t it be bad for me not to accept it?” thought the Queen.
A banter flashed away from the Queen’s eyes. She said, “Yes, come with me. I will tell you while walking.”
Although she wanted to fool Ding Ning, she did her best to tell Ding Ning the type and value of jade in detail.
Ding Ning concentrated and didn’t stare at her pleasing body, but carefully remembered it in his mind.
That made the Queen who had been observing him all along feel a bit surprised. Did he really not have an attempt at her?
From her narrative, Ding Ning learned a general understanding of the types of jade. There were many kinds of jadeite, which could be easily divided into glass type, ice type, shiny type, bean type, mottled-green type, white-based green type, pure white type and so on.
The glass type was the best type, in which there were no crystal particles to be seen at all. Like amorphous glass, it was completely transparent with flickering light inside. There were many colors of them, among which the light green ones were rare. And the dark green ones were very scarce. Even with a ring surface of 1cm by 0.8cm, it could be sold at a price of nearly ten million at auction. However, the price of light colored glass type was much lower by comparison.
Next, it was the ice type opened by Xiang Bolong. A large piece of full-green ice carved jade could be sold at the auction for three to eight million dollars, while the colorless ice jade would be a thousand times cheaper.
The third was the shiny type, in which the crystal particles were small, oil-like, and translucent. And the color of the shiny type was dark-ish. There was no light green color of freshness, and the price was much lower than the bright green ice jade.
The fourth was the bean type. The crystal particles in the bean type were larger, obviously visible, and slightly transparent. The color was yellowish and grayish green. It could be subdivided into two types—the small-bean type and the big-bean type. As people said, “Nine out of ten of jade pieces are the bean type.” The fine small-bean type jade was of high-end grade and very expensive, too.
The fifth row was the mottled-green type, which was slightly transparent with crystal particles that were smaller than those in the bean type. Its color was a slightly darker green, which usually appeared as mottles on the surface. That was why it was called the mottled-green. The mottled-green type was usually used for making bracelets and carvings, belonging to the middle and low grade.
The sixth was white-based green, just as its name implied, this kind of jade was all white-based. Although its crystal particles were not as big as the bean type’s, it was completely opaque. Its advantage was that the base color was clean and even, which highlighted the green. However, due to its low transparency, the bracelets and carvings made of it were all very cheap, making it one of the low grades.
The worthless one was the pure white type, in which the crystal particles were large, obviously visible, with clefts, completely opaque. It was often used to make low-grade carving pieces and bracelets.
Of course, the knowledge of jade was very complicated, which couldn’t be thoroughly explained by language. What the Queen said was only a general division.
In the category of the glass type, there were the glass type and the quasi-glass type. The glass type had great transparency (3 degrees of transparency) and was very transparent with excellent texture. The quasi-glass type had good transparency (2 degrees of transparency) and was transparent with fine texture. The prices of them differed greatly.
In addition to green jade, there were also red jade, yellow jade, black jade, purple jade and Fukurokuju jade (Red, green and purple in one piece), etc. Their prices also varied a wide range according to their purity and rarity. Some of them were even more expensive than the glass type of jade from the old pits.
What concerned Ding Ning most was the glass type that was the most valuable. He asked for more details and learned that the glass type of jade came from raw stones from the old pits, which was very rare from the place of origin, and its quantity of output was less than one percent of the output of the raw materials of jade in mines. Gambling on stones was to bet on the transparency and the color of jades. Most of the raw stones from the old pits were with crusts. Therefore their gamble was greater. In the raw materials market, no matter in Myan – the country of origin or in Shen Zhou, people needed to purchase this type of raw stones by auction. Therefore the raw stones from the old pit were relatively rare.
Therefore, when Xiang Bolong opened the ice type, he caused such a big sensation. People there all went to watch the scene of bustle. After all, other than the glass type, the ice type was also a hard-won rarity.
Unfortunately, the ice type of jade that he opened was too small. If it were bigger, he could sell it at a price of ten million dollars in a breeze.
Perhaps it was because Ding Ning never showed that he had an attempt on her, the Queen let down her guard, started to speak freely, and also took the initiative to tell him her name.
The Queen, named Mu Yanran, was the vice president of the Ninghai Branch of Tianfu Jewelry Company.
Tianfu Jewelry was a large-scale chain enterprise headquartered in Yuezhou. There were 37 Tianfu Building chain stores in Ninghai. The platinum necklace that Ding Ning gave to Lingyun was purchased at Tianfu Building.
Mu Yanran came to the antique street to purchase raw stones. The supplier who supplied raw stones to Tianfu Building was the owner of Fantastic Stones Shop. After seeing someone open the ice typed jade, she got curious and wanted to win the ice typed jade.
However, because she was not sure about the price, she went to the auction house lobby to find Mr. Liu to help her estimate. After all, she was only the vice president of the Ninghai Branch of Tianfu Company. If she didn’t spend the money well, she would also need to give an explanation to the company.
After hearing the name of Ding Ning, Mu Yanran did not react strangely. Apparently, she hadn’t heard of his name. And it seemed that the matter about the magical doctor in a hubbub online didn’t catch her attention.
Ding Ning did not feel strange either. After all, there were more than one billion people in China. People who paid attention to the matter were those who were concerned about medical treatment and family members of a patient. It would be already good to have tens of thousands of them.
He didn’t get cocky for that he had become an online celebrity. Subconsciously, he still took himself as a graduate from the medical college who didn’t even have the qualifications for medical practice. Instead, after learning that Mu Yanran had become a vice president of such a large company at a young age, he held her in high esteem.