Chapter Fifty-Four: Making Old (Six)

  "Damn it, whose chicken is making noise again? Grandma's, I'll sneak over and stew it tonight!"

  As the sky was just getting light, Li Tianyuan stretched his waist and walked out of the house. He raised his eyes to see Qin Feng and Xie Xuan squatting at the kitchen door, and he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. "Feng Ge, why did you two get up so early?"

  "It's not that I woke up early, it's just that I didn't sleep at all!"

  Xie Xuan responded with a sentence without lifting his head, his eyes staring at the ground as if there was some rare treasure there.

  "What's going on with you guys not sleeping?"

  Li Tianyuan stretched his neck to take a look and said with disinterest, "Isn't it just a rock? I thought you were treating it like a treasure."

  Li Tianyuan searched from head to toe, but couldn't find a single elegant bone. The stone was bright and beautiful, but he didn't care about it at all. He retreated several steps into the courtyard and began practicing his stance.

  "Strong in limbs but weak in the head!"

  Seeing Li Tianyuan's actions, Xie Xuan whispered a sentence, but immediately shifted his attention back to the piece of jade that had just been taken out of the strong acid.

  "How beautiful!"

  Looking at the nearly transparent large piece of jade, Xie Xuan couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration. If he hadn't known that it had been corroded by strong acid, he would have liked to hold it in his arms and appreciate it carefully.

  "The method taught by Master is indeed useful!"

  Qin Feng's face also showed an excited expression, before he had only heard the theory, but after applying it to practice, Qin Feng could truly feel the intense visual impact brought by this change.

  Actually, before starting, Qin Feng also had some doubts in his heart. A black stone became crystal clear overnight, which was simply the skill of turning stones into gold.

  "Brother Feng, shall we take this out to sell?"

  Xie Xuan looked at Qin Feng, his eyes filled with a worshipful gaze. If he hadn't been staring at him since last night, he wouldn't have believed that the stone could change so much.

  "You think it's that easy to fake? There are still several processes that haven't been completed yet." Qin Feng took a deep breath and said, "Xiao Pang, go light the fire and heat up this stone again!"

  "Ah, Wind Brother, isn't steam supposed to reach 212 degrees? I've got a good grasp of the fire timing!"

  Although he hadn't slept all night, Xiao Pangzi was full of energy and eagerly squatted down beside the stove to light the fire, filling the pot with water and bringing it to a boil.

  Qin Feng put the stone that had been processed to remove impurities between crystal grains into water, then poured the strong acid with a pungent smell down the drain. After rinsing it carefully with clean water several times, he finally took out the chromium salt solution he bought yesterday.

  Chromium salts are one of the main products of inorganic chemical industry, including sodium dichromate and chromium trioxide, as well as a small amount of potassium dichromate, chrome oxide green, alkaline chromic sulfate and some chromium-containing pigments.

  Chromium salts have a wide range of applications, mainly used in electroplating, tanning, dyeing, pigments, medicine, catalysts, oxidizing agents, glass ceramics, magnetic materials, wood anti-corrosion, metal polishing and other aspects.

  In addition to these uses, chromium salts are also used as a pigment and are artificially injected into jade.

  After cooking jade in water at a steam temperature of up to 212 degrees for half an hour, it is immediately put into chromate solution. The chromate will penetrate the crystal lattice of jade and make it present a beautiful and attractive green color.

  Unlike the civilian chrome salt, this method will make the object that has been added with chrome salt liquid contain a kind of harmful radioactive substance. If it is in contact for a long time, it will have a great impact on human health.

  So when teaching Qin Feng this technique, Zai Ye had specifically instructed him to try his best not to pretend, as this method was indeed against the will of heaven.

  However, Qin Feng did not completely follow the procedure taught by Zai Yi. After this piece of jade was processed and colored, its preservation period would be very short, and it might even cause fatal harm to the wearer.

  "Alright, Wind!" Half an hour later, Qin Feng's ears were filled with Xie Xuan's shouting voice.

  "Success or failure is at this point." Qin Feng picked up the spoon and carefully placed the original stone into the chromium salt solution. The pure stone instantly showed a faint green glow of chromium salt.

  To implement his own plan, this piece of jade is an indispensable link. At Qin Feng's current age, it's unrealistic to try to deceive White Wolf empty-handed, and the jade in the basin is his important prop to gain people's trust.

  "Brother Feng, how is this like dyeing cloth?" Xie Xuan, who had gotten his face all black and dusty, crawled over, looking tense as he stared at the stone in the basin, and asked: "Brother Feng, how long do we need to soak this thing?"

  "In two hours it will be almost done, Xiaopang, go to sleep for a while." Once the raw material is processed, what's needed is craftsmanship, and that's not something that can be learned in a short time.

  "No, Wind Brother, I want to see it!" Xie Xuan rubbed his eyes, which were full of bloodshot lines, and shook his head. He had been involved in this matter from start to finish, and the anticipation in his heart was not much less than Qin Feng's.

  "Come here, son!"

  Seeing Li Tianyuan standing on the stage, Qin Feng suddenly became angry, the two brothers were busy with their future happy life, this kid was good, a big boss who threw his hands.

  "Brother Feng, what's wrong? Did I practice incorrectly?" Upon hearing Qin Feng's shout, Li Tianyuan's face was filled with tension.

  "Is your brain only capable of holding kung fu and nothing else?"

  Qin Feng said in a bad mood: "Stop practicing for now, go buy some breakfast, don't just buy shaobing, buy more meat buns, Xiaopang and I are starving"

  "Alright, I'm going!"

  There's a saying that goes, "A half-grown son eats his old man into poverty." Li Tianyuan had already digested what he ate and drank yesterday, and now his stomach is growling with hunger. After hearing Qin Feng's words, he hastily went to buy breakfast.

  After having breakfast, Qin Feng sent away Li Tianyuan who was "not seeking progress" to continue standing guard, while he himself squatted down beside the ceramic basin with Xie Xuan where the jade rough stone was placed.

  Two hours later, Qin Feng poured out the chromium salt solution in the basin, and suddenly, a piece of emerald green jade appeared before the two.

  "Really... really beautiful!"

  Looking at the jade that presented a deep green color in the sunlight, Xie Xuan's eyes were filled with an intoxicated expression, he couldn't associate this piece of jade with the broken stone from yesterday.

  "Pretty is pretty, but it's fake!"

  Qin Feng held the basin under the faucet, repeatedly rinsing it many times. When the water flowed over the stone, it seemed to be infected by that green color, dyeing the entire pool a different hue.

  "It's so beautiful, I'd even acknowledge it if it were fake!" Xie Xu looked at Qin Feng and begged: "Feng Ge, leave a small piece for me to polish into a ring face? This thing is really too good-looking!"

  Xie Xuan had once seen a friend of his father's wearing a green jade ring, but the luster and greenness of that ring were far inferior to this one in front of him.

  "I just told you a moment ago, this thing is harmful, you want to die or whatever!"

  Qin Feng held the jade in his hand, facing the sunlight to examine it carefully for a while before turning around and saying: "Our craftsmanship is too simple. That chromium salt solution is also used industrially, who knows if it contains radioactive radiation? You dare to wear something like this?"

  Qin Feng didn't scare Xie Xuan away. When he taught him this move earlier, he had told him a story.

  The incident occurred in the 1930s, more than sixty years ago. A jade dealer spent a great deal of effort and consulted many domestic chemical experts at that time, conducting numerous experiments before finally coming up with this formula.

  At that time, the top-quality jadeite that appeared in the country was basically from his hands, almost forming a monopoly, and no one could compete with him in the trade of hard jade.

  But just as the boss's business was booming, news of his death suddenly spread. On his hand, a ring with an emerald face the size of a pigeon egg was found.

  This thing caught the attention of Miss Song, but unexpectedly, this ring turned out to be a fake, and after identification, it was found that the ring would emit harmful radiation to the human body.

  To dispel the panic of those who bought Feicui, this news was only circulated in a very small circle, but the fake prescription was passed on.

  The recipe was finally obtained, but soon after the Japanese invasion of China, the jade, as a plaything, was gradually forgotten. Now, it's all gone.

  "What's wrong, do you want more?" After finishing telling that story to Xie Xuan, Qin Feng smiled and looked at him with a smile.

  "Feng Ge, I haven't lived enough yet." Xie Xuan subconsciously took a few steps back and said with some regret: "Such a beautiful thing can't be used, it's really a pity."

  "The real imperial green jade is even more beautiful than this, now domestically jade is not very valued, in the future we can pay more attention to it."

  Although he had obtained the legacy of Wai Ba Men, Qin Feng did not want to get involved in the muddy waters of Jianghu. As for his future, he already had some vague plans in mind.

  Of course, the most urgent thing now is to turn this piece of jade into an ornament and then sell it out. After several processes, the mold has been formed, but there are still two most important steps behind.

  "The bangles are too much work, and the legendary pair of cuffs also has some flaws, so just make a pair of earrings and a Buddha statue, anyway that old lady is called Old Buddha!"

  Holding the jade in his hand, Qin Feng's hands were covered with a layer of green light. After hesitating for a while, Qin Feng finally made up his mind.

  These past few days have been expensive, and Qin Feng also knew that there wasn't much grain left. He immediately went back to the house, took out the set of engraved knives he had bought yesterday.

  "Steady hands, quick eyes, and never hesitate when cutting!"

  Thinking of some tricks taught by his master, Qin Feng's weak and boneless hands began to move on the surface of the jade.

  At first, Qin Feng's hands were a bit awkward, but ten minutes later, his movements had become smooth and proficient. The knife fell, and the debris of jade stones continued to fall down.