Chapter 24: The Jade Distinguishing Expert

  "What?!"

  "Two... twenty million?"

  "Did I hear that right?"

  Song Lei and her classmates never thought that this ginseng could sell for so much money, and they involuntarily let out a cry of surprise.

  However, what surprised them was yet to come. Xiao Ping took out two more boxes and said, "Let's sell these two together."

  Even the manager of Tongrentang was shocked. Nowadays, wild ginseng is getting scarcer and scarcer, usually only one or two can be collected every two or three months, and they are mostly young ones. But Xiao Ping took out three at once, all of which were at least twenty years old, a situation that had not been encountered for many years.

  The quality of the other two ginsengs was also good, and the manager of Tongrentang finally decided to buy all three at the same price. So when Xiao Ping left, there were 600,000 more cash vouchers in his bag.

  After leaving Tongrentang with Xiao Ping, Song Le and others looked at him with different eyes. No one expected that a young man who had not even attended college, but was farming in the countryside, could earn tens of millions in just over ten minutes.

  It was Song Le who first came back to her senses, smiling and looking at Xiao Ping: "I didn't expect you to be a young rich man, are you really a farmer?"

  Xiao Ping replied honestly, "Of course it's true. In the suburbs of Su City, on Baiyun Mountain, I rented dozens of acres of land to grow vegetables and raise fish, and plan to plant some fruit trees on the mountain."

  "Isn't that similar to Farmer's Joy?" Song Lei immediately became interested, smiling and saying: "When we have time off, let's go play at your farm together!"

  "No problem." Xiao Ping replied casually. He didn't mind Song Lei and her classmates going out to have fun, but Wang Jun was obviously not welcome.

  "Two hundred thousand for a ginseng, it would be great if I could give one to the old man on his 70th birthday." Song Lei didn't know what unhappy thing she thought of, gritted her teeth and said: "Who is willing to give me such a ginseng, this lady will promise herself too!"

  Looking at Song Le's undulating chest, Xiao Ping couldn't help but interject: "I'm willing to give it to you, I just fear that you won't want it."

  "Cut it out! You're dreaming!" Song Le gave Xiao Ping a sideways glance and said, "I was just casually saying that, twenty million and you want me to surrender myself? Dream on!"

  Xiao Ping smiled and said: "Think carefully, if you miss this village, there won't be a store like this!"

  "Who cares!" Song Le looked at her phone and said: "It's getting late, we still have to rush back to school. Keep in touch, goodbye!"

  "Goodbye!" Xiao Ping waved goodbye to Song Le, then turned and walked towards the nearest bank. It was inconvenient to carry a check on his body, so he would feel at ease only after transferring the money into his account.

  Xiao Ping stayed in the hotel for one night, and the next day he went to the bank to withdraw 100,000 yuan in cash. He then rushed to Weixiaozhai, located in the city center. Before coming to the provincial capital, Xiao Ping had already inquired about it, and learned that Weixiaozhai was the largest jade stone store in the province. In addition to selling jade pendants, they also sold unprocessed jade materials, which were very famous throughout the province. Now that Xiao Ping had money again, he naturally wanted to go there to pick out some jade stones for Lianyou Hu to make up for it.

  The business hall of Weixiaozhai is divided into two parts. One part specializes in buying and selling jade carvings and pendants, while the other part sells uncarved jade materials. Xiao Ping was not interested in jade pendants and the like, so he directly entered the large hall that specialized in selling jade materials.

  Compared to the small vendors selling jade materials in Suzhou, Weixiao Zhai is much more formal. Many jade materials are categorized and placed on different counters with prices marked. Some of these jade materials are sold by block, while others are sold by weight, and the most expensive ones are placed on glass-covered counters that people are not allowed to touch casually.

  Several shop assistants stood in the corner of the store, only coming forward to provide assistance when customers needed it. Of course, these people also undertook security tasks, and if anyone dared to take advantage of the situation, they would meet a very sad end.

  About a dozen customers were selecting jade materials at various counters, each one being very careful, fearing that they might make a mistake. The rule of Weixiu Zhai is that goods sold are not returnable or exchangeable, but no one wants to spend a lot of money to buy a worthless piece back home.

  Xiao Ping walked into the store and first stood in front of the counter with the lowest price. He soon discovered that the Lian Yao Hu had a weak response to these jade materials, so he went to another counter to select them. The price tag on this counter was 2,000 yuan per piece of jade material, and this time the Lian Yao Hu's response was much stronger. Xiao Ping then began to use his usual method to select the jade, putting each piece in front of his chest as close to the Lian Yao Hu as possible, leaving only the pieces with the strongest response.

  By this method, Xiao Ping picked out three pieces of jade material from the second counter, and then moved to the next counter to continue selecting jade. Before long, Xiao Ping had swept through five counters, and the selected jade stones were piled up in a small mountain in the shopping cart behind him. Weixiao Zhai specially assigned a store employee to serve Xiao Ping, categorizing the selected jade according to price and calculating the total price of the jade material.

  Xiao Ping was so focused on selecting the jade material that he didn't notice he had become the center of attention for others. Those who came to Weimiao Zhai to buy jade materials directly were mostly people in the jade appreciation circle, and they basically all knew each other. The sudden appearance of a stranger like Xiao Ping here was already enough to attract attention.

  Xiao Ping's way of selecting jade was too playful, making him even more different from the others. The other guests looked at him with strange eyes, as if they were looking at an idiot. Many guests had already started whispering to each other, and the topic of discussion was naturally this young man who looked like a country bumpkin.

  "Look at this kid, he's chosen so many materials in less than half an hour."

  "He didn't even choose, he just casually picked one?"

  "Could it be that this young man is an expert, able to tell good from bad with just one glance?"

  "Don't joke around, even if Old Mao himself were to take charge, the selection process can't be this fast, let alone a young whippersnapper like you."

  "This is just a silly young man, and in the blink of an eye, he's lost tens of thousands of yuan."

  Although the customers' voices were very soft, Xiao Ping's ears were sharp and he heard their words clearly. Xiao Ping didn't bother to respond to these people and continued to select jade materials on his own until a shop assistant reminded him that the total price of the jade materials was approaching 100,000 yuan before stopping, directly taking out cash to settle the bill.

  Xiao Ping's behavior of buying jade materials also caught the attention of an old man wearing traditional Chinese clothing on the second floor. This white-haired, dignified-looking old man was none other than Mao Wenqing, the owner of Weixiaozhai. Mao Wenqing slowly walked up to Xiao Ping and politely asked after he finished paying: "Young friend, I am the owner Mao Wenqing, may I take a look at the jade materials you bought?"

  Since the old man was the boss of Weixi Zhai, Xiao Ping didn't have much to worry about anymore. He handed over the large package containing jade stones. Mao Wenqing had a store employee take the package and he himself casually took out several pieces of jade from it to examine them. The more he looked, the more serious his expression became. The quality of these jades was all very good, judging from the labels attached to them, they should be among the best in their class. It can be seen that Xiao Ping did not randomly pick a few, but had carefully selected the best jade materials.

  Although Mao Wenqing could also do it with his level of discernment, he couldn't select so many jade materials in such a short time like Xiao Ping did. This made Mao Wenqing look at Xiao Ping in a different light and politely said to him: "If you're willing, please come to my office to discuss something, there are some things I'd like to consult with you."

  Xiao Ping thought that the Weixiu Zhai was too big, and the boss wouldn't possibly commit robbery and murder just for a mere 100,000 yuan worth of jade material. So he readily accepted Mao Wengui's invitation.

  After arriving at the office, Mao Wenqing first asked about Xiao Ping's name and age, then sincerely praised: "Mr. Xiao is young, but his skill in identifying jade is so magical, it really makes people admire!"

  Xiao Ping began to tell the story: "I was influenced by my family since I was a child and have a special fondness for jade. After more than a decade of hard work, when it comes to appreciating jade, I think I have a bit more confidence than others."

  "Mr. Xiao is too modest, I think there are no more than three people in the country with skills like yours!" Mao Wengui smiled and said: "Since Mr. Xiao has such abilities, I wonder if he's interested in participating in the post-New Year's stone gambling meeting with me?"

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