Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 113: Chapter 113 – Every Piece a Gem (Second

Update)

Li Dafu truly excelled within the jewelry industry of Funiu Province, and once they had agreed to promote Feng Jun, within just one morning, related invitations were sent to the major jewelry stores.

In the cities below, there were also some capable local jewelry stores. For these peers, Li Dafu used phone calls and faxes to notify them, and the formal invitations would be delivered at a later time.

Honestly, the invitation did seem a bit odd—it didn’t specify the types or quantities of jade being auctioned, nor did it include information about their provenance and quality. It simply mentioned a significant amount of jade for sale, making it look like a makeshift jade trade fair.

Moreover, although the invitations were issued by Li Dafu, the venue was Henglong’s conference room, which seemed rather peculiar from any angle.

Upon receiving the invitations, many jewelry stores were initially confused. What was all this about?

Although Feng Jun had successively sold several pieces of jade, the jewelry industry in Zhengyang was too vast. While many enterprises paid attention to him, there were also companies that hadn’t even heard of him.

Of course, not having heard of him was not a big deal. All in the jewelry industry, it was easy to find out with a little inquiry.

It was not until then that most jewelers realized that a new powerhouse had emerged on Zhengyang turf.

Whether the newcomer had a sufficient supply of goods was uncertain for everyone, but the quality of the jade he offered had been recognized and had garnered a good reputation.

Naturally, the newcomer’s most well-known trait was his toughness—he had confronted Jubaozhai head-on and, although his jade had all been sold to Henglong, he established a rather good relationship with Li Dafu, leading to speculation of a private deal between them…

No matter what, although Feng Jun appeared as a newcomer in Zhengyang’s jewelry scene, his debut was certainly imposing. Many experts in the industry might not have been certain of his name, but they were sure that he lived up to the epithet “heavyweight.”

Within the major jewelry stores, most had their own channels for purchasing jade. They couldn’t be sure how much supply Feng Jun could offer, and this auction seemed somewhat unofficial—announced just two days in advance, it was rushed and felt a bit like a farce.

Therefore, some jewelry stores were not particularly enthusiastic about this auction—it wasn’t that people wouldn’t come, but rather that the attendees wouldn’t be of high status, with many being jewelry appraisers. While they had the expertise in assessment, their decision-making power might be lacking.

Of course, there were those who took this auction very seriously.

On the evening before the auction, Feng Jun delivered his eight jade samples to Henglong, and staff from Li Dafu and a few other stores immediately swarmed over for a strong showing of interest.

They all had confidence in Feng Jun, hence their eagerness to get the data on the samples in advance to plan their bidding strategies.

Feng Jun didn’t disappoint them; the eight sample pieces were already cut jade, and even without discussing their appearance, the sheer size of these jade pieces was notable.

As mentioned before, jade is valued not only for its appearance but also for its size.

The sight of the eight pieces had everyone’s eyes wide with eagerness, and the impatient among them had already begun to consider which pieces they wanted to secure for their own.

Emboldened by their decent relationship with Feng Jun, a staff member from Li Dafu spoke up and asked, “Boss Feng, is the rest of the jade of the same standard as these?”

Feng Jun replied with a smile, “I wouldn’t say the exact same standard, but they’re not far off. I couldn’t present anything that’s too inferior.”

Upon hearing this, the others, aware of many more pieces of the same caliber, crowded around—the price of jade had soared, and gems like these eight samples had become a rarity these days.

Someone seized the opportunity to ask, “Boss, all your jade is selected from the prime material. What about those with some impurities?”

Jade marbled with other colors often affects the appearance, yet skilled sculptors can cleverly use these impurities to make their carvings even more lively. However, it cannot be denied that jade with mixed colors is slightly inferior to pure-colored jade.

Since jade comes from mining stones, cross-contamination is inevitable; finding a large piece of purely colored jade is quite rare.

Due to the scarcity of pure-colored jade, the market for mixed-color jade has its place, especially now, as the price of jade has reached an all-time high, leading mixed-color jade to become quite fashionable.

Many jewelers have tapped into this trend, constantly emphasizing the natural patterns of jade. Sometimes, these perfectly placed impurities can even fetch astonishingly high prices.

However, this trend is nothing more than a result of the scarcity of jade leaving no choice but to hype it as such.

For example, mutton-fat jade with brownish hues, which is penetrated by minerals, has been named “sugar color” by some unscrupulous merchants, who dare claim that mutton-fat jade with this coloration is the best jade. But in reality, this type of jade used to be referred to as “dirty jade”— sugar color indeed, why not call it the color of excrement?

What about the saying, “pure as white jade, flawless as can be?” It refers to pure white mutton-fat jade without any impurities!

In today’s market, being a buyer is not as good as being a seller. Confronted with clients who devalue sugar-colored jade, merchants argue that while sugar-colored jade may seem flawed, its value lies in naturalness and authenticity, and there’s a higher chance of forgery with pure white mutton-fat jade.

There’s no fault in that statement! Although sugar-colored jade may also be faked, the logic stands.

This lengthy explanation is not just to showcase how formidable Feng Jun’s pure-colored jade is, but also raises a question many business owners want to know-how do you handle your jade remnants?

You removed the pure-colored jade cores so cleanly, such a bold move. There’s no way there wouldn’t be some mixed-color jade scraps left around.

What? You look down on those jade scraps? That’s fine, we value them.

Feng Jun didn’t offer much of an explanation, simply stating bluntly, “None!”

How could he explain? To say that mixed-color jade is just rags to us, not even pretty enough to be used in a wall?

No matter how you look at it, the eight pieces of jade that made their debut astounded many. It also generated tremendous expectations for tomorrow’s auction, with the CEOs of two companies rushing back overnight after hearing the news.

However, in the end, the CEOs of three companies received the news too late and couldn’t make it back.

Early the next morning, Feng Jun brought over the remaining nine pieces of jade, using the newly arrived Phaeton.

The jade he brought from his mobile phone space varied in size, but he had deliberately controlled that, not bringing over any pieces that were too big or too small. Basically, they tended towards a middle size.

There was no helping it. While there was no shortage of large jade pieces at Mount Zhige, Feng Jun didn’t dare to bring them over.

The two largest pieces he had collected weighed over nine hundred kilograms each, nearing a ton, and the smaller one was close to six hundred kilograms, all of it Mutton-Fat Jade.

If he dared to bring over these two pieces, it wouldn’t just stir up Funiu Province; it would cause a sensation across the nation, likely making the top of the internet headlines — unless the entertainment industry came out with some surprise.

At Mount Zhige, there were definitely even larger pieces of jade yet to be mined.

Just the ones Feng Jun knew of included a piece weighing over ten tons, which was currently being cut. The party involved was already negotiating the price with him, expressing that the stone was so large it was very troublesome to transport. If the price wasn’t right, they might temporarily stop processing it.

In short, this batch of jade could be considered top-notch. Since entering this century, Zhengyang City had never seen so many high-quality pieces appear all at once, creating a record of sorts.

The jade was of high quality, and so were the auction prices. By noon, eight pieces had been auctioned off.

This efficiency might sound average, but it wasn’t. Most of the buyers’ time was spent on the appraisal of the jade.

The actual time spent bidding on each piece did not exceed five minutes.

The attendees were all peers with a clear understanding of the jade’s value, and they could deduce whether someone had their heart set on a piece based on the other party’s response time and bid. Once someone made a fairly high bid, others generally would not raise the price any further.

In auctions conducted in this trade fair style, it was rare for the prices to become unreasonable — after all, buying jade was not a show of wealth or about limited editions; it was purely business, with the purpose of purchasing jade to carve and then sell as jade articles.

Since it was business, ego clashes were to be avoided.

After all, there was a good supply of jade that day, and if one missed out on a piece, there was always the next.

Of the eight pieces sold in the morning, Li Dafu and Henglong each acquired two, demonstrating their ample preparation.

Li Dafu wanted to bid on a third piece, but another jewelry company called Mingrui was very persistent.

Ultimately, the CEO of Mingrui personally intervened, discussing with the staff of Li Dafu, “The price has already gone quite high. We private enterprises can spend money like this without care, but as a state-owned enterprise, do you really dare to spend recklessly and then wait for a check-up from your superiors?”

Having such exchanges during the auction could potentially cause economic losses to the owner of the goods—if the two parties talking came to a unified stance and formed a price alliance, it would be difficult for the auction price to rise.

However, Feng Jun didn’t mind these private interactions.

What he was running today wasn’t really an auction; it was more like a jade market where competitive bidding was allowed. As long as there was no malicious bidding, he could accept a lower price.

And the price that was being shouted for this piece of jade had already far exceeded his bottom line.

So, he chose to ignore the two competitors attempting to negotiate privately.

In the end, it was Mingrui that acquired the jade, according to the company CEO, because they had a sizable jade reserve, but were out of Green Jade and had to source it from elsewhere. Incomplete product variety could damage the company’s reputation.

Therefore, they could accept a slightly higher price.

Li Dafu couldn’t bid without limit; they were quite focused on cost control.

At noon, everyone went to Henglong’scanteenfor a quick buffet before returning to the venue to continue the battle.

In the morning, Henglong and Li Dafu had taken half of the stakes with the eight pieces of jade, satisfying them for the time being. But the other jewelers did not expect Henglong’s bids to remain aggressive in the afternoon.