Chapter 155

Tang Feng and his two companions didn’t have to wait too long, as the main gate was quickly opened again.

A man with gold-rimmed glasses came out, took the initiative to shake hands with Tang Feng, “Mr. Tang, I’m a friend of Mr. Rui. He asked me to come out to greet you.”

“Where is Mr. Rui?”

Tang Feng followed the man through the gate with Song Lele and Xu Xinling trailing behind.

“Mr. Rui is gambling on stones,” the man replied courteously, clearly prepped in advance by Zhou Bingrui.

“Already started? How’s the showing?” Tang Feng asked curiously.

“Hey, Mr. Rui is just looking for some fun and doesn’t care about the results,” the man evaded a direct answer.

But Tang Feng still caught the hint; it meant the results weren’t exactly impressive.

As the four of them entered the courtyard, they saw it was filled with jadeite raw materials.

Some were full-gamble materials, and some were half-gambled.

The difference between half-gambled and full-gambled is that one has been ‘windowed,’ and the other has not.

A ‘windowed’ raw stone has already exposed some of the material, so the gamble is smaller.

Of course, this type of material is generally much more expensive.

On the other hand, raw stones without a ‘window’ are a bigger gamble and are therefore cheaper.

At that time, there were already quite a few people selecting materials in the courtyard.

According to Zhou Bingrui, since today’s gathering was private, those invited were all high-end players.

Each person’s net worth was probably at least in the tens of millions, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to enter the courtyard.

Zhou Bingrui was waiting in front of a grinder.

The master cutter was skillfully operating the machine, and the grating sound of cutting echoed throughout the courtyard.

“Mr. Rui, Mr. Tang is here,” the man with the gold-rimmed glasses walked over and said.

Zhou Bingrui then took his eyes off the machine and smiled at Tang Feng, “Feng, you’re here?”

“Mr. Rui,” Tang Feng greeted with a smile.

Zhou Bingrui made small talk with him for a moment before turning to Song Lele and Xu Xinling, “You must be Feng’s friends, right? Hello, I’m Zhou Bingrui, just call me Mr. Rui.”

Song Lele and Xu Xinling both introduced themselves as well.

Zhou Bingrui gave a conspiratorial punch to Tang Feng’s chest, murmuring, “Man, you’re a player with both guys and girls, huh?”

Tang Feng rubbed his chest, “Don’t talk nonsense, we really are just friends.”

“Yeah right, I believe you,” Zhou Bingrui retorted sarcastically. “Though that little cutie is quite something, pity he’s a guy,” clearly referring to Song Lele.

Song Lele had an androgynous look, and with good makeup, was quite deceptive.

One couldn’t necessarily tell the truth without a close contact.

Without his scanning system, even he might not have so easily discerned her true gender.

“Cough cough, Mr. Rui, how’s it going for you? Got any good materials yet?” Tang Feng didn’t want to dwell on that topic and hurriedly changed the subject.

“Don’t even mention it, my luck’s awful today. Cut open four or five pieces already, spent close to two million, and they all flopped,” Zhou Bingrui bemoaned.

It wasn’t that he minded the money.

A mere two million was nothing to him, just a drop in the bucket.

He was just frustrated that these pieces didn’t show even the slightest hint of green, which would disappoint anyone.

Tang Feng looked around, “You’re not getting swindled, are you?”

“Shush, don’t spout nonsense,” Zhou Bingrui quickly hushed him, “others have already sold their goods; it just proves our luck is off.”

While the two were talking, Zhou Bingrui’s piece had finished cutting.

As the cutter took out the material, Zhou Bingrui sighed again.

This piece also flopped, with not a hint of jade ‘water’ inside.

As he wallowed in his dismay, from afar, they saw a heavyset man approaching, “Hahaha, Mr. Rui, why the long face?”

The man weighed over two hundred pounds, was bald, and from a distance, resembled a jovial Maitreya Buddha, his laughter quite festive.

Zhou Bingrui gave a wry smile, shaking his head, “Mr. Fang, I’ve busted four or five pieces today already, without a scrap of good material, how could I not be upset?”

The heavyset man fanned himself while chuckling, “Luck’s a fickle thing. Who knows, Mr. Rui may hit a few good pieces soon? Don’t worry, my goods from the old mines in Northern Myanmar are guaranteed to produce big winners.”

Tang Feng had done some research on jadeite as well.

He knew that ‘old pit’ referred to secondary miner jadeite raw stones which yielded higher quality jade known as ‘old pit type.’

As for ‘new pit,’ it pertains to the primary miner jadeite, also called ‘new field.’

New pit jadeite is slightly rougher than old pit jade and lacks the sandy feel and luster of the old pit variety.

It was exactly because these were old pit types that Zhou Bingrui came to participate.

“Of course, I know that. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s my own bad luck,” he said, laughing at himself, then pointed at Tang Feng, “This is my good buddy Tang Feng; his luck is way better than mine. He should be able to snag a few good pieces today.”

The stout man shook hands warmly with Tang Feng, “Hello, hello, my name is Fang Ziqiang, looking forward to your guidance.”

“Not at all,” Tang Feng responded politely.

Just then, a burst of cheering came from over there.

“It’s rising… it’s rising…”

Zhou Bingrui and Tang Feng, along with others, quickly walked over to see what the commotion was about.

They saw a woman holding a piece of raw stone, shouting excitedly.

The stone, which was cut open, revealed a patch of glossy green, indicating it was an ice-type piece with decent ‘water.’

If the entire piece could maintain that ‘water,’ there might be at least a sports car in it.

The mood in the yard had been somewhat subdued, as many had lost their stakes and felt disheartened.

Now, stimulated by this scene, they dived back into the fray of selecting materials.

Zhou Bingrui was among them, having just bounced back from defeat, reinvigorated.

Song Lele and Xu Xinling, caught up in the atmosphere, ran to look at the materials as well.

As for Tang Feng, he was even more electrified.

With the aid of his scanning system, he didn’t need much – just finding one piece of this caliber would make today worthwhile.

With that thought in mind, he couldn’t wait to join the hunt for raw stones.