The next morning, Ye Fei changed into casual clothing and drove to the headquarters of the Lido Jade Company in the Chaoyang District, as he had found the address online. The store was spacious, covering an area of five to six hundred square meters, luxuriously decorated, and bustling with customers.
Security guards patrolled the hall intermittently. Ye Fei saw a dazzling array of jade on display in several showcases: some the size of fists, some crystal clear, and others partially concealed by stone, creating a sense of mystery. With so much jade on display, it was no wonder that there were so many security guards; any robbery would surely result in heavy losses.
Ye Fei looked around and focused mainly on the raw jade stones because that was the only place where he could make a difference. The cut jade pieces were of no use to him. There was a dedicated area in the hall displaying shelves full of various raw jade stones.
Carefully observing the raw jade stones, he found that their surfaces revealed nothing. It was no wonder people said that gambling on stones was like gambling on luck. Ye Fei couldn't help but sigh to himself; these materials were truly the essence of stone gambling.
Unfamiliar with the appearance of semi-gambling materials, Ye Fei continued to explore. Soon, he discovered some raw jade stones with incisions revealing their green interiors, although the incisions were small and not very conspicuous—these were the so-called "window opening" or semi-gambling materials. Although one could see the green through the window, it was impossible to know how much jade was hidden inside. Perhaps the entire stone was jade, or perhaps only the area around the window contained jade.
This truly tested powers of observation and luck.
Further in were the clear materials; some stones were cut in half, revealing the jade inside, and some were even cut into strips, displaying the shape and size of the jade clearly.
These stones were priced quite high, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and there was even one priced as high as ten million, which left Ye Fei utterly astonished.
Despite having over 30 million yuan at his disposal, Ye Fei still considered himself wealthy. However, upon witnessing the jade here, he realized that his money was simply insufficient to purchase even a few jade bracelets.
No wonder some people became rich overnight, while others fell into ruin. The uncertainty was just too great.
"Is this your first time here, young man?" A middle-aged man greeted Ye Fei with a smile.
Ye Fei smiled back and replied, "Yes, I've only heard of stone gambling before and don't know much about it. I just came in to take a look after passing by the door. Sir, could you introduce to me how these stones are sold?"
The middle-aged man explained with a smile, "Of course, I have nothing else to do right now. We call this full gambling material, mainly testing one's vision and experience, but, most importantly, luck. As the saying goes, even immortals find it hard to decipher an inch of jade—it refers to this kind of material. Before the window is opened, no one knows what it will look like after the next cut! Therefore, this kind of material is relatively more abundant and also relatively cheaper. As for semi-gambling material, the risk is much smaller because there must be jade inside the original stone, which is certain. However, the size of the jade cannot be guaranteed. So, the price is much higher compared to full gambling material. As for clear material, there's not much to say; it's straightforward pricing. Generally, jewelry companies purchase them for processing, and the return on investment is not that great."
Ye Fei nodded and looked at the prices on the shelves, gradually understanding. He lost interest in those rough materials, and the semi-gambling materials mentioned by the middle-aged man, even with just a small window, had a significantly higher price. Even if there were profits, they were minimal. Ye Fei wasn't here to seek small gains; these meager profits were not as direct as buying a lottery ticket.
Seeing that Ye Fei was not interested in the materials on the shelves, the middle-aged man suggested, "Young man, if you're interested in taking a gamble, you can go to the warehouse at the back. There are more full gambling materials there, with a much larger price difference. You can choose one and try your luck."
Ye Fei's eyes lit up. In all honesty, he was not interested in the pieces displayed on the shelves. With the hustle and bustle in the hall and the goods placed on the shelves, he couldn't just take each one down to inspect. If there was a warehouse, the space for selection would be much larger, and even if he held a stone to observe for a while, no one would mind.
"Thank you, I'll go take a look at the warehouse in the back," Ye Fei replied.
The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Go ahead. There will be more people over there. Take a look for yourself."
As Ye Fei left, the middle-aged man smiled slightly. It seemed that another person interested in stone gambling had appeared. He just didn't know how lucky the man would be.
Ye Fei also sneered to himself; his guess was probably correct. This man was most likely a thug for the Lido company. If not for Lido, he would be from another stone gambling company, as it was impossible for him to know so much otherwise!
As for his enthusiastic introduction, it was not out of kindness, just like how insurance salespeople introduce insurance, it has become their custom. If his guess was right, he would come back to find him in a while, and then his purpose would be revealed.
Ye Fei no longer believed that there were purposeless helping hands in this world. Without help that came with conditions, it was simply a fantasy. How many people would be so selflessly kind?
Ye Fei came to the backyard and found even more people there than in the store.
A crowd gathered in the center of the yard, heads packed together, making it difficult to see what was happening. Ye Fei asked someone present and learned that they were gambling on stones.
Ye Fei stopped in his tracks because he had never seen stone gambling before, and this was also an excellent opportunity to understand the value of jade.
However, reality did not live up to Ye Fei's expectations. The person squeezed in the front suddenly uttered a regretful sound, and then the crowd dispersed, with some people walking away lamenting, "Failed again."
"This is only half the gambling material. I spent a whopping fifty thousand yuan, who would have thought there would only be a little bit of green on the surface, and nothing inside."
Ye Fei's heart trembled. Fifty thousand yuan was just squandered like this. The speed at which this gambling den counted money was too fast!
But thinking about his special ability, Ye Fei decided to try it himself. He was determined and resolutely entered the warehouse of the gambling den.
The warehouse was filled with many people, each selecting stones, seemingly unaffected by the atmosphere of failure outside.
Ye Fei stared blankly at the densely packed jadeite boulders in the warehouse, feeling awestruck. Last night, he thought there were already many raw stones in the Jadeite Pavilion, but now it seemed like comparing an ant to an elephant, the difference was unimaginably huge.
These jadeite boulders varied in size, some as tall as a person, while others were only the size of a fist, and their shapes were all peculiar. Ye Fei stood still for a long time, unsure of where to start.
Looking up at the others, he noticed they were carrying powerful flashlights and magnifying glasses, obviously experts. No wonder he felt the warehouse was dim; it turned out that one needed to bring their own tools!
He carefully searched but found that he had not brought any similar tools, relying solely on luck, having nothing at all.
However, Ye Fei sneered. Whether or not there were tools, it didn't matter. You can't see what's inside, but my eyes can see extraordinary things. Time waits for no one, I have to start acting.
Ye Fei simply gave up on those fist-sized raw materials. His time with this ability was limited, and he didn't want to waste it on those small ones, heading straight for basketball-sized and seemingly fifty or sixty-pound boulders.
To Ye Fei's dismay, one after another, he examined these jadeite boulders, but he didn't even catch a glimpse of jadeite. Over ten minutes had passed, and Ye Fei was already sweating profusely.
Although his eyes could see through, it couldn't change the limited use of his ability. In other words, Ye Fei only had about fifteen minutes to work with, and more than half had already passed. If he still couldn't find any jadeite, then today's mission would be a complete failure.
If he failed here, he might encounter the same situation at the Jadeite Pavilion. Luckily, he came to test the waters in advance. Otherwise, facing Duan Fei, there wouldn't even be time for regret.
Ye Fei re-examined several pieces of raw jadeite and gradually lost confidence, basically giving up.
There were too many raw jadeite boulders, and his ability's time was limited. It was too difficult to find a jadeite-containing boulder within the limited time.
Perhaps the stone gambling business was not suitable for him, Ye Fei thought dejectedly.
He casually sat on an oval-shaped rough material, glanced at his watch, sighed, and there was still over a minute left. No wonder they said stone gambling was difficult. Even with this ability, he had looked at dozens of stones for over ten minutes and still gained nothing. Who said having X-ray vision could make one king in stone gambling? With so many stones, even X-ray vision couldn't exhaustively cover them all!
This was simply a rip-off!
Ye Fei's anger surged, muttering to himself, since there was still a minute, it wasn't worth wasting. He casually glanced at the bottom of the stone.