Chapter 131 Priceless

It is said that in the late Qing Dynasty, Yibang paid a tribute to a pair of jade watermelons to the Empress Dowager Cixi, the most loved jade in the world.

Empress Dowager Cixi loved this pair of jade watermelons as if she was heart-wrenching. She usually sent someone to take care of her. Whenever she was happy, she would send someone to play with her. She even refused to leave the watermelons before she died, buried them together in the Dongling, and placed them at her feet in the coffin.

Later in the summer of 1928, the Kuomintang Chief Sun Dianying dug out the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi and stole the pair of watermelons and other burial objects, including the only famous jade cabbage, which was later collected in the Palace Museum in Taipei.

After the pair of jade watermelons were stolen, they disappeared. Nearly a hundred years later, the people who died back then were almost dead, and it was almost impossible to verify.

How valuable is this pair of jade watermelons? When Wang Zhuo first came into contact with the jade industry, he asked Qi Fei for advice on this matter. At that time, the two were still ordinary friends, but not as ambiguous as they are now. Moreover, the price of jade has surged in recent months, and the price at that time seemed not to be sufficient.

This is how Qi Fei calculated for Wang Zhuo. In the late Qing Dynasty, the annual budget of the Beiyang Navy was 2 million taels of silver, and the actual amount could be received was only about 1 million taels. At that time, one tael of silver was almost equivalent to the current purchasing power of 300 yuan. The actual annual funding of the Beiyang Navy was about 300 million yuan.

When the jade watermelon was stolen, many people believed that it was worth 5 million taels of silver at that time, and it was one of the most heavyweight national treasures of the Qing Dynasty.

The predecessor of Qianlong’s Summer Palace, Qingyi Garden, spent 4.48 million taels of silver, which was later burned by the British and French forces. Cexiang rebuilt the Summer Palace on its original site. According to expert research, five to six million taels of silver were used.

It seems a bit scary when you hear this. The huge Summer Palace is similar to the value of two jade watermelons? But although the value of 5 million taels of jade watermelons is still to be considered, Ki-xiang's love for them may not be inferior to that of the Summer Palace!

5 million taels of silver, equivalent to the current RMB, Qi Fei told Wang Zhuo that it was 1.5 billion!

And that's not counting. If the pair of jade watermelons really gets auctioned again, it's definitely far more than this price. Haven't you seen the price of several bronze statues in the courtyard of the Old Summer Palace be worth over 100 million yuan. Only the cultural relics lost in the Old Summer Palace are worth tens of thousands of pieces at this level. In the late Qing Dynasty, those things were just broken copper and iron in the eyes of the Old Summer Palace. This pair of jade watermelons is the real national treasure!

"Those who are broken can be sold for more than one billion!" That's how Qi Fei defines the value of the jade watermelon!

With this deep impression, Wang Zhuo naturally knew that even if it was not the jade watermelon that the pair of Lao Fu loved for their whole life, it would be just a decent imitation, and the people who had seen the jade watermelon were dead, and there were no pictures or photos left behind. As long as the thing that was made was an jade watermelon, it would be amazing!

Wang Zhuo immediately made up his mind that he would buy this big piece of wool material and he would take it off even if he lost everything!

"Wang Zhuo, what are you thinking?"

Seeing Wang Zhuo stunned, Qi Fei walked back in confusion.

Wang Zhuo did not turn, and pointed his right hand back from his shoulder: "Sister, I want to bet on that wading ox stone."

"It's a lot of risk..." Qi Fei took a breath and looked at him and asked, "How confident are you?"

Wang Zhuo pondered and shook his head: "I can't say it right now, let's ask about the price first."

Seeing that Wang Zhuo was interested in the big piece of wool, Lao Mian immediately went to find his brother-in-law excitedly. After a moment, he brought back a small man who was much younger than him, but he was his brother-in-law.

Lao Myanmar's brother-in-law is a Chinese master. He introduced himself as Lunkuang, of course this is transliterated. Because the Burmese people are used to add "Mr." before the other party's name and pronounced "Wu", Wang Zhuo and Qi Fei called him Wunkuang, which was somewhat awkward.

Wulun Kuang heard that the two were interested in betting on the big piece of wool, so he asked the client he was receiving to wait for a while and walked over quickly from the other end of the yard.

"Twenty million."

He turned his back to the yard and offered a price to Wang Zhuo.

"It will cost 20 million to collapse like this?" Wang Zhuo was a little surprised, but he was not dispelled from his enthusiasm. Bargaining is also an inevitable process.

Wulun Kuang smiled and said only: "That piece of material is Pada."

Pagan's jade? Wang Zhuo's expression was shocked and Qi Fei was also a little surprised. Pagan is a famous historical pit, and its material is especially famous for its black skin like coal. Pagan's jade has delicate crystals, good quality, high transparency, sufficient color, and large size. It is often a big guy of hundreds of kilograms. It is not uncommon to occasionally produce a few giants weighing tons.

But what is strange is that Pagan is the earliest jadeite site to mine. It has been mined many years ago. Now the black yarn shell wool materials that can be seen on the market are covered with hemp. I didn’t expect to see a piece of old Pagan’s big material here.

"If it's really a Pao Dao, it's interesting. It's just that the price is too high and the material is too collapsed."

Qi Fei's words were about exchanging ideas with Wang Zhuo, and also meant to bargain with Wulun Kuang.

"The price can be negotiated, but it won't be too low." Wulun Kuang gestured with both hands and smiled: "Even if you travel all over Myanmar, you may not be able to find such a big Pagan again."

This sentence is not an exaggeration, but if this piece of material had not collapsed so well before, it would have not been cut into small pieces until today.

Wang Zhuo used a small move that only two people understood to suggest that Qi Fei was about to settle the material, and Qi Fei understood it. So the two began to bargain and count the shortcomings of this material in the same way, and fought with Wulun Kuang.

The price was finally finalized at 16 million, which was 6 million higher than Wang Zhuo's estimated 10 million. However, the origin of this material completely compensated for this number. If the jade watermelon was produced by a new pit material, it would be a pity.

The price was negotiated, and new problems followed - Wang Zhuo and Qi Fei were not cash-free, and there was not much money on their account!

But this is not a problem for Wang Zhuo, and Qi Fei is waiting to see how he plays this trick, turning money into empty-handed money.

"Wulun Kuang, I didn't bring enough cash. Are you collecting the glutinous materials that have been increased here?"

"I won't accept it." Wulun Kuang said with a smile: "But as long as I make a few calls, more than five bosses will come to bid. The premise is that your material is good enough."

"That's easy." Wang Zhuo smiled with satisfaction: "How about this material leave me three days of fundraising time?"

Wulun Kuang nodded repeatedly: "No problem, it's OK for a week."

Wang Zhuo then went over to grasp him: "Then let's just say that."

The three-day fundraising time was just a careless person, and he fooled his old and Burmese friends and Wulun Kuang, and Qi Fei. Just over an hour later, good news came from a corner of the yard. A customer who had just bought three pieces of wool cut out and rose!

After agreeing to raise funds for a week, Lao Myanmar went back to practice stalls. Wang Zhuo pulled his small broken car and took Qi Fei to the yard to look at the wool materials. He didn't pick three pieces of materials seriously. After paying the money, he took them to the corner of the yard and asked the workers who worked to help cut them open.

The first brick was completely broken, with a snow-white porcelain base. If it were on Ruili, it could be sold for a few hundred yuan, but it would not be worth a penny in the old Myanmar store at the port. Wang Zhuo threw it away casually.

The second piece was a porridge base, which was a bit green. Wang Zhuo frowned and looked at it for a long time. Although the worker shook his head, he still put the piece of wool that was divided into two into the car.

The third piece is different. This is the best piece of material that Wang Zhuo found through most of the yard. The first two are just a prelude to cover up. This piece of material is the highlight of today. If you want to buy the big watermelon of Pada, you can rely on it!

"Colorless glass, green flowers, beautiful!"

"This water head is so dazzling, it's so big! My friend, can this material be turned?"

"I haven't seen such a good green flower material in two years. It's quite small."

"Oh, what's the point? I just bought a large piece of ice type. I must not have enough money to do this. I missed it!"

The yard was in full swing because the material was so beautiful and was as big as a small watermelon. It was pressed against one end when cut, and the section was very large, but there was almost no waste of material. I just gambled through it with one knife.

Wang Zhuo smiled and even called out his luck. Qi Fei was so happy that he couldn't stop talking. She wanted to bring the ingredients back and make a big sea bowl with cold noodles. That would be too appetizing, but this wish was destined to not be realized, because Wang Zhuo had already recognized the worm stone, and even the live cow he had determined could not be brought back.

Seeing this situation, Wulun Kuang was a little amused. The other party used more than 100,000 to gamble a piece of material that had risen sharply. It seemed that the giant wool material would not be enough to wait for another week and it would be sold today.

He made a few phone calls and talked for a long time. After a while, motorcycles roared into the yard one after another. The old Myanmar and jewelers who participated in the bidding made a brilliant debut.

In addition to the original customers in the yard and the people who called the customers to find them, the yard suddenly became a little lively.

Finally, a female purchasing manager named He from the Hong Kong Jewelry Company stationed in Ruili got the material. His bid was not the highest among all, but this jewelry company had some friendship with Qi Fei. Moreover, if the prosperous dynasty wanted to make great strides in this field in the future, he would seek this jewelry company when developing Hong Kong business, so he made less money and sold her a lot of face.

18 million, this piece of wool weighing more than 8 kilograms is more than 2 million more than the black cow stone.

After the triangular transaction ended, Wang Zhuo also had a cash check of two million in his pocket. Wulunkuang was worthy of being the big boss. In the middle of the night that night, he sent the black bull stone to Ruili, and the two parties agreed to an automobile repair factory.

After the verification was correct, the crane of the repair shop roared and hooked the wire rope wrapped around the large wool material, and transferred it to the distribution truck hired by Wang Zhuo.
Chapter completed!