Chapter 15: Such Unshakable Confidence

“I’ve brought two million in cash. If you want more, you’ll have to come with me to the company to get it,” Tang Yan said proudly, looking at Zhao Chen with a hint of arrogance. She didn’t believe this guy could produce much high-quality jade in such a short time.

After all, the rarer the jade, the higher its quality.

Zhao Chen smiled playfully and pointed towards a nearby mutton noodle shop in the Water City district.

“Hungry? Let me treat you to some mutton noodles.”

He still had eleven pieces of jade with excellent translucency and base color. If he sold them all to her, it would be worth far more than two million.

Tang Yan looked disdainful. “You’re a millionaire boss, and this is the best you can offer? Let me treat you instead. Our family owns a branch nearby, and the whole street downstairs is full of delicious food.”

“Alright then,” Zhao Chen agreed immediately—free dinner was too good to pass up.

They got into her pink Maserati and arrived at the entrance of a jewelry store.

Tang Yan chatted casually about the street food around the area and urged, “Order whatever you want, but after we eat, let’s get down to business.”

“You seem to be in a hurry,” Zhao Chen remarked.

“Of course,” Tang Yan explained anxiously. “Next month there’s a major jewelry expo, and Tang’s Jewelry is still missing a showpiece treasure. How can I not be anxious?”

She continued, “You don’t know how competitive the jade industry is right now. If you don’t bring a few top-quality pieces to the exhibition, the big bosses won’t even look at you.”

Passing by a grilled squid stall, she bought some skewers and shared more about the jade market’s current state.

According to her, the low-end jade market has been declining steadily in recent years. The stock of pieces under three hundred thousand yuan is huge, and even with price cuts, they’re hard to sell.

Meanwhile, the high-end market keeps rising. Most wealthy buyers purchase jade mainly for collection, which means these pieces rarely re-enter the market.

This has resulted in a polarized market: the higher the quality, the more valuable; the lower the grade, the more worthless.

Zhao Chen was impressed. Three hundred thousand yuan could buy a house in his hometown county, yet in the jade world, it’s just entry-level.

Truly, the pleasures of the wealthy are beyond ordinary imagination.

After buying several Southeast Asian specialties like Dai and Burmese snacks, they sat at a bustling barbecue stall and began to discuss business.

Tang Yan grinned and said, “After all that food, it’s time to bring out your treasured pieces, right? Don’t be afraid I’m broke—I’m only worried you don’t have anything good.”

“First, I need to ask—do you want ‘clear material’ or ‘skin-on rough jade’?” Zhao Chen asked calmly.

He had been intensively studying jade knowledge online these past days.

Having been trapped in Myanmar before, he had no chance to get involved in trading, so he wasn’t familiar with the prices of different jade types.

Skin-on rough jade is mostly used in the gamble-stone trade, especially the kind from Mobangji, known for its unpredictability.

Mobangji jade’s biggest feature is its black skin, like a layer of asphalt, making it difficult to discern the internal structure.

Clear material, on the other hand, refers to jade with large windows cut into it. Artisans use jade carving drills to create worm-like patterns on the surface, making it easier to shine light inside and examine the texture and water content.

A skilled window-cutter can cleverly hide cracks and flaws, fooling buyers into thinking it’s a flawless raw jade.

Myanmar traders are particularly adept at such tricks, earning them the nickname “Window-Cutting Immortals.”

Tang Yan hesitated for a moment before decisively saying, “Clear material, of course. I don’t deal with those gamble-stone tricks. I won’t buy unwindowed jade no matter how cheap.”

“That’s easy then. After dinner, come to your shop—I’ll cut some windows for you on the spot,” Zhao Chen said confidently, tearing off a squid tentacle.

There’s a saying in the jade business: “Good jade enriches three families.” From intact skin-on rough jade to window cutting and cutting, the stone often changes hands multiple times, with each dealer adding a markup.

But this trickery is meaningless to him—he can see the jade’s internal structure, water, and base color clearly.

If it weren’t for limited startup capital, Zhao Chen would even consider taking on the entire process from rough jade to finished jewelry.

Tang Yan frowned. “So you’re saying the rest of what you have is rough jade?”

Previously, Zhao Chen had given her three pieces of de-sanded jade, which revealed their internal structure under light.

Zhao Chen smiled and nodded. “You can inspect the goods after I cut windows. If you like them, you buy; if not, you can return them.”

“Damn! Are you asking me to gamble on these stones live?” Tang Yan got angry. She had assumed he had mostly high-quality pieces, but it turned out only those three had windows cut—the rest were unknown junk.

She knew well how risky gamble-stone trading was. Most times, one cut meant a total loss.

Even if the skin-on rough jade looked promising, no one could be sure what was inside until the window was cut. It was a pure waste of time.

Zhao Chen assured her confidently, “It’s not really gambling. I can tell you what’s inside beforehand. If the window cut doesn’t match the description, I’ll give you the jade for free.”

“Huh?”

Tang Yan stared at Zhao Chen in disbelief, sarcastically saying, “What kind of joke is this? They say even experts can’t judge jade without windows. You claim to know what’s inside without cutting? I’m not well-educated, so don’t try to fool me.”

Her schooling was indeed limited; her family had been in the jade business for billions, so grades never mattered.

After finishing a mediocre college degree, she took over the family business and had handled more jade pieces than she could count.

Zhao Chen replied dryly, “I said I’ll only sell after cutting the windows. What am I going to cheat you about? The color?”

Tang Yan thought it over carefully and, seeing no downside, agreed readily.

“Alright then, it’s settled. If you’re wrong, you’re giving the jade to me for free.”

After eating, they went to the Tang family’s branch in Ruili.

The place was fully equipped with stone-breaking machines, jade carving machines, polishing machines, and more.

Their business covered everything from sourcing rough jade, consignment sales, semi-finished and finished jewelry processing, to live streaming and online sales.

Just as they arrived, the store manager, Pan Yumei, was live-streaming a stone-breaking session. She quickly stood up and greeted warmly, “General Manager Tang, what a surprise! Are you here to watch us break stones?”

“Yumei sister, my friend has some jade pieces to have windows cut here. Please arrange it,” Tang Yan said with a smile, looking at Zhao Chen, curious to see how he would be embarrassed.

Whoever dared claim they knew the inner quality and water content of uncut rough jade was surely bluffing.

The Tang family had done jade business for decades, and no one had ever made such bold claims; she was eager to see how this guy would fare.

With a flourish, Zhao Chen produced two pieces and said, “Let’s start with these two. Put the flat one on the stone-breaking machine on the left—I’ll tell you how to cut it. The one on the right just needs a big window cut.”

Pan Yumei looked puzzled, then glanced at Tang Yan with a hint of disdain. “General Manager Tang, your friend is really confident, isn’t he?”