Second update,

...

Whoosh~~

"It's going up, going up... a big surge!"

Hardly had Qin Fang and his group stepped into the jade trading market when they heard such exclamations from amidst a crowd, and immediately, quite a few people came over to watch.

Qin Fang and Qiao Zhenfei also joined in for fun. Relying on their youthful strength, they quickly squeezed into the crowd and saw the piece of jade that had its window opened.

"Ice glutinous variety..."

A glance was enough for them to see the quality. The ice glutinous jade belonged to the upper-middle grade. Qin Fang's appraisal showed it was a grade 5, which was about the same as the piece Qin Fang sold to Lin Yuan.

"Five hundred thousand!"

"Five hundred fifty thousand..."

As soon as the jade's window was opened, people began calling out their prices immediately.

Here at the jade trading market, most who cut the stones directly on-site intended to sell them right away unless they were those merchants who bought raw materials in bulk.

Therefore, after the window was opened, the jade merchants began their bidding, but whether to sell it or not still depended on whether the owner of the raw material was satisfied with the price.

In just the span of Qin Fang's hesitation, the price of the piece had already reached a million.

If Qin Fang bid a high price to buy it, he could probably turn it around for a profit of several hundred thousand, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided to give up. Tying up more than a million in funds would only make his already limited capital even more stretched.

Thinking this, Qin Fang wanted to do Qiao Zhenfei a favor, but he was surprised to find that Qiao Zhenfei wasn't the least bit interested and had already left the crowd.

"Brother Fei, aren't you going to give it a try?"

Seeing Qiao Zhenfei simply walk away, Qin Fang was surprised and couldn't help but ask.

"All these jade merchants are cunning. With the window opened on this piece, there's much less gambling involved; the price is high, the risk is not small, and the profit margin is too thin. I generally don't play this game. I'd rather gamble with completely uncut stones. Why? Are you very optimistic about that piece just now?"

True to his character, Qiao Zhenfei preferred the thrill of the jade-betting process rather than knowing half the outcome, so he chose to pass on it.

"I estimate that piece is worth around two million. As long as it's bought for under one and a half million, there's still a profit of five hundred thousand..."

Qin Fang said cheerfully.

"Don't want to tie up too much capital?" Qiao Zhenfei saw through Qin Fang's intentions at a glance, and asked with a chuckle.

Qin Fang nodded. There was no need to hide it; being upfront was good enough.

"Come on, let me introduce you to a friend..."

Without lingering on the subject, and hardly deigning to mention it, Qiao Zhenfei signaled to Qin Fang and headed deeper into the jade trading market.

Qiao Zhenfei had been to this jade trading market many times. He had established connections here and made many friends over the years. The quality of their stones was quite good, and the prices could be much lower than in other shops, offering much better deals all around.

The owner of this shop was surnamed Yang, called Yang Hong, and hailed from Ruili, a border city in Nanyun Province in the southwest, near Myanmar, the world-renowned source of jade. The majority of China's jade was imported from there.

His family had been in the jade business for over a decade and was considered quite seasoned, conducting substantial business. They had shops in almost all the large jade trading markets; this one in Guangfeng City was managed by him.

"Third Young Master, why didn't you give me a heads-up before you came!"

When Qin Fang arrived at the shop with Qiao Zhenfei, the owner, Mr. Yang, was in the middle of a business deal. But as soon as he saw Qiao Zhenfei come in, he immediately delegated the matter to his assistant and personally came over to greet Qiao Zhenfei.

Clearly, he knew the real identity of Qiao Zhenfei, otherwise, he would not have been so courteous.

"Old Yang, how many times have I told you not to give me this nonsense! If you want to flatter me, you'd do better to offer an even bigger discount..."

Qiao Zhenfei shook hands with Mr. Yang before jokingly saying so.

"Third Young Master, you're too modest. I've given you cost price already, a further discount and I'd be in the red..." Mr. Yang understood the situation naturally. They had interacted on more than one or two occasions, and the relationship was very cordial. A big joke was out of the question, but a small jest was still fine.

"Let me introduce you, this is my buddy Qin Fang. When he comes to you to buy materials in the future, you'd better treat him well..."

Qiao Zhenfei joked a bit and then introduced Qin Fang to Yang Hong.

"Definitely, definitely, I'll give a fair price for sure!"

Yang Hong immediately agreed with a grin, but he was somewhat uncertain about the exact relationship between Qin Fang and Qiao Zhenfei, which made him unsure about the discount to offer.

Qiao Zhenfei knew what he was thinking, but he deliberately confused his and Qin Fang's relationship, which made Yang Hong even more uncertain, forcing him to offer Qin Fang a very low discount, maybe even close to his own.

Qin Fang was no fool; although Qiao Zhenfei hadn't given him any heads-up, he understood the situation with just one look, especially when he inadvertently caught a glimpse of Yang Hong's distracted thoughts, he knew exactly what to do.

Missing out on a bargain would be plain stupidity!

Yang Hong struggled for a moment, but in the end, decided to give Qin Fang a 20% discount, the lowest he could offer without facing complaints from his family.

"President Yang, you're really too stingy, only giving a 20% discount..." Qiao Zhenfei continued to complain on Qin Fang's behalf, but seeing Yang Hong's face torn between laughter and tears, he didn't push further.

It was after consideration that Yang Hong decided on Qin Fang's discount; their initial pricing already had some room, and even with a 20% discount, there was still a significant profit margin, which is why he could agree so readily—a fact well understood by both Qiao Zhenfei and Qin Fang.

Even so, Qin Fang was still very happy.

Yang Hong might not realize what this 20% discount meant to Qin Fang, but Qin Fang himself couldn't be clearer.

A 20% discount might still seem high, but based on Qin Fang's budget of ten million, that meant he'd save two million in funds, which could buy two and a half million worth of materials. With Qin Fang's abilities, an extra two million in capital could earn him at least double the profit.

Qin Fang was pondering whether this trip to the jade market could make his net worth exceed one hundred million.

Of course, at the moment, that was just a wishful thought.

"Old Yang, cut the chatter and take us to your warehouse. Don't think you can fob me off with these materials..."

Every raw material merchant has their own warehouse, and they also have a reserve for prime materials, which are very good quality and often priced in the millions each.

Qiao Zhenfei typically deals in this caliber of materials, which is exciting and risky; a rise means a huge profit, but a fall could mean losing everything...

"Of course! Third Young Master always chooses the top-quality path. It would be a disgrace for me to show you these," Yang Hong immediately responded cheerfully.

The prime material reserve was incredibly valuable, and not just anyone could afford it; only distinguished clients like Qiao Zhenfei had the privilege to handle such goods.

Of course, each piece of raw material there was exceedingly expensive, beyond the reach of most people, and had been sitting in stock for a long time. He was also eager to sell them quickly, as turning them into solid cash was the sensible thing to do.

"What about you, Qin Fang? Are you coming with me?"

Qiao Zhenfei asked Qin Fang, knowing that Qin Fang didn't have much capital and probably couldn't handle the prime materials in the reserve.

"Brother Fei, go ahead, I'll just look around here..."

After some thought, Qin Fang opted not to head to the prime material reserve, as he was feeling the pinch, but with countless pieces of raw material here—even though they were of lesser quality—he preferred to dig out the real gems with his skills.

"That works. You take a look around here, and I'll be back with President Yang soon..."

Qiao Zhenfei thought it over and didn't insist, leaving with Yang Hong. However, Yang Hong was pretty decent and had already notified his shop assistants to offer Qin Fang a 20% discount.

Guangfeng Jade Trading Market was indeed the largest jade trading market in South China, already vast in size, with each store being quite spacious, and the huge plaza in the middle was already filled with various types of raw materials. Many people were wandering around, selecting their preferred pieces of jade ore.

Yang Hong's store wasn't the biggest, but it was definitely not small either. Just the quantity of raw materials alone had surpassed Ninghai's Bizarre Stone Archway, and there were at least a dozen stores of similar size to his in the market.

This indicated just how enormous the trading volume of this jade trading market was.

"Time to get to work... Feifei, I'll pick the materials, and you help me keep an eye on them and handle the purchase…"

Qin Fang handed his card to Xiao Muxue; his next task was of utmost importance, requiring his full dedication. So Xiao Muxue took on another crucial role—purchasing the raw materials. She was responsible for making payments for the pieces Qin Fang valued and decided to buy.

Thus, the two began their teamwork, Qin Fang briefly explained the requirements to Xiao Muxue—they were to prioritize purchases based on the quality and size of the materials he was interested in.

Qin Fang's Appraisal Skill came into play, starting from the outermost area, examining each piece one by one. It was a tedious and arduous task, but for the chance to make a substantial profit, Qin Fang didn't mind the hard work in the least.

Qin Fang led the way, appraising and walking at a pace that was neither fast nor slow, like one taking a cursory glance at a field of flowers, moving past most with just a brief look and stopping only for select pieces. Then he would signal Xiao Muxue, who trailed behind with a small notebook, to note down the number, quality, size, and other details. (To be continued... For the continuation of this story, please visit www.qidian.com. The chapter updates are more frequent, support the author, support copyrighted reading!)

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