Mixed in 1980

Chapter 347 Funds Arrived (33)

"It's rare that our Professor Xu is interested in investment. Why don't we all go with him today and join in the fun?" Chen Fan teased.

Xu Jinqiu gently bit her lip and glared at her husband: "Isn't it because you keep saying that jadeite will sell for sky-high prices in the future, and Hetian jade will be priced by the gram? Why not take the money that's free?"

Chen Fan pinched the tip of her nose: "Let's go, let's go check the goods, are you guys coming?"

Zeng Ali and Zhao Yuanyuan nodded in agreement. They had nothing to do at home anyway, so they might as well go and check out the goods. They had handled a lot of things over the years and were experts themselves.

For large transactions, bring bodyguards along.

Still in Yangrou Hutong, there is a jewelry store called "Feitian" with a retro decor that, like its name, exudes classical elegance.

The boss's surname is Yang, and he comes from Sichuan.

After Chen Fan entered, he first scanned the goods on the counter. They were all jadeite and Hetian jade, with only a few high-quality pieces. Most of the goods were ordinary items.

But it's true!
This is very important.

Later generations of Hetian jade became a major target for counterfeiting. If you go into the market, you will see that seed jade is very common, but in reality, 99.99% of it is fake.

Dyeing, piecing together, burning the skin, and optimization are all basic operations. There are also Russian, Korean, and Qinghai materials that are used to impersonate Hetian jade.

Laymen who come in will fall into the trap every time.

Many people like jade, but those in the industry treat it like easy money. As a result, even if people have money, they dare not buy it, and the market has long been ruined.

Then these shameless people jumped out and said, "Business is not good, young people don't like jade," without ever thinking about their own problems.

The same applies to jadeite, and even more so.

Especially those who work in social media, they always bring up imperial jadeite and are always trying to leak information to their "family members." Being "their" family member is truly the worst luck imaginable.

"Mr. Xu, who are these people?"

“My husband’s surname is Chen; my sisters’ surnames are Zeng and Zhao. Mr. Yang, let’s get straight to the point and look at the goods.” Xu Jinqiu did not go into details.

Mr. Yang didn't seem to mind: "The goods are all in the back yard, come with me."

Walking into the backyard, he opened one of the doors to a room where a pile of Hetian jade was scattered about. Chen Fan's lips twitched as he looked at it; it was quite rough.

In later generations, vendors would set up large basins and lay out pieces of jade flat in the water, but the key point was that they were all fake.

All I can say is that jade is really worthless these days!

"Mr. Yang, were they all screened?"

Xu Jinqiu took out a flashlight and casually shone it on a piece of jade. The jade was warm and smooth, with a good degree of whiteness, and a part of it was covered with red skin.

"Mr. Xu, don't worry, they've all been screened and are all top-grade jade. You can take a look first, and if there are any problems, feel free to contact me."

Last time Xu Jinqiu came, she almost swept up all the good items in the store. Boss Yang knew that she was a big customer and an expert, and that he couldn't fool her.

Xu Jinqiu was generous with the price, only asking for raw materials. All he had to do was go to the mining area to collect the goods and make enough profit by reselling them. There was no need to use inferior materials and offend his big clients.

Xu Jinqiu nodded slightly, signaling Chen Fan, Zeng Ali, and Zhao Yuanyuan to inspect the goods together.

The room was filled with Hetian jade, some weighing tens of kilograms and others a few grams. There were quite a few pieces, and I had to handle each one.

It took the four of them more than an hour to finish looking at the items. As agreed, they immediately started weighing them and selling them by the kilogram.

Before weighing the jade, Mr. Yang couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Xu, if I may ask, are you buying jade to enter this industry?"

Xu Jinqiu smiled slightly and said, "If I want to enter the industry, I can go directly to the production area to buy the goods. That way, you can make a profit in the middle and buy them to pave your yard."

"..." Mr. Yang was speechless.

As Chen Fan listened, his lips twitched involuntarily. Teacher Xu was quite the actor, using top-grade Hetian jade materials to pave the courtyard—something he himself had never even considered.

But it's not impossible!

It costs over 2000 per kilogram, and only over 200 million per ton. It wouldn't cost much to pave a yard. A luxury mansion in Hong Kong costs several hundred million Hong Kong dollars.

This year, the Hong Kong dollar is worth more than the US dollar.

After weighing the Hetian jade material, Boss Yang also prepared a batch of jadeite. Xu Jinqiu wanted only finished or unfinished pieces, so it was impossible to calculate the price by weight, as the prices were different for each type of jadeite.

"Mr. Yang, the quality of this product is subpar!"

Both raw materials and finished products were available, but Xu Jinqiu only found a few cabochons that truly met the standards of imperial green jadeite of the glass type. To this, Boss Yang could only smile wryly: "Boss Xu, jadeite is different from Hetian jade. Only a few pieces of glass type jadeite are cut out each year at the public auction, and imperial green jadeite is even rarer."

"In fact, most of the cut material is waste material, or it is bean type or glutinous type, while icy type is relatively rare."

Then they started negotiating the price. One side asked for an exorbitant price, while the other sat back and negotiated. It took them quite a while to finally agree on a price.

Xu Jinqiu was quite satisfied with this.

I think Mr. Yang is a down-to-earth person. At least when we were talking about prices, he just talked about prices and didn't bring up jade culture or sentimentality.

Just like with antiques, if you talk about culture, sentiment, or stories, they're just trying to rip you off. Xu Jinqiu has no interest in listening to any of that.

After the transaction was completed, Xu Jinqiu wrote a check and added, "Mr. Yang, next time you can buy more high-quality goods."

Mr. Yang accepted the check: "Don't worry, Mr. Xu, I'll definitely bring back a batch of top-quality jadeite next time I go to the jadeite auction."

"Alright, see you later!"

After leaving the jewelry store, Chen Fan stared at his wife for a while: "Teacher Xu is not bad, she has the air of someone who is rich and powerful."

Xu Jinqiu raised an eyebrow slightly: "One is influenced by one's company. Spending too much time with Boss Chen has taught me nothing but this."

Chen Fan smiled. "That's good."

In the following days, Chen Fan also got busy, asking Zhou Wenya to come over and finalize the investment in the zoo.

Zhou Wenya once thought that President Chen had gone mad!
As the world's richest man, why invest in a zoo? How much money can you make from that? You'd earn more by buying a house.

Upon hearing that it was the Chen family's daughter who liked and wanted to keep animals, Zhou Wenya immediately felt it was normal. After all, the world's richest man had the right to be capricious and the capital to pay for his hobbies.

Given the scale of Spark Investment and its relationship with the mainland, investing in zoos doesn't require connections; it can be done openly and legitimately.

After discussing the zoo's construction plan with Zhou Wenya, Chen Fan put aside other matters and occasionally accompanied Xu Jinqiu to collect goods.

After a while, I've acquired quite a few top-quality items.

Even so, it didn't cost much. The price ceiling was set, and if someone asked for an exorbitant price, Xu Jinqiu would simply refuse.

Buying these things is an investment in the future. She's not like Empress Dowager Cixi, who would want to hug every good piece of jade she sees.

With more experience, Teacher Xu has also changed. She would occasionally pick out a few pieces of jewelry to wear, and she would also help Zeng Ali and Zhao Yuanyuan choose some.

But one thing hasn't changed: Teacher Xu never chooses necklaces; the one she wears around her neck is always the Hetian jade love knot that Chen Fan gave her.

"After playing with jade and jadeite for a long time, you really find it quite interesting."

Xu Jinqiu picked out a pair of glass-type jadeite bracelets with floating flowers that she had recently acquired and put them on: "The white base material makes it feel particularly youthful, and it's quite suitable for young people."

Just as Chen Fan was about to speak, Yan Yin interrupted, "Second Aunt is a bad girl. She always makes Dad collect these useless things for you. Dad doesn't even have time to buy big cats."

"You little rascal, always calling your second aunt a bad girl. Who in the family loves you the most?"

Xu Jinqiu was furious. She picked up her daughter and pinched her little nose: "Your own mother didn't take care of you as long as I did, you little ingrate."

Yan Yin touched her itchy nose: "But I just want a big cat."

Xu Jinqiu kissed her: "Dad has already arranged for people to look for them. We need to find kittens to raise so it'll be more fun. Big kittens can bite people."

The little girl sighed helplessly, "Alright then!"

Since wild pandas can't be moved, you can only find them in zoos. Finding a red panda of the right age isn't something you can just pick up whenever you want.

The little girl waited for several months.

It wasn't until September that Zhou Wenya came over carrying a cardboard box containing two panda cubs, one male and one female, which made the little girl jump for joy.

Seeing his daughter happy, Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief and invited Zhou Wenya to the living room for tea: "Finding these two little pandas must have been quite a challenge, right?"

"Actually, it's alright. It mainly depends on the breeding season. They usually hatch in August or September, and the pair we brought back are just over a month old," Zhou Wenya explained with a smile.

After taking a sip of tea, he said, "Our entire team has entered Mexico and has successively lent out a considerable amount of funds. When should we start selling pesos?"

P.S.: That's all for today! More tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)