Divine Eye Appraisal: Starting with a Lucky Pickup of a Beautiful CEO's Family Heirloom

In the early morning at Jianzhen Pavilion, sunlight slanted in through the narrow window on the east wall, illuminating a stack of newly opened slips of paper on the counter.

Wen Zhaoye sat behind the counter, holding the two notes from Lao Zhou and Lao Chen in his hand, looking at them over and over again.

The handwriting on the note was neat, and it had a signature and stamp—everything you'd expect.

He tucked the note into the inner pocket of his wallet, placing it next to the family photo. His fingers paused as he zipped up the wallet.

Sun Bo'an walked in from the backyard, carrying a cup of tea. "Finished reading?" "Yes, I'm done." Wen Zhaoye stood up. "When are we going to see these two old gentlemen?"

"No rush," Sun Bo'an said, taking a sip of tea. "You should prepare yourself first."

"What are you preparing?"

Sun Bo'an put down his teacup, walked behind the counter, took out a stack of documents from the drawer, and slammed them on the table.

"The historical data of the jade gambling convention. I compiled it last night."

Wen Zhaoye picked up the documents and flipped through a few pages. They were densely packed with information: the list of resident strongmen attending the meeting, their usual methods, the mines that produced high-quality goods in previous years, and the routines of sealed-bid auctions.

His finger stopped when he turned to the last page.

The name Qian Bohong was printed on the first line of the list of invited judges.

The notes column next to it clearly states: "Recommended by Lin Family Culture".

Sun Bo'an stood behind the counter, looking at his frozen finger, and said, "On the day of the jade gambling competition, Qian Bohong won't just be sitting on the judging panel."

Wen Zhaoye stared at those three words for a few seconds, then closed the document.

"I know."

He stood up and went to the backyard.

Ma Guoliang was already squatting in front of the stone-cutting table, holding sandpaper in his hand, polishing a piece of scrap material.

"Master Ma."

Ma Guoliang looked up: "Boss Wen, what's up?"

"Teach me." Wen Zhaoye squatted down next to him. "For gambling on stones, start with the basics."

Ma Guoliang paused for a moment, then laughed.

He put down the sandpaper, turned the piece of scrap in his hand over, and drew a line on the surface with his finger.

"Okay. Let's start by examining the outer shell."

He held up the scrap material in front of Wen Zhaoye, pointing to the rough texture on the surface: "This is black jadeite skin, material from the Mowanji mine. Look at these patterns, they look like snake tracks, this is called pine flower."

Wen Zhaoye leaned closer to look, and his divine pupils automatically revealed pale gold characters—the outer shell was about three millimeters thick, with a dense internal structure and no obvious cracks.

But he didn't say anything; he just touched the stripes with his hand.

"The presence of pine flowers on the outer skin is the most important signal in jade gambling," said Ma Guoliang. "The presence of pine flowers on the outer skin indicates that there may be color inside. However, there are real and fake pine flowers; some are artificial."

He picked up a piece of sandpaper and gently rubbed it a couple of times on the surface of the waste material, removing a thin layer of the outer layer: "You see, real pine patterns grow inside the outer layer; even if you rub off a layer, they're still there. Fake pine patterns are painted on; they disappear as soon as you rub them off."

Wen Zhaoye took the sandpaper and, imitating Ma Guoliang's movements, rubbed it a couple of times on the scrap material. He didn't control the pressure well and rubbed it a bit too deep, revealing the grayish-white flesh inside.

Ma Guoliang didn't say anything to him, but simply turned the waste material around and pointed to a new stripe:

"Look at this one, this is called a python skin pattern. A python skin pattern is a raised band of markings on the skin. Where there is a python skin pattern, there may be changes inside."

Wen Zhaoye reached out and touched the raised line, his fingers gliding across the rough skin.

The divine eye revealed more detailed information—there were scattered green spots below the python belt, but the distribution was uneven, like scattered sesame seeds.

"There are several types of python skin," Ma Guoliang continued. "There are white python skins, black python skins, and yellow python skins. Yellow python skins are the best, indicating a high concentration of internal color. White python skins are the worst, and there might be nothing inside."

He picked up the scrap material and turned it at a different angle in the sunlight: "Look, the python skin on this side has a waxy sheen, which is a characteristic of good material."

Wen Zhaoye took the scrap and, imitating Ma Guoliang, examined it against the light for a while.

He didn't use his divine eye; he simply used his eyes to see.

"And then?" he asked.

"Then there are cracks." Ma Guoliang drew two lines on the scrap with his finger. "Cracks are the biggest pitfall in jade gambling. No matter how good the material is, if a crack goes through it, it will break in one cut, and nothing can be taken out."

He picked up a small hammer and tapped the surface of the scrap twice, producing a dull sound: "Listen to the sound. A crisp sound indicates a dense internal structure. A dull sound indicates internal cracks."

Wen Zhaoye took the hammer and tapped the scrap twice.

The sounds were indeed different—the first one was crisp, the second one was muffled.

"You're tapping in different places," Ma Guoliang said. "The first tap is on the area without cracks, and the second tap is on the cracked area. The feel needs to be different."

He took the scrap material, changed the angle, and sanded another spot with sandpaper: "This is a characteristic of the mining area. The skin of the material is different from that of different mining areas. The material from Mowanji has a black and shiny skin, the material from Hkam mine has a yellowish skin, and the material from Hpakant has a thin skin, making it easier to get high-quality pieces."

As Wen Zhaoye listened, his fingers traced the leather case, his divine eyes verifying every word Ma Guoliang said.

Knowledge points are layered in my mind, like building blocks.

Ma Guoliang spoke for almost an hour, covering everything from the texture of the skin to the direction of the pine flower pattern, from the characteristics of the python skin to the pattern of cracks, from the differences between different mining sites to the sound of tapping.

After explaining each key point, he would have Wen Zhaoye touch it with his hands, and then he would correct his movements.

Finally, Ma Guoliang put down the sandpaper, stood up, and stretched his legs, which had gone numb from squatting. "That's about enough. That's all for today. Go back and memorize these points, and tomorrow I'll teach you how to read the cuts on rough stones."

Wen Zhaoye stood up, still clutching the piece of scrap material that had been ground down to almost nothing.

He looked down and saw words appear in his divine eyes: "Loose internal structure, worthless."

But he still put the scrap into his pocket.

"Thanks, Master Ma." Ma Guoliang waved his hand and turned to tidy up the stone-cutting table.

When he bent over, Wen Zhaoye saw a plaster on his waist, with a corner of it showing.

Wen Zhaoye didn't say anything, turned around and walked back to the front shop.

Sun Bo'an was still behind the counter, flipping through the stack of materials for the jade gambling conference.

He held a pen in his hand and circled several pages of paper, marking a few names.

"Take a look at this." Sun Bo'an spread out the documents and pointed to the circled rows. "These are the regular strong players at the jade gambling conference, and each of them has its own set of tactics."

Wen Zhaoye leaned over to take a look.

"The first one is the Sihai Chamber of Commerce," Sun Bo'an said. "They are the largest jewelers in the provincial capital, and they always sell the most at every jade gambling convention. Their leader is Jiang Zhirou, who is young but very ruthless."

"The second one is the Zhao family in the south of the city." Sun Bo'an pointed to another name. "Their family specializes in sealed bids and always manages to get good materials at low prices. It is said that they have direct connections with mine owners in Myanmar."

"Thirdly, the purchasing team under Lin's Culture." Sun Bo'an's finger stopped on that line of text, his tone noticeably somber. "The Lin family sends people to the jade gambling convention every year, specifically targeting high-quality goods. They're not short of money; if they set their sights on something, they'll buy it even at three times the price."

Wen Zhaoye stared at the four characters "Lin Family Culture" without saying a word.

Sun Bo'an closed the document and looked at him: "By accepting this invitation, you've essentially entered their territory. At the jade gambling convention, you'll be facing not only stones, but also Qian Bohong and the Lin family."

Wen Zhaoye leaned against the counter and tapped his fingers twice on the table.

"I know."

He looked up at the clock on the wall—it was 3:40 p.m.

"Mr. Sun, I'll take the documents back and review them. I'll come back tomorrow morning." Sun Bo'an nodded, watching Wen Zhaoye pack the documents into his bag, and then said, "Boss Wen, this is the provincial capital, not Jiangcheng."

Wen Zhaoye stood at the door and glanced back at him.

"I know."

He walked out of Jianzhen Pavilion, stood at the door, and touched the family photo and note in the inner pocket of his wallet.

In the direction of the provincial capital, the streetlights were not yet on, but it was already dark.

He took out his phone and sent Yu Tinglan a message: "I've accepted the invitation to the jade gambling convention."

After sending the message, he put his phone back in his pocket, stood in the twilight, and looked in the direction of the provincial capital.

The streetlights formed a blurry band of light, like a net being pulled in.