Li Du was laughing at Da Mao at first, but then he got unto the dirt track as well. He flew from the motorcycle and almost lost his breath when he fell.
“This damn rotten road!” He could not help swearing.
Liu Zi chuckled and said, “Pretty good, young master Li. If it was raining, I would say that with your motorcycle-driving skills, you would die halfway.”
In an hour, they drove less than ten kilometers. They had to push the motorcycle up certain parts of the road because the slope was too steep.
The road was full of dust. There was a lot of dust around all the sites. It was the inevitable result of mining the ore and digging the land. A thick layer of dust would be accumulated after a long time of such activity.
The most annoying thing was, stones were often hidden beneath the layer of dust and dirt. People might think that the dirt would reduce the impact and it would hurt less when they fell from the motorcycle. However, there could be stones on the road, waiting for the luckless riders.
On the way, they came across a fleet of land rovers, all of which were so bulky that the cars couldn’t make it and were stuck halfway.
When Li Du and his men appeared, someone came forward to stop them and bowed low while he said something unintelligible in an agitated voice.
“Korean.” Zhong Dapao stopped. “Is there anyone who speaks Chinese or Myanmar?”
Next to the man who bowed was the guide, who spoke Myanmar and could communicate with Zhong Dapao.
Listening to the other side, Zhong Dapao sneered. “Buy our motorcycle? In your dreams, pal. Actually, if you are willing to pay a hundred thousand dollars per unit, we are willing to negotiate.”
The guide looked sulky and said a few more words.
Zhong Dapao guffawed, turned to Li Du and said, “This fella is trying to bully us. He doesn’t know the identity of Master Pao.”
Liu Zi lifted his jacket, revealing an Uzi submachine gun.
The guide and the Korean man trembled and hurriedly backed off to the side of the road.
This was just a small incident, and they continued their journey. After wading and crossing hills and passing several checkpoints, they finally saw Damakan, which looked like a stockade-surrounded village.
Zhong Dapao said that the market in Damakan did not have many quality goods, and took Li Du directly to the market to see the small private stalls, where the good stones that were mined by the bosses usually ended up.
Damakan was not the same as Longken and Old Hpakant. The market there was less crowded and was mostly based on the mine as a unit, which was one of the reasons why Zhong Dapao wanted to take Li Du into the mine.
The first stop was called Arakan mine. The villages there served as living quarters for the miners following the discovery of jadeite veins.
Entering the mine, they stopped the car. A few of them stayed back to look after the car and the weapons. The others went past the security at the entrance of the mines and got in.
“Arakan is an old mining area. It has mostly been depleted. People make a living by picking up jade fragments left by the miners,” explained Zhong Dapao.
Li Du said, “Then why did we come here?”
Zhong Dapao said, “Don’t worry, there are very few intact jade stones here, but there are many good fragments. Look at these fragments, what do you think about them?”
There were tall and short buildings in the mining area, in addition to the teahouse, restaurant, and red-light district. Most of the houses had shelves in front of them, and on the shelves were ore fragments.
Li Du looked at it and nodded. “Is this a fragment of ore? How can almost all of them have jade? Yes, the color of the stone is good, and the base is bright… not bad, not bad.”
Zhong Dapao said, “Yes, all these pieces of ore are like this. So you can imagine how fine the quality of this mine was before.”
He paused a little and then continued, “We can see if we could gain a little from these little things. If we can’t, I would contact a few private markets. The private market has stones that were mined before, and the quality is very fine!”
Da Mao stood in front of a shelf and examined it carefully. Then he raised a fragment of stone the size of a baby’s fist and asked, “How much is this, boss?”
“Fifty bucks,” said the owner, who was smoking a hookah calmly.
Da Mao was stunned. “It’s very cheap. What unit is that?”
“Dollars. Damakan has a lot of foreigners, so they use the American dollar as a currency,” said Zhong Dapao.
Da Mao rubbed the stone fragment and said, “Ok, buying this seems like a good investment. We could get some jade. This kind of water source stone would cost at least 500 dollars in Ruili.”
The stone he had picked up was broken and showed some light green, which proved that there must be jade inside, but the thickness and texture of the jade were unknown.
Jade ore was not necessary valuable if there was green on the outer side. Otherwise, betting on stone would be too simple. There were many stones which were green outside but, once milled, produced no jade.
Some stones showed a little green in their raw state, and a bit more green when they were milled, but it was a layer of green mist which was fundamentally worthless.
The raw material in Da Mao’s hands was not bad. There was jade inside, with normal texture and thickness. However, the more they milled the stone, the more clearly it showed an emerald green jade hue. Da Mao’s eyes were sharp and he did not judge wrong.
Li Du said, “Buy it, pick the stones which are less than 1000 USD as you wish. I’ll pay for it, count it on me if it is a loss, and we will divide the profit if it is a rise.”
This was an offer that was impossible to deny. Da Mao was ecstatic, and said gratefully, “Thank you, Master Li, thank you.”
Li Du selected a piece of stone too. It had been cut and showed a waxy blue pattern, which looked very beautiful.
“How much is this stone?” he asked.
The boss looked and said, “400 dollars.”
Liu Zi looked stunned. “Four hundred?” he repeated in a low voice. “I would say four million!”
This stone was big. The Damakan stones were commonly just a few kilograms, but this piece probably weighed ten kilograms.
When green was seen during the bet, the bigger stone would always be more valuable, because a bigger stone meant a bigger possibility to cut out a large piece of jade, and the jade price was often related to the size. When the size doubled, the price would grow tenfold!
Da Mao approached for a closer look, then took out a strong flashlight and shone on the stone. He sneered and said, “Ha, waste stone, this is used to cheat laymen.”
Zhong Dapao asked, “This stone is a waste even though it has a nice color and texture?”
Da Mao rolled his eyes and said, “Master Pao, come and take a look. It is opaque, and what does it mean? It’s not jade inside, it’s plain stone. It’s been cut away from the other side, and this is just the outer layer of the jade.”
Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi looked again, then realized he was right.
Da Mao said confidently, “This stone has obviously been here longer than a day or two. Why is it so cheap but no one buys it? Because after looking at it, everyone knows that the stone is worthless.”
Li Du put down the stone casually, then gave Brother Wolf a wink.
While no one was looking, Brother Wolf paid four hundred dollars and collected the stone.
Da Mao did not judge wrongly, it was just that he had no see-through eyes. What he said was right, this layer of waxy bluestone surface was a jade outer layer, but there was still a waxy blue emerald jade hidden in it. It weighed at least 4500 grams, which would come up to the value of ten million!
Li Du was laughing at Da Mao at first, but then he got unto the dirt track as well. He flew from the motorcycle and almost lost his breath when he fell.
“This damn rotten road!” He could not help swearing.
Liu Zi chuckled and said, “Pretty good, young master Li. If it was raining, I would say that with your motorcycle-driving skills, you would die halfway.”
In an hour, they drove less than ten kilometers. They had to push the motorcycle up certain parts of the road because the slope was too steep.
The road was full of dust. There was a lot of dust around all the sites. It was the inevitable result of mining the ore and digging the land. A thick layer of dust would be accumulated after a long time of such activity.
The most annoying thing was, stones were often hidden beneath the layer of dust and dirt. People might think that the dirt would reduce the impact and it would hurt less when they fell from the motorcycle. However, there could be stones on the road, waiting for the luckless riders.
On the way, they came across a fleet of land rovers, all of which were so bulky that the cars couldn’t make it and were stuck halfway.
When Li Du and his men appeared, someone came forward to stop them and bowed low while he said something unintelligible in an agitated voice.
“Korean.” Zhong Dapao stopped. “Is there anyone who speaks Chinese or Myanmar?”
Next to the man who bowed was the guide, who spoke Myanmar and could communicate with Zhong Dapao.
Listening to the other side, Zhong Dapao sneered. “Buy our motorcycle? In your dreams, pal. Actually, if you are willing to pay a hundred thousand dollars per unit, we are willing to negotiate.”
The guide looked sulky and said a few more words.
Zhong Dapao guffawed, turned to Li Du and said, “This fella is trying to bully us. He doesn’t know the identity of Master Pao.”
Liu Zi lifted his jacket, revealing an Uzi submachine gun.
The guide and the Korean man trembled and hurriedly backed off to the side of the road.
This was just a small incident, and they continued their journey. After wading and crossing hills and passing several checkpoints, they finally saw Damakan, which looked like a stockade-surrounded village.
Zhong Dapao said that the market in Damakan did not have many quality goods, and took Li Du directly to the market to see the small private stalls, where the good stones that were mined by the bosses usually ended up.
Damakan was not the same as Longken and Old Hpakant. The market there was less crowded and was mostly based on the mine as a unit, which was one of the reasons why Zhong Dapao wanted to take Li Du into the mine.
The first stop was called Arakan mine. The villages there served as living quarters for the miners following the discovery of jadeite veins.
Entering the mine, they stopped the car. A few of them stayed back to look after the car and the weapons. The others went past the security at the entrance of the mines and got in.
“Arakan is an old mining area. It has mostly been depleted. People make a living by picking up jade fragments left by the miners,” explained Zhong Dapao.
Li Du said, “Then why did we come here?”
Zhong Dapao said, “Don’t worry, there are very few intact jade stones here, but there are many good fragments. Look at these fragments, what do you think about them?”
There were tall and short buildings in the mining area, in addition to the teahouse, restaurant, and red-light district. Most of the houses had shelves in front of them, and on the shelves were ore fragments.
Li Du looked at it and nodded. “Is this a fragment of ore? How can almost all of them have jade? Yes, the color of the stone is good, and the base is bright… not bad, not bad.”
Zhong Dapao said, “Yes, all these pieces of ore are like this. So you can imagine how fine the quality of this mine was before.”
He paused a little and then continued, “We can see if we could gain a little from these little things. If we can’t, I would contact a few private markets. The private market has stones that were mined before, and the quality is very fine!”
Da Mao stood in front of a shelf and examined it carefully. Then he raised a fragment of stone the size of a baby’s fist and asked, “How much is this, boss?”
“Fifty bucks,” said the owner, who was smoking a hookah calmly.
Da Mao was stunned. “It’s very cheap. What unit is that?”
“Dollars. Damakan has a lot of foreigners, so they use the American dollar as a currency,” said Zhong Dapao.
Da Mao rubbed the stone fragment and said, “Ok, buying this seems like a good investment. We could get some jade. This kind of water source stone would cost at least 500 dollars in Ruili.”
The stone he had picked up was broken and showed some light green, which proved that there must be jade inside, but the thickness and texture of the jade were unknown.
Jade ore was not necessary valuable if there was green on the outer side. Otherwise, betting on stone would be too simple. There were many stones which were green outside but, once milled, produced no jade.
Some stones showed a little green in their raw state, and a bit more green when they were milled, but it was a layer of green mist which was fundamentally worthless.
The raw material in Da Mao’s hands was not bad. There was jade inside, with normal texture and thickness. However, the more they milled the stone, the more clearly it showed an emerald green jade hue. Da Mao’s eyes were sharp and he did not judge wrong.
Li Du said, “Buy it, pick the stones which are less than 1000 USD as you wish. I’ll pay for it, count it on me if it is a loss, and we will divide the profit if it is a rise.”
This was an offer that was impossible to deny. Da Mao was ecstatic, and said gratefully, “Thank you, Master Li, thank you.”
Li Du selected a piece of stone too. It had been cut and showed a waxy blue pattern, which looked very beautiful.
“How much is this stone?” he asked.
The boss looked and said, “400 dollars.”
Liu Zi looked stunned. “Four hundred?” he repeated in a low voice. “I would say four million!”
This stone was big. The Damakan stones were commonly just a few kilograms, but this piece probably weighed ten kilograms.
When green was seen during the bet, the bigger stone would always be more valuable, because a bigger stone meant a bigger possibility to cut out a large piece of jade, and the jade price was often related to the size. When the size doubled, the price would grow tenfold!
Da Mao approached for a closer look, then took out a strong flashlight and shone on the stone. He sneered and said, “Ha, waste stone, this is used to cheat laymen.”
Zhong Dapao asked, “This stone is a waste even though it has a nice color and texture?”
Da Mao rolled his eyes and said, “Master Pao, come and take a look. It is opaque, and what does it mean? It’s not jade inside, it’s plain stone. It’s been cut away from the other side, and this is just the outer layer of the jade.”
Zhong Dapao and Liu Zi looked again, then realized he was right.
Da Mao said confidently, “This stone has obviously been here longer than a day or two. Why is it so cheap but no one buys it? Because after looking at it, everyone knows that the stone is worthless.”
Li Du put down the stone casually, then gave Brother Wolf a wink.
While no one was looking, Brother Wolf paid four hundred dollars and collected the stone.
Da Mao did not judge wrongly, it was just that he had no see-through eyes. What he said was right, this layer of waxy bluestone surface was a jade outer layer, but there was still a waxy blue emerald jade hidden in it. It weighed at least 4500 grams, which would come up to the value of ten million!
