Chapter 481 Ruicheng "Night Market"
The journey lasted seven hours. Chen Yi and Liang Qidong started chatting on the way.
They weren't talking about the case, they were talking about Ruicheng. Everyone else in the car was also listening with their ears pricked up. In a city adjacent to the border, curiosity is inevitable.
Liang Qidong is a local and used brief language to help Chen Yi quickly understand the city, from food culture to tourism, from entities to e-commerce. Generally speaking, Ruicheng is currently in a stage of decline from prosperity.
Ruicheng is bordered by Bagan, so there must be some exotic customs, and the strong ethnic minority culture is a major feature of Ruicheng.
"There are fewer and fewer people in Ruicheng now." Liang Qidong was quite emotional when he mentioned this matter.
In the past, the three pillar industries that supported Ruicheng's economy were jade, wood and border trade. Now wood and border trade are half-dead, leaving basically only jade and tourism.
Ruicheng's border trade was booming many years ago, but with years of war abroad and the impact of certain force majeure factors, local trade bosses have moved away.
Only jadeite is left and lasts for a long time. Fortunately, the Chinese people like it and recognize it, otherwise it would be even worse.
The jade industry is the leader in Ruicheng, and no other industry can shake its position. However, precisely because of the uncertainty of the interests of jade, it has attracted too many people who come to Ruicheng to prospect for gold in the hope of getting rich overnight.
As profits increased, more people took desperate risks, which directly led to frequent cases related to Ruicheng, and then as expected, the police cracked down, leaving only half of their lives.
"Is it just the rough stone business?" Chen Yi asked.
"Yes." Liang Qidong nodded, "Everyone can see the finished jadeite, and the profit will not be too high, but the rough stone is different. You never know what you can get out of it with one cut. Maybe the rough stone bought for thousands of dollars can be Selling for tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions, this is gambling.”
Chen Yidao: "The business of finished products tests patience, and the business of rough stones tests human nature."
Liang Qidong suddenly felt that chatting with Chen Yi was very relaxed and pleasant, and said with a smile: "Team Chen's summary is incisive!"
Chen Yi: "To put it bluntly, it's all because of interests. What's more important, money or people? Is wealth or freedom more important? Everyone needs to think carefully and don't take chances."
The topic soon came to the current development of e-commerce. Online delivery of goods has ushered in the second spring of the jade industry. In the era of great explosion, netizens can understand the process of Ruicheng jade from raw stones to finished products at home, hoping to buy it at the lowest price. to the best merchandise.
It's a pity that there is no treacherous businessman. Selling you a few hundred yuan of jade for thousands is already considered a conscience, and it is designed to bully those who don't understand.
As for the security issues in Ruicheng...
Although it is close to the border, the security in Ruicheng is still very good. Bagan people can be seen everywhere on the streets. The people of the two countries enjoy friendly exchanges and work together to pursue a better life.
Of course, this is only within the country. If you step outside the border, the variables will be huge and unpredictable.
Speaking of Yuluo Village, Liang Qidong said that he didn't know much about this kind of isolated village. Ruicheng was originally under the jurisdiction of the autonomous prefecture, so no one cared about the autonomous counties under the autonomous prefecture and the old villages in the mountains under the autonomous counties.
As long as nothing big happens, it's as mysterious as if it doesn't exist.
Chen Yi knew that there were many such villages in the country. Isn't Zhongluo Village in Yicheng one of them? Except for rare and bizarre customs, life inside is normal. It's just that the transportation is very inconvenient, which leads to backward development.
If we can easily contact the outside world, we will also gradually become modernized.
Liang Qidong asked if more people could be sent there this time, but Chen Yi vetoed it.
If there is a problem in Yuluo Village, too many people will not be conducive to the investigation. If there is no problem, too many people will disturb the original peaceful life of the village. Three people are enough.
Seeing that Chen Yi had already decided, Liang Qidong no longer insisted. After arriving in Ruicheng, he would provide a satellite phone and call for support at any time in case of emergencies.
In a village without intelligence, anything can happen.
Of course, it was just a precaution. Liang Qidong didn't think there would be any real danger. If the police disappeared in the village, helicopters would fly over even across the Grand Canyon, let alone the obstruction of the steep mountain road.
It was still dark when we arrived in Ruicheng. Liang Qidong arranged dinner. Everyone tasted the local specialties of Ruicheng, and then went back to the hotel to rest.
Naturally, it was impossible to rest. He just opened the room first. Chen Yi refused Liang Qidong's "tour guide" service. After asking for a few special addresses, he took a taxi with them.
Ruicheng is no different from other cities. The tourism industry is developing very well and it is also very lively at night.
If you don’t go to Ruicheng to see the rough stone market, your visit will be in vain.
It just so happens that the antique market and the rough stone market are right next to each other, so you can get there in just two steps. It's convenient.
Chen Yi didn't just go there for fun. First, he wanted to get familiar with it first, and second, he wanted to see if he could be lucky enough to find clues related to the case. It wasn't directly related. He was looking for information.
What Qin Fei said at the provincial office during the day made sense. It was not impossible for the murderer to buy an "ancient book" on the street and "practice" according to the content in the book.
Just after ten o'clock, Liulong Night Market is brightly lit. This night market is not a place to eat, but a Yuanshi Night Market. From a distance, people stopping at various stalls to light up lights are as numerous as stars in the sky. The environment is bustling and lively.
Liulong Night Market is the largest rough stone trading market in Ruicheng. Most of them are peers buying, while a small number of tourists come to see the world.
The stall owners will bid less if they are colleagues, and they will charge more if they are tourists. If they dare to charge more than 100,000 yuan for something worth 1,000 yuan, if the other party buys it, it will really mean that they will not open for three years, and they will eat for three years after opening. .
This is not a scam. Jade is priceless. Priceless means that there is no fixed price.
When they arrived at the gate of the night market, a slogan caught the attention of several people: One knife will make you poor, one knife will make you rich, and one knife will lead you to the path of rich people.
Simple, direct, and crude, it tells the truth about rough stone trading.
In fact, the level of experts is almost the same. It is impossible to see the internal structure of rough stones. Compared with laymen, it can at most reduce the risk of losing money.
With the development of modern science and technology, a question arises in the minds of many people, that is, can scientific and technological means see through rough stones?
X-rays, infrared rays, CT scans, laser peeling... can they be seen through? The answers vary.
Chen Yi asked Bai Jiangbo, and he said this:
High-precision instruments are of course helpful in judging the value of rough stones, but the quality of jadeite is affected by many factors, so it is difficult to accurately measure through weathered skin through technological means, unless one day the rough stones can be made fully transparent without blind spots under the machine.
The weathered skin on the surface of the original stone has extremely low permeability. Grinding the weathered skin is a gamble, which is called "window opening". It is not just cutting.
Window opening is a half-bet, cutting is a full gamble, and the rough stone industry is very complicated.
Why is jade so expensive? The rough stones excavated from the Bagan mine are sold to Ruicheng. After the buyer buys it, he opens the window and then sells it. After the next buyer buys it, he may continue to open the window or cut it directly, and then sell the cut sheets. The next buyer The buyer buys the sheets to make wool, and the final buyer buys the wool and processes it into bracelets.
There are price increases in the middle, and the finished product is of course very expensive.
This is the most complicated process, and some people choose to cut it directly after buying the rough stone.
If you want to survive in the industry, it depends on your vision.
The deceased Mi Deli and Rao Jiawu were able to establish a foothold in the jade industry. Not to mention other things, they definitely had the ability.
A few people stayed there for a while, and just as they were about to go in, a Bagan man came forward to enthusiastically sell the finished product, and thoughtfully handed over a strong flashlight.
A strong light flashlight is an auxiliary means to identify the head, structure, flaws and planting water of jadeite. You can tell by looking at the market. Apart from tourists, every buyer has a handful of jadeite. From a distance, it looks like a fluorescent stick at a concert.
When we parted ways in the hotel just now, Liang Qidong reminded that if you want to buy jade, you should bargain to the death, and don't be polite, don't lose face. This is a normal industry phenomenon.
It’s just something worth a thousand yuan. If the seller dares to offer a hundred thousand yuan, why can’t the buyer make a counter-offer of ten yuan? ?
If you dare to shoot, I will fight back. Let's see who is more cruel. If you don't accept it, you will hit me.
Chen Yi glanced at the items on the tray. There were no bracelets, only ring faces and pendants.
"You can buy it if you are interested." Chen Yi looked at Shi Xin and the others.
It is very common for Bagan people to sell jade. There are generally no fakes in Ruicheng jade, only good or bad. Things that cost at least a few hundred yuan are not fake.
Shi Shixin seems to be a little excited. A visit to Ruicheng is not in vain. I don’t know when the next time will be. It’s best to buy some souvenirs cheaply and take them back to my wife and mother.
He took a fancy to a pendant.
The other party offered 10,000 yuan, and Chen Yi counter-offered 500 yuan.
"You can't bargain like that, brother, look at the color, look at the water." The young man spoke Mandarin well.
Chen Yi was indeed watching with a bright flashlight. Under Bai Jiangbo's guidance, he was now a semi-expert.
Thousand dollar stuff.
The pendant is basically the leftover material after the bracelet is made. The round bracelet is cut off from the square plate, and the remainder on the edge or in the middle can be used as a ring or pendant, which is relatively cheap.
"Six hundred." Chen Yi returned the bright flashlight to the other party.
The young man waved his hand and was about to leave with the tray. Seeing that Chen Yi and the others were not prepared to call him, he turned back with a sad look on his face: "You really can't bargain like this, brother. I am Daqian's material. I want it." If so, I’ll sell it to you at a loss of five thousand.”
Daqian means seven thousand to nine thousand.
The jade industry has its own internal price terminology. For example, a small ten thousand is one to thirty thousand, a medium ten thousand is four to sixty thousand, and a large ten thousand is seventy to ninety thousand.
If it's over 100,000 and less than a million, it's six out of six. If it's over a million, it's one prefix, two prefix, or three prefix. It's another matter if it's over ten million.
Chen Yi smiled and said: "Daqian's material? I can't see it. Just tell me the selling price. I'm not a tourist."
The young man realized that he had met an expert.
If you can't see it, it means the quality is not good enough. The selling price means the price you want to sell it for. The asking price of 10,000 just now is the price that the seller casually offers.
These are all customary statements in the industry.
After a moment of silence, he asked: "How many can you see? Three digits won't do."
Chen Yi: "One thousand."
The young man shook his head: "The selling price is three thousand, it can't be lower."
After waffling for five minutes, the pendant was finally sold at a price of one thousand two thousand. The seller made money and the buyer did not suffer a loss. Everyone was happy.
If you were in Yangcheng, it would be impossible to buy one thousand two thousand yuan. A jewelry store would definitely dare to sell you more than three thousand yuan, which is a brand premium.
When Xin Xin happily put away the money, he thought that Chen Yi had made the right decision to find someone to understand Jade in Yangcheng before. Otherwise, you could be a leader. You were thinking very far.
"You can just stroll around and call me what you want to buy, but don't touch the rough stones. I really want to play with the rough stones once and wait until the case is solved." Chen Yi waved his hand and gave him freedom.
Of course he can play with raw stones. He is not so pedantic. He will buy a stone worth hundreds or thousands and cut it. If he loses, he will lose it. It is a rare experience and nothing big, but he needs to finish the work first.
The crowd dispersed, and Chen Yi and Fang Shuyu joined together.
The market was still quite crowded. The occasional strong light made Chen Yi squint his eyes. The stalls were full of stones and slabs, and the finished products were almost invisible.
He was not here to stroll around. His eyes swept over each stall, focusing on the stall owner.
The purpose of tonight was to find intelligence by luck in the night market and antique street. Other police officers did not have his eyesight and ability to deceive. Han Yuedong probably had the same idea.