Chapter 69 Buying Jade

  The next morning, the team leader came to knock on Qiu Ye's door. Zhao Shuyan opened the door and asked, only to find out that they had been notified during dinner last night that the university students would go to Hongshan together today for a trip, but since Zhao Shuyan and her friends returned late last night, they didn't know about this message, so now they came to ask if Zhao Shuyan and her friends wanted to follow along.

  Qiu Ye really wanted to take a look, yesterday when she was on the bus, she passed by Hongshan, her godmother briefly introduced Hongshan to her, and she was very interested in both Hongshan and the department store under it. However, today they had a more important task, so they could only temporarily give up, but there would be opportunities later, as they would be staying here for a long time.

  After the team leader left, they couldn't sleep either, so they all got up to wash and prepare for Chen Jianjun's arrival. When they finished packing, Chen Jianjun happened to arrive in casual clothes to pick them up, and then the group went directly to the home of the Uyghur old fellow mentioned by Zhao Shuyan.

  The roads in Urumqi are as wide and spacious as those in Oil City. Qiu Ye thought to himself that Urumqi and Oil City share a common characteristic, which is that they have vast lands but sparse populations, so there's never a need to worry about running out of space, hence the city streets are built very wide. Later on, it became even more so, with Oil City's roads becoming eight-lane or twelve-lane highways.

  Chen Jianjun held the steering wheel, driving while introducing the scenery outside to the two children in the back seat. This building was built in which year, that building is a standard Urumqi-style architecture and so on.

  Qiu Ye leaned against the rear window and looked out, thinking that this was also good, it could be considered a car tour.

  The car drove on the main road for a while, then turned into a fork in the road and clearly entered a residential area. The road narrowed, with rows of bungalows on both sides, and many people could be seen selling things by the roadside.

  The car zigzagged through the bungalows. After a while, it finally stopped in front of an ordinary house.

  "Get off, we've arrived." Chen Jianjun turned off the engine, got out of the car and closed the door.

  He stood in front of the courtyard gate, raised his hand and knocked on the door, shouting "Is Temur at home?"

  Before long, there was a commotion inside. The one who came to open the door was an old Uyghur man in his fifties. Seeing the people outside, he greeted them politely: "Ah, Brother Chen has arrived. Come on in and take a seat." He then ushered the few people at the door into the house.

  Qiu Ye followed the crowd into the courtyard, where a trellis was set up along the path leading to the house. The trellis was covered with grapevines, specifically mare's milk grapes, which were a vibrant green and very pleasing to the eye. Through the gaps in the leaves, Qiu Ye could see that there were also several jujube trees planted on either side of the courtyard. Although Qiu Ye didn't recognize the jujube trees, she did recognize the fruit hanging from them.

  Qiu Ye suddenly remembered the Xinjiang jujube that would later become a hit on the internet, which was big and sweet, with thick flesh and small core. She thought to herself that she should look for some here, see if there's any for sale at this time of year. If there is, she could buy some to bring back as a snack, both nourishing her blood and complexion.

  The house in front is a square flat-roofed earth house. From the appearance, it looks like the structure of Han Chinese houses, but when you enter, this house is not like Han Chinese houses, but it is a Han Chinese house, only with a very exotic interior decoration. The four walls are white and light blue, and one wall even has a large tapestry hanging on it. Against one wall there is an earth bed, and in the middle of the room there is also a large round table.

  In the corner opposite the kang was a black and white TV, Qiu Ye looked at the furnishings in the house and felt that this old fellow's home was even richer than his own, his family hadn't even bought a TV yet.

  Everyone sat down on the kang and the stools in the house before Chen Jianjun spoke up, "Tiemuer big brother, how have you been lately? I was worried that you might have gone to Hetian and not be at home."

  Timur sat on the edge of the kang, holding a tobacco pouch in his hand and smiling: "It's not time to go to the fields now, nor is anyone coming to look for us."

  Qiu Ye felt a bit tense after hearing this. She didn't know why Tiemu said that it wasn't the right time to go to He Tian, and she was afraid of returning empty-handed this time.

  "That's great, my friend, do you still remember her? Three years ago I brought her here and she even bought a Hetian jade seed from you back then." Chen Jianjun introduced Zhao Shuyan and explained the purpose of their visit.

  Timur glanced at Zhao Shuyan, who nodded to him, and also nodded slightly, saying: "Remember, your Chen brother brought a familiar person like this before, how could I forget? This time you came..."

  "Haha, that's right, my old friend has the opportunity to come to our Xinjiang again this time. I want to buy some Hetian jade seeds to take back, so I thought of coming to see if you have any good stuff on hand." Chen Jianjun filled Tiemuer's tobacco pouch with a full bag of tobacco and lit it with a match.

  Tiemu'er puffed two mouthfuls of smoke before speaking: "Chen, you also know that every autumn is the best season for picking jade. At this time, you've come, but you won't be able to buy new goods."

  Chen Jianjun nodded as if he understood.

  "I have a few pieces of Tianyu jade seeds, but you know my rules." Tiemu said.

  "Of course, don't worry about that, we know the rules." Chen Jianjun smiled and said, having known Tiemuer for a long time, he naturally knew his rules.

  When he was on the road, he told Qiu Ye and others about some rules of this old man. This old man's ancestors were in this line of work, and the skill of identifying jade was passed down from generation to generation. His character is also impeccable, as long as it is introduced by him, the quality is guaranteed. He also has his own rules, he can introduce buyers to go to the homes of his fellow villagers on both sides of the Yulongkax River to collect jade seeds, so he earns the middleman fee. Every year, he will also collect some good jade seeds and take them back home to sell, but the price will be relatively high.

  Qiu Ye really didn't know the current price of Tian Yu's seeds, but she knew it must be much cheaper than in later generations.

  Timur listened and then knocked his pipe on the kang, saying: "Alright, I really have a few good ones, you wait, I'll go get them for you." After he finished speaking, he stood up and went out.

  Chen Jianjun said to Qiu Ye and the others, "Later on, you just need to say which one you like, Tiemu's goods are absolutely good, if not, he wouldn't take them out himself. The price doesn't need to be mentioned either, it's a fixed price."

  Qiu Ye is now very excited, finally able to see the long-awaited Hetian jade seeds and will soon have them in her own hands. She feels that a happy future life has taken several steps closer to herself.

  Zhao Shuyan didn't have any particular feeling about it, she never had a preference for these things to begin with. This time she came was completely for her cousin's sake, so as long as her cousin was happy and could buy something that suited her taste, that was good enough.

  At this time, Temur came in carrying a bamboo basket that could be carried on both shoulders, and came to the edge of the kang, carefully placing the bamboo basket on the kang, and took out four stones of different sizes from inside, arranging them in a row along the edge of the kang.

  "These are all top-grade Tianyu jade seeds, you take a look yourself, and let me know which one you like." He said that and sat down on the bench under the kang, continuing to smoke his tobacco pouch, leaving the space for Qiu Ye and the others to carefully examine them.

  Qiu Ye took a step forward excitedly, seeing that no one was stopping her, and then she started to examine these few pieces of jade carefully. Although she didn't understand jade, she knew jade.

  Later generations have a saying: 'Gold has a price but jade is priceless, and Tianyu from Hetian is the best under heaven!'

  According to her limited knowledge of jade, she knew that the real Hetian jade became less and less in later generations. In the end, the price of good Hetian jade could reach tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands per kilogram. Its appreciation space far exceeded that of gold and other rare metals, and its investment value also far exceeded that of real estate and stocks. In more than 20 years, the price has increased by several thousand times.

  She couldn't tell which one was the best, she just saw the biggest one and went for it.

  "The little girl touched this piece and said it's authentic Hetian white jade, what a good piece of jade! Look here, the white color is soft and even, with excellent oiliness." Tiemu'er looked at the smallest little girl first, not surprised, after all these years he had seen many kinds of strange customers.

  Qiu Ye touched the place where Timur pointed with her small hand, and she really wanted to say that she didn't feel any difference, this professionalism was too strong, a rookie like her could only listen to professional opinions.

  But she knew that Hetian jade was the best, and this piece of jade was white and warm to the touch, with a semi-transparent appearance, very much like the legendary sheep fat jade. So she asked: "Is this sheep fat jade?"

  Tiemu'er only now took a good look at this little girl and could see that the jade was sheep fat jade, she also had some skills.

  "The little friend really has an eye for things, this is sheep fat jade, a top-grade white jade."

  Qiu Ye nodded as if she understood, and said: "Really not bad, Mr. Timur, how much is this piece?" This was what Qiu Ye cared about the most right now - she had to buy it, and the first piece she saw was the best one; now she just hoped that Timur wouldn't quote a price that was too high, so she could use the money she brought to buy several pieces.

  "Haha, it seems like the young friend is a connoisseur of jade. In that case, I won't say more. This piece weighs 28 catties and is the heaviest among all my goods. It's priced at 5,000 yuan."

  Chen Jianjun and Zhao Shuyan next to him furrowed their brows after hearing this, it's really not cheap, it's the salary of an ordinary worker for two years.

  Qiu Ye listened to the side and was delighted, she thought it would be very expensive, worried that she couldn't afford it for half a day, who knew this big piece only cost 5,000 yuan, just this piece of jade seed, how many pairs of bracelets can be carved out, her remaining money can still buy at least two pieces of jade seed, this time she really came to the right place, the harvest is huge.

  "Alright, I'll take this one." Qiu Ye said hastily, as if afraid Tiemu would change his mind.