Rebirth 81: Being forced into marriage by my sister’s best friend at the beginning

Lin Ran could finally relax after finally settling a matter on his mind.

The next day he was sitting in the office, taking a nap with his eyes closed.

The phone rang again.

"Hello? Brother Lin, are you free recently?"

Hearing the voice on the phone, Lin Ran suddenly felt a little dizzy.

Because the person on the other end is Chen Cheng.

But it's not his senior brother Chen Cheng, but the jewelry store owner.

"Brother Chen, I'm really a little busy recently, but I'm finally free. What are you doing?" Lin Ran asked.

He didn't know why. He obviously wanted to say that he was very tired and wanted to take a rest, but his words changed as soon as he said it.

"Are you interested in going to Suzhou? I'll take you to see the beautiful jade."

...

Chen Cheng's purpose for finding him was obvious, just to bet on stones.

But this time the place for stone gambling was not in the capital, but in Suzhou.

What's even more exaggerated is that Chen Cheng actually plans to drive to Suzhou with him. It's easy for one person to get sleepy while driving alone, so the two of them can take turns driving.

However, Lin Ran still called Guan Yun together, because in this era, there are too many roadblocks and robberies. There are undeveloped mountains and forests everywhere. The national highway to Suzhou has to pass through several barren mountains. It is inevitable that he will feel a little nervous. It would be more comfortable to bring a bodyguard.

Chen Cheng was very calm: "Don't worry, I run this route often and it's very safe."

Even so, Lin Ran still maintained a nervous attitude.

But I was pretty lucky and came to Suzhou without any danger.

On the banks of the Qinhuai River, the scenery of Suzhou is truly unique.

However, they were not here for tourism this time, so when they arrived in Suzhou, they went straight to their destination.

There is a street here called Jade Street.

As the name suggests, this street is mainly for jade trading.

Their goal this time was one of the shops called "Jasper Pavilion".

"Okay, park your car here." Chen Cheng pointed to the giant parking lot in front of him and said.

Lin Ran had no idea that this city was still small compared to the capital city, but the economic level here was really high. With such a large parking lot built, are the people here particularly rich?

Chen Cheng said with a smile: "There are many foreign-funded enterprises investing and building factories here, and it is also a tourist city. It can be said to be showing its power in all aspects, and the economic development speed is no less than that of the capital city."

As for the large number of parking lots, it is mainly because of Jade Street.

If you look carefully, you can see that the huge parking lot here is almost full of cars.

And they are basically BBA series, which shows the level of luxury.

"Today is a day for gambling on stones, so jewelry merchants from all over the country are here." Chen Cheng explained to them as he led them into Feicui Street.

"Jasper Pavilion" is the largest jade trading market in Suzhou.

It is said that the bosses here transport raw jade stones directly from Southeast Asia, and they all come from old mines, so there is no need to worry about quality or quantity.

They walked along the street and saw a very large store facing them at the end of Emerald Street.

There is no need to look for Biyu Pavilion at all, because it is so obvious that you can see him when you walk to this street.

The whole store looks very large and the decoration is very luxurious.

The appearance of the store is a classic Chinese ancient building, with red bricks and black tiles, and a hanging eaves, giving it a very Chinese style.

Under the eaves, there is a huge plaque with gold letters on a black background and the words "Jasper Pavilion" written on it. The fonts are vigorous and powerful, obviously written by a calligrapher.

A shop of this caliber would definitely not hire an unknown person to write the inscription.

Lin Ran observed the store from a distance and felt emotional.

Boy, this store is really willing to spend money on decoration.

It actually cost about 2 yuan to decorate Shengshi Craftsmanship by myself.

Compared to here, it pales into insignificance.

He roughly estimated that the plaque, the paint on the wall, and the eaves design alone would cost more than [-] yuan.

Because the decoration is so luxurious, this store feels like it stands out compared to the surrounding bungalow stores.

It instantly differentiates itself from the surrounding shops.

"Are jewelry makers so rich?" Guan Yun sighed.

Chen Cheng chuckled: "Those who make jewelry are all poor, and the only ones who gamble on stones are the rich."

"Gamble on stones?" Guan Yun muttered to himself.

Lin Ran then remembered that this was Guan Yun's first time visiting a stone gambling venue in person, and he wanted to spread the relevant knowledge to him.

Gambling is a professional term in the jewelry industry.

When jadeite is mined, its surface will be covered with a layer of weathered skin.

It is this layer of weathered skin that will hinder the identification of the jeweler. People cannot know the quality of the jade until the weathered skin is cut off.

A long time ago, some people began to buy this kind of stone.

The quality of jadeite varies from high to low. High-grade jadeite is expensive, while low-grade jadeite is cheaper and available in larger quantities.

Therefore, some businessmen will buy the rough stones at a compromised price, and then go home and open the windows themselves.

If they open the previous jade, they will make a profit, otherwise they will lose money.

This business practice was originally only spread among a small number of businessmen, but gradually some people discovered that it was profitable, and professional stone gambling factories appeared.

In the earliest days, stone gambling was called gambling houses and was popular in fringe areas. After all, gambling was strictly prohibited by the state.

However, as people become more and more open-minded about the market, stone gambling has become a legitimate industry.

Of course, the earliest stone gambling can be traced back to 2000 years ago.

In the Chu State at that time, there was a businessman named Bian He. He found a piece of jade and donated it to the King of Chu.

As a result, the King of Chu did not know the goods and thought that the goods he sent were fake, so he had his legs cut off.

Bian He held the jade pu in his arms and cried for three days and three nights in Chu Mountain, and was finally seen by King Wen of Chu.

After King Wen of Chu asked for the reason, he felt that this piece of jade was a little different, so he asked a jade worker to cut it into pieces.

This time he was stunned. What appeared in front of him was a piece of jade he had never seen before.

It was also the Heshi Bi of the later Chu State.

Everyone knows the story of He's Bi. King Zhao and Qin Zhao were even willing to exchange 15 cities for this gem, which shows its value.

Later, this piece of jade fell into the hands of Qin Shihuang and became the imperial seal.

But now it has disappeared and been lost.

Although he didn't know much about history, Guan Yun had heard the story of He's Bi.

He laughed: "Haha, so this is the meaning of gambling on stones. It seems that everyone wants to be King Chu Wen."