Chapter Twelve: The Mad Stone

Yang Qi nodded; this was something he truly did not know. He had assumed that Qingzhou also had a raw jade marketplace. In fact, apart from regions near Myanmar and some stone-producing areas, only international metropolises like Yanjing and Huhai had specialized markets for raw jade stones. Other cities might only have small-scale markets at best.

"Let's go to the antique street," Yang Qi said to the driver in the front seat. He was now eager to find out whether he could verify if the raw jade stones contained any vital energy.

"Yes!" The man acting as the driver promptly responded. Having witnessed Yang Qi’s methods, he dared not hesitate for a moment. He did not want to end up like Abiao, whose twisted face revealed that the previous kick and punch had been much harsher than those exchanged in the alleyway before.

Half an hour later, a black van stopped at the entrance of the antique street.

"So this is the antique street?" Yang Qi gazed at the rows of ancient-styled buildings with red bricks and green tiles. He was momentarily stunned. Were it not for the modern facilities and cars parked by the roadside, he might have thought he had stepped back in time.

As Yang Qi got out of the vehicle, he was surprised to see Big Fei hunched over as if standing up. He chuckled, "No need to see me off."

"I want to, I want to," Big Fei was taken aback but quickly forced a smile.

Bro, I never intended to see you off. I just thought my subordinate lacked tact—when you got out, you didn’t close the door, so I wanted to close it for you. But now that Yang Qi said so, I had to go along. Thus, the formidable Big Fei stood at the van’s door, watching Yang Qi enter the antique street.

Whoosh—

As soon as Yang Qi’s figure disappeared, Big Fei jumped back into the van like a startled rabbit, hurriedly saying, "Start driving!"

The driver was momentarily stunned, seemingly unable to comprehend how Big Fei, who had just wanted to follow Yang Qi inside, was now eager to leave. But he was not foolish; he quickly realized the situation, pressed the accelerator, and the black van suddenly burst forward at racing speed, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Big bro, are we just going to let this go? Shouldn’t we have called more people to reclaim our ground?" The man beside Big Fei said with a sinister look.

Big Fei slapped the man’s head sharply, anger evident on his face, "Reclaim? What reclaim? As if we haven’t been humiliated enough!"

Abiao and the others glared at the man as well. After this confrontation, they clearly understood that they were on a completely different level from Yang Qi. Even if they summoned all their men, it was unlikely they could get the better of him.

"Big bro, what about Hou Lei?" Abiao hesitated. After all, Hou Lei had given them money to handle the matter, which they had failed to do.

"What about it? I’m lucky I don’t have to go settle accounts with him. What else can he do?" Big Fei smiled coldly. The money in his mouth was not going anywhere.

They couldn’t afford to offend Yang Qi. Hou Lei was only a minor wealthy figure; those with real influence in the underworld feared such upstarts the most.

…

Just stepping onto the antique street, Yang Qi saw the blue stone path ahead, flanked by rows of ancient brick and wood buildings. Peering inside the shops, various treasures were displayed. Walking along, one could find everything from ancient porcelain, furniture, clocks, calligraphy, and stationery to gold, silver, copper, iron, wood, jade crafts—both new and old, large and small, dazzling and abundant. Even in the wider parts of the path, small items were displayed, ranging from copper coins and broken porcelain to vases and stone carvings.

Yet, as Yang Qi walked, he saw no sign of the raw jade stone market he sought. Occasionally, street vendors called out to him. Most customers here were elderly; someone as young as Yang Qi, barely in his twenties, was a rarity. This was understandable—antiques require deep knowledge and substantial funds, and few could master both so young.

After walking for over ten minutes, the antique street was nearly at its end, still no jade raw stone market in sight.

"Could Big Fei be lying to me?" Yang Qi raised his brow. His first thought was that there was no raw jade stone market here at all; Big Fei had been deceiving him.

"I’ll keep looking. If Big Fei really dared to lie, the next time I meet him, I’ll make sure he knows how many eyes the Horse King has!" Yang Qi’s face darkened as he pressed forward.

Suddenly—

After a few steps, Yang Qi noticed a large crowd tightly packed at a street corner just ahead.

“Green’s coming out! Green’s coming out!”

Excited voices echoed from within the crowd.

Hearing this, Yang Qi’s heart stirred. “Green’s coming out” was the scene of a jade stone being cut—could this be the raw jade stone market?

Thinking this, Yang Qi hurried toward the crowd, but it was so densely packed he could not see clearly inside.

Frowning, he immediately pushed his way into the throng.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you?”

“Get lost! Who the hell’s pushing me?”

No one could hold back Yang Qi’s force. In moments, he was at the front of the crowd. There, a worker held a grinding wheel-like tool, breaking apart a stone roughly the size of a washbasin. The side facing the crowd had already been split open, revealing a faintly shimmering emerald green within.

“150,000! I bid 150,000! Brother, will you sell?”

From the crowd came a voice.

Hearing the bid, the middle-aged man cutting the stone paused and looked toward the stone’s owner nearby.

“Keep cutting. Cut it all open!” The man in the suit gritted his teeth and ordered.

Gambling on jade—the essence of the game is risk. Until the stone is fully split, no one knows what lies inside. One strike can bring fortune; another, disaster.

Clearly, the suited man was no novice at this. Though someone had bid 150,000 and the green was showing, which was a good omen, he wanted to continue the gamble.

Half an hour later, a piece of translucent green jade, about half a fist in size, appeared on the cutting table. The jade was crystal clear, vibrant green, dazzling beautifully in the sunlight.

“Icy type! Icy yellow-green, a huge rise!” The middle-aged cutter shouted with envy, handing the jade over to the suited man.

“800,000! Brother, will you sell?” another bid rang out from the crowd, now five times higher than before.

“Old Liu, how can you even show that price? I’ll bid a million!” A slightly overweight middle-aged man sneered, raising the price by 200,000.

“A million one hundred thousand. This price isn’t lower than any on the market. Brother, what do you say?” Old Liu responded once more.

Upon hearing this, the slightly overweight man fell silent. Apparently, 1.1 million was near his limit. Any higher, and he’d make no profit. After all, this jade was just raw material—it still needed processing and selling, which were costly.

The auction continued, the tension thick with anticipation.