Liu Weidong looked about twenty-four or twenty-five, with slightly tanned skin and a height of only around 1.7 meters. Even with his master's recommendation, his attitude toward Ian Song was rather indifferent.
Han Xiaowei, on the other hand, was a beauty, probably just over twenty, and at least 1.75 meters tall. Even dressed in sporty clothes, her stunning curves were impossible to hide. With Han Zhenhai’s introduction, she greeted Ian with a smile.
Han Zhenhai was a renowned master in the jade-gambling world and also the head of Zhouman Jewelers. Naturally, the organizers had sent him an invitation—and it was the highest-tier kind.
This type of invitation allowed him to bring five guests.
So, Ian and Xiang Shan followed him in and didn’t have to go through a security check.
Once inside the public auction hall, Ian glanced around and found that there were at least hundreds of thousands of rough jade stones of all sizes displayed.
All these rough stones were strictly sorted into three grades: first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier.
After wandering around the hall for a bit, Ian quickly got a sense of the prices for these three grades of rough stone.
Third-tier rough stones were all sold by weight—50 yuan per jin.
Second-tier rough stones were priced by piece, with prices ranging from a few thousand yuan for the cheaper ones to no more than a hundred thousand for the expensive ones.
As for first-tier rough stones, they were also sold by piece, but each one had a window showing green. So, every stone cost more than a hundred thousand yuan.
Of course, on the last day of the public auction, there was also a special auction for thirty top-quality rough stones provided by the organizers—but not everyone could take part.
You needed an invitation from the organizers to get in.
There were two ways to get this invitation: either the organizers gave it to you directly,
Or, if you spent over twenty million yuan at the public auction before the special sale started, you’d also qualify for an invitation.
Suddenly, Han Zhenhai answered a phone call and said to Ian, “Young Master Song, something’s come up—I’ll have to excuse myself for a bit. Weidong and Xiaowei will stay here with you.”
Ian waved his hand. “Master Han, don’t worry about it. Go handle your business—you don’t need to keep me company.”
“Alright, see you in a bit!”
After Han Zhenhai left, Ian decided not to wander around anymore and got ready to start buying rough stones.
“By the way, Mr. Liu, Miss Han, do you guys know the rules for trading here at the public auction?” Ian asked with a smile.
"Is this your first time at a public auction, Song?" Victor Liu asked, looking a little surprised.
"Yep, first time ever," Ian replied.
Knowing this was Ian Song's first time here, Victor Liu felt even more superior. He puffed up and said, "Every rough stone at the auction has a number. If you want to buy one, just grab a tablet from the service desk and enter the number of the stone you want.
If someone already bought that number, the tablet'll show it. If not, you can lock it in and confirm the purchase. Once you do, the system locks the number so nobody else can buy it, and you can't return it after that. Simple as that.
Once you've picked out all your stones, you just head over to pay at the service desk.
After you pay, you can start cutting your stones. If you buy a ton, you can even rent a warehouse right here!"
"Got it, thanks." Ian thanked Victor Liu and went straight to grab a tablet from the service desk.
Seeing this, Victor Liu curled his lip. "Kids like him just come here to burn money for fun!"
"Hey, maybe he's actually good at stone gambling," Sabrina Han said with a little smile.
Victor Liu snorted, even more dismissive now: "No way. If you haven't even been to a public auction before, you're definitely not some expert. Honestly, he's barely even a rookie!"
"Come on, Victor, that's a little harsh," Sabrina Han rolled her eyes.
"Just calling it like I see it," Victor Liu shrugged.
Ian quickly came back with a tablet, waved to Victor Liu and Sabrina Han, then headed straight for the third-tier rough stone section.
Victor Liu grinned. "At least he knows not to mess with the second- or first-tier stones. Those would bankrupt him!"
Sabrina Han just shook her head. Victor's mouth was always savage, but whatever—since they're here, might as well have some fun!
"Alright, I'm grabbing a tablet too!"
Watching Victor Liu stride off, Sabrina Han couldn't help but shake her head. Victor was fine in every way, except he always had this weird grudge against rich kids.
Ian reached the third-tier area and fired up his Clairvoyant Vision, sweeping through stone after stone.
Whenever he spotted a good one, he locked it in with lightning speed.
After two hours, he'd bought over two thousand stones in the third-tier section, and the total price was just a bit over four million. Seriously, that was crazy cheap.