After returning to my hometown from Beijing, I often felt lonely, running around every night to various drinking bureaus, mostly bored, until I met Zhao Jinjin.
I met Zhao Jinjin at a birthday party and learned that his hometown was in the village next to ours when we were toasting each other. Zhao Jinjin is a very good drinker, doing fruit business in the city, opened a dozen branches, doing very well.
Later, we often dined together, jerking off and drinking beer, and I learned of his experiences in previous years. His story was told to me in a small street store.
1
The reason that Zhao Jinjin has come to this point is mostly because he hated his father back then.
In high school, Zhao Jinjin smoked secretly in class and lit up the braid of a girl in the front row, and the school wanted to expel him. The father was invited to the school, in front of the class teachers and students, raised his hand and slapped him twice. According to Zhao Jinjin, this made him lose face – although because of these two slaps, Zhao Jinjin’s “expulsion” was changed to “probation”.
After that time, Zhao Jinjin didn’t like to talk to his father much anymore. In his senior year, his father was hospitalized for esophageal cancer, and one night, his father, who was so thin that he was out of shape, called him to his bedside and stared at Zhao Jinjin, his mouth moving for half a day before he spat out two words with difficulty: “Learn to be good.”
That night his father left, until the end of the funeral, Zhao Jinjin did not drop a tear.
Half a month later, Zhao Jinjin was asked by his class teacher to call his parents because of a fight – in the past, when he got into trouble at school, it was his father who stepped in.
That night, Zhao Jinjin began to think about his future path. Tossing and turning all night, he got up early the next morning and told his mother that he wasn’t going to school, he wasn’t reading material, and his current grades wouldn’t get him into college, so he might as well work early.
The mother did not say yes, nor did she say no. Half the time, she only murmured one sentence: “I’m not going to school. Half a day only muttered a sentence: “If your father knows that you do not go to college, what can be done ……”
The next day, Zhao Jinjin packed his bags and took the bus to the provincial capital.
The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you are getting into.
Zhao Jinjin worked part-time in his cousin’s fruit store, where he also earned his first bucket of money. That year, near the end of the year, the cousin imported a large batch of bananas, but there was an accident in transit, a week later than expected before delivery, the banana peel looks slightly blackened. This can make the cousin worried, the price is pressed to half of the original, still no one take over.
Zhao Jinjin said to his cousin that he had a way to get rid of the bananas, but he had to share half of the profit of the bananas, and his cousin agreed. Zhao Jinjin did not lower the price of bananas, but raised the price by 20%, and put out the signboard of “cocoa bananas”, saying that his bananas were a hybrid with cocoa. In a week, the bananas were sold out, and Zhao Jinjin got a share of 100,000 yuan.
Zhao Jinjin took the money and wanted to buy a bracelet for his mother first, so he wandered around the market. One day, in a jade store, I saw the shopkeeper was talking business with a customer wearing a gray Tang suit, the customer holding a red stone left and right: “This piece is really good, this ‘South Red’ color is correct, carved or.”
“Good things need to be matched with people who understand them. The shopkeeper smiled.
“The price is …… hey we old friends, you say it directly.”
“This street stone thing can be hidden from you? I’m sure you know how much I paid for this stone, and you know who I asked to carve it.” The shopkeeper said again.
The customer nodded uncontrollably and chanted, “Well, well.” After a while, he held out three fingers, “Here’s the number.”
The shopkeeper nodded his head, the business is a done deal.
After the customer left, Zhao Jinjin was still frozen there, and the shopkeeper politely asked, “Hello, what do you need?”
“How much did you just sell the stone for?” Zhao Jinjin asked offhandedly.
The shopkeeper’s face sank and said, “This is a trade secret.” After that, he stopped talking to him.
Zhao Jinjin said that after that day, the three fingers were imprinted in his head, 3,000, 30,000, 300,000? He wanted to know, how much did the red stone sell for?
A few days later, Zhao Jinjin went back to the store with a few bags of fruit, greeted the owner, put down the fruit and left. After several deliveries in succession, the owner finally called him to the inner room.
“Little brother, what do you want, what is the matter might as well say.”
“I just want to know how much money those three fingers represented that day.”
The shopkeeper laughed at that and didn’t rush to answer him, but only said he wanted to make a friend with him. The shopkeeper’s name is Zhang Baoping – that is, Zhao Jinjin’s own mouth of the second nobleman – Zhang Baoping jade jade business has been more than 30 years, the piece of “South Red” is he spent 680,000 from Yunnan Buy to get, and then find someone to carve 150,000, and finally 3 million sold.
Zhao Jinjin lit a cigarette and told me that he didn’t expect the biggest impact of his life to be brought by a stone – the profit of this one stone, he might not be able to sell fruits for a lifetime.
A few days later he made up his mind to enter the jadeite and jade industry.
2
Zhao Jinjin and Zhang Baoping went to Ruili, Yunnan Province to buy goods. One day at noon, Zhang Baoping into the goods, said to Zhao Jinjin: “to Ruili not gambling stones, it is the same as not coming, I also take you to see.”
The so-called gambling stone, refers to the jade wool in the mining out, there is a layer of weathering skin wrapped, the stone inside the good or bad no one knows, only cut open to see. Before cutting, gambling people can only be based on the characteristics of the skin, with their own experience to infer the merits of the internal jade.
The October Ruili is still hot, gambling stones a street for several kilometers.
Zhang Baoping took Zhao Jinjin to an acquaintance’s store, asked the shopkeeper to help pick a stone, the shopkeeper is a bearded man, turned around and took out several pieces, Zhang Baoping chose a stone with some black.
“That stone is really ugly, and the general stone is no different, I was really sweating for Zhang Baoping.” Zhao Jinjin told me.
Zhang Baoping 30,000 to take, the bearded man cut open on the spot, full of green! The stone is full of green inside, the price immediately skyrocketed.
On the spot, someone wants to buy, some bargaining, and finally sold for 1.3 million. Zhao Jinjin watched 30,000 become 1.3 million, very exciting, but also very tortured.
That night, Zhao Jinjin asked Zhang Baoping for advice on gambling stones, Zhang Baoping said, “This gambling stone ah, to first bet on the seed, and then the casino mouth, the stone I picked today is a good seed, the python belt is very strong, can be very strong gambling.”
The terminology was confusing to Zhao Jinjin.
“The mouth of the field is Burma each digging jadeite field, each field inside the jadeite produced are not the same, some good, some bad, so gambling on the stone must pick the mouth of the field, gambling to win the seeds and mouth of the field, it is almost.”
Zhao Jinjin immediately jumped to try. Zhang Baoping advised him to play, but do not take this as a career to do, gambling stones are also gambling, no one is sure to win, is the experienced connoisseur, there are inevitably times to look away. “Some people get rich overnight, and some people lose their money in a moment.”
But at that time, Zhao Jinjin, just like the chicken blood. And so back home, immediately bought a bunch of books to study up on their own, but also often find experienced people for advice, even dreaming of their own in the gambling stone, row after row of stones, a knife down, are green.
Three months have passed, Zhao Jinjin feels that he has entered the doorway, they brought their 100,000 yuan, and came to Ruili, found the bearded man, let him recommend a few stones.
The bearded man took out a stone from the safe and put it on the table, it was a piece of black oolong, the largest production of jadeite mine in Myanmar, the strongest gambling, the most variable material. The skin is black, oily, with only a “window” to see the flesh inside, most likely of violet species. This means that if the stone was full, it would be worth at least $2 million.
After intense bargaining, Zhao Jinjin finally bought the stone at a price of 20,000. After the money was given, the bearded man said he was in a hurry to go to Myanmar to buy goods, and did not help him cut, Zhao Jinjin then came to the “public line” – is dedicated to gamblers to cut the stone place.
After cutting, Zhao Jinjin is confused, open the “window” material is glued on, the stone has nothing inside, worthless.
Zhao Jinjin said that at that moment he only felt a moment of vertigo, almost half an hour later to regain consciousness, dizzy, the heart is getting more and more confused, and hurried to buy two stones, brought 100,000 yuan did not take long to spend a fine, nothing was cut out.
3
Zhao Jinjin shut himself in the hotel for 3 days, taking the piece of gambling lost the black oolong sand carefully observed. First, use a knife to carve on the stone – black oolong sand skin is composed of chlorite clay minerals, relatively soft, knife can be carved, the powder is gray-green, but this stone is scratched down all black powder – this must be painted on with black paint.
Zhao Jinjin went to wash his hands, and really sticky. If it is true black oolong sand, wet hands touch the surface will not have a sticky feeling, but the pigment on the fake has a gel-like substance, it will have a sticky feeling.
Zhao Jinjin wanted to go to the bearded man, questioning why he sold himself fake goods, and then thought, the rules of gambling stones is not to settle accounts after the autumn, besides, also blame their own incompetence, these few places are not found in advance, can only be considered to pay tuition.
Zhao Jinjin called Zhang Baoping again to borrow 300,000, Zhang Baoping seems to have anticipated his reason for borrowing money, and told him to behave himself and not to get too deep.
This time Zhao Jinjin was really cautious, first rented a house in Ruili, every day mixed in the jade market. For five months in a row, has been silent observation, rarely bid, even if the bid is only a few hundred dollars – he is waiting for an opportunity.
During this period Zhang Baoping also contacted him, advised him that 300,000 do not need to pay back, quickly back, “gambling stone is like a black hole, you can not fill!
But Zhao Jinjin always said: “Wait, wait, wait.”
The stone does not lie, but people will
Two months later, Zhao Jinjin finally waited. That day, the market a more than half a meter high yellow-brown gravel immediately attracted him.
Zhao Jinjin told me about the stone, both eyes were glowing, he could not think of a better word to describe it, held back half a day before saying two words – “sexy!”
Zhao Jinjin said, it is like a beautiful woman lying there, silently watching you, you can even feel it breathing. At that moment, Zhao Jinjin decided to buy it.
After some bargaining, the final price of 500,000 transactions, Zhao Jinjin money is not enough, and asked Zhang Baoping guarantee, borrowed 200,000 from the bearded man.
The stone was bought and cut on the spot.
Cross-waist slash, Zhao Jinjin closed his eyes, only to hear a sigh of relief from around, intermittently heard someone talking.
“Hey, it’s a pity.”
“It looks like how there must be a little green ah, how this nothing.”
“There is a piece of black hole, this is considered to smash the hand.”
Zhao Jinjin snapped open his eyes, there was a black hole about 5 cm in size in front of him, Zhao Jinjin thought it was all over, only to feel his chest tighten, almost unable to move, and so the crowd slowly dispersed, he still did not move.
Back to the place where he lives, Zhao Jinjin lying on the sofa, as if deflated.
This time, not only did he bring the 100,000 yuan wasted, now he still owes 500,000 yuan, his heart only wants to die, he stood on the 5th floor balcony looking out, not far from the gambling stones a street is still boiling with people.
“Just at the moment when I was about to jump–!” Zhao Jinjin’s voice suddenly raised, startled me. Zhao Jinjin said, his body was like an electric shock, ran back to the house and picked up the stone, can not stop stroking observation, and then suppressed a big laugh ……
The next day, Zhao Jinjin returned to the place where the stone was cut, and said to the boss: “Then cut.”
The boss said, “You cut this again as well, why bother ……”
“Keep cutting.” Zhao Jinjin was insistent.
After a few minutes, the electric cutting knife stopped, and the boss looked at it for a while and stared at Zhao Jinjin: “There are ‘bugs’!” –The “worm” refers to the worm fossil. Zhao Jinjin’s heart was already in his throat: “Keep cutting!”
“Oh my God, you’re going to be rich!”
Finally, the stone cut out a total of 10 “worms”, a “worm” 500,000 sold, after paying off Zhang Baoping and the bearded account, Zhao Jinjin left 4.5 million.
4
A few months of in-depth observation of the market also made Zhao Jinjin’s mentality changed – instead of studying how to cut out the “full green”, how about studying how to make money in a more controlled way – and how to make a stone look like the real thing became the focus of Zhao Jinjin’s work later.
He himself also gambled, but also understand the mentality of the gamblers, when they are tempted to blind, selective blindness to some things – gamblers are always the best deception, this we all know.
Zhao Jinjin’s business in Ruili grew bigger and bigger, gradually holding his own store and jade processing plant, and in partnership with Zhang Baoping and Beard, he bought more than 10 million goods from Myanmar, all of which he advanced the money first.
In addition to his own store, Zhao Jinjin also raised some eyes, usually, the eyes on the street to find targets, looking for some foreign, not very knowledgeable about jade “half bottle of vinegar” down.
Selling counterfeit goods a million dollars, than selling real to be too easy.
Occasionally, Zhao Jinjin will do a bureau. Once, he had someone let the wind out early and said he bought a good stone in Myanmar – a sister stone, one in his own hands, the other in Thailand for more than 1 million dollars. All Zhao Jinjin needed to do was to wait for someone who was wealthy and knew a thing or two about gambling stones.
After a while, a businessman from his hometown came to his door, and the businessman threatened to say, “To buy good goods, I’m not afraid to spend money.” Find Zhao Jinjin here, has been in Ruili for more than a week.
But the first time the two met, Zhao Jinjin rejected him outright.
In fact, previously in his hometown, Zhao Jinjin had heard about the businessman. Over the years, the businessman has dabbled in stocks, options, and real estate. The businessman looked at the cottage three times, and the price got higher and higher, until it reached 10 million, Zhao Jinjin reluctantly agreed. But then said that the stone is not here, he hid it to a safe place, a piece of the night to pick up, check the goods before handing over the money.
The businessman hesitated and agreed. That night Zhao Jinjin and the businessman and his party, drove for more than an hour to a mountain, the mountain is very hot, no electricity, get off and walked for ten minutes before arriving at the destination, in a dilapidated hut door with two people guarding.
Along the way, Zhao Jinjin couldn’t stop apologizing to the businessman, saying that such valuable things, not dare to put in Ruili, afraid of being watched, after thinking before deciding to put in this mountain, specially arranged for a few small brothers to watch every day, and I hope you will forgive me. The merchant said he understood while wiping sweat.
The merchant brought an appraiser along with him, and after ten minutes, the appraiser nodded at the merchant, and both the merchant and Zhao Jinjin smiled.
I interrupted Zhao Jinjin: “The merchant may not understand, doesn’t the appraiser see that?”
Zhao Jinjin laughed, did not answer me directly, he said: this kind of thing must first create a sense of mystery, “what sister stone, you say it is it is”, let him out of his familiar environment, walking for more than an hour on the mountain, who would think of hiding a fake stone in the middle of the mountainside?
The most important thing is to create a sense of “insecurity”. At night in the middle of nowhere, the first priority is to save your life. The appraiser probably saw the matter, I think he saw the stone has problems, but also did not dare to say – here, a million dollar stone you see is fake, the news if the word gets out, how can I sell this stone? The appraiser knew that if he said it was fake, he might not be able to go out, he could only say it was real.
This business, even if it is “done”.
And in addition to fake, Zhao Jinjin will also occasionally do the gambling business.
Not long after the businessman from his hometown left, a man from Shanxi walked into his jade store. Not tall, wearing a pair of glasses, talking very civilized, smile before opening. Zhao Jinjin’s first impression of him was very good. Soon, the Shanxi man proposed to pick a stone.
Zhao Jinjin took out several stones from the safe. Usually, Zhao Jinjin does not give advice to customers, but this time, Zhao Jinjin recommended a stone to him, saying that it had great potential.
The Shanxi man looked carefully at the stone Zhao Jinjin recommended and compared it to several others, but ended up picking another one.
“I knew the one he chose must be a scrap, but I couldn’t say.” Eventually that stone was sold for an average market price of 350,000. The stone was cut on the spot, and the Shanxi man immediately fell to the ground, or Zhao Jinjin had someone take him back to the hotel.
The next morning after the Shanxi left, Zhao Jinjin has not yet arrived at the store, far to see their store surrounded by a group of people, into a look, their store door hanging dead a person, it is the Shanxi.
Zhao Jinjin tossed around to know that the Shanxi people because his wife had uremia, dialysis requires a lot of money, friends and relatives have borrowed all over, and finally had no choice, mortgaged the house, with the money to Ruili, hoping to finally gamble.
“For a long time, as long as I walk outside the store, my mind will be floating Shanxi people’s appearance …… longer, that smiley face in the brain more and more clear.”
5
“Do you believe in retribution?” At the wine table, Zhao Jinjin stared at me and asked, straight to my hair.
Three months later, Zhao Jinjin’s cell phone popped up a hometown news: “rich businessman in debt, jumped to his death”. Zhao Jinjin casually clicked on it, but froze.
The report said, Wu (a rich businessman) nearly two years of serious losses, desperate to go to Yunnan to gamble on stones, trying to rely on gambling to solve the crisis, but instead lost more than 10 million, “the 10 million became the last straw that crushed him”.
Zhao Jinjin saw the news that day after the light wanted to smoke a cigarette, but went through the drawers did not find, can only pace back and forth in the house. He himself knows what it’s like to jump off a building, and understands the deep sense of despair. Although the report also stated that the businessman had previously owed a lot of money, but for the businessman’s final death, he had a lot of responsibility.
“You do not blame yourself too much, in business, you did not force them.” I could only comfort him.
Zhao Jinjin said that during that time he began to lose sleep, when he closed his eyes, are the Shanxi people and the businessman’s appearance, and he can sleep, and again and again dreamed of his father, dreamed of his father said to him when he was dying “learn good”.
Not long after, Zhao Jinjin and Zhang Baoping, the bearded man bought the batch of jade in Myanmar Bamo was detained. Previously, similar to this kind of thing, was caught is also confiscated jade. But these two years, not only confiscated jade, often even pulling jade people are arrested and sent back to Yangon for trial – smuggling jade in Myanmar and drug smuggling the same crime, caught but to be sentenced to felony.
In the past, when this happened, the soldiers who were guarding the border were usually bribed to smuggle the jade out, but this time, the new guard in Bhamo was a newly appointed lieutenant, so Zhao Jinjin looked for all kinds of connections but failed to get in touch with the new guard, so he was so anxious that his mouth was full of bubbles, and eventually the jade was not shipped back.
Zhao Jinjin went to Zhang Baoping and the bearded man, wanting to share the loss, but the two men did not agree, saying that the goods were bought by Zhao Jinjin, he had not agreed to ship such a large batch of jade from Burma, Zhao Jinjin promised that there was no problem, and now there is a problem, Zhao Jinjin should be responsible for his own.
Zhao Jinjin said that according to his previous temper must find Zhang Baoping and the bearded theory, but that period of time, he saw the jade felt some stomach upside down, and no longer have that enthusiasm.
“Everything is retribution ah.”
6
Zhao Jinjin sold his jade store, sold his house in Ruili, and went back home.
He found the businessman’s house, where his wife and children were still there. He said he was a friend of the businessman and had borrowed a million from him and now wanted to pay him back. The businessman’s wife and son stared at Zhao Jinjin for half a day, very alert. Eventually, Zhao Jinjin had no choice but to tell the truth.
Just after Zhao Jin Jin finished, the businessman’s wife said in a shaky voice: “We are broke, not so much as to use the money of the man who killed my husband, what do you mean by coming here today? What do you mean by coming here today? To admire your own masterpiece? Or did you come to pity us, mother and son, for the sake of your own conscience, get out, you are not welcome here.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhao Jinjin was pushed and shoved out the door by her son.
In the past few years, the cousin’s fruit store has been poorly run, and there is not much profit, has been trying to change hands but can not be transferred out, Zhao Jinjin took the store down, continue to do the fruit business. Then went back home, to the father’s grave, by the way, the mother also received the city, and now live a peaceful life.
I said to him, “After listening to you I also want to go to Ruili, try your luck, in case everything comes out a full green can be rich.”
Zhao Jinjin smiled and advised me not to go.
“Why? Cheating stones?”
Zhao Jinjin said, “The stone does not cheat people, people cheat people.”
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