"Alright, let’s take a look at this raw stone," Ran Yunsheng said.
Ran Yan had purchased this raw stone for fifty-six guan, including twenty guan for guessing the price, making a total of seventy-six guan, which was the highest price for raw stone tonight.
Seventy-six guan was a sum most people could not earn in their lifetime. Nearly everyone’s gaze was focused on the jade cutter’s tools.
On the platform, a new round of price guessing commenced. Four raw stones were left; Yang Langjun hesitated for a moment before choosing one of them. The others sensed his mood, feeling a bit puzzled, one individual backed out of the bidding, and two others competed with him.
Suddenly, an exclamation came from the jade cutter.
"What fine jade!" the cutter exclaimed as he looked at a piece of jade, faintly shimmering blue-green, revealed from the rough stone, his voice trembling with excitement.
This stone had just started to be cut, and jade was already visible; it might contain many small pieces or one large piece of jade, each possibility no less than seventy-six guan in value.
Of course, it was not excluded that there was only one small piece in the entire stone.
Typically, when rough jade is freshly split apart, besides its color and texture, it mostly appears no different from the raw stone and needs to be polished to reveal its luster. However, the jade showing from the raw stone’s corner under the lamplight spilled a gentle blue-green glow, soft as spring breeze rippling over green waves.
Hearing the cutter’s praise, the stall owner, disregarding the ongoing bidding, quickly approached. These jade cutters had seen a lot of fine jade, and such an astonishment meant the jade was undoubtedly extraordinary!
Seeing the stall owner’s reaction, the crowd also gathered around.
Lantian Jade had been widely used since the Qin Dynasty; it was said that the great Qin Jade Seal and the famously known He’s Bi were made of Lantian Jade. If indeed a piece of Lantian Jade as large as He’s Bi were uncovered, the stall owner might as well have dashed his head on the street.
As the jade cutter’s tools carefully delved deeper, a piece of Lantian Jade three inches long and one inch wide revealed its true form.
Lantian Jade included types such as jadeite, inkstone jade, colored jade, Han white jade, and yellow jade, known for their distinct colors and unique patterns.
This piece of Lantian Jade clearly belonged to jadeite with colors of blue tinged with green, alas...
"What a pity, this piece of jade has some impurities and is not big enough," the old master slightly polished the jade stone, wiped it clean with white folded cloth, placed it on a tray, and sighed.
Such large jade, even with some impurities, was already quite valuable, but it’s common to cut Lantian Jade of this size.
The stall owner quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Experts mentioned this raw stone might contain fine Lantian Jade, but the specifics were unknown. However, Lantian jade usually formed in stripes, bands, or patches, and this time they hadn’t uncovered a large jade mine, so he guessed the size of this fine Lantian Jade wouldn’t be too large.
Ran Yun, delighted, took the rough jade and carefully appraised it, her eyes twinkling, she turned to Ran Yan, "This jade in my hands could be worth at least eighty guan, how about you let me handle it, I’ll only take thirty-five percent of the sale price,
The onlookers seeing such a young girl thought her words were just playful boasting, but Ran Yan immediately responded without hesitation, "Okay."
If sold now, this piece of jade might only fetch about twenty guan. Ran Yun had already seen its potential; although the jade stone contained some impurities if polished into a fingernail-sized bead, not only would it be free of impurities, but the color would also be beautiful. By then, aiming to avoid the impurities and preserving the largest possible bead, they could craft it into jewelry, for which there was a high demand among wealthy ladies in Chang’an.
As the stone continued to be cut and polished, another piece of jade similar in size to the earlier Lantian jade emerged from the raw stone, naturally pocketed by Ran Yun. Ran Yan was indifferent to this; she lacked a strong desire for money and felt fine as long as she had enough to live by. Besides, her current situation rendered money useless.
These two pieces of Lantian Jade were only worth about thirty to forty guan in total, and the stall owner once again unclenched his sweat-soaked hands. Ran Yan caught a glimpse of Yang Langjun also easing a bit out of the corner of her eyes.
The raw stone was quickly cut in half, and the crowd’s patience was reaching its limit. The stall owner glanced around, feeling it was time to resume the bidding, and turned back toward the platform.
No sooner had he stepped onto the staircase than a commotion erupted behind him. From the jumbled noises, it was barely discernible that the raw stone had yielded another piece of jade!
The stall owner’s slender body trembled slightly as he dashed back, aggressively pushing through the crowd to the forefront. He saw a jade-like shape faintly visible within the stone, its color a blue-green blend. Hank in width and twelve inches in length, this stripe of Lantian Jade was already half an inch thick at the cut, and it appeared there might be more below!
The jade worker continued the polishing, and the stall owner’s complexion turned pale as he stared fixedly at the piece of jade, his vision momentarily darkening.
This piece of jade might not compare to the uniquely exceptional Qin Jade Seal or to He’s Bi, yet it was significantly larger than those two, and its value was currently hard to estimate.
Ran Yun and Ran Yunsheng were the most delighted, as even Ran Yunsheng had never seen such a large and pure piece of Lantian Jade.
Although it was still rough jade, it already subtly shimmered.
Ran Yan was also astounded; she had merely speculated that there would be jade in the stone but had not anticipated such size.
"A pearl from the deep sea bears tears; Lantian jade warmed by the sun produces smoke—truly living up to its great reputation!"
The entire piece of jade was polished, weighing approximately fifty kilograms of rough jade. In general, fine jade was not exceedingly rare, but most Lantian Jade typically formed in stripes, patches, and the jade rough unearthed was either very thin or very small, even if a jade mine was found, there was no guarantee of finding such well-colored complete material.
Ran Yunsheng ordered two guards to cover the rough jade, then, before the crowd could react, he dropped seventy-six guan and swiftly left with Ran Yan and Ran Yun, rapidly heading towards Xian Ling Inn. (To be continued. If you work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)