Chapter 110 Become A Millionaire
"Imperial edict, my G.o.d! Imperial yellow robe, my G.o.d!" Chen Fan pulled his hair and felt like crying. "If I air-dry it, frame it up and place it in the cabinet, wouldn"t my status shoot up to that of an aristocrat?"
However, it was all too late. The imperial yellow robe had become a rag, and the imperial edict had broken into two. Even if it was glued back together, people would still think that it was fake. It was too bad that this thing got so seriously corroded by the merciless seawater.
Feeling frustrated, Chen Fan could only stand up and turn the wooden box over, giving it a good shake to empty everything that was inside. Other than the torn imperial robe and edict, there were some doc.u.ments and books in the box. However, they turned into a pile of sludge with just a light touch.
"Seems like only these ten pieces of jade have some value!" Chen Fan shook his head with regret before kicking the corroded box and smas.h.i.+ng it into pieces. Chen Fan picked up the small box and looked at the imperial edict. After gently gluing the damaged portion and wiping away the water stains on the box, Chen Fan put it into the car together with the jade pieces and took them away.
Driving himself back to Bolan Gardens, Chen Fan leaned on the bedroom couch and started to daydream.
Why did an imperial edict conferring the t.i.tle of Deputy Commander of the Royal Elite Knights end up in the sea together with the bestowed gifts? Was it because this man called Fu Lin knew that he was a coward and couldn"t beat the robbers, hence he took valuable things and escaped to other countries? Or could it be this Fu Lin guy was a brave and skillful warrior who fought the pirates after fighting the robbers?
Chen Fan thought about it for a long while but still couldn"t figure it out. However, if this had been on the "Discover" TV program, the experts and professors would also be put in a difficult position, so it was reasonable for Chen Fan not to understand.
Casting his doubts aside, Chen Fan s.h.i.+fted his gaze onto the attractive jade pieces! He put away two seals with names carved on them and then started to look carefully at the seventeen pieces of fist-size jade. He was now strapped for cash and still owed 5 million RMB, so he had to sell a few pieces to recoup some funds.
The ones that were engraved into seals definitely can"t be sold, as for the others… jadeite, white jade… Chen Fan gave it a long thought before picking out two of the smallest pieces of jadeite and white jade. It had to be mentioned that these things were all bestowed on others by an emperor. Although bestowed items were definitely not as valuable as those belonging to the emperor himself, the things bestowed by an emperor were definitely of a certain grade!
Moreover, from ancient times until now, the price of these jade pieces had already increased by many folds, so they could certainly be sold at sky-high prices. However, Chen Fan did not know about the specific price of jade, so he decided to ask someone knowledgeable in this area before selling them.
Within Chen Fan"s social circle, the most influential person he knew had to be the richest man in Zhongyun, Ma Rongtao. Since rich businessmen generally liked to show an exaggerated interest in artistic things, Chen Fan decided to find out about the price before asking for Ma Rongtao"s help to sell them off.
Needless to say, Chen Fan also fancied doing the same thing, otherwise he wouldn"t air-dry the imperial edict before placing it nicely in its box and putting it on display on his bedroom shelf. After stas.h.i.+ng the jade pieces away, Chen Fan called w.a.n.g Bing over to drive him out.
Although it was a dangerous period in which Fu Lulong was very likely to seek revenge, Chen Fan did not get w.a.n.g Bing to stay with him but instead had him stay at his old house to look after the place. After all, the security system of Bolan district was very complete, especially at the villa area. The entire area had surveillance without any blind spots, with 24-hour security patrol throughout the day. On top of that, each household in the villa area was installed with an alarm system connected to the security room. Upon pressing the b.u.t.ton, more than ten security guards holding batons would rush over immediately. Needless to say, high quality security services meant that the cost was high. The annual property management cost of staying there was 18,000 RMB!
...
"Boss, where are we going?" w.a.n.g Bing who was in the driver"s seat turned his head to Chen Fan.
"Bajing Street"s antique market!" Chen Fan replied as he continued looking out of the car window. Bajing Street was located at the north end of Zhongyun"s main road. It was an antique street with decades of history, specializing in antiques and jades.
It was the place where Chen Fan sold the porcelain pieces that the electric eel had salvaged from the s.h.i.+pwreck the first time. When they were near Bajing Street, Chen Fan got w.a.n.g Bing to park the car a distance away before walking in. After getting to the side which specialized in jade, Chen Fan walked around before entering a jade shop called "Jasper House".
"Young man, looking for jade?" The shop owner was a white-haired old man in his sixties. He squinted his small eyes underneath a pair of reading gla.s.ses, giving off an air of craftiness.
"Um!" Chen Fan walked around the gla.s.s counters before shaking his head with dissatisfaction. "Show me the best jadeite you have here!"
"Well…" The old man was a little hesitant. Two strong young men wearing yurt sungla.s.ses asked to see the most valuable jadeite the moment they came it, could they be robbers?!
"This is the most valuable piece!" The old man thought for a long while before taking out a piece of green jade Pixiu from the side drawer.
Chen Fan picked up the jade Pixiu from the top of the counter and took a long look at it. As he looked at it, he felt that something was not right, but he couldn"t say specifically what was wrong!
"Help me take a look at how much this piece of jadeite is worth?" Chen Fan glanced around before taking out a piece of green translucent jade from his s.h.i.+rt and pa.s.sed it to the shop owner.
"Burmese Zhengyang jadeite?" The old man"s squinted eyes suddenly widened, like a man who had been imprisoned for ten years seeing a young pretty girl right after being released.
"This...this…" The old man stuttered as he took off his gla.s.ses and wiped them with his s.h.i.+rt. After putting them on again, he examined for a long while before saying with a sigh, "Young man, our shop can"t afford to buy this piece of jade!" The man didn"t even think of confusing Chen Fan. There aren"t many fools these days; almost everyone would have done a thorough search on the internet and gone to various shops to ask for the price when selling valuable things. Moreover, this item was valuable enough for one to risk his life for it, so the old man didn"t dare to play any tricks, for fear that he might just lose his life.
"Help me estimate how much it"s worth." Chen Fan took out a few red notes and slammed them on the gla.s.s counter. The price of jadeite stones were mostly fixed, unlike finished products which have artistic value added.
The old man examined for a long while before announcing to Chen Fan a jaw-dropping figure. "8 million RMB, don"t sell any lower than this price!" The old man smacked his lips. "I can help you get a client if you wanna sell it, I guarantee it will be more than 8 million RMB. After the transaction is successful, I"ll just take a 200,000 RMB commission from you!"
I just want an estimation of the price, I"m not for selling it for the time being!" Chen Fan took the jadeite back from the old man"s reluctant eyes before signaling to w.a.n.g Bing who was standing guard at the door to leave.
"8 million RMB!" Chen Fan totaled up the sum of all the pieces as he walked. There were a total of seven pieces of this fist-size jade stone. If they were all sold at this price, it would be a total of 56 million RMB!
After walking a few more rounds, Chen Fan went to another jade shop to get an estimation of the price of the white jade. It was indeed a little rash of Chen Fan to do this. If it caught the attention of someone with evil intentions, a b.l.o.o.d.y fight would probably break out. Nonetheless, with a superb fighter like w.a.n.g Bing around, the other party would definitely be the one bleeding.
The price of the white jade was a little lower than the jadeite; the other party only stated a price of 7 million RMB. Chen Fan continued going to a few more shops and got the shop owners to do an appraisal of the jade stone, and the price given at the end was all about the same.
An hour later, Chen Fan walked out of Bajing Street. As a precaution, he brought w.a.n.g Bing along to the nearby market quarter with high human traffic and walked a few rounds there.
"Boss, I"m very certain that no one is following us, don"t worry!" w.a.n.g Bing understood Chen Fan"s intention and gave him his a.s.surance.
Who was w.a.n.g Bing? He was a soldier from the special forces who had gone through rigorous training. This could be seen from the unit he was in. No member of his unit could be found in the active military sequence!
What did being tailed mean to him? It meant that there was a kindergarten kid whirling a kitchen knife in front of Guan Yu!
"Um!" Chen Fan nodded and then walked toward where the BMW was parked. After the car started, Chen Fan dialed the number on the business card Ma Rongtao gave to him. After two rings, the call was picked up.
"h.e.l.lo, Chen. What"s up?"
"h.e.l.lo Uncle Ma!" Chen Fan deliberated his tone. "Do you like stuff like jadeite and white jade?"
"Haha, are you thinking of giving me a few? Or selling me a few?"
"Well…" Chen Fan was a little embarra.s.sed. "Sell...selling a few!"
"No man at my age will dislike jade." Ma Rongtao laughed heartily. "You can show me of you have good quality ones."
"When are you available? I"ll bring them over for you to have a look!"
"Now is fine, you can come over to my office!"
"Um, I"ll be there an hour from now!" After hanging up, Chen Fan got w.a.n.g Bing to drive him to Bolan district. He left the biggest piece of the jadeite and white jade each behind and took the rest away.
Stepping into the main entrance of Ma Rongtao"s company again, they saw that the receptionist who had been teased by w.a.n.g Bing previously had either been promoted or sacked, and was replaced by a woman in her thirties.
After getting w.a.n.g Bing to stay guard downstairs, Chen Fan carried a gray briefcase and asked the reception to notify his arrival before walking toward the elevator. Ma Rongtao"s office was at the highest level which had a panoramic view and was surrounded outside by dark gla.s.s panels. Even a sanitation worker would instantly feel superior and high above the rest here.
After walking to a door with a sign that said Director"s office, Chen Fan gently knocked on the yellow wooden door.
Creak! The door was opened from the inside. "Why do you sell everything?" Wu Ruoyu, who was dressed in a black suit stuck out her tongue cheekily. "You sold the giant squid"s beak the previous time, and now jadeite... I wonder where you got all that stuff!"
"What a coincidence!" Chen Fan laughed and scratched his head. "Well, a businessman needs to have various sources and varieties to make money!"
"Then I wanna buy Doraemon"s magic bag. Do you have that?" Wu Ruoyu touched her hair charmingly.
"I do have that…" Chen Fan spread out his hands. "Just that it can"t produce anything!"
"Ha!" Wu Ruoyu smiled. "I"ll catch up with you again, I have some things to see to!"
After stepping into the office, Chen Fan was dumbstruck! The 100 square meter office was luxuriously decorated. The white wool carpet, the exquisite stenciled wallpaper, and each of the valuable ornaments highlighted the extraordinary qualities of the owner.
"You"re here, Chen, come take a seat!" Ma Rontao was seated on the chair, going through doc.u.ments while sipping tea. After seeing Chen Fan walk in, he put down the purple clay tea cup in his hand and gestured to Chen Fan to sit on the chair at the side.
After pulling the swivel chair to the long cedar wood table, Chen Fan said a few words of formalities before opening the gray briefcase.
"So many?" Ma Rongtao gasped, but it was not because of the price. This was an ordinary amount to him since he was used to hundreds of millions of circulating capital. The real thing that shocked him was the number of jade stones, and how so many jade pieces of good purity and similar shapes would appear together.
"Um!" Chen Fan placed the jade stones on the table one by one. "I salvaged an ancient box in the sea, and inside were all jadeite and white jade!" Chen Fan mixed both truth and falsehood in his explanation. He had no reason to come up with some story to a rich man like Ma Rongtao, because he wouldn"t bother about such a trivial thing.
"Do you plan to sell all of them?" Ma Rongtao picked up a piece and weighed it in his hand. "There"s nothing to complain about the purity, they"re definitely top grade. If you wanna sell all, I"ll get someone over now to calculate the price."
"I"ll sell all of them, I"m a little short of cash flow these days!" Chen Fan shrugged.
"Haha!" Ma Rongtao let out a laugh before dialing the phone at the side.
Half an hour later, a fatty in his forties who looked like Maitreya Buddha walked into the office with a metal box.
"This is Luo Yi, a famous jade appraiser in Zhongyun. The price he states is definitely reasonable!" Ma Rongtao nodded at Luo Yi before introducing the two.
"h.e.l.lo, how are you!" Chen Fan stood up and extended his right hand.
"How are you!" The flesh on Luo Yi"s face shook as he smiled and used his thick meaty hand to grab Chen Fan"s right hand. After exchanging greetings, Luo Yi opened the metal box and took out a miniature microscope. He placed the jade stone on top and adjusted the magnification before putting his eyes over it.
After examining for a while, Luo Yi took out another odd-shape torch and shone it from the bottom of the jade stone. Luo Yi looked at each of the jade stones carefully and then clapped. "The stones are excellent, based on their sizes, the price of the six pieces of jadeite is a total of 50 million RMB, and the seven pieces of white jade is also 50 million RMB!"
"100 million RMB!" Ma Rongtao touched his chin. "Chen, are you satisfied with the price?"
"Why wouldn"t I be?" Chen Fan smiled happily. 100 million RMB! What an astronomical figure. Other than being used to describing the number of sperm, there aren"t many other uses for these large numbers.
"We"ll agree on that then!" Ma Rongtao laughed. "With such a high price, I wouldn"t dare to keep them all to myself. I gotta sell some to my friends and earn a little from it!"
"The amount is a little too much. If you trust me I"ll transfer to your account in a few batches within the next ten days!"
"Of course I trust you, Uncle Ma!" Chen Fan agreed without even thinking. His office was here, and he couldn"t possibly run away.
"By the way Uncle Ma, since you"re in the freight business, if I use this money to make a custom ton-size s.h.i.+p, which s.h.i.+pyard would you recommend?"
"Custom make a ton-size s.h.i.+p! This is a great idea, you can only get more influencing power if you expand your business!" Ma Rongtao gave it a thought before taking out a business card from the drawer and pa.s.sed it to Chen Fan. "This is the top s.h.i.+pyard in Zhongyun. Half of its orders are from European and American countries. Its credibility and quality are guaranteed!"
"Thank you, Uncle Ma!" Chen Fan took over the business card and looked at it. "Zhongtian s.h.i.+pyard"s business manager...Xia Qingqing?" Chen Fan read out the words on the business card.
"She"s a beautiful lady around your age!" Ma Rongtao winked, teasing Chen Fan.