Chapter 274: Buying Jade

Little Cao wasn’t as worldly as Yu and was clearly a bit nervous. Fortunately, Yu was very outgoing. She took Little Cao by the hand and said, "Little Cao, let’s go play inside! My dad just bought me a Nine Rings puzzle. We can play with that."

The two little girls went inside, hand in hand. Young Master Zhou came out of the house and said to Gu Fei, "I was just about to look for you. Don’t you want to buy some jade? Old Zheng is back and he just brought in a new shipment. I’ll take you to see it."

Sister Dan quickly said, "Little Fei, you go on ahead. Just leave Little Cao here to play. I’ll bring her back to you after dinner."

She worried whenever Young Master Zhou went out, no matter who he was with, but she felt at ease when he was with Gu Fei.

’As long as he doesn’t have a death wish, he won’t dare get any ideas about Little Fei.’

’Of course, Little Fei wouldn’t be interested in a character like him anyway.’

"Alright, then I’ll go take a look with Brother Zhou."

The two of them left the house. Instead of taking a carriage, they simply walked along Furong Street.

They rounded a corner onto another street. Before they had gone far, Young Master Zhou led Gu Fei into an alley. He walked up to a black-lacquered door and knocked, calling out, "Old Zheng, it’s me, Zhou Kun!"

A moment later, an old man opened the door. "The master is inside. Please, come in, both of you."

Gu Fei and Young Master Zhou stepped inside. The courtyard was quite large. As they were taking it in, a middle-aged man emerged from one of the rooms. "Is this the young lady who wants to buy jade?"

Young Master Zhou nodded. "Old Zheng, she’s like a sister to me. Bring out the real stuff, and make the price fair."

Old Zheng smiled. "Of course. This way, young lady."

The group walked to the back courtyard, where Old Zheng unlocked the door to a storeroom. Inside, piles of raw jade were stacked high.

Old Zheng gestured to the heap of jade. "I just brought this all back from the Western Regions. I nearly died on the road for this haul."

"There’s a great drought across several commanderies in the Northwest. The roads are littered with the bodies of the starved, and refugees are everywhere. It’s a good thing I’m not hauling food, or I would’ve been robbed clean long ago."

Gu Fei looked at the jade stones, which were a mix of green and white. Their rough outer rinds had been removed, but the jade itself was unpolished and lacked any luster.

’She was only buying it to feed her space anyway,’ Gu Fei thought, so she wasn’t concerned about the luster. She said, "I don’t really know how to choose jade. How about this? I have three thousand taels of silver. I don’t need the highest quality stuff; just give me whatever you think is a fair amount for this price."

’This was the first time Old Zheng had ever seen someone buy jade this way. Not asking for the best, not even picky about color or clarity... It was as if she wanted to buy it by the heap.’

This put him in a difficult position. Young Master Zhou had come by the day before and quietly informed him that this young lady was under the protection of the Young Master Heir.

’If he gave her substandard jade, he wouldn’t be able to justify it. But if he gave her the good stuff, three thousand taels of silver wouldn’t buy much.’

After a moment’s thought, Old Zheng selected several pieces of medium-grade He Tian White Jade and a few pieces of Hetian Green Jade. He estimated that on the open market, the lot would be worth at least four thousand taels.

’Especially now, with the great drought in the Northwest. No one knew how long it would last. Trade routes were more difficult to travel than before, and costs had risen. The price of jade was bound to increase in the next year or two.’

’Of course, his own cost for the jade was just over two thousand taels, so he wouldn’t take a loss selling it to Gu Fei. He wouldn’t make much of a profit, either, though. A major factor was the considerable expense of hiring dart masters for the journey.’

So, Old Zheng said, "Ordinarily, I could sell this lot for at least four thousand taels of silver. However, since you’re a sister to Young Master Zhou, I’ll charge you three thousand. Let’s just consider it the start of a friendship."

Gu Fei was direct. "Alright. Thank you, Uncle Zheng. Let me give you the silver, then."