Chapter 76 What kind of jade is this?

“I am Yun Xiaobao, the owner of this teahouse. Can I invite you to the second floor?” The middle-aged man smiled kindly as soon as he came up, introduced himself, and then invited us to the second floor.

“Master, what’s on the second floor? Why are they all asking us to go to the second floor?” I was a little confused and asked directly in front of him. With my master by my side, I didn’t feel afraid of anything.

“The second floor is a small private tea room, convenient for talking about things.” Old man Jiang said with a cigarette pipe in his mouth, not paying much attention.

But the old man didn’t care, but someone else did. Ma Duoduo said, “Xiao Bao, even if Baochun were here, he wouldn’t do this kind of thing, would he? Everyone on this path knows that Baochun is the most law-abiding person.”

“Which one is Brother Baochun?” I asked my master in a low voice.

At this question, the tea house waiter immediately gave me a fierce glare, Cao Er was sweating, Ma Dudu revealed a smile of interest, and Yun Xiaobao remained calm and smiling.

As for me and the old man Jiang, how could we be the ones to suffer? The two of them immediately matched their steps and glared back.

The waiter couldn’t stand it and immediately coughed twice and turned his head away. He can’t win by staring at us? Are you kidding? Master and I have stared at each other in boredom on many occasions. We’ve practiced!

“Haha, very funny, very funny. This Master Ma’s Baochun is called Yun Baochun, and he is my father.” Yun Xiaobao found it interesting and simply laughed out loud in response to my question.

I let out a sigh and leaned back on the table. I had heard Master Jiang talk about the ancients a lot, and I had seen a lot of the wisdom of the ancients. I understood what the old man Ma meant. He was just saying that his father had taught him to follow the rules, and he was reminding his son to follow the rules as well.

Sure enough, Yun Xiaobao turned to Ma Dudu and said, “Master Ma, the most important thing that has given our Yun family a reputation is a rule. How can we do something like this? It’s just that this gentleman has something very important, and it’s really not convenient to talk about it downstairs, so I invited you all upstairs. Master Ma, everyone does business. Do you think this is a good idea? If this gentleman is willing, he can show you his goods first. If you recognize the goods and give a suitable price, and if this gentleman is satisfied, then our Yun family will not interfere. If you can’t reach an agreement, our Yun family happens to know the goods, then…”

Ma was extremely conceited and immediately slapped the table, saying, “Okay, let’s do it this way!”

At this point, the old man Jiang laughed twice and said, “You two are interesting. I didn’t say anything, and you already decided to do business with me. Well… you two probably can’t tell what this thing is worth, but you can try.”

He then took my hand and led the way to the second floor.

This remark was not arrogant, but Yun Xiaobao and Ma Dudu did not know the backgrounds of me and Old Jiang. They were both cunning and cunning people, but they smiled and endured it, and then went upstairs to the second floor.

When they got to the second floor, there were indeed small tea rooms. Yun Xiaobao ordered the quietest one and led everyone in.

The most nervous of them all was Cao Er. He had never had the chance to come to the second floor before. He heard that the transactions here were amazing, and not only was he on the second floor today, but he was surrounded by a group of important people. He felt that he had burned incense and was able to come and see for himself, but he was still nervous.

After less than three minutes, a tea waiter brought a pot of hot tea and a few cups. Yun Xiaobao, as the host, naturally poured tea for everyone himself and said, “It’s not really good tea, just ordinary pre-ming tea, so everyone will have to make do with it.”

Yun Xiaobao personally poured the tea, and he still drank this rare Mingqian tea. Cao Er was already flustered, and Ma Dudu’s face was much more peaceful. It was just me and my master, looking very casual.

After hearing that it was pre-ming tea, the master said, “It’s just so-so.”

After I took a sip, I said, “Master, it’s not as good as our tea.”

Despite Yun Xiaobao’s good upbringing, after hearing what we said, he felt his face uncontrollably twitching. I guess these two masters and apprentices are either not the kind of people who are not worth a twitch, or they have a very deep background.

Yun Xiaobao probably stubbornly thought that I, a child, didn’t know tea, so I thought my family’s big bowl of tea tasted good.

After drinking a sip of tea, Ma was unable to contain himself. He looked as if he was about to speak, but then the old man laughed and said, “You can look around. But I’ll tell you now, if you don’t recognize it, then call Yun Baochun.”

“This matter, there is no need for Brother Baochun to come, right?”

“It should not be necessary to invite my father.”

Ma Dudu and Yun Xiaobao almost said it in unison. The old man Jiang didn’t say anything either. He reached into his pocket and took out the jade, casually throwing it on the table.

At the same time that the old man Jiang threw out the jade, the three pairs of eyes on the table began to stare at the jade. After looking at it for less than a minute, the three of them looked strange, especially Cao Er, whose mouth was almost open in an “O” shape, which was a sign of extreme surprise.

Cao Er dared not speak out of turn, but Ma Dudu grabbed the jade and looked at it over and over for a long time. The more he looked, the weirder his expression became. In the end, he even looked slightly angry. He looked at the old man and said, “The quality of this jade is still good, but it’s not particularly outstanding. It’s white jade, and it’s new, not more than 50 years old, and it’s not even ancient jade. The only bright spot is that the water color is surprisingly good. It is estimated that it was specially played by an expert who knows how to play with jade, making the jade so warm and moist. But… but…”

The old man smiled and said, “Don’t but, I carved this thing.”

Indeed, when he said this, I was a little embarrassed. This jade was made into the shape of a jade plaque, but it was irregular. On one side, it was engraved with a crooked character for “happiness,” and on the other side… it was engraved with a fat baby with a very bad body proportion, like a sketch. Originally, wasn’t the fat baby holding a fish? The fat baby on this jade plaque was holding a potato-shaped thing. I asked my master what it was. He said he wanted to carve a fish, but he couldn’t really do the fine work, so he carved an outline, more or less like this.

“It’s a waste of jade, it’s a waste of jade… no wonder you said I couldn’t see the point.” Ma Dudu put the jade on the table and huffed. It seems that this person is not entirely motivated by money. He is indeed a jade lover. I guess it’s because the old man Jiang just now was too mysterious, and he couldn’t figure out the background, so he didn’t act on the spot.

In fact, I thought to myself, if you knew that my master wanted to eat hot pot, you would have carved the word “hot pot” on the jade, and there was another piece of jade with the word “shabu” carved on it. This piece of jade at least has the auspicious character “fu” on it, right?

Yun Xiaobao’s eyes were full of confusion, but he still reached out and picked up the jade on the table, asking, “Master Ma, you’ve seen it, right?”

“Nonsense, it’s obvious, why do you still need to ask?” Ma Dudu said, and then snorted.

After receiving Ma Dudu’s affirmation, Yun Xiaobao carefully examined the jade. Of course, seeing the same level of craftsmanship as my master, he couldn’t help but frown. He looked at it for a lot longer than Ma Dudu did.

Ten minutes later, he gently placed the jade down and said with some confusion, “It’s obviously just an ordinary white jade, but it gives off a full aura. The coloring is so beautiful that you can’t help but love it. I don’t know which jade master made it. But these things are all intangible. After all, jade is priceless. An ordinary piece of jade can be made warm and pleasant by a jade master, so this piece of jade is priceless in his heart. Sir, are you trying to tell us that you are a jade master? Are you a master of jade?

“I thought you could tell what it was. It turns out you don’t see things the same way I do.” Ma Dudu said angrily.

The old man Jiang was not satisfied, and said, “What the hell is jade? You say that all jade is cultivated. You don’t understand. Let Yun Baochun come.”

This is not a polite remark. After seeing the jade, Yun Xiaobao was very confused as to whether the old man was pretending to be mysterious and came here to cause trouble. However, he still restrained his temper and said, “This jade is basically like this. I don’t think I’m wrong. There’s no need to invite my father, right? If this gentleman is short of money for a trip, I will have to help him out. After all, people are in the world, and everyone has a difficult time.”

“Well, it’s no wonder you don’t know what you’re looking at. I’m willing to sell this jade. Even your grandfather, Madman Yun, would have been fighting over it if he were still alive. Go and ask your father to come. Just say one thing: Old Li’s disciple is here.” Old Jiang said angrily.

Yun Xiaobao’s face suddenly changed. His father’s reputation was very good, but in this generation, he had just experienced ten years of instability. He knew that there were not many people who knew his late grandfather, Yun Jinjin, let alone Yun Lianzi’s nickname!

Yun Laozi, crazy about jade! And Grandpa’s early identity was not good to be mentioned on the table. In Sichuan dialect, he was a person who engaged in the business of Taihe. What is that? He went down to the grave to find things to sell, that is, to rob the tomb.

Yun Xiaobao pondered for a long time, his face changing again and again. Finally, he called someone in and said, “Go, go home and call the old man, and bring a message that someone who knows my grandfather, can call out my grandfather’s nickname, and claims to be an apprentice of Lao Li is looking for him.”

The tea waiter promised and quickly left, and for a while the atmosphere in the tea room was a bit dull.

Yun Xiaobao turned to look at Ma Dudu: “Aren’t you leaving? Don’t you see the jade?”

“I’m not leaving. It’s rare for Baochun to make a move, and I must see it through.”

Yun Xiaobao was silent for a moment, and just kept his head down and drank tea. After less than half an hour, the door to the tea room was broken open, and an old man almost rushed in and yelled, “Which one is Lao Li’s apprentice?”