Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Antique Market in the Basement

"I’m back." Brother Qiu nodded and said to the young man, "Stay sharp. Let me know right away if you notice anything."

"Heh heh, don’t worry, Brother Qiu. My eyes are sharp," the young man said, then quickly opened the factory’s main gate to let Su Qing and the others inside.

"This place is really out of the way. So where is the flower market?" The speaker was the same woman who had questioned Brother Qiu before. She was clearly nervous but forcing herself to appear calm.

In truth, all the women except for Su Qing were on edge. The place was genuinely remote; if anything happened, escape would be impossible. A couple of them were already regretting their decision to follow him so readily. They had unconsciously huddled together, eyeing Brother Qiu with caution, terrified that a group of men might suddenly burst out to capture them.

"Relax, we’re here. You’ll see for yourselves in a minute whether I’ve been lying to you," Brother Qiu said, exasperated. Still, he understood their apprehension. The place was admittedly remote, and it was only natural for a group of women to be suspicious of him. ’Of all the luck,’ he thought, ’the group I find is all women. If there had been even one man, they wouldn’t be this suspicious.’

"We’re here." Brother Qiu led Su Qing’s group into the factory, stopping in front of a steel door. He opened it and said, "It’s downstairs. Follow me."

Su Qing looked and saw a staircase leading down behind the steel door.

"Why is it in the basement?" one woman asked, not daring to enter. The more she thought about it, the more unnerved she felt, and she couldn’t help but take two steps back.

"Hey now, ladies," Brother Qiu said wearily. "This is a black market, and it’s full of stuff that’s not easy to move. If we didn’t make it discreet and someone reported us, we’d all be busted in one go, right? Relax, I’m not a human trafficker. We’re here to do real business. You can set your minds at ease."

Su Qing said to Brother Qiu, "Lead the way."

Brother Qiu gave Su Qing a curious glance. Of all the women, Su Qing was clearly the youngest, but he had noticed on the way here that she was by far the most level-headed. She was completely different from the others and had shown no signs of fear or trepidation. Even now, her voice was perfectly calm.

"You got it." Brother Qiu chuckled. "Keep up, everyone."

With that, he led the way into the basement.

The other women had clearly noticed Su Qing’s composure as well. They instinctively moved closer behind her and followed her into the basement.

"See? What do you think? I didn’t lie to you, did I?" Brother Qiu said to Su Qing and the others, pointing at the people engaged in transactions in the basement. He sighed to himself. ’Bringing customers here isn’t easy, you know. They suspected me the whole way!’

The basement staircase was a spiral one. Once at the bottom, Su Qing discovered a massive, brightly lit hall. Many people had set up stalls, but they weren’t selling ordinary daily necessities. Instead, they were selling antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. ’This is basically what an antique market from a later era would look like,’ she thought.

And surprisingly, there were quite a few people browsing the stalls.

"Didn’t you say something about jadeite rough?" asked one of the women behind Su Qing.

"Of course," Brother Qiu chuckled. "The rough stones aren’t over here. If you’re not interested in what’s at these stalls, I can take you to see them first."

"Fine, we want to see the rough stones."

Clearly, the women had all been drawn here by the promise of jadeite rough.

Su Qing, of course, was also here for the rough stones. So, she and the others followed Brother Qiu to the left side of the hall. There was another steel door there. Before it was opened, she couldn’t hear a thing, but as soon as it was, a clamor of noise from within washed over her.

"Quick, quick, quick! Cut it two more times, let’s see!"

"Whoa, that’s a lot of green coming out of this one."

"You’re not kidding! It’s a huge win!"

...

Amidst the clamor of voices were the piercing screech of machinery and a choking amount of dust. But clearly, none of this dampened the crowd’s enthusiasm. Everyone’s attention was fixed on a machine that was cutting a stone. A man splashed a bowl of water onto it, revealing a translucent, crystalline green.

"Wow, it’s so beautiful."

"It’s gorgeous! So this is how jadeite is cut from these stones."

The women who had come with Brother Qiu had apparently forgotten all their fear. Their eyes sparkled as they stared at the partially revealed piece of jadeite.

"See? I told you I wasn’t lying," Brother Qiu emphasized with a chuckle.

"Heh, sorry about that." The women were all a bit embarrassed and apologized to Brother Qiu for their earlier suspicion.

"It’s fine, it’s fine. I get it. Why don’t you take a look around? The rough stones for sale are over there." Brother Qiu pointed to a pile of stones of all sizes on the other side of the room. "If you want to buy any rough stones, you can ask Ah Sheng."

With that, Brother Qiu shouted to a man sitting by the pile of rough stones, "Ah Sheng! If these ladies want to buy any roughs, take care of them, will you?"

"You got it, Brother Qiu! Don’t worry." The man called Ah Sheng responded and walked over with a smile. He said to Su Qing’s group, "If you want to buy rough stones, you can ask me for prices. The size and quality of these roughs are all different, so the prices vary. Once you buy a stone, you can have it cut right here. If you get a good cut and want to sell, there are bosses from Xiangcheng here who will make an offer if they like your jadeite."

Su Qing and the others nodded. Watching the excited, noisy crowd, Su Qing raised a brow slightly. She recalled the people from Xiangcheng at Baihua Mountain. ’It seems quite a few people from Xiangcheng have come here,’ she thought.

Just as they were speaking, someone in the crowd cried out in surprise, "Whoa, that’s a huge piece!"

The exclamation immediately drew the attention of Su Qing and the others. Su Qing hurried over and saw a man next to the cutting machine holding a piece of jadeite half the size of a basketball. He splashed a cup of water on it, and under the lights, the pale green jadeite shimmered brilliantly. It was stunningly beautiful. Beside him, an ecstatic man took the jadeite with trembling hands, grinning from ear to ear.

"Comrade, are you selling that jadeite?" someone in the crowd called out.

The moment the man spoke, Su Qing knew where he was from. His accent was identical to the one spoken by that group of people on Baihua Mountain.

"Yes, yes, I’m selling." The man holding the jadeite nodded eagerly. The jadeite was beautiful, but money was even more so. You couldn’t eat or drink jadeite, after all. It was better to sell it to these big bosses from Xiangcheng than to just let it sit around.