Chapter 2 Chapter 1 The Best Jade in the World

This incident happened a long time ago. At that time, I was still very young and very active. There were some things that were obviously beyond my ability, but I tried to do them hard, and finally failed.This is what I want to describe now.It was an unusually early spring.It was almost as warm as summer, and I made an appointment with a few friends to go to the outer islands away from the city where I lived at the time by yacht to collect pine roots and pick out strange shapes to make bonsai, so I took them away early in the morning. He got the tools and went out the door.As soon as I left the door, an extremely luxurious and aristocratic car stopped beside me.

The uniformed driver almost killed me, but he didn't even apologize, he just gave me a glare, got out of the car, opened the door, a gentleman in robes, around fifty, with a cane, walked out.After the gentleman came out, leaning on a cane, he stood still and looked up.He was looking at my house, and there was a look of disdain on his face. In good conscience, the house I live in is a small garden house with two floors above and below. He glanced at it, stepped forward, and rang the bell with the tip of his stick.I didn't wait for him to ring the bell, so I stepped over and said, "Excuse me, who are you looking for?"

The gentleman looked at me proudly: "Who are you? I want to find your master." I sneered: "So far, I have no master." The gentleman stretched out his cane to ring the electric bell, and I reached out and grabbed his cane: "Don't press it, I am the only one in this room." Besides, there is no one else here, so I must be the one you are looking for." The gentleman looked at me with a strange look, and hummed: "You—that's Mr. Wesley?" He said the word "Mr." very reluctantly, and I couldn't help feeling angry: "Yes, I am Mr. Wesley!" I said the word "Sir" with a particularly strong voice.

The gentleman was a little embarrassed. He took out a French black crocodile leather wallet from his pocket. When he took out the wallet, he revealed the platinum watch on his wrist. Everything about this gentleman showed his status as a wealthy man.He opened his wallet, took out a business card, and said, "Mr. Wei, it's Mr. Zhou. Mr. Zhou Zhitang introduced me to see you." I heard Zhou Zhitang's name, and I couldn't help but lift up my spirits. He is one of my fathers and a person I admire a lot. I took the business card, and there were a few lines of Zhou Zhitang's words on it: "Introduce Mr. Xiong Qinyu to see you, he has something you must be interested in to bother you, Xiqia."

I really don't like this Mr. Xiong Qinyu, but his name is very familiar to me. He is not only the richest man in this city, but his fame reaches many cities thousands of miles away.Xiong Qinyu has countless titles and holds countless positions. Why does such a person come to me?This question alone is enough to arouse my interest. I immediately gave up the idea of ​​collecting ancient pine, and opened the door with a key: "Mr. Xiong, please come in." Xiong Qinyu followed me in and sat down in the living room. silent.I couldn't help asking: "Mr. Xiong, what advice do you have?"

Xiong Qinyu's demeanor is not as arrogant as before, he said: "I... have something to trouble you, but... Mr. Wei, you must not reveal the conversation between the two of us, and you must not disclose this matter Tell anyone about it!" The unhappiness in my heart increased a bit: "If you have something to say, just say it!" I believe that Xiong Qinyu has never received such an unkind accusation in his life. He looked extremely embarrassed: "Yes... yes... Mr. Wei, I want to ask you to find something that was lost." I couldn't help being disappointed, because what I was expecting was a very complicated and bizarre thing. Only in such a thing can we get the infinite pleasure of solving difficulties.But Xiong Qinyu just wanted me to find the lost property!Not only would I not be interested in this kind of thing, but it would be an insult to me if this kind of thing came to me!I stood up: "I'm sorry, Mr. Xiong, I can't help you find the lost property. You have found the wrong person. Please go back."

Xiong Qinyu also stood up, and said in a voiceless voice: "But what I call a lost item is a piece of rare emerald jade. Sixteen years ago, the International Jewelry Group estimated its value at two million pounds." I said coldly: " Money can’t scare me, sir.” Xiong Qinyu said: “But this is the best jadeite in the world, since there is no jadeite like it!” In fact, Xiong Qinyu doesn’t have to talk, I also Know the origin of this emerald.This is indeed the best piece of jade──I haven't seen its real object, but I have seen its pictures and words describing it. How the previous generations of the Xiong family got that piece of jade is a mystery.Some people said that the previous generation of the Xiong family had pacified the Western Regions with Zuo Zongtang, and the piece of jade was obtained from the Western Regions.Some people also said that it was searched from the Heavenly King’s Mansion by the previous generation of the Xiong family who broke the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s Tianjing. Some even said that the previous generation of the Xiong family used to run errands with one of XX’s subordinates. In the "Xianfeng" incident, he took advantage of the chaos and stole it from He XX's residence.

There are many legends, but none of them seem to be relevant. The important thing is that the Xiong family was in the Qing Dynasty.It has already become famous, and among the family, there are several people who have been the chief officials of the frontier. It's just that at that time, the people of the Xiong family never revealed that such a piece of emerald jade was treasured, because maybe the emperor was happy, and it would be troublesome if he wanted to "check". Until the early years of the Republic of China, the Xiong family had moved to Shanghai. At a reception held by the French envoy, the head of the Xiong family at that time—that is, Xiong Qinyu's father.He probably drank a few more glasses, or the French woman who attended the meeting was too charming, and he actually revealed the secret of this emerald jade.

Thus, this strange and priceless jadeite began to be known to the world, but only seven or eight people had seen this jadeite before and after, and the last one they saw was an American hooligan who was in China , relying on his identity as a foreigner, bluffing and deceiving, and his status is extremely high. When he saw the emerald, he took a photo with a spy camera and wrote a very detailed article introducing the emerald. emerald. According to the records in this article, this piece of jadeite is truly "water-permeable green", that is to say, the whole body is emerald green that is neither deep nor light, with a height of 3.65 cm, a width of 7 cm, and a length of 17.3 cm. It is a rectangular piece.At that time, the estimated value of the International Jewelry Group was 2 million pounds.

That was the price at that time. Nowadays, such jadeite is very rare, but there is a lot of demand. An oval ring face can often be worth 30,000 to 40,000 pounds. Just imagine, how many ring faces can such a large piece be cut into? , how much is it worth?And such a piece of jade was actually lost. This should be a big news that caused a sensation in the world, but no one knew about it. Of course, there were extremely twists and turns! So at this time, I was not so angry anymore, because the lost property is so valuable, so naturally Xiong Qinyu didn't come here deliberately to look down on me.

Xiong Qinyu looked at me: "This is really an amazing thing, really amazing, it is as big as a brick, it seems to have a strange magic power, I saw it once on my teenage birthday, and until now, it The look of it, its allure, is still deeply imprinted in my mind!" When Xiong Qinyu talked about this, his luck became rough. I sat down again: "Since then, has the jade disappeared?" Xiong Qinyu said: "No, it's just that I haven't seen it since that time." I nodded: "Then, of course this piece of emerald jade is kept by your father?" Xiong Qinyu took out a silk handkerchief and wiped his sweat: "Yes, since this piece of emerald jade arrived at Xiong's house, it has been kept by the parents. Only the parents of Xiong's family know where it is hidden, and When he was about to die, he dictated to his eldest son the place where the precious jade was hidden." I looked at him strangely: "So, this piece of emerald jade was lost in your hands, didn't your father pass away six years ago?" Xiong Qinyu sighed: "Yes, but I never got that piece of emerald jade. I was at Mr. Zhou's place, and I learned that you have extraordinary wit and can be called a modern Sherlock Holmes, so I made a special trip to visit. I hope you can solve this difficulty for me. I am now... now..." When he said this, he was sweating profusely. I still didn't make a sound, just stared at him, and he just sighed: "Mr. Wei, you must keep a secret for me. The business I run, due to the downturn, can't be supported in all likelihood. live, there is only an empty scene left, if there is not a huge turnover of funds—” I couldn't help being surprised, Xiong Qinyu is one of the richest people in Southeast Asia, but I didn't expect that he was actually a person who is a strong outsider! He smiled wryly: "It just so happens that a family in the United States mentioned this piece of emerald jade to me through a well-known international jeweler. That family, buy it for ten million pounds!" I sat on the sofa without moving, and stayed for a moment before I said: "But, Mr. Xiong, this is your family heirloom." Xiong Qinyu said: "Yes, I am not planning to sell it, to be honest, I am I'm not willing to part with it. I just want to show it to the jeweler, estimate the value, make this matter a news, and then I refuse to sell it, that's enough, do you understand?" Of course I understand, It is not easy to hide Xiong Qinyu's predicament from others. His reputation in the market must not be as good as before.For a businessman, the loss of reputation is more terrible than the plague.Because people only like to lend money to rich people.And if the news about his refusal to sell Qiyu came out, no one would believe the news about his unstable career, even if it was true!A person who refuses to accept ten million pounds must be worth more than ten million pounds-this is the common belief. I spread my hands: "Then there is nothing I can do to help, I see, I will introduce you to a famous private detective—" Xiong Qinyu shook his head, "No, I believe Mr. Zhou's introduction, if you don't If you are willing to help me, I am not going to find someone else." I don't know how my lord Shi Bo boasted for me, so that Xiong Qinyu believed that I had such ability.I was still young at that time, and most young people like to be flattered by others, so I became a little elated, and my tone became more active: "This is a family heirloom of your Xiong family, how can I track it down?" Xiong Qin Yu excitedly said: "I can give you all the clues I know, as long as you find it for me, as long as I can have this piece of emerald jade to show that jeweler, I will give you whatever reward you want." I intentionally made a request that he couldn't answer, and said: "I want to cut a small piece of the emerald jade I found, and give it to me as a souvenir of what I did." Xiong Qinyu immediately agreed: "Okay!" Since he was so angry, it was inconvenient for me to refuse, so I could only say: "Okay, tell me the relevant clues." When I said that, I took this matter very lightly.Finding lost items is such a simple matter, but when Xiong Qinyu began to narrate, I knew that things were not easy. First of all, I am going to work—that is, the place where I am going to find this strange jade is not in the city where I live, but in the place where Mrs. Xiong died. Originally, that was not a problem, but because the politicians that Mrs. Xiong had befriended before his death had fallen in a coup, the new power holders were hostile to the Xiong family, and they knew that the Xiong family had such a The strange emerald jade, it is possible that the emerald jade is in the old house of the Xiong family, so, as far as Xiong Qinyu knows, the old house of the Xiong family is guarded day and night by spies from the local intelligence agencies. They are also looking for the emerald jade, of course they are also Not found. I not only want to go to that place, not only to search for that piece of emerald jade, but also to fight against countless spies. When I heard this, I couldn't help but smile wryly in my heart! Xiong Qinyu looked at me, I didn't show any embarrassment yet, which made him more at ease. I asked again: "Then, I can't even enter the Xiong's mansion, how can I find this emerald jade?" Xiong Qinyu said: "On the surface, the dignity of our Xiong's family is still there, I can't Go, because once I go there will be trouble, but one of my cousins, and nineteen others, still live in the mansion, you can go live in the name of my distant relatives, secretly help me find this piece of emerald jade, bring it come out!" His last sentence shocked me again. Not only did I want to hide my identity, but I also wanted to smuggle it after the matter was successful! Smuggling with such a large piece of emerald jade is inconceivable. Even if the emerald jade is waiting for me to get it, it is extremely difficult to succeed.