Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 921: Chapter 917: Encountering Hattori Keiko Again

Huo Sining didn’t think much and followed the route Nara Nigawa mentioned.

In fact, in the past few days, Huo Sining also did one thing, which was to persuade Nara Nigawa to be her guide.

At first, Nara Nigawa was a bit hesitant, but he couldn’t resist Huo Sining’s persistent requests, and finally agreed.

Having a guide, Huo Sining’s plan was half successful, which is why she sought out Nara Nigawa.

She walked to the end of the street and turned left at the intersection, seeing a crowd ahead. As Huo Sining hesitated, she saw a familiar figure waving at her—it was Nara Nigawa.

Huo Sining hurried over, her curious eyes fixed on the people behind him: ”Mr. Nara, why are so many people gathered here, what’s happening?”

Nara Nigawa laughed, ”You’re into antique collecting, you should be familiar with stone gambling, right? This is a stone gambling shop. I heard they’ve received a batch of material from Myanmar, so these people came to try their luck.”

Hearing this, Huo Sining found it a bit odd: ”Myanmar material? Isn’t all the stone gambling material from Myanmar?”

Is there another place that produces jadeite raw stone? However, all domestic jade raw materials are smuggled from Myanmar, and she had not heard of any other country producing them. Otherwise, Myanmar wouldn’t have fought internally for decades over a few mining veins.

Nara Nigawa quickly explained, ”Of course, Myanmar produces the best quality jadeite. Over ninety percent of commercial-grade jade in the Oriental Market comes from Myanmar, but Myanmar is not the only country producing jadeite. We also have jadeite deposits in Dongyang.”

Huo Sining felt surprised, ”Dongyang also produces jadeite?”

Nara Nigawa nodded, ”Yes, developments in geology and field archaeology have confirmed this. Dongyang has a series of jadeite deposits, mainly scattered across areas like Niigata Prefecture, Uozu City, Aomachi Town. However, these jadeites are mostly primary mines, mostly coarse-grained jadeite aggregates, primarily green and white in color, with a rather dry texture. Very few reach gemstone quality and most are used as sculpture-grade material.”

Nara Nigawa said this rather tactfully, but Huo Sining understood that although Dongyang had jadeite mines, these jadeites formed in a shorter time compared to Myanmar’s, not fully mineralized, and not pure in texture. By mining standards, these should be categorized as secondary rather than primary mines. The jade produced is basically ****-grade, only suitable for carving stone ornaments.

Huo Sining couldn’t help but smirk inwardly, having thought Dongyang, this island country, really produced jadeite, it turned out she was overthinking.

However, this was just a thought in her mind. To say this directly in front of Nara Nigawa might lead to a fallout between them.

With Myanmar’s current internal strife, even adjacent Huaxia couldn’t afford to smuggle raw materials. Let alone an island country like Dongyang, which was separated by half the Pacific Ocean from Myanmar.

So, Huo Sining held a skeptical view of the so-called Myanmar raw materials at this stone gambling shop, thinking the owner’s words were likely exaggerated. She wasn’t impressed with these raw materials, nor interested in them, so she stayed outside without intending to get involved.

However, Nara Nigawa was evidently very interested. As soon as the shop opened, he couldn’t wait to rush inside, eager to try his luck.

Since she needed someone’s help after all, Huo Sining couldn’t urge him too much, so she just waited outside.

Sure enough, as Nara Nigawa had said, the small room inside the shop was packed with large and small raw materials, seemingly just moved in from the back as new inventory.

The people gathered outside the shop also all rushed in, each eagerly starting to pick and choose.

Huo Sining glanced over briefly, but just from the new and old surface features and color characteristics, it was hard to determine whether these raw materials came from new or old mines. However, she noticed a detail—when someone picked up one of the raw materials, the sand and stones on it fell off heavily, proving these materials were definitely not from Myanmar’s old mines, probably came from new mines.

So-called new or old mines actually don’t have significant distinctions and differences in appearance. New mines are the recently extracted sites; the raw materials feature minimal or no skin with a looser outer sandy skin, making it hard for newcomers to distinguish with the naked eye.

But there is a huge difference between new and old mine outputs. Jadeite from old mines forms over longer times, being authentic primary mines of a higher grade, with greater chances of cutting and rising in value. Jadeite from old mines is high-grade in texture and transparency, with a high likelihood for superior jadeite.

New mines differ as traditional old mine jadeite has been exhausted, emerging in response to market demand. However, the jade quality and base from new mines are inferior compared to old mines; most have coarser textures with slightly lower density and hardness. After polishing, the product’s color quality is inferior compared to old mine jadeite, even with full green, High Jade, is hard to craft into high-end jewelry.

Seeing this, Huo Sining became even less interested, wandered around outside the shop, browsed through several small shops across the street, estimated that Nara Nigawa should be done picking, and then came out to find him.

Yet as she stepped out, she saw a car parked at the entrance of the stone gambling shop across the street, a fashionably dressed woman getting out, accompanied by a suited man, directly facing Huo Sining.

This woman, Huo Sining recognized, was Hattori Keiko, the owner of Mikamiki Jewelry, with whom Huo Sining had had several run-ins.

Hattori Keiko probably didn’t expect to see an old acquaintance in Dongdu, so when she first saw Huo Sining, she didn’t recognize her as the Huaxia woman she hated with a passion.

Of course, Huo Sining didn’t want to get entangled with this woman. Seeing no reaction from her, she welcomed it, quickly turning her head to pretend not to know, thinking it wise not to clash directly since Dongdu was Hattori Keiko’s territory, with herself alone in a foreign place, best not to confront head-on.

Huo Sining wanted to avoid Hattori Keiko, but fate seemed to joke with her. Just at that moment, Nara Nigawa rushed out of the stone gambling shop, holding a piece of raw material, excitedly shouting at Huo Sining, ”Huo-san, Huo-san, look, the raw material I just chose has appreciated!”