It would take about ten hours to fly from Beijing to Urumqi and then transfer to Yutian.

Su Qingran settled down at the hotel around 3 a.m.

Luckily, there was a two to three-hour time difference from Beijing, and the public jade auction wouldn’t start until 11 a.m., so she had plenty of time to rest.

Since she began learning carving, Su Qingran had always been steady and methodical. She could have taken the master certification exam last year but didn’t rush into it.

Some of her peers, however, used their masters’ works under their own names to take the exam. These peers entered the field later than Su Qingran and had less accomplished teachers, yet they were the ones who secured various certificates, which were then proudly displayed on shelves as symbols of success.

Other than winning a gold medal in a youth carving competition when she was fourteen, Su Qingran had been rather quiet in recent years.

Many people in the industry started saying that even Master Hong Yiru could misjudge someone, believing his young apprentice was a once-promising talent who had burned out too soon. They claimed that the title of “Master Hong’s apprentice” would be the peak of her career.

When she was younger, Su Qingran cared about these opinions and even considered creating more carvings to exhibit and prove herself. But her father told her that it didn’t matter how others saw her, just like how their Su family’s beverage business went from unknown to a household name.

Time would prove everything.

Today marked the first public jade auction in Yutian in years. There were several jade mining sites nearby, but due to the difficulty of transportation, most auctions took place inland. If not for a few key figures in the jade industry who happened to be in the area, this event wouldn’t have been held here.

Among those present were people like Su Qingran—carvers and collectors—but most were traders looking to purchase stock for their businesses.

In recent years, the price of Hetian jade had skyrocketed, but as it is a non-renewable resource, many mining sites had been excavated deeper and deeper, yet yielded little to nothing.

Many of the sites around Yutian had long been closed.

Zhai Wei brought Su Qingran to meet some colleagues, visiting his studio near the auction.

Su Qingran immediately spotted a piece of Ruoqiang yellow jade.

“We’ve been friends for many years, so I won’t inflate the price—six million. If you agree, I won’t sell it to anyone else, no matter how much they offer,” said the seller, whom Su Qingran had met before. He owned several mining sites and was known for having direct access to high-quality jade.

Zhai Wei and Su Qingran used a specialized flashlight to carefully inspect the jade’s surface and interior, checking for any cracks, the quality of the stone, and the consistency of its color.

After a long while, Zhai Wei and Su Qingran exchanged glances and nodded.

The price of six million was fair, with no exaggeration. The seller clearly wanted to build a stronger relationship.

Su Qingran didn’t haggle and nodded. “Alright, Mr. Xu, we’ll take the yellow jade.”

“You’ve got guts for someone so young,” Mr. Xu laughed, picking up two more stones nearby. “I’ll throw these in as extras for you to play around with.”

They finished the payment, signed the contract, and collected the goods within half an hour. Su Qingran’s bodyguards stored the jade, and the group headed to the public auction.

“I asked around yesterday. The two pieces I sent you videos of—the ink flower jade and the Loulan three-color jade—are sealed bids,” Zhai Wei said as they walked. “So we’ll need to be careful with our pricing.”

Su Qingran sighed. “Let’s take a look at the actual stones first.”

With their tickets, they entered the auction, collected their bid sheets, and headed to the display area.

The event was large in scale, with all the stones available for open bidding displayed outside. Since the sealed bids wouldn’t close until 5 p.m., most people were outside inspecting the stones.

Su Qingran and Zhai Wei quickly scanned the larger mountain stones outside. Since they were carvers and not involved in processing or selling jade, they weren’t too interested and headed straight to the indoor display.

The moment they entered, Su Qingran spotted the Loulan three-color jade.

This jade was known as the “Loulan three-color” because it featured black, sugar brown, and warm white hues in a single piece. The stone was about 40 centimeters long, 23 centimeters tall, and 13 centimeters thick. Its beautiful natural colors captivated Su Qingran at first glance.

Sometimes, inspiration strikes in an instant. The moment she saw the stone, she had already envisioned a suitable carving design. She just needed to examine the cracks to confirm whether her idea would work.

She approached the stone, turned on her flashlight, and carefully studied it. Meanwhile, Zhai Wei sought out some old contacts, discreetly gathering information on who else was interested in the stone and what their financial backing was like.

They moved on from the Loulan three-color jade to the ink flower jade, and then selected a few smaller stones outside, noting down the lot numbers before heading to the rest area.

Sealed bid pricing was tricky. Since no one knew what others were bidding, offering too low would mean losing the bid, effectively just “running the race” for nothing.

Bidding at market price might work, but there were no guarantees.

If someone truly liked a piece, the best approach was to offer the highest price they were willing to pay.

This way, they wouldn’t risk overpaying by too much and still had a strong chance of winning.

“Xiao Ran, have you decided?” Zhai Wei asked. “I just asked around. Several people are interested in the ink flower jade, and they’re pretty strong contenders. The Loulan three-color jade, though, might not have as much competition due to its high reserve price and the crack it has. While the crack isn’t deep, it limits you to carving a maximum of eight bracelets from the stone, with the rest only suitable for beads or pendants. Because of its high price, it won’t be easy to sell quickly. So, it’s best suited for us carvers or collectors.”