"I never said any of them were genuine! My question was 'which one hasn't been tampered with,' and the correct answer should have been 'all have been tampered with.'" Old Garrett glared at Uncle Harvey, then turned back to me. "You didn't choose the red Dama Kan water stone right away. Why?"
"I thought the red was too intense. The color seemed wrong—the rind shouldn't be that red, should it?" I wasn't entirely sure either.
"To be fair, natural red jadeite that's even redder than this does exist. You're only half right. The real problem isn't the intensity—it's that the color is 'dry.'"
"What does 'dry' mean?"
"Dry means the color lacks luster. Natural color is always lusterous."
I thought to myself, what a racket—dry is the opposite of lusterous, and lusterous is the opposite of dry. Circular definitions.
"The technique used to turn raw jadeite red is currently undetectable by any laboratory. Take it to the most authoritative testing station, have it examined with the utmost care, and it will always come back as Grade A natural jadeite. Because it doesn't violate any of the defining criteria of jadeite—it's not a chemical dye, so there's no fluorescence. It doesn't crack the jadeite or alter the crystal structure or grain size. It's not acid or alkali. This 'burning red' technique simply causes the jadeite to change color naturally. In lab testing, it's completely indistinguishable from natural jadeite."
"So it's basically just an enhancement technique. That's incredible!"
If all jadeite could be turned red through this process, wouldn't that be like turning stone to gold?
"It is turning stone to gold. The person who mastered this technique is an old Myanmar man who keeps his method strictly secret."
"How do you know about it, then?"
"I know him, so I know it's his work. But the actual method? No idea. Whenever he's about to burn jadeite, he locks himself in. Nobody's allowed in, nobody gets to watch."
Old Garrett spoke about this man with obvious admiration, laughing as he recounted: "He said, 'In this world, if I tell even one other person, a third person will find out, and then it won't be a secret anymore. This technique, I'll do it myself until I can't work anymore, then I'll pass it to my son. I'll make sure he keeps it in the family. That way, our lineage will always be able to make a living from this.'"
I had to admit, this was a very traditional way of thinking. But thank goodness he thought that way—otherwise, wouldn't red jadeite flood the market in Ruili?
"But," I argued, "if testing confirms it has no issues, isn't it essentially genuine? Only insiders can tell the difference—that the color isn't as premium or natural as unenhanced jadeite—but it's still authentic jadeite, right? Mr. Garrett, you're not just being protective of your own stones, are you?"
Old Garrett grew serious. "All fakes leave traces. All treatments leave flaws. Otherwise, it would be magic."
"What's the flaw?"
"It fades."
"Then isn't that easy to expose?" I immediately realized I was oversimplifying—if it were that easy, it would already be in every textbook.
"The fading cycle is extremely long?"
"Correct. It takes roughly five to ten years for the color to fade gradually. And the fading isn't dramatic—just a slight shift toward yellow, a bit grayer, slightly drier. Because the change is so gradual, owners don't notice. If you compared photographs taken ten years apart, the difference would be obvious. But day to day, you'd never see it."
That was genuinely troubling. I cared deeply about jadeite's color—if the color was going to degrade, I couldn't treat it as genuine either.
Old Garrett said, "The fake can never become real, and the real can never become fake."
Well, now all three were fake. My dream of taking home one of Old Garrett's raw stones was dashed. But one question still nagged at me. I hesitated, then decided to ask.
"Mr. Garrett, hearing all this has been worth ten years of study—I've learned so much! But there's one thing I've been wanting to ask you."
"Go ahead."
"You're in the jade gambling business. Why are you telling me all these industry secrets?"
"It's because of your Uncle Harvey's face. He wants me to talk to you more, so you'll focus on learning jade carving with your master and not go down the same path as his first apprentice."
That sounded like a story about Uncle Harvey's past.
Uncle Harvey didn't engage with Old Garrett. Instead, he slid the bead bracelet off his wrist and started playing with it.
"Zane, let me ask you," Old Garrett began. "Why do people come to us to buy gambling stones?"
"To make money?"
"No, you're wrong. Jade gambling has both wins and losses. The wins can be huge, but losses are more common, and everyone at the top knows this. Overall, the sellers always make more money. If buyers were consistently profiting, we'd starve. Even the buyers know this. So if they know they'll likely lose, why do they still buy?"
"Why?" I was surprised that Old Garrett viewed his customers this way.
"Because they love jadeite. Because they're fascinated by it. Because jadeite has an irresistible allure. What state do you think jadeite is most captivating in?"
The question caught me off guard. I thought for a moment and answered honestly: "As someone learning to carve, I don't find raw stones beautiful. Otherwise, jade carvers would have no purpose. Jadeite is most beautiful when it becomes a premium bangle, a perfect cabochon, an elegant pendant, or any finished piece of fine craftsmanship."
"Exactly! You got it right. I believe that you jade carvers truly bring out the best in jadeite. You know how to extract its beauty, its inner essence. I don't have your eloquence or vocabulary, but you know what I mean—this is your calling."
"Mr. Garrett, I'm truly grateful for your teaching."
"When you elevate jadeite culture, more people fall in love with it, and then more people want jadeite. And when people want jadeite and also want to try their luck for a bargain, they come to jade gambling. See?"
"I see!"
"But these past few years, the jade gambling industry has become too chaotic. There are people selling literal cement blocks online as raw stones—actual concrete! Pure fraud! And there are so many different ways to cheat that the whole market has become polluted. Slowly, fewer people will love jadeite. And when nobody loves jadeite, nobody comes to gamble on stones. You jade carvers are the ones responsible for making people fall in love with jadeite. If you go off and gamble on stones instead, that's such a waste. And my business genuinely gets worse and worse."
I thought about the cement block "raw stones" and shuddered.
"Five years ago, Uncle Harvey had an apprentice with real talent for carving and a great eye for jade material. Uncle Harvey was very strict with him, never letting him gamble on stones. The apprentice was well-behaved because he had a sick father back home, so he focused on carving, earned money, sent it home for his father's medical bills. Steady and reliable, his skills improving all the time."
"Then one day, something changed. He became a different person—restless, unfocused. He started using his eye for jade material to gamble on stones. There's a world of difference between picking material for someone else and gambling with your own money. He couldn't stop, ran up huge debts, and fled to Myanmar to hide. He's been completely off the grid for years now. Think about it—what a waste."
"So Uncle Harvey brought you here to see me, knowing full well what jade gambling is really about, hoping I'd think more about my jade carving."
Old Garrett's words felt deeply genuine. I was moved but didn't know what to say except, "Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Garrett. I'll take it to heart."
Uncle Harvey gave a dry laugh and stood up. "Let's go, it's getting late. Dinner?"
Old Garrett smiled. "I'm still busy. You and Zane go ahead."
Uncle Harvey laughed and punched him on the shoulder. "You're terrible, haha."
I'd just been caught up in emotion, and now I watched the two of them suddenly cracking up, completely bewildered.
Old Garrett saw my baffled expression and burst out laughing. "Zane, don't believe everything! That story I just told you—I made it up."
They exchanged glances and laughed. I stood there with a black line across my face.
---
As Uncle Harvey and I were leaving, saying our goodbyes, Uncle Harvey suddenly stopped in his tracks and walked straight back to the antique display shelf in Old Garrett's tea room.
"What material is this?" Uncle Harvey asked, his voice urgent.
"This is the legendary Kaqin mine material that can yield dragon-stone type jadeite," Old Garrett said with immense pride.
Uncle Harvey's voice dropped low, but his tone was urgent: "Kaqin mine material!? This stuff hasn't existed in decades!"
Old Garrett smiled mysteriously. "That's right. I figure it must be Mr. Qian's doing."
"Mr. Qian of Twin Gold Towers? How could that be?"
"Heh, otherwise how would decades-old premium material reappear on the market?"
"Something's not right..." Uncle Harvey murmured. He looked toward the southwest and muttered something under his breath that Old Garrett didn't hear, but I caught it.
He said: "Mr. Qian is in big trouble."