My phone showed the temperature in Mandalay at 39 degrees, but for Myanmar that wasn't even considered hot. Uncle Harvey had been commissioned by Twin Gold Towers, the largest publicly traded company in the jade industry, to travel to Myanmar and investigate the mystery behind the rumored return of the legendary Dragon Stone type jade. I followed him, hurrying back from Mandalay to the mine, searching for answers.
The blazing sun scorched my eyes. In such extreme heat, my brain slowed down until I couldn't think at all. Normally, sitting idly in air-conditioned rooms, there was nothing major to ponder. But in this deadly sun and suffocating heat, a whole pile of mysteries awaited us:
Why was the Dragon Stone type jade Uncle Harvey found actually antique material passed off as newly mined?
Could the Kaiqin mine really produce Dragon Stone type jade?
Who would do such a thing?
The more I needed to think clearly, the more my brain overheated, leaving me with no thoughts at all. A real Matthew effect.
We got into the car Uncle Harvey had called and headed back to the mine.
I couldn't help asking Uncle Harvey, "Why would the answers be at the mine?"
Uncle Harvey turned the question back on me: "Why would someone take Dragon Stone jade they've collected for decades and sell it as new?"
I nodded — that was exactly what puzzled me. "Right, why?"
"To manipulate the price."
"Manipulate the price? But you told me the jade industry's rules are all about industry protection. Price manipulation always drives prices up, doesn't it?"
"Correct, which is what's strange. They're doing the opposite — pushing prices down. If Kaiqin could produce new Dragon Stone type jade, it would be like a globally limited edition of fifty luxury watches suddenly announcing full production, churning out hundreds every year. The price would plummet."
"What? That's true!" I said, puzzled. "No merchant would do that. It's smashing their own rice bowl."
"Exactly."
"Then who benefits from this?"
"Destroying the price doesn't help anyone," Uncle Harvey gave a bitter smile. "So it's not someone from within the jade trade. Don't forget — who am I here on behalf of?"
"The boss of Twin Gold Towers?"
"Twin Gold Towers is the largest collector of Dragon Stone type jade, and they're a publicly listed company. In this year's international climate, capital markets are extremely cautious, so... do you understand?" Uncle Harvey stopped there, but he'd said enough.
"Are they trying to short Twin Gold Towers?" The realization hit me. "Is Twin Gold Towers' book inventory entirely—"
"That's right, it's all jade, and a solid portion of it is Dragon Stone type jade."
"And stock price depends on the company's book value..." I started, saw Uncle Harvey nodding slightly, and continued. "So if the price of Dragon Stone type jade gets pushed down, combined with media coverage, Twin Gold Towers' asset valuation would take a massive hit. People would think their most important book inventory has become worthless."
"Exactly." Uncle Harvey nodded.
I went on: "On the other hand, if Dragon Stone jade really reappears on the market in increasing quantities, many buyers would adopt a wait-and-see attitude, hoping to buy at a cheaper market price. That would also directly hurt Twin Gold Towers' raw jade sales."
"If they can only sell finished products, cash flow takes a hit too. Shorting Twin Gold Towers' stock for profit becomes viable. It all makes sense."
The stakes behind this affair were far larger than I'd imagined. I felt like a speck floating above a pebble; but to humans, that pebble was just a grain of sand; to an eagle, a human was nothing but a tiny dot in a vast desert. No wonder Uncle Harvey had told me to think carefully before deciding to come along — this trip was truly hiding danger.
A chill ran through me just thinking about it.
Uncle Harvey said, "Good analysis. As expected of an educated man."
"Don't mock me right now!" I said, a bit embarrassed. "I still don't fully understand. Twin Gold Towers has such deep capital, and they hold ninety percent of all Dragon Stone type jade, don't they?"
"True. They're a monopoly."
"Then this price war can't last long. The market would just end up with Twin Gold Towers holding a near-total monopoly."
"Right," Uncle Harvey said. "No matter whose scheme this is, in the long run they'll lose. But creating a short-term crash in Twin Gold Towers' valuation — that's achievable. Often the momentum generated when the first domino falls is immeasurable. The forces behind this are too complex. What we can do, as jade professionals, is figure out one thing: can Kaiqin actually produce Dragon Stone type jade or not."
I nodded. "Based on the antique material, I'd say they haven't mined any."
"That's right. But how did the rumor from the mine start in the first place?"
"Wait — if someone fabricated the rumor that Kaiqin can produce Dragon Stone jade, wouldn't Boss Wu, the mine owner, be a direct beneficiary?"
"That's why I don't trust him either."
"Then who are we going to find?"
"Who didn't we manage to find last time?"
The name burst out of me: "Yemuxi!"
Perhaps Yemuxi themselves were the answer. The Dragon Stone type jade we saw in Ruili, the Dragon Stone jade we saw in Mandalay — none of it had been mined from the mountain. So the jade appraisers hadn't lied. If the stone hadn't been machine-mined, then Yemuxi must have "picked it up."
Uncle Harvey said, "If Dragon Stone antique jade really could be found by Yemuxi, that would be an overnight fortune, a glory-to-the-ancestors kind of discovery. Plenty of Yemuxi would know about it, spreading word among themselves. If we ask around and nobody's heard of it, then we can confirm that the mine doesn't actually produce Dragon Stone type jade."
I organized my thoughts and said, "If it doesn't produce it, then this is definitely a setup."
Uncle Harvey said, "If that's the case, what I need to do is help Twin Gold Towers acquire the remaining ten percent of Dragon Stone jade. Stabilize the narrative. Stabilize the price of Dragon Stone type jade."
---
Entering the mine, I noticed the road past the gate was lined with many more armed soldiers than before, searching vehicle after vehicle.
Uncle Harvey still got in using his identity as Boss Wu's friend, but he didn't go straight to see Boss Wu. By the time we reached the mine it was past noon. Uncle Harvey found an excuse to send the driver off for lunch and rest, then took me on foot deeper into the mine.
Uncle Harvey told me, "Let's go to the Yemuxi camp first. If we can find their leader, great. If not, we'll just grab anyone and ask what kind of stones they've been picking up."
When we got there, both of us were dumbfounded. What camp? Technically, the camp was still there — the temporary thatch shelters built for shade — but every single one was empty. The woven bags they used as ground mats were all gone. Where there used to be swarms of Yemuxi, now there wasn't a single soul in sight.
"They left? Shift's over?"
"There's no such thing as a shift here. Something's wrong."
Just then, a dark, skinny Burmese kid came running toward us, looking panicked.
Uncle Harvey ran toward him, and I hurried to follow. Seeing Uncle Harvey and me rushing at him, the skinny kid looked as startled as a frightened animal. He changed direction but kept running. Uncle Harvey shouted, "Friend, don't run! We just want to ask you something!"
Hearing this, the kid slowed down a little. Uncle Harvey closed the distance in a few strides and grabbed him, holding on tight. The kid clearly wanted desperately to get away, but Uncle Harvey's grip was too firm. As I came closer, I caught a strong whiff of someone who hadn't bathed in days.
Uncle Harvey held him and spoke earnestly: "We're Chinese. We're friends of Boss Wu, the mine owner. We've come to Myanmar to buy jade. We come in goodwill — we're here to buy jade."
Hearing this, the skinny kid actually relaxed his guard immediately!
I thought to myself that he was different from the Burmese merchants in Ruili — this one had a genuine, simple honesty about him.
Uncle Harvey asked him, "Why is everyone gone?"
The kid answered, "They've all lost their minds!"
"What do you mean?" Uncle Harvey said. "Last time we came, there were plenty of stone pickers."
"The mine owner broke the rules! He wanted to steal our jade!"
"What happened?" Uncle Harvey looked genuinely confused. I didn't understand either — Boss Wu wasn't hurting for money, was he?
"This morning, suddenly the mine owner came with a big gang of men, asking about Dragon Stone jade, asking if anyone had picked up any Dragon Stone."
"Did they find any?"
"No! None at all!"
I chimed in, "How could there be none? Isn't the whole rumor that you people found Dragon Stone jade?"
"There are rumors — I heard them too! We all want to find Dragon Stone! Last night, our leader even said lots of people had been picking up really good jade, and maybe some of it was Dragon Stone!"
"Where's your leader?"
"Haven't seen him today. Nobody knows where he went."
Uncle Harvey continued asking, "So why did everyone stop working?"
"Because his men wanted to seize our stones by force. There was another group I didn't recognize, and they got into a fight with the mine owner's men. The mine owner had fewer people and couldn't win the fight, so they left quickly."
"Seize the stones you picked? Why would they do that? Isn't there someone at the foot of the mountain who buys from you?"
"I don't know why they'd snatch them! It goes against every rule!"
The skinny kid grew more agitated as he spoke: "We're just here to earn a living. Who isn't trying to make money for themselves, or—"