It is said that the local residents here are not happy to see us, and they would prefer to keep the mountain a mystery. They seem to have an inexplicable sense of awe for this mountain. It is said that several previous groups of people were driven away by them, but they have been quite good to us. They just keep pointing at me and saying things I don’t understand. No one here lives off the mountain. They have very exquisite jade-cutting skills, so the main source of income for the locals is jade processing and sales. Not far from the town is a very large formal market, but there are no local jade deposits, so we found it very interesting after we discovered it. To put it bluntly, this town is just a distribution and processing centre for one-third of China’s jade. Everyone in the town earns a living by their abilities and family traditions, and they get along very well.
A few days ago, I saw a very good piece of raw nephrite jade in the market, which had not been processed. I was about to buy it, when someone next to me immediately took something and put it in the hands of the person selling the stone, and he took the piece. I was so anxious at the time, and who knew he suddenly turned to me and asked, ‘How about making a Buddha’s hand?’ ‘Not good!’ I looked at the somewhat cloudy eyes of this middle-aged man. He frowned a little, ‘A small katydid on a jade gourd?’ My face turned even more red. ‘If you’re determined to ruin it, go right ahead.’ ‘What do you say?’
‘This jade has eyes! Do I need to give you any more hints?’ He actually nodded honestly. ‘Draw me a picture, and I’ll give you half the money if you sell it!’ ‘Why don’t you sell it to me, and I’ll do it myself?’ ‘No, someone else already has their eye on it, they just don’t know what to do with it.’ ‘How about this, I don’t want any money, just give me a piece of stone.’ ‘Okay, which one?’ This one.’ I picked up a yellowish-brown seed from the stall earlier, “I’ll take this one.” “Okay, then tell me, what does this do?” “Five Rats Bring Money! Look closely, there are five black dots on the stone, very far apart. Usually people will wear them off, but I think it’s better to use them!” “Thank you, young lady, for your advice. Isn’t that stone a bit small?” His eyes sparkled with excitement, and I knew he was so happy because he was a master carver himself.