"You smelled that too; this is definitely not the scent of fresh flowers."

At the same time, Wang Guan chuckled and explained, "Even if there was a residual floral scent in the room, don't forget the doors and windows were open, and there was a breeze blowing through. Flower fragrance is faint; no matter how much, it would be dispersed by the wind and certainly wouldn't linger."

Everyone quickly surveyed the room, noticing a bamboo grove right beside it, from which the occasional rustling sound could be heard, making it obvious how frequent the wind was. Even sitting inside the room, they could feel the cool air circulating, which was why everyone felt so refreshed.

Seeing this, most people agreed with Wang Guan's assessment. This brought up the question: if it wasn't the fragrance of flowers, what scent was it?

However, one should never underestimate anyone. Before Wang Guan could elaborate, An Shenghyun suddenly his eyes lit up, realizing with a start, "Agarwood—this is the scent of agarwood."

"That's right, it is agarwood."

An Shenghyun wasn't the only one present who had encountered agarwood. After taking a light sniff, others belatedly chimed in, concurring with An Shenghyun's identification.

"The Buddhist altar is made of agarwood..."

Someone revealed the answer, and the others quickly followed suit. With sudden enlightenment, they didn't find it strange anymore.

After all, in Buddhism, agarwood is one of the primary incense materials used for bathing Buddha statues. Prayer beads and Buddha statues carved from agarwood are precious ritual implements. The incense made from agarwood is not only used for paying respects to the Buddha but is also a superior quality incense for meditation and Zen practice. Therefore, using agarwood to make a Buddhist altar was not considered unusual.

Of course, the most important thing was that agarwood is indeed extremely precious. For the same weight, the value of agarwood surpasses that of gold, often fetching a price significantly higher.

Don't look at agarwood as just a wood product. While redwood is sold by the ton and Huanghuali wood by the catty, agarwood is sold by the gram. It's hard for ordinary people to imagine wood being sold by the gram, with a price hundreds of times that of gold—often so rare it's priceless on the market.

"No!"

At that moment, someone expressed confusion. "Didn't they say that most agarwood is odorless unless it's burned? The intensely fragrant ones are soaked with synthetic essence by unscrupulous merchants..."

"What you're saying is partly right, and partly wrong," Wang Guan chuckled softly. "Ordinary agarwood indeed has a subtle scent, but there are exceptions. The higher the quality and grade of the agarwood, the clearer its fragrance will be. This aroma is very elegant and distinctly different from the pungent smell of wood soaked in synthetic oils."

"That's true," An Shenghyun nodded. "I've seen agarwood worth thirty thousand yuan per gram that emits a cool, sweet fragrance even when unlit, and the scent is incredibly mellow and rich."

"Thirty thousand per gram?" One person was immediately dumbfounded. "Isn't that a hundred times more expensive than gold?"

"What Boss An is referring to is likely Kynam agarwood," Wang Guan explained. "If diamonds are the most dazzling among all gemstones, then Kynam is the diamond among agarwoods."

"Agarwood is an extremely rare and precious spice found in nature, taking a very long time to form—usually decades, sometimes even hundreds of years," Wang Guan spoke in a steady tone. "Kynam is a precious variety that forms within high-grade agarwood; it contains richer oils and has a softer, more resilient texture. Shavings can even be rolled into beads. Back in the Song Dynasty, Kynam was already worth a fortune; thirty thousand per gram now isn't much of an increase."

"Is that Buddhist altar made of Kynam agarwood?" someone asked curiously.

"That's hard to say," Wang Guan shook his head. "Without examining it in hand, it's difficult to judge."

Meanwhile, everyone looked toward Liu Huaen, and through his translation, Wu Gang directly shook his head, indicating it was not. This caused many to sigh in disappointment, as they had all hoped to see what a treasure worth a fortune looked like.

Wu Gang then smiled again and suddenly beckoned them over.

"He says not to be disappointed," Liu Huaen translated with a smile. "Kynam is extremely precious, and he couldn't acquire any, but he has collected quite a bit of superior quality agarwood and invites everyone to see it." Liu Huaen responded first and led the way.

The others were quite interested and naturally followed suit.

A moment later, everyone arrived at another structure. Opening the door, they found the interior surprisingly spacious, already filled with countless items, resembling a warehouse—or perhaps, a collection room.

The items here were Wu Gang's collection, many originating from Myanmar: exquisite artworks mixed with tattered, unremarkable scraps. In short, it was a jumble of everything, valuable and common.

As for the precious agarwood, Wu Gang had stored it separately in a cabinet. He opened this cabinet, and everyone immediately saw seven or eight pieces of "rotting wood" placed on the uppermost shelf. They looked "rotten" mainly because the material was porous and felt light when picked up, lacking heft.

However, precisely these characteristics indicated that the wood was agarwood.

It should be known that although people often say "agarwood," agarwood is not actually a type of wood; rather, it is a solid congealed mass formed by certain fragrant trees, a mixture of oil (resin) and woody components.

Generally speaking, the greater the density of the agarwood, the more resin it contains, and the better its quality. The grade of agarwood is then distinguished by how deeply it sinks in water. Sinking immediately upon contact is the best 'sinking agarwood' (wenshui xiang); pieces that float halfway are 'raft agarwood' (zhanxiang); and those that float lightly on the surface are 'yellow aged agarwood' (huangshu xiang).

People today are too eager for quick success; they don't wait for the agarwood to fully condense into 'sinking agarwood' before hastily harvesting it, resulting in naturally lower quality and correspondingly lower prices.

Clearly, the precious agarwood Wu Gang mentioned was not these pieces. Furthermore, in the cabinet, towards the very bottom, were two or three denser pieces of wood—those were the high-grade agarwoods.

At this point, Wu Gang took all these items out and distributed them for Wang Guan and the others to admire. Seeing their expressions of approval, Wu Gang felt very happy and grinned broadly.

Who says communication is impossible without a shared language? Facial expressions are the best channel for conveying messages. Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are inherent human instincts; this direct expression of emotion knows no national or regional boundaries. Moreover, Liu Huaen, the translator, was very diligent, relaying everyone's compliments to Wu Gang, which made his smile even brighter.

"Oh, by the way..."

Liu Huaen then translated, "He says he is very happy that you came to visit his home, so he has decided to give you a gift—one for everyone."

"Really?" Many were filled with a mix of surprise and joy, their eyes darting between the agarwood and the exquisite artworks in the warehouse.

However, Wu Gang didn't seem like a complete soft touch. After making this decision, he gestured again, inviting them to follow him to another, even larger warehouse next to the first one.

"Ah!"

Upon entering this second storeroom, those who had been slightly disappointed instantly felt even more thrilled.

Because the warehouse was filled with stones—clearly rough jadeite material, uncut stones. Before their excitement could last more than a few seconds, Liu Huaen's next sentence dampened much of their enthusiasm.

"Wu Gang says that for stones weighing less than fifty jin, you can pick any you like," Liu Huaen said with a smile. "If you choose one, it's yours."

"Sigh..." Many sighed inwardly, naturally feeling a degree of disappointment, as they had just been eyeing those massive stones weighing at least three to five hundred jin.

"So many rough stones," Wang Guan remarked with curiosity. "Is Mr. Wu also a jadeite merchant?"

"Yes."

Liu Huaen nodded. "He's one of the more influential jadeite suppliers in this city and will also be participating in the public auction tomorrow. These stones here are scheduled to be displayed."

"What!"

Hearing this, many people forgot their disappointment, composed themselves, and began scrutinizing everything closely. Their focus, however, was not on the small stones under fifty jin, but on those large boulders weighing several hundred jin.

Since these stones were slated for display, having an advance look at the rough material gave them a natural advantage over their peers. Anyone who failed to seize this opportunity would be the ultimate fool.

However, Wang Guan hesitated slightly. "Didn't they say jadeite merchants don't gamble on stones themselves? Why is he..."

Of course, it wasn't an absolute rule that stone sellers wouldn't gamble. But generally, gem merchants rarely participated in stone gambling because, as insiders, they understood the immense risks involved.

Countless jade merchants had ruined themselves because they lacked self-control and couldn't resist the urge to cut open their stock, often ending up bankrupt. With so many cautionary tales at home and abroad, jade merchants were certainly expected to take heed.

"He's trying to secure good fortune," Liu Huaen chuckled, understanding Wang Guan's confusion. "He usually doesn't gamble, but since the public auction is tomorrow, he specifically chose a piece of rough material highly likely to yield jadeite to cut open, hoping to set a positive tone. And he's specifically sending it to me to cut, rather than doing it himself, because he fears the stone might 'collapse' (be worthless) and bring him bad luck..."

"Oh."

Wang Guan suddenly understood why Wu Gang was making such a grand gesture. However, he also suspected that Wu Gang allowing everyone to preview this batch of rough stones beforehand was likely more than just a display of hospitality.

In any case, Wang Guan was certain that when the public auction began tomorrow, Wu Gang's batch of rough stones would be hot commodities. At the very least, with people like Jia Qin having taken note, there was no worry about them not selling. The stones given away today would likely be recouped in profit tomorrow.

Yet, even after understanding Wu Gang's intent, everyone would willingly fall for it. Since they were attending the public auction, they intended to spend money anyway; it didn't matter who made the profit, and it benefited them as well—a win-win situation.

At this moment, Liu Huaen kindly reminded him, "Young man, aren't you going to take a look?"

"Mm, I'll go now," Wang Guan replied, strolling leisurely through the warehouse as if taking a relaxed walk.

Speaking of which, the Song Dynasty Zen master Qingyuan Xingsi proposed the Three Stages of Zen practice: In the beginning, seeing a mountain is seeing a mountain, and seeing water is seeing water; when enlightenment dawns, seeing a mountain is no longer seeing a mountain, and seeing water is no longer seeing water; in complete enlightenment, seeing a mountain is still seeing a mountain, and seeing water is still seeing water.

After walking around once, Wang Guan felt he had basically reached the third stage. No matter how he looked at the stones, they were just stones; he couldn't discern whether there was jadeite inside at all...

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