"We were going to take the elevator to the sixth floor and couldn't find the elevator. Zhang Tianyuan explained embarrassedly that his fluent English was only slowly formed after obtaining the earth qi and the six-character true formula, and his English was not bad before, but his spoken English was relatively bad.

"Oh, the sixth floor, I happen to be going to the sixth floor too, but young man, can I do you a favor? The woman smiled.

Zhang Tianyuan glanced at the plate in the woman's hand, but he was taken aback, what was on the plate was twelve round and exquisite pearls.

Pearls are an ancient organic gemstone.

It is mainly produced in pearl oysters and pearl oyster mollusks, and the calcium carbonate-containing mineral (aragonite) beads produced due to endocrine action are composed of a large number of tiny aragonite crystals.

According to geological and archaeological research, pearls were already on the earth 200 million years ago. The international gem community also lists pearls as a lucky stone for June birth, and a commemorative stone for the 13th and 30th wedding anniversaries. Pearls with magnificent colors and elegance symbolize health, purity, wealth and happiness, and have been loved since ancient times.

China can be said to be a veritable ancient pearl country in the world, and records about pearls can be traced back to 2200 BC.

According to the "Shangshu Yu Gong": "Huaiyi Binzhu", indicating that the history of pearl diving in China has begun as early as 4,000 years ago in the Xia Yu era, the Huai River produced freshwater pearls, and the pearls were set as tributes at that time. In ancient books such as "Zhou Yi" and "Book of Songs", there are records about pearls.

"Gezhi Jingyuan: Loading the Stage" records the historical fact that King Wen of Zhou used pearls to decorate his hair bun. Therefore, it is generally believed that the use of pearls in China began in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, pearl ornaments have become more and more common. Pearls have become a luxury for the nobles of the imperial court, and the emperor has begun to accept pearls. Guiyang Taishou Wenlong of the Eastern Han Dynasty "offered pearls to Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty for flattery", and the royal princes of the Western Han Dynasty also widely used pearls. Pearls became a symbol of prestige.

During the Western Renaissance, the famous painting "The Birth of Venus" vividly depicts the mythical story of the formation of pearls: the goddess Venus slowly rises to the surface of the sea with a giant shell slowly opening. Countless water droplets flowed down the body, and the water droplets instantly turned into white pearls, which were lifelike and gave people a feeling of beauty.

Throughout history, pearls have symbolized wealth, contentment, happiness and nobility. The powerful in feudal society used pearls to represent status, power, money and noble status, and the common people used pearls to symbolize happiness, peace and auspiciousness.

Without the brilliance of diamonds, without the dazzling brilliance of colored gemstones, the color of pearls is warm and delicate, and the natural form is beautiful. It is this natural gentle beauty that is the most fascinating part of pearls. Each pearl has a faint halo of pearl on the surface, and this elusive mystery and elegance is the same as the feminine feeling, especially the elegant and subtle Oriental women.

Pearls are the only treasures that do not need to be processed and are naturally produced and have magical vitality, because they are so precious, so for a long time, whether in Europe or in China, only the royal family can enjoy pearls. And China has been mining and using pearls since more than 2,000 years ago.

However, after the initial surprise, Zhang Tianyuan's face showed some regret.

His expression was seen by the woman. So he smiled and asked, "Young man, you seem to feel a little regretful, isn't my twelve pearls bad?"

Zhang Tianyuan said with a smile: "This is Madame's thing, how dare I comment on it without permission." I'll take the things, let's get on the elevator together. ”

"No, you don't say it today. I'm not leaving. This woman also had a very strange temper, and even said such a sentence.

Zhang Tianyuan suddenly felt a headache. Scratching his head, he said: "Actually, it's nothing, aren't there a distinction between cultured pearls and natural pearls now? Luster is the soul of pearls. Pearls without light and light are lacking in aura. Look at the light, you should put the pearl flat on the white soft cloth, you can see the warm luster of the pearl overflowing, and look at the light, a good pearl can see the rainbow light, the layers are rich and changing, you can also see the spherical surface such as metallic texture, and can even reflect the human pupil, especially bright can be included in the A grade, slightly inferior to the B grade. I didn't look closely, but the pearls on your tray are made of white cloth, and the sun is shining in this place, so I think these twelve pearls lack the luster of natural pearls. ”

"Natural pearls are spherical, oval, irregular spherical or oblong, with a diameter of 1~6 mm. The surface is white, yellowish-white, light pink, light blue, etc., with a beautiful color luster and smoothness. Most of the pearls that have been used as ornaments have a perforation in the center. The quality is hard, difficult to break, and the section is layered. There is a cracking sound when it is burned with fire. There is no gas, and the taste is slightly salty. The shape of cultured pearls is similar to that of natural pearls, but the surface luster is weak, there are round sand grains or stone cassia fragments in the center of the section, and there is a real pearl layer on the surface. Only the pearl layer is used for medicine. There is no gas, and the taste is slightly salty. You're afraid that these twelve pearls are just cultivated pearls, right?"

"Haha, young people have a good eye, my twelve pearls are indeed cultured pearls, but they are also considered to be the best in cultured pearls. The woman smiled, and did not get angry because of Zhang Tianyuan's words, but led the way in front, and said as she walked: "The young man is also in the jewelry business? I see that the jade necklace on your girlfriend's neck is very valuable, aren't you afraid of being stolen or robbed?"

"Madame even knows jadeite? I thought foreigners didn't like jadeite very much. Zhang Tianyuan asked in surprise.

"What do you call this, the origin of jadeite is Myanmar, and Myanmar is also a foreign country for you. As a jewelry designer, we like all kinds of gemstones, pearls, agate, diamonds, jadeite, etc., as long as it is a gemstone, we want to carve it. The woman shook her head.

"By the way, ma'am, I heard that there is a great international designer on this ship, named Paloma Picasso! is the daughter of the great painter Picasso, and her jewelry is famous all over the world. I really want to meet her, I don't know if you know her?" Zhang Tianyuan asked suddenly.

He asked. For good reason, of course, because he had a vague feeling that this woman was probably Paloma Picasso. Because it's about the same age, even if it's not. After all, this is a gambling ship, not a venue for a jewelry exhibition, so how could it be so coincidental that two jewelry experts of the same age were on board at the same time? Zhang Tianyuan did not believe such a thing.

"Oh, I know. Is there anything you're looking for her? That old woman has a bad temper, and has always been harsh with strangers. Just now, her personal doctor said the wrong thing. I was left behind by her. The woman asked with a smile.

Zhang Tianyuan can now basically determine that this old woman is Paloma Picasso, but he still wants to confirm some things, so he said with a smile: "I was entrusted by Xu Yue to take care of Madame Palomar, she brought a private doctor to Hong Kong alone this time, and she still has acquaintances in Hong Kong, but on the ship, she is still afraid of accidents." So Xu Yue asked me to take care of Mrs. Paloma for her. ”

"Who are you Xu Yue?"

"I'm her boss. ”

Hearing this, Paloma Picasso looked up at Zhang Tianyuan in amazement and said, "You are Xu Yue's boss? ”

Hearing this, Zhang Tianyuan was embarrassed. He is now fully able to determine the identity of this old woman, it is definitely Paloma Picasso, it is estimated that Xu Yue once boasted about him in front of this old woman. On the contrary, it caused this dissatisfaction, how good is this.

"If I'm not mistaken. You're Mrs. Palomar, right? Don't listen to Xu Yue's nonsense, I'm just lucky. Tong guò gambling stone made some money, and then did not dare to spend it, so he started a business, lost the help of friends, and the business was quite prosperous, just at that time Xu Yue came back from abroad, saying that he wanted to build a jewelry company by himself, and did it himself, but he was deceived. I happened to help her again, and she came to help me. "Zhang Tianyuan didn't want to lie to Paloma, this person is a goblin over sixty years old, if he lies, it will cause the other party to be dissatisfied, it's better to tell the truth, it's nothing anyway.

"The lift arrived. Paloma didn't say anything, pointed to the elevator, Zhang Tianyuan hurriedly went up and pressed the button of the elevator, waiting for the elevator to open.

Then Paloma said: "My apprentice is the most talented jewelry designer I have ever met in my life, even better than me, I originally planned to let her work at Tiffany Jewelry, in that case, it will be easier for her to become famous, but that child is too stubborn, there is no way, let her go back to China, you have to help me take care of her, I don't want my apprentice to be unhappy in any way." I really treat her as my own daughter. ”

Zhang Tianyuan said with a smile: "You can rest assured about this, I treat Xu Yue the same as my sister." I believe that Sister Xu has already told you about jewelry design, right? This is tailor-made for her, if she can succeed in one fell swoop, then she will be among the world's best masters, and her reputation will not be dishonored. ”

Zhang Tianyuan is very good at seizing opportunities, he thinks that it is most appropriate to talk about this at this time, Paloma likes Xu Yue so much, maybe he will directly agree as soon as his heart softens.

"Let's not talk about this for now, let's talk about it later, I'm here to play on the gambling ship this time, these pearls are going to be used for some chips, will you bet?" But Palomar is obviously cunning, and simply avoided mentioning the matter of designing jewelry, and instead pulled the topic to gamble.

Zhang Tianyuan nodded and said, "It's a little, but it's not very good." ”

He actually doesn't know at all, but he can't say that, otherwise this old woman who likes to watch men gamble will be unhappy.

"Be modest, you will, you won't, you won't. The elevator is open, let's get in. Paloma glanced at Zhang Tianyuan and said, "I don't really like men who are not straightforward. This is your girlfriend?"

Paloma said suddenly, and mentioned Liu Mengxun, giving Zhang Tianyuan the feeling that the designer was not chatting with him, but his son-in-law. He had to explain this matter clearly, and he couldn't let Paloma misunderstand, so he hurriedly said: "Mrs. Paloma, Sister Xu already has someone she likes, better and more reliable than me, I believe she will be happy in the future!"

Liu Mengxun didn't say anything, because she knew that it was inconvenient for her to speak at this time, but after greeting her, she closed her mouth and listened to Zhang Tianyuan and Paloma chatting there, this sensible appearance is probably one of the reasons why Zhang Tianyuan likes her. (To be continued......)