Chapter 106: You Absolutely Can’t Do Without Money…..
Wu Xie’s words were a critical hit for Lin Yan. No, he was speaking perfectly fine, why bring up money for no reason? He was broke right now!
As he spoke, Wu Xie’s expression suddenly turned a bit bad. Lin Yan had no money, and neither did he! He had forgotten about the underwater tomb before, taking nothing from it, and now he couldn’t even pay Wang Meng’s salary! Thinking of this, he slapped the table: “Damn it, I’ll go make some money right now!”
Originally, Lin Yan’s few things were directly stored in Wu Xie’s shop, but now that they were completely broke, they naturally had to find a big client first. At this moment, Wu Xie remembered Boss Qian from Guangyuanji at Panjiayuan who sold him the jade pendant in Beijing before (see Volume 3, Chapter 5)—if he still had some stock, couldn’t they kill two birds with one stone and get the jade pendant and small money all at once?
Thinking of this, Wu Xie immediately called Shopkeeper Qian. It happened to be perfect timing; that Boss Qian was a perceptive person who had seen last time that Wu Xie’s demand might be long-term, so he asked Fatty to leave a message for him, then turned around and brought in a few good items. In his words, it was to “make friends” with Third Master Xiao, so that good goods could “circulate where needed” in the future. He didn’t know if it was for the Wu Family’s sake, but on the surface, it was indeed in place.
After contacting him, Wu Xie immediately made the decision, and the two took the things and headed straight to Beijing. That Boss Qian was also in Beijing and met them in the shop that very afternoon.
“Yo, Boss Wu, nice to meet you, long time no see. I didn’t expect you to come so quickly; I haven’t prepared any welcome, just these two cups of clear tea and some small snacks, please make do for now.”
Boss Qian smilingly led them inside the shop to sit down, instructed the shop assistant to serve them tea and snacks, and after some pleasantries, they got down to business: “Boss Wu, I heard that besides those old items, you have some local goods to sell this time?”
Wu Xie took out a box from the bag behind him; Lin Yan’s fish eyeball and two pieces of white marble bricks were inside: “Boss Qian, you’re guessing wrong; these few can barely be considered water goods (from abroad), but by a twist of fate, just a few nautical miles off.”
Boss Qian carefully picked up the white marble with a piece of white cloth, put on his glasses to examine it closely, and gradually felt something was off: “Boss Wu, this… is ghost goods (stuff dug by tomb raiders from ancient tombs)? Looks like raw play (just unearthed not long ago)? I’ve long heard of the Wu Family Third Master’s great name; didn’t expect Third Master Xiao’s moves to be extraordinary too.”
Wu Xie’s expression tightened, feeling a bit guilty, knowing that Boss Qian probably knew he had gone down. He absolutely couldn’t admit this! He smiled uncomfortably: “Boss Qian has sharp eyes. But this time you’re guessing wrong; if you really take them, it’s live acquisition (one boss receiving from another boss); you see this…”
Lin Yan listened in a fog beside him, not knowing what jargon they were speaking. But he could tell that after Wu Xie said “live acquisition,” Boss Qian’s expression turned a bit bad, as if somewhat reluctant. However, after carefully looking, he still had the shop assistant bring a box from the back and open it first.
“No rush, no rush; Boss Wu, why don’t you first see how this batch of goods is?”
Wu Xie, like last time, carefully inspected them, then nodded and picked two out of the original three jade pendants, starting to bargain with Boss Qian. Lin Yan didn’t know how they bargained; the gestures changed back and forth, left hand one moment, right hand the next, both hands sometimes, plus strange terms, he couldn’t understand at all.
When the bargaining ended, the two shook hands, and it was clear both were quite satisfied with the price. When Boss Qian turned to go to the counter, Lin Yan silently asked Wu Xie with his eyes: What’s the situation?
Wu Xie smiled at him: “Don’t ask; I bargained a good price for you, you’ll know when we get back.”
Not long after, Lin Yan watched with his own eyes as the shop assistant took away the box with the jade pendants, went to the counter, put something inside, and followed behind Boss Qian back.
Boss Qian walked over with his hands behind his back: “Boss Wu, this is a big business; my shop can add another door-opening item. Thanks to you, you came in a hurry and probably haven’t eaten yet, right?”
Wu Xie put the box back in his bag and nodded: “Indeed; I just grabbed something random at the airport before, haven’t had a proper meal.”
Boss Qian smiled knowingly and glanced out the window: “It’s getting late; how about I treat you two, would you honor me?”
Wu Xie thought about it and felt that freeloading a meal wasn’t bad, but he had to see if Lin Yan wanted to go. Eating with Boss Qian, the dinner table would probably discuss antique world things, and he was afraid Lin Yan would feel out of place.
But when he looked over, he saw Lin Yan’s face full of excitement about freeloading a meal; he had worried for nothing! He shouldn’t have overestimated Lin Yan’s IQ when facing food; it was probably negative.
Rolling his eyes in his mind, Wu Xie looked at Boss Qian’s amiable smiling face and readily agreed: “Sure, up to Boss Qian’s arrangements!”
So they had a satisfying meal at the old place Quanjude, but it was a pity Fatty wasn’t there, or they could have stayed a few more days. The next morning, they happily took the things back to Hangzhou.
“Wu Xie, give me a straight answer; how much did you sell for in total?” As soon as they entered the door, Lin Yan couldn’t wait to ask; he had been holding it in the whole way.
Wu Xie took the box out of his bag: “Don’t rush; just look for yourself.”
Lin Yan opened the box and saw all three jade pendants inside, with a check on top: “Wu Xie, I remember you picked two; why are all three here?” Wu Xie’s vague voice came from the room: “Originally it was indeed only two; the remaining one was a bonus after the deal!”
Free extra one? Lin Yan looked at the check again: this 123456 zeros?
“Holy crap, 300,000? This is striking it rich?”
Wu Xie changed clothes and told Lin Yan to tidy himself up first: “This isn’t all yours; don’t forget, you still have to give me 5% commission!”
Lin Yan looked at this middleman with full disbelief: “This is all I have left…”
Wu Xie gave him a blank look: “I only have your 15,000 left too!” Then he threw the check into his arms: “Find a time to cash it at the bank; I still need to pay the shop assistants’ wages next month!”
Lin Yan muttered about what the rush was, just one Wang Meng… Still, he went to the bank honestly to exchange the check and deposit the money.
A few days later, Wu Xie set up a meeting for him to see Lao Yang. He didn’t know why, but he felt that Lao Yang’s earring looked familiar, and why was Lao Yang stuttering so much? One sentence stuttered a dozen times, almost making him stutter too!
He heard that Lao Yang and Wu Xie had played together since childhood; how come Wu Xie wasn’t influenced? He thought about it; probably for character design needs, after all, a stuttering protagonist might not be very likable; that thing, writing dialogue could really pad word count!
