11: Find bargains at the Quesanti Mystery Shop via overseas express delivery
After eating, Chen Kai did not linger and continued with his food deliveries.
When passing an ATM, he deposited his cash. With the 8,500 he deposited, plus the 4,100 Liu Yunshang had transferred to him, and the 288 in errand fees, his total savings reached 13,000.
After giving it some thought, he opened the Ma Baba loan platform and repaid 10,000.
He still had 3,000 left on him; since he had income every day, that should be enough.
It was only the afternoon, and since he was free, he might as well keep working; even earning 200 was still money.
It wasn't until 10 PM that Chen Kai finished work and returned to his Rental House. After washing up, it was already past 11 o'clock.
He lay on the dilapidated bed in his Rental House, his eyes fixed firmly on the daily intelligence that was about to refresh.
When the time clicked to 0:00, the intelligence refreshed.
【Today's Intelligence: The Cainiao Station at the east gate of the Qingshan Residential Complex is selling unclaimed overseas parcels. The owner of the parcel has moved away and, believing that a bag purchased online from overseas for 1,000 yuan could not be real, never came to collect it. In reality, it is an authentic Hermès bag purchased from the "Qusanti Mysterious Shop." Head to the Cainiao Station before 4 PM today to intercept the Hermès bag. Suggested selling price: 21,999 yuan.】
"Holy crap! 22,000?! Did I misread that?"
Chen Kai immediately sprang up from his bed, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
Today's intelligence was incredibly valuable! It was worth more than the money from the previous three days combined!
After calming his excitement, he carefully reviewed today's intelligence.
Express stations have the right to sell overseas parcels that have gone unclaimed for a certain period. He had seen many videos online of people buying "blind box" parcels from express stations, where the items unpacked were usually just junk.
At the time, he had laughed, thinking that blind boxes were just packed by people anyway—could anyone really find a genuine bargain in them?
He hadn't expected that it was actually possible to Score a Bargain.
The owner probably thought that buying an Hermès bag from overseas for just over 1,000 yuan was too cheap, so it must be a fake.
Little did they know that for the Qusanti Mysterious Shop, fakes? They didn't exist! Faking things cost money, after all!
"I should first ask Zheng Liu Chang if he accepts Hermès bags. They're a bit hard to sell; if I list them on Idle Fish, the constant price-slashing by buyers is just too terrifying."
Chen Kai muttered to himself as he sent a WeChat message to Zheng Liu Chang.
"Do you guys at the Pawnshop accept popular Hermès bags?"
A message quickly came back from the other end.
[You've had pretty good luck lately, kid. Did you Score a Bargain again?]
[For an Hermès bag, I need to see what style it is. If it's a popular model, we can take it. Bring it over tomorrow so I can take a look, and I'll ask our boss what she thinks.]
[If we don't take it, I'll recommend a place for you to go. It's a place that specializes in buying back bags, and they can offer you the best price.]
Chen Kai nodded; knowing there was a sales channel put his mind at ease.
"Alright, then I'll come find you tomorrow afternoon."
After replying to the message, he set an alarm. The system said he just needed to go before 4 PM, and if he remembered correctly, the station at the Qingshan Residential Complex opened at 10 AM.
He would go buy the blind box as soon as it opened to avoid someone else Scoring a Bargain.
If someone else intercepted that 20,000-yuan windfall, he'd have to go downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes—and he wouldn't be taking the elevator or the stairs to get down.
...
The next morning, Chen Kai grabbed a quick breakfast and rode his little electric donkey toward the express station.
As soon as he parked, he saw five or six people queuing up to collect packages in front of the Cainiao Station.
A sign was propped up on the steps at the store entrance. Looking at the still-damp handwriting, it was clear it had just been placed there.
[Take a gamble, turn your bicycle into a motorcycle! Unclaimed overseas express blind boxes—you could open a new Apple product, cosmetics, luxury goods, or a mysterious big gold bar! 158 each!]
The writing on the sign was quite large, drawing curious glances from several people waiting in line.
A young couple whispered to each other while waiting in line.
"Could this be real? Can you really get cosmetics and luxury goods out of these?"
"Do you even need to ask? It's definitely fake. If it were possible to open luxury goods, he would have opened them himself. I bet he put them in himself and is just pretending they're overseas blind boxes to sell them."
"That makes sense. I was actually thinking of buying one to try—it sounds so exciting."
"Take my advice and don't buy one. If you want to buy, wait for some sucker to buy the first one to test the waters. We can see what the sucker gets, and it won't be too late for us to buy then."
Chen Kai listened to their conversation, a faint smile curling on his lips.
Among the pile of black parcels behind the sign, the first one was emitting a faint glow.
Chen Kai was queuing behind the young couple. Just as they finished collecting their packages and were about to leave, the woman casually picked up the black parcel that was emitting the faint glow.
"Boss, can this 158-yuan blind box really contain those luxury goods? This isn't a scam, is it?"
Chen Kai's heart tightened. Didn't they say they weren't going to buy it? Why were they asking now?
He silently clenched his fists, his palms breaking out in a cold sweat.
"It's definitely not a scam. I sorted through the unclaimed packages today, and they're all from overseas. Who knows? You might open up a gold bar or some cosmetics."
The station owner gave a sly laugh. He knew what was in these parcels; anything he thought was valuable had already been snatched by him, and he'd already opened over a dozen without finding anything of worth.
It was all just a pile of junk, so he might as well turn them into blind boxes to make a little extra cash.
"Honey, why don't we buy one and try? It's such a big package, and 150 isn't much to lose. If we win the big prize, we'll make a killing!"
The express station owner chimed in, "You won't lose out. It's such a big package, there's bound to be something you can use. For the first one, I'll knock off the change and give it to you for 150."
If he remembered correctly, this was the package he had packed himself—the absolute trashiest one—which was why he had placed it at the very front of the pile of blind boxes.
It was filled with nothing but tissues, ragged clothes, phone cases, and the like.
Chen Kai's hand clenched tightly; he didn't dare to rashly step in and intercept.
If these two noticed something unusual about him and the item got bought, he'd be the one taking a huge loss.
Just then, the man from the young couple leaned in and whispered something into the woman's ear.
"Didn't I say? Usually, they don't put anything good in the first blind box. Let some sucker buy it first, see what they get, and then we can buy one."
The woman nodded reluctantly. "Alright. Let's go sit over there for a bit and see what they get."
She casually placed the blind box back in its original position.
Seeing this, Chen Kai quickly moved forward a couple of steps and nonchalantly struck up a conversation with the disappointed-looking owner.
"Boss, can you really get anything good out of these blind boxes? You're not just bluffing, are you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly grabbed the blind box that was emitting a faint glow—the one the woman had just put back—and held it firmly in his hand.
"That's for sure! Little brother, our station relies on its reputation. Why don't you buy one and find out? Who knows, you might even win a big prize!"
The owner looked at Chen Kai with a sly grin, actively trying to make the sale.