39: Sell, sell, sell! Sell everything!
Chen Kai turned his head sharply, then, acting as if nothing had happened, shuffled back with small steps.
He sat on a bench not too far away, watching a little boy holding a plastic bag filled with a stash of discs.
"I buy them, little one. These discs aren't worth much. Can Grandpa take a look at what kind of discs you have in that bag?"
"Okay. The discs all have a man and several women on them. I can't tell if they're the Wong Fei-hung type."
The little boy blinked his innocent, ignorant big eyes and handed the bag of discs to the Old Man running the stall.
The Old Man took a look, casually pulled out a few discs, flipped them over to look at the back, and visibly swallowed his saliva.
"Little kid, these discs are your dad's, right? They're too old; they aren't worth much."
The little boy nodded, a bit disappointed. "Grandpa, then how much are these worth? I still want to buy spicy strips to eat and treat a girl classmate to ice cream."
The Old Man running the stall rolled his eyes craftily, reached into the red bag containing thirty or forty discs, and pulled out two more. After realizing they were all the same type of disc, he spoke slowly.
"There are thirty or forty discs here. If it were anyone else, I definitely wouldn't buy them, but Grandpa thinks you're so cute, so I'll take them."
"I'll give you five yuan for these discs. You can buy two packs of spicy strips, buy the girl classmate an ice cream, and still have two yuan left."
"If you don't sell them to Grandpa, nobody else would be kind enough to buy them for five yuan. At most, you'd get one or two yuan, which is only enough to buy spicy strips, and then you wouldn't be able to buy any for your girl classmate!"
The Old Man revealed a mouthful of big, yellow teeth stained with tea and tobacco, continuing to entice him.
The little boy was actually taken in, nodding hurriedly. "Thank you, Grandpa. I'll come back to sell you good stuff in the future."
The Old Man smiled cunningly and dug out a tattered five-yuan note from a small, worn-out wallet.
"No problem. Here, take the money. Hold onto it tight. If your dad asks you when you get home, just say you don't know where you lost them. Don't tell him you sold them to Grandpa."
"Otherwise, your dad definitely won't let you eat spicy strips anymore. Remember to sell all your good stuff to Grandpa in the future."
After the little boy left, the Old Man hid the red plastic bag under the white cloth spread on the ground, preparing to take it home to sort through it and sell it again tomorrow.
Buying a whole bag for five yuan and selling one disc for fifty—he was making a killing.
Chen Kai witnessed this scene with his own eyes, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.
He had clearly seen the red plastic bag containing the discs emitting a faint glow just a moment ago.
No wonder he hadn't found Jay Chou's black vinyl record earlier; it turned out the goods hadn't reached the Old Man yet.
He sat on the chair and lit a cigarette.
"Puff."
He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke before walking back to the Old Man's stall.
When the Old Man saw Chen Kai return, a clear look of delight appeared in his eyes.
"Young man! Don't leave yet! Since you don't like the discs, why not see if there's any porcelain you like? Look at this teacup; it was used by the Empress Dowager. Oh my, it's the real deal!"
"And this rice paper, it's a discarded draft written by Emperor Kangxi. And these little Terracotta Warriors—they were all unearthed from the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum!"
Chen Kai felt a headache coming on. It seemed all the emperors of the Dragon Kingdom had gathered together at his stall again.
"I'm not interested in those. How much for a disc? I'm bored and have nothing to do, so I'll collect a couple to look at. The other stalls aren't as interesting as yours."
Chen Kai feigned an "I don't really want them that much" attitude, dangling the cigarette from his mouth indifferently.
"You mean the discs? Other places charge seventy or eighty yuan each. I, the Old Man, will sell them to you for sixty. How about that?"
The Old Man also lit a cigarette and dug out the previous discs from under the white cloth.
He thought for a moment, then pulled out the red plastic bag too. After all, what else of value could the kid have sold him besides discs?
Could anything valuable really be kept together with Wong Fei-hung discs?
"There's also this bag, just acquired. These are genuine, classic Wong Fei-hung films, remade by the Japanese. I'll sell these to you for seventy yuan each. That's a good deal, right?"
Chen Kai twitched the corner of his mouth. Although he didn't care about the price, for an Old Man in the Antique Trade who was so shrewd, not haggling would be the real issue.
"Old Man, are you trying to rip me off? Seventy yuan is enough to buy this whole bag, right?"
The Old Man immediately gave an awkward smile. "You definitely can't buy it for that. I couldn't even get it for that price. If you're genuinely interested, sixty yuan each."
Chen Kai shook his head, opened the initial disc collection book first, and casually picked one out.
He then opened the red plastic bag and took one out at random. When he saw the cover, his face immediately flushed slightly.
He rummaged through the red bag for a long time before finally finding the circular black vinyl record, which was about the size of two palms and a circle larger than the discs.
It even had the "fantasy" album printed on it. He quickly flipped the black vinyl record over to the side without any text.
Chen Kai felt a bit excited inside, but on the surface, he watched silently without making a sound.
He pretended to pick and choose through the red plastic bag for a long time, then deliberately shook his head.
"How much for these three?"
The Old Man was just about to name a price when he noticed that Chen Kai was holding a black disc that was a circle larger than the normal ones.
"Let me see that black one? Was this also in the red plastic bag?"
The Old Man running the stall snatched the black vinyl record from Chen Kai's hand.
He flipped it back and forth to look at it, but there was nothing special about it.
There was also a man in a red hat on it; it certainly wasn't as valuable as the Wong Fei-hung vs. Three Women disc. Maybe no one would even buy it.
Chen Kai's heart was pounding with extreme tension at this moment.
He couldn't show that he was anxious. Old men like this were sly as foxes, especially in the Antique Trade, where the mentality of trying to Score a Bargain was deeply ingrained in everyone.
If he showed even the slightest hint of anything being off, the Old Man would absolutely refuse to sell it.
Chen Kai thought for a moment, watching the Old Man continue to examine the black vinyl record.
He took out his phone and set an alarm to go off in 10 seconds.
Ten seconds later, the alarm rang.
He pretended to answer a call, picking up the alarm. "Huh? Meet at the KTV in ten minutes? Alright, I'll head over now. I'm buying some stuff."
"It's fine, I'll definitely be there on time. If not, I just won't buy anything and will head over right now."
"Yeah! Okay, invite a few more girls."
Chen Kai laughed intentionally and pretended to hang up the phone.
"Are you selling that thing or not? People are waiting for me. If you're not selling, forget it."
Chen Kai casually tossed the remaining two discs in his hand onto the small stall on the ground, making a "thwack" sound.
"Sell, sell, sell! Everything on the stall is for sale. Hehe, don't be in such a hurry."
"I, the Old Man, was just looking at what this thing was. First time I've seen it. Sell, sell, sell."
The Old Man immediately gave a chuckle and hurriedly handed the black vinyl record back to Chen Kai, afraid that he would be in a rush and just leave.
He rolled his eyes. Although he didn't know what this thing was and it might not be worth much—there wasn't even a woman on the disc.
But... it was big! He could charge more and fleece him for a bit!