50: Find a bargain at the secondhand furniture market!
Chen Kai returned home and opened the Pop Mart official account again to take a look; the hype was still soaring.
He shook his head faintly as he looked at the retail investors in the comments section shouting about going all-in.
Going all-in right now would definitely result in losing everything down to their last penny. Human nature is just like this; when it rose from 401 to 453, they definitely thought it would keep rising.
As a result, when the price plummeted, they would start shouting about being manipulated by capital again.
He lay on the bed to rest for a while, and time unknowingly slipped away into the dead of night.
Chen Kai glanced at his phone; it was already past eleven. He held his breath and, after waiting ten minutes that felt like a year, the Intelligence System refreshed!
He impatiently clicked on the daily intelligence system to see what the intelligence for today was.
"Ding!"
"Today's intelligence refresh: Tomorrow at 3:30 PM, at the Chunshan Secondhand Furniture Market, there is a used air conditioner shop. Inside the vent of one of the vertical air conditioners, there is a stack of ten eight-year-issue yuan shikai silver dollars and some secret cash. Recommended selling price: 23,000."
Chen Kai was stunned. Holy crap! Today's intelligence is so valuable.
Twenty-three thousand! Although a vertical air conditioner itself costs several thousand, the profit is huge.
It's just a pity he didn't know which room a henpecked man was currently forcing a smile in, while hiding under his covers and crying his eyes out.
Chen Kai shook his head. Since his little Rental House had always just used a fan to save money, getting an air conditioner wouldn't be a bad idea.
However, he would have to rent a car tomorrow; his little electric donkey definitely couldn't haul an air conditioner back.
He frowned, thought for a moment, and sent a WeChat message to Zheng Liu Chang.
"Brother, does your shop have an iveco jinbei when you're picking up goods? Come help me haul something tomorrow, would you?"
Since these ten yuan shikai silver dollars would have to be taken to the Yunshang Pavilion to be sold anyway, he might as well let Zheng Liu Chang do the heavy lifting. Nowadays, even Lalamove isn't cheap.
Drivers are all complaining about not making money, yet regular folks still feel that calling a Lalamove is better than renting a car because the price is ridiculously high. So, where is the money? Where did the money go?
Soon, Zheng Liu Chang replied: [We do have an iveco jinbei. You aren't planning to pick up some big cargo tomorrow, are you?]
[Don't go digging for fresh stuff; I don't dare accept anything freshly dug.]
Chen Kai cracked a joke, "Then I guess I'll have to apologize to the ancestors. Anyway, they aren't my ancestors."
[Brother, don't mess around. I really don't accept freshly dug stuff!]
Chen Kai chuckled and quickly replied, "I'm just teasing you. I'm going to the secondhand furniture market; just help me haul something."
[Alright, that works. I don't have anything going on tomorrow afternoon, so let's go then.]
"Sure. Anyway, just wait for my news. I'll let you know when it's ready so you can come help me move it."
Zheng Liu Chang replied with an "OK" emoji, and that ended the conversation.
After Chen Kai looked into the recent prices of used air conditioners, he lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
...
The next morning, Chen Kai opened his bleary eyes.
He sat on the edge of the bed and lit a cigarette; time was a bit tight today.
After he Scored a Bargain with the yuan shikai silver dollars, he had to rush to the Financial Company above the "Great Strength Creates Miracles" Gym.
Fortunately, it wasn't too far, so he would be in time to sell the Stocks at six in the evening.
He finished the last puff of his cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray, changed his clothes, went downstairs, and rode his little electric donkey towards the Chunshan Secondhand Furniture Market.
...
An hour and a half later, Chen Kai stopped his little electric donkey in front of the massive Chunshan Secondhand Furniture Market.
Seeing the dense crowd of merchants before him, Chen Kai was completely stunned.
He only knew it was a used air conditioner shop, but it felt like he could spend an entire day wandering around here.
He looked at the sign in the upper right corner; the venue could accommodate ten thousand people at once.
He was currently at Gate 21, feeling a bit at a loss.
"Seriously, Brother, why is a secondhand furniture market built so big?"
Chen Kai had a headache and helplessly covered his face.
He searched for used air conditioner shops on the map, which gave him some relief—there were only eight.
There was still plenty of time; it was only past twelve, so he had over two hours to finish visiting these eight shops.
With that in mind, he walked into the air conditioner shop at Gate 21 of the market.
"Young Man, what are you looking to buy? Our used air conditioners are on sale now; a two-horsepower unit is only 2888."
A bearded boss greeted him enthusiastically.
"I'll just take a look around myself. I'm helping a friend look for a vertical air conditioner for their office. Trying to save some money."
Chen Kai chuckled and, under the boss's guidance, headed towards the vertical air conditioner section.
At a glance, there were dozens of vertical air conditioners, but none of them were emitting a faint glow.
He sighed helplessly, shook his head at the boss, and said, "I'll keep looking. Sorry."
"No worries, take your time looking around."
The bearded boss smiled as well and waved his hand.
Chen Kai walked out the back door and headed to the next one.
...
Twenty minutes later, Chen Kai stood at the entrance and waved apologetically, "Sorry, I'll keep looking."
He had visited two shops in a row, and neither had an air conditioner with anything hidden inside. What was going on?
"Don't panic, there are still five left."
Chen Kai kept a smile on his face; they say people who love to smile have good luck.
But he had discovered that people with bad luck couldn't smile at all, dammit.
He checked the map; the remaining five were all on the same street. He turned off his phone and walked over quickly.
But after walking around, he discovered that these five used air conditioner shops were actually just two shops; the bosses were the same.
Furthermore, two of them only sold wall-mounted air conditioners. After walking around, he had gained nothing.
Chen Kai was suddenly a bit bewildered. He checked the time; it was already one o'clock after just a short while of wandering.
The intelligence said 3:30 PM. Wouldn't this air conditioner only appear at 3:30 PM?
"Could the map be wrong? It didn't record this used air conditioner shop?"
Chen Kai stood at the entrance of Gate 11 and switched to another app, but he still couldn't find any other air conditioner shops.
He looked back and realized there was a food court right next to him.
He hadn't eaten since the morning, so he decided to fill his stomach first.
He walked up the stairs to the second-floor food court, ordered a milk tea, and bought a serving of liangpi at a stall.
After paying, he sat down at a table by the floor-to-ceiling window that offered a full view of the furniture market on the first floor.
He grabbed a pair of disposable chopsticks from the table and started eating the liangpi.
Just as he was about to finish the last bite, he saw a short woman wearing a T-shirt and a face mask through the floor-to-ceiling window.
She was struggling to carry a vertical air conditioner as she walked into a used air conditioner shop.
The air conditioner in her arms was emitting a faint glow!
Chen Kai was overjoyed. He wolfed down the last bite of liangpi, grabbed his fruit tea, and ran down the stairs.
When he reached the first floor, he could still barely see the woman's blurry figure; the main reason was that the air conditioner in her arms was just too conspicuous.
The air conditioner was taller than she was, and she was carrying it with extreme difficulty.
Chen Kai hurriedly followed her.