200: Money is hard to earn, shit is hard to eat

Ye Su chose to pick up items to ask about whose actual value he already knew.

The piece in the stall owner's hand, a [xianfeng heavy treasure · dang twenty] minted by the Baofu Bureau, was basically worth just over a thousand.

Now, asking for three thousand right off the bat and claiming it was a fair price, one could easily imagine how Ye Su was perceived in the stall owner's eyes.

"Boss, how come I recall the market price of this [xianfeng heavy treasure] being only around a thousand?"

When the stall owner heard Ye Su accurately state the price of [one thousand], his smile immediately froze on his face, making him look somewhat awkward.

He had originally complimented Ye Su as being [knowledgeable] to flatter him and lower his guard.

He hadn't expected Ye Su to actually be knowledgeable.

"Heh."

Having his trick exposed, the stall owner gave an awkward laugh, thinking that this business opportunity that had come early in the morning was already ruined.

Unexpectedly, Ye Su changed the subject and picked up a few tong zi coins from the side:

"Boss, these tong zi coins wouldn't be something you processed yourself later, would they?"

The stall owner immediately got anxious upon hearing this: "Handsome guy, what are you saying? Every item on my stall is guaranteed to be authentic, okay!"

"Boss, don't be so excited. I'm just confirming." Ye Su moved the few tong zi coins around before placing them back on the stall:

"Since you say they are real, and we've been chatting for so long, I'll help you make your first sale of the day, and at the same time, buy them back to try my luck."

Ye Su pointed to a few tong zi coins, including the one that was emitting a faint glow:

"Boss, what are the prices for these few tong zi coins? Give me a normal price; don't just throw out random numbers again."

Having experienced having his trick exposed, and seeing that Ye Su truly intended to buy something and wasn't just messing with him early in the morning,

the stall owner didn't dare to quote randomly again and pointed to the four tong zi coins in turn:

"One hundred ninety, two hundred ten, and these two medium-sized ones are both one hundred eighty. My prices are honest enough, right?"

"Mm." Ye Su nodded.

Ordinary tong zi coins are sold by weight, and a jin usually costs only a few hundred yuan.

The stall owner's prices weren't off by more than a few dozen yuan, so Ye Su had no intention of haggling. He picked up the glowing tong zi coin again:

"I'll take this one for one hundred ninety."

"Alright."

Although he didn't earn much, it was the first sale of the day, so the stall owner still appeared quite enthusiastic and handed Ye Su a plastic bag.

"Mm."

After taking the plastic bag, Ye Su scanned the payment of 190 yuan to the stall owner, then carried the bag and pretended to continue strolling, heading straight out of the antique market.

Driving back to his rented apartment complex, he stopped on the way to buy tools for the tong zi coins according to the tutorial he had found.

The tong zi coin he obtained was in a state of mild adhesion, where only the edges were vaguely visible, and a slight gap could be seen when pried gently.

After entering the house, Ye Su followed the tutorial, diluted white vinegar with distilled water, and soaked the tong zi coin in it.

Softening the copper rust would take some time, so Ye Su first picked up his phone to browse for lunch takeout.

After hesitating for over ten minutes and deciding what to eat for lunch, Ye Su put on gloves, picked up a soft brush and a plastic scraper, and began to work.

Next was the tedious process of opening the tong zi coin.

After the copper rust gradually softened, Ye Su carefully pried open the tong zi coin where the gaps appeared, cleaned off the dirt, and then put it back into the white vinegar solution to soak.

Taking advantage of this time, Ye Su picked up his takeout, quickly finished his lunch, and then returned to work.

"Fortunately, this tong zi coin likely only has about seventy or eighty copper coins; it's not too much effort to open."

Ye Su comforted himself while carefully prying off the copper coins one by one, then used a soft brush and a toothpick to clean off the soft rust on the coins.

"Not this..."

"Not this either..."

"Huh, a qianlong tongbao, seems like it's worth a little money."

After spending over an hour and prying off dozens of copper coins, the [yunlu qianlong heavy treasure back dragon and phoenix lucky coin] mentioned in the intelligence hadn't been pried out, but Ye Su did have some unexpected gains.

After cleaning the [qianlong tongbao] and placing it on a tissue, Ye Su continued to bury himself in his work, complaining as he did so:

"Money is truly hard to earn, and shit is hard to swallow!"

Not to mention those hardworking laborers, even Chen Xinyi would probably give Ye Su a punch if she heard this.

How many laborers couldn't even earn two hundred thousand in two years.

He was just staying in his room now, watching variety shows on his phone while prying a few copper coins, and could earn two hundred thousand, yet he dared to say [money is hard to earn, shit is hard to swallow].

After the [qianlong tongbao], he buried himself in work for another forty minutes, watching as the latest episode of "Wu Ha" was almost finished.

Ye Su was worrying about what variety show or movie he could watch later to continue killing the boring time of opening the tong zi coin.

Suddenly, after prying open a copper coin, a copper coin underneath instantly caught Ye Su's attention.

"A dragon and phoenix lucky coin!"

Ye Su had previously obtained a [qianlong tongbao · back dragon and phoenix lucky coin] through intelligence, so he was naturally very familiar with this kind of dragon and phoenix lucky coin.

"Don't let it be a [qianlong heavy treasure]!"

Just moments ago, Ye Su was still hoping to find that [qianlong heavy treasure] quickly.

But now that he saw the back of the [dragon and phoenix lucky coin], Ye Su actually hoped that this wasn't the [qianlong heavy treasure] he was looking for.

After all, a [dragon and phoenix lucky coin] could usually be worth a few tens of thousands.

If this wasn't the [qianlong heavy treasure] mentioned in the intelligence, he could have another big, unexpected windfall.

Unfortunately, no miracle happened.

After Ye Su pried off the [dragon and phoenix lucky coin], the four characters [qianlong heavy treasure] were vaguely visible on it.

"That's fine, at least two hundred thousand is in the bag!"

Ye Su used a soft brush and cotton swabs to clean off the dirt and loose rust on the copper coin, revealing the true appearance of the [qianlong heavy treasure].

It was likely corroded by the humid environment when the tong zi coin was formed, which affected the condition of this [qianlong heavy treasure].

Otherwise, this [yunlu qianlong heavy treasure back dragon and phoenix lucky coin] could have been sold for at least a few tens of thousands more.

"Might as well, since I'm idle, let's clean them all out."

Looking at the time, it was not even two o'clock, and there were less than twenty tong zi coins remaining.

To avoid these tong zi coins being damaged by soaking, and in the spirit of not wasting, Ye Su spent another half hour cleaning out all the remaining tong zi coins.

Unfortunately, apart from that [qianlong tongbao] worth a few hundred, the remaining tong zi coins didn't bring Ye Su any surprises.

"That's it then."

The worthless copper coins were all collected by Ye Su and tossed next to the pile of coins left over from opening the piggy bank blind box earlier.

When he had just finished cleaning the tong zi coins, the variety show had already finished, so Ye Su turned off his phone.

Now that he had tidied up the room, Ye Su finally had time to pick up his phone.

Upon unlocking it, he discovered that Li Mengyao had sent him a message.

[Li Mengyao: Don't forget to come to my house for dinner tonight]

[Li Mengyao: Also, tidy yourself up a bit, don't be sloppy about it]

"What does that mean? Am I not clean usually!"

"I'm helping out for free; it's good enough that I'm even going, and she still has so many demands!"

Ye Su grumbled while replying to Li Mengyao's message.

[Alright, received]

Just as Ye Su was about to put down his phone and grab two storage boxes to put the two copper coins away, he suddenly received another text message on his phone.