34: Picking up leaks is picking up money

As soon as he walked in, Ye Su saw that sitting at the head of the tea table, besides Wan Yuanliang, was a middle-aged man.

The teapot for brewing tea was in his hand; unsurprisingly, this person must be Wan Yuanliang's father.

"ASu, you've arrived."

"Brother Liang."

Wan Yuanliang stood up and moved to the side, making room for Ye Su, while introducing him, "This is my dad."

"Hello. If you don't mind, just call me Uncle Wen."

Ye Su politely greeted him, "Uncle Wen."

"Sit." Wan Bowen poured a cup of tea for Ye Su, "ALiang said you're from Yingzhou, so you should drink tea, right?"

"I drink it when there are elders at home, but once I'm out, I don't really have the conditions for it."

Ye Su picked up the teacup, took two sips, and then downed the rest in one gulp.

"You Handsome guys probably prefer soft drinks and beer a bit more. In a few years, you'll come to like tea."

"Haha." To this, Ye Su could only respond with a polite smile.

Wan Yuanliang also picked up his teacup and took a sip, "When you contacted me, my dad just happened to be in the shop. It's not that I suspected you were bringing fake items to cheat me, and specifically asked my dad to come over to vet them."

"I wouldn't think of you so darkly. Besides, when you open your doors for business, even if you really did that, I'd understand."

It was already past five, so Ye Su didn't waste time. He took two pieces of red cloth from his pocket and spread them out on a clean spot nearby, "These are the two copper coins I just sent to Brother Liang. Check them and see if there are any issues."

Wan Bowen had a clear objective. He wiped his hands clean, put on his glasses, and then, along with the red cloth, picked up the qianlong tongbao to inspect it carefully.

Besides not letting a single detail escape his notice and weighing it directly in his hand, Wan Bowen also measured the size of the coin with a ruler and even sniffed it with his nose.

Since the qianlong tongbao was taken by Wan Bowen, Wan Yuanliang could only pick up the [xianfeng heavy treasure] ten-value coin and inspect it casually.

"The item is genuine, and the patina on it is very natural."

Wan Bowen put the qianlong tongbao back on the table, letting Wan Yuanliang pick it up again to look at, but he didn't take the [xianfeng heavy treasure] again.

"That's good."

"Would you mind telling me where you got these two copper coins?"

Wan Yuanliang, who was observing and learning, suddenly chimed in, "It wouldn't be New Year's money from your family again, would it? If that's really the case, your family's New Year's money is starting to undermine our Guangdong Province traditions."

"Not at all. If it were New Year's money from my family, I would have sold it to you along with the last one." Ye Su had already made up the story, "I scavenged these a couple of days ago. On one hand, I wanted to resell them to you to earn some living expenses, and on the other, I wanted you to help me see if I missed anything."

With the system upgrade, there was more and more Level 2 intelligence, so there would definitely be many such items that could be scavenged.

If he always used "given by family" as an excuse, even a fool would know it was fake.

Is his family a group of grave robbers? Would they give things like this?

Taking this opportunity, Ye Su simply laid the groundwork for his persona as someone who goes around hunting for treasures and scavenging in his spare time, so that next time he had something to sell, it would be justifiable.

"Handsome guy, oh, ASu right? Then your eye is quite good. You found a bargain right off the bat; ALiang probably doesn't have your keen eye."

Wan Bowen didn't have too many doubts about Ye Su's explanation because he used to do the same thing when he was young, often going to various rural areas to collect old items.

As time passed, the good items had mostly been scavenged, and people became harder to fool, so Wan Bowen stopped doing that line of work and focused on running this antique shop.

Precisely because he had worked in this line, Wan Bowen didn't press for where Ye Su had found such a big bargain.

For people with a sharp eye, finding a place where bargains can be scavenged is basically like using a sack to collect money; no one would be stupid enough to reveal it to others.

"Not at all, I'm just playing around. I only managed not to buy fakes this time because I was lucky."

"Good luck requires a sharp eye too. I saw you brought a stamp over last time, saying it was New Year's money from your family. Is your family in this business too?"

"No, only my grandfather at home likes to tinker with these things."

The two chatted for a few sentences, and then Wan Bowen got to the point, "So, what price do you intend to set for these two coins?"

Wan Bowen was only interested in the [qianlong tongbao·back dragon and phoenix lucky coin]; the [xianfeng heavy treasure] ten-value coin was just a buy-one-get-one-free, a convenient extra.

"Twenty-six thousand."

As soon as Ye Su stated the price, Wan Bowen knew he had done his homework before coming.

"Twenty-six thousand is a bit high. I basically won't have any profit. The highest I can offer here is twenty-four thousand."

"I saw that a [qianlong tongbao·back dragon and phoenix lucky coin] auctioned last month, with a patina even worse than this one, fetched over thirty thousand. Now that I'm giving you both coins as a package, twenty-six thousand should be about right. After deducting the cost, let's both make a little something."

"I really can't pay twenty-six thousand. How about I only buy that [qianlong tongbao], and I'll still give you twenty-four thousand, how about that?"

"How about this then: for the two as a package, twenty-five thousand. Deal? Next time I find any other good items, I'll still reach out to Brother Liang first."

Wan Bowen hesitated for a moment, then nodded and agreed, "Fine, twenty-five thousand it is."

Wan Bowen's psychological price point was actually only twenty-four thousand.

However, such large coins have a high turnover rate, basically around thirty percent per year, so Wan Bowen didn't mind making a small concession while simultaneously forming a stable cooperative relationship with Ye Su.

Next was a familiar process.

After the contract was signed and the money transferred, the transaction between the two parties was considered complete.

With money in his pocket, he felt confident.

Looking at his balance returning to twenty-nine thousand, Ye Su quietly breathed a sigh of relief, "It's almost dinnertime, and I need to rush back to eat, so I'll be going now."

"Won't you stay for dinner?"

"No thanks."

Ye Su drank the tea in his cup, then stood up to say goodbye to Wan Bowen and the other man.

After Ye Su walked out of the shop door, Wan Yuanliang asked doubtfully, "Dad, is this [qianlong tongbao] really, as Ye Su said, something he scavenged?"

No matter how you look at it, Ye Su doesn't seem like he's in the antique circle. How could he have such a good eye to pick out a genuine [qianlong tongbao·back dragon and phoenix lucky coin] when fakes are flying everywhere?

"I can't say for sure either, but looking at him, he doesn't seem like someone who's into shady business. As long as the item is fine, the shop will just buy it."

While answering Wan Yuanliang's question, Wan Bowen took out his phone, took a few photos of that [qianlong tongbao], and then posted it on his Moments to sell, waiting for interested customers to ask for the price.

...

When Ye Su left the antique shop, it wasn't yet six o'clock, but there were already many pedestrians on the road; clearly, the evening rush hour had begun.

Taking a taxi would mean traffic jams, and the subway was crowded, so Ye Su just found a place to eat by himself, wandered around aimlessly for a while, and then returned to the dormitory.

"Hello, look who's back?"

"Yo, yo, yo, you still know how to come back?"

"I will always be a part of Dorm 305. Where else would I go if not back here?"

"Heh."

The three roommates had also accepted the fact that Ye Su was burning with passion for his girlfriend, neglecting his friends for romance, and was nowhere to be seen all day, ending their isolation of him.

Dorm 305 started their happy four-person internet cafe gaming session again.