98: Add a personal touch to yourself

[Wan Yuanliang: I'll buy it! Of course I'll buy it!]

[Wan Yuanliang: When are you free to bring it over? I can go back to the shop early and wait for you, or I can come pick it up myself.]

After working together several times, Wan Yuanliang had complete trust in Ye Su's character. He wasn't worried at all that Ye Su would hike up the price after he showed how much he wanted this transformer.

[I'll bring it over to your shop this afternoon.]

[Wan Yuanliang: No problem, I'll head back to the shop early and wait for you.]

After replying with an "OK" emoji, Ye Su nodded at Chen Xinyi, who was looking at him expectantly.

"It's all set. I'll bring the item over for him to look at this afternoon. If there are no issues, he'll buy it."

"Yay!!"

Chen Xinyi squirmed with excitement, causing a certain part of her body to jiggle violently.

"No, I'm too excited. Let's do this!"

As she spoke, Chen Xinyi dragged Ye Su toward the bed.

"Get to what? It's broad daylight, can you not be so thirsty?"

Although Ye Su said no, his body was very honest. Without the slightest resistance, he let Chen Xinyi drag him onto the bed.

Subsequently, an indescribable scene took place in the apartment at around ten in the morning.

...

Around two in the afternoon, Ye Su arrived at Bowen Antique Shop with optimus prime.

Chen Xinyi stayed behind in the apartment to pack her things and didn't come along with Ye Su.

"You're here!" Seeing Ye Su walk in, Wan Yuanliang immediately stood up to welcome him warmly.

Originally, Wan Bowen was supposed to run the shop today. However, after Wan Yuanliang received Ye Su's message, he immediately volunteered to take over for Wan Bowen so that he could relax during the May Day holiday.

"The item is here, take a look for yourself."

Seeing Wan Yuanliang's impatient look, Ye Su skipped the pleasantries, placed the bag in his arms onto the table, and pulled out the cardboard box.

Seeing the actual item, Wan Yuanliang's eyes went wide, and he couldn't wait to inspect it with his hands.

"It's just a figure. Is there a need to be this excited?"

Ye Su was puzzled. When Wan Yuanliang saw that Saddle Ring worth over a hundred thousand last time, he hadn't been this excited.

Why was he happier seeing a figure now than he would be finding a wife?

Without raising his head, Wan Yuanliang said, "You don't understand. What plastic model enthusiast wouldn't want such a rare collectible?"

Only then did Ye Su realize that Wan Yuanliang was also a figure enthusiast.

"Alright then, take your time."

Ye Su didn't treat himself like an outsider. After washing a teacup, he took over Wan Yuanliang's spot and started brewing tea.

He couldn't help it; the tea in their shop was just so fragrant.

Ye Su hadn't expected that his identity as a native of Guyingzhou, which hadn't been activated at home, would make him fall in love with drinking tea in someone else's shop.

After Ye Su had drunk several rounds of tea, Wan Yuanliang reluctantly put the item back into the box exactly as it was.

"This G1 Optimus Prime is indeed an authentic American release from back then."

Wan Yuanliang had seen this first-edition American release of G1 Optimus Prime at a fellow model enthusiast friend's house before.

However, that one was the metal-toed version, which was much more expensive on the secondhand market than the plastic-toed version Ye Su brought.

"Did you find this yourself too? How do you even know about action figures?"

It was no wonder Wan Yuanliang was so surprised by Ye Su.

Antiques, stone gambling, jewelry... It was one thing for Ye Su to know about all of those.

But now he was even dabbling in figures and had brought such a high-quality piece. How was anyone else supposed to compete?

"I'm not a figure enthusiast, where would I find something like this? A friend of mine is in a hurry to sell it, so he asked me to help him out."

On the way over, Ye Su had already thought it through.

Although he had previously established a "bargain hunter" identity for himself—and the Jade-in-Stone, the Double-layered Painting, and the Square Box had all been shown to Wan Yuanliang and his son, making them completely believe in his "bargain hunter" persona—

—if he consistently found great bargains every single week in the long run, Ye Su was worried that Wan Yuanliang and his son would start to have doubts.

Therefore, he had to start adding a "middleman" persona to himself, attributing some of the items to imaginary "friends" in the future.

"Oh, so it's your friend who wants to sell it."

Wan Yuanliang didn't doubt Ye Su's words in the slightest.

With Ye Su's expertise in antiques, it was perfectly reasonable for him to have a few wealthy friends who could afford to collect this kind of figure.

"Then how much is your friend planning to sell it for?"

Ye Su had originally planned to ask for one hundred and twenty thousand based on the information tip. But now that Wan Yuanliang was absolutely enamored with this figure, Ye Su was definitely going to raise the price on the spot to earn back the agency fee he had paid earlier.

"One hundred and forty thousand."

"One hundred and forty thousand..." Wan Yuanliang frowned. "That price is pushing the limit a bit."

"It can't be helped." Ye Su shrugged. "You two are kindred spirits. If he weren't short on cash, do you think he would sell something like this?"

"I understand that, but one hundred and forty thousand is still a bit higher than the current secondhand market price."

"It's precisely because it's slightly higher than the market price that he asked for my help to see if I could find a buyer. If it were priced the same as the secondhand market, he could have just sold it himself. Why would he need to go through me?"

Ye Su realized that this trick of "making up a friend" was really useful. Any issue could be pinned on a "friend."

Wan Yuanliang also knew that Ye Su's words made sense.

If the asking price weren't so close to the limit, this optimus prime wouldn't have any trouble selling at all. There were plenty of people in the hobby circle who didn't lack a hundred thousand yuan or so, but they lacked such a collectible.

"Is there no room for negotiation on the price?"

"I already asked him when he sought my help. He said he wants exactly one hundred and forty thousand. If he can't sell it for that much in the end, he'll just have to sell it to another friend of his for one hundred and thirty thousand."

Ye Su's words completely shut down any possibility of Wan Yuanliang bargaining.

"Alright, one hundred and forty thousand it is. I'll take it."

Over the past two months, the money he had made off Ye Su alone was enough to buy this transformer.

Since it was only slightly more expensive than the market price, Wan Yuanliang could still accept it.

If he missed this opportunity, Wan Yuanliang didn't know how long it would take to find another first-edition G1 Optimus Prime that was fully complete with all accessories and in pristine condition.

"Should I transfer the money to you, or...?"

"Just transfer it directly to me."

"OK."

Although buying a G1 Optimus Prime was basically a guaranteed way not to lose money,

buying an item worth over a hundred thousand yuan on a whim still gave Ye Su a new appreciation of Wan Yuanliang's financial strength.

"Next time your friend has any other collectibles to sell, you can have him contact me."

"No problem. If you're interested, I can keep an eye out for you."

With the money in hand and having sold it for an extra twenty thousand—which basically offset the twenty percent cut he had to give Chen Xinyi—Ye Su freeloaded a few more cups of tea in the shop before leaving Bowen Antique Shop.

Instead of going straight back to the apartment, Ye Su went to the school first, rode his electric scooter to his rented place, and checked on the state of the Mutated Chinese Rose.

There were still no signs of blooming, but Chinese roses were known for their strong vitality and resilience. Since two days had passed without any signs of trouble, Ye Su finally felt at ease.

Considering that leaving the lottery ticket inside his phone case for too long might cause it to stick to the case, Ye Su also put the lottery ticket in the cabinet before riding his electric scooter back to the apartment.