13: Chapter 13 Who?

This pouch was the one he had picked up earlier from the crack in the alley trash can.

His parents had been home earlier, so it hadn't been convenient to take it out and examine it closely; Zheng Jing had been itching to do so for a while.

Now that his parents had gone out and his little sister was in her own room, he could finally check what good things were inside this pouch that had made the system's radar page glow so brightly.

Zheng Jing carefully unwrapped the old cloth covering the pouch, and inside lay an old-fashioned necklace!

Golden yellow!

Needless to say, it was definitely gold!

If it were worthless stuff like brass, the system wouldn't have emitted such a strong light cluster.

Moreover, the necklace felt heavy in his hand; he could clearly feel its weight, and its texture was incomparable to brass.

Zheng Jing first took a photo and sent it to his phone's intelligent assistant, wanting the AI to help with a rough appraisal, but it only popped up a cold message: "Sorry, I cannot help you at the moment."

"Damn it, this crappy intelligent assistant is becoming less and less useful at critical moments."

Zheng Jing muttered a complaint, then immediately remembered the Shopkeeper he had added yesterday at Zhongxing Antique City in Pingnan City; he seemed fairly reliable.

Thinking of this, Zheng Jing simply sent the original photo of the necklace over, asking if this old gold ornament had any room for collection appreciation.

Not long after, the other party replied.

The Shopkeeper told Zheng Jing that this was just an ordinary gold ornament handcrafted by civilians in the early years; it didn't count as an antique or collectible, had no extra collection premium, and could only be recycled according to the market price for ordinary old gold.

After thanking the other party, Zheng Jing wasn't disappointed.

This was an unexpected windfall anyway; as long as it wasn't fake brass, it was already a huge stroke of luck.

He safely tucked the gold necklace into his inner pocket, walked out of the room, pushed open the courtyard gate, and headed straight to the old-established gold and silver jewelry store next to the county government office.

This gold store had been open in the county town for over twenty years; while its storefront wasn't luxurious, its reputation had always been very good.

Locals were used to coming here to buy and sell old gold or refine it; it was a business built on long-term neighborhood relationships.

Unfortunately, they only recycled gold, silver, and other ornaments at second-hand prices, otherwise, Zheng Jing wouldn't have had to make a special trip to Pingnan City for those yuan datou silver dollars yesterday.

It was already the end of April, late spring was drawing to a close, and the weather was gradually becoming a bit sultry.

The midday sun shone obliquely on the eaves of the alleys, and a warm breeze carried the faint scent of plants and trees from the roadside.

There were few pedestrians on the street, and the entire old street exuded an atmosphere of laziness and tranquility.

When Zheng Jing arrived at his destination, he found the store even quieter, with almost no customers.

The person minding the store was a middle-aged man around fifty, slightly chubby, with slightly graying temples and a steady, reserved gaze.

As he blinked, a hint of shrewdness occasionally flashed in his eyes.

Seeing Zheng Jing enter the store, he greeted him quite enthusiastically: "Hello, boss, are you looking to buy or sell?"

"Hello!" Zheng Jing nodded with a smile: "I'm not any boss; I just have an old item at home, and seeing that gold prices are so high recently, I wanted to sell it."

The Shopkeeper was very smooth with his words: "Then you're smart, boss; being willing to sell at this high point, you definitely won't lose out."

Zheng Jing smiled without responding and handed the gold necklace over directly.

Only a fool would believe what the Shopkeeper said; people in business always spoke like that, making customers feel like they were making a big profit whether they were buying or selling.

Just listen and let it go; you can't take it seriously.

The Shopkeeper took the old-fashioned gold necklace from Zheng Jing, put on his reading glasses, and with fingertips bearing thin calluses from years of touching precious metals, he rubbed the patterns, examined the craftsmanship, and carefully scrutinized the quality under the light. His movements were skillful and seasoned, and he then casually placed it on an electronic scale, not even needing to use a spectrometer, clearly extremely confident in his own judgment.

He looked up at Zheng Jing, his tone calm and honest, neither deliberately suppressing the price nor using flowery language: "Young man, I've looked at the item; it's genuine gold, no doubt about it, weighing over fifty grams. It's just that it's old and the purity is mixed; other metals are blended in, so the purity doesn't meet the standard for pure gold. I can't calculate it for you at the top-tier pure gold price."

"I'll tell you the rules upfront: if you're sincere about selling, we'll melt it, refine it to remove impurities, and then settle according to today's real-time gold price based on the remaining pure gold weight. I won't charge you a processing fee."

"Of course, the whole process will be done right under your nose; we don't play any tricks."

Hearing him speak so openly and transparently, Zheng Jing didn't hesitate at all: "Melt it; I came here to sell it."

Receiving Zheng Jing's reply, the Shopkeeper was also straightforward and decisive, without any dragging or unnecessary talk.

He immediately took out the crucible, blowtorch, and other tools, skillfully lighting the fire, melting the gold, removing slag, and refining it. The whole process was smooth and fluid, his technique seasoned and professional.

After working for over half an hour, once the gold had cooled and set, the Shopkeeper put it back on the scale to weigh it.

He signaled for Zheng Jing to come and look; the refined gold necklace had just over thirty grams remaining.

The Shopkeeper looked up and reported clearly: "31.45 grams. Calculating it at today's real-time recycling price of 1024 per gram, that's a total of 32,204.8 yuan. I'll just round it to 32,205 yuan. Shall I transfer it to you via WeChat?"

Zheng Jing nodded and opened his phone's payment collection code.

While paying, the Shopkeeper said: "Boss, if it's convenient, add me on WeChat. If you have any old silver or old gold ornaments to sell in the future, come to me anytime. I'll give you a regular customer's honest price; I'll never fool you."

"Sure!" Seeing that the Shopkeeper was very straightforward and honest, Zheng Jing nodded in agreement.

Looking at the balance filling up again in his WeChat on his phone, Zheng Jing couldn't help but feel a surge of joy in his heart.

It really is Heaven trying to save me!

He had just paid back twenty thousand this morning, and in the blink of an eye, another thirty thousand plus had come in!

But the joy only flashed through his heart for a moment; Zheng Jing quickly suppressed his fluctuating emotions and regained his steady calmness.

This sum of money wasn't small, but he knew very well in his heart that he absolutely could not rashly take it home to pay off external debts.

It wasn't that he was selfish, but his parents knew exactly how much he was worth.

He had just taken out twenty thousand to pay off debts this morning, and in a flash, another huge sum of money appeared out of thin air; there was simply no way to explain where it came from.

What would his parents think then?

"You must be breaking the law."

So, to avoid creating unnecessary trouble, Zheng Jing had already decided that he would keep this money for himself for the time being and bring it out to help pay off the debts when a suitable opportunity arose later.

Putting away his phone and calming his emotions, Zheng Jing pushed open the jewelry store door and walked out.

Just as he stepped out of the store, a man walked towards him, and the two brushed past each other.

The man had originally been about to walk straight into the gold store, but just as he stepped half a foot inside, he suddenly paused abruptly and quickly backed out.