4: Chapter 4 Preparing to Monetize

He saw a good number of Republican-era silver dollars neatly stacked at the bottom of the jar!

The outlines of the yuan datou silver dollars were clear, and the silver had a gentle luster. A rough count revealed there were exactly ten of them!

Although Zheng Jing didn't know why silver dollars were hidden here, he guessed that during the chaotic war years, a wealthy family nearby must have buried their family fortune here to escape disaster, thinking that this place was remote and rarely visited.

Years later, the original owners were likely gone for various reasons, so it fell into Zheng Jing's hands.

Zheng Jing's throat tightened. He reached in, took out a silver dollar, and rubbed his fingertips over the cold silver surface again and again; the sensation was incredibly real.

Mimicking what he had seen on TV, he held the yuan datou silver dollar between the nail of his right thumb and index finger and blew on it gently.

"Ding~" The crisp sound unique to silver dollars rang out immediately, lingering and long-lasting.

Although he didn't know the current market price for silver dollars, he had at least seen how things worked. Zheng Jing estimated that these ten old silver dollars could easily be sold for several thousand in cash!

That was money he could only earn after a month of working early and late, exposed to the wind and sun, delivering food, without eating or drinking!

Now, thanks to the system, he had obtained it easily in just half a day!

"Haha... ha, ha, haha. Hahaha!!"

Zheng Jing suddenly seemed to go mad, laughing wildly and uninhibitedly!

The frustration of being fired in Shanghai, the humiliation of being heartlessly dumped by his girlfriend Liu Meng;

Even the embarrassment of being too poor to afford a hot meal, and the despair of hitting dead ends while job hunting...

All his grievances, unwillingness, and down-and-out state vanished into thin air in the face of this jar of silver dollars!

The free spirit and boldness of the ancient saying, "The light boat has already passed ten thousand mountains," was now embodied in him!

Zheng Jing's hands trembled; the God of Wealth had truly manifested!

The system in his mind was real!

It wasn't a hallucination!!

He, Zheng Jing, was truly going to turn his life around completely!

Taking a deep breath, Zheng Jing quickly poured out all the silver dollars, wiped the dirt off their surfaces with the corner of his shirt, and tucked them one by one into his inner pocket.

"I don't know if this jar is worth anything, but whatever, I'll take it with me."

Zheng Jing thought for a moment and put the empty pottery jar into his chest bag.

He looked at the deep pit he had dug on the ground. He realized that this was, after all, a temple, and no matter how remote it was, it was inevitable that pilgrims would occasionally visit.

If they saw such a large, man-made pit, who knows what rumors might start.

So, Zheng Jing pushed the dug-up soil back in, stomped it down with his feet, and then jumped on it hard to restore it roughly to its original state.

Before long, once the weed seeds in the soil grew, absolutely no one would discover that this place had once been dug up.

Having tasted success, Zheng Jing naturally couldn't just stop there. He brushed the dirt off his hands and continued walking around the Mountain God Temple, slowly feeling the changes in the radar in his mind.

After walking several circles and repeatedly confirming that there were no other large-volume, high-energy reactions nearby, he took a deep breath, turned around, and quickly headed down the mountain.

Now, the most important thing for him was to immediately return to the county seat and exchange these silver dollars for crisp, red cash!

Clutching the silver dollars and the pottery jar, Zheng Jing suppressed his overwhelming joy and hurried down the mountain.

But he hadn't gone far when his footsteps suddenly stopped.

He turned around abruptly and looked at the ancient Temple of the God of Wealth, his gaze instantly becoming incredibly solemn.

If the God of Wealth hadn't manifested, how could he have bound the system?

Thinking of this, Zheng Jing turned around and quickly headed back to the Mountain God Temple.

Inside the temple, the incense he had lit earlier was still curling in the air.

Zheng Jing walked straight to the shrine, looked at the seated statue of the God of Wealth, knelt on both knees, and respectfully kowtowed three times.

With his forehead touching the ground, his expression was incredibly devout.

"God of Wealth, today, thanks to your protection, you have granted me the opportunity to turn my life around. One day, I, Zheng Jing, will surely achieve great success. When that time comes, I will return here to restore your golden statue, repair the temple, and offer sacrifices every year. I will never forget this kindness!"

Silently making this vow in his heart, Zheng Jing stood up, bowed deeply, and turned to head straight for the county seat.

He was anxious to know exactly how much these silver dollars could sell for!

"The sun rises in the east, while it rains in the west; it is said there is no sunshine, yet there is affection!"

When Zheng Jing returned to the county seat, he couldn't help but think of this poem by Liu Yuxi.

In the same county, where the Temple of the God of Wealth was located, although there were dark clouds, not a single drop of rain had fallen.

Yet right now, in the county seat, it was pouring rain!

At the entrance of a small shop where he was taking shelter from the rain, Zheng Jing spent a whopping 35 yuan to buy an umbrella that normally only cost 15 yuan.

"What a total rip-off!"

But as the saying goes, he was the fish and they were the knife; what could he do?

With such heavy rain, he couldn't just stand there and get soaked...

Zheng Jing opened his umbrella and walked toward an old alley in his memory.

In that old alley was the only "pawn shop" in their Hezheng County.