Chapter 43: Poor Again
“Uncle Jing, these meteorites are all sold by the gram, right? Judging from the prices you mentioned, they must be much more expensive than gold.”
Although Su Xiaofan didn't know the exact weights of these meteorites, judging from their sizes alone, none of them seemed particularly heavy.
The glass meteorite looked to be around forty or fifty grams, while the Martian meteorite, in Su Xiaofan's estimation, weighed at most a dozen or so grams.
As for the last meteorite—the one containing the solar-storm energy factor—Su Xiaofan estimated that it probably weighed only three to five grams at most. Three to five grams costing thirty thousand yuan would make it dozens of times more expensive than gold.
“Uncle Jing, 140,000, 380,000, 1.28 million, plus 30,000—that makes 1.83 million. Let's just call it 1.85 million.”
For Su Xiaofan, who had just received more than ten million yuan, this amount didn't seem particularly large.
So, feeling quite wealthy, Su Xiaofan waved his hand and said, “Uncle Jing, you've had these in your collection for several years, so I won't take advantage of you. How about this? I'll double the price. 3.7 million yuan, and you transfer all these meteorites to me. How does that sound?”
“You're sure? Double the price?”
The look in Jing Shizhen's eyes became somewhat strange.
“What is it, Uncle Jing? Is there something wrong?”
After being stared at by Jing Shizhen like that, Su Xiaofan suddenly felt a little uneasy, as if he had overlooked something important.
“Zhengshan, young people these days really are loaded.”
Jing Shizhen smiled broadly. “Xiao Su, you know that I bought all these things at overseas auctions, right?”
“I know. You already told me that.”
For some reason, the ominous feeling in Su Xiaofan's heart grew stronger.
“Right. But the currency I mentioned just now wasn't our country's currency. I was talking about **dollars**, abbreviated as USD. Do you understand?”
The more Jing Shizhen spoke, the harder it became for him to suppress his amusement. In the end, he burst out laughing.
“Huh? Uncle Jing, you mean… US dollars?”
Hearing Jing Shizhen's words, Su Xiaofan was completely dumbfounded. He quickly pulled out his phone and checked the exchange rate between the US dollar and RMB.
The moment he saw it, his face turned pale.
“Well? What's the exchange rate? Around six-point-something to one?”
Jing Shizhen pointed toward the glass display case and said, “Let's calculate it at 6.3 to 1. Three-point-seven million US dollars comes to 23.31 million RMB. If you can come up with that money, you can take all these meteorites.”
“Uncle Jing, I… I can't afford them!”
Su Xiaofan's face immediately became bitter, and he pleaded pitifully, “Uncle Jing, please take care of a newcomer. Since I'm just starting out in this business, how about you sell them to me at your original cost? Also, I only want the glass meteorite, the Martian meteorite, and that unnamed one. I'll leave the others for now.”
“Xiao Su, the prospects for meteorite collecting in China aren't clear yet. There's no need for you to buy them right now.”
Zhao Zhengshan also advised him from the side. He could afford to spend eighty million yuan on a painting because he had the backing of his family business.
But in Zhao Zhengshan's eyes, Su Xiaofan's more than ten million yuan hadn't exactly been easy to obtain. Then again… it seemed it hadn't been that difficult either. He had merely sold two objects.
“Hmm? You really still want to buy them?”
Seeing that Su Xiaofan still hadn't given up on purchasing the meteorites, Jing Shizhen was somewhat surprised.
The meteorite craze in China hadn't even taken off yet. The prices of these meteorites wouldn't rise anytime soon. If Su Xiaofan bought them, they would only tie up his capital without offering much benefit.
In fact, even Jing Shizhen himself had felt a little regretful after purchasing these meteorites. If he hadn't been wealthy enough not to care about tying up this amount of money, he would have tried to get rid of them somehow.
“I want to buy them, but I can't afford them.”
Su Xiaofan honestly admitted it. His entire fortune now consisted of around sixteen million yuan, plus another one hundred thirty to one hundred forty thousand yuan. He didn't even have twenty million in total—still far short of what he needed.
“Hey, you're the one who offered the price, not me.”
Jing Shizhen merely smiled. Earlier that day, Su Xiaofan had found two huge bargains in succession and sold both of them. His smugness had been obvious just moments ago, but now he looked completely deflated.
Su Xiaofan clasped his hands together and pleaded, “Uncle Jing, everyone knows that you like to help young people. Please give me a cheaper price.”
“What if I don't?”
Jing Shizhen's smile disappeared.
“Uncle Jing, how about I kowtow to you?”
Su Xiaofan shamelessly pleaded.
After spending so much time in the antique market, he hadn't learned much else, but he had certainly developed a thick skin.
“When someone wants something but can't get it, resentment can arise. If I refuse to sell them to you, are you going to resent me?”
Jing Shizhen shook his head and stared at Su Xiaofan.
He had met all kinds of people. Many people, when they failed to get what they wanted, would end up hating the person who refused them. Jing Shizhen didn't want to help an ungrateful person.
“No, Uncle Jing. These things belong to you. Whether you sell them or not is entirely your freedom. I absolutely won't blame you.”
Su Xiaofan shook his head repeatedly.
He genuinely meant what he said and wasn't being insincere in the slightest.
Ever since his grandfather passed away and Su Xiaofan had attended high school alone in the city, he had understood one principle: aside from one's parents and relatives, if someone was willing to help you, that was kindness; if they weren't willing to help you, that was also their right. In this society, ultimately, you still had to rely on yourself.
Therefore, when he learned that his younger sister needed tuition money, his first thought had been to sell more things rather than borrow money from someone or use an online loan to solve the problem.
“That means you understand how things work.”
Jing Shizhen nodded. “All right. Your Uncle Jing is a businessman. I won't take advantage of you, and you shouldn't expect to take advantage of me either.
“I spent more than 1.8 million 'US dollars' on these meteorites in total. Normally, when my Jingxin Hall sells antiques, we require at least a forty-percent profit margin. I'll add forty percent to the cost of this batch of meteorites. Do you want them?”
“1.85 million plus forty percent…”
Su Xiaofan quickly calculated in his head.
“Uncle Jing, that's 2.59 million US dollars, right? What about the exchange rate? Is it still 6.3 to 1?”
“Stop hanging around Gangzi. How did you end up becoming just like him?”
Jing Shizhen glared at Su Xiaofan unhappily.
“6.3 to 1. If you want to buy them, buy them. If you don't, forget it. Let's go. Stop staying in the storeroom, or you'll see something else you like.”
“Uncle Jing, you haven't put the meteorites away yet.”
Su Xiaofan stared eagerly at the meteorites.
“If you're buying them, I'll have Shopkeeper Liu come over and put them away later. Look at you—you really have no self-control.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head.
How could this kid have such incredible luck? All the major bargains of the past ten years seemed to have been found by him.
---
After following Jing Shizhen out of the storeroom, they returned to the place where they had been drinking tea earlier.
Jing Shizhen brought over a calculator and began calculating the bill for Su Xiaofan.
“16.31 million. I'll round it down to 16.3 million for you. Are you buying?”
Jing Shizhen said, “I'll give you one more chance to think it over. If you want to turn these meteorites into cash, you'll have to take them to overseas auctions. There are currently no buyers for them in China. Think carefully.”
“Uncle Jing, can I skip those ten ordinary meteorites?”
Su Xiaofan logged into his mobile banking account.
The moment he saw his balance, his face immediately fell.
There was a total of 16.17 million yuan in his bank account. Even if he handed over everything, he would still be short by 130,000 yuan.
“No, you can't. If you want to buy them, you have to take the whole lot.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head.
“If I want to sell them later, I'll have to sell them as a package too. You've bought the highest-quality meteorites. How am I supposed to sell the rest afterward?”
By selling this batch of meteorites, Jingxin Hall would essentially stop dealing in meteorites. Otherwise, Jing Shizhen would have to hold onto all of them until the domestic market improved.
“Uncle Jing, can I pay in installments?”
Su Xiaofan placed his phone on the table and cautiously said, “I only have 16.17 million yuan in total. How about I give you all of it first and owe you the remaining 130,000 yuan?”
After sensing the intense desire from the restoration system in his mind to absorb the solar-storm energy-factor meteorite, Su Xiaofan was determined to obtain it no matter what.
Even if it meant going completely broke, he was willing to do it.
After all, the sixteen million yuan currently sitting in his bank account had only cost him 'two restoration points' to obtain. Naturally, he understood which was more valuable.
“You originally only had 170,000 yuan?”
Looking at the balance in Su Xiaofan's mobile banking account, Jing Shizhen was stunned.
Among all the clients he had dealt with, Su Xiaofan was absolutely the poorest—without exception.
“I originally had another several hundred thousand, but I used it all for my younger sister's education.”
Su Xiaofan was already wondering whether he should borrow another two hundred thousand from his little sister.
After all, he had already saved on the tuition fees, and his little sister didn't need much money while she was at school.
“You really like taking things to extremes.”
Jing Shizhen didn't know what to make of Su Xiaofan.
He had certainly seen people earn more than ten million yuan in a single day.
But someone who earned more than ten million yuan in one day and then spent almost all of it immediately afterward—Su Xiaofan was the first.
“Uncle Jing, fortune comes from taking risks!”
Su Xiaofan was like a duck that had already been cooked—stubbornly refusing to admit defeat.
If the restoration system hadn't needed those meteorites, he wouldn't have wanted to spend the money he had only just earned.
“All right, as long as you've thought it through. Once we complete the transaction, I don't accept returns.”
Jing Shizhen nodded.
As the saying went, even the King of Hell couldn't save someone determined to die, and great compassion couldn't save someone bent on destroying himself. Su Xiaofan was already an adult and had to bear responsibility for his own actions.
“Uncle Jing, you agreed?”
A look of joy appeared on Su Xiaofan's face.
However, until the meteorites were actually in his hands, the huge stone in his heart still hadn't been lifted.
“You transfer 16.15 million yuan to me. You can pay the remaining 150,000 within three months. Is that all right?”
Jing Shizhen left 20,000 yuan in Su Xiaofan's account.
“No problem! Thank you, Uncle Jing. Thank you so much!”
Su Xiaofan nodded repeatedly.
The more than ten million yuan in his bank account hadn't even had time to warm up, and he was already a poor man again.
However, the 20,000 yuan left in his account was enough for Su Xiaofan to make another comeback.
He just needed to keep a low profile recently and stop going to the antique market to hunt for bargains. Otherwise, Uncle Jing would definitely notice that something was wrong.
“Old Liu, come over here for a moment.”
After reaching an agreement with Su Xiaofan, Jing Shizhen called Shopkeeper Liu over.
“Go to the storeroom and take out that painting by Zhang Daqian, 'Ten Thousand Blessings Coming to Court'. Also, take out all the meteorites from Glass Cabinet No. 2. I'll have someone prepare the contracts. Both lots have been sold.”
“Got it. Boss, you're really something. Every time you make a move, it's a huge deal…”
Shopkeeper Liu gave Jing Shizhen a thumbs-up.
He naturally knew the value of those items. Even with the discount Jing Shizhen had given, the total was still close to 'one hundred million yuan'.
(End of Chapter)
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