"Dug out from under your own house?" The old man looked doubtful. After all, who would dig under their own house for no reason these days?
"Yes, is there a problem?" Lin Chaosheng replied firmly when he saw the old man's doubtful eyes.
The old man frowned and stroked his beard. "But why would you dig under your own house?"
"I was building a house recently, and I found it when I was laying the foundation." Of course, Lin Chaosheng couldn't say that he found it in the grain depot, so he made up a plausible reason.
Upon hearing that Lin Chaosheng's family was building a new house, the old man became even more suspicious. "Who has spare money to build a new house these days?"
Lin Chaosheng didn't want to deal with the old man, so he decided to go look elsewhere. "If you don't want to take it, that's fine. There are plenty of people willing to take it."
After saying that, he turned to leave, but when the old man saw that Lin Chaosheng really intended to find someone else to buy it, he hurriedly ran out from behind the counter with a big smile on his face, "Oh, I'll buy it, I'll buy it! I was just asking, we have to be careful in this line of work, right?"
Lin Chaosheng stopped walking upon hearing this, slowly turned around to look at the old man, and said, "Alright, then I'll tell you. My family is currently building a house. If you don't believe me, go and ask around."
Upon hearing this, the old man quickly replied, "I believe you, I believe you! You must have dug up quite a lot, right? Why don't you sell them all to me? I'll definitely give you the highest price on this street!"
Lin Chaosheng didn't intend to reveal the total number, since such a large quantity would certainly arouse suspicion, and there would be plenty of opportunities to use the rest later. So he thought for a moment and said, "Not many, just about twenty."
He then added, "Oh, right, there are also some bracelets and jewelry."
"Twenty or so! And bracelets and jewelry too?!" The old man was so shocked he almost couldn't breathe. "You...you have way too much!"
"Is it too much? You're not going to refuse to accept it, are you?" Lin Chaosheng pretended to leave after hearing what the old man said.
"Save it all! I just haven't seen so many things in a famine year," the old man said, pulling Lin Chaosheng back. "By the way, what materials are your bracelets and jewelry made of?"
"Material?" Lin Chaosheng recalled for a moment, "Some are pearls, some are green, they should be jadeite. But I'm not sure if they're really."
The old man nearly fainted from fright after hearing this. He calmed himself down and asked, "Then... what kind of green is the jade?"
"How would I know? I don't understand this stuff. Anyway, it was dark green and as clear as a glass bead," Lin Chaosheng recalled.
"So translucent and green?!" The old man took another deep breath. "Could it be imperial green?!"
Lin Chaosheng shook his head. "I really don't know. How about I bring it to you next time I go to the county?"
The old man quickly nodded, "Okay, okay! How about this, next time you bring all your things, I'll check their quality for you, and then you can sell them all to me, okay?"
Lin Chaosheng pondered for a moment, then asked, "So, how much are you planning to pay me for this little fish?"
The old man quickly said obsequiously, "The market price of gold is two yuan per gram right now. I'll offer double that, how about it?"
Seeing his sincerity, Lin Chaosheng agreed.
"Hehehe, let me weigh this little fish for you to see how many grams it is." The old man carefully took the little fish and placed it on the scale, the pointer pointing to ten.
"Ten, ten taels!" Lin Chaosheng felt the weight of the small fish with his hand, but he didn't expect it to be this heavy.
"Then the total is," the old man calculated with his abacus, "two thousand yuan."
Lin Chaosheng was incredibly excited when he heard such a large number. In a famine year, there were very few people who could earn two thousand yuan. Once the famine was over, his family might become the first household in the village to earn ten thousand yuan!
"Please wait here for me, I'll go in and get you the money." The old man turned and walked into the warehouse.
Lin Chaosheng stood outside waiting anxiously; he had never seen how much two thousand yuan was at this time of year!
A short while later, the old man came out with a stack of envelopes containing money and a few pieces of paper.
"Here's your two thousand yuan," the old man handed the envelope to Lin Chaosheng, then pushed the papers in front of him. "This is the contract. What do you think?"
Lin Chaosheng looked puzzled and leaned forward to take a look. "Contract? What contract?"
Upon closer inspection, he saw the words "Acquisition Agreement" written in large characters. "What does this mean?" he asked.
"Here's the thing, we were just discussing that you would sell me all the treasure you've dug up. Since the amount is quite large, we need to sign a contract. We'll set a time for you to hand over the treasure to me, and then I'll give you the money."
Lin Chaosheng understood and nodded, "I see. Then let me take a look."
Lin Chaosheng opened the contract and read it carefully, afraid that the old man might set a trap for him. But the old man turned out to be a good person and didn't set any traps for Lin Chaosheng.
After confirming that everything was correct, Lin Chaosheng signed the contract.
The old man happily took the contract, looking at it with satisfaction over and over again. "How about we go with the same time next week?"
Lin Chaosheng thought about it for a moment. He should be free around this time next week, so he nodded in agreement.
"Please keep this contract and money safe," the old man said, wrapping the things up for Lin Chaosheng and handing them to him. He then asked, "By the way, I haven't asked your name yet."
Lin Chaosheng packed his things away and stuffed them into his pocket. "My name is Lin Chaosheng." Then he went to find Liang Mei.
"Where have you been?" Liang Mei picked up a piece of cloth and showed it to Lin Chaosheng. "I've been looking for you for ages. Do you like this piece?"
Lin Chaosheng looked at the dark blue fabric, understated yet elegant, and the material felt very smooth and comfortable to the touch. "I just went out to run some errands, I'll talk to you on the way. Buy me whatever you want, I'll like anything you buy."
Upon hearing this, the sales clerk looked at Liang Mei with envy and said, "Madam, you are so lucky to have such a loving husband!"
Liang Mei shook her head with a smile, then lowered her head shyly and gently nudged Lin Chaosheng beside her, saying, "Look at you!"
Seeing Liang Mei's shy and bashful appearance, Lin Chaosheng's throat tightened. "It's all my fault. Go back and punish me, okay?"
Fearing that Lin Chaosheng might say something else inappropriate, Liang Mei quickly told him to pay the cashier and urged him to hurry up and leave!
Lin Chaosheng knew she was shy, so he didn't tease her any further and replied with a grin, "Okay!"
Then, Liang Mei handed all the items she had chosen to the sales clerk, saying, "Could you please calculate the cost for all of these?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com