Ah-chan threw down the hammer and eagerly opened the box lid.
However, when he saw what was inside the box, he was stunned: "Damn, what is this? It looks like iron?"
Inside the box, there was a neatly arranged layer of items shaped like gold ingots.
However, they were all black, and they really did look like rusty iron blocks.
Feng Ye was also taken aback for a moment, but he quickly realized what was happening.
"Iron my foot! This is silver, silver!"
"Huh? Silver?"
"After soaking in seawater for so long, wouldn't the silver turn this color? Besides, if it were really iron, who would hide it so well and even cast it into the shape of a gold ingot?"
Upon hearing this, Ah-Can recalled the basic chemistry he had learned in school and nodded in agreement.
"So, it really is money."
The salt in seawater (mainly sodium chloride) reacts with silver to cause oxidation, resulting in a thin film of silver oxide or silver sulfide forming on the surface of the silver, which turns the surface of the silver black.
Then he sighed, "It's a pity it's not gold, otherwise we would be rich."
The difference between gold and silver is too great.
Currently, gold can sell for nearly 100 yuan per gram.
However, the silver was incredibly cheap, less than a fraction of the price of gold.
And in a few decades, the gap will be even greater.
Back when Feng Ye was reborn, gold was worth five or six hundred yuan per gram, but silver was still worth only a few yuan.
"You should be content. Having some money is better than having nothing at all."
Feng Ye rolled his eyes.
Although silver is cheap, this box is still worth a lot of money.
He picked one up, weighed it in his hand, and estimated that it weighed about one pound.
Then, he looked at it more carefully.
The shape of this silver ingot is like a horseshoe, with both ends raised and the middle concave, and it also looks a bit like a small boat.
However, unlike what is shown on television, it has no patterns or marks in the middle, and no raised hemispheres.
It's not as smooth as it appears on TV; on the contrary, it's very rough, pitted, and has dense sand holes and soil stains.
Not to mention any markings that represent official silver.
There are no words or symbols on the entire silver ingot.
He rubbed the silver ingot vigorously on the hammer a few times, removing the black oxide layer on the surface and revealing a silvery-white corner.
That's the color silver should naturally have.
"Look, this is what silver should look like."
Feng Ye handed the silver ingot in his hand to A-Can.
Ah-Can took it, examined it carefully, and then bit it before confirming, "It can be bitten, so it really is silver, no doubt about it."
Feng Ye was left speechless, both amused and exasperated by his antics.
"It's definitely true, didn't I already tell you?"
However, Ah-chan's method of confirmation was not wrong; it was a traditional method.
Silver has a relatively low hardness; it can be bitten with teeth, and the area where the teeth have bitten will show a noticeable silvery-white color.
Alternatively, you can use a fire test to identify it.
If the burned area turns black, it means it's real silver; if it turns red or doesn't change, it means it's fake silver.
Ah-chan gave an embarrassed smile: "I just wanted to double-check."
He then threw the silver ingots back into the box, muttering, "If only this were a box of gold, why is it just silver?"
"Stop thinking about gold all the time."
Feng Ye shook his head. "It's true that silver is cheap, but don't underestimate it. One gram is worth at least two or three yuan. Think about how heavy such a big box would be, and how much it could be worth?"
Upon hearing this, Ah-Can was still somewhat disappointed that it wasn't gold, but after thinking it over and doing some calculations, his expression instantly brightened.
"That's true, the weight is there, I'd guess around 170 or 180 pounds."
"If we calculate based on 180 jin (90 catties), that's...that's...9000 grams..."
"No, it's 'k'."
"Haha, that's a couple hundred thousand."
Ah-chan couldn't stop smiling, his eyes almost squinting into slits.
Looking at his greedy expression, Feng Ye smiled and said, "Now that you know the value of this box of silver, you're not disappointed, are you?"
"Um."
Ah-Can nodded vigorously a few times, "I didn't calculate it before, I only thought that the price of silver was cheap, I really didn't expect it to be worth so much money."
"It doesn't matter if it's cheap, the key is to have a large quantity. Just like when we fish, even if it's cheap fish, if we catch thousands of kilograms in one net, we can make a lot of money."
"Right, right... So what should we do with this silver? Sell it and split the money?"
"What are you selling? Are you that short of money? Of course, we'll divide the silver and then each of us will hide it away."
Although the appreciation potential of silver is limited, it will remain in the single digits in the future and has never broken into the double digits.
However, it is still one or two times more expensive than it is now.
Most importantly, although Feng Ye was short of money, he was not so short that he needed to sell gold and silver.
"I don't lack money, I don't lack money..."
Ah-chan waved his hand, "Hmm, it's better to hide it."
"Let's take them out and count them now to see how many there are in total, so we can know how many each person can get?"
"Yes, yes, let's count them first, see how many layers there are, and how many there are?"
The two first counted the top layer, which had a total of 35, arranged in a 5x7 grid.
Then, they took out the top layer of silver coins one by one and placed them on the deck.
As for the other box next to it, they have temporarily forgotten about it.
After all, the box was too light, so it probably didn't contain anything of value.
Let's figure out what's going on with this box of silver ingots first.
However, when they picked up one of the silver ingots from the second layer and saw what was happening on the layer below, they were both dumbfounded.
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