Dongtai Road antique market is not large.
In just over half an hour, Lin Mo had made a round through the market, and now stood in front of stall number 84.
But as Lin Mo looked at the items on the stall, his brow furrowed involuntarily.
What a sight,
Usually on any given day, there were only three or five Tube Coins on the stall, yet today there was a huge pile, at least twenty or thirty strings.
"It looks like the old man has restocked, and among this new batch is hidden that Guangxu Yuanbao!"
"Moreover, it's very likely not all there, there might be more on the electric tricycle next to the stall!"
"This is going to be tricky!"
Lin Mo's initial plan was simple,
pretend to stroll around casually, then stop in front of stall 84 to chat for a bit before spending a thousand or eighteen hundred yuan to buy all the Tube Coins on the stall.
But now, upon seeing this,
not to mention that a thousand yuan definitely wouldn't cut it,
the key issue was how to outright say he wanted to buy all the Tube Coins?
The stall owner was no easy man to fool, and should he sense the slightest hint of something amiss, Lin Mo wouldn't be able to buy a single Tube Coin.
"What should I do?"
Lin Mo pondered over his next move and casually asked, "Old man, where did you get all these Tube Coins from?"
The stall owner was a skinny old man in his sixties, with very spirited eyes and a bamboo smoking pipe in his hands.
He took a puff and said with a smile, "Heh heh, youngster, these are all good stuff. Are you interested in buying a couple of strings to play with?"
"Forget about it," Lin Mo waved his hand and said, "I'm well aware of your tricks; aren't you just sticking a pile of copper coins together then aging them a bit to deceive people?"
With a bold idea already taking shape in his mind, Lin Mo continued, "I'm not interested in Tube Coins, but I am looking for a specific copper coin. I don't know if you have it here?"
If he didn't invest some capital, he couldn't expect to quietly walk away with all the Tube Coins—there's no reaping without sowing.
"You've been wandering around the market for over a week now, essentially looking for something, right?" The stall owner's eyes flashed with cunning as he put down his smoking pipe and said earnestly, "Tell me, what kind of copper coin are you looking for? Even if I don't have it here, I could help you find out about it."
At the antique market, items displayed on the stalls are generally meant to bamboozle tourists, or are outright fakes waiting for the Treasure Help gang or someone hoping to find an undervalued item to bite.
But that doesn't mean they don't have genuine items in their possession.
"I'm looking for a Xiang Character B Dragon."
After cramming for a week, Lin Mo had gained a rough understanding of copper coins.
The Xiang Character B Dragon is also a type of Daqing Copper Coin. Its back features a dragon resembling the Chinese character 'B', with the entire body of the dragon interconnected, uninterrupted by the dragon head, and in the center, stamped with a 'Xiang' character.
Typically, a Xiang Character B Dragon has a market price between 50,000 to 80,000 yuan depending on the condition.
The better the condition, the higher the price.
"Xiang Character B Dragon..." The stall owner repeated, then said, "Wait a minute, let me check for you."
He opened the locked suitcase beside him, revealing neatly encapsulated, exquisitely conditioned copper coins inside.
These were the real valuable items.
After searching for a while, the stall owner shook his head and said, "I don't have the Xiang Character B Dragon, but I do have a Daqing Copper Coin Bingwu Year Xiang Broom Dragon."
The Broom Dragon's tail features a particularly large hollow section, giving it a broom-like appearance, which is the reason behind its name.
"Let me take a look first."
Lin Mo took the copper coin from the stall owner's hand and scrutinized it carefully.
He actually didn't understand anything about real or fake; he was just pretending.
However, these valuable copper coins usually come with certificates from the national appraisal centers, which in the jargon are referred to as being "entered into the album."
As long as the trading channels are okay, you can't really buy fakes.
It's also impossible to pick up an overlooked bargain because the prices of copper coins are relatively stable; what each type is worth is almost immediately apparent.
After looking over the coin, Lin Mo handed it back and asked, "How much for this one?"
"70,000, and that's the final offer."
The stall owner put the copper coin away and added, "If you know enough about these copper coins, you should realize that the price I'm asking isn't high."
"Come on, you don't think that price is high?" Lin Mo shook his head and countered with an offer of his own, "50,000 is the highest I can go."
The stall owner frowned.
This copper coin was collected while picking through goods in the countryside, costing only a few hundred yuan, so it was quite the steal.
Typically, a Daqing Copper Coin of the Bingwu year with the Xiang Broom Dragon would sell for a bit over 50,000, which meant that the price Lin Mo offered was just right.
He wanted to sell, but he wanted to push for a bit more as well.
After considering for a moment, the stall owner said, "Alright, I see you really want it, 59,800. You make a profit, and so do I, how's that?"
Lin Mo continued to shake his head, joking, "Your price is still too high. Even at nearly 60,000, if you threw in all the Tube Coins on the stall, it still wouldn't be worth it."
Lin Mo's heart suddenly tightened.
All the groundwork he had laid was so that he could reasonably acquire all the Tube Coins on the stall without raising suspicion.
Not waiting for the stall owner to respond, Lin Mo continued, "Here's the deal, I'm not one to dawdle."
"55,800, plus two Daqing Copper Coins from the Imperial Treasury as principal coins, ten wen and all the Tube Coins on the stall. If that works for you, I'll transfer the money."
The cost for a single Daqing Copper Coin as principal money of ten wen is around 2,000 to 3,000 yuan.
The stall owner of course didn't want to engage in business that would cause a loss, and he refused, "That's definitely not going to work, no chance for negotiation."
"If you're willing, you can take all these Tube Coins."
"Not just those on the stall. I have some more here."
While speaking, the stall owner took out a large bag of Tube Coins from his electric tricycle: "I'll tell you, these are definitely not fakes; they are fresh pickings I collected just recently."
"I'm getting on in years and can't be bothered to deal with these things, there might even be some real treasures in there!"
Seeing the new bag of Tube Coins that the stall owner had just brought out, cold sweat almost broke out on Lin Mo's forehead.
The system only mentioned that stall number 84 had a Guangxu Yuanbao, but it didn't specify which Tube Coin it was.
Even if he managed to wrap up all the coins on the stall, if the Guangxu Yuanbao turned out to be on the tricycle, the loss would be substantial!
Luckily!
Lin Mo had considered this possibility before and had successfully used a roundabout tactic to get the stall owner's remaining stock.
"Hmm... okay then."
Lin Mo was overjoyed inside, but he hesitated for a long time on the outside before reluctantly taking out his phone and saying, "So be it, the Daqing Copper Coin plus all the Tube Coins, a total of 55,800."
Even though the savings were in Li Jinwen's hands, Lin Mo could log in to his wife's Alipay directly, so he was able to make the payment.
While making the payment, Lin Mo made sure to ask twice, and he searched on the owner's electric tricycle, making sure there were no Tube Coins left behind, before entering his payment password.
.....
Meanwhile,
Li Jinwen, who was waiting for Lin Xiaoxiao to get out of school at the school gate, also received a notification from the bank about the transaction....