CH 20

Jiang Chen nodded firmly: “Seven hundred thousand.”

“Seven hundred thousand…..” The old man murmured, and he didn’t regain his senses for several minutes, “With seven hundred thousand, does that mean we can live in the city, Miao Miao can have an urban household registration and go to school in the city?”

Jiang Chen didn’t know about the household registration, but the rest he was sure of: “You can buy a house and go to school.”

“Buying a house and going to school, Miao Miao can go to the city to study…..she can study well and be as smart as her parents…..Young man, thank you, thank you for telling me this.” The old man grabbed Jiang Chen’s hand and shook it: “Thank you so much.”

“No need to thank me.”

The old man wiped his face, reigned in his excitement, and shoved the ancient currency he had saved into Jiang Chen’s hand with embarrassment: “Young man, this money is for you, please accept it.”

Jiang Chen was stunned. He looked up to see the sincere and kind face of the old man, was surprised for a moment, then shook his head with a smile, “I can’t accept it.”

“Why not?” The old man insisted on giving it to him and said, “You can take it, if it wasn’t for you, Miao Miao might have been scratched by the cat, and without you, the money would just be waste paper with me. I’m old, Miao Miao hasn’t studied for many years, and may never know the value of this money for the rest of her life. That you can tell us this, it has changed our whole life.”

“Sir…..”

The old man interrupted him, with a kind smile in his upright eyes: “Just outside, you immediately saw the value of the money in Miao Miao’s hand at a glance, if you wanted, you could have taken the money directly, or coaxed it away from Miao Miao, but you didn’t. Not only did you not take it, you even brought Miao Miao back, and told me the value of the money without reservation, just for these things, you are deserving of this ancient currency.”

“Also, I’m old, I haven’t been out of the village for more than ten years, and I’m not a native of Yan City. Even if I know the value of this ancient currency, I can’t turn it into cash. I’ll give this to you, not only to repay you, but I also hope that you can help me turn this ancient currency into cash, so you can think of it as your middleman fee.”

Jiang Chen was curious: “Aren’t you worried that I won’t come back after taking your money?”

“What am I worried about?” The old man smiled and said, “I’ve lived for so long, I might not be able to do anything else, but I believe in my own judgment of people. From the things you’ve done, it’s enough to see your character, you are a trustworthy person. Child, I believe in you.”

Hearing this, Jiang Chen no longer refused: “I will not betray your trust.”

The next afternoon, Jiang Chen brought the ancient currency to the largest auction house in Yan City.

The receptionist at the front desk smiled brightly. Even in the face of Jiang Chen, who was dressed simply, she was still friendly and welcoming. She put the glass of water on the small coffee table in the sitting room and said, “Student Jiang, may I ask what you want to put for your auction item?”

Jiang Chen took out a math textbook from his schoolbag. The receptionist did not change her expression, but the two assistants behind her looked at each other. After exchanging a glance, they looked subtly at Jiang Chen who was flipping through the book.

The pages pierced flipped through the air, revealing the contents of the pages under the sound of slipping pages.

“This is…..” The receptionist widened her eyes slightly: “…..Hubei Official Money Bureau Silver Banknote?”

Jiang Chen nodded, the corners of his mouth curved slightly: “This is what I am going to auction at your auction house.”

The receptionist put away the expression she just showed, and smiled: “Just this one? Or does Mr. Jiang has other auction pieces?”

“More than one silver banknote.”

“Please wait a moment.”

The receptionist looked at the people behind, one of them nodded and went out with his mobile phone.

A few minutes later, a young man in a suit walked in. He stretched out his hand with a smile: “Hello, Mr. Jiang, I’m Zeng Fei, the manager of Shiyang Auction House.”

“Hello, Manager Zeng.”

Zeng Fei glanced at the young man in front of him subtly, and said with a smile: “Please have a seat, I heard that you have a double-image silver banknote printed in the thirtieth year of Guangxu?”

Jiang Chen withdrew his hand, sat down opposite him, and pointed at the ancient currency in the pages of the textbook: “There are four in total, this is one of them. If you want to check the authenticity, you can look at this first.”

Zeng Fei didn’t hesitate. As soon as he raised his hand, a man with a full set of tools behind him stepped forward and carefully examined it with white gloves and a magnifying glass.

It didn’t take long for the man to straighten up and nod to Zeng Fei.

Zeng Fei smiled and said to Jiang Chen: “Mr. Jiang, forgive me for taking the liberty, but I want to ask if this silver banknote is your family’s collection or…..It’s not that I want to inquire about the privacy of our customers, it’s just that you are underage, if you have taken a family possession without permission to auction here we would not be able to explain it to your family.”

Jiang Chen’s brows raised slightly. It turned out that Zeng Fei regarded him as a second generation rich kid who had taken his elder’s collection for auction. This could explain the reason why the receptionists just now were so polite and appropriately enthusiastic when they first saw him. Although he didn’t know why they would misunderstand this way, it was not disadvantageous for im.

Jiang Chen promised vaguely: “Don’t worry, I have the approval of the owner of the silver banknotes. If not, I would not have gone ahead with auctioning four pieces at a time.”

“Then I can rest assured.” Zeng Fei smiled. Anyway, once the things are in their hands, the exchange of money and goods were clear-cut, and if someone came to make trouble for them, they would also be on the side of reason. In fact, if the boss did not come here on a whim today, and happen to come across this scene and wanted to come and see, he would definitely not have bothered asking this much.

“To tell you the truth.” Zeng Fei continued: “Actually, there is an old customer here who loves to collect ancient currency. If you are in a hurry, you don’t have to wait for our auction on the 15th, and we will directly take the lead and help you contact the collector. If he has intentions of buying it, it is very likely that he will buy all four silver banknotes together.”

Jiang Chen: “I want to know Manager Zeng’s estimate, auction price and transaction price.”

“In the case of an auction, I personally estimate that the highest transaction price will be around 850,000, but the premise is that a single silver banknote is auctioned at a time, as the more rare the more expensive things are. I believe Mr. Jiang understands this as well, but I can guarantee that we will help you sell these four silver banknotes within half a year.”

“If it’s a private transaction, that old customer has always been generous. I believe that if you want to sell all four together, it will be the most cost-effective to find him.”

Jiang Chen pondered for a moment, then raised his eyes and said, “I need a little time to discuss the options. If it is a private transaction, how will you calculate the commission the auction house will take, as well as the time the transaction will require.”

“Five percent, three days at the latest.”

“I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”

After sending Jiang Chen to the door and watching him leave, Zeng Fei turned around and got into the elevator and stopped at the top floor.

He knocked on the door: “Boss, young master Li.”

“Come in.” The man who opened the door had a pair of peach blossom eyes, the top three buttons of his burgundy shirt undone, and stylishly messy hair: “Xiao Pang, how many times have I said it, you must be louder when knocking on the door. Seriously, only this guy Shi Fengyue can hear your knock on the door.”

Zeng Fei nodded with a smile, and walked past him to the man in black who was lounging on the couch with his eyes closed.

“Boss, the young Mr. Jiang downstairs wants to auction Hubei Official Money Bureau Silver Banknotes, which are in the 30th year of Guangxu’s reign. He has four in total. It doesn’t look like he needs money urgently, but according to my observation, he may be more inclined to a private deal.”

Shi Fengyue didn’t open his eyes, just grabbed a pillow and held it in his arms, saying with a lazy voice: “If there is no problem, accept it.”

“OK.”

Li Nanfeng sat down on his armrest, pulled out the pillow in his arms, and asked before he lost his temper, “Who is that kid? You got off at the hospital gate last time because of him. Looking at him, he doesn’t seem much different in age from Shi Aonian, which family is he from?”

Shi Fengyue pulled back the pillow and hugged it loosely in his arms, his slightly hoarse voice full of weariness: “A patient’s son.”

Li Nanfeng shook his head while tsk tsk tsking: “I didn’t know that our great Dr. Shi actually possesses a warm and caring heart for a patient’s family member, but…..”

“If you continue to bother me from sleeping again——” Shi Fengyue’s slender fingers grabbed Li Nanfeng’s neck, and his misty eyes opened suddenly, saying sinisterly, “I’ll really let you experience my warm and caring heart.”

“Come on!” Li Nanfeng opened his arms and fell in the direction of his arms: “Brother is willing to sacrifice myself to you.”

Shi Fengyue couldn’t help laughing, turned over and kicked him off the sofa: “Get lost.”

“Okay, I’m going to get lost.” Li Nanfeng stood up rubbing his buttocks, and said with a smile, “Let’s eat out at night. You have a good night’s sleep, and wait for this big brother to pick you up.”

Shi Fengyue threw the pillow, Li Nanfeng dodged with a laugh, and went out with Zeng Fei.

As soon as the door was closed, the man on the sofa closed his eyes. He was lying on the sofa despite his height and long legs so he could only curl up and hug the pillow to sleep. He soon began to breathe evenly in a few minutes.

When he woke up again, the sun was already setting.

Shi Fengyue couldn’t be bothered to get up, so he just lay on the sofa, half-drooping his eyes to watch the orange twilight outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

The sound of knocking on the wooden door was barely audible, his eyelashes flickered, and his voice was a little hoarse: “Come in.”

“Boss.” Zeng Fei walked in, stopped three steps away from the sofa, and reported: “Mr. Jiang’s ancient currency if of no problem, but it doesn’t match my guess. He received it from an old man in Donghua Village. Apparently, he went to Donghua Village for an outing, and accidentally encountered the old man’s grandchild playing house with the ancient currency, so he sent the child home, and by the way, also told the old man the value of the ancient currency. In order to thank him and at the same time in order to turn this ancient currency into usable cash, he entrusted it to Mr. Jiang. Which led to the scene this morning.”

Shi Fengyue raised his hand, his elegant fingers covering his eyes, blocking the orange sunset, and his voice was low: “Zeng Fei, you have a habit of digging out everything when encountering new things, you have to change it.”

“I thought Boss would be interested.” Zeng Fei smiled, without the strict restraint just now, leaning on the sofa and said: “Young master Li said that you treat the young Mr. Jiang differently, of course I am also curious, and since you want to buy it privately, it is natural to know everything about the other party in this transaction.”

Under the slender fingers, his eyes slowly opened, and Shi Fengyue suddenly remembered the conversation between the mother and son that he overheard when he was in the hospital, and the image of the young man’s moon bright smile while backdropped in a sea of flowers could still emerge in front of his eyes now. He narrowed his eyes: “Let me warn you, Jiang Chen is not as harmless as you think, it is best not to play tricks on him.”