Power and Wealth

Along the streets.

Dong Xuebing was thinking of how to make money with BACK at the Antique City while walking down the underpass back to the hospital. The underpass was damp and reek of urine smell. There were two rows of small stalls in the underpass selling handphone accessories, mini fans, small kitchen tools, etc. Nearer to the stairs, there was a stall selling fruits like pineapples and ice cream. It was bustling with life.

“Ice cream, 1 RMB for 1. 2 for 1.50!”

“Come and take a look! This is the newest peeler. 10 RMB for 1!”

Dong Xuebing sidestepped to avoid stepping on the radish peels on the floor. When he was about to go to the handphone accessories stall, he saw a familiar back view. It was that middle-aged man who had knocked into him earlier. He was the antique coins and notes authenticator expert, Teacher Cheng. He was walking towards a coin vendor. He bent over and examined the pile of rusty coins at the stall carefully.

Dong Xuebing could feel his anger rising when he saw him.

Dong Xuebing was standing not far away from Teacher Cheng and could hear him asking. “How much for these coins?”

The vendor was a young man in his 20s. He was smoking and replied listlessly: “5 RMB for 1 coin.”

Teacher Cheng replied: “It is too expensive.”

Dong Xuebing frowned. When he was working part-time at the Antique City, he had followed his boss to stock up on antiques at the suppliers. The ancient coins were sold by weight. On average, it was a few cents per piece, and almost all the coins were not valuable. This roadside stall’s supplier should be worst than the one Dong Xuebing been to. Those suppliers were cunning and will surely not sell anything good to their customers.

What expert is he? Coming to a roadside stall to pick coins?

Do you know what you are doing?

Dong Xuebing was still thinking about this when he saw Teacher Cheng paused for a while. Huh? What was he doing?

That Teacher Cheng quickly picked 8 to 9 rusty copper coins from the pile and sift through them. He held it tightly in his hand and did not put them back into the pile. He continued to search through the pile of over a thousand coins. After searching for a while, he told the stall owner: “I will take these 9 coins. 45 RMB? Take the money.”

The young man looked up and saw him. “Right. 4…... Eh? You are…...” The young man was stunned for a second. “I have seen you before. You are that expert that appeared on TV. You are an Antique Coins authenticator.” The young man looked at the coins in Teacher Cheng’s hands and immediately said: “Sorry, the 5 RMB per coins I said was referring to that pile. The coins you are holding is…… 500 RMB per piece.”

Teacher Cheng’s face changed: “What is the meaning of this?”

The young man did not reply to him. He knew that the coins picked by the expert should be valuable. Maybe those coins were worth much more.

Dong Xuebing was gloating in his heart.

But the next moment surprised Dong Xuebing.

Teacher Cheng sneered and nodded: “500 RMB? You are too much.”

The young man smiled and reach out to take back the coins in Teacher Cheng’s hand: “You can choose not to buy it.”

“Wait.” Teacher Cheng frowned and kept the coins in his pocket. He took out 4,500 RMB from his wallet and pass it to the young man. “Is this enough?”

Dong Xuebing, the young man and the rest of the onlookers were stunned.

No one expects Teacher Cheng to really buy those coins.

Those that knew antiques will know that there was a large number of ancient coins in the market. Most of them were worthless. At most, the coins were worth a few RMB to 20 RMB. But Teacher Cheng was willing to fork out 4,500 RMB for those few coins? He was an expert in ancient coins and should not make this foolish mistake.

Let that expert get this bargain?

What luck does that Teacher Cheng have? Getting a steal from a roadside stall?

Dong Xuebing was pissed. But he suddenly realized something. BACK! BACK! BACK!

……

The scenes changed in front of Dong Xuebing.

“How much for these coins?” Teacher Cheng asked while squatting by the roadside stall.

The young man was smoking replied without looking up. “:5 RMB for 1 coin.”

Teacher Cheng replied: “It is too expensive.”

The young man did not reply and snubbed his cigarette.

Dong Xuebing knew this was the chance to make money. He quickly moves forward. He remembered that Teacher Cheng had picked those few coins from the left corner. Eh, no… it should be at the bottom of the pile. Huh? That’s not right either. He was moving the coins about, and the position of the coins were all messed up. Dong Xuebing was standing from a distance and could not see the wordings on the coins clearly. Picking those coins from the whole pile was impossible. What should he do? He will be wasting this opportunity?

Dong Xuebing suddenly got an idea. He ran to the stall: “Boss.”

The young man got a shock. “What do you want? Buy coins?”

Teacher Cheng turned at looked at Dong Xuebing before turning back to the pile of coins.

Dong Xuebing saw he could not distract Teacher Cheng and he quickly squats down and pushes Teacher Cheng aside. He grabbed the cloth under the coins and carried up the whole pile of coins. “Boss, how many coins do you have here? Over 1,000? Let me estimate the weight.” The bundle of coins was quite heavy.

Teacher Cheng was pissed. “What is wrong with you? I am still picking the coins.”

Dong Xuebing scoffed. “So what? Have you paid for the coins?”

The young man asked puzzledly: “Why are you estimating the weight? There are about 1,300 to 1,400 coins. Put the coins down. The other customer still has not finished picking.”

Dong Xuebing replied to that young man. “How about this? I am lazy to count the exact number of coins. I will buy all the coins in this bundle. How much?”

The young man and Teacher Cheng looked at Dong Xuebing in shock. “Al the coins?”

Dong Xuebing nodded. “That’s right. Name a price.”

The young man was overjoyed: “If you are getting everything, I will give you a discount. 5 RMB per coin and 1,300 coins cost 6,500 RMB. I will sell everything to you for 6,000 RMB?”

Dong Xuebing held the bundle of coins tightly: “6,000 RMB is too expensive. How about 4,000 RMB?”

The young man replied: “My cost is also very high. I can’t sell it to you any cheaper. Errr…… Fine…… let’s meet in the middle. 5,000 RMB? I will just earn lesser.”

“Fine……”

The young man was ecstatic. He had set up this stall for more than a year, and he finally met a sucker.

Teacher Cheng scoffed at Dong Xuebing and walked away. He was thinking in his heart that Dong Xuebing was a novice in antiques. Dong Xuebing had not even looked at the coins and bought all the coins. Was he crazy?

Dong Xuebing did not have so much cash with him. The young man followed him with the bundle of coins to a nearby ICBC ATM. Dong Xuebing withdrew 5,000 RMB and passed it to the young man. He looked at his bank account balance. There was only a few hundred left. But Dong Xuebing was still feeling great. He carried the big bundle of coins back to the hospital.

Hahaha…….

So, BACK can be used like this……