Chapter 2: Making a Small Fortune

Upon arriving at the county town, Li Zhongnan drove directly to the second-hand car dealer.

A big fat man approached, "Kid, what car are you interested in?"

Li Zhongnan asked back, "Boss, do you buy cars too?"

"Sure, why wouldn't we!"

The chubby man studied the van with a squinting and smiling face, "Wuling van, almost brand new - a set price of fifteen thousand."

Fifteen thousand?

This car, which was bought for two thousand, cost five gold coins for repairs. The cost is at most three thousand, but it has been sold for five times its value. With the "Recycling System", so what if he's just a scrap dealer? His chance will come eventually!

"The van is not for sale!"

Li Zhongnan shook his head with a smile. Without a vehicle like this, it would really hamper his work. He then took off the bicycles and motorbikes, and said to the fat man, "Twelve bicycles and three motorbikes. Give me a price!"

"Are they all new?"

The fat man looked suspiciously at Li Zhongnan. Knowing what he was thinking, Li Zhongnan reassured him, "Don't worry, these bikes are legitimate and won't bring you any trouble."

"I'm not worried about that!"

The big man burst into an awkward smile. Being a second-hand car dealer, he wasn't afraid of troubles. He was just pondering whether these vehicles were stolen, so as to lower the price. However, seeing Li Zhongnan's demeanor, he was sure he was a reasonable man, so he made a straightforward offer, "One hundred and fifty for each bicycle, and fifteen hundred for each motorcycle."

"Deal!"

Li Zhongnan agreed without hesitation. The bicycles cost around three to four hundred each, and the motorcycles around three thousand. He clearly couldn't get that much selling second-hand, but he considered the fat man's prices fair, knowing that he also needs to make a profit.

"Here's six thousand three hundred in total."

The fat man handed Li Zhongnan a small stack of hundred-yuan bills, and also gave him a business card, "I'm called Yuan, you can call me Fatty Yuan. If you have any more vehicles in the future just give me a call, and I'll come to collect them personally."

"No problem."

Receiving the money, Li Zhongnan felt light as a feather. This was equivalent to his earnings from over two months of work.

Tianning Temple Antiques and Treasures Store.

The store was quite cold and empty. An old and middle-aged man were playing Chinese chess.

Before Li Zhongnan had a chance to speak, the old man said, "Customer, please wait a moment until we finish this round."

"Okay, take your time!"

Li Zhongnan was also a Chinese chess fan and had even won the second place in Huaqing University Freshmen Championship. After returning to Li Family Village, he would often spar with the village elders when there's nothing else to do. Seeing the game, he quickly became interested.

After watching the game for a while, he understood the whole situation.

The old man was a fierce player, only focusing on attacks, pushing forward ruthlessly, ignoring the loss of his pawns, focusing on taking out the opponent in one fell swoop. On the other side, the middle-aged man was calm and steady, methodically laying traps and gradually consuming his opponent's forces. As time went on, the old man's attacks became weaker and the middle-aged man began to show signs of victory.

"Check!"

The middle-aged man laughed, "Boss, you lose."

With some disappointment and yet pride, the old man stated, "You've got good defensive play, but lack aggressiveness. But being able to defeat me, you have truly made progress. You've grown up now, so you don't need to come here anymore."

The middle-aged man was about to respond when the old man impatiently interrupted, "Go now, or are you waiting for me to cook for you?"

"Alright, I'll go..." The middle-aged man was cut off by the old man and turned around to leave.

Before leaving, he glanced at Li Zhongnan, slightly surprised.

The guy had been standing there patiently for over an hour, showing no signs of impatience, his perseverance was notable. It never occurred to him that Li Zhongnan was also a chess enthusiast. He initially thought that Li was just waiting to purchase something, little did he know the young man was quite immersed in their game.

A big shot from Northrealm?

Li Zhongnan jumped in surprise, shocked that the middle-aged man had left so abruptly.

As he was in a daze, the old man had already brought over a bowl of hot tea, grinning from ear to ear, saying, "Guest, please have some tea. Don't hide it from you, all of my treasures here are good stuff. Take a good look, if you like anything just buy, I will give you a 20% discount!"

"Ahem, thank you..."

Li Zhongnan felt a bit taken aback, more surprised than flattered, the old man who had just berated the middle-aged man so harshly, made him think he was a big shot. Unexpectedly, he has turned into a crafty merchant in a blink of an eye.

Lifted the tea symbolically for a sip, Li Zhongnan pulled out the jade pendant, full of anticipation, "Old man, this is my family heirloom. How much do you think it's worth?"

"Very... very ordinary, a thousand bucks." As soon as he saw the jade pendant, the old man's eyes sparkled brightly, and he grabbed it excitedly. After a moment, his tone changed quickly to become dismissive. His expression changed so quickly, it was hard to notice. Ordinary people would likely be fooled by him. How could something that costs thirty gold coins to repair be worth only a thousand bucks?

Without a second thought, Li Zhongnan said, "Not selling!"

The old man gritted his teeth and said, "Twelve hundred, can't go any higher. To tell you the truth, anywhere else, you can't get more than seven or eight hundred for it. If you don't believe it, take it back!" While talking he returned the jade pendant to Li Zhongnan, sat down nonchalantly and acted as if he was serious.

This is too underpriced.

Li Zhongnan didn't feel like wasting any more words with him. He grabbed his stuff and turned to leave.

Seeing his intent to leave, the old man grew anxious. He sprang up and blocked Li Zhongnan, "Young man, don't leave. We can negotiate the price. I'll give you two thousand. Two thousand is enough for you to have a good time for quite a while, think about it!"

Li Zhongnan sneered, "One hundred thousand!"

"Ten thousand!"

"One hundred thousand!"

"Thirty thousand!"

"One hundred thousand!"

"Sixty thousand!"

"One hundred thousand!"

"Ninety-eight thousand. Can this be enough? Just short of two thousand!" The tightfisted old man said, being able to shave off two thousand is still two thousand. The market price for the jade pendant is around eighty-nine thousand. But his beloved granddaughter is getting engaged soon, and he wanted to buy it as a gift for her.

Li Zhongnan shook his head, holding his ground, "One hundred and twenty thousand! Not selling if it's a dime less!"

"Fine, you're ruthless!"

The old man dared not haggle anymore, fearing if he so much as said anything, Li Zhongnan would raise the price again. With a pang of discomfort, he hastily took the jade pendant and asked, "Cash or transfer?"

"Cash!"

Li Zhongnan looked at the old man disdainfully, "Do you, an old man like this, know how to use the internet?" He was slightly unsure about the old man and was afraid he might trick him. It felt more secure to have cash in hand.

The old man was so angry that he was at loss for breath. He pulled out one hundred and twenty thousand in cash and threw it at Li Zhongnan, "Get out of here!"

Having gotten the money, Li Zhongnan wasn't yet ready to leave. He was intentionally angering the old man, "I'll look around a little more, everything here is a treasure. It would be nice to widen my horizons."

Upon hearing this, the old man's face turned dark once more. What treasures? They were mostly fake copies.

After going around most of the place, Li Zhongnan suddenly spotted a damaged landscape painting full of grease stains. It was surprisingly priced at five hundred thousand. He immediately mocked, "I said old man, it's fine if you want to be dishonest, but don't be so naive. Nobody would want such a shoddy thing like this even if it was given for free. You're pricing it so high, you couldn't even trick a fool!"

"You don't know anything! This is a painting by Zhang Daqian!" The old man blurted out, sounding impatient.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhongnan looked at the signature, indeed it was Zhang Daqian. A few years ago, one of Zhang Daqian's paintings sold for over a hundred million. If it really is authentic, even though it's damaged, it's not unreasonable for it to worth five hundred thousand.

Using the "Recycling System" to examine it, it would cost a whopping ten thousand gold coins to repair this painting.

Li Zhongnan jumped in shock. It only cost thirty gold coins to repair the jade pendant, but this painting was hundreds of times that amount. This was unexpectedly high. After getting over his surprise, his eyes gleamed with excitement. The value of this painting after being repaired, might be worth tens of millions?

He quietly logged this information and walked out...