"Lower your voice, damn it, I almost hit the core with a shaky hand," a tall, skinny young man in his twenties cursed in the shop.
"My friend is here to buy a couple of second-hand laptops. Show him something that works, don't try to fool him with broken ones."
"Bull, if others brought someone, they'd get the good stuff. But the people you bring only deserve to buy junk boards here."
Monkey spat at Zhang Guichen and then turned his head with a smile to Chen Yiyang, "We're just joking around."
"I get it." Chen Yiyang explained his computer needs to the guy nicknamed Monkey, whose real name was Hou Haomin.
"I just happen to have two here, one is Lenovo's office computer, the other is a Huasuo gaming laptop. Take a look."
"Uh, I remember hearing that neither of these brands has a particularly good reputation."
"That's true," Monkey admitted, "If you were buying new, I wouldn't recommend them. But these are second-hand, the more they circulate second-hand, the harder it is for them to sell new, isn't that right?"
"Makes sense."
Chen Yiyang inspected the two laptops Monkey handed over, found no issues, and then listened to Monkey's introduction.
"Both of these have a few flaws. The office one has a dead pixel on the screen, though it's not easy to notice. The gaming laptop has some unresponsive keys, so you'd need to buy an external keyboard."
"What's the price then?"
"I'll sell both to you for five thousand," Monkey waved his hand, "If that's not enough, I'll throw in a keyboard and mouse."
Chen Yiyang looked up the models of the two laptops on second-hand websites.
He found that the prices listed online were about two hundred cheaper than what Monkey had said.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you have any gaming monitors here?"
"I have a Philips one, you can take it for five hundred."
"Altogether, I'll give you fifty-four hundred, if that's okay, I'll pay now."
"Deal." After considering for a moment, Monkey agreed.
Seeing Monkey agree, Chen Yiyang pulled out his ten thousand in cash, counted out fifty-four notes, gave them to him, and then checked the time.
It was almost lunchtime.
"I saw a street food stall over there when I came by, how about my treat, the three of us go get something to eat?"
"No thanks." Monkey quickly declined Chen Yiyang's invitation. "I've eaten at that place until I threw up."
"Haha," at this moment, Zhang Guichen laughed and said, "That place isn't good indeed. If it weren't for the pretty boss lady, I'd have stopped going ages ago. But seeing you don't have much business today, how about I treat us to a nice meal instead?"
"Sure, it wouldn't hurt to let you treat us," Monkey immediately agreed upon hearing Zhang Guichen's offer.
The three locked up the shop, then rode Zhang Guichen's SUV to a somewhat upscale restaurant.
After eating and drinking, Zhang Guichen suggested, "How about we three go for a foot massage?"
"I'll pass, I've got things to do in the afternoon." Chen Yiyang quickly declined.
He knew that with this buddy's style, he definitely wouldn't be going to a legitimate place.
Of course, even if it were legitimate, Chen Yiyang wouldn't be interested.
But right now, he not only had a backpack with two laptops and a keyboard, but also a box containing a monitor in his hand.
Most importantly, he had two gold bars in his pocket.
If he went to a joint like that and lost them, who would he reason with?
So Chen Yiyang politely declined, citing other engagements, and watched as the excited Monkey and Zhang Guichen got into the car and went off to enjoy themselves.
Chen Yiyang first took a taxi home to put the computer and monitor he bought in his room, then took another taxi to the nearest bank.
"Do you buy gold here?" Chen Yiyang asked at the counter, pulling out the two gold bars.
"We do," the bank teller glanced at the two 100g gold bars Chen Yiyang took out and said, "but our testing equipment has been malfunctioning lately. We can't verify the purity and authenticity of gold. Maybe you could try another bank?"
Seeing the staff say this, Chen Yiyang had no choice but to put the gold bars away and leave the bank.
Maybe try a private gold shop?
Chen Yiyang realized the teller was probably just avoiding the hassle, rather than the testing equipment being broken.
For banks, selling gold bars is good business, but repurchasing them is definitely not.
However, without connections, you could easily get scammed at a private gold shop. He didn't have any inside information, and if he were to ask Zhang Guichen again, Chen Yiyang wasn't too keen on the idea.
He and Zhang Guichen were already entangled in too many transactions, frequently using his connections could easily attract attention.
He wandered along the street, looking around.
Then he saw a large gold shop across the street called Zhongxia Gold.
This brand seems to be the biggest gold chain store in the country?
Chen Yiyang vaguely remembered the name of this store, so he stepped inside.
"I have two gold bars here, do you buy?" Chen Yiyang walked up to a counter in the shop and inquired.
"We do," a male staff member behind the counter glanced at Chen Yiyang and said, "for gold we sold, we knock two bucks off the price on repurchase. Gold from elsewhere needs a fire assay, and the final price will deduct the burning loss."
"Take a look at these two," Chen Yiyang handed over the gold bars.
"These are ones we sold," the staff member said after looking at the certificate, "are you sure you want to sell them back?"
"Confirmed." Chen Yiyang nodded.
After receiving confirmation from Chen Yiyang, the staff immediately issued a receipt and then said to Chen Yiyang, "Two hundred grams, you can go over there to exchange for cash."
"No verification?" Chen Yiyang was dumbfounded. Is it really this straightforward?
Faced with Chen Yiyang's inquiry, the staff remained silent.
Chen Yiyang took the receipt given by the staff to another open counter nearby.
The staff there quickly calculated the amount for him.
That day's basic gold price was 602.4, with a fee reduction of 2, buyback price at 600.4, and the buyback amount was 120,080.
After giving their bank account number, the other party said, "It will be credited in three to five working days."
"Okay." Chen Yiyang thought that since they didn't even verify the purity of the gold before buying it back, it certainly wouldn't be credited on the same day. They'd probably go back and verify if these two gold bars were the ones they originally sold.
As long as there aren't any major issues, this time he would directly earn a hundred and twenty thousand.
Luckily they were gold bars. If it had been something like gold jewelry, he could only have gone to a private shop, burned it, deducted the wastage and then had it recycled.
However, he also learned from this experience. It's quite easy to liquidate gold!
If he has extra money in the future, he should also buy a few gold bars to store.
Like brother Sun Xingguo, if he could have secretly bought a few gold bars when he got married, even if he got kicked out of the house, he wouldn't end up on the street.
Back at the rental place, as usual, he played games until midnight.
Today's intel, a poor lost dog: At stall seventeen in Mingyang Village's dog market, there's a German Shepherd that got separated from its owner being tied up and sold. Buy it for under five thousand, and you can successfully score a deal.
Today's unexpected find is a dog?
Chen Yiyang was somewhat surprised.
Moreover, is a German Shepherd really worth that much? Buying it under five thousand is considered a successful deal, so how much could it sell for?
Chen Yiyang hesitated a bit.
It's not that he's worried about being scammed by the system. It's just that with such an expensive dog, finding a buyer would definitely be a big issue.
Even if the dog is indeed worth tens of thousands, he doesn't have the channels to sell it.
However.
Chen Yiyang glanced at his account balance, which still had over thirty thousand yuan.
He's definitely got enough money to buy a dog.
Not to mention that once the gold money is credited, he'd have around one hundred and fifty thousand in his account.
Even raising a German Shepherd wouldn't be a problem.
But his place is small, raising a German Shepherd would probably mean taking it out for exercise daily.
Forget it, buy it.
Chen Yiyang made up his mind.
If buying this dog and he can't sell it, he'd just treat it as buying fitness equipment, sparing him to exercise while walking the dog daily.
The next day, waking up, Chen Yiyang thought he still needed to bring back a dog today, so he rented a cargo van online.
He told the driver it was to transport a dog, and the one-day rental fee was four hundred yuan.
"Is license plate 7252 you?" The van driver, a middle-aged uncle, asked. After Chen Yiyang told him the location, he sat in the passenger seat.
On the road, the two chatted casually. Chen Yiyang learned that the uncle's last name was Zhou, and his name was Zhou Jianjun.
"How much can you earn a day running this transport?" Chen Yiyang curiously asked.
"About five to six hundred."
"That's not bad! So why did you agree to a full day for just four hundred from me?"
"Because that five to six hundred really requires a lot of hard work," Zhou Jianjun complained,
"Your four hundred rental is all mine. Considering the short distance you're traveling and the low fuel cost, I can make some earnings.
If we went through a platform, they'd take half, and sometimes they'd even steal kilometers."
"What do you mean by 'stealing kilometers'?" Chen Yiyang curiously asked.
"It's when the map app shows it's 18 kilometers, but the platform software shows only 15 kilometers. The missing kilometer fee doesn't get paid, and complaints are useless. If I had other skills, I wouldn't be in this line of work."
"These big platforms now, their monopolies are indeed frightening," Chen Yiyang commented.
"You said it. There used to be no software, and we relied on middlemen to introduce jobs, with fixed fees. Now, sometimes I wonder if I'm heading out morning to night for ghosts because I can't seem to make money."
Chen Yiyang listened to the driver's complaints as they quickly reached their destination.
"Wait here for me. I'll call you once I'm done buying." Chen Yiyang asked Zhou Jianjun to stay with the van while he went to the dog market alone.
What they call a dog market doesn't just sell dogs.
Things like lambs, donkeys, calves, dogs, and cats, various kinds of animals are all there.
This resulted in people smelling a mix of what seemed like seventeen or eighteen types of aged soy sauce stirred together with a hint of manure even from far away.