After a round of haggling, the deal was finally reached.
Watching Fang Zheng leave with the gold and silver, Shopkeeper Zhou signaled to the two strong men. They understood and silently turned around and left the pawnshop.
"Congratulations, congratulations."
At this moment, the young man who had already stopped drinking stood up and cupped his hands:
"Congratulations to Elder Zhou for obtaining another treasure today."
"Young Master Qian, you're too kind," Shopkeeper Zhou glanced at the item in his hand and said,
"This item is peculiar. I've never seen it before and don't know its exact value yet. If I made a mistake, I wouldn't know how to explain it to the owner."
"Elder Zhou, you're joking," Young Master Qian stroked his chin and said,
"As it happens, my grandmother's birthday is coming up, and I haven't figured out what gift to give. I think this item is nice. Would Elder Zhou be willing to part with it?"
"This..." Shopkeeper Zhou looked hesitant.
"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for Elder Zhou," Young Master Qian said with a smile,
"I'm willing to offer a 30% increase. How about it?"
Although Shopkeeper Zhou's surname was Zhou, he wasn't a member of the Zhou family, but a servant who'd taken the Zhou surname, so even if good items came in, it had nothing to do with him.
He could, however, make some profit in and out.
Moreover, although the young man in front of him was not old, his methods were unusual, and he was not someone to be offended.
After thinking for a moment, Shopkeeper Zhou slowly nodded,
"Since Young Master Qian has such filial piety, how could I not oblige?"
"Haha..." Young Master Qian laughed heartily,
"Thank you!"
After the exchange of money and goods, Young Master Qian and the elder took their leave together, leaving Shopkeeper Zhou alone in the pawnshop, waiting quietly for something.
Soon after.
The two strong men who had left returned.
"Shopkeeper, we lost him," one of them said in a muffled voice, clasping his hands,
"We clearly saw him enter a dead-end alley, but when we went in, he was nowhere to be seen. He might have some skills."
The walls on both sides of the alley were high, and it wouldn't have been easy to climb over them without leaving a trace in such a short time.
"Oh!"
Shopkeeper Zhou raised an eyebrow, which was unexpected, then said,
"If he's skilled, let's not provoke him for no reason. Anyway, it's a dead loan, and the item is already in the hands of Young Master Qian."
"Yes."
The strong man nodded.
*
*
*
Everything changed before his eyes.
Looking at the familiar surroundings, Fang Zheng felt a sense of relief, his body instantly going limp as he sat directly on a chair.
"Phew..."
"They actually sent people to follow me. That world is indeed very dangerous!"
He wasn't stupid and naturally sensed the strong-arming at the pawnshop, also noticing someone was secretly following him, prompting him to hurry back.
If he had been intercepted in an isolated place, the consequences would have been dire.
Looking back now, his heart still fluttered with fear.
It was broad daylight, yet he couldn't suppress some people's malice, which was beyond his expectations.
However...
"Clang!"
A few items fell onto the table, bringing a look of ecstasy to Fang Zheng's face.
Gold!
Silver!
A gold nugget weighing ten taels and some scattered silver. These were exchanged for the watch at the pawnshop.
He touched the gold nugget; it was hefty.
He procured a blowtorch, lit it to verify the gold's purity, confirming it was solid gold, then weighed it on an electronic scale.
"Five hundred and one grams!"
Fang Zheng pondered,
"Ten taels, with each tael equaling fifty grams, is exactly the same as here. With the current gold price at 389 per gram, ten taels equals..."
He calculated with a calculator.
194,889!
"Hiss..."
His hand trembled, and Fang Zheng couldn't help drawing a cold breath.
The watch had been a street purchase during a trip, costing only a couple of hundred bucks. Yet, in this exchange, it fetched over 190,000.
Nineteen thousand!
He had never seen that much money in his life!
Overnight wealth!
Rich!
No, wait!
There's still the silver.
The dead loan's value was ten taels of gold and ten taels of silver. The silver was fragmented but weighed enough, though it wasn't worth much.
The current silver price was over six per gram, which made five hundred grams about three thousand bucks.
The buyback price was even lower.
"Hmm..."
Putting down the gold and silver, Fang Zheng was thoughtful,
"The exchange rate for gold and silver there is clearly different from here. Ten taels of gold could only exchange for fifty taels of silver, a rate of one to five."
"Here, the rate is sixty to seventy, with a price difference of dozens of times!"
Thinking this, his breathing quickened again.
If he could travel a few more times, he wouldn't need to do anything else; just exchanging gold and silver could easily make him a millionaire or billionaire.
However, recalling his uncle's tragic state and his own ordeal today, Fang Zheng felt chilled, quickly shaking his head.
Forget it.
This matter should be put aside for now.
Hmm?
Previously too excited, he hadn't noticed the outside situation. Now he realized that the sunlight outside was bright, making it clearly noon.
He picked up his phone to check the time.
Ten thirty!
"That's not right!"
Fang Zheng furrowed his brows,
"Twelve hours equal twenty-four hours, which is precisely one day. Having crossed over last night, it should be nighttime now."
"Could it be..."
"That the time ratio is different too?"
It wasn't impossible. After all, these were two worlds, and after a brief moment of surprise, Fang Zheng calmly accepted the notion.
With such an experience, he could even accept being told he was an immortal now.
Traveling, ancient times, Otherworld, cities, refugees, gold...
The past twenty-four hours felt like a dream.
If not for the coarse cloth clothing on him and the gold in his hand being undeniably real, he'd think he'd had a strange dream.
"Gurgle!"
He rubbed his growling stomach, momentarily setting aside his thoughts, and found two packs of instant noodles in the room to fill his belly first.
He hadn't had a drop of water the whole previous day.
After eating and drinking, washing up, and changing clothes, he stared blankly at the gold in front of him for a long time, finally letting out a long sigh to bring himself back.
"No wonder my uncle was so excited back then. This is a fortuitous encounter!"
However, presently Fang Zheng had no desire to return to that world where he'd almost frozen to death. He just wanted to calm down and handle his uncle's affairs.
Fang Jian's ID needed to be canceled, and the balance in his bank account had to be withdrawn.
Besides that,
the inheritance left needed organizing.
Over the years, his uncle hadn't made much money but wasn't entirely destitute either, having accumulated hundreds of porcelain pieces and a car.
The car was a mountain-brand pickup, costing sixteen or seventeen thousand back then, mainly for transporting goods, now worth at most five to six thousand.
Most importantly,
was the Fang Family inheritance: a relic left by their ancestors.
"Click..."
Opening the safe, another safe was found inside. Such nested safes were custom-made for storing valuable items.
Upon opening the inner safe, a porcelain vase about forty centimeters high came into view.
It was a floral-pattered plum vase!
This was a piece of Doucai porcelain.
Doucai refers to a technique combining underglaze blue and overglaze colors, and the Fang Family ancestors were known for this craft. This floral-patterned plum vase originated from an ancestor adept in the art.
According to Uncle Fang Jian, this single piece of porcelain could exchange for a hundred-square-meter house in Qu City.
The housing prices in Qu City had long surpassed ten thousand per square meter.
However, this object represented the Fang Family's past glory and was absolutely not for sale.
"Beep beep..."
A notification sounded from the phone nearby.
"Fang Zheng, we are almost at Seven Miles, where are you? Come quickly!"
Class monitor?
Fang Zheng was startled, immediately locking the safe and getting up.