Once Chen Bo arrived and they'd broken the ice with some small talk, Lu Feng lifted the duffel bag filled with gold jewelry. He opened it, revealing the glittering gold inside.
The interwoven gold was dazzling, and the sheer quantity immediately drew everyone's gaze.
Chen Bo stepped forward instinctively. Just by eyeballing it, he could tell the weight of this gold jewelry was probably double what he had received before.
Yang Ming also came forward and yelled to Ah Lin, "Where's the electronic scale I told you to prepare?"
Ah Lin immediately went to get the electronic scale and placed it on the ground.
Yang Ming then dumped all the gold jewelry onto the ground and began to weigh it.
"Xiaofeng, it's a total of 11,548.6 grams," Yang Ming announced the final weight.
Lu Feng nodded.
The weight was the same as what he had measured himself.
All this gold was money.
But Chen Bo and Yang Ming exchanged a troubled look.
Chen Bo spoke to Lu Feng with some embarrassment, "Young Master Feng, even at a 20% discount through my channels, this batch of gold is worth over 3.88 million. I already took a batch of gold from you before and invested most of the funds. That capital hasn't returned yet. Even if Brother Ming and I pool our resources, we don't have enough."
"So, for this batch of gold jewelry, could we pay you a portion first and give you the rest after we've sold it? Of course, if that's not possible, we can take a portion of it now and buy the rest later when our funds have been replenished."
He was genuinely short on funds; after all, he was just a player in a county-level town.
Of course, his words also carried a hint of probing.
'If this Young Master Feng agrees to the first option, it means the faction behind the supply channel really trusts him, and he has a lot of say. But if he can only accept the second option, it means that even if he's trusted, his authority is limited.'
Lu Feng wasn't stupid. He caught the undertone and said with a smile, "Boss Chen, since you're short on funds, just pay a portion first and the rest after you've sold it."
He was showing trust in his cousin, but naturally, this was also a way to test Chen Bo.
After all, the channel belonged to Chen Bo. Even though his cousin had chosen to partner with him, if any trouble or unpleasantness occurred during this first major transaction, there would be no future dealings.
"That's wonderful! Thank you for your trust, Young Master Feng." Seeing that Lu Feng could make such a decision, Chen Bo's attitude became noticeably more respectful.
'This God of Wealth is reliable.'
Yang Ming then assured him, "Xiaofeng, you can rest easy. I'll personally go with Chen Bo. We'll be back in two or three days, and the money will definitely be in your account by then."
"Okay," Lu Feng nodded.
Not long after, Lu Feng received an initial transfer of 1 million to his bank account. The remaining 2.88 million-plus would be paid after the batch of gold jewelry was sold.
This 1 million was partly from Chen Bo and partly from the contributions of his cousin, Brother Lin, and Ah Pao.
Lu Feng had previously spent 950,000 on a car. With this additional 1 million, his bank card now had a balance of 1.6 million.
'Money is coming in really fast this way.'
People always say those involved in shady businesses make money fast, but it was probably nothing compared to this.
After everything was settled, Lu Feng handed the bag of gold jewelry to his cousin.
By evening, he received a call from his cousin, who had already left Youcheng with Chen Bo and his men.
Even with a gray market channel, there was a limit to what could be handled in a small place like Youcheng. They had to go elsewhere.
As the saying goes, snakes have their paths and rats have their tunnels.
If he had been left to find a way himself, he wouldn't have known where to start and would probably have stumbled stupidly into some trap.
After all, the trope in novels where someone with gold of unknown origin just walks into a random jewelry company, asks if they want to buy it, and they actually do—that's completely unrealistic.
Even if a company did buy that kind of stuff, if you weren't a trusted acquaintance, they would be afraid you were a cop trying to set them up. They might just turn around and call the police on you.
And that would be a huge mess.
「That night.」
Lu Feng went to the hospital to visit his mom, but she was already asleep.
You couldn't stay overnight in the ICU, so having the caregiver watch over her was enough. He left the hospital and gave Yang Qingxue a call.
The call connected, and Yang Qingxue's voice came through. "Lu Feng, my mentor and I are out on a bridal makeup job. We'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay, be safe!" Lu Feng said with a smile.
For makeup artists, bridal jobs were unavoidable. Especially in this small county, many brides requested a "follow-up" service, where the makeup artist had to stay at the bride's home to do her makeup early the next morning. It paid more, but it was exhausting.
The 50,000 Yang Qingxue had wanted to give him was saved up through this kind of hard work.
Of course, if she had her own makeup shop and could hire a few artists, she wouldn't have to work so hard.
This was the goal Yang Qingxue was currently striving for.
After hanging up, Lu Feng returned to his rented apartment and got a good night's sleep. The next morning, he went to the hospital early, carrying a container of nutritious soup.
His mom wasn't awake when he arrived. After she woke up, he had the caregiver help feed her; the caregiver was better at handling these things.
Around noon, Yang Qingxue rushed over, a weary look on her face.
"Didn't get much rest?" Lu Feng asked, his heart aching for her.
Yang Qingxue said, "The bride's best friend was making a racket all night. It was too noisy to sleep."
"My mom's sleeping. I'll take you home to rest," Lu Feng said, taking Yang Qingxue's hand and leading her out of the ward. Outside the hospital, he hailed a Didi.
Yang Qingxue was from Xianzhong Town. Her parents didn't live in the county seat, so she also rented an apartment, sharing it with her best friend.
"Qingxue, you go on up. I won't come with you," Lu Feng said with a helpless sigh after she got out of the car.
After all, her best friend, whom she'd grown up with, seemed to find fault with him no matter what. He didn't want to go up and be an eyesore.
"Lu Feng, don't hate Jiajia. She's just looking out for me," Yang Qingxue said, knowing full well what was going on. She sounded just as helpless.
"Yeah, I get it," Lu Feng nodded, then got back in the car and told the driver to take him to his own apartment.
Yang Qingxue watched Lu Feng leave. Just as she was about to head upstairs, a tall girl ran over and looked at her with a sigh. "Qingxue, you told me you were at a bridal makeup job last night. Were you actually with Lu Feng again?"
"Jiajia!" Yang Qingxue saw the girl and immediately explained, "I really was at the job, and then I went to the hospital to see Lu Feng's mom."
Lin Jiajia sighed in frustration. "I really don't know what kind of potion that Lu Feng has fed you. Let me tell you, his family situation was already bad—no car, no apartment—and now his mom is critically ill. Who knows how much debt he's in? You'll only suffer if you stay with him."
"Also, your mom said you should hurry up and go on that blind date with the guy my boyfriend introduced. His circumstances are really good..."
"I'm going back to sleep," Yang Qingxue cut her off, not wanting to hear any more, and jogged upstairs.
…
For the next two days, Lu Feng didn't pay any attention to the game, spending all his time at the hospital with his mom.
Over these two days, his mom showed no signs of post-operative infection, so she could begin the follow-up treatment.
Moreover, this follow-up treatment was extraordinarily expensive. A small IV bag of medication cost over ten thousand, and it wasn't covered by insurance.
But the effects were excellent. After two days of treatment, his mom had improved significantly. After two more treatments, she could be transferred to a regular ward.
「At the hospital.」
After his mom fell asleep, Lu Feng thanked the caregiver and left the hospital.
As soon as he got back to his apartment, the first thing he did was lock the door from the inside. He looked towards the game world of "After the Apocalypse," and with a single thought, he entered it.
He had already cleared out the gold shop, so there was nothing left to see there. Before, he had focused entirely on the gold shop; now, he planned to scout out the surrounding area.