Web Fic
Chapter 180
Chapter 180
Chapter 180
Shark found it almost incredible!
After drinking for a long time, it was quite lively here, with customs coming and going. And there was nothing special to do.
In his past experiences, during such late hours, there would often be gunfights breaking out.
After finishing their drinks and late-night snacks, Oliver and the others walked back to enjoy the cool breeze in the evening.
When they passed by an antique shop, Shark glanced at it. Oliver asked casually, “Shark, do you want to go inside and take a look?”
“OK!” Shark replied.
Without hesitation, Shark walked into the shop.
Inside the shop, the majority of items consisted of bracelets and beads, each with a price tag and a name, such as gold-threaded mahogany bead bracelets, sandalwood bracelets, yellow rosewood bracelets, and so
1.
The price ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars.
In fact, most people couldn’t tell any difference, and among this group, only Oliver could discern them.
With a single glance, all the details of the items were displayed in his mind.
The owner of this shop was a bit shrewd. The items priced at thousands of dollars were only worth hundreds of dollars. Among the rest, the most valuable items were only worth a few hundred dollars. Besides, those claiming to be made of “gold-threaded mahogany” were all fake.
”
Upon seeing so many customers entering the shop, the owner immediately welcomed them warmly. There was also a young girl in the shop who promptly greeted the customers.
“Both of them were eloquent, and they each spoke highly of the rare and exceptional items in the shop.
Oliver glanced to the right and noticed that there was even a bead engraved with unique symbols inside the display case, priced at 176,000 dollars.
As soon as the shop owner saw Oliver glance at that, he smiled and introduced, “Young man, you’ve got a sharp eye. I spent a lot of effort getting that from the west. It cost me more than 140,000 dollars. It was blessed by a famous priest… It’s basically something that can’t be bought even if you’re wealthy!”
Oliver inspected it carefully and couldn’t help but smile. The item might be blessed, but its actual value was only around 50 dollars.
The price was absurd. Anyone who bought it at that price would be a fool.
Noticing that Oliver was focusing on the bead, the owner smiled and said, “Young man, this is the most valuable item in my shop. Since a famous priest blessed it, it can ward off evil and protect you. Moreover, it can bring wealth. The other items in my shop are ordinary, but this one…”
Oliver asked him with a smile, “How much is this?”
Hearing this, the owner perked up. He hurriedly put on a mysterious face and said to Oliver, “Young man, I really hate to part with this treasure, but if you really want it, I will bear the pain and give you a
discount of 2,000 dollars. You can have it for 174,000 dollars!”
As he spoke, he maintained an expression of reluctance to part with the bead.
Oliver smiled and shook his head.
The owner stared at Oliver and wondered if he was a rich man. In his opinion, if this young man was just an ordinary person, what he had done would be in vain.
But if this young man was indeed rich, he might make a lot of money. After mentioning the price, the
1/3
11:34
owner watched Oliver and tried to understand his expression. Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
Oliver neither confirmed nor rejected the offer, maintaining a slight smile.
The shop owner cautiously whispered to him, “Young man, how much… do you think you can offer for it?”
Oliver stretched out four fingers and made a gesture.
“Six… 60,000 dollars?” The owner’s heart skipped a beat, thinking he might have just met an expert.
Oliver smiled and shook his head. He said, “No, 60 dollars!”
“60 dollars?”
The owner was stunned, his mouth hanging open in disbelief!
He understood that there were only two possibilities for offering such a price. One was that the young man recognized it as not valuable, and the other was that he didn’t know the value but didn’t like it as well.
The owner’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt disappointment. It was estimated that he could hardly make a large sum of money today.
He thought, “Since the young man dares to offer such a low price, even if I say he can have it for 174,000 dollars, it’s quite possible that he’s an expert!”
He chuckled, but Oliver didn’t talk to him. Oliver looked at the walnuts on the other side and asked, “How much are those walnuts?”
Seeing that Oliver stopped paying attention to the bead at all, he knew he couldn’t gain the large sum of money. So, he said with a lack of enthusiasm, “The price varies. All of the walnuts are like lion’s heads. The cheapest is over 200 dollars. The best ones with a plane surface, Kylin pattern, or thick pattern are over 20,000 dollars. And the ones with the best quality are over 60,000 dollars.”
At this point, the shop owner began to think that this customer was so young and that everyone interested in antique collectibles usually had years of experience.
Young people didn’t usually engage in this hobby!
The owner thought that Oliver was just asking for the price for fun, and that he couldn’t make from him.
money
Indeed, Oliver wasn’t interested in those items. He glanced at the baskets of walnuts with green peels next to him and asked, “Are these unpeeled ones also that expensive?”
“They are for gambling. I have sorted out the three baskets of walnuts. Beginning from the right, walnuts in the first basket cost 100 dollars for a pair, those in the second basket cost 60 dollars for a pair, and those in the third basket cost 20 dollars for a pair. You can just give it a try. If you get good ones, it’s worth trying. But if you don’t get good ones, maybe it’s not worth it. But since the prices are low, how much can you really lose?”
Oliver suddenly realized, “Oh, I see. It’s just like stone gambling and wood gambling. You don’t know what’s in it. You can just have a try!”
The owner nodded and said, “That’s what I mean.”
He thought that he couldn’t make a big sum of money from Oliver, so he didn’t show much enthusiasm.
Unexpectedly, Oliver said with interest, “Let me have a try.”
The owner was stunned. He asked, “You want to give it a try? Do you want the ones for 100 dollars, 60 dollars, or 20 dollars?”
Oliver said, as if he didn’t care about the cost, “I’ll try them all. Let me choose from all the baskets.” The owner was a veteran in this field. In the villages where walnuts were grown, they would usually purchase entire trees of walnuts, costing a few thousand dollars, and then bring them back to sort out the walnuts based on their external quality.
Usually, they didn’t gamble themselves. A tree costs about 12,000 to 20,000 dollars, and there would be
2/3
11:34
around 1,000 pairs of walnuts.
With an average selling price of 60 dollars per pair, the total value would be about 60,000 dollars. As long as they didn’t gamble, it would be an essentially safe and profitable endeavor.
Making a net profit of 40,000 dollars from walnuts worth 40,000 dollars would be considered a high.
return.
Seeing that Oliver really wanted to give it a try, the owner became serious and asked, “How many pairs do you want to buy?”
He guessed this young man was just having fun.
Betting on walnuts was generally a guaranteed loss, but the initial investment was relatively small, unlike stone gambling, which could be much riskier.
Oliver squatted down and searched through the baskets for a while.
After about 15 minutes, he picked out 12 pairs from the 100-dollar basket, nine pairs from the 60-dollar basket, and 22 pairs from the 20-dollar basket.
“That’s all. How much?” Oliver didn’t bargain.
The owner was stunned and thought, “This young man is really weird. He wasn’t interested in that bead, and he even bargained sharply. I thought he would bargain for these walnuts, and I even prepared to offer my discount, but he doesn’t bargain at all!”
“12 pairs from the 100-dollar basket. That’s 1,200 dollars. Nine pairs from the 60-dollar basket. That’s 540 dollars. 22 pairs from the 20-dollar basket. That’s 440 dollars… In total, it’s 2,180 dollars…”