116: The 11th one's sentimentality is all just business.

Teacher Qin fiddled with the blood amber for over ten minutes before finally speaking. "This blood amber is authentic at a glance."

Chen Sheng: "..."

Store Manager: "..."

Noticing their strange looks, Teacher Qin explained apologetically, "To put it simply, blood amber is a derivative mineral found in coal. This piece is still encased in anthracite. The two are closely and naturally bonded; it's clearly a natural formation."

"This kind of thing is too rare, especially in Shu City, so I couldn't help but look at it for a while longer."

It's fair to say that the explanation didn't help; after Teacher Qin said those words, the entire atmosphere became even weirder.

Perhaps because the job was done, or perhaps to escape the awkward atmosphere, Teacher Qin placed the blood amber back on the tray, whispered a few words to the Store Manager, and stood up. "I've finished the appraisal. You two can discuss the rest."

Watching Teacher Qin leave, the Store Manager spoke first. "Mr. Chen, I wonder where you got this blood amber?"

Chen Sheng looked at the Store Manager in surprise. "Does your shop ask about the origin of items?"

"Not exactly. As Teacher Qin just said, blood amber is rare, especially in western regions like Shu City. If it's inconvenient for Mr. Chen, just pretend I didn't ask," the Store Manager explained with a smile.

He certainly wouldn't say that if the origin was questionable, the price would be negotiable.

To his surprise, Chen Sheng didn't follow the usual script and said directly, "It is indeed inconvenient."

This immediately choked back the words the Store Manager had prepared.

The Store Manager considered himself well-practiced in facial expression management, but even he stiffened for a split second. Recovering himself, he smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, our shop is interested in acquiring this blood amber. May I ask what your psychological price point is?"

"I wonder how much your shop is prepared to pay for my blood amber," Chen Sheng countered.

"Although blood amber is rare, this piece hasn't reached the optimal size in terms of total mass or volume. The market valuation is around 30,000."

The Store Manager quietly glanced at Chen Sheng. Seeing Chen Sheng instinctively frown after hearing the quote, the manager's expression remained unchanged as he continued, "However, considering its rarity, our shop is willing to add another 10,000 to the market price and acquire this blood amber from you for 40,000."

Hearing this quote, Chen Sheng felt very uncomfortable... no, rather, he felt awkward.

If he said the offer was low, the Intelligence System's valuation was only 30,000 to 50,000. But if he said it was high, it happened to be right in the middle.

Being stuck in the middle was particularly annoying.

Chen Sheng thought for a moment and tentatively suggested, "blood amber itself is scarce. There's even a saying that an ounce of gold can't buy an ounce of blood amber. Although this piece isn't large, 40,000 is a bit low. I think 50,000 is very reasonable."

"Mr. Chen, a large part of your blood amber is still encased in coal. To turn it into a finished product, multiple processes like extraction and polishing are required. The loss is quite significant. 40,000 is the highest price our shop can offer."

"By acquiring this blood amber from you for 40,000, we'll only make a labor fee at most when we resell it. At the same time, I am confident that our shop is offering the absolute highest price in the industry."

"Offering such a high price is also in the hope of making a friend with you, Mr. Chen. I hope that the next time you have something like blood amber to sell, you'll give our shop priority."

Hearing about "making a friend," Chen Sheng's cheek couldn't help but twitch. "This guy must be related by blood to those stall owners on the antique street."

Chen Sheng thought about it, mainly checking the time, then stood up and extended his left hand. "Happy cooperation!"

The Store Manager quickly stood up and shook Chen Sheng's hand. "Happy cooperation!"

Soon, a bank deposit SMS notification popped up on his phone screen.

Chen Sheng also quickly left the jewelry store.

Back in the car, Chen Sheng first used the navigation to find a nearby charging station. While waiting for the car to charge, he grabbed a bowl of noodles nearby to settle his dinner.

By the time he returned after eating the noodles, the vehicle was fully charged. So, Chen Sheng scanned the code to pay and drove straight to the commercial street.

After quickly going over today's accounts with Mei Xue, Chen Sheng rushed without stopping to the Night Market Street located near the University of Technology, at the intersection of Erxian Bridge Road and Sanbanqiao Road.

Arriving at the Night Market Street, seeing that the lights were just starting to come on, Chen Sheng reclined his seat back and lay down. "What a tiring day."

He had been running around since morning and engaging in battles of wits; he really was exhausted.

He lay in the car until 8:30 PM before finally opening the door and stepping out.

Walking from one end of the Night Market Street to the other, Chen Sheng easily found his target. There was no helping it! There was only one stall selling CDs in the entire Night Market Street.

This stall was like a firefly that had blundered into a pitch-black enclosed space. It wasn't that conspicuous itself, but the contrast was so strong that it was impossible not to notice.

Chen Sheng stepped forward and began rummaging through a pile of CDs seemingly at random. He soon found the CD with "hoh xil" printed on it.

After pulling it out, he casually picked up "A Chinese Odyssey 1+2" and "Flash Point" next to it.

Holding the three CDs in his hand, he covertly pulled the disc out of the "hoh xil" case a little. Confirming that the inside didn't match the outside, he immediately tucked it back in.

At the same time, so as not to attract the stall owner's attention, Chen Sheng asked with some emotion, "Boss, it's getting rare to see people selling CDs these days."

The boss fanned himself, saying with a look that suggested Chen Sheng didn't understand, "It's about sentimentality, do you understand?"

"I really don't quite understand!" Chen Sheng's cheek twitched. "I only know that sentimentality can't put food on the table."

Chen Sheng gestured with his chin toward the surrounding area while meeting the boss's gaze.

The surrounding stalls weren't exactly booming, but at the very least, each had three to five people gathered around. Only this place was like a forgotten corner; no one besides him was inquiring.

The boss gave a mysterious smile and likewise gestured with his chin toward Chen Sheng's back left. "See that Northeast Dumplings restaurant over there?"

Chen Sheng nodded. "I see it."

The boss stated calmly, "That storefront is mine."

"Uh..." Chen Sheng's cheek couldn't help but twitch a few times.

The boss then gestured toward Chen Sheng's back right. "See that Modu Sister-in-law Milk Tea Shop over there?"

"Don't tell me that's yours too," Chen Sheng added softly.

"Exactly! It's mine too." The boss gestured to the side again. "See that Mobile Phone Beauty shop?"

"Alright then—" Chen Sheng gave the boss a thumbs up. "I can see you're a man of taste."

The boss lightly waved his fan. "You're not bad either, still buying CDs nowadays."

"I'm nothing compared to you. I just happened to see them and wanted to reminisce about my lost youth," Chen Sheng waved his hand quickly. He didn't own several storefronts; he wasn't qualified to talk about sentimentality.

To his surprise, the boss suddenly started humming.

"The heavy rain missed in those years..."

"The love missed in those years..."

"I really want to embrace you, to embrace the courage I missed..."

"Once I wanted to conquer the whole world..."

"But in the end, looking back, I found..."

"Every little bit of this world is all you..."

The stall owner's voice was a bit raspy, carrying a sense of story when he sang. It wasn't bad—honestly, it wasn't bad at all. Although it was just a few lines, it felt strangely moving, and it inexplicably made a phrase pop into Chen Sheng's head: "I have a story, do you have the wine?"

Tsk tsk.

It seemed the boss was also a man with a story.

It made sense. If he didn't have some stories, he wouldn't be selling unsellable CDs at a stall in this day and age.

At that moment, after humming a section, the boss stood up, rummaged through the box of CDs, pulled one out, and placed it in Chen Sheng's hand. "Since you were listening so intently just now, I'll give you a twenty percent discount on this CD."

Chen Sheng looked at "You Are the Apple of My Eye" in his hand, and his cheek twitched once more.

Good grief!

I thought you were a man with a story, but it turns out it's all just a damn routine.

Chen Sheng asked, between laughter and tears, "How much for these four CDs?"

"Genuine CDs are 25 yuan each, so three would be 75 yuan. One is twenty percent off, making it 20 yuan. That's 95 yuan in total. You can pay by scanning the code or with cash." The boss pointed to the QR code nearby with his fan.

Chen Sheng: "..."

At this moment, he felt like he had a "MMP" stuck in his throat that he just had to spit out. He pointed to "A Chinese Odyssey 1+2" in his hand and asked, "Is the genuine version of 'A Chinese Odyssey' really 1+2?"

"You're buying two for the price of one genuine disc. Do you understand the concept of extreme value for money?" The boss was talking nonsense with a straight face.

Seeing the boss's expression of "you're getting a bargain, you should be happy," Chen Sheng sincerely gave him another thumbs up. "No wonder you can own multiple storefronts."

With this level of shamelessness, it would be hard not to get rich.

However...

To hell with sentimentality, it's all business.

...