3: Chapter 3 Successfully Converting Gold Bars into Cash

It was already noon when I opened my eyes again. Zhang Wei directly jumped out of bed and stretched, all his fatigue swept away.

After washing up, he took out his backpack to check it. Excellent! Two gold bars lay inside, perfectly intact. Zhang Wei only had a four-digit sum in his card, so he just wanted to quickly go out and turn the gold bars into cash.

Leaving the neighborhood, Zhang Wei wasn't in a hurry. He first found a noodle shop to replenish his energy. While eating, he opened his phone to search for nearby gold shops. He vaguely remembered that when he was a child, such small private gold shops were quite common in his town.

But in big cities, people are more willing to trust big brands like Lao Miao and Chow Tai Fook, and small gold shops are rarely seen now.

The nearest one, called “Fan's Gold Ornaments,” was a kilometer away. Zhang Wei finished his noodles, grabbed a shared bicycle, and headed to the gold shop.

“Welcome, feel free to look around.”

The shop wasn't big, about forty to fifty square meters. To the left and right of the entrance, there were long transparent counters displaying gold jewelry of various sizes. There wasn't an enthusiastic saleswoman, just a thin middle-aged man sitting behind the counter, engrossed in playing games on his phone.

When Zhang Wei entered, he merely looked up. Seeing a young man, he didn't pay much attention.

Usually, people who come to buy gold jewelry are middle-aged or elderly, or they bring young people to pick out wedding jewelry. Young couples might come to buy matching rings or something. It's rare for a young man to come alone.

“Boss, do you buy back gold here?” Zhang Wei said, taking out the two cloth bags from his backpack and placing them on the counter.

Only then did the middle-aged man reluctantly put down his phone and walk over to open one of the cloth bags.

A glimmer of gold was revealed.

“It's actually a gold bar!” The boss's eyes lit up, and he quickly opened the other one. Another almost identical gold bar came into view.

“This is a big order!” The middle-aged man immediately put on a warm, beaming smile:

“Young man, don't worry, my shop always offers fair prices for gold recycling, with no deception. But could you let me test its composition first?”

The authenticity and purity of gold certainly cannot be determined by visual inspection alone; professional measuring instruments are usually required for testing.

Zhang Wei nodded, and the boss took out an electronic instrument, similar to a printer, from under the counter and placed it on the table. After turning it on, he put one of the gold bars inside. Soon, a string of data appeared on the machine's display. Then, the middle-aged man took out a precision weighing instrument and measured both gold bars separately.

“No problem, both gold bars are genuine gold, with a purity of over 95%. Their weights are 331.5 grams and 329.8 grams respectively.” The middle-aged man's smile grew even wider after confirming that Zhang Wei was not a fraud selling fake goods.

“Young man, do you have a purchase invoice or transfer certificate? That would make it easier for us to buy them back.”

“No,” Zhang Wei said, looking at the middle-aged man with a look that suggested he was an idiot.

Are you kidding me! If I had an invoice, would I come to your shabby little shop to sell it? Is it because of your high price or your handsome face? Besides, have you ever seen an invoice for gold bars from the republic of china era? Can't you see the traditional Chinese characters on them?

“Then let me ask one more question, young man, where did you get these gold bars?”

Zhang Wei frowned and said, “Does that matter?”

Seeing Zhang Wei's expression turn cold, the middle-aged man quickly added, “I'm just asking as a routine. It's a rule in our business, young man, don't mind it.”

At this moment, he muttered to himself, “These two gold bars were probably stolen by this young man from his home to sell.” But he couldn't care less; as long as the gold bars were genuine, that was fine.

The middle-aged man's eyes darted around, and he said, “Young man. Today's official gold price is 582.5 yuan per gram. But that's the international market price, and we certainly won't give such a high price for recycling. After all, we also need to make a living, plus you don't have any invoices or receipts.”

Then a conflicted expression appeared on his face, and he finally gritted his teeth and said, “How about this, young man, I see you're not having an easy time, so I'll take a loss. I'll give you 350 yuan per gram, what do you think? No other place can offer such a high price.”

“Boss, I didn't realize you also know martial arts?” Zhang Wei looked at the middle-aged man with a hint of surprise.

“I don't know martial arts?” The middle-aged man said, looking bewildered.

“But I see you wielding that Dragon Slaying Saber quite fiercely. It looks like you've practiced for decades, and your saber technique has reached a profound level,” Zhang Wei said speechlessly.

Are you kidding? This is gold, the hardest currency among hard currencies. It's not like selling clothes at a street stall where you can cut the price in half directly?

The boss chuckled awkwardly a few times: “I just made an offer, young man, we can still discuss it. The price of gold is unstable now, and it might fall someday, then it might not even be 200 per gram.”

“Boss, I won't waste any more words with you,” Zhang Wei said decisively, “500 yuan per gram. Otherwise, I'll go look elsewhere.”

“How about 380 per gram?” The middle-aged man held his Dragon Slaying Saber, looking as if he wouldn't give up until he had chopped down the young man in front of him.

“Just 500 per gram, not a single cent less. Besides, if this transaction goes smoothly, there will be plenty of opportunities for future cooperation.” Zhang Wei began to paint a picture for the middle-aged man.

The two sides went back and forth for a while. Finally, the middle-aged man showed a pained expression, “Alright, I give up. Let's do 500 per gram. Young man, please come often to patronize my business in the future. I'm taking a loss on this.”

“Deal.” Zhang Wei smiled and nodded, pushing the gold bars on the counter forward.

“Young man, this is my business card. Feel free to contact me if you need anything in the future. The transaction amount is quite large this time, so please provide a bank card number, and I'll transfer the money to you.” With the price settled, the middle-aged man was also in a great mood.

“Bank transfer it is. The card number is 31*****076.” Zhang Wei picked up the business card and glanced at it.

The business card read: “Chairman, Fan's Gold Shop, Shenghai City, Fan Haitao.” At first glance, the business card was quite impressive, but this small shop didn't match the grand title at all.

Due to the large amount, Fan Haitao also printed a transaction contract. Zhang Wei quickly reviewed it, confirming it was a standard contract with no issues, and signed it readily.

Fan Haitao collected the contract and went to the back office to make a phone call. A moment later...

(Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) Your savings card ending in 076 has received 330,650.00 yuan...

Zhang Wei looked at the bank message on his phone, feigning calmness. Inside, he was overjoyed. He hadn't expected his recent bad luck to finally turn around! He knew that he hadn't saved that much money even after working hard in City Name for two years.

Waving goodbye to the boss, he left the gold shop. His entire net worth instantly soared from over three thousand yuan to over three hundred thousand yuan.

The afternoon sun shone on his shoulders. At this moment, Zhang Wei seemed like a completely different person from hisdecadent self of yesterday.

On the other side, Fan Haitao, sitting in the gold shop, watched Zhang Wei leave in a taxi, then quickly made a phone call:

“Cousin, guess what I received today?”

The voice on the other end of the phone was very noisy, with faint sounds of lights and directors. A steady middle-aged man's voice came through: “Big Brother, I'm about to go on stage to record a show here, can you make it short?”

“gold bars, and two of them! Today, a kid sold them to me at the normal gold price, 500 a gram. Can you help me ask if there's a channel to sell them? Putting aside the gold, these are antiques from the republic of china era!”

No one is a fool. These small gold shops may seem to have slow business, but they rely on making a fortune once every three years. They are quite shrewd.