"No way? Are those silver coins that valuable? The money you mentioned earlier to buy so many cattle, is it all from selling those coins?" Upon hearing how much the silver coins fetched, Heizi was shocked.
"You wish!" At this moment, Yan Fei put on his teacher hat again. "Those silver coins aren’t worth much. The key is that the ’scrap metal’ is valuable. That’s what the old scoundrel couldn’t sell off."
"Damn, then why are we raising cattle? Let’s just start collecting and selling scrap metal instead!" Heizi immediately got excited.
"Do you understand?" Yan Fei brushed him off with just three words.
"No clue!" Heizi immediately lost steam.
But who was Heizi? He wouldn’t be so easily deterred by just a few words.
After a while, he spoke up again: "Brother Fei, this could work! Think about it, we buy these things as if they were trash, why be afraid? For every hundred dollars’ worth of stuff we collect, if just one dollar’s worth can turn a profit, it’s still a great business with no losses, right?"
"And what if it’s all worthless?" Yan Fei continued to squash his dreams. "Plus, you actually need to know who has these things, right? By the time you go around asking everyone about them, people will realize they’re worth something. Who would sell them to you then?"
"There’s always a way!" Heizi stubbornly countered. "I can inquire secretly so that no one would know. I’ll just mention that you like money, not only current currencies but even old ones, and that I’m helping you buy them. How about that?"
"Stop it or I’ll throw you overboard!" Upon hearing that Heizi wanted to use his name to execute this plan, Yan Fei immediately threatened him. With this guy’s character, who knew what kind of a mess he’d make?
"It’s fine, I can do it without using your name! It’s a great idea though." Heizi insisted on keeping his viewpoint.
"What’s the point? The stuff can’t be eaten or drunk. If we couldn’t sell it, wouldn’t we lose money and time? It’d be clutter sitting in the house, would that not be a waste of effort?" Yan Fei, not wanting to keep shooting him down, explained patiently. "Plus, antiques aren’t just coins. I’ve seen everything for sale in the market: pots, pans, pitchers, ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, anything old really, there are people selling and buying."
"Isn’t that better? Anything old we run into, we can just buy." Heizi continued to persuasively advise him. "We’re not specialized in this, we’ll just buy anything we run across. It won’t interfere with our main work and it won’t cost much either, right? You are practicing calligraphy, right? If we come across old calligraphy or paintings, you can learn from them, right?"
By now, Yan Fei was somewhat persuaded.
In fact, he had thought about this while in the antique city. Sancha River Town was definitely an old town, full of old items. Not to mention the old buildings in the high school campus, any brick or tile there would be several hundred years old.
His hesitation only stemmed from the fact that these items didn’t have any practical use, they couldn’t be eaten or drunk, and thus he felt it was an unstable business.
Seeing his hesitation, Heizi seized the opportunity: "Really, Brother Fei, it won’t interfere with our cattle farming. We’ll buy if we run across stuff, then check the market prices whenever, sell if valuable, and it won’t interfere with our main work."
If it doesn’t interfere with the main work, then it could be done. There was no intention to make a fortune, if it makes money, perfect; if not, forget it.
With this train of thought, he finally said: "Fine, when we return, I’ll give you a thousand dollars, where two hundred will be for your trouble, and the remaining eight hundred as your capital. There’s no time limit, don’t scrutinize too much, just buy if you see something worthwhile. If we make a profit, I’ll give you a share. But remember, don’t go around asking and wasting time on it! There must absolutely be no display of wealth, or people will start gossiping about us not doing proper work!"
"Got it, Brother Fei!" Heizi had been going around in circles, mainly because he didn’t have any capital. When he heard Yan Fei was providing so much capital and even a labour fee, he was thrilled!
He immediately pledged: "Rest assured, Brother Fei, I guarantee I’ll focus on our main work and we will silently make big money. I promise to keep it low-key. Just like you, Brother Fei, so low-key that even after doing such a big thing in the county town, you didn’t mention a word..."
"What big thing did I do in the county town?" Yan Fei asked casually.
Upon realizing he had accidentally spilled the beans, Heizi instantly shut up, wishing he could smack himself for mistakenly saying it aloud!
"What’s wrong?" Upon hearing him fall silent, Yan Fei asked again.
No matter how casually Yan Fei asked, it sent a jolt of fear through Heizi. Stammering, he said: "Um, Brother Fei, if I tell you, you won’t kill me to keep me quiet, right?"
"What’s the matter?" Yan Fei was perplexed. "What did you do behind my back again? Is it something that warrants me killing you to keep you quiet? If there’s a problem, spill it! What are you dilly-dallying for?"
"Alright, I’ll tell you then!" Heizi steeled himself. "The Zhang brothers in the county town... were they all killed by you?"
"Is that it?" Yan Fei seemed unfazed after hearing this. "How did you know?"
"I guessed!" said Heizi, somewhat nervously. "I heard from others that the incident happened just when you went to the county town. Apart from you, who else could have done it? Kick someone several tens of meters away to their death, I don’t think anyone else has that capability!"
"What’s got you so worked up?" Yan Fei appeared confused. While the incident had only happened less than half a year ago, to him, it was ancient history, no longer of any concern. "Those two bad seeds deserved to die, didn’t they? I was eliminating harm for the people!"
"You really did that? Don’t you fear... aren’t you scared..." Even though he had suspected Yan Fei this whole time, and now Yan Fei admitted to it personally, Heizi was still shocked.
"Afraid of what?" Yan Fei seemed pleased with himself. "My wife is a student at the Provincial University School of Law. When she comes back for the holiday, she’ll explain it to you. For a disabled minor like me, what’s the big deal about killing a few people? I wouldn’t even need to spend a day in jail."
Heizi didn’t seem to pay much attention to the fact that Yan Fei was bragging about being a minor, he was more concerned about: "Brother Fei, so you mean this doesn’t have to be a secret? And you don’t need to... to, um, kill me to keep me quiet?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Fei couldn’t help but laugh: "Do you really think I’m like that? We’ve been together for so long. Would I really kill you and silence you just for a little thing ? Doing this would mean I can’t even recruit a helper in the future. However, it would be best if no one knew about this! If you guessed it, fine, but don’t go spreading it around. It doesn’t sound good. Remember, if you do, I might really silence you!"