After the name was mentioned, Su Yang felt embarra.s.sed to walk away just like that since Chu Xia had introduced him to go there, and if he walked away, it would put everyone in an awkward situation.
He sighed and turned around.
Little Tang showed a wide smile after Su Yang turned around. His dazzling gold teeth were flashing again. "Yes, that's it. We're all friends. Don't judge me by my looks. I'm really a good man!"
Su Yang smiled. "I came from a rural village and my mom said those who claim to be good are mostly scammers who try to trick my money."
"Ahem!" Little Tang almost choked on his own saliva. He grabbed Su Yang with his fat hands and said, "My my, Young Master Jiang introduced you to me. I wouldn't dare to trick you."
He signaled his salesperson to leave them alone before he dragged Su Yang to a seat. He then handed him a name card. "Let me officially introduce myself. I'm Tang Dafa, the owner of Dafa Gold Shop. People usually call me Little Boss Tang."
He widened his mouth and showed his signature golden teeth again.
The glare from the golden teeth blinded Su Yang for a second. "Yes, yes, Tang Dafat, I'm Su Yang. I want to cash in a piece of gold that I have," he replied.
Little Boss Tang corrected Su Yang by saying, "It's Dafa, Tang Dafa."
Su Yang nodded. "Yes, yes, I'm sorry, Dafa."
Little Boss Tang showed an even wider smile and reached out his fat hand. "Show me what you've got there?"
Su Yang fished out the gold, which he had mashed into a ball, from his pocket and showed it to the man.
Little Boss Tang weighed it in his hand and checked it for its quality. The gold ball was placed on the table after that.
The smile on his face faded as he said in a serious tone, "Brother Soo, since Young Master Jiang introduced me to you by, you are one of us. I've roughly checked your gold and it seems okay. However, I must warn you about something first."
Su Yang nodded.
Little Boss Tang said, "All the prices you got from the other gold shops are fake. The price includes the raw materials of gold, the packaging fee, the processing fee, rent, labor, the shop's profit, and taxes, so the price is a lot higher.
"At Dafa Gold Shop, we only buy gold at its raw material price, which is also the actual value of gold, give or take a 2% processing fee for melting it down. Truth be told, in our line of work, there are other hidden fees, but since you are one of us, I'll exempt all of them just for you."
After that, Little Boss Tang fished out an alarm clock-like display with a screen from the drawer and placed it on the table in front of Su Yang. On the display was a set of digitized numbers: 298.65.
"This is the international price for gold today. 98% of the gold is at RMB292.67, so I'll round them up to RMB293 for you. If you are okay with it, I'll weigh it for you."
Su Yang had actually tried to understand the process before, hence he dared not simply step into a random shop because there were a lot of tricks involved.
Aside from others, many smaller gold shops would melt the gold right in front of the customer and then weigh it, but because it was done before the customer's eyes, the shop could brazenly keep a tiny bit of melted gold in the hearth and make it look as if a large portion of the gold was lost in the process.
Other than the melting fee, the shops might throw in a little cost of depreciation, labor, or whatnot, so the whole process was not transparent.
Therefore, Little Boss Tang's terms were actually decent. With that in mind, Su Yang agreed.
Little Boss Tang showed his signature smile at Su Yang's decisiveness. His golden teeth blinded Su Yang again.
Next, the two of them weighed the gold with the digital scale. The ball of gold weighed a total of 73.2 grams, which equated to a total of 21,447.60 yuan. Little Boss Tang wrote an invoice for Su Yang and told him to pick up the cash at the counter.
After the deal, the two of them exchanged WeChat contacts and Little Boss Tang escorted Su Yang out of his office.
Outside the office, his fat hand tapped on Su Yang's shoulder. "Brother, you are quick in doing business. Let's hope we can have more opportunities to work together in the future."
Nodding, Su Yang then went out to look for the salesperson to get his money.
After the salesperson heard Su Yang about to get his money, she was surprised. "Did that 'Pixiu[1]' change his mind? Is he spitting out money instead of keeping it?"
Su Yang tilted his head curiously. Before this, he already sensed that the salesperson treated the owner with a strange att.i.tude. Since he now had the chance to speak with her, he coated his words with sugar and asked, "Hey, pretty lady, what's wrong with your boss? Why did you call him Pixiu?"
Maybe because of the sugar-coated words, or maybe because Little Boss Tang barely had any power in the shop, the salesperson blurted out without any worries, whispering to Su Yang, "Actually, our boss doesn't really care about the daily operations of the shop. He's always in his office, doing only one thing: cheating."
"Cheating?" Su Yang was stunned.
The salesperson raised her hand and started counting, "Fate, future, misfortune, fortune, career, marriage, ill omens...he can read almost everything in the world."
Su Yang was surprised by the revelation. "Is he also a fortune teller?"
While the two of them were whispering, a tall lady in a suit and a short skirt coupled with stockings rushed into the shop. As she ran in, she shouted, "Master Tang, Master Tang! Please tell me where my daughter has gone. My daughter is gone!"
She ran straight into the shop and seemed to be heading to Little Boss Tang's office.
The salesperson pointed at the lady's back. "Look, that's a loyal believer of our boss."
Su Yang was rendered speechless. That Little Boss Tang really dressed like a conman.
Anyway, he was not bothered by it since he was just there to sell his gold.
He handed the salesperson the invoice and got a total of 21,448 yuan from her. Adding Old Sixth Liu's 888 yuan compensation, his savings had surpa.s.sed 22,000 yuan for the first time!
Aside from the others, he could at least afford to cover his daily expenses and his rent for a year. If he could earn more, he might even be able to cover his tuition fee for next year!
He had just started to experiment with the Point System and he had already made this much money. Su Yang felt hopeful for the future. Maybe this was an opportunity given by the heavens. He must grasp it tightly and change his life!
With that in mind, he returned home.
He got the cash in hand, and for once in a long time, he ordered takeaway and enjoyed his feast after living so poorly for a while. He ordered a bowl of yellow stewed chicken rice for himself. The spicy soup was mixed into his rice and it allowed Su Yang to fully appreciate the charms of the yellow stewed chicken.
After dinner, Su Yang sat at his desk and played some piano music. The strange twig little monster, Gru, was shaking its body along with the music.
It was one of Gru's favorite exercises. Whenever it heard music, its black and withered body would turn as soft as a snake's as it danced like waves in the pot. Su Yang could not help but be impressed by how great life had evolved in this case.
He was clueless about when the next evolution of life would happen.
He searched around his room and ultimately landed his attention on his smartphone.
However, he suppressed this thought. His smartphone was too expensive, and if he added the points to it and transformed it into something strange, he would have to spend more money buying a new one. He shelved the thought and decided to review it when he got more money.
He continued searching around his room and tried to search for something that life could evolve further. Then…he saw the brick on his table.
[1] Pixiu is a mythical creature that is believed to protect one's fortune instead of losing it.
