Chapter 23

Lin Mo said with a smile as he waved his hand, “Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner first, I’ll tell you after we eat.”

“Okay! It sounds really interesting!”

Lin Xiaoxiao put down her backpack and dashed toward the washroom.

After Lin Xiaoxiao entered the washroom, Li Jinwen could no longer contain her inner confusion and asked Lin Mo with a worried look, “Husband, can you tell me now what you spent the money on?”

“And, what about that pile of stuff in the living room? Where did it come from?”

Lin Mo had already anticipated that his wife would ask about this matter immediately upon returning home.

Such a large flow of funds was not a small matter for their family.

“Don’t worry, let me show you something first.”

Lin Mo took out the Daqing Copper Coin with the “Xiang” word and a broom-shaped dragon from the center of 1893 from his coat pocket and explained, “I spent the money on this thing, and as for those items in the living room, they’re actually all free gifts.”

Li Jinwen took the copper coin and inspected it carefully for a long time but couldn’t discern anything special about it. She frowned slightly and asked with some dissatisfaction, “Why did you buy this? It’s not nourishing like food or drink, and besides, is it worth over fifty thousand yuan?”

Lin Mo nodded sincerely, “Of course it is. This is a very rare ‘Xiang’ broom dragon, and it comes with a certificate from the national appraisal center. It can sell for fifty to sixty thousand without a problem.”

Li Jinwen did not understand antiques, but she occasionally came across antique blogger videos on TikTok.

She expressed her concern hesitantly, “But husband, what if it’s a fake? And certificates can be faked too, right?”

“Even if it’s the real thing and it’s worth fifty to sixty thousand yuan, what’s the point if you spent over fifty thousand to buy it?”

“I would of course support your hobbies, but our financial situation can’t afford such high-end interests!”

And besides, if you wanted to use the money, shouldn’t you have discussed it with me first?”

“You have no idea… when I saw the bank’s withdrawal SMS…”

Li Jinwen, her grievances and worries spilling over, her eyes slightly reddening, blurted out all her thoughts in one breath.

By then,

Lin Xiaoxiao had finished washing her hands and came out of the washroom.

Lin Mo glanced at Lin Xiaoxiao and hastily said, “Wife, don’t worry, there’s a bit more to this matter. Let’s eat first, and I’ll explain everything to you slowly afterward, okay?”

“Wow, what’s the matter, and you can’t talk about it in front of the child?” Lin Xiaoxiao sidled up, asking with a mischievous curiosity.

Lin Mo frowned and said, “Go on, no one’s as curious as you. Hurry up and serve the noodles for your mom.”

“Wife, let’s go, eat the noodles first!”

“And after dinner, I’ll explain everything to you properly.”

Before long,

three steaming hot bowls of noodles were dished out.

Li Jinwen, holding her chopsticks, tried several times to say something but was interrupted by Lin Mo’s gaze, signaling her to eat first.

Considering the presence of the child, she also refrained from speaking further.

In the odd atmosphere, the family finally managed to get through dinner.

Li Jinwen took the initiative to start cleaning up the bowls and utensils, and at the same time, she said, “Xiaoxiao, go do your homework, you don’t have to clean up the table tonight.”

“Okay then… sigh… nobody tells me anything…”

Lin Xiaoxiao’s eyes were full of curiosity, but being aware of the situation, she wisely did not challenge her potentially temperamental mother.

She looked at the pile of items on the table with a reluctant gaze before reluctantly going back to her room.

Once she returned to her room with her homework, Li Jinwen stopped what she was doing and asked in all seriousness, “Husband, can you tell me now?”

“Yes, of course.” Lin Mo smiled and nodded, saying, “Wife, look, I spent over fifty thousand yuan on a ‘Xiang’ broom dragon copper coin valued at over fifty thousand. That’s not a loss, right?”

Li Jinwen knew some antiques were very valuable, but she still didn’t believe the copper coin in Lin Mo’s hands could sell for that much money.

However, she still believed her husband was not one to act recklessly, so she patiently continued, “Mm, and then?”

“And then the important part comes!” Lin Mo pointed to the Tube Coins soaking in the plastic basin and said, “Aren’t these pretty much gotten without spending money?”

“Even though most of the copper coins might only be worth a few bucks or even be worthless, but a little amount adds up.”

“Moreover, if we were to find even more valuable copper coins, wouldn’t we be striking it rich?”

Li Jinwen’s face darkened even more, wasn’t this gambling? She took a deep breath before saying, “Husband, it’s not that simple, what if all these copper coins, including the one in your hand, are fakes?”

“Even if we step back a bit, even if they are real, isn’t it odd that someone would sell them cheaply instead of making money themselves?”

“And… doesn’t this sound a lot like gambling to me?”

Exactly,

without the Intelligence System, the nature of opening Tube Coins is gambling, no different from scratch cards!

Oh,

that’s not right either,

scratch cards are even more reliable than opening Tube Coins!

After all, you are opening Tube Coins blindly, what you get is what you count, people don’t make fake Tube Coins blindly.

With scratch cards, if you’re lucky, you might actually win big!

But with Tube Coins, most are fakes, and even if they are genuine Tube Coins, anyone with a discerning eye can roughly guess the price by looking at the two exposed coins on the top and bottom.

Although the stall owner #84 said he was too old and lazy to deal with them, Lin Mo didn’t believe half a punctuation mark of what he said.

The truth is more likely than not that he just misjudged.

Lin Mo knew that he couldn’t explain this to his wife, he certainly couldn’t tell her about the system, right? He could only helplessly act coquettishly and plead, “Wife, trust me this time, let’s try opening them. What if we earn money? ”

After speaking,

he handed over the copper coin price list he had printed in advance: “Let’s open them together and then estimate the potential value.”

“Trust me, it’ll be fine, the worst we can lose is a few thousand dollars, you can deduct it from my living expenses!”

With things having reached this point, Li Jinwen knew it was too late to say more.

Even if she wanted to persuade Lin Mo to stop thinking about these get-rich-quick schemes, she would have to wait until they had completely lost money to say it.

Fortunately,

they had only spent fifty thousand yuan; although it hurt, it wasn’t going to ruin them.

“Deduct my head! Fine, fine, we’ll do it your way!”

Li Jinwen nodded and added, “I can help you with it, but if we lose money, you have to promise me that you’ll discuss everything with me beforehand and not keep anything from me!”

Lin Mo smiled and made an ‘OK’ gesture: “No problem, absolutely no problem!”

“First, I’ll open a few coins so you can learn how it’s done, then you can give it a try!”

Lin Mo pulled up a chair beside the plastic basin, casually picked up a stack of Tube Coins, and gently used a chisel to pry off the topmost coin bit by bit.

As he worked he told her, “These coins have been buried for so long that they’ve become brittle, you must be careful when prying them; if you can’t open it, let me do it.”

“Be very careful, do not force them; we’ll try not to break any.”

Nobody cares if an ordinary copper coin breaks, but Lin Mo was worried that his wife might break the one worth a million.

After explaining the key points, Lin Mo gently wiped the copper coin in his hand with a cloth, pointed to the barely discernible text on it, and said, “This one is called… Republic of China Shuangqi Currency, worth probably around 2 yuan.”

“Every time you open a coin, let me have a look at it before you continue; I’ll do the sorting, then we’ll sell them.”

“How about it? No problem, right?”