DEFYING FATE

Chapter 43: Ancient coin at a roadside stall

Along the streets.

Dong Xuebing was thinking of how to make money with BACK atthe Antique City while walking down the underpass back to the hospital. Theunderpass was damp and reek of urine smell. There were two rows of small stallsin the underpass selling handphone accessories, mini fans, small kitchen tools,etc. Nearer to the stairs, there was a stall selling fruits like pineapples andice cream. It was bustling with life.

"Ice cream, 1 RMB for 1. 2 for 1.50!"

"Come and take a look! This is the newest peeler. 10 RMB for1!"

Dong Xuebing sidestepped to avoid stepping on the radishpeels on the floor. When he was about to go to the handphone accessories stall,he saw a familiar back view. It was that middle-aged man who had knocked intohim earlier. He was the antique coins and notes authenticator expert, TeacherCheng. He was walking towards a coin vendor. He bent over and examined the pileof rusty coins at the stall carefully.

Dong Xuebing could feel his anger rising when he saw him.

Dong Xuebing was standing not far away from Teacher Chengand could hear him asking. "How much for these coins?"

The vendor was a young man in his 20s. He was smoking andreplied listlessly: "5 RMB for 1 coin."

Teacher Cheng replied: "It is too expensive."

The young man did not reply and snubbed his cigarette.

Dong Xuebing frowned. When he was working part-time at theAntique City, he had followed his boss to stock up on antiques at thesuppliers. The ancient coins were sold by weight. On average, it was a fewcents per piece, and almost all the coins were not valuable. This roadsidestall's supplier should be worst than the one Dong Xuebing been to. Thosesuppliers were cunning and will surely not sell anything good to theircustomers.

What expert is he? Coming to a roadside stall to pick coins?

Do you know what you are doing?

Dong Xuebing was still thinking about this when he sawTeacher Cheng paused for a while. Huh? What was he doing?

That Teacher Cheng quickly picked 8 to 9 rusty copper coinsfrom the pile and sift through them. He held it tightly in his hand and did notput them back into the pile. He continued to search through the pile of over athousand coins. After searching for a while, he told the stall owner: "I willtake these 9 coins. 45 RMB? Take the money."

The young man looked up and saw him. "Right. 4... Eh? Youare..." The young man was stunned for a second. "I have seen you before. Youare that expert that appeared on TV. You are an Antique Coins authenticator."The young man looked at the coins in Teacher Cheng's hands and immediatelysaid: "Sorry, the 5 RMB per coins I said was referring to that pile. The coinsyou are holding is... 500 RMB per piece."

Teacher Cheng's face changed: "What is the meaning of this?"

The young man did not reply to him. He knew that the coinspicked by the expert should be valuable. Maybe those coins were worth muchmore.

Dong Xuebing was gloating in his heart.

But the next moment surprised Dong Xuebing.

Teacher Cheng sneered and nodded: "500 RMB? You are toomuch."

The young man smiled and reach out to take back the coins inTeacher Cheng's hand: "You can choose not to buy it."

"Wait." Teacher Cheng frowned and kept the coins in hispocket. He took out 4,500 RMB from his wallet and pass it to the young man. "Isthis enough?"

Dong Xuebing, the young man and the rest of the onlookerswere stunned.

No one expects Teacher Cheng to really buy those coins.

Those that knew antiques will know that there was a large numberof ancient coins in the market. Most of them were worthless. At most, the coinswere worth a few RMB to 20 RMB. But Teacher Cheng was willing to fork out 4,500RMB for those few coins? He was an expert in ancient coins and should not makethis foolish mistake.

Let that expert get this bargain?

What luck does that Teacher Cheng have? Getting a steal froma roadside stall?

Dong Xuebing was pissed. But he suddenly realized something.BACK! BACK! BACK!

...

The scenes changed in front of Dong Xuebing.

"How much for these coins?" Teacher Cheng asked whilesquatting by the roadside stall.

The young man was smoking replied without looking up. ":5RMB for 1 coin."

Teacher Cheng replied: "It is too expensive."

The young man did not reply and snubbed his cigarette.

Dong Xuebing knew this was the chance to make money. Hequickly moves forward. He remembered that Teacher Cheng had picked those fewcoins from the left corner. Eh, no... it should be at the bottom of the pile.Huh? That's not right either. He was moving the coins about, and the positionof the coins were all messed up. Dong Xuebing was standing from a distance andcould not see the wordings on the coins clearly. Picking those coins from thewhole pile was impossible. What should he do? He will be wasting thisopportunity?

Dong Xuebing suddenly got an idea. He ran to the stall:"Boss."

The young man got a shock. "What do you want? Buy coins?"

Teacher Cheng turned at looked at Dong Xuebing beforeturning back to the pile of coins.

Dong Xuebing saw he could not distract Teacher Cheng and hequickly squats down and pushes Teacher Cheng aside. He grabbed the cloth underthe coins and carried up the whole pile of coins. "Boss, how many coins do youhave here? Over 1,000? Let me estimate the weight." The bundle of coins wasquite heavy.

Teacher Cheng was pissed. "What is wrong with you? I amstill picking the coins."

Dong Xuebing scoffed. "So what? Have you paid for thecoins?"

The young man asked puzzledly: "Why are you estimating theweight? There are about 1,300 to 1,400 coins. Put the coins down. The othercustomer still has not finished picking."

Dong Xuebing replied to that young man. "How about this? Iam lazy to count the exact number of coins. I will buy all the coins in thisbundle. How much?"

The young man and Teacher Cheng looked at Dong Xuebing inshock. "Al the coins?"

Dong Xuebing nodded. "That's right. Name a price."

The young man was overjoyed: "If you are getting everything,I will give you a discount. 5 RMB per coin and 1,300 coins cost 6,500 RMB. Iwill sell everything to you for 6,000 RMB?"

Dong Xuebing held the bundle of coins tightly: "6,000 RMB istoo expensive. How about 4,000 RMB?"

The young man replied: "My cost is also very high. I can'tsell it to you any cheaper. Errr... Fine... let's meet in the middle. 5,000 RMB?I will just earn lesser."

"Fine..."

The young man was ecstatic. He had set up this stall formore than a year, and he finally met a sucker.

Teacher Cheng scoffed at Dong Xuebing and walked away. Hewas thinking in his heart that Dong Xuebing was a novice in antiques. DongXuebing had not even looked at the coins and bought all the coins. Was hecrazy?

Dong Xuebing did not have so much cash with him. The youngman followed him with the bundle of coins to a nearby ICBC ATM. Dong Xuebingwithdrew 5,000 RMB and passed it to the young man. He looked at his bankaccount balance. There was only a few hundred left. But Dong Xuebing was stillfeeling great. He carried the big bundle of coins back to the hospital.

Hahaha....

So, BACK can be used like this....