Once they were in the car, Mu Xueli could no longer hide his excitement as he said to Wang An and Wang Li
"We made this much money in just one go, so we've almost broken even. Once we sell those gold gallbladders tomorrow, almost all the money we make will be pure profit, right?"
Wang Li was also full of excitement, but after Mu Xueli finished speaking, he snapped at him
"How are you doing your math? This is only a bit over 540,000. We put in 580,000 to hoard the stock. You gonna make up the missing 40,000-something?"
Unexpectedly, Mu Xueli tried to provoke him, saying
"I'll make it up, I'll make it up, it's no big deal. If it's over 40,000, I'll pay. But if it's less than 40,000, you pay. Deal?"
Wang Li was about to say "Deal," but he suddenly froze. After a moment's thought, he said irritably
"You little pretty boy, you've got a vivid imagination. You're trying to dig a hole for me here!"
After Wang Li spoke, Wang An and Mu Xueli both burst out laughing.
Truth be told, because these two idiots, Wang Li and Mu Xueli, frequently tried to trap each other during their bickering, their reaction speeds had become incredibly fast. Usually, they were evenly matched, and neither could gain an advantage.
Wang An was also very happy at the moment, so after laughing, he nodded and said
"Yeah, those gold gallbladders should sell for a bit over 320,000. After subtracting the 40,000 principal, the three of us will have made a net profit of over 280,000 this year. You two get about 85,000 each, and I'll get around 113,000 or 114,000. Hahaha!"
Wang An's laughter naturally triggered Wang Li and Mu Xueli's laughter, and the interior of the car once again echoed with the unrestrained laughter of three grown men.
Although Wang An had been a wealthy man before entering the "fence" in his previous life, and had made no shortage of windfalls in this life, he was still very happy with these earnings.
After all, most of his previous money had been external wealth—money that came for free—but this money was earned through hard work.
Even though he had relied on that external wealth as capital to make this money, the feeling was different.
Most importantly, the supply and marketing cooperative would certainly receive fewer gallbladders because of their acquisition efforts.
Of course, Wang An couldn't be blamed for this; it was their own fault for suppressing the prices so aggressively. In any case, Wang An had achieved his goal of getting revenge on them.
As he spoke, Wang An turned the steering wheel and drove toward the bank.
However, Wang An's purpose for going to the bank was not to deposit money, but to exchange it.
Although the medicinal herb wholesale market didn't cover a large area, to make it convenient for visitors to deposit and withdraw funds, there were currently two banks and one savings office. Of course, they were all branches or savings stations.
The two banks were the Agricultural Bank and the Construction Bank, and the "one office" was the Postal Savings Office.
Without hesitation, Wang An parked in front of the Agricultural Bank and turned to Wang Li in the back seat
"Give me the 8,000-plus with the long black mold. I'll go inside and exchange it."
Hearing this, Wang Li casually handed a small cloth bag to Wang An. Feeling that carrying it openly was too conspicuous, Wang An stuffed the bag under his arm inside his cotton coat.
This method of carrying things was designed so that others couldn't see anything; it was the same method "gun-runners" used when hiding blades or short-barreled double-shotguns.
Before pushing open the car door, Wang An turned and said
"Xueli, come sit in the driver's seat. Once I'm done, you two stay in the car and don't move, okay?"
With that, Wang An got out of the car and walked into the bank.
After a simple explanation that the money had been soaked in water and grown mold, making it impossible to spend, the Agricultural Bank staff very readily exchanged the "huge sum" of 8,000-plus that Wang An brought. They didn't even ask any other questions.
It had to be said, banks were so much better back then!!
When Wang An was in the "fence" in his previous life, he often heard new cellmates complain that banks nowadays were too controlling, constantly questioning ordinary citizens who came to withdraw money, yet the money that was meant to be scammed away still got scammed.
Of course, the reason the bank here didn't suspect the "huge sum" of 8,000-plus was likely because the daily volume of medicinal herb transactions was enormous. Crucially, everything was cash-based at the time, so 8,000-plus yuan probably didn't even count as a "huge sum" to them.
Having successfully exchanged the money, Wang An tucked the money bag under his arm again, wrapped it with his coat, and walked out of the bank.
As he exited, Wang An noticed two very suspicious people. They were glancing around shiftily, staring at the bank entrance—more accurately, staring at every person entering and leaving the bank.
Thus, Wang An concluded that he had definitely entered their line of sight.
Wang An narrowed his eyes and subconsciously slowed his pace, using his peripheral vision to continuously observe the two youths.
After observing for a while and discovering that their target was not him, Wang An walked toward the car.
Opening the door and getting in, Wang An pointed ahead and said
"Let's go to the Public Security Guest House in town and get a room first."
At this time, the Public Security Guest Houses were not open to the general public. Guests had to be police officers or militia members with letters of introduction and work IDs, so the security was very guaranteed.
Mu Xueli nodded, turning the steering wheel while saying hopefully
"Brother-in-law, are we still going to find Sister Xiaomin and the others to hang out?"
Wang An turned his head and gave Mu Xueli a speechless look
"You've got a brain in that head of yours, but what on earth do you think about all day? Can't you focus on something productive? Come on, tell me, what exactly is there to 'play' with them?"
As he spoke, ignoring the fact that Mu Xueli was driving, Wang An reached out and gave Mu Xueli's head a little smack.
Truth be told, this kid Mu Xueli had really learned his bad habits from his brother-in-law, Wang An.
Unexpectedly, after Wang An finished, Mu Xueli complained to Wang Li
"Old Five, this is all your damn fault. I told you to ask yourself, but you insisted I ask. See, now my brother-in-law hit me."
Wang Li naturally didn't admit it, his face flushing as he argued
"You're talking nonsense! Since when do you listen to me? You wanted to ask yourself, and now you're pinning it on me."
As soon as Wang An heard this, he knew these two idiots probably wanted to fool around with Tao Wenjing and Yuan Hongmei, and now they were acting in front of him.
To be honest, Wang An didn't have much interest in Han Xiaomin. In his eyes, if Han Xiaomin was willing to flirt with him for the sake of her family business, she would be just as willing to flirt with other men for the same reason.
And Wang An didn't lack women; why would he pine for a Han Xiaomin?
Turning around, Wang An asked Wang Li
"What's the deal? You and Xiuyu having a fight? She won't let you touch her anymore?"
Hearing this, Wang Li's face turned bright red, and he stammered
"It's not that... it's just that she says she's afraid of getting pregnant, and every time we have to use that little balloon... that little balloon, damn it, just... anyway, it's not satisfying at all."
Wang An couldn't help but laugh, and Mu Xueli seized the opportunity to mock Wang Li.
This laughter from Wang An and Mu Xueli made Wang Li so embarrassed he almost crawled under the seat.
Family planning supplies of that era—rubber condoms—were already sold in the hospitals and Western pharmacies of DJ County.
However, the rubber condoms of that time were truly... indescribable!!
Not only was the price not low—a full 5 cents each—but they were also very thick and of poor quality. Most crucially, the length was only 33 millimeters.
Yes, 33 millimeters. It was utterly ridiculous.
Of course, the most "impressive" part was that these things could actually be reused...
Anyone who had used them knew exactly how it was.
After laughing, Wang An thought for a moment and said
"Alright, considering we made a decent amount of money on this trip, once we sell those gold gallbladders tomorrow, we'll go stroll through Han Xiaomin's shop."
The main business wasn't finished yet; he still had over 300,000 worth of stock in hand. Wang An really didn't have the heart to fool around.
Only these two idiots, Mu Xueli and Wang Li, could be so carefree because Wang An took care of everything.
Hearing Wang An say this, the corners of Mu Xueli and Wang Li's mouths curled up, their joy evident on their faces.
Arriving at the guest house, they used their letters of introduction, certificates, and IDs to book a room for three days. The three of them moved the money and the gallbladders into the room.
That evening, the three of them had a simple meal at the guest house canteen and returned to the room to rest.
The night passed without incident, and dawn arrived.
On the morning of the fifth day, the three of them woke up to practice their martial arts as usual.
After breakfast, they rested in the room for a while until 8:30, then they loaded the gallbladders and drove to the medicinal herb wholesale market.
Before leaving, Wang An didn't forget to tell the guest house staff that the room didn't need to be cleaned.
Although he didn't know if the staff would actually clean the room, this request had to be made in advance.
Mainly because the 540,000-plus in cash they received yesterday was still tucked under the bed in the room.
There was no other way; keeping that much money in the car was simply too inconvenient.
When the three of them arrived at Li's Pharmacy, it was not yet 9 o'clock, but Li Ziqian and his descendants had already been waiting there.
After brief greetings, the group began busily inspecting the gallbladders.
The number of gallbladders was only half of yesterday's, but the number of people inspecting them remained 15.
Thus, in less than an hour, all the gallbladders were inspected.
Just as the three of them expected, these gold gallbladders sold for a total of 324,530 yuan, which was nearly 800 yuan less than their estimate at home.
However, this was acceptable. Just like yesterday's iron and grass gallbladders, they hadn't accounted for the weight of the skins during their estimation. Since the price of gold gallbladders was so high, the weight of the skin made a significant difference.
With the transaction complete, the three of them declined Li Ziqian's invitation to stay for a meal, took the money, and drove away.