Chapter 5: Requisitioning Goods Across the City

A sound of clinking gold coins rang out, followed by an electronic prompt.

“Supermarket turnover: 26,000 RMB, 50 taels of sycee silver, 56 copper coins, and 100 taels of gold (deposit).”

“Transaction target entry method…”

As the prompts continued one by one, Xiao Yingchun was stunned!

She had been wondering how an ancient general could possibly come to buy things.

It turns out her little convenience store had actually become a cross-dimensional supermarket system?

Based on Xiao Yingchun’s years of gaming experience, this system could be upgraded!

Right now it was at level one, only able to trade with Fu Chen’an, but perhaps in the future, she could trade with other people or even other dimensions?

Thinking of this, Xiao Yingchun was incredibly excited.

She had been wondering why she had been so unlucky lately; it turned out all her good luck was waiting here!

She opened the storage function, and once she entered, hey, wasn’t this just her own warehouse?

This old, dilapidated two-story building was an inheritance left by Xiao Yingchun’s parents. It occupied eighty square meters, with thirty square meters on the first floor used as a warehouse and about forty square meters as a supermarket.

The floor height was three meters, giving the warehouse ninety cubic meters of space.

Five thousand boxes of compressed biscuits and mineral water each—even if they couldn’t fit all at once, two trips should be enough, right?

With the logic sorted out, Xiao Yingchun decided to first take a look at the gold in the cloth bag.

Opening the bag, she found ten plain, unadorned gold ingots.

The ingots weren’t large; they were flat, wider at the ends and narrower in the middle, looking a bit like a bow tie, with a stamp in the center.

She looked up the price of gold ingots online.

After getting a rough idea, Xiao Yingchun took two gold ingots and put them in her shoulder bag, along with the three copper coins from yesterday.

She placed the other eight gold ingots into her safe before heading to the pawnshop.

To order five thousand boxes of compressed biscuits and water, she needed at least eight hundred thousand yuan.

The quantity was too large; the wholesaler wouldn’t extend that much credit. She would need to pay a deposit first and the rest upon delivery.

She had no money, so she had to sell the gold ingots first.

And while she was at it, she could verify if these gold ingots were real.

Wearing a T-shirt and shorts with her shoulder bag, Xiao Yingchun stepped into the Xinlong Pawnshop with a bare face...

When Dai Hengxin saw Xiao Yingchun enter, his eyes lit up for a moment, and he stood up proactively: “The beauty is back. What good items do you have today?”

Xiao Yingchun looked at the gray-haired, balding elderly man who had appeared in the shop and didn’t respond.

Noticing Xiao Yingchun’s wariness, Dai Hengxin introduced him: “This is my mentor, and also my uncle, Professor Dai Wangnian, a doctoral supervisor in the Cultural Relics Appraisal major at Beicheng University.”

Xiao Yingchun looked at the man carefully and immediately took out her phone to search.

Beicheng University official website, Cultural Relics Restoration major, doctoral supervisor, Dai Wangnian.

Although the photo had been touched up, the eyebrows, eyes, and bald head indicated it was the same person.

Xiao Yingchun’s wariness eased significantly, and she sat down to the side.

Dai Hengxin’s gaze fell on Xiao Yingchun’s shoulder bag.

Xiao Yingchun looked at her bag and turned the passive situation into an active one: “Is Teacher Dai the expert the boss mentioned earlier who looks at copper coins?”

Dai Wangnian realized what was happening and looked at Xiao Yingchun in surprise: “You are the owner of those copper coins?”

Xiao Yingchun nodded, cautiously remaining silent.

Dai Wangnian was a seasoned expert and saw Xiao Yingchun’s nervousness: “I don’t mean anything else by it. I was just about to have Hengxin contact you to see if we could examine the actual items.”

“I’ve never seen this type of copper coin before, and I couldn’t find them in the literature. I’m very curious and would like to see them.”

Xiao Yingchun thought for a moment, then took three copper coins out of her bag and placed them on the coffee table.

Dai Wangnian immediately picked one up to examine it carefully.

He didn’t just look; he also smelled it.

There was no musty scent of soil. Just like the silver ingots from before, they weren’t excavated; they looked like items that had been collected and handled frequently.

The appearance was correct, the luster was correct, the feel was correct, and after a careful check... there was nothing wrong with them.

The only thing that didn’t match was that he had never seen this style of “Daliang Tongbao” or the silver shop inscriptions on the previous silver ingots.

But not having seen them didn’t mean they were fake; it was very likely they weren’t in historical records, or that very few existed.

Xiao Yingchun waited patiently for him to finish, and then heard Dai Wangnian offer a price of two thousand yuan each.

Dai Wangnian’s tone and expression were very sincere: “Daliang Tongbao on the market generally go for one thousand yuan each.”

“But the style of yours has never been seen before, so it’s worth more. However, there is wear... I can only offer you two thousand yuan each. Would you be willing to part with them?”

Xiao Yingchun thought about the large pile of these coins still in her home safe and nodded readily.

“Deal.”

Dai Wangnian was instantly delighted and hurried Dai Hengxin to pay.

Dai Hengxin had just caught a glimpse of something wrapped in toilet paper inside Xiao Yingchun’s bag.

After paying, he tentatively spoke up.

“Does Miss Xiao have any other good items to broaden our horizons?”

Xiao Yingchun thought for a moment, took out a wad of toilet paper, and placed it on the coffee table.

Having had three transactions already, Dai Wangnian and Dai Hengxin were both very careful. After exchanging a glance, Dai Wangnian cautiously opened the toilet paper.

When a shiny, golden ingot appeared before their eyes, the two of them stared in shock: “This is... a gold ingot?!”

Xiao Yingchun nodded.

Dai Wangnian was incredibly excited: gold ingots were different from silver ingots.

Even in ancient times, ordinary people didn’t use gold ingots for transactions; they rarely circulated in the market.

While telling Dai Hengxin to get the scale, he carefully picked it up to examine it...

After a careful look, he weighed it: 362 grams.

It was indeed a ten-tael gold ingot.

Dai Wangnian was completely thrilled and took the initiative to act as a teacher for Xiao Yingchun.

“Ancient scales used sixteen taels to a jin, so one tael is roughly between thirty-one and thirty-six grams...”

As Dai Wangnian explained, Xiao Yingchun nodded frequently.

Finally, Dai Wangnian stopped talking: “Are you selling this too?”

Xiao Yingchun nodded, acting as if it were a serious matter: “I’m in urgent need of money, I have no choice.”

Dai Wangnian didn’t question the truth of her reason. He pulled Dai Hengxin aside to discuss it, and when he returned, he asked: “Would eight hundred thousand yuan for this gold ingot be acceptable?”

Xiao Yingchun was stunned: Eight hundred thousand?

She nodded decisively, agreed, and then took out another one: “I have two.”

Dai Wangnian and Dai Hengxin: “...”

After Xiao Yingchun left, Dai Hengxin sighed helplessly: “Uncle, this is a pawnshop. You can’t buy things at market price.”

If Dai Hengxin had made the offer, he would have given at most six hundred thousand for one.

That was the market rate for a ten-tael gold ingot.

But Dai Wangnian looked serious: “The inscription on this gold ingot has never been seen before; it’s very likely from a dynasty that hasn’t been discovered yet.”

“Even if they are both ten-tael gold ingots, the price can differ by more than ten times. I’ve already given a low price; how could you bully her for not knowing?”

“Besides, this young lady must have other good items at home. Aren’t you afraid that if she realizes the truth, she’ll find other channels to sell her good items in the future?”

Dai Hengxin wanted to say that no pawnshop would offer eight hundred thousand for one, and that his offer of six hundred thousand was already generous.

But thinking of his uncle’s scholarly integrity, Dai Hengxin wisely shut his mouth.

As soon as Xiao Yingchun left the pawnshop, she called Uncle Liang, the owner of the wholesale shop, to place her order.

Mineral water wasn’t a problem; it was always available.

The trouble was the compressed biscuits.

Five thousand boxes of compressed biscuits required within one day meant he would likely have to pull stock from all over the city or even from other cities.

Fortunately, Xiao Yingchun had a plan in mind, so she relaxed the requirements: no brand restrictions, no packaging restrictions, as long as she got five thousand boxes of compressed biscuits.

After receiving the boss’s firm promise, Xiao Yingchun set her mind at ease and began to think about her next plan.