Chapter 7: Big-Head Zhang
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“Uh… Old Li, you’re here!” Shen Zhiyao swallowed her noodles, casually wiped her mouth, and greeted him with ease.
Only then did Li Shouchun snap back to attention and hurriedly bowed, “Ah, ah, Miss Shen summons me, how dare an old man refuse?”
His peripheral vision quickly scanned Lin Ran.
Who was this young master?
Someone whom the Shen family’s daughter would squat in the courtyard with, eating fried sauce noodles with garlic?
That smell was pungent enough to pierce the nose from afar!
Was this still the graceful Miss Shen he knew?
Not just Li Shouchun, but his two apprentices behind him were wide-eyed in shock.
They had seen Shen Zhiyao before and were utterly captivated, willing to sacrifice ten years of their lives just to marry her!
Yet now, seeing this, it felt absurd—as if even goddesses had to deal with such mundane matters.
Shen Zhiyao ignored their thoughts, stood up, and introduced, “This is Old Li Shouchun, a specialist at the National Museum who often helps my grandfather with appraisals. If you have questions about antiques, he’s the one to ask.”
Li Shouchun waved his hands humbly, lowering his posture, “Appraisal is too grand a word. I’m just learning, thanks to Old Shen’s guidance.”
Shen Zhiyao then linked arms with Lin Ran, her voice bright, “This is my boyfriend, Lin Ran!”
“Oh my! How rude of me! How rude!” Li Shouchun was shaken to his core and immediately reached out to shake Lin Ran’s hand. “Young Master Lin is truly outstanding, possessing remarkable presence!”
Lin Ran smiled faintly. “Old Li, you’re too kind. Have you all eaten? Why don’t you join us?”
“We’ve already eaten! Please enjoy your meal!” Li Shouchun dared not interrupt.
Lin Ran didn’t beat around the bush. “Old Li, I invited you here to ask for your help in examining something.”
“Just say the word!” Li Shouchun patted his chest confidently.
“Good, then follow me.”
Lin Ran led them inside and casually pointed to a large wooden box on the floor. “This box contains silver dollars. Old Li, please have a look.”
“No problem at all!” Li Shouchun was brimming with confidence.
Appraising silver dollars? For his level, it was as easy as drinking water.
His two apprentices also relaxed.
Lin Ran smiled and clicked open the box cover.
In an instant, the room was flooded with silver light!
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The smiles on Li Shouchun and his apprentices’ faces froze instantly, their eyes fixed on the pile of gleaming silver dollars stacked like a small mountain, their breath caught!
“Young Master Lin… this… this entire box?!” Li Shouchun’s voice cracked.
“About twelve thousand coins,” Lin Ran replied calmly.
“Twelve thousand?!”
Li Shouchun gasped sharply. Even though he had seen great storms before, his heart nearly stopped!
To produce over ten thousand silver yuan in one go? Such generosity was rare nationwide!
“Is it difficult?” Lin Ran raised an eyebrow.
“No! Absolutely no difficulty!” Li Shouchun responded decisively, though beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He immediately called his two apprentices, and the three crouched down like facing a formidable enemy, swiftly beginning their appraisal.
“Three-year common edition… good condition…”
“Nine-year refined strike… decent…”
“Ten-year standard…”
While sorting, Li Shouchun kept explaining to Lin Ran, “Young Master Lin, although they’re all called ‘Yuan Datou’ silver dollars, their values vary drastically! These regular three-year and nine-year coins, even in good condition, fetch only about a thousand yuan apiece.”
Lin Ran nodded, which matched what he had known.
At that moment, one apprentice suddenly exclaimed, “Teacher! Look at this!”
His voice trembled with disbelief.
Li Shouchun took the coin and glanced quickly. His cloudy old eyes immediately sparkled with precision. “Hiss… Gansu Province inscription edition! A fine piece!”
He turned to Lin Ran, a hint of excitement in his voice. “Young Master Lin, this one bears the inscription ‘Gansu Province,’ instantly multiplying its value a hundredfold! Market price starts at 100,000 yuan!”
“Ten thousand?” Lin Ran was genuinely astonished.
“A hundred times? That means this one coin is worth 100,000 yuan?”
Li Shouchun nodded. “Exactly. This Gansu Province Yuan Datou commands around 100,000 yuan on the market.”
After speaking, Li Shouchun grew somewhat doubtful.
Though 100,000 yuan was extravagant for ordinary people, this was the boyfriend of the Shen family’s eldest daughter—was there any need to be so surprised?
Yet, the experienced old man didn’t ask further and continued his lesson. “Actually, among the silver dollars from the Republic era, the most valuable aren’t the Yuan Datou, but the warlord coins.”
“Warlord coins?” Lin Ran heard a new term.
Li Shouchun nodded, appraising the coins while explaining. “Warlord coins refer to the currency issued by various warlords during the Beiyang era, like Old Li, Old Xu, Old Zhang…”
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“Since their surviving quantities are quite rare, these warlord coins fetch very high prices, measured in tens of thousands.”
“Depending on condition, Li’s coin goes for thirty to fifty thousand, Xu’s coin ranges from a hundred to two hundred thousand, and Zhang’s coin is even more valuable. If auctioned, a single Zhang coin can bring in hundreds of millions!”
“Hundreds of millions? For one coin?!”
Lin Ran’s heart raced wildly at the prospect of such staggering wealth!
Luckily, he hadn’t rashly taken these coins to an antique shop, where they might have been bought at a mere thousand yuan average price.
Shen Zhiyao bounced excitedly and grabbed Lin Ran’s arm. “Wow! Lin Ran! If this whole box were Zhang coins, it’d be worth over a hundred billion! You’re going to be rich!”
Lin Ran rolled his eyes at her. “Can you use your brain? If there were that many Zhang coins, how could they possibly be worth hundreds of millions each?”
“Oh, I’m just joking,” Shen Zhiyao giggled, shaking his arm coquettishly.
Li Shouchun saw this and was stirred by a tempest within: this Young Master Lin treated the Shen family’s daughter so casually, and yet Miss Shen accepted it happily…
This background must be unfathomably deep!
Thinking this, Li Shouchun’s heart blazed warmly. “Heh, Young Master Lin is right. The reason Zhang coins are so expensive is their scarcity; fewer than ten are publicly known nationwide. This whole box likely doesn’t have even one…”
Before he finished—
“Teacher!!!”
Another apprentice screamed, his voice cracking as he practically tumbled forward, clutching a silver dollar in front of Li Shouchun, his face pale and his fingers trembling as if afflicted by Parkinson’s.
“Teacher, look at this!!!”
Li Shouchun was interrupted and frowned in displeasure—couldn’t the boy see he was in the middle of flattering the guest?
Still, he took the coin, but his gaze instinctively locked onto it.
Just one glance—
Boom!
Li Shouchun felt like a thunderclap exploded inside his mind!
He shuddered as if electrified, his eyes nearly popping from their sockets as he fixed his stare on the coin.
“Th-this… th-this is… Zhang… Zhang Datou!!!”