Chapter 8: Hello, Billionaire!

One hour later.

Li Shouchun was numb.

His two apprentices were numb as well.

All twelve thousand silver dollars had been authenticated.

There were two Zhang Da Tou coins, ninety-eight Xu Da Tou coins, and nearly two hundred Li Da Tou coins.

In addition, there were close to a thousand special editions: character-inscribed versions, signed versions, dragon dollars, and ship dollars.

The prices for these were all in the tens of thousands, some even reaching into the millions!

As for the remaining more than ten thousand ordinary silver dollars, they were practically worthless in comparison.

Li Shouchun wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Although authenticating these coins was simple, the sheer volume was overwhelming.

"Young Master Lin, your entire box of silver dollars has been authenticated—exactly twelve thousand coins, with a total value of approximately..." Li Shouchun took the calculator from his apprentice, glanced at it, and said, "About 95 million yuan."

95 million yuan!

Even though Lin Ran had mentally prepared himself, he was still stunned by this number.

He had originally thought it would be around ten million, but it turned out to be worth a small fortune!

"Um, Old Li," Lin Ran rubbed his hands nervously, "do you think you could take all of these off my hands?"

Huh?

This time Li Shouchun was the one dumbfounded.

"Young Master Lin, you flatter me too much," Li Shouchun said with a bitter smile. "Not to mention ninety-five million, I couldn’t even come up with nine million!"

"I see..." Lin Ran nodded, realizing he was putting him in a difficult position.

"But..." Li Shouchun thought for a moment before adding, "If you’re not in a hurry, I could help arrange a special auction for those few hundred warlord coins. They might fetch tens of millions."

He didn’t mention the more than ten thousand ordinary silver dollars, as no one could absorb such a quantity quickly.

Lin Ran frowned.

He wasn’t in a rush, but Li Yunlong certainly was!

It was one day here, five days there. If organizing a special auction took at least ten days, that would already be nearly two months on the other side.

"How about selling a couple of warlord coins now to tide us over?"

Li Yunlong needed food supplies; a daily standard of ten yuan per person seemed reasonable.

Ten yuan could buy a pound of rice and a pound of pork—enough for a day’s meal.

With over a thousand people in the new regiment, that meant ten thousand yuan daily for food. Selling two warlord coins would cover about a month’s worth of expenses.

With this in mind, Lin Ran was about to ask Li Shouchun to help sell a few warlord coins quickly.

But just then, Shen Zhiyao suddenly interrupted, "One hundred million! I’ll take it all!"

Lin Ran was startled and immediately scolded, "Stop joking!"

"Who’s joking?" Shen Zhiyao pulled out her phone and said into it, "Transfer one hundred million yuan to Lin Ran’s account, now, immediately!"

Lin Ran’s brows furrowed deeply. Shen Zhiyao’s heart almost ached.

But Lin Ran didn’t want her money: "Hey, hey, stop it. I can’t take your money. Besides, do you even know my bank account number?"

Shen Zhiyao lifted her head proudly: "Forget your bank account number—I could recite your ID number backwards!"

Li Shouchun’s two apprentices watched this scene with envy.

They were all men, yet the difference was so vast!

Lin Ran shook his head again. "Stop it, I’m not in a hurry for money. Tell them not to transfer it."

But no sooner had he finished speaking—

"Alipay notification: one hundred million yuan received!"

Silence!

The room froze instantly.

Especially Li Shouchun’s two apprentices, who were mentally shaken to the core.

Shen Zhiyao wrapped her arms around Lin Ran’s neck again.

"Lin Ran, I know you don’t want my money, but I’m not just giving it away!"

"These are antiques that will appreciate. Maybe in a few years, they’ll be worth two hundred million! You’ll have made a profit! Right, Old Li?"

"Yes, yes, Miss Shen’s right," Li Shouchun nodded repeatedly, though he was somewhat confused now.

Lin Ran helplessly shook his head. Further refusal would seem pretentious.

"Alright then, consider it your contribution!"

"Mm-hmm!"

Seeing Lin Ran accept the money, Shen Zhiyao’s smile was wider than an AK’s muzzle.

As for Lin Ran’s so-called contribution, well, who cares?

Then Lin Ran looked at Li Shouchun again.

"Old Li, thank you for your hard work today. I’ll treat everyone to dinner sometime."

"Young Master Lin, you’re too kind. It’s my good fortune to see so many exquisite Da Tou coins," Li Shouchun was very gracious.

"By the way," Lin Ran continued, "how much is the authentication fee? I don’t understand these things well; just name a number."

More than ten thousand silver dollars, worth nearly a hundred million yuan—he couldn’t let them work for nothing.

But Li Shouchun waved his hands repeatedly.

"No need, it’s just a small favor. There’s no authentication fee."

"That won’t do. I can’t let you work for nothing. Please, say a number."

"No, no, really, no need!"

Lin Ran and Li Shouchun began politely declining back and forth.

Lin Ran truly wanted to pay; Li Shouchun genuinely didn’t want to accept.

At that moment, Shen Zhiyao pulled out a Xu Da Tou coin and two Li Da Tou coins from the heap.

"Alright, alright, this is for you," she said, shoving the three warlord coins into Li Shouchun’s hand without waiting for a response.

She had heard earlier that a Xu Da Tou coin was worth over a hundred thousand yuan, and the Li Da Tou coins were slightly cheaper, but still worth tens of thousands.

That was about right.

After all, it had only taken a bit over an hour.

"This..." Li Shouchun glanced at the coins in his hand, hesitated briefly, and finally accepted them.

"Thank you, Miss Shen and Young Master Lin."

The two apprentices immediately brightened.

A few tens of thousands in an afternoon was roughly half a year’s salary.

After accepting the warlord coins, Li Shouchun knew it was time to leave.

"Then I won’t keep you any longer. If you ever need me, just say the word."

Lin Ran stood to see him off.

"Old Li, you know, you might just be a great help again in the future."

Li Yunlong’s side had plenty of antiques.

After exchanging contacts, Lin Ran accompanied the three to the door.

Back in his room, Shen Zhiyao pressed close.

Wrapping her arms naturally around Lin Ran’s neck, she said, "Hello, billionaire! When are you going to marry me?"

"I’m telling you, all that lucky money just went to you, you know?"

"Get away!"

Lin Ran pushed Shen Zhiyao off.

"Your mouth smells terrible; who would want to marry you?"

Huh?

Shen Zhiyao was puzzled.

Isn’t the bad breath because of me wanting to be with you?

She pouted and then scampered away.

Lin Ran shook his head and began calculating what to bring to Old Li’s side.

One hundred million yuan was basically unlimited.

"One pound of rice, one pound of flour, one pound of pork, one pound of cabbage, one pound of potatoes, one pound of vermicelli per person per day..."

"Calculating for three months, that’s about 50 tons of each!"

"Rice is two yuan per pound now, flour about the same, pork eight yuan..."

Lin Ran opened his calculator app.

"About one and a half million yuan!"

"Add some cotton-padded clothes and pants, two million yuan should be enough."

By this calculation, was he, the middleman, making a bit too much?

Just as Lin Ran was thinking of throwing in some more goodies for Old Li, Shen Zhiyao returned and sat directly on his lap.

"Hah—"

She opened her mouth and exhaled.

"Still stinky?"

Lin Ran gave her a sidelong glance and pushed her away.

"Did you brush your teeth?"

"Of course!"

Lin Ran nodded and continued calculating on his phone.

Suddenly—

"Where did you get the toothbrush?"

"Yours!"