Chapter 6: The Richest Man in Qingcheng, Wang Jian!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
“Ah! Boss Wang! Where are you going?”
A young man and young woman hurriedly followed after the middle-aged man. They were a little perplexed when they saw their boss suddenly turn around and try to squeeze into the crowd.
“Golden Silk Blood Eel! If this is real, this trip will not have been made in vain,” Wang Jian said with some anticipation, but did not get his hopes up too much due to the Golden Silk Bood Eel’s rarity.
The two young people looked helplessly at each other. Could it be that this Golden…whatever eel was really something that good ?
One must understand that not many things can attract the eye of their boss! Furthermore, the boss was visibly excited when he heard the four words “Golden Silk Bood Eel”! This scene was truly inconceivable.
However, after watching the boss squeezing into the crowd by himself, the two quickly broke out of their trance and caught up with him, helping him to make a path through the crowd.
“Che! Everybody, don’t listen to them! Who knows whether they are accomplices in this kid’s grand scheme to swindle you?” The fatty Lin Ping [1] shouted anxiously when he saw that some people amongst the crowd were starting to believe that the Golden Silk Blood Eel might truly be something precious.
“That’s right! This might be some kind of a new swindling technique! After greatly inflating the price of the eel to draw our attention, they will then use some elaborate story to turn an ordinary eel into a treasure and cheat us!” A man shouted excitedly, as though he had suddenly seen through the entire plot.
With those two’s animated narration, one singing and the other harmonizing with him perfectly, the few people in the crowd who previously felt convinced became doubtful again.
Right… nowadays, there’s really nothing people were unwilling to do for the sake of money. All kinds of swindling techniques were created everyday.
“Excuse us, I’m sorry, please let us pass!”
A stream of voices sounded out from the back of the crowd. A man and a woman were forcefully squeezing a path for Wang Jian who walked behind them. Finally, they managed to make it to the front of the crowd [2].
Immediately, Wang Jian’s gaze fell on the Golden Silk Blood Eel. As though bound by magic, he was unable to move his gaze away from it.
“It’s really the Golden Silk Blood Eel! There’s no mistake! Who would have thought that the Golden Silk Blood Eel still wasn’t extinct!” Wang Jian muttered to himself, astonished.
The Golden Silk Blood Eel was simply too easy to recognize. Anybody who saw it once could remember it by the the blood-colored patterns on its back.
“Little brother, are you selling this Golden Silk Blood Eel for 50,000 yuan? Would you like it in cash or through a bank transfer?” Once Wang Jian verified the authenticity of the Golden Silk Blood Eel, he queried the young man still focused on his mobile game, unperturbed by the commotion and the words of the surrounding crowd.
“You wish to purchase it?” Bei Feng finally hit the pause button, raised his head and asked.
He could tell that the man before his eyes possessed an extraordinary temperament. Although he appeared amiable and easy to approach, Bei Feng could sense an aura of loftiness from both his tone and manner of speech.
‘This person is either a high-level government official or a big boss of some company!’ Bei Feng measured the man with his eyes and gave the verdict silently.
“Of course! It is incredibly rare to find a Golden Silk Blood Eel. If I let it go today, it will be one of the biggest regrets of my life!” Wang Jian replied with a smile.
The surrounding crowd immediately erupted in an excited chatter when they heard the conversation between the two.
“This can’t be real! How could anyone pay 50,000 yuan for an eel? That’s 50,000 yuan, not 50 yuan!” One man exclaimed in shock, clearly stunned.
“Oh rich tyrant, take me in! I can warm your bed!” A gutsy young lady screamed, entirely disregarding the current subject…
“Is this some kind of a play? Right! This must be an act! The two of them are definitely conspiring to swindle us!” Lin Ping was unable to accept this outcome and shouted loudly.
“Humph! I, Wang Jian, am not such a lowly man who would do such a thing!”
Hearing the crowd’s speculations, Wang Jian snorted coldly. An aura of superiority and arrogance which had been ingrained into his very bones emanated out in an instant. The surrounding crowd was stunned speechless. Such a bearing was something only people that had been at the top for a very long time could possess.
“Good Lord! Isn’t this like the legendary saying that with every movement of a tiger’s body, its kingly aura of dominance would be released? That was so scary! I almost bowed my head to that kingly aura just now!” A skinny man, his expression pale, patted himself on the chest in an attempt to soothe his nerves. Apparently, he had received quite a fright experiencing Wang Jian’s show of strength.
“Who is this person? What an overbearing display of pride and power!” Another person asked, their voice trembling.
“Oh my God, he’s a tycoon from Qingcheng! Look! He looks exactly the same as the person in this picture!”
Someone in the crowd exclaimed. When in doubt, always consult Mother Baidu [3]. As soon as the name Wang Jian was uttered, this person had quickly pulled out their phone and input the name into the search engine. Immediately, a sea of information on the identity of the individual Wang Jian was pulled up.
“Let me see! Holy sh*t! It’s true!” Those who still doubted their ears quickly crowded around to look at the photo. After comparing the person in the photo and the person before their eyes, there was no longer any doubt as to his identity.
“Looks like it’s most likely true that this Golden Silk Blood Eel is an extraordinary treasure! Even the tycoon cannot resist it!”
By this point, everyone’s attitude had taken a 180-degrees change.
Bei Feng paid no mind to the thoughts and chatter of the crowd. Regardless of what they thought or how fervent their discussions were, at the end of the day, they were not going to buy his eel!
“Sold! You can just transfer the money to my bank account,” although Bei Feng did not care about the opinions of the crowd, that did not mean he could not hear their words! Therefore, he learned that the person before him was the richest man in Qingcheng! Even so, Bei Feng did not change the way he spoke to Wang Jian. Naturally, he was not the type to fawn over or try to flatter another person simply because of their status.
Bei Feng appeared very calm when dealing with him. Wang Jian observed his calm demeanor and, smiling to himself, thought that this young man was quite to his liking. The kid was neither overly humble nor arrogant, and did not take advantage of his status to raise the price.
After asking for Bei Feng’s bank account number, he transferred the money immediately.
“Ding dong!” A ringtone resounded as he received a text message.
Bei Feng looked at his phone. The message read, Anonymous has successfully transferred 100,000 yuan into your account at 0815. Current balance: 101,800 yuan.
“That’s too much,” Bei Feng looked at Wang Jian, raised his eyebrows slightly and said in a bland voice.
“Don’t worry about it. 100,000 yuan for a Golden Silk Blood Eel is not a loss at all! Furthermore, this little guy is likely the last one that’s still alive,” Wang Jian replied nonchalantly as though that amount of money was not much to him at all. After that, he signaled for the female assistant to bring the basin with the Golden Silk Blood Eel away.
“This is my name card. If you find anymore Golden Slk Blood Eel, you may give me a call here,”
Wang Jian said as he handed a name card over to Bei Feng.
The name card was entirely white. Apart from the name and a contact number, there was nothing else on the card. There were no titles or logos which were commonly found on other name cards. It was just clean and simple.
Bei Feng guessed that this was most likely Wang Jian’s private contact number. Receiving the card with both hands, he quickly put it in his pocket and nodded to Wang Jian. [4]
Following that, Wang Jian turned around and left under the escort of the two young people. Bei Feng was in a pretty good mood himself since the Golden Silk Blood Eel was sold for much more than he thought it would.
Nobody knew how long it was exactly, but quite some time passed after Wang Jian and Bei Feng had both left before the people gathered in the plaza began to move. It was like they’d just woken up from a dream. They realized that the world of the rich was really different. It was not something mediocre [5] people like them could understand!
100,000 yuan was not an amount anyone of them could casually take out. They needed to work hard and fight tooth and nail every day for an entire year to earn this amount. Yet, this amount was barely enough for others to buy an eel. Just thinking of it caused them to want to spit out a mouthful of blood!
Although the Golden Silk Blood Eel was rare and precious, how many people within that plaza would be willing to or are even able to spend that much money to obtain it?
At this moment, Lin Ping’s expression was rather fascinating to behold. Sometimes, it was red with shame, while at other times, it became white with shock. Dejected, he hurriedly slipped away, tail tucked firmly between his legs.
Meanwhile, Bei Feng had booked a pedicab and was on his way to the county. [6]
Now that Bei Feng had made a small fortune, he was prepared to go on a shopping spree. There were many things he needed that weren’t available in the town he lived in. Thus, if he wanted to buy them, he had to make a trip to the county instead.
Bei Feng looked out of the window as the pedicab moved forward. The scenery outside was breathtakingly beautiful. A chain of towering mountains spread out endlessly across the horizon, causing the roads to twist and turn in an irregular manner.
It was only after more than half an hour that Bei Feng finally arrived at the county. After handing over twenty yuan for the ride, Bei Feng looked around the city’s stores.
The local county was not very big. But, no matter how small a sparrow was, it still had all its vital organs. Some tall buildings could still be seen here, scattered around the city.
The first thing Bei Feng bought was a flat-screen LCD TV. After that, he bought a refrigerator as well as an air-conditioner and various other appliances.
Then, spending 200 yuan, he hired a small truck to carry everything back. Otherwise, there was no way he could get all those things back home on his own.
Besides himself, there were two other deliverymen in the truck. They had come to assist in the installation of the metal wok.
This metal wok was not a wok used for cooking, however. It was actually a satellite dish, used for tuning in to TV channels. After all, Bei Feng was living at the foot of a mountain. There was hardly any reception there.
Of course, “metal wok” was only the local name for the satellite dish. After all, it looked like a huge, metal wok from afar…
[1] TL/N: I assume the fatty from the previous chapter’s named Lin Ping? This name appeared out of nowhere. ED/N: Yes, and the way it’s used is somewhat ambiguous, too. But judging from the later instances when he’s mentioned, it should be that fatty.
[2] TL/N: Raw says middle of the crowd, but in the next sentence, the boss saw the eel and proceeded to purchase it. So for that to happen, he needs to be at the front of the crowd.
[3] Chinese equivalent of Google
[4] ED/N: iirc, in China, receiving a name card with both hands is a sign of respect, while doing so with just one hand is disrespectful.
[5] ED/N: Yes, it’s not a mistake. The author’s really being… blunt, let’s say.
[6] ED/N: Also known as the cycle rickshaw.
