Chapter 4: The Nobles and the Industry of Brutal Profit

  "Boss Gao, you're really showing off today! I don't know when you got acquainted with such a big shot."

  Sun Jiazhuang Railway Station Master Sun Mingli, who is also the brother-in-law of Sima, left with the strange object and its owner, then entered Gao's pawnshop and said to Gao Chuanliang, whose face was flushed red.

  "Haha! I don't dare, I don't dare! Thanks to your blessing."

  Gao Chuanliang's face was flushed with a happy smile as he said, "Indeed, if it weren't for this young nephew of Sun Mingli's standing in front of me, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet that young master in my lifetime. It's really thanks to his good fortune."

  Sun Mingli's face immediately flushed with heat, and Sun Mingli naturally knew what the old boss in front of him was referring to as "good fortune".

  When the car entered the Kongjiazhuang, Sun Mingli was doing business in a street restaurant. Having stayed in Tianjin, an open port city for several years, Sun Mingli recognized at a glance that it was a rare "automobile", which cost nearly 10,000 yuan and was not something ordinary people could afford.

  Look at the owner of that car entering Gao's pawnshop. Originally, I wanted to go forward and borrow the name of being familiar with the Gao family to ask for a loan, but unexpectedly Ma Liu came over and told him what happened, and Sun Mingli was so angry that he slapped Ma Liu in the face at once.

  Thinking of Ma Liu Ming's unclear guilt, he had to offend a noble person. If that noble person still held a grudge against himself, Sun Mingli felt somewhat worried. Those nobles thought it was easy to get rid of a small person like him.

  Luckily Ma Liu arrived, otherwise Sun Mingli thought that if he rashly went forward and was introduced by Old Gao, it would be...

  "Also please help, boss. Help a lot."

  Sun Mingli hastened to say with a bow

  "Director Sun doesn't have to worry, someone of Sima's status won't bother with these trivial matters."

  Seeing Sun Mingli in front of him, Gao Chuanliang felt his waist suddenly stiffen. In the past, he had always been condescending towards this Director Sun, but now the tables have turned after ten years.

  "Thank you, thank you! You useless thing, hurry up and come in to apologize to the old master!"

  After Sun Mingli expressed his gratitude, he shouted loudly outside the door. Ma Jiu indeed rolled in as Sun Mingli had said, and as soon as he entered, he knelt down on the ground with a loud "thud" and knocked his head several times, shouting things like "Great sir, please forgive my mistakes, spare my life!" He presented a large sum of money with both hands.

  Gao Chuanliang looked at Ma Liu's attitude and couldn't help but shake his head. He didn't want to bother with this rascal, so he pushed away the large sum of money that Ma Liu had sent over and said...

  "Alright, alright, let's just consider it a lesson! The money is not a big loss, as long as you don't appear in front of Dashi, with his noble status, he won't even remember this small matter, so let's just drop it."

  For someone like Ma Liu, it's better to suffer a loss and not offend him. If it weren't for this rascal, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet Da Shao. It can be said that Ma Liu has done something good after all.

  "Wow, boss, this watch is great! The style is new and the workmanship is exquisite. It must be a gift from that Mr. Sima."

  Sun Mingli's eyes shone brightly as he gazed at the watch on the table, saying that in Tianjin, a treaty port half of which was a concession filled with foreigners, although it could be said that he had seen and experienced much, but he had never seen such a foreign watch before.

  It's probably the most expensive model in Europe, which costs more than 200 big bucks. That young master is really generous, and I couldn't help but secretly admire the good fortune of this old man in front of me.

  "Haha! Exactly!"

  Gao Chuanliang, with a pleased expression, learned from Da Shao's teachings and opened the steel strap of his watch to tie it around his wrist. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sun Zhangchang staring at his wrist with wide eyes.

  "I don't know if Old Boss Gao asked, but this foreign watch was sold by that foreign firm."

  Sun Mingli thought that in a few days it would be the birthday of the manager of the Road and Mine Company, if the price was suitable, buying one to send over wouldn't be bad either.

  "So, Director Sun is interested."

  As soon as he heard that Sun Mingli wanted to buy the watch, Gao Chuanliang became spirited. Although he knew that this kind of foreign goods was very popular, he himself was an outsider after all. However, Sun Mingli was not an ordinary person, having stayed in Tianjin for several years and seen the world. If he was willing to buy it, that would be even better.

  "268! If there are more brothers, it's really helpless, and I hope Boss Gao can help more."

  Sun Mingli secretly felt heartache for his several hundred yuan and said the price he could accept. Although as a small stationmaster, his income was not bad, but 260 yuan was equivalent to three months' salary.

  "Alas! I still hope that Brother Sun will keep it a secret. This price is one that I, as an elder brother, do not make a single penny from. The wholesale price he gave me was exactly this price."

  Gao Chuanliang calculated in his heart that the silver pocket watch was only about 200 taels, and selling it for 260 taels should be a good deal, and Master shouldn't blame him.

  A profit of 400 yuan, that's a gain of 100 yuan just by flipping it! This... this... Just thinking about this number makes Gao Tianliang feel a little short of breath. In the blink of an eye, he made as much money as he could have made in a whole month. This... this is making money too quickly!

  Waiting is always nerve-wracking. For Sima, every minute now feels like an eternity of torture, even though he knows Old Gao needs time to sell the 43 watches he gave him.

  However, waiting for the unknown future is always a torture. Sima feels that his patience is slowly flowing away with time, and his heart is getting anxious. Perhaps it's because he has too high an expectation for money, otherwise he wouldn't be so anxious now. Sima really wants to look at this matter with a carefree attitude.

  But no matter whether it was deep breathing or blowing continuously into an envelope and then inhaling again, he couldn't calm his heart down. In the end, Sima had no choice but to find a friend who worked at a hospital and get a bottle of diazepam, relying on the effect of the medication to calm himself down.

  After a whole week, Sima felt that he was already exhausted, the originally not obvious dark circles under his eyes were now very noticeable and his eyes were full of bloodshot, facing the mirror Sima found it hard to believe that he had changed so much, even when he was laid off by his company last year, he hadn't been like this.

  If it weren't for that anomaly in time and space reappearing punctually every day, if it weren't for the pain of twisting his own palm, Sima would even doubt whether he was still dreaming now. Even if it were a dream, Sima wouldn't want to wake up.

  The feeling of being flattered in the past when working in a government agency, and the gaze of others when laid off after institutional reform, kept appearing in Sima's mind. Now, all this is more of an opportunity for Sima to turn over a new leaf. Sima even recalled the somewhat pitiful look his friend gave him when introducing him to this warehouse night watchman job.

  At midnight 0:00 again, that light spot appeared on time in the No. 2 warehouse built in the 1980s.

  Simmer tried to calm his breathing, starting the motorcycle. It had been a week since he last entered the space of 1915 AD. Simmer only hoped that he could be like what he imagined, even if the few dozen watches were sold for just a few hundred dollars.

  A motorcycle slowly drove into the spotlight, creating a dazzling ripple effect. After feeling a tingling sensation in his body, the desolate wilderness of 1915 reappeared before Sima's eyes, just as it had been before - the messy weeds on the barren hills and the blue sky that intoxicated people's hearts.

  Breathing in the air filled with the sweet scent of green grass, Sima had an urge to settle down here, but it was just a temporary impulse.

  "Master, you've finally arrived, I've been waiting for you these past two days."

  Gao Chuanliang couldn't help but feel excited when he saw Sima riding his "Mo Shi" again, and hurriedly went to greet him.

  "Nothing's happened, has it?!"

  Simar rode on the motorcycle and didn't get off, looking a bit excited. Gao Chuanliang was uneasy at heart, drumming with his hands, making up his mind that if something happened, he would run away immediately, believing that by speeding up, they wouldn't be able to catch up.

  With this in mind, the motorcycle couldn't be turned off. The corner of his mouth began to size up Kongjiazhuang's not-so-spacious street. Planning a route for his own escape.

  "Master, it's inconvenient to talk here, let's go to the back hall."

  Gao Chuanliang looked around and said in a low voice.

  "What......"

  The back hall of the Gao family pawnshop emitted a somewhat excited voice, and looking at Gao Chuanliang's slightly strange eyes, Sima only then realized that he had been a bit out of sorts, and hurriedly adjusted his mood and slowed down his breathing before calming down.

  But he himself understood that his heart was probably racing at a speed of over 160 beats per minute at this moment.

  "Are you sure it's 10,562 yuan?"

  Simar tried to ask in a somewhat calm tone, but heaven knows that Sima himself even felt his own voice trembling.

  "Master, this is the account book, everything is clearly recorded on it."

  Although Gao Chuanliang found Mr. Sima's behavior earlier to be somewhat strange, he himself was still immersed in irrepressible excitement since selling the last watch and locking several hundred silver dollars in a box.

  Gao Chuanliang had not slept well for two days and three nights, facing the impact of over 10,000 yuan in cash. Gao Chuanliang had more than once thought about embezzling the money and running away, but as soon as he thought about the family behind Sima Shao, he didn't dare to have this idea again.

  Not to mention that he will earn more money in the future, there is no need to give up a watermelon and pick up sesame seeds. However, Kou Chuanliang was even more restless afterwards, after all, what's said outside is not the same as what's thought inside.

  Inside the village, there have been numerous rumors of bandits raiding wealthy households, let alone outside. For this sum of over 10,000 yuan, it's likely that dozens of horse-mounted bandits from outside will swarm in like a pack of wolves smelling blood. At that time, not just the Gao family but the entire Kongjiazhuang village may be bathed in blood.

  The box containing over 10,000 yuan was placed under the bed by Gao Chuanliang, who used his illness as an excuse to stay in bed almost every day, eating and sleeping there. Every day, he would deliberately dig a small hole in the bed board to stare at the silver box.

  "Master! This... this is too much!"

  Gao Chuanliang couldn't believe that Master Sima had actually given him 40% of the profit as agreed, a total of 4,224 silver dollars.

  Although Gao Chuanliang had calculated it countless times over the past few days, this number had been silently recited in his mind for who knows how many times. However, when Sima asked him to count out 4,224 silver coins from the money box.

  Gao Chuanliang felt like he was dreaming, earning in just a few days what would have taken nearly ten years to earn before. Gao Chuanliang even felt his throat was a bit dry.

  "This young master has exactly one hundred yuan in silver dollars. I...I took forty-two envelopes, which is four thousand two hundred yuan. These will do for those tens of yuan..."

  Gao Chuanliang swallowed his saliva to moisten his dry throat and said. As soon as he finished speaking, Gao Chuanliang wanted to slap himself hard, how could he forget how to speak after living for half a lifetime! Isn't this cursing the young master?!

  "Hehe! Then I'll take advantage of you a bit."

  Simma swallowed his saliva and said with a bit of jest, "Twenty-four taels is also two thousand GMB! Enough to buy several dozen watches." Gao Chuanliang saw that his words had not caused Sima any displeasure, so he felt relieved.