Chapter 22 Selling Gold

  I got out of bed quietly and walked barefoot to the door, trying not to make any noise. I put my ear against the door and listened carefully for a while. It was quiet outside. After about three or four minutes, there was another faint sound from outside the door. I slowly reached out and grasped the doorknob, then suddenly pulled it open.

  "Whoosh!" A black shadow flashed by in the moonlight. It was so fast that I didn't even get a clear look at what it was.

  Is it that thing knocking on my door? What does it want to do?

  I took a step forward, and felt something cold under my feet. I moved my foot away to take a look, it was a small round object that emitted a faint glow. Out of curiosity, I picked it up and examined it closely, it looked like a copper plate with a tooth mark on it. After wiping it clean, the tooth mark slowly disappeared, but the plate started shining brighter as if it had been electrified.

  Why does it feel like gold?

  I'm puzzled, who put this treasure at my doorstep?

  I saw that the light was still on in Mother's room, so I knocked on the door and asked her what it was. She took a look and widened her eyes, saying: "This is gold!"

  "Really?" I exclaimed in surprise: "Is it really gold?"

  My mother was also full of doubts, saying it was true, then asking me how I got it. I said I picked it up at the door. My mother half believed and half doubted, holding the gold and walking outside to take a look, but of course, nothing was found. She asked me again: "Did you really pick it up at the door?" I said yes. My mother looked around and said, could it be that the gods saw that you didn't have money for school and sent you tuition?

  I also find it quite strange, suddenly remembering the sound of the door and that fleeting black shadow. Could this gold be sent by that black shadow? It was reminding me that someone had come to deliver gold to me.

  But why did it want to give me gold?

  And since it was sent, why didn't you want to meet me?

  Could it be the red-clothed female ghost?

  It's highly likely to be her, because I once treated her illness and she gave me gold as a token of gratitude.

  But where did she get this gold from? Should I accept it or not?

  I asked my mother what to do with this gold, and she said that tomorrow she would take it to the market to find someone to see if it was real gold.

  The next morning, my mother got up early. I was worried that as a woman alone with a piece of gold, she would be too showy and might attract bad people. What if they had evil intentions? I decided to act as her bodyguard. At least with me, a man, by her side, the bad guys would think twice before doing anything.

  After having breakfast, I and my mother set out.

  This is an ordinary small town with a crossroads, along the crossroads there are three streets. When it's time for the market, people from nearby come here to do business, with over a thousand people, it's quite lively.

  Today is a good day, not many people on the street, relatively quiet. My mother and I spent half a day walking through three streets, but didn't find any gold shops. As the sky got darker, I had no choice but to walk into a mobile phone store. The owner warmly greeted me and asked what kind of phone I wanted to buy. I scratched my head and asked him if he bought gold.

  "What?" The boss probably didn't understand, looking at me with a frown.

  I said I have a piece of gold and want to ask a professional to take a look.

  The boss was stunned for a moment, and after a while, he said: "We sell mobile phones here, do...do you have gold?" I said I had one. At this time, a young man who was topping up his phone turned around and looked at me and said: "Can I take a look?"

  He spoke Mandarin, so he must be an outsider. I couldn't help but raise my guard and take a closer look at him. He was only eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a black cloak and a black hat that cast a shadow over one of his eyes, giving off a mysterious "black" vibe. At first glance, I thought he might be some kind of underground agent. My impression of him was: not a good person.

  The boss and the landlady inside the store also came over curiously, I exchanged a glance with my mother, hesitated for a moment, and then asked my mother to take out that piece of gold.

  A golden light appears, shining brightly.

  The boss and his wife exclaimed in unison: "It's really gold!"

  "The spy's eyes lit up for a moment, but immediately returned to normal, looking at the gold in his mother's hand and asking: "Can I take a look?" His mother looked at me, probably seeking my opinion, and I asked the spy: "Do you know this is gold?" The spy replied indifferently: "You have to take a closer look to be sure."

  I took the gold from my mother's hand and handed it to the agent. The agent took it over, turned it over and looked at it for a while, his eyes gradually lit up, then he raised his head and asked me: "Where did you find this gold coin?"

  "Is it really gold?" I asked back.

  He said yes, and then asked: "This gold coin, where did you dig it up from?" I calmly replied that it was passed down from my ancestors.

  "Oh?" The agent smiled slightly and asked: "Heirloom? How many of these do you have at home?" I said there was only this one, then asked him how much it was worth. He held out five fingers to me.

  "How much?" My heart skipped a beat inexplicably, and the agent's face turned solemn, apparently this gold was extremely valuable.

  "Fifty thousand," the agent said.

  My heart suddenly boiled, looking at my mother, my mother also looked at me, the boss and his wife exclaimed, saying that this little thing is worth 500,000?

  Yes, it's just this small, about the size of a coin. I don't know the current price of gold on the market, but based on my guess, five hundred thousand yuan for this piece of gold should be considered a high price, right? I got secretly excited, if this piece of gold can sell for five hundred thousand yuan, it means that my tuition is covered, and I can even buy a laptop that I've been dreaming of.

  "Her mother was stunned for a while before asking: 'Can it be sold for 500,000?'"

  The agent nodded and said: "Right, fifty thousand."

  Before my mother could speak again, I hastily said: "Brother, I don't read many books, don't fool me, a gold coin of this size is only worth 500,000 yuan?"

  The agent sneered and didn't directly answer my question, instead asking, "Are you sure this gold coin is an heirloom?" I said, don't bother whether the gold coin is an heirloom or not, just give me a real price. The agent said it's worth at most 50,000. My mother said, "It's okay for 50,000, do you want it?" The agent said, "I don't want it."

  I sold a watch last year! I really want to scold someone, you don't, and you still talk so much nonsense? I said angrily to my mother: "Mom, let's go back." As I spoke, I took the gold from the agent's hand and turned around to walk towards the outside of the store. The agent followed me and asked where my family was from. I cautiously asked him what he wanted, and he said that if he wasn't mistaken, I should be a mountain person. He had nothing to do with himself these days, and heard that this area was scenic, especially in rural areas, with high mountains and good water... I interrupted his words and said: "If you want to play in the mountains and waters, go to Mount Everest!" Then I walked away without looking back.

  It's really infuriating, in the blink of an eye, my tuition fees are gone, and my laptop is also gone... My mother followed up saying that we might as well lower the price a bit, maybe that person will buy it. I said even if we lower the price again, it won't work, that person isn't buying gold at all, to put it bluntly, he's got ulterior motives and wants to rob us of our gold.

  I went to several other places to ask, and those people all looked at me with a strange gaze, feeling more like I was a pimp, and selling gold was just a euphemism. One kind-hearted boss told me: "Young man, if you really want to sell gold, you have to go to the city where they specialize in gold transactions, our small place can't do this business at all."

  One word woke me up from my dream, and I felt that my mother and I were too naive. It's really backward to be a countryman, with a piece of gold that can't be sold.

  I bought some daily necessities and food on the street, and my mother and I were disappointedly preparing to go home.

  I parked my motorcycle in front of a supermarket, and there were two children playing beside it. As I drove the motorcycle past one of the children, he suddenly sat down on the ground and started crying loudly. I thought he was just quarreling with the other child, so I didn't pay much attention to him and said, "Don't sit on the ground, it's dirty, get up!" and then drove away on my motorcycle. But before I had driven even a meter, I heard a loud shout from behind me: "You, the one on the motorcycle, stop right there!" I turned around and saw a burly man pointing at me and shouting, "I'm talking to you!" I was taken aback, and as I stopped my motorcycle without turning off the engine, the man rushed over and grabbed my arm, pulling me down from the motorcycle.