Chapter 11: The Customer Is Always Right

The next morning, Chen Jie got out of bed early and hurried to feed the pigs, chickens, and ducks.

The two pigs raised by Old Chen were already quite fat and ready for market.

Since Chen Jie didn’t have time to come back to feed them, he decided to sell all the pigs, chickens, and ducks.

He called the slaughterhouse and arranged for them to come inspect the livestock in the afternoon.

After finishing these tasks, Chen Jie felt energetic, with strength flowing through his waist and legs.

Next to the house was a stone step more than a meter high.

Without a running start, Chen Jie lightly tapped his foot, smoothly stepping up onto the stone platform with ease.

At eight in the morning, Chen Jie took out his phone and called his roommate Wang Yan.

“Martial merit points” couldn’t be rushed, so first he needed to solve the pressing matters.

Right now, he was desperately short on cash.

The urgent task was to make the ten thousand yuan he had on hand work for him.

When the call connected, Chen Jie asked, “Wang Yan, where was that place you secretly sold your childhood silver necklace last time?”

Wang Yan sounded puzzled. “Why do you ask? Chen Jie, don’t be too anxious. How’s your dad now? Has he woken up? Do you still need money? I can help raise some more if you want.”

Chen Jie was deeply touched. He understood Wang Yan’s offer meant he was thinking of borrowing money online for him.

True friendship reveals itself in times of hardship.

To be honest, Chen Jie and Wang Yan hadn’t known each other for very long.

Though Chen Jie had helped Wang Yan when he was most desperate, he’d always considered them just ordinary friends.

Now he realized that while he regarded Wang Yan as just a friend,

Wang Yan saw him as a true brother.

All because Chen Jie had lent Wang Yan two thousand yuan when he was down and out.

Chen Jie replied, “No need, thanks, Wang Yan. I’m still in the countryside, haven’t gone to the hospital. I was actually asking about where in the city you sold that silver necklace last time?”

Wang Yan answered, “My silver necklace wasn’t valuable, not an antique, just sold as raw material, dirt cheap. It was at a gold and silver jewelry shop in the city.”

Without wasting words, Chen Jie said, “Okay, send me the address. By the way, do they sell silverware there?”

Wang Yan was speechless. “Isn’t that obvious? A gold and silver jewelry shop obviously sells silverware.”

Moments later, Wang Yan sent Chen Jie the address.

—

At ten in the morning, Chen Jie hurried back to the city and went straight to the address Wang Yan had given him.

It was a small shop called "Old He’s Gold and Silver Jewelry."

To Chen Jie’s surprise, a young woman was running the store.

"Hello, what kind of jewelry do you need?" she smiled as Chen Jie entered.

Chen Jie got straight to the point. “Do you sell silver coins here?”

“Silver coins!?” The woman, He Xiaoyuan, was momentarily speechless.

Her father had only handed the shop over to her less than a week ago.

With gold prices soaring recently, business was poor.

She’d been worrying about how to expand sales channels and improve performance.

But she hadn’t expected the first customer at opening time to ask for silver coins instead of jewelry.

This was a jewelry store, not an antique shop. Why were so many people selling gold and silver jewelry lately?

“How many silver coins do you have? We can buy them here, but if you want to sell, it’s only at material cost!”

He Xiaoyuan paused, thinking Chen Jie wanted to sell silver coins.

“I’m not selling silver coins, I want to buy!”

Chen Jie smiled. “I need silver coins to cast new molds. Can you handle that?”

“No problem!” He Xiaoyuan realized and laughed. “Just tell me how many you need. As long as there’s profit, the customer is king!”

Opening a business was to make money.

As long as it was profitable and within regulations, why turn away business?

Chen Jie nodded. “Good! I need a large quantity. If we cooperate well, I’ll pay a deposit in advance and order more.”

In China, precious metals were strictly regulated.

Especially gold; bulk purchases required approval.

Silver, however, was much less restricted, being less valuable and abundant.

In truth, silver had long lost its function as currency; it was now just an industrial product.

No currency was pegged to silver, so regulations were more relaxed.

Silver cost about seven yuan per gram, with a silver coin weighing roughly 26.5 grams.

So, the material cost of one silver coin was about 185 yuan, and with processing fees, less than 200 yuan each.

In the other world, one silver coin equaled the purchasing power of ten thousand yuan here.

A fifty-fold difference in purchasing power was hard to resist.

Crucially, this was nearly risk-free and guaranteed profit.

Though Chen Jie had never done business before and didn’t know the tricks,

such a highly profitable venture was foolish not to pursue.

Especially since he was short on money.

Just take the silver coins over to the other world, buy a batch of valuable goods there, and bring them back.

The round trip could yield hundreds of times profit.

“If you only want uniform silver coins without other molds, processing fees are three percent of material cost.”

“But if you need silver jewelry, labor is expensive, so the fees won’t be cheap,” He Xiaoyuan said with a smile.

Chen Jie nodded calmly. “Just silver coins for now. Make a batch of samples first.”

He then took out a sheet of paper from his pocket.

It was a hand-drawn blueprint of the silver coin.

Since he had activated the Blood Dragon Jade to enter the other world last night without his phone or photos of silver coins,

he had to rely on newspaper images to draw the design himself.

Fortunately, he studied industrial design and was skilled in this area.

“Make fifty sample coins according to this template and tell me the price.”

He Xiaoyuan looked over the drawing in her hand, surprised.

“Great Qi? What dynasty is this silver coin from? I’ve never seen one like this before…”

Chen Jie smiled. “It’s a prop.”

He Xiaoyuan frowned. “For props, why not use aluminum? It’s cheaper. Why pure silver?”

Chen Jie said calmly, “After making the props, they can be collected. Enough, don’t worry about it. Can you handle it or not?”

After studying the design further, He Xiaoyuan nodded.

“The patterns and lettering are simple enough. I can do it for three percent processing fee.”

She pulled out her calculator and tapped rapidly.

“Silver is 6.9 yuan per gram now. Each coin weighs—”

“Fifty sample coins will total 9,416 yuan. Including the mold deposit, you just need to give me 15,000 yuan.”

Chen Jie took out 10,000 yuan in cash and placed it on the counter.

“I don’t have more than this. Trust me, and you’ll get the business. Don’t, and forget it.”

“After the sample is confirmed, the next order won’t be fifty but at least a thousand.”

“Demand will only grow.”

“Think it over.”