Power and Wealth

Evenings, after dinner.

Dong Xuebing held the pair of Lion Head in his hands to admire it. It was beautiful. He had finally gotten what he wanted and was humming a tune happily. He wiped the pair of Lion Clean and continued to peel the remaining fruits. There were still over a hundred fruits to be opened.

85th fruit……

102nd fruit……

154th fruit……

It was about 8pm when Dong Xuebing finished. He carried all the walnut seeds to his living room.

His hands were cramping from the cutting, and he sat there panting.

These Lion Heads' colors were above average, but not a lot of them were big. There was the only one that's above 46mm, and a lot of them were average size, around 40 to 41mm. After resting for a while, Dong Xuebing started the last step of the process. Pairing up the seeds. The worth of these walnuts still depends on identical pairs and the size was not that important.

Dong Xuebing sifted through every seed.

8.10pm: A pair of 38mm Lion Head was matched.

8.15pm: A pair of 40mm Lion Head was matched

8.16pm: A pair of 36.5mm and 36.9mm Lion Head was matched

8.17pm: A pair of 43mm and 43.3mm Lion Head was matched

About an hour later, the pairing and matching process was completed. Other than a dozen walnuts with insect bites and blemishes, the rest of the walnuts were paired. The best pairs were a pair of 45mm Lion Head and a pair of 44mm and 44.5mm. The worst pair was a pair of 35mm and 36mmm.

This was great!

Dong Xuebing knew that these pairs were able to fetch good prices!

After resting for a few minutes, Dong Xuebing immediately packed the pairs of Lion Heads into plastic bags and kept it into his mother's luggage bag. He did not have enough bags and got to go out to buy some. After all the Lion Heads were packed, he dragged the luggage bag downstairs and walked along the road towards the north. There was a walnut shop near Heping Street.

Good, the shop was still open.

Dong Xuebing walked into the shop and saw 2 to 3 customers. The store owner was introducing a pair of Lion Head to the customers. From the packaging, this pair should be at least more than 10 years. It was a rare pair.

The store owner saw Dong Xuebing and asked: "Are you looking for walnuts? Are you getting it as a gift or for your own collection? What's the size you are looking for?"

Dong Xuebing asked: "Do you accept walnuts? Paired walnuts?

The store owner blinked: "What types?"

"Lion Heads."

"Oh?" The store owner cleared a space on his counter and said. "Can I take a look?"

"Of course." Dong Xuebing opened his luggage bag and took out the best pair of 45 Lion Head. He wants to know how much this store will offer. If the prices were too low, he would go to another shop. "How much is this pair worth? It's a 45mm."

The two walnut customers were also looking at that pair. "Oh, that's rare."

The store owner took the pair and measured it with a slide caliper ruler. "It's really 45mm. It's a nice pair." The stall owner looked up and asked. "Young man, how much are you selling?"

Dong Xuebing asked him back: "How much are you offering?"

The store owner scrutinized the pair and replied. "This is almost a perfect pair. Hmmm…… how about 9,000 RMB?"

Dong Xuebing felt this was a reasonable offer. But he did not agree immediately. He took out another pair of 44mm. "How about this pair?"

"You still have?" The store owner was shocked.

After measuring, the store owner replied: "My highest offer for this pair is 5,500 RMB."

Dong Xuebing thought for a while and took out a pair of 43mm. "What about this?"

"Oh, this size is also above average. Hmmm……. 2,000 RMB."

Dong Xuebing bent over and took out another pair. "What about this pair?"

The store owner was excited. "Hahaha, young man, just take out everything, and I will evaluate all their value."

"Ok." The store owner and the customers were surprised to see Dong Xuebing placed a lot of plastic bags on the counters.

The customers were speechless. One of them asked. "Damn, young man. Did you reserve a walnut tree? How come you have so many pairs?"

The other customer said: "Reserving a tree is very expensive. It cost a few hundred thousand RMB."

Dong Xuebing smiled. These Lion Head were not bought at Lion Head prices. It was bought at Chicken Heart prices.

The store owner starts to evaluate the Lion Heads. "This pair is 1,000 RMB…… Hmmm….. This pair is not perfect despite it being bigger…… 500 RMB…… This pair is smaller, I can only offer 400 RMB at most…… This pair is even smaller…… Even if it is perfectly matched, it is not worth much. I will not take this pair. Why not you ask some other stores if they are willing to take it?"

Dong Xuebing replied. "It's fine even if you offer a lower price. I am lazy to look for another shop."

The store owner nodded. "Fine, I will offer 70 RMB for this pair and 100 RMB for that."

After a while, the store owner tabulated the total amount. Other than 7 to 8 pairs which did not fetch good prices, the rest were still able to fetch high prices. The more expensive pairs were a few thousand, and the lower pairs were a few hundred. The store owner said. "The total is 69,500 RMB. Since you are selling so many pairs, I will round it up to 70,000 RMB. If you still have good pairs of walnuts, remember to come back to me."

70,000 RMB?

70,000 RMB?

70,000 RMB!!!

Dong Xuebing was stunned.

So much?

Why was the total so high?

How come the total is so high?

The store owner looked at Dong Xuebing and asked: "You want cash or……"

"Cash!" Dong Xuebing replied.

"Ok. Wait for a while." The store owner called his staff. "Xiao Zhao take out 70,000 RMB from the safe!"

Dong Xuebing took a deep breath. He knew he was not dreaming. 5 minutes later, he took the 70,000 RMB from the owner and packed it into his luggage bag. He was still in a daze when he walks back home.

Dong Xuebing had only wanted to look for a pair of 46mm Lion Head for Liu Hua. This was so unexpected. With the remaining 30,000 RMB in his bank, he has 100,000 RMB in total!

How much was 100,000 RMB?!

It was enough for Dong Xuebing to build a house for his mother in her hometown!

Dong Xuebing was one step nearer to his target of 1 million RMB!