Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 23

At this moment, Hu Bayi took out a pair of jade pendants from his bag.

"A jade pendant?" Big Gold Tooth looked at it and immediately took it.

He examined them closely. Both jade discs were carved into the shape of moths, complete with eyebrows, whiskers, scales, and feathers. The discs were decorated with indescribable patterns, some resembling animal patterns and others totem patterns.

"Let me think about this." Big Gold Tooth seemed a little hesitant, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

At this moment, Hu Ming, who was standing nearby, said, "Big Gold Tooth, this is a double-eared jade pendant with a moth's body. In the Jin Dynasty, only generals with great merits could possess it. It was a supreme honor and a symbol of a brave warrior."

So, this is from the Song Dynasty. Big Gold Tooth, can you give it a price? See if it's worth tens of thousands.

"Tens of thousands?" Upon hearing this, the fat man's eyes lit up as he looked at the big gold tooth in front of him, seemingly wanting confirmation.

At that moment, after Hu Ming said that, Big Gold Tooth seemed to remember something and immediately slapped his thigh.

Then he suddenly realized, "I was wondering, gentlemen, there really were some things like that that appeared a few days ago. At that time, the estimated price was between 40,000 and 50,000. The price overseas is definitely higher than that."

Upon hearing what Big Gold Tooth said, the fat man immediately took the jade pendant. "Wow, good heavens, there are so many!"

Hu Ming glanced at the fat man and said, "Although the jade itself isn't worth that much, its symbolic meaning is extraordinary, and it has high collectible value."

After Hu Ming finished speaking, he said to the fat man, "Bring out my stirrups and saddle."

Upon hearing this, the fat man took out the stirrups and saddle from his bag. Big Gold Tooth was taken aback at first, then looked closely at the two dark objects, licked them, and exclaimed in surprise, "These are all gold."

Both Fatty and Hu Bayi were startled. Fatty said, "I'm asking you, is Big Gold Tooth real or fake? These dark, unremarkable things are gold?"

Big Gold Tooth glanced at the composed Hu Ming and said, "The reason this thing is like this is because there was corpse oil outside once. I think Master Ming should know this very well."

Hu Ming nodded and said, "Both of these items are made of gold. If they were sold on the market, they would be worth at least a million."

The fat man was so frightened that he cursed, "Damn it, is it real or fake? He's even licking that big gold tooth."

Hu Ming replied irritably, "Just melting this stuff down into gold and selling it would fetch at least several hundred thousand yuan."

Big Gold Tooth nodded in agreement, saying, "Although this gold isn't pure, there's a lot of it. It'll fetch hundreds of thousands if we sell it."

Big Gold Tooth looked at Hu Ming and said, "Mr. Ming, let me ask about the market price of this for you first."

Hu Ming nodded and said, "Okay, no problem."

At this moment, the fat man took out a mask and said, "Mingzi, this is all black, it can't be gold too, can it?"

Hu Ming nodded upon hearing this and said, "Indeed, and it's not an ordinary gold mask. Let's see what it's like, Master Jin."

Big Gold Tooth examined it closely and noticed that there were tiny characters on the mask, and the workmanship was exquisite.

After looking at it for more than ten minutes, Big Gold Tooth finally saw a line that read "Presented to the Great General by the Jin Dynasty Royal Family..." He couldn't see the rest clearly, but he couldn't remove the corpse oil from the mask, because this thing had a higher collectible value because it was stained with a layer of corpse oil.

After pondering for a moment, Big Gold Tooth said to Hu Ming and the others, "Gentlemen, this thing has extraordinary historical significance, so we can't really give it a price."

Hu Ming replied, "Okay, I understand. Could you help me contact someone and see who's willing to take it? I'll leave the stuff with you."

Upon hearing this, Big Gold Tooth said, "Master Ming, I didn't expect you to trust me so much. Don't worry, I, Big Gold Tooth, will definitely sell them for a good price."

Hu Ming said, "Brother Jin, you sell the goods. You're responsible for whatever happens while selling them. If it's something like double-crossing in the underworld, we can help you handle it discreetly. But as for the legitimate world, you're responsible for that. Keep your mouth shut no matter what happens. You'll take 20% of the commission, as we agreed before. What do you think?"

With someone as shrewd and capable as Big Gold Tooth to sell the goods, Hu Ming could save a lot of trouble. Big Gold Tooth said, "Thank you again for trusting me, Master Ming. But you tomb raiders risk your lives. If I take a 20% commission, it would seem like I'm getting a huge advantage. How about this, Master Ming, I'll introduce you to buyers. I won't mention how much we sell. Let's just consider it as us being friends."

Hu Ming thought for a moment and nodded slightly, saying, "Anything is fine, but you have to get the commission. We can't let you, Lao Jin, miss out on our benefits. As long as our goods are sold to the places you introduce, whether now or in the future, you can get a 20% commission."

Hu Ming made this decision with a purpose: to get Big Gold Tooth to work for him and do his best without taking any benefits. Even if it's his own brother, he won't bother with you.

Big Gold Tooth was stunned for a moment, then a surge of admiration for Hu Ming welled up in his heart. People who do great things really do have a different mindset.

In fact, Hu Ming's purpose in doing this was also to drag Da Jin Ya off the pirate ship.

Hu Bayi and Fatty exchanged a glance, both completely bewildered, wondering what Hu Ming was up to.

At this moment, Hu Ming said to Hu Bayi, "Old Hu, take out the porcelain from your bag."

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi took out six pieces of porcelain from his bag, all of them of excellent quality. Big Gold Tooth's eyes lit up when he saw them, and he couldn't help but say, "I didn't expect them to be such fine porcelain."

Hu Ming said to Big Gold Tooth, "These things are yours."

Big Gold Tooth nodded seriously upon hearing this.

Seeing this, Hu Ming told Hu Bayi and Fatty to put the things away.

After Hu Ming packed his things, he told the waiter to serve the dishes quickly. At this moment, Big Gold Tooth said, "Mr. Ming, do you still remember Professor Chen?"

Hu Mingtian was taken aback for a moment and said, "I still remember, what's wrong?"

Upon hearing this, Big Gold Tooth continued, "Their team found an American who funded them to go to XJ to find the ancient city of Jingjue."

Upon hearing this, Hu Ming nodded dismissively and said, "Oh, the ancient city of Jingjue? You think those people could find it?"

Big Gold Tooth chuckled and said, "They just couldn't find you, so they came to me to ask me to contact you."

Hu Ming lit a cigarette and asked, "Where's the money?"

Big Gold Tooth said, "Give each person ten thousand upfront, and another ten thousand after the job is done."

Big Gold Tooth then added, "By the way, it's US dollars."

Hu Ming nodded upon hearing this, then looked at Fatty and Hu Bayi and said, "Should we go take a look?"

Fatty and Hu Bayi frowned upon hearing this, then both agreed.

Hu Ming then said to Big Gold Tooth, "We'll go take a look."

Big Gold Tooth was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give you their address."

Seeing Big Gold Tooth's surprise, Hu Ming laughed and said, "Well, I won't turn down money, but if they have a bad attitude, we won't work with them."

Upon hearing this, Big Gold Tooth replied, "Indeed."

Hu Ming smiled and said, "I know quite a bit about the Jingjue culture. If it weren't for various reasons, I might have taken Fatty and Lao Hu to find the Jingjue Ancient City on my own. After all, I know a lot about the Jingjue Ancient City."

Upon hearing this, Big Gold Tooth couldn't help but give Hu Ming a thumbs up.

After the group had eaten and drunk their fill, they went to Big Gold Tooth's shop, left their things there, and asked Big Gold Tooth to help them find three courtyard houses so they could buy them once all their goods were sold.

(End of this chapter)