Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Before Mu Xueli could ask, Wang An waved his hand and said:
"Xue Li, go find a restaurant outside and buy some vegetables and rice. Buy a lot, we've only eaten some roasted fruit all day, we're starving. Oh, and get a couple of bottles of good wine while you're at it."

Just as Mu Xueli was about to leave, she suddenly turned around and asked Wang An:

“Brother-in-law, we only have three lunchboxes. If we pack a few more dishes, we won’t be able to bring them back. Why don’t you two go out to eat? When you’re back, just pack me some steamed buns or dumplings or something. I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

Wang An rolled his eyes at Mu Xueli and said:

"Damn it, just borrow a few lunchboxes from the restaurant owner. If he won't lend them, just buy them from him. Money talks. Hurry up and go."

Mu Xueli nodded and ran outside.

After Mu Xue left, Wang An and his companion didn't rest. Instead, they dumped their spare change, watches, jewelry, and other valuables on the floor of the room and began sorting them out.

When Mu Xueli returned with a pile of lunch boxes, it was almost 8 o'clock. Wang An and the other man had already sorted out all the banknotes in denominations of 1 yuan, 2 yuan, and 5 yuan and tied them into stacks.

However, all of these add up to quite a bit, totaling 2317 yuan.

Seeing Mu Xueli return, Wang An immediately put down the 5-cent banknotes he had already sorted together and called to Wang Li:

"Let's eat first, let's eat first. We can talk about these things after we finish eating. I'm starving."

After washing their hands in the bathroom, the three of them divided the two bottles of liquor equally into three enamel mugs and then sat around eating them heartily.

Whether it was because they were hungry or because the food was so delicious, Wang An and the other two quickly ate half a box of rice each.

After filling his stomach a little, mainly because he wasn't so hungry anymore, Wang An picked up the enamel mug and said with a smile:
"Come on, let's have a toast first, to celebrate that the three of us didn't come for nothing and that we got all that money back without losing a single penny."

Wang Li and Mu Xueli were also full of excitement. After Wang An finished speaking, the enamel mugs in the hands of the three people collided with each other, making a "clang" sound.

Everyone took a big gulp, and then they all burst into laughter at the same time.

It's impossible not to be happy. With so much money, gold and silver jewelry, watches, and the like, it would easily exceed 10 yuan.

The key point is that this 10 yuan was earned for free, so you can imagine how wonderful that feeling must be.

The three of them ate and drank, finishing their dinner in less than 20 minutes.

There's no way around it; there's still a bunch of jewelry and watches that haven't been sorted out yet. We have to finish sorting these things before we can distribute the money.

Mu Xueli didn't return the lunchbox; instead, she and Wang An got busy together.

After sorting through the last few 5-cent coins, the final total is:

The total value of the "Great Unity" bill is 69740 yuan. The denominations of one, two, and five yuan bills together amount to 2317 yuan, and the denomination of 5 mao bills is 74 yuan and 5 mao. Adding all of these together, the total is 72131 yuan and 5 mao.

Adding to the 9 yuan that Wang An and his two companions took earlier, this means that the robbers stole more than 8 yuan in cash from just those 10 or so hard-seat carriages on this trip.

If you also consider the money stolen from the sleeper car, as well as the value of the gold and silver jewelry and watches, you can imagine how much these robbers must have earned from this one-off heist.

It has to be said that although robbery is a very risky business, it's incredibly fast money-making. The key is that not only is it fast, but the profits are also enormous.

Wang An and the other two sat on the ground, looking at the stacks of money that had already been divided among them. Mu Xueli, her face full of emotion but with a hint of schadenfreude, said:
"More than a dozen robbers worked all night, but in the end, the money went to the three of us. They're really unlucky, hahaha."

Wang Li also chimed in with sarcastic remarks:
"Yeah, if they knew they wouldn't get the money and would even lose themselves, I think they wouldn't even get on that train, hahaha."

Wang An thought for a moment and said:

"Alright, let's stop talking about useless things. Let's divide up the money that won't be needed right away. As for the money that's moldy and can't be spent, we'll exchange it at a bank when we get to Yi Province and then divide it up. You two, see how much money we can divide."

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli said:
“Brother-in-law, I just finished checking. There are 6 yuan in total that are perfectly fine, 4 yuan that are about 3% worth of money that will be hard to spend, and 4 yuan that are covered in lint and definitely can’t be spent.”

Wang An nodded and said:

"Then let's split 64,000 first, and we can split the remaining 8,000 when we get home."

As he spoke, Wang An first took out a stack of ten-yuan notes and placed them in front of him, saying:
“Last time, the three of us each took 3,000, so I was short 1,000. This time I'll make up for it, and then we'll have 63,000 left. You two can each take 19,000, and I'll take 25,000. That's it. That's all. Everyone take your share.”

Mu Xueli thought for a moment and then suddenly laughed: "Brother-in-law, then we'll each take advantage of you by 100 yuan again, that's not fair."

Wang An focused intently on counting out his share of the money, saying without even looking up:
"Then you can make it up to me before the next money distribution, it doesn't matter."

As they talked, the three of them put their share of the money into their respective backpacks.

Wang An reached out and rummaged through a small pile of gold jewelry and gold bars on the ground, as well as a small pile of silver jewelry.

After confirming that there were no valuable nuggets among the gold, and no antique pieces among the jewelry, only modern items, he said:

"Let's melt these things down when we get back and then divide them up."

After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli very generously said:

“There’s not much gold in total, probably only a little over 4 pounds. And silver isn’t worth much either. Brother-in-law, I don’t need my share.”

Wang Li immediately echoed, saying:

"Yeah, we have plenty of gold at home. Who knows when we can turn it into money? I don't want my share. Fourth Brother, you can keep it for yourself."

To be honest, people who own a lot of gold are really arrogant. They say they "don't have much" when they have more than 4 pounds of gold. Who can we reason with them?
Wang An rolled his eyes at the two idiots, speechless, and said:

"The current price of gold is around 9 yuan per gram. If it were on the black market, it could sell for at least 20 yuan per gram."

"Come on, let's say it's 9 yuan per gram. Then each of you can get about 1.2 jin of gold, which is 600 grams. Let's do the math. How much is 600 grams of gold worth? Isn't it more than 5,000 yuan? Isn't more than 5,000 yuan a lot?"

After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli said nonchalantly:

“Brother-in-law, what’s the use of that for any amount of money? Nobody dares to buy that stuff now, and there’s nowhere to sell it.”

After Mu Xueli finished speaking, Wang Li joined in the fun, saying:
"Fourth Brother, where is that black market you mentioned usually located? Why don't you help me sell some of the gold at home? I feel like that stuff is pretty useless sitting at home all the time, and I have to keep thinking about it every day."

Mu Xueli also leaned closer and said:
"Yeah, brother-in-law, where's the black market? I'm thinking of selling some too. It's easier to just turn it into cash."

Wang An was speechless at their words. But to be honest, selling gold these days was really difficult.

The main reason, of course, is that gold trading is not allowed for the time being.

Another issue is that people who want to buy gold cannot find people who want to sell it, while people who want to sell gold find it very difficult to find buyers.

After all, gold is not only expensive, but more importantly, for ordinary people, buying it is of no use other than showing off.

Therefore, opening a gold shop is indeed a rather urgent matter.

Wang An was too lazy to explain to the two of them anymore, and said:

"Alright, I'm telling you two, after the New Year, or at the latest the following year, I'll partner with Brother Wu and the others to open a gold shop. Then all the gold you have will have a market. Don't worry, let's sort out the watches first and see how many of them still work."

The two stopped arguing and began checking each watch one by one.

In the end, the three of them selected only 24 water meters that looked good and could keep running after being wound up.

The remaining nearly 200 watches, which were probably not working because they had been soaked in water, were to be packaged and sold by Wang An once he arrived in Yi Province.

The main problem is that although Wang Anhui has many skills, he doesn't know how to repair watches, and more importantly, he hasn't learned how.

However, it is obvious that these 24 watches are all very famous and exquisitely crafted watches, and the value of each one is no less than that of the Mei brand watch that Wang An is wearing.

Furthermore, there are 7 watches among them. Even in this day and age, a new watch would cost several thousand dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars.

Such a watch is probably rare even in the entire country, so this is truly an unexpected delight.

The most unfortunate thing is that these expensive watches are not meant to be worn openly; not only can they not be worn on the wrist in public, but they are also extremely troublesome to dispose of. (End of Chapter)