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

The two gold bars that Song Ping hid were probably made using rudimentary methods, containing quite a few impurities, making it obvious at a glance that they weren't pure gold.

Gold refined using these traditional methods is generally considered quite good if it reaches 90% purity.

But no matter what, this thing is a gold bar, it's gold, a genuinely valuable item.

The key issue is that the shape of these gold bars is not very standard; each gold bar weighs about two and a half ounces.

Therefore, based on the gold price at that time, selling a gold bar for 3 yuan should be no problem at all.

Upon hearing Wang An's words, Huang Zhong's face immediately showed shock.

He held up one finger and said:

"B-Big brother, you mean this tiny little thing can be traded for a motorcycle?"

Wang An nodded and said:

"Yeah, you think I'm kidding you? This is gold, pure gold, holy crap, this stuff is priced by the gram, it costs more than 30 yuan per gram."

After a pause, Wang An continued:

"The problem is that this stuff is hard to sell right now. You have to go to JY County and find those people who specialize in dealing with gold, and then sell it to them. Ordinary people don't dare to buy it; the risk is too great."

What Wang An didn't say was that the gold collectors in JY County could only collect five or eight jin at most at a time, and they wouldn't make that much money no matter how much they collected.

Huang Zhong stared blankly at the jar containing the gold bars, never expecting that something else beyond his comprehension would happen.

Huang Zhong was already surprised enough that a worthless tortoise-shaped talisman could be exchanged for a motorcycle, but now, even a gold bar could be exchanged for a motorcycle.

The main problem is that these once very valuable and sought-after motorcycles have become so worthless.
Wang An instructed:
"Tell your father not to sell these two gold bars. Keep them to make some jewelry or something later."

As he spoke, Wang An reached into the jar and rummaged around for a while before pulling out the two gold bars, which he then handed to Huang Zhong.

Huang Zhong instinctively wanted to refuse, but Wang An glared at him, and Huang Zhong immediately quieted down and took the two small yellow croakers.

Huang Zhong is a good kid in every way, except he's always been a bit of an outsider. He always feels that as Wang An's underling, he should do whatever he wants and shouldn't be taking anything from Wang An.

While his thinking was not wrong, Wang An could not do it.

They were both very happy on the way back.

Huang Zhong was happy simply because Wang An was happy.

Wang An was happy, but it was because the tiger bone and tiger whip had fallen into his hands.

As for those antiques that looked quite nice, Wang An didn't pay them much attention.

If Wang An wanted to, he could buy up a large number of antiques now, wait for their prices to rise, and make a fortune.

But in fact, Wang An knew very well that the real value of many antiques was not for collection, but for cleaning coins.

An antique may be priced at a certain amount and be worth a certain amount, but in reality, the people who actually spend a lot of money to buy these things are only a specific group of people.

Normal people, such as some wealthy people, buy antiques either because they have so much money they can't spend it all, or they have a special purpose.

To put it bluntly, no matter how high the value of an antique is, it always needs someone to buy it. Wang An doesn't believe that after acquiring a large collection of antiques, he can smoothly find buyers and sell them for their due value.

When he was first reborn, Wang An even thought about buying stamps, specifically monkey stamps.

However, when Wang An thought about how stamp collectors in later generations would end up with nothing but piles of stamps that no one would take over, he felt ashamed that he had ever thought about buying stamps.

Although antiques are not as worthless as stamps, they do have real historical and cultural value.

But in Wang An's view, it's true that antiques are valuable, but the claim that they're worth hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions is definitely a lie. In any case, Wang An had already discovered before he entered the Libazi in his previous life that many antiques were priceless and unavailable. Once you bought them, you were stuck with them, and there was simply no way to find a sucker to take them over.

Don't ask Wang An how he discovered this problem, because before Wang An entered the fence in his previous life, he had a house with many antique paintings and calligraphy. They were not cheap when he bought them, but after he bought them, he wanted to sell them again, but no one would take them even if he didn't raise the price by a single penny.

That's absurd!

As for the porcelain items such as plates, bowls, and vases that were excavated from the tomb, Wang An would not keep them; he would sell them all when he had the chance.

It's absolutely impossible to collect; it's worthless.

Time flies, and several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Ever since Wang An led Huang Zhong to dig up all of Song Ping's treasure, Wang An has once again lived a life of staying indoors.

However, although Wang An did not go out, he was not idle at home.

The main reason is that before the Lunar New Year, the grains that Wang Dazhu had fermented had already fermented, and Wang An led Huang Zhong and his father to brew liquor together.

Distilled spirits are actually just distilled liquor, and the method is not difficult.

Add the appropriate amount of water to the pot, place a flat steamer in the pot, and spread the fermented grain evenly on the steamer.

Then place the pot surround and the top pot on the edge of the pot, add water to the top pot, and start a fire in the stove.

However, it is worth noting that the space between the pot surround and the pot must be airtight.

Once the temperature rises, insert the distillation tube into the small hole on the side wall of the pot. The liquid flowing out of this distillation tube is the spirit.

The first and last distilled spirits are discarded; that is, the first and last spirits are discarded, and only the middle part is kept.

The reason for discarding the first and last drinks is that they contain many impurities, mold, and other harmful substances, and have a high methanol content, which can easily cause poisoning if consumed.

Of course, this is a more scientific explanation. Rural people only know that the first and last drinks of liquor should not be drunk, as they will kill you.

Yes, methanol really can be deadly!
With two stoves burning simultaneously, Wang Dazhu, Wang An, and Huang Zhong worked for several days to distill all 3000 jin of fermented grain, producing over 1000 jin of high-proof liquor.

Freshly brewed liquor cannot be drunk immediately; it needs to be placed in a dark place to stand for a period of time, normally more than six months.

That day, Wang An and Huang Zhong were cleaning up the lees left over after they finished brewing the liquor with Wang Dazhu.

You should know that distiller's grains are excellent feed, great for feeding pigs, sheep, horses, chickens, ducks, and so on.

Meanwhile, at Wang Li's home not far away, Wang Xiaofeng, the eldest daughter of the second uncle, Wang Li's elder sister, and the second oldest among the Wang sisters, suddenly returned to her parents' home with tears streaming down her face. (End of this chapter)