Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 35 Fake Treasure, Touching Heart

Shita Town Old Street is the well-deserved CBD of the town, where most of the shops are gathered.

A fragrant bakery, a dirty hardware store, a smelly butcher shop, a dusty charcoal shop, and a grocery store so crowded that there is no place to step.

There is also the whale oil supply station that was once brightly decorated, but now, after decades, it is covered in the dust and laziness of the town, just like other buildings in the old street.

The employee guarding the Whale Oil Station lazily lies on the tattered sofa. When customers come, they exchange their cash for oil cards with fixed amounts, such as half a liter, one liter, five liters, etc., and then put them into the card reader of the gas pump to fill up the gas.

Whale oil is divided into many types according to the refining process. The crude one has a high impurity content and is the cheapest, while the refined one is the most expensive. There are also five-degree refinement, seven-degree refinement, etc., which are all mixed oils.

Residents of Shita Town generally only buy cheap crude whale oil for lighting, while city dwellers buy mixed whale oil for heating water, cooking, and driving cars. As for refined whale oil, it is mostly used for industrial power generation.

Lin Bo passed by the whale oil station. He was planning to develop psychiatric drugs in the future, and he would have to come here to purchase supplies.

Of course, as a lighthouse keeper, you have to refuel regularly, and the money is reimbursed by the town hall.

The lighthouse fuel fee is paid together with the salary every month. Depending on the fluctuation of oil prices, sometimes more is given and sometimes less is given.

According to Old Tim, it was very rare for the fuel fee to be overpaid. More often than not, it was underpaid, and the night watchman would need to take the whale oil station's invoice to the town hall to collect the difference.

"Good afternoon, night watchman." The fat employee of the whale oil station saw Lin Bo standing at the door. He struggled on the sofa for a few times but couldn't get up, so he raised his hand and greeted him with a very enthusiastic tone.

Lin Bo walked in and chatted with the employees. From this lazy fat man, he learned some common sense about the other party's industry, such as the investor of the whale oil station is the fuel company, and the direct cooperation unit is the whale oil refinery in the nearby Jinbei City.

The raw materials for the refinery come from whale slaughterhouses, as well as fish meat food factories, fish skin tanneries, fish bone processing factories, etc., all of which are gathered near the port. Whenever a whaling ship returns, it is a feast of roaring machines.

Many workers in Shita Town work in these factories.

Lin Bo still remembered his earlier plan, which was to use cheap materials such as whale viscera, bones, fins and tails to cultivate bacteria and extract magical energy from them for use.

The mushroom garden has just started. Once we cultivate bacteria that can decompose flesh and blood and absorb magical energy, it will not be too late to go to the factory to purchase the leftover materials from whale processing.

The fat employee told Lin Bo everything he knew.

Lin Bo initially thought he wanted his help with his physical ailments, but he didn't expect him to be just a talkative person. So he quickly said goodbye. The fat man lazily slumped on the sofa, struggling to get up, so he still raised his hand to say goodbye.

The mage went into the grocery store. The woman guarding the store was an acquaintance of his. She had treated her injuries the day before. When she learned the purpose of Lin Bo's visit, she looked embarrassed.

"Iron wind chimes? I'm afraid I don't have any. I have copper bells here, how about that? If you really need them, I'll bring them to you when I go to Jinbei to stock up next week."

"No need." Lin Bo shook his head. It was just a small gadget and could not be bought in the town at the moment. He could just spend some time to rub one by hand.

He said goodbye and went out. The shop owners along the street would greet the night watchman when they met him.

Old Street Pawnshop.

When Lin Bo passed by here again, he found that the shop door that had been closed and locked had reopened at some point.

The pawnshop owner went to Hongdu and came back as usual. When he saw Lin Bo coming in from behind the counter, his face, which was always gloomy, suddenly broke into a warm smile.

"Dear guest, you are here to patronize our business again? Welcome~"

Some people get rich but don't want to show off. At this time, they will show some signs to let others know that they are rich.

Just like the pawnshop owner, he was still dressed the same as before, but there was a bottle of fragrant wine on the small table beside him, and the rag he used to wipe the table was a white, soft, and fine silk handkerchief.

Lin Bo joked, "Looks like those gold coins sold for a good price." "A small profit, a small profit," the pawnshop owner couldn't hide his grin.

Lin Bo was the only customer in the shop at the time, and the owner wanted to catch up with the night watchman, so he talked about his travels and experiences of the past week. Lin Bo also found it interesting, so he listened to his story.

After receiving the ancient shipwreck coins from the night watchman that day, the boss couldn't wait to go to Jinbei City to board a ship and cross the sea. After a day and a night, he arrived at the imperial capital.

He then immediately contacted local acquaintances and used his connections to take the shipwreck coins to a professor in the history department of the capital's university for appraisal.

After looking at the shape of the ancient coins and treasure box, the expert could not tell which ancient dynasty the relics came from, but he did not think they were fakes. He only admitted that he was short-sighted and hurriedly invited a professor from the archaeology department to come and discuss the matter together.

A box of ancient coins caused a huge stir in the university.

The boss then approached a newspaper to submit an article, attributing the origin of the coin to a lost ancient treasure. The publicity was extremely exaggerated, with a style of making up stories about unsolved mysteries of the world. Even the general public could not help but marvel at it, and many people believed it to be true.

At this point, the boss handed the Hongdu Daily to Lin Bo to read. Although the report on the shipwreck treasure was not the front-page headline, it occupied a considerable space on page three.

Lin Bo thought to himself that this guy really understood marketing, and seeing the reserved look on his boss's face, he praised him for his skillful tactics and coaxed this usually gloomy middle-aged bald man into looking rosy.

Finally, such a box of ancient coins has attracted the attention of many curious people, so the boss quickly sold it at the auction house while the popularity had not yet subsided.

Although the shipwreck coin was only a small item, everyone had heard about the lost treasure reported in the recent news, and the atmosphere at the scene was very heated, so the transaction price was much higher.

The mage could hear the pawnshop owner's exaggerated chatter and laughter, and the golden scene in the Hongdu Auction House appeared before his eyes.

The long pillars of the hall were gilded, and the hanging velvet was as soft and crimson as blood. On the smooth, shiny marble floor, the waiters and waitresses in black suits were tall and thin, their steps as nimble as swallows flying across the lake.

On the day of the auction, many nobles, wealthy businessmen and scholars came to bid for the shipwreck coins. The air was filled with the smell of perfume, splashing saliva, volatile alcohol and the hot smell of burning money.

Although the boss was the consignor, he was a bit out of place in terms of assets and status, so he couldn't enter the hall.

At that time, he stayed in a reception room of the auction house, chewing soft and sweet cakes, drinking fragrant wine, enjoying these free treats, and listening to the passionate shouts of the auctioneer in the auction room across the wall.

Every bid means an increase in wealth.

This great joy still lingers between my lips and teeth even now when I say it out loud.

Before leaving, the boss also stole a silk handkerchief from the auction house, like a thief who had entered a mountain of gold and silver and refused to return empty-handed.

Lin Bo smiled.

"Well, Night Watchman, I'm telling the truth. That box of gold coins can be sold in Hongdu for more than ten times the price of gold itself. If you still have some, we can continue our cooperation. You'll be responsible for the supply, and I'll be responsible for the sales. We can negotiate the commission."

The pawnshop owner went through so much trouble just to convince the lighthouse keeper whom he couldn't understand.

He wants to use the purest interest relationship in the world to impress the other party. There is nothing better than money. It is a panacea for treating hunger and depression. Adults, children and the elderly all like it.

"Thank you for your story, it's very interesting." The mage just smiled and shook his head. "By the way, I'm here to buy something. How much is this?"

The boss curled his lips and saw that what he was holding was a string of old iron wind chimes. He casually quoted sixty yuan for it, but Lin Bo bargained again and finally sold it for twenty-five copper yuan.

"Night Watchman, please reconsider this! Even many professors and nobles believed the story I made up about the ancient dynasty's treasure! What a huge market this is! We could become influential figures in Hongdu! Think about it carefully!"

The man did not stop, but just waved his hand. A string of iron wind chimes in his hand swayed gently, making a crisp sound, which gradually faded away.

(End of this chapter)