Huayu: I Have a Doraemon

Chapter 55 Poverty Limits Imagination

Inside the factory, the white light from the spotlights fell from above.

Nicholas Tse squatted in front of the armor, running his fingers along the breastplate, feeling the forging texture on the metal surface.

He raised his head, his eyes bright, and said:

"How much? I'll take it."

Without hesitation, without haggling, and without even asking about its origin.

Lin An opened his mouth, countless thoughts churning in his mind.

In this day and age, the price of an ordinary sofa is around three to six thousand yuan; the solid wood wardrobe in my parents' room is said to cost five thousand yuan; luxury furniture, such as Italian imported sofas, is generally over ten thousand yuan.

The armor in front of me was made of iron-gray steel plates with rivets densely packed at the joints, with a bulging chest and a taut waist and abdomen.

Although Lin An was unclear about its specific origin, judging from its condition, it was definitely a collectible work of art.

After a long silence, he slowly raised his hand and made a five.

The bold get rich, the timid starve.

Anyway, it's his business how he sets the price. If you can't afford it, it just means you don't know what's good for you.

Nicholas Tse's eyes suddenly lit up, and he blurted out:

"150,000?"

The tone suggested that the other party was afraid of going back on their word.

"Okay, I'll buy it!"

Lin An withdrew his finger and remained silent for a full twenty seconds before speaking:

"No problem, I'll give you my bank account details in a bit."

He didn't mention the remittance before next Friday.

Judging from Nicholas Tse's expression, he seemed eager to pull out his phone right then and there and call his manager to immediately transfer the money, complete the transaction, and take the armor home, as if he had gotten a tremendous bargain.

Lin An felt he had made a huge mistake.

Zhang Yadong, who had always been calm and collected, finally changed his expression:

"Nicholas, aren't you going to take a closer look?" What if it's a fake? What if it's a scam?

Nicholas Tse waved his hand, looking like he didn't want to say anything more.

He looked at Lin An and smiled, "Do you still have these kinds of decorations? I really enjoy collecting these kinds of things."

Just as Lin An was about to speak, Wang Fei's exclamation rang out from behind him.

"This is......"

He turned around.

Wang Fei had somehow wandered into the open kitchen area and was bending over, her gaze fixed on the tableware set on the island counter.

That was a French tea set.

The body is made of white porcelain with a warm and lustrous glaze, and the body of the pot is decorated with blue and purple iris patterns.

Wang Fei looked at Lin An with bright eyes and asked:

"How much does this tea set cost?"

Lin An thought for a moment and felt that a tea set costing six thousand was already a luxury item, so he said:

"Eight thousand."

Nowadays, the average monthly salary for ordinary employees in Beijing is between one thousand and two thousand yuan, so this price is definitely not a problem.

Wang Fei readily agreed upon hearing this, murmuring:

"Eight thousand each, eight pieces, including the sugar bowl, milk jug, tray... can you give me one hundred thousand?"

Lin An took a deep breath, trying to calm his surging blood and qi, and smiled slightly:

"Of course you can."

He secretly vowed to go back and study luxury goods pricing intensively, because the feeling of watching others freely pick up bargains in his own territory was just too awful!

Even if these things can be exchanged for only 800 points, it's still not acceptable!

Zhang Yadong, who was standing to the side, also began to get restless.

The situation was not quite what he had expected.

In his plan, this trip to the Beijing Film Academy was supposed to be a favor to his girlfriend, Gao Yuanyuan, by bringing two big stars to "check out the goods" and show off his connections and resources in the industry, in order to humiliate this arrogant brat.

Whether Wang Fei and Nicholas Tse buy it or not is irrelevant; in fact, it would be better if they didn't.

But why is things getting out of control?

If this continues, not only will Lin An be humiliated, but Wang Fei and Nicholas Tse might even owe him a favor!

Zhang Yadong cleared his throat, trying to keep his tone calm:

"Faye, Nic, this is someone else's film set, let's stop here."

Wang Fei was holding the sugar jar up to the light to examine the glaze, and upon hearing this, she didn't even look up:

"I think it's quite suitable."

Nicholas Tse also stood up and smiled:

"Brother Dong, you can leave if you have something to do. We'll talk to Lin An."

Zhang Yadong opened his mouth, thinking to himself, "That's not what I meant!"

……

……

Wang Fei and Nicholas Tse, who originally planned to explore the film set in an hour, were completely lost on the set.

By the time the two had finished choosing their desired items, it was already 2 p.m.

Lin An stood at the factory gate, holding a crumpled list in his hand, which was filled with the items the two of them had selected.

One suit of armor, one set of French tea set, one European-style grandfather clock, two Persian rugs, two Italian leather armchairs...

Lin An looked down at the list and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Thank goodness.

Most of them are modern handicrafts, and even if someone investigates carefully, they won't find anything unusual.

"Is there a problem?"

Nicholas Tse walked out of the factory, carrying a medieval iron helmet in his hand and an art book tucked under his arm, his face full of satisfaction.

"It's nothing."

Lin An folded the list twice, stuffed it into his pocket, and said expressionlessly, "I've calculated it, it's a total of 620,000."

"Yes, it's really cheap," Nicholas Tse exclaimed sincerely.

Lin An felt a vein throb on his forehead. He took a deep breath, then another, and silently repeated "The customer is God" three times.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Nicholas Tse assumed he was worried about the payment and added:

"I'll have my agent transfer the money to you in a bit. Just send me your account number."

After saying that, he took out his phone and waved it, indicating that he could contact him at any time.

Lin An paused for two seconds, then reminded him, "Shouldn't we verify the authenticity of the item?"

Nicholas Tse waved his hand and said:

"I do have that much insight."

Lin An was speechless once again.

He doesn't understand the world of the rich.

Wang Fei then came out of the factory, carrying a bulging canvas bag.

Her shopping list was much more restrained than Nicholas Tse's; besides the French tea set, she only picked out a few art illustrations and a pair of candlesticks.

Wang Fei said shyly, "Sorry, I was just going to browse around, I didn't expect it to take so long."

Lin An smiled and said, "It's alright. If you'd like to come, we can schedule another time."

Wang Fei shook her head and said, "It's already fine. It was just to fill out the new house. Sigh, I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to go shopping properly."

A new house? Lin An looked enlightened.

That makes much more sense.

The diva's status is undeniable; no matter how much you like something, using secondhand items will always feel unpleasant.

At the factory gate, the autumn wind carried fine sand across the empty factory area.

Wang Fei adjusted the cardigan over her shoulders, glanced at the time on her phone, and looked up to say:

"Let's find a place to eat, it's on me."

Nicholas Tse was stuffing his helmet into a bag when he heard this and looked up:

"Japanese food."

Wang Fei glanced at him, then turned to look at Lin An:

"May I?"

Lin An said, "I'm fine with either."

Wang Fei nodded, took her phone out of her canvas bag, tapped a few keys on the keyboard with her slender fingers, and then put it away:

"Okay, I know the location of a good Japanese restaurant."

She turned her head, her gaze passing over Lin An and landing on Zhang Yadong:

"Yadong, you drive."

Zhang Yadong stood in the shadow of the factory door frame, his expression somewhere between stiff and bewildered.

"......good."

……

……

Building 14, Dengshikou West District.

Most of the motion-activated lights in the hallway are broken.

Lin's mother carried two plastic bags up to the fourth floor. The bags contained chives, eggs, half a pound of pork belly, and a yellow croaker.

She switched hands, took the key out of her pocket, inserted it into the lock, and turned it twice.

The security door creaked open.

On the living room sofa, Lin Yi and Lin Yuan sat side by side, one reading a novel and the other reading a newspaper.

Lin Meng sat cross-legged in front of the TV, her hands supporting her cheeks, her eyes fixed on the screen.

"Can't you stay away from the TV?" Lin's mother said as she changed her shoes and placed the plastic bag on the dining table.

Lin Meng moved her buttocks back two centimeters.

Lin's mother took a deep breath, and her chest began to rise and fall.

Seeing that things were not going well, Lin's father, sitting on the sofa, quickly spoke up:

"With all this stuff, what are we going to eat for lunch?"

Interrupted from her spellcasting, Lin's mother slammed the plastic bag back onto the dining table and said irritably:

"Eat, eat, all you do is eat! You've eaten so much, but I haven't seen you earn any more money!"

Her eyes were red, and her voice suddenly lowered.

"The eldest brother is all alone in Haidian, with no money and no food..."

Lin Yi looked up, somewhat speechless: "Since he didn't go home, he must have money in his pocket."

Lin's mother spat out, "How did you know? Did you transfer money to him?"

Lin Yi didn't want to talk to his mother, feeling that she was completely unreasonable.

Seeing that the two were about to argue again, Lin's father quickly comforted his wife, saying:

"Alright, if you're worried, we'll go check on him tomorrow night."

Lin's mother opened her mouth, subconsciously wanting to say something arrogant, but in the end she just hummed in agreement.

Her son must have suffered a lot.

Sigh, I really shouldn't have agreed to let him go into filmmaking. It's not something an ordinary person can do.

Lin's mother was deeply worried, thinking that her son must be malnourished and was now eating coarse food on the streets and wandering around.