21, open the Tube Coins. _1
Translator: 549690339
“`
[Dear user, your Postal Savings Bank card ending in 5116 had an expense of RMB 55,800.00 at 6:24 AM on November 10, leaving a balance of 117,000.56 in your demand account.]
Sitting on the electric scooter and looking at her phone, Li Jinwen’s face immediately turned grave.
What’s going on?
Over 50,000 deducted?
Was the account hacked?
Her first thought was not that Lin Mo had spent it.
The money at home was saved for buying a house, and neither of them would likely make such a large expense.
Even if there was one, she felt Lin Mo would consult her first.
Li Jinwen quickly dialed the postal bank’s customer service to verify if it really had been hacked so she could recover the funds immediately.
After getting through, Li Jinwen voiced her concerns. The customer service representative checked and then told her that the expense occurred via Alipay and there was no hacking involved. She advised Li Jinwen to check her Alipay transaction history.
After hanging up, she quickly opened her Alipay account and indeed found a recent payment record.
“Could it really be my husband? How could this happen?”
Li Jinwen then hurriedly called Lin Mo.
Dial tone… ring, ring…
The call was quickly answered.
“Hello, what’s up, wife?”
Lin Mo’s voice came through.
Li Jinwen hastily asked, “Husband, what were you doing just now? I saw a message about spending over fifty thousand?”
“Oh, that… It’s too complicated to explain in a few words on the phone. I’m a bit busy right now, let’s talk when I get home, Xiaoxiao is about to get out of school, right?”
Too complicated to explain?
The money was earned by her husband, and Li Jinwen was of course not afraid of him spending it. As long as it was spent appropriately, they could slowly save up again even if it was gone.
But Li Jinwen was worried because Lin Mo had been acting a bit off lately; it would be troublesome if he were conned.
“A husband who’s just tried earning ten thousand in half an hour is at peak confidence.”
“It’s easy for someone to get carried away and invest in all sorts of messy things.”
“Great joy can easily be followed by great sorrow.”
Li Jinwen still vividly remembered how flashy her second uncle was after a property demolition compensation and how miserable he became a few years later.
Their small family had very poor risk tolerance.
If things went south and they lost their savings, potentially racking up debt, it could mean never turning their lives around.
“No, I have to have a serious talk with my husband.”
Suppressing the mix of emotions within her, Li Jinwen solemnly instructed, “Alright, husband, I’ll be home after picking up Xiaoxiao. Don’t go anywhere and wait for me at home!”
“Okay, I’ll head home soon too. Don’t worry, I haven’t been spending recklessly. Be careful on the road.”
“Alright, see you at home.”
…..
On the other end.
“I’m sorry, wife, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but even if I did, you would have to believe me, right?”
“Heh heh…”
“Just wait, I’m about to make you a little rich lady with assets over a million.”
Lin Mo looked at the hung-up phone and sighed helplessly. He had no choice but to act first and explain later since preemptively informing his wife would surely have been met with opposition. Even if he explained at length, it might not be sufficient. So, he had to just go ahead with it.
More than fifty thousand was indeed no small sum for them.
If possible, he did not wish to hide anything from his wife or cause her worry and fear.
But due to special reasons, he had to resort to some special measures!
“`
Lin Mo carried two bags of Tube Coins and didn’t go home immediately, but instead went to buy some tools needed for opening the tubes.
It wasn’t complicated, just a few chisels, some soaking chemicals, and several large plastic basins with a water hose.
Opening the tubes didn’t require much skill, but it required patience and meticulousness.
After all, these copper coins had been buried for who knows how many years, mostly corroded, and too much force could easily cause them to break.
With any kind of antique, the last thing you want is for it to be damaged.
If there were marks left by the chisel or it was snapped in half, its value could instantly reduce by half; the condition is very important.
In others’ eyes, the tubes Lin Mo was carrying were worthless, but he was well aware that among them was a Guangxu Yuanbao worth over a million.
It must be handled with care!
After purchasing these items, Lin Mo went to a print shop at the entrance of the market and printed a huge stack of reference charts for the copper coins and a price list for their purchase.
The information was all found online and wasn’t hard to come by.
Once he had prepared everything, Lin Mo excitedly got into a ride-share car and rushed home.
The weather was getting colder, and the landscape trees by the road had already turned yellow.
Sitting in a ride-share car with the air conditioning on, Lin Mo couldn’t help but recall an incident from Lin Xiaoxiao’s early childhood.
At that time, his daughter had just started school, and he and his wife had nearly spent all their savings to get her enrolled.
One day, when he and Li Jinwen went to pick up Lin Xiaoxiao from school and were hurrying to the bus stop, it suddenly started raining.
Lin Xiaoxiao clenched tightly around his neck and asked him with a sob in her voice.
“Daddy, everyone else rides in cars, why don’t we have one? Can we buy one too?”
His daughter’s innocent words left Lin Mo silent for a long while.
Guilt, powerlessness, hating oneself, and heartache for his wife and child…
That night, Lin Mo sat alone at the entrance of the staircase, smoking many cigarettes, to the point that his eyes watered.
“Once I make money this time, I must get a car for the family!”
Lin Mo clutched the copper coins in his hand tightly, imagining a scene where his family of three rode in a car and went out to have fun.
Some images are very healing just by thinking of them.
…..
Half an hour later, the moment Lin Mo got home, he immediately got busy.
First, he moved the sofa and the dining table in the cramped living room to the corner, then turned on the air conditioning and connected the hose he bought to the water heater, starting to fill the plastic basins with hot water.
For normal Tube Coins opening, it wouldn’t be necessary to go to such trouble, simply prying them off one by one with a chisel would do.
But if he wanted to ensure the Tube Coins remained as intact as possible after being separated and avoid some losses from breaking, they needed to be slightly soaked in hot water.
The water couldn’t be too hot, about 70 degrees would suffice.
Having finished these tasks, Lin Mo washed his hands and went into the kitchen to start cooking.
His wife and daughter would be back soon, and it was too late to cook anything elaborate, but fortunately, there were tomatoes and eggs in the fridge, and there was a box of instant noodles on the shelf nearby.
Chopping vegetables, frying eggs, adding broth, and putting in the instant noodles.
Shortly after,
the aroma of Tomato and Egg Instant Noodles filled the entire kitchen.
Creak…
The door was pushed open, and Li Jinwen walked in with Lin Xiaoxiao.
Li Jinwen’s gaze instantly fell on the pile of stuff in the living room, and her brows furrowed involuntarily.
Upon hearing the noise, Lin Mo peeked out from the kitchen and hurriedly called out, “You’re back? Go wash your hands, the noodles are almost ready.”
“Wow! What are these?”
Entering the door, Lin Xiaoxiao also immediately noticed the pile of stuff in the living room.
