Chapter 41: Surging Crowds [Bonus Chapter for 4000 Recommendation Votes]

In less than thirty minutes, Wang Erdang, laden with bags of all shapes and sizes, rushed back, only to discover, with a helpless sigh, that the crowd gathered around the stall had now grown by three more layers. There were also four or five market security guards stationed there, maintaining order and organizing the queue.

By this time, the line had split into two: one for purchasing blind boxes, and the other for exchanging items for Jiangnan Coins. Both lines brimmed with people.

With no other choice, Wang Erdang obediently took his place at the very end of the exchange line, anxiously watching those ahead of him.

The line moved painfully slowly. It took him over an hour and a half before it was finally his turn.

"Hello, how many Jiangnan Coins would you like to exchange?" The person in charge, Shen Yuequn's wife, was both exhausted and somewhat exhilarated as she asked.

"All of these! I want to exchange everything!" Wang Erdang dragged over a large backpack slung across his shoulders and three woven plastic bags he was carrying.

"This much... Oh, it's Brother Erdang!" She was briefly startled, then realized he was a regular at the stall, almost a daily visitor—no wonder he had accumulated so many products.

"Boss lady, please take a look—how much are these worth?" Wang Erdang said anxiously. He was counting on this exchange for money to save his life!

"Ah, these can't be exchanged for cash, only for our Jiangnan Coins!" Shen Yuequn's wife replied cautiously. She hadn't always been so careful, but Shen Yuequn had warned her: coins could be recognized, but not cash. If you called it cash, the police would be having a word with you!

So she directly corrected Wang Erdang's mistake.

Wang Erdang didn't care about the distinction; he just wanted to get rid of all the useless items piling up at home.

"Brother Erdang, let me make it clear: only the items with intact packaging, products, and the three-pack certification can be exchanged for Jiangnan Coins. Otherwise, we can't do business," Shen Yuequn's wife said.

"Of course, of course!" Wang Erdang nodded vigorously. Except for a few things he and his wife had used, everything else was left unopened at home, packaging and all—his items were perfect!

Sure enough, everything he brought posed no problems—it was just the sheer quantity that made counting slow. The customers waiting behind him grew restless, but as his pile grew and it became apparent he might reach 8,888 Jiangnan Coins, they grew patient again.

After all, everyone wanted to witness whether Jiangnan Coins could truly be exchanged for a phone.

"A total of 8,450 Jiangnan Coins!" The boss lady finally announced the total.

"Brother Erdang, here’s your membership card—it already has 8,450 Jiangnan Coins loaded. But this card can only be used on our machines!" She handed him a card much like a bank card—his membership card.

In fact, the membership card functioned just like a bank card. The machines had all been ordered by Boss Huang from Shenzhen through Liu Nian—a set of equipment with ten thousand cards cost five hundred yuan, a bit pricey, but necessary. Otherwise, relying on handwritten records or issuing physical Jiangnan Coins would be unmanageable.

The crowd collectively sighed. Good heavens, he was still short by 440 Jiangnan Coins—enough to drive anyone mad with anxiety.

“Old Wang, just buy a few more blind boxes!”

“Exactly, you’re only 440 coins away—not buying more would be a waste!” The people around him urged, though Wang Erdang himself didn’t need convincing.

He was just 440 coins away from a phone—anyone could see he should keep going!

So, the same Wang Erdang who had arrived brandishing a plastic club, ready to demand money by force, now sheepishly fished a fifty-yuan note from his underwear and handed it to Shen Yuequn’s wife.

She was unfazed by where the money came from, slipped it into her pocket, and let him pick five blind boxes. He opened them—all wallets.

Wang Erdang’s face twitched. Each wallet was worth twenty Jiangnan Coins—five only totaled a hundred, still 340 short.

Helpless, he produced another fifty-yuan note—again, all wallets.

In the end, after spending a further 150 yuan, drawing a pair of leather shoes, three belts, and eleven wallets, he finally reached 8,888 points.

“Ma’am, there really is a phone, isn’t there?” Wang Erdang asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Of course it’s real!” Shen Yuequn’s wife carefully pulled out a box from the very back of the cart, packed tightly with over a dozen sealed boxes.

“Look, these blind boxes all contain phones—just in different colors,” she explained.

“Is there any significance to the colors?” Wang Erdang asked, now quite practiced. Around the blind boxes, a collector's circle had formed, and within it, products were classified even more precisely.

Officially, products were categorized only by type and limited-edition masterworks, but within the circle, classifications were even more detailed.

Most items in the blind boxes were worthless, but if you got a white one, that was extraordinary—it was rumored to be made of rhinoceros hide, and, more importantly, was as rare as a giant panda. A white wallet could sell for two hundred yuan within the circle!

Some styles of bags and shoes were also highly sought after. Though not master-edition pieces or soulful works of art, their rarity made them unique—singular items with no duplicates found on the market, so their prices soared.

What most didn’t know was that these one-of-a-kind pieces were actually experimental prototypes abandoned by Boss Huang during product development, deemed unattractive or unlikely to sell, so only a few were made and then tossed into the warehouse.

Of course, very few could tell the difference; only the most seasoned insiders could identify the styles. Ordinary people relied on color: white was rarest, gold next, then blue, with black and red being the least valuable.

“I’ve heard,” the boss lady whispered, “that out of several thousand phones this time, only three are gold!”

The crowd’s eyes lit up. Clearly, gold phones would skyrocket in price.

“Give me a gold one!” Wang Erdang prayed aloud, rummaged through the box, and, after careful selection, opened a blind box to reveal a silver phone printed on the packaging.

Wang Erdang’s face lit up at once. Gold was valuable—surely silver wasn’t far behind.

He asked, “Boss lady, how many silver ones are in this batch?”

“Oh, silver is quite popular. I’ve heard that in this batch, a third are black or gray, and another third are white or silver,” she replied honestly.