I Start with a Mysterious Island

Lin Li noticed Wang Gui’s expression turn sour after hearing his proposal to buy the pearls.

After a moment’s thought, he understood the reason for the man’s expression and spoke with complete sincerity.

"Boss Wang, I’m serious about buying the pearls. I’m not joking."

Wang Gui had initially thought the young man was pulling his leg and had felt a bit angry. But seeing how sincere he was, his displeasure vanished. He then asked, somewhat puzzled.

"These pearls are worthless. Why do you want to buy them?"

’I’m buying these pearls to take back and sell on Blue Star...’ Lin Li smiled to himself before saying aloud, "When I saw these pearls, I had a sudden idea. I want to make them into bracelets or necklaces."

"..." Wang Gui listened to Lin Li’s explanation and couldn’t help but scoff inwardly. ’Bracelets or necklaces made from this worthless junk? Who would be shameless enough to wear that out in public?’

"Mr. Lin, if you want to make bracelets or necklaces from pearls, just go to the pile of oyster shells in our backyard and help yourself. They’re worthless, anyway.

If that’s all, I have to get back. The kitchen is busy. Excuse me."

Wang Gui stood up and gave Lin Li a polite cupped-fist gesture, then turned to return to the kitchen.

’Telling me to go dig through a trash heap for pearls... I don’t have time for that.’ Lin Li grumbled to himself, then spoke to Wang Gui, who was just about to leave for the kitchen.

"Shopkeeper Wang, I’ll give you One Copper Coin for every single pearl."

Lin Li’s simple sentence stopped Wang Gui in his tracks.

"What did you say?"

"I said, I’ll give you One Copper Coin for every single pearl."

"Mr. Lin, are you serious?"

"Of course. As a show of good faith, I can give you a deposit upfront." Lin Li smiled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wad of cash.

He peeled off a bill with a denomination of One Silver Coin and placed it on the table.

One Silver Coin was equivalent to one thousand Copper Coins—a rather large denomination that ordinary people rarely used.

The last time Lin Li had helped Zhu Xinru and her party, the Guard Captain, Liu Jie, had given him a small pouch as a token of gratitude.

After returning to Blue Star, Lin Li had taken the pouch out from the Mysterious Small Island to examine it.

He discovered the pouch contained a stack of cash denominated in Silver Coins, totaling five hundred Silver Coins. This was equivalent to five hundred thousand Copper Coins, or roughly five hundred thousand dollars on Blue Star.

It was thanks to these five hundred Silver Coins that Lin Li could immediately start his acquisition plan. After deciding to buy the pearls, he didn’t need to waste time acquiring more of this world’s currency; he could just pay in cash.

Seeing Lin Li produce cash with such conviction, Wang Gui was now certain the young man truly wanted to buy the worthless pearls.

After all, the wholesale cost for the oysters sold in his restaurant was just One Copper Coin each.

Every oyster contained a pearl. If this young man was willing to buy each pearl for the price of One Copper Coin, it would essentially mean his entire wholesale cost for oysters would be covered from now on.

"Mr. Lin, how many pearls do you want to buy?" Wang Gui asked.

"Let’s start with twenty thousand. If I need more later, I’ll place another order with you," Lin Li said, glancing around at the number of patrons eating oysters.

"Um... your business is clearly doing well, but I need twenty thousand pearls. That might be a bit of a challenge for a single restaurant, don’t you think?"

At One Copper Coin per pearl, twenty thousand pearls would cost twenty thousand Copper Coins.

Wang Gui almost cried out in shock when he heard Lin Li wanted to buy twenty thousand pearls.

Still, for a man capable of running a restaurant, twenty thousand Copper Coins wasn’t a huge sum.

But spending twenty thousand Copper Coins on a pile of garbage was certainly unexpected.

The prospect of making a clean twenty thousand Copper Coins from a pile of trash was such a windfall that Wang Gui felt like he was being handed free money.

He struggled to keep from laughing out loud and said to Lin Li with complete confidence.

"Mr. Lin, you don’t need to worry about that. Besides this restaurant, I own four others. If you want twenty thousand pearls, I can have them for you within the hour."

’So the man runs a chain! This is perfect. My supply of pearls will be secure in the future...’ Lin Li nodded, then peeled another bill from the wad of cash in his hand—this one for Five Silver Coins—and placed it on the table.

"That’s Six Silver Coins in total. Consider it your deposit. I’ll be back in an hour to pick up the twenty thousand pearls.

Oh, and one more thing... The pearls need to be about the same size as these," Lin Li said, pointing to the twenty pearls on the table.

"No problem," said Wang Gui. "The oysters we purchase for our restaurants are all roughly the same size, so their pearls are too."

"Can you write me a receipt?" Lin Li asked after a moment.

"Of course. Wait just a moment, I’ll go write one up for you," Wang Gui said, turning and walking toward the counter.

A few moments later, he returned with the receipt.

"Alright, I’ve got the receipt." Lin Li took the paper from him, glanced at it, then folded it and tucked it into his pocket. "I’m going to take a walk. I’ll be back later for the pearls."

Wang Gui then motioned for an employee to collect the money from the table before personally escorting Lin Li to the door.

Watching Lin Li put on his bamboo hat and walk away until he disappeared at the end of the street, Wang Gui muttered to himself.

"What a strange man, willing to spend so much money on completely useless pearls."

With that said, Wang Gui turned back inside and began instructing his staff to start sorting through the trash heap. At the same time, he sent word to his other restaurants to do the same.

......

As Lin Li strolled down the street, his face hidden by his bamboo hat, he felt a thrill of delight. He was imagining taking these pearls back to Blue Star and making a fortune.

’If this pearl-flipping business goes smoothly, I’m going to be rich...’

Lin Li continued to wander aimlessly through the streets of Dongwu City, his mind occupied with plans of selling the pearls back on Blue Star.

The streets, paved with blue-gray bricks, were bustling with traffic.

In addition to horse-drawn carriages and the Mutant Beast-pulled bus he had ridden before, Lin Li was surprised to see a bicycle.

’Huh... this world has bicycles?!!’

......