Chapter 63: Saving It to Flex Later

"Fine, isn't it just forty-eight yuan? I won't short you a cent."

Qin Jun said with an air of bold confidence, genuinely not lacking money at the moment.

"However, didn't you brag about having access to fur coats? Can't you get one?"

Having secured a regular coat, Qin Jun's ambitions grew, and he now desired something even better. After all, a man should treat himself well!

"I've heard that fur coats nowadays are of much better quality."

Hearing this, Zhao Erwa rolled his eyes and retorted, "Do you even know how much a military overcoat lined with real fur inside costs?"

"Damn, one hundred and forty-eight yuan each! Is that something ordinary people like us can afford?"

Qin Jun was left speechless. Fur coats were that expensive?

That didn't seem right! Weren't all leather and fur coats in the future priced at least one or two thousand?

"Can you get one? I want one. So what if it's one hundred and forty-eight? What's the big deal!"

The moment Qin Jun thought about the prices of leather goods in the nineties, he grew instantly tempted.

In this era, no matter what item it was, the materials used were always solid and genuine.

Buying one now meant not necessarily lasting a lifetime, but easily holding up for twenty or thirty years without a problem.

Therefore, spending one hundred and forty-eight yuan at this time to buy a long fur-lined overcoat was truly a bargain!

"Hah? I really couldn't tell, you brat really know how to treat yourself!"

"I also happen to know of a tiger skin coat. Do you want one?"

"It only costs twelve hundred yuan, and no ration coupons required!"

Looking at the sneering Zhao Erwa, Qin Jun's eyes could only be described as shining brightly.

Upon hearing this, Qin Jun's eyes nearly popped out of his head: "There are tiger skin coats too? For real?"

"What's this? Is the main point whether they exist or not? Shouldn't it be whether you can afford to buy one?"

Zhao Erwa couldn't even be bothered to roll his eyes anymore. He felt that the kid in front of him had something slightly wrong with his brain.

"I can't afford it right now, but in a few days I definitely will."

"Tell me first, is it true? Where do we go to buy it?"

A tiger skin coat! If you bought something like this now, and took it out to show off later—not even talking too far into the future, just after nineteen-ninety—wouldn't that be immensely majestic and imposing?

The most important thing was that buying this item right now wasn't illegal!

Later on, no matter how rich you became, could you still buy one? Even if you bought one, would you dare to wear it?

This truly was a rare opportunity that would never come around again once missed!

"Hold on, what kind of look is that? Is your head alright, kid? Do you have some serious mental illness?"

Only now did Zhao Erwa realize that Qin Jun didn't seem to be joking at all.

Who would display such a fanatical look when joking? This kid was definitely a bit unhinged!

How could he not even catch the sarcasm in his words?

Seeing this youngster whose brain seemed fried, Zhao Erwa felt a little uneasy.

If his few offhand remarks actually drove this kid mad, would the Qin family come looking for trouble with him?

"Wake up! Stop daydreaming!"

"Even if you have money, you probably won't be able to buy one!"

"That was a few years ago when I saw it at the Beijing Department Store, priced at twelve hundred. You actually expect to buy one?"

"Beijing?" Hearing this, Qin Jun was deeply disappointed. The capital was not a place he had any chance of visiting right now.

And by the time he finally got a chance to go there, who knew if there would still be any tiger skin coats left for sale!

After pondering for a moment, Qin Jun still felt an itch in his heart; he desperately wanted to get his hands on a tiger skin coat.

After all, having been reborn once, who wouldn't want to indulge themselves a little?

Besides, he currently had about one hundred and seventy or eighty marten pelts in his possession.

Even the ones that could be sold now and had already been shade-dried numbered over one hundred and fifty.

If he sold all of them, he could make at least seventy-five hundred yuan.

Since it was already mid-January of nineteen-eighty, the purchase price for marten pelts had risen to fifty yuan, a fact verified by his second oldest brother, Qin Feng.

With so much money on hand, he definitely needed to make some investments, or else it would just sit there and devalue. Wouldn't that make him a complete fool?

"You aren't actually planning to buy one, are you? Do you really have that much money?"

By this time, Zhao Erwa looked at Qin Jun in a completely new light.

Because he could genuinely tell that Qin Jun was seriously considering making a purchase.

If he really bought one, he would undoubtedly need twelve hundred yuan in cash!

Just think about it: how much total compensation did his fallen comrades' families receive?

Three hundred yuan per person. The compensation for four men could barely trade for a single tiger skin coat.

At this thought, Zhao Erwa fell somewhat silent.

Actually, three hundred yuan was not a small sum, but compared to a strong, able-bodied laborer, anyone knew how to make that choice.

Still, where on earth did this kid Qin Jun get so much money?

"I really do have money. Can't we figure out a way?" Qin Jun looked at Zhao Erwa.

Zhao Erwa felt a headache coming on. Was this kid actually serious about buying one? He should have kept his mouth shut!

Qin Jun said with certainty, "I really want to buy one! Tomorrow we'll go to the county town, and once we sell the pelts, I'll have enough money!"

Qin Jun no longer bothered to hide it, openly stating that he would trade pelts for cash.

Because the adult martens around their village had all been hunted by him.

If he wanted to continue expanding his results, he would have to venture into the surroundings of other villages.

And Qin Jun's primary targets would naturally be villages where he knew acquaintances, such as Zhao Erwa's village.

"I have a comrade-in-arms in Beijing. I can write a letter and ask."

"If they're truly still available, we can mail the money over, have him buy it on our behalf, and then ship it back."

The look Zhao Erwa gave Qin Jun grew even stranger. What did he say earlier about where the money came from? Selling pelts?

Zhao Erwa found it hard to wrap his head around. You had to know that a single tiger skin coat cost over a thousand yuan!

Qin Jun, however, was thoroughly satisfied: "If they're still available, could we buy an extra one? My grandfather needs one too!"

Zhao Erwa was once again rendered speechless: "Just how rich are you? Even if the furs are available, you need to calculate how many pelts you have to sell just to scrape together a thousand yuan!"

"My money will be enough anyway. If you don't believe me, let's go to the county town together, and then you'll see if I have money or not!"

Qin Jun was completely serious this time. It had been nearly two months since his rebirth, and everything he needed to figure out had already been thought through.

Lately, whenever he couldn't fall asleep at night, he would ponder what he should accomplish having been given a second chance at life.

When reading novels in the past, everyone who was reborn into a past era dreamed of collecting antiques.

However, Qin Jun didn't really understand antiques at all; at most, he only knew a tiny bit, and that was purely thanks to a strong memory that helped him retain random trivia.

Beyond that, the most he knew was a bit of ceramic craftsmanship.

He had learned that while working part-time at the Zibo Ceramic Factory.

Back then, that skill was already of little use.

Because during that period, many older types of ceramics were worthless and cast down into the dust.

Of course, it was still useful in this era, but their village lacked the foundation for firing ceramics.

Besides, private entrepreneurship wasn't allowed yet anyway, so even if he wanted to fire ceramics, it seemed like a lot of effort for very little reward.

In his current environment, forget about making a fortune—even collecting antiques offered him zero advantage.

Therefore, he had been constantly calculating what to invest in once he sold the pelts and acquired a large sum of money.

Initially, he figured that if worse came to worst, he could just buy Monkey stamps.

Qin Jun's memory was supercharged now, so he clearly remembered that the Gengshen Monkey stamp, also known as the Golden Monkey, would be issued this very February.

Although the lunar new year hadn't passed yet, New Year's Day had already gone by, and a little over a month later, the Monkey stamp would be released.

That was why he chose to sell his pelts recently—so he would have some cash on hand to make investments.

If he didn't invest, he wouldn't even want to sell the pelts, because inflation over the next few years was going to be fierce.

If you held onto cash, you were just waiting for it to devalue!

Now, thankfully, he had two investment options in mind.

One was the Monkey stamp, and the other could be the tiger skin coat.

Compared to hoarding antiques of dubious authenticity or buying gold, this option would undoubtedly retain its value better.

There was no rush for the stamps; this year's Monkey stamp seemed to be issued on the day before the Lunar New Year, which was New Year's Eve.

This year, that would fall around February fifteenth, so there was still plenty of time. He would definitely plan and execute it properly when the time came.

After all, having been reborn, every experience worth having should be lived through.

Especially when it came to striking it rich like this, he simply had to get a piece of the action.

Of course, as someone reborn into this world, he couldn't treat this as his main lifelong career, but securing some starting capital for future development was entirely feasible.

Qin Jun had run through these plans countless times in his mind, arranging every single milestone clearly and methodically.

For instance, the earliest opportunity was the Monkey stamp, followed by acquiring the prized Clivia flowers before nineteen eighty-four.

By nineteen eighty-eight, he could flip Treasury bonds.

And after nineteen ninety, he could start cashing in his Monkey stamps.

Playing the market casually like this, he could pull off several successful moves within a single decade.

Most importantly, Qin Jun was certain he wouldn't lack money in the future.

And during this decade of the nineteen-eighties, letting cash sit idle in your hands was the most foolish thing you could do.