The Money Tree, that was a legendary sacred tree. It was said that merely shaking its branches would cause money to rain down.

Wang Guan first learned of the Money Tree from an animated film titled Ma Liang. He had forgotten the specifics of the plot, only remembering that Ma Liang, pressured by the landlord, drew a Money Tree. The landlord shook it gleefully as money continuously dropped from the branches. That magnificent scene left a very deep impression on him.

It wasn't until later that Wang Guan realized there were truly Money Trees in the world, and they came in two forms. One was a botanical species, and the other was a mingqi (spirit object) used in Han Dynasty tombs.

During the ancient Eastern Han period, a special form of burial accompaniment was popular in China. Its actual name was zhuzhu, but because its shape resembled a tree and its branches hung with numerous square-holed round coins, people vividly nicknamed it the Money Tree.

However, this type of Money Tree vanished from tombs after the Wei and Jin dynasties, gradually becoming items like Feng Shui trees. Today, it has become purely decorative in shops. The Money Tree right before them was precisely this kind—not just a Feng Shui artifact, but also an ornamental object.

Therefore, seeing Wang Guan circling the Money Tree at this moment naturally made the middle-aged man and his companions very perplexed.

Just then, Wang Guan turned around and said, "Fourth Brother, resolving the bad luck clinging to you is very simple. You just need to buy this Money Tree outright."

"What?" The middle-aged man was stunned, his eyes widening, "Can that really work?"

"You asked me for a method, and I gave you an idea. Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant to me," Wang Guan replied dismissively. The situation had already reversed; he wasn't seeking a favor from the middle-aged man; the middle-aged man was seeking his help now.

Hearing this, the middle-aged man began to ponder, suddenly gritting his teeth. "Ah Gui, go call the boss up here."

"What, buy the Money Tree?"

A moment later, the teahouse owner arrived. Upon hearing the middle-aged man's request, his first reaction was that he must be joking.

"That's right. A Money Tree this large is hard to find on the market; you must have had it custom-made," the middle-aged man wasn't foolish and quickly found an excuse. "I happen to like this style of Money Tree, but commissioning one myself is too much trouble, so I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to part with it. We can negotiate the price."

"Well..." the teahouse owner hesitated. "This is a Feng Shui tree, consecrated by a high monk..."

Hearing this, one could generally grasp the teahouse owner's implication. Plainly speaking, he was there to do business; he would sell the entire teahouse if the price was right, let alone a single Money Tree.

Next, the middle-aged man and the teahouse owner engaged in a fierce back-and-forth exchange, a veritable sword fight of words, and only after the pot of tea was finished did they finally reach a consensus and settle on the transaction amount.

After concluding the matter involving a few thousand yuan, the middle-aged man immediately had someone go to the bank to withdraw the money for the teahouse owner. Once the owner took the cash and confirmed the amount was correct, the Money Tree displayed in the hall became the middle-aged man's property.

Having received the money, the teahouse owner grinned widely and kindly offered, "Where do you live? I can send someone to deliver it for you."

"No need," the middle-aged man waved his hand immediately, then looked towards Wang Guan. "Little brother, I've bought the Money Tree. What happens next?"

"Nothing needs to be done," Wang Guan chuckled lightly. "The moment you bought the Money Tree, your luck began to turn."

"What do you mean?"

Instantly, the eyes of everyone present filled with suspicion, feeling that Wang Guan was acting too casually, perhaps just toying with the middle-aged man.

"Don't believe me?"

At this moment, Wang Guan smiled, suddenly walked over to the Money Tree, stood on his toes, and reached out to fumble with a string of coins on one of the branches. The coins were tied with red silk thread; with a slight tug, the thread snapped.

With a clatter, the coins scattered across the floor. Wang Guan casually picked up one, examined it for a moment, then flicked it lightly, carefully listening to the sound, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

"Here!"

At the same time, Wang Guan handed the coin over. "Seventy thousand!"

"What seventy thousand?"

The middle-aged man was confused, but he took the coin anyway. He saw characters inscribed on it. Having some general knowledge, he knew that characters on coins were usually read from top to bottom, and then right to left. He read it out loud: "Yuantong Baobao..."

"What Yuantong Baobao, shouldn't it be Yuanfu Tongbao?" Liu Liang glanced over from the side, suddenly exclaiming, "Yuanfu Tongbao! Is that really Yuanfu Tongbao?"

"It's not read top-to-bottom? It's read straight across?" The middle-aged man was taken aback, then nodded. "That makes sense. I always hear 'Tongbao, Tongbao,' it probably shouldn't be 'Baobao.'"

"Yuanfu seems to be Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty's reign title."

Xing Qiu spoke up; his history knowledge was evidently good, and he kindly reminded them, "Yuanfu Tongbao should be currency minted during his era, but it's more likely a modern replica."

"Right."

The others weren't fools either. Everyone knew that ancient coins were valuable. But Wang Guan casually pulled a coin from the Money Tree and claimed it was an ancient coin—who would believe that?

"If you don't understand, you can find someone who does to appraise it," Wang Guan laughed. "When I walked in earlier, I noticed there seemed to be an antiques street nearby. You can take the coin to a shopkeeper for an expert opinion. They wouldn't conspire with me to deceive you, would they?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man immediately signaled, "Li Gui, take this over and have a look."

"Oh, and when you ask, don't say too much. If the shopkeeper asks how much you want for it, quote him ninety thousand."

Wang Guan provided further instruction: "He will certainly haggle, maybe offering one or two thousand, or three or four thousand. Just shake your head at that point, say you'll check another shop, and then come back."

Seeing Wang Guan provide such meticulous instructions, the others found themselves believing him a little more, though suspicion still weighed heavily. The teahouse owner, in particular, smirked, thinking Wang Guan was just putting on an act and was sure to be embarrassed soon.

While waiting, Xing Qiu frowned and asked quietly, "Wang Guan, are you sure about this?"

In his memory, Wang Guan had no hobby of collecting ancient coins, yet now he spoke with such certainty, making it seem unreliable.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I forgot something; here is my card. If you ever come to the capital, please look after me." Wang Guan smiled, handing over a business card from Shiyi Ge (Relic Retrieval Pavilion).

"Liulichang, Shiyi Ge?" Xing Qiu looked at it, somewhat surprised. "You work as an accountant in an antiques shop?"

To clarify, the card didn't specify Wang Guan's exact position. Those in the know would understand he was the principal owner. Those who didn't, like Xing Qiu, likely assumed he was just a runner or clerk.

"...Close enough," Wang Guan nodded, figuring that wasn't entirely inaccurate; he did handle the books, after all.

"Why work so far away?" Xing Qiu frowned. If he worked for a large company in the capital, being an accountant would have prospects, but an accountant in an antiques shop didn't particularly suggest a future.

"I have connections over there, so I work there," Wang Guan smiled. "What about you? You're already a manager; you must belong to the ranks of the gao fu shuai (tall, rich, handsome) now."

"What 'gao fu shuai' am I? Managers aren't worth much these days," Xing Qiu said modestly. "Even a tofu shop has an Operations Manager, a Purchasing Manager, a Logistics Manager..."

"That's different," Wang Guan shook his head slightly. Being fawned over by the middle-aged man and his group meant Xing Qiu must be a manager in a high-powered department. At least better than his own role as a 'young clerk.'

However, Xing Qiu had no intention of showing off. He steered the conversation back, whispering, "If that Yuanfu Tongbao is real, is it quite valuable?"

"It's relatively valuable," Wang Guan nodded. "There are several versions of the Yuanfu Tongbao. The version just now was clerical script, read circularly, generally valued in the market between sixty and eighty thousand."

"That valuable?" Xing Qiu was surprised.

"Indeed valuable," Wang Guan recalled. "There are about ten categories of Yuanfu Tongbao. The cheapest category is still over five thousand yuan, and the most expensive is the type we just saw. Its survival rate is extremely low, hence the high price."

While the two were chatting, Li Gui ran back, panting, sweat beading on his forehead, clearly having sprinted without stopping. However, his face was filled with ecstatic surprise.

"How was it?" The middle-aged man quickly asked.

"It’s… it’s real," Li Gui said breathlessly after calming down. "After I showed it to the shopkeeper, he asked what my asking price was, and I said eighty thousand. He shook his head, saying he could only offer thirty thousand. But when I started to leave, he immediately stopped me, raising the price to forty thousand, fifty thousand, even sixty thousand..."

"Really?"

Everyone else was stunned, especially the teahouse owner, whose face was etched with intense doubt. "Impossible, you must be setting me up!"

At this point, the middle-aged man ignored the teahouse owner, and amidst mingled shock and joy, hastily called out, "Quick, quickly gather up the coins on the floor, and the ones on the tree too..."

Li Gui and the others immediately sprang into action upon hearing this. Every face bloomed with joy, as if they weren't picking up coins but actual banknotes.

Seeing this, Liu Liang’s eyes turned red with envy. He couldn't help but complain, "Brother Wang, you should have kept this to yourself. This is a huge windfall, potentially worth hundreds of millions!"

Wang Guan looked at him with feigned surprise and casually asked, "Which eye of yours saw hundreds of millions?"

"Well, one coin is fifty or sixty thousand, so a hundred coins are five or six million. There are at least a few thousand coins here..." Liu Liang calculated, then stomped his foot in anguish. "That's hundreds of millions!"

Wang Guan glanced at him and pronounced the word: "Fool!"

"Huh!" Liu Liang was momentarily confused, not understanding where he had been foolish.

Xing Qiu, however, understood and suddenly laughed. "The saying goes that scarcity creates value. If this many coins flood the market, the price will definitely drop drastically; they won't be fifty or sixty thousand each. Besides, not all these coins appear to be Yuanfu Tongbao..."