"It's all your fault! I said we shouldn't go to the hotel, but you insisted! And now, great, the tickets are gone!"

"Do you think I wanted this to happen? If I knew the tickets would get lost, why would I have gone?"

"Feng Shen's concert! I've been to every single one from middle school to college without missing a show! Now it's ruined! I'm going to miss this one!"

"Enough with the blame game! Think of a way to get tickets, quick!"

"At this hour, the concert has already started. How are we supposed to buy tickets now?"

"At 7 o'clock, I suggested buying from scalpers at the venue, but no—you all insisted on tearing the house apart looking for the tickets. Now we probably can't even find a scalper anymore!"

A group of young women frantically looked around for scalpers while blaming each other.

All of this played out before Ye Chen's eyes and ears.

But he didn't take the initiative to approach them to sell tickets.

Instead, he waited for them to come to him.

Sure enough, he didn't have to wait long.

As the women continued to look around anxiously, they noticed Ye Chen holding several tickets in his hand.

They immediately rushed toward him.

"Hey, handsome, are you selling tickets? We're willing to pay a high price for them!"

"Not selling. I'm waiting for my friends," Ye Chen replied casually.

But that wasn't enough to dissuade the women.

After all, not only did Ye Chen have tickets, but he had exactly six of them!

Just enough for the six of them.

"1,000 per ticket. Six tickets for 6,000. How about it?"

Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't even glance at 560-yuan tickets, as only VIP seats were good enough for them.

But right now, they couldn't afford to be picky. They just wanted to get in and not miss a single concert.

"I said I'm not selling! Besides, 1,000 per ticket? Are you kidding me? I went through so much trouble to get these! I even paid 900 each from someone else. Selling them for 1,000? No way!" Ye Chen said.

"Fine, 2,000 per ticket. Does that work?" one of them quickly raised the offer.

"Not selling! These aren't just my tickets; they're also for my friends!" Ye Chen refused firmly.

At that moment, the sound of their idol's voice and the deafening cheers of the crowd could already be heard from the stadium.

The girls grew even more desperate.

"5,000! 5,000 per ticket! Please sell them to us!" One girl couldn't hold back any longer and desperately increased the offer.

"5,000? Six tickets for 30,000?"

That was a price worth considering.

But Ye Chen still shook his head. It wasn't because he remembered in his past life these same women paid 10,000 per ticket.

It was because he needed to ensure nothing went wrong at the antique market. Although the Buddhist prayer beads were sold for 30,000 yuan in his past life, he didn't want to risk the deal falling through.

He needed absolute certainty to secure the beads.

"I said I'm not selling! If I sold them, how would I explain it to my friends?" Ye Chen said.

"Yeah, right! I don't believe you!" one of the girls snapped impatiently. "10,000! 10,000 per ticket! I'm telling you, this is your last chance. After this, no deal!"

"10,000 per ticket?" Ye Chen feigned hesitation, pretending to be tempted, and asked in disbelief.

"Yes! That's the highest price we can offer! These 560-yuan nosebleed seats are now 10,000 per ticket! If you didn't have exactly six, we'd only offer 3,000 tops! This is it. Are you selling or not? If not, we're leaving!" the frustrated girl snapped.

"Alright, fine, I'll sell it!"

Ye Chen put on a look of struggling hesitation, gritted his teeth, and said.

After getting his agreement, the group of girls couldn't be bothered to waste any more words with him.

They scanned the code, transferred the money, grabbed the tickets, and rushed towards the entrance gate without delay.

If the rookie scalper from earlier had known that Ye Chen resold the tickets at a twentyfold profit, he probably would have had a complete breakdown.

Looking at the 60,000 yuan in his WeChat balance, Ye Chen let out a long sigh of relief, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Fortunately, the things that happened in his previous life hadn't changed.

Otherwise, that string of Buddhist prayer beads might have truly ended up in the hands of that gambling buddy.

Turning back to glance at the stadium, where waves of screams erupted one after another, Ye Chen, indifferent to concerts in both his past and present life, walked away with his earnings of 60,000 yuan!

Back at his rented apartment.

As expected, Chen Yinuo and Ye Youyou were not there.

On the dining table, the McDonald's meal was gone, but the bowl of breakfast noodles remained, untouched.

It was obvious that Chen Yinuo wanted to draw a clear line between them.

Looking at the bowl of noodles, long since clumped together, Ye Chen gave a bitter, self-mocking laugh.

Leaning closer for a sniff, he confirmed it hadn't gone bad yet.

Without hesitation, he picked it up and started eating it in big mouthfuls.

Tears of guilt welled up in his eyes.

"Yinuo, wait for me. I'll prove myself to you. I'll prove you didn't marry the wrong man. I will!"

The next day.

Ye Chen appeared once again in the antique market.

But this time, he didn't wander around aimlessly.

Instead, he went straight to the stall selling the string of Buddhist prayer beads.

Seeing the beads were still there, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

"It's you again?"

The stall owner, who had been chatting and laughing with a neighboring vendor moments earlier, immediately put on a sour face when he saw Ye Chen lingering at his stall.

"How much for this string of prayer beads?"

Ye Chen wasn't bothered by his attitude and asked with a smile.

"Are you here to mess with me on purpose? 500 yuan isn't enough, so go hang out somewhere else!" The stall owner waved him off impatiently.

Although haggling was common in the antique market, this string of beads had cost him nearly a thousand yuan to acquire.

Selling it for 500? That would make his liver ache!

"Then name a price! Don't start with something ridiculous like 50,000. This isn't my first time in this market. Give me a price that shows you're serious about selling." Ye Chen smiled.

"Fine, you want a serious price?"

Noticing that several potential customers had stopped to watch the commotion, the stall owner didn't want to throw a tantrum and said, "This string of beads? The craftsmanship, the texture, the feel of it, plus the patina formed by incense smoke—anyone with an eye for antiques can tell it came from a temple. And these carved figures of the Eighteen Arhats—have you seen anything like this in the market? This piece was in the hands of a master monk! If you want it, it's 30—no, 20,000. Take it or leave it, not a penny less!"

The so-called craftsmanship, texture, and feel were indeed good.

Otherwise, the stall owner wouldn't have spent nearly a thousand yuan to buy it.

But all that talk about patina from incense smoke and it coming from a master monk in a temple?

That was pure nonsense—completely made up!

For these kinds of made-up stories, the stall owners in antique markets were especially adept, as if they'd done it a thousand times before.

However, the reason the stall owner dropped the price from fifty thousand to twenty thousand was that he didn't believe Ye Chen could afford it. He simply wanted to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

"Twenty thousand? Sure, deal. I'll take it!"

The price of twenty thousand caught Ye Chen a bit off guard. After all, in his previous life, a gambling buddy had spent a full thirty thousand on the same item.

Without bothering to haggle further, he decided to go for it.

"What? You're really going to buy it?"

The stall owner was stunned.

Not only him, but the surrounding vendors were also dumbfounded.

Just a moment ago, they were still discussing whether the idiot from yesterday would show up again today.

Not only did "speak of the devil, and he appears" come true, but now this guy was actually willing to shell out twenty thousand for this string of Buddhist prayer beads?

That thing was worth, at most, one or two thousand!

"Twenty thousand, right? I'll scan it!"

Ye Chen said no more and pointed his phone at the QR code on the stall.

After entering the amount of twenty thousand, he didn't immediately make the payment. Instead, he showed the screen to the stall owner. "Is this correct?"

"Ah, yes, yes, it's correct!" the stall owner stammered in disbelief.

Had he really just met a cash cow the moment he set up shop?

A twenty-thousand-yuan deal—a net profit of nineteen thousand!

Ye Chen nodded. "Alright, I'll send it over now."

A few seconds later, the sound of a twenty-thousand-yuan payment notification echoed from the stall owner's phone!

In an instant, all the nearby stall owners looked at Ye Chen with a completely different expression.

Yesterday, they had thought he was just a fool who might as well have "I'm here to find a bargain" written on his forehead. But now, he had turned into exactly the kind of big spender they dreamt of every day and night—a walking ATM!

Did they miss their chance?

"Boss, the payment's through! I'll wrap it up for you right away!"

Gone was the stall owner's earlier disdain. Now, with a big grin, he enthusiastically prepared to package the item.

"No need to wrap it."

Ye Chen picked up the string of Buddhist prayer beads directly.

At the same time, a middle-aged man and another man in his early thirties walked towards Ye Chen.

"Uncle Lu, do we really need to come to a place like this? For Grandpa's birthday, are you seriously suggesting I pick out a gift from here? This is so embarrassing! If word gets out, how will people not laugh at me? It's not like I can't afford a proper gift—why even bother?"

The younger man muttered as he walked.

"Jingshan, you still don't understand the old leader. He loves antique pieces, especially ones that can be used for daily enjoyment, but he doesn't like extravagant things. In his words, that's moral corruption. The old leader lived a frugal life, and if you buy him something expensive, do you believe he won't scold you for it? So, the best option is to come to this antique market, pick something that looks good and feels satisfying. If we're lucky enough to stumble upon a treasure, wouldn't that be even better?"

The middle-aged man chuckled as he explained.

The younger man, however, merely curled his lips in dismissal.

Though he didn't take it seriously, he chose not to argue further.