Chapter 10: A Chest of Leather Coats, Ten Thousand Taels of Gold

Unfortunately, this customer didn’t manage to buy their box right away. Even more people surged forward, surrounding Shen Yuequn, waving their cash in the air and demanding to buy a box.

The worst you’d find in these boxes was a genuine leather wallet, and there really were pairs of leather shoes inside—no matter what, you couldn’t lose with this box; only a fool wouldn’t buy one. So, more than a dozen people crowded around Shen Yuequn, and in just a few minutes, he sold over twenty blind boxes.

Meanwhile, something very interesting was happening: another ring of people was forming around the first. The core, the first ring, was right up by the tricycle—those who had bought the boxes, about a dozen or so, with more joining every moment. The second ring was made up of curious onlookers. They weren’t there to buy, but to watch those who had bought their boxes. There were more people watching the unboxing than buying the boxes themselves.

The buyers, for their part, were thoroughly enjoying the attention and the subtle feeling of being the center of the crowd. Almost no one chose to take their box home to open it; everyone opened theirs on the spot, making the atmosphere more and more lively.

“Ha! It’s a wallet!” When someone opened their box to find a wallet, a burst of laughter erupted, leaving the wallet-winner a bit disgruntled. Muttering to himself, he went back to buy another box.

“Shoes! It’s a pair of shoes!” Suddenly, a cry of surprise rang out—a customer had opened a box and found a box of leather shoes inside.

“Wow, that’s the second pair of shoes!”

“I got shoes too! I found a pair of shoes!” The man who’d just drawn a wallet, and then, upset, bought another box, now shouted with excitement, thinking he too had found a pair of shoes.

Two pairs of shoes appeared less than ten seconds apart, nearly simultaneously, leaving the onlookers stunned and calculating: Could there really be that many shoes in these boxes?

Many of the onlookers suddenly felt that just watching was pointless. Why not buy a box themselves? After all, it was only ten yuan, and at the very least, they’d get a wallet!

After so many live unboxings, the crowd was convinced that there was nothing in the boxes worth less than a wallet. Buying a box was a guaranteed win.

So the crowd began to flow. More than twenty people from the outer circle squeezed in, waving ten-yuan notes and loudly demanding to buy a blind box.

Curiously, most of the people already in the inner circle were reluctant to leave. They looked enviously at the two who had found leather shoes and were now showing them off, even if the shoes didn’t fit all that well.

They thought that if they bought just one more box, they too could find a pair of shoes. Then they’d be the ones to profit.

Many customers decided to buy a second box. For a moment, the inner circle was packed to bursting, and Shen Yuequn was nearly knocked over twice.

“Everyone, line up! If you’re a real man, get in line! If you don’t, I won’t sell you a box!” With the crowd growing, Shen Yuequn had to get people to queue. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know who to sell to first—every second, a dozen hands thrust ten-yuan notes at him.

This was where the brilliance of the ten-yuan price became clear. In 2001, ten yuan was no longer the large, precious bill it had been in the early '90s when a certain Boss Jia arrived. Now, it was an amount any ordinary family could spend on a whim—the market could handle it. At the same time, it wasn’t like the fifty-nine-yuan blind boxes of later years. Realistically, in 2001, no one would pay fifty-nine yuan for a blind box—the market would slap you down for that.

Best of all, ten yuan was so convenient—there was no need to make change. Everyone had a ten-yuan note in their pocket, so all they had to do was hand one over. It was even easier than mobile payment.

Even so, the queue soon grew to more than twenty people, and the crowd of onlookers swelled to over a hundred. Even the security guards and patrol officers nearby were drawn in. They had come to keep order, but now, while maintaining the peace, they watched the unboxing with curious eyes.

“Damn, another wallet! That’s five wallets in a row for me!”

“I got shoes!”

“I got a belt!”

One box after another was opened, revealing its true contents. Some clever folks began to keep a secret tally, and they found that out of more than thirty boxes, three pairs of shoes had appeared. That meant, on average, there was one pair of shoes for every ten boxes—and the market price for a pair of leather shoes was at least a hundred yuan!

What did this mean? It meant that not only was it impossible to lose money, but it was a surefire way to make a profit. For a hundred yuan, you could get a pair of shoes and nine wallets—no matter how you looked at it, you came out ahead. If you were lucky, you might even get two pairs of shoes, making you rich beyond belief.

So, more savvy buyers jumped into the queue, their eyes shining at the sight of the blind boxes, cursing the slow pace of those ahead.

Suddenly, the wailing of a child rose up from the crowd, loud and pitiful, accompanied by the angry scolding of his parents. Everyone turned to look—a little boy was throwing a fit, insisting on a blind box, but his parents refused. So he cried.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal—most parents would just give the kid a spanking. But this child was especially stubborn, unfazed by his parents’ threats. He ran over to the tricycle, lay down on the ground, and refused to get up, screaming that he wanted a blind box to play with.

This only added to the excitement of the scene. The onlookers laughed and teased the parents, saying, “The kid’s crying so hard—just buy him a box! It’s only ten yuan!”

“But he’s just a kid! He can’t use a wallet, or wear the shoes or belt. What’s the point?” The parents were exasperated. If not for the crowd, they’d have dragged the kid off and given him a good scolding.

“Fine, just buy one. I’ll treat it as getting myself a new wallet.” The father finally gave in, joining the end of the queue. When it was his turn, he let his stubborn son choose a box.

“Dad, open it for me!” the boy demanded. The father, resigned, opened the box and muttered, “Ten yuan isn’t expensive, but I already have so many wallets. I really don’t need another.”

He tore open the box and shook it, but nothing fell out.

“Huh!” Several onlookers gasped. Until now, whether it was a belt, wallet, or shoes, the contents were always smaller than the box and would fall out easily—unless the item inside was large, almost as big as the box itself, just a bit smaller.

“Damn!” The father struggled mightily to get the package out. At last, he managed to pull out a large box, which seemed to have a picture of clothing on it.

Suddenly, the crash of a gong exploded over the scene. Shen Yuequn had somehow produced a battered brass gong and struck it with all his might. Then, using a loudspeaker, he shouted, “Congratulations to this young man for unboxing a genuine export-quality full-leather coat worth two thousand yuan!”

His voice rang out across the entire market, as though the whole city of SY could hear that thunderous announcement.