Demons Beside You

“White Ma, where did you find the gold coin?”

Woof—

“Under the cliff,” White Ma said.

“Fali, let’s go look there.” Chen Zhao pulled Fali along.

There was a rocky beach at the edge of Angel Beach. A cliff loomed over it. It was more than 20 meters high.

The waves here were much bigger and there were abnormally-shaped rocks in the water, so few tourists dared to come here.

Chen Zhao and Fali came to the rocky beach while holding hands. They were cautious too.

But it was like flat land to White Ma and Black Ma. They jumped up and down on the rocks. Just then, White Ma seemed to find something. He sniffed the ground and then stuck his head into the water. A moment later, he floated up and ran to Chen Zhao. He opened his mouth and tossed another coin into Chen Zhao’s hands.

Chen Zhao and Fali exchanged glances. They couldn’t hide their joy. These two weren’t the type that treated money like dirt. Survival meant that they needed money.

Plus, they truly needed money right now. Chen Zhao patted White Ma. “Are there more?”

“Master, there are a bunch down there.”

“White Ma said that there are a lot in the water,” Chen Zhao said.

“That’s weird,” Fali said. “How come nobody discovered this before? Not a lot of people come, but there are some still adventurous ones who like the thrill. No one ever said that they found gold coins.”

“Maybe that recent storm brought it over? Or the ghost ship?”

Hearing “ghost ship,” Fali tossed the gold coins onto the ground. “Chen, will the things from the ghost ship be cursed? Like the cursed coin in the Pirates of the Caribbean?”

“Don’t worry. I already checked. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” If it was dangerous, Chen Zhao wouldn’t have taken Fali along. “It’s too dangerous to stand here. Fali, leave the beach. I’ll go down to sea with White Ma.”

“Be careful. The waves are big. If you hit the rocks, you’ll get hurt.”

Fali couldn’t help, so she just cautioned him and went to the beach to wait. Chen Zhao and White Ma went into the water. He found a few gold coins underwater too.

The coins were scattered and there weren’t many. Judging from the distribution, they’d been brought here by the current. It seemed that the coins had been blown over by the last storm.

Chen Zhao and White Ma found a dozen coins. He believed that there would be more under the seabed. He wouldn’t be able to find them though unless he put on diving gear and had White Ma search. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to dig the coins out of the soil.

He and White Ma returned to land. Chen Zhao opened his hands. “Fali, look.”

“Your friend said each coin can sell for $50,000?”

“Yeah, around that much.”

“That means that if we sell all this, we’ll have enough money to build the house?”

“And get you a new car.”

To be honest, Fali’s car was really old. Apparently, she’d bought it second-hand for $3,000 after she graduated. She’d used it for more than 10 years now. It was ancient.

Fali also complained usually that it kept having problems.

“There are 16 gold coins. Fali, do you want to keep one for the memory?”

“No, just sell it all,” Fali said.

Chen Zhao promised that nothing was wrong with them, but she was still worried that they would be cursed.

…

In the afternoon, Chen Zhao packed up all the coins and went straight to Mr. Doman’s house.

“Mr. Doman, these are the coins I showed you. Please take a look.”

“Just a second.”

Mr. Doman took out his appraisal tools, white gloves, pocket magnifying glass, and tweezers. Many of the coins were rusted. Chen Zhao was worried that this would affect the value.

Also, the craftsmanship was different from modern craftsmanship. It was obvious that these coins were crudely made.

“Mr. Chen, did you find these in the ocean?”

“Yes,” Chen Zhao replied honestly.

“Ten of these are preserved more completely. My suggestion is to sell them all to me according to the price we agreed to. The others are completely rusted. You can’t see the original design at all. You can melt it yourself and make some jewelry for your girlfriend.”

“Okay.”

Chen Zhao knew that gold coins were mainly about historical value. And that was mainly expressed by its design and pattern. If that was gone, the coin would lose its historical and collectible value.

Mr. Doman signed a check to Chen Zhao. He glanced at it. “How come it’s $900,000?”

“The $400,000 is your payment,” Mr. Doman said.

“But I haven’t finished my task yet.”

“It’s okay. I’m already satisfied with how Normans looks now. There are still 20 days before the deadline and she’s already lost around 50 pounds. Plus, after she started losing weight, her mental state has gotten better. I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done for Normans.”

“Okay, I’ll accept the check. I’ll go look for Normans now.”

“Okay, go on.”

…

“B*stard, you’re all smiley after seeing my dad. Did you get paid?”

“Is it obvious?” Chen Zhao touched his face.

“Super obvious.”

Just then, Chen Zhao’s phone rang. It was Rufford. “Chen, I have a race in L.A. this afternoon. Do you want to come?”

“It’s so sudden.”

“The organizers suddenly invited me. Apparently, three of the athletes were found to be using steroids. There aren’t enough athletes, so they want me to fill in.”

“Sure,” Chen Zhao agreed. “What about the tickets?”

‘I’ll have Mr. Bord wait for you at the door. How many do you want?”

“Two is fine.”

After he hung up, Normans asked, “Who was it? Are you going somewhere?”

“My friend who runs track has a race this afternoon in L.A. Want to go watch?”

“What about this afternoon’s exercise?”

“We’ll run to the stadium.”

“Which stadium?”

“L.A. Memorial Coliseum.”

“That’s around 30 miles from Beverly Hills. It’s on the other side of L.A! You want us to run there? The race will be over by the time we get there.”

“No, it’s at 5 p.m. and it’s only one now. There are four hours.”

“You like track and field?”

“No, I’m only going to cheer my friend on.”

“Fine. Your friend better not lose. Otherwise, it’ll be embarrassing for you.”