The crowd erupted in an uproar.
Jiang Yuxin and her mother were stunned into speechlessness.
Ji Shan, covering the half-swollen side of her face, her eyes wide with disbelief and fury, was utterly mortified.
She could never have imagined that this brute would dare to hit her in front of so many people.
Decades of pampered living had made her forget the harshness of the world.
An intense hatred surged through her as she spat venomously, "You… you dare hit me? I'll sue you until you're ruined!"
"You slut! You're the one who's so sneaky and vile. If you dare babble again, I'll rip your mouth open," Wang Dehai snarled, his eyes glaring.
Despite his rough exterior, he was sharp. How could he not see that Ji Shan had been a constant source of discord?
Her words were so cleverly spun that even Li Zhonglou's mother-in-law had been brainwashed.
But he was precisely the type of person who wouldn't bother with reason.
He had hit her, so what?
"You…" Ji Shan's face turned pale with fear, her voice abruptly cut short.
It was like a scholar encountering a soldier; there was no reasoning to be had.
Seeing the fierce glares from Wang Dehai and his men, she finally realized she had truly provoked someone formidable.
Her eloquence was useless here.
If she continued, her mouth might actually be ripped open.
She could only stare at Li Zhonglou, her heart seething with hatred.
"For the sake of you being my brother's mother-in-law, I, Wang Dehai, will give you a piece of advice: where you can be merciful, be merciful."
Wang Dehai's gaze shifted to Liu Zhiru, his words carrying an implicit threat, "Since my brother said he'll repay the money tomorrow, just wait one day."
"Don't let things get so tense among family."
"Otherwise, it'll be difficult in the future!"
A wave of murmurs swept through the onlookers. Many recognized Wang Dehai's name, and their expressions changed.
"Wang Dehai? Wasn't he the notorious gangster from Qin Zhou back in the day…"
"He got out of prison a few years ago. I heard he stopped doing bad things. I didn't expect it was him. This woman is truly out of luck today."
Wang Dehai's name had once been enough to quiet crying children in Qin Zhou.
Even though he had now abandoned his wicked ways and become a businessman, his lingering influence was still palpable.
Upon hearing his name, the onlookers who had come to watch the spectacle quickly dispersed.
People like him were unpredictable. If they were to get caught in the crossfire and get hurt, it would be sheer misfortune.
Liu Zhiru's face turned ashen. "Merciful? What mercy?" she thought.
But she dared not show her displeasure, fearing Wang Dehai's anger. With a forced smile, she said, "Li Zhonglou, for Yuxin's sake, I'll give you one more day!"
After speaking, she helped Ji Shan up and reluctantly left the hospital.
Only Jiang Yuxin remained standing there, unmoving.
Looking at Li Zhonglou, she asked with a complex expression, "Even at this point, why won't you divorce me?"
"Before, I thought it was for the money, but now…"
Today's events had sparked a flicker of reconsideration in her towards Li Zhonglou.
"It's nothing!"
Li Zhonglou suppressed his emotions and replied, "In my Li family, there is only widowhood, never divorce."
His reasons were unexplainable. Since he had already borne this burden, what was another moment of carrying it?
Hearing this, disappointment and disgust bloomed in Jiang Yuxin's eyes.
The slight change of heart that had just begun shattered completely.
Li Zhonglou had indeed changed.
He had become arrogant, selfish, and had even started associating with these underworld figures.
For such a flimsy reason, he was disregarding her father.
This left her utterly disappointed.
Jiang Yuxin took a deep breath and said coldly, "Do you think making friends with these kinds of 'big brothers' is real capability?"
"You are more pathetic now than before."
"You're no longer timid and submissive, but you've become conceited and arrogant!"
"The decision to divorce is mine, and it has nothing to do with my mother."
"Take care of yourself!" Jiang Yuxin said, turning on her heel and leaving.
Wang Dehai raised an eyebrow, "Brother, your wife has quite a temper!"
Li Zhonglou gave a wistful smile, "She has too deep a prejudice against me."
"Ah, take it slow. Every family has its own difficult scripture to read. Back then, my wife and I… Ah, never mind, never mind." Wang Dehai intended to offer some advice, but mentioning his wife brought him immense headache. "Let's go, I'll drive you to Donglin. I've got the items in the car."
"Right, Gangzi, you stay at the hospital and guard the entrance to my brother's mother's ward."
"If anyone else dares to cause trouble, beat them to death first!"
"Yes!" the tattooed youth responded.
Li Zhonglou knew his mother's ward location and got into the car with Wang Dehai.
As they sat in the car, he expressed his gratitude, "Old Wang, thank you for your trouble."
Wang Dehai was a man of rough appearance but meticulous attention to detail. Seemingly careless, his actions were always flawless.
He was on the right path, and it was certain he would become a powerful economic figure in the future.
By suppressing Ji Shan and having his men watch over his mother, he had removed all his worries.
However, after this incident, Li Zhonglou also realized that he had neglected his mother's safety.
Her surgery was tomorrow, and he couldn't afford to be careless at this time.
If Wang Dehai hadn't shown up today, he might have found it difficult to extricate himself.
"Brother, this is our first meeting, and you've already helped me so much."
Wang Dehai sighed, "I didn't get much education, but I value loyalty!"
"Besides, I have something to ask of you."
"Business is difficult these days, especially with the economic downturn this year, making life even harder. Now, everything depends on what I have here. Otherwise, my brothers and I will be begging on the streets."
"Becoming like this, it's almost a disservice to my ancestors," he said, a hint of fatigue appearing on his face.
As they chatted, Li Zhonglou learned that Wang Dehai had been imprisoned for assault in his early years. After his release, he decided to turn over a new leaf and gathered his former associates to start a catering business.
He should have been doing well after having a son in his middle age.
However, his son had been sickly since childhood, and doctors couldn't find the cause, requiring constant expensive medication.
All the money he had earned over the years had been poured into this bottomless pit.
The two million from last time was barely enough to cover the shortfall from the bank loan.
To ensure his son continued to receive medication, he had no choice but to sell his antiques again.
They arrived at Donglin Pawnshop.
Wang Dehai took three items out of the car.
One was a white porcelain Guanyin, lustrous and translucent, exuding great beauty.
A Hetian jade bangle made from mutton-fat white jade.
And a string of 108 prayer beads of 1.2-inch diameter, made ofYang Green ice-grade jade.
All of them were in excellent condition.
The porcelain Buddha was an antique. The other two were modern crafts. The jade material was top-notch, but they were not old.
However, such items were rarely brought to pawnshops. After all, gold had a price, but jade was priceless.
Pawnshop businesses primarily dealt with collateral like gold and real estate deeds. Antiques were just a small fraction.
Li Zhonglou stated frankly, "Mr. Wang, these three items cannot be mortgaged; they can only be sold."
"Unlike real estate or gold with fixed values, their worth depends entirely on my appraisal."
"Sell them! Brother, I trust you; you won't cheat me," Wang Dehai said without hesitation.
"The porcelain Buddha is fine. It's a Dehua white porcelain Guanyin from the Qianlong period, in perfect condition. It's worth around 500,000 yuan," Li Zhonglou appraised, nodding. "The Hetian white jade bangle, though made from mountain material, has good whiteness and oiliness. Overall, it has no cracks and can be worth about 300,000 yuan."
"The jadeite prayer beads are a bit lacking, but since the whole string is made of the same material, their individual value isn't high. As a string, I can offer 200,000 yuan."
"A total of 1 million yuan, what do you say?"
Wang Dehai's eyes gleamed upon hearing this, and he sighed, "To be honest, these three items were appraised a few years ago."
"They offered only 200,000 yuan in total. You're giving me five times as much! What more can I say?"
Li Zhonglou smiled and explained, "Finding treasure and buying and selling are two different concepts."
"If I had gone to your place to appraise them, I might not have even offered 200,000 yuan."
This transaction barely made any profit. Donglin would buy it and sell it to Lü Yunxu with a markup of tens of thousands.
After all, the auction needed something to substitute for the sweet white glaze.
It was a win-win-win situation.
Li Zhonglou made a call to Lin Ying and briefly explained the situation.
The reply he received was that he had full authority to make the decision.
Once the money was transferred, Wang Dehai's face was full of gratitude. "Brother, I can't thank you enough. When you have time, come to my house for dinner. My wife will cook for you personally!"
"Okay, I'll contact you in a couple of days." Li Zhonglou did not refuse.
Wang Dehai's house might have other hidden treasures.
He wasn't necessarily looking to find hidden gems; after all, Wang Dehai had helped him twice.
He just wanted to create some income for Donglin.
After seeing Wang Dehai off, Li Zhonglou began to rack his brain for ways to use his own 25,000 yuan to find hidden treasures.
Just now, it was about the shop's business. He was personally lacking funds.
Wu Hao needed money to assemble his team as soon as he recovered. He owed his senior sister a million yuan for her freedom. Now Liu Zhiru was asking for another 350,000 yuan.
If he didn't take the initiative, he could only wait for disaster to strike.
His senior sister had said he didn't need to be confined to the shop. He decided to tend the shop in the morning and hunt for treasures in the afternoon.
However, he had no idea where to start.
There was an antique market near the Confucian Temple in Qin Zhou. It was a mixed bag, and many shop owners lacked foresight, often selling items that were greatly undervalued.
In his previous life, he had practiced there and found many small treasures.
But the prices were not high, ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands.
Big treasures were rare and sought-after.
As it neared noon, a man with shifty eyes, a lewd expression, and a height of less than 1.6 meters swaggered into the shop.
Behind him followed a towering, iron-like brute who stood at least two meters tall.
The broad-set eyes of the brute made him seem unintelligent, but he was undoubtedly strong.
"Oh, the people have changed in three months."
The shorter man entered, surveyed the place, and his gaze landed on Li Zhonglou. He called out, "Are you the new appraiser? You're quite young. I'm here to redeem gold bars."
"Pawn ticket and ID." Li Zhonglou stood up to attend to him.
Redemption was the act of a pawner clearing the principal and interest of the pawn within the stipulated period to retrieve the original pawned item.
He took the pawn ticket and glanced at it. The pawner was Huang Yongshou, and the pawn date was June 22nd, just two days short of three months.
He found the sealed box containing four 1000-gram gold bars according to the inventory list.
"Principal 1,272,000, with a monthly management fee of 4.7%," Li Zhonglou calculated the price. "Redemption will be 1,451,352 yuan."
"What's the rush? Shouldn't I inspect the goods first?" Huang Yongshou said with a scornful smile and opened the sealed box to take out a gold bar.
He pulled out a hand drill and made a hole on the side of the gold bar to extract a sample.
His movements were nimble; he was clearly an old hand.
Soon, the short man withdrew the drill bit.
In the grooves of the drill bit, besides gold filaments, there were also some dark gray metal fragments.
Tungsten!
Li Zhonglou's eyes flickered, and he immediately recognized the origin of these metal threads, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
A gold-plated tungsten bar!
With gold and tungsten having similar densities, plated tungsten bars had always been a major problem for pawnshops.
It was a common tactic used by swindlers.
Usually, they were considered defaulted.
Yet, Huang Yongshou had come to redeem it and then exposed it himself as a tungsten-plated bar.
This was clearly an attempt to cause trouble!