Chapter 10

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As someone entered, the old man lifted his head. Seeing Liu Yang and Xu Yan, he slowly put down his book and stood up, smiling gently with a deep and calm voice: "Young men, welcome. Is there anything you're looking for?"

Liu Yang cleared his throat: "Boss, hello! Um, we want to ask if you buy gold here?"

Hearing that the two young men were not there to buy anything, the boss raised his eyebrows slightly but did not seem particularly surprised. He nodded and said: "Of course, our shop also buys and sells gold and silver. Young men, do you have gold jewelry to sell?"

"Boss, we want to ask how much you buy gold for?"

The old man said politely: "Two hundred and sixty yuan per gram, but the price depends on the purity of the gold."

Xu Yan and Liu Yang exchanged glances, both nodding slightly. They had been asking around, and the gold shops along the way had only offered two hundred and fifty or two hundred and forty yuan per gram. This old man's offer was already the highest. Liu Yang's eyes gleamed with satisfaction, proud of his keen judgment of people.

Xu Yan carefully took out the gold ingot from his pocket: "Then, please appraise it for us, boss."

Seeing the gold ingot, the boss exclaimed, "A gold ingot? This style of gold is quite rare nowadays. Where did you find it?"

"A friend gave it to us, boss, can you check if it's genuine?"

The boss took a white handkerchief and carefully placed the gold ingot on the counter. Then, he took out a wooden box from under the counter and pulled out various tools: tweezers, a punch, a balance scale, a lighter, a magnifying glass, a lamp... Next, the boss did things that Xu Yan couldn't understand. He first examined the ingot with a magnifying glass, then poked it with tweezers, burned it with a lighter, and weighed it with the balance scale...

After about ten minutes of this, the boss finally put down the ingot and slowly wiped his hands with a towel. Under the anxious gazes of the two men, he spoke calmly: "No problem, it's genuine, and it's of very high purity. Are you looking to sell it?"

Hearing this, Xu Yan and Liu Yang felt a great relief—finally, they could turn it into money!

"That's right, boss, we want to sell it. Can you buy it?"

"The gold is genuine, but our Qin's Shop is a century-old business, and we always follow the law. We don't deal with items of unknown origin—do you have any legal proof of where the gold came from? Receipts or invoices?"

As he spoke, the old man looked at them sharply, his eyes piercing like a police officer's. Xu Yan and Liu Yang felt uncomfortable and instinctively lowered their heads. Under that stern gaze, they felt a sense of guilt, as if the gold really was stolen.

Xu Yan stammered, "The gold was given to us by a friend, and we don't have any proof..."

The old man shook his head regretfully: "Without legal proof, there's nothing I can do. Take it back."

He sighed and handed the gold back to Xu Yan, saying earnestly: "Young men, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but you're still young. If you've made a mistake, it's not too late to correct it. But don't make the same mistake again. Quick money through dishonest means may seem appealing, but if you continue down this path, you'll waste your youth and ruin your lives."

Xu Yan was taken aback, then realized: the old man really thought they were selling stolen goods. He felt a mix of frustration and amusement, but also a touch of gratitude—how long had it been since he heard such sincere and caring words? In this era of declining morals, it was rare to find such an upright old man who still adhered to traditional values and tried to guide and save young people who had gone astray.

This showed that the boss was a rare and trustworthy elder. Dealing with him, they could feel at ease.

While Xu Yan was thinking about how to convince him, the fat Liu Yang spoke up: "Boss, don't worry. The gold ingot doesn't have a receipt, but we guarantee it's legitimate. It's an antique passed down from our friend's ancestors, recently found during the renovation of an old house. He gave it to us, it's definitely not stolen or looted."

"Look, there are some words on the bottom of the ingot: 'Cast by the Ming Dynasty Ministry of Revenue.' See? That's the proof! It's clearly an antique, how could it have a receipt?"

The boss frowned, took the magnifying glass, and examined the bottom of the ingot, nodding slightly: "Young man, the words you mentioned are indeed there, 'Cast by the Ming Dynasty Ministry of Revenue'—hmm, could this really be an antique?"

The boss looked up, his eyes showing a hint of curiosity: "Where did you find this?"

"Old man, rest assured, we wouldn't do anything illegal. Do we look like bad guys?"

The boss chuckled, waving his paper fan: "I can't really tell. But little fatty, you look quite like a bad guy."

Liu Yang: "......"

"Just a joke, looking at your demeanor, you don't seem like troublemakers, more like students..."

Liu Yang gave a thumbs-up: "Old man, your eyes are sharp, we're both students at Shudu University!"

Shudu University, in Shudu Province, is a top-notch university, and students who get in are all above the first-tier admission line, with a good reputation in Jincheng. The old man clearly knew this and nodded in understanding: "So you're students at Shudu University, no wonder. Well, young men, since you've come to my shop, it's a sign of fate. You're students, so you shouldn't be bad guys—this time, I'll take a risk and make an exception for you. I'll buy the ingot, but since you don't have a receipt, I can only offer two hundred and thirty yuan per gram. Are you willing to sell it?"

"Two hundred and thirty? Thirty less?" The two men looked at each other: "Old man, that's a bit too low, isn't it?"

Seeing their disappointed faces, the gold shop owner smiled and shook his head: "Young men, taking in gold of unknown origin is risky. Look around the whole Chang'an Street, can you find any shop that would buy this? And I'm not just buying it; I need to register your IDs. If the police find this and I can't explain its origin, I'll be in trouble."

Xu Yan and Liu Yang whispered to each other for a while and finally agreed: although it was thirty less, the gold shop gave them a sense of trust, and they didn't have the energy to go through the haggling process with another shop.

The price settled, the next steps were simple. The gold shop owner registered Xu Yan and Liu Yang's IDs and student cards, weighed the gold, which totaled two hundred and three grams, and the total price was over forty-six thousand yuan. He asked Xu Yan: "Cash, check, or transfer?"

Xu Yan scratched his head: "Cash, please."

"Ha, you're not afraid of the trouble. Wait a moment, the shop doesn't have that much cash, I'll have someone bring it."

The boss made a call, and about five or six minutes later, a dark-faced man in a T-shirt came in, carrying a paper bag. The boss led the man to the back room, whispered to him, and then came back.

The man said: "Uncle Qin, I've delivered the money, I'll be going now!" Before leaving, he glanced at Xu Yan and Liu Yang, avoiding Xu Yan's gaze when he looked back—his eyes made Xu Yan feel uneasy.

"Here, young men, take it and count it in front of me." The boss smiled and handed over a paper bag. Xu Yan opened it to find several bundles of red bills. He thanked the boss and, with Liu Yang, counted the money, which totaled forty-six thousand nine hundred yuan. The boss then used a bill counter to verify the amount, which was correct.

The boss smiled: "Now, can one of you write a receipt for me?"

Xu Yan wrote the receipt and took the paper bag of money. Thinking of Zhu Youxiang's request to help her exchange the gold, he asked: "Old man, I have a question. If I have more gold ingots like this, can you buy them too?"

"Oh?" The boss pushed his glasses up, his eyes showing a hint of curiosity. He said slowly: "You have more? How many?"

"I'm not sure, but probably ten to twenty."

The boss looked Xu Yan up and down, then smiled: "We're in business, and if you bring goods, as long as the price is right, why wouldn't I buy them? The more, the better! Once is a stranger, twice is a friend. Next time you come, we'll be friends, and I can offer you two hundred and forty yuan per gram. If the quantity is large and the purity is high, we can negotiate the price."

He handed a business card to each of them: "This is my card. If you have good items, feel free to contact me, and we can negotiate the price."

Xu Yan and Liu Yang looked at the card and saw that the old man's name was Qin Yue. The card was not just a simple name but listed a long list of titles: "Chairman of Guangya Trading Company," "Chairman of Zhonglong International Trade Group," "President of the Southeast Asia Economic and Trade Association," and more, over twenty companies, which left the two inexperienced students amazed and unable to imagine how one person could hold so many titles.

Seeing their surprised expressions, Qin Yue chuckled: "Don't laugh, don't laugh. It's just the way things are nowadays, and I can't avoid it. To make a living, I had to create some hype. Don't take it too seriously."

"Ha, Chairman Qin..."

"Ah, don't take those titles too seriously. If you don't mind, just call me Uncle Qin. Anyway, if you have good items, feel free to contact me."

Xu Yan and Liu Yang, happy and satisfied, nodded and left the shop.

Watching their backs, Qin Yue examined the gold ingot in his hand, a cold smile appearing on his face: the two students claimed the ingot was found during the renovation of an old house, but Qin Yue didn't believe a word of it.

Two inexperienced young men, somehow getting their hands on gold ingots worth millions, and secretly selling one—this was what Qin Yue believed.

"Judging by their nervousness, this batch of gold is probably illegal. They look very inexperienced and don't seem to have any connections or background..."

To Qin Yue, a powerful figure in the Jincheng Xinxinqu underworld, this was a golden opportunity for a black market deal, and it would be a sin to let it pass.

The only thing that puzzled Qin Yue was: where did the gold come from?

"Recently, there haven't been any major gold heists. No gold shops or banks have been robbed... Or did they steal from a gold shop's vault, and no one knows yet?"

That didn't make sense either. Banks and gold shops store gold bars and ingots, not this kind of gold ingot... Or is it a special craft from a gold shop? But why would it have the words 'Cast by the Ming Dynasty Ministry of Revenue'?"

Could it be that he was wrong, and the two young men really found a treasure or an ancient tomb?

But that didn't make sense either. A gold ingot that had been buried for hundreds of years would be very different from a newly cast one. How could he have made such a mistake?

The gold was very new, cast within the past year, with sharp edges and no oxidation or earthy smell. It couldn't have been buried underground.

This seemed simple on the surface, but to Qin Yue, with his extensive underworld experience, it was full of mysteries. The more he thought about it, the more strange it became.

However, this did not shake his resolve: "These two young men are very inexperienced and naive. They're so happy over a few tens of thousands of yuan, they must not have any significant background—still, this is too suspicious. For safety, I should investigate them first."

Qin Yue took out his phone from the drawer and dialed a number: "Xigou, they've left. Send someone to investigate their background, see who they are... Yes, they're both students at Shudu University, one is Liu Yang, the other is Xu Yan. Find out what you can and let me know."

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