Chapter 6: Pawnshop

  Chen Congyu is always generous when giving children pocket money.

  Every month, Chen Yi can get at least tens of thousands of yuan in pocket money. During the Spring Festival and other festivals, there are additional items. He and his older brother are relatively low-key and always have leftover money.

  Little sister is another extreme, her money is not used to buy various electronic devices, but is spent on learning from masters, Chen's group programmers are mostly brought down by her, some friends who know each other on forums can't withstand her silver bullet attack, and have to pass on a few moves.

  Such a consumption pattern is not enough for just pocket money, so Chen Rongxi often borrows from his older brothers.

  If it were before, Chen Yi might have been persuaded by Chen Rongxi, but now the situation is different. He shook his head and said: "I don't understand what you're saying, but gambling is risky. I won't give you 100,000 yuan right now."

  "Second brother..." Little sister's voice was drawn out as she shook his arm.

  Chen Yi didn't bother her anymore and stood up to head towards his own house, saying: "Wait for a few days, when you really want it, come find me again."

  A small delaying tactic, with the help of that magical subway, might just have a practical effect.

  "Foshan game platform ah, Foshan..." The little sister was chattering behind, with a look of entering the treasure mountain but leaving empty-handed.

  Two people were tangled together, Chen Mu's tone was affectionate: "You two siblings, what are you sneaking a peek at?"

  Chen Yi involuntarily looked down and indeed saw the beautiful female inspector, as well as her snow-white, bulging breasts.

  He blinked, finding himself suddenly in a predicament: either tell the truth, betraying his plan to peep at the beauty - which would definitely be criticized by his mother, or lie, admitting that he was peeking at the beauty.

  It seems that lies are more believable than truths.

  Little sister shouted "hula" and jumped onto her mom's body like a rabbit, using her unique way of calling to release Chen Yi: "Mommy, I'm looking for second brother to chat."

  "Playing hooky?" Ms. Fang Man-yu keenly observed the subtleties, casting a distant glance at Chen Yi without probing further into the matter of sneaking a peek.

  Chen Rongxi twisted his body, coquettishly saying: "I've been in school for half a month now, tomorrow is the weekend."

  "Then you ran away today?" Chen's mother said with a smile, pulling her daughter off her body and saying: "I have to go out for a while, you guys play by yourselves at home, don't disturb your father from working in the living room."

  "Got it." The little sister responded with a pretended tone of grievance.

  "Mom, it's so late, what are you going out for?"

  Madam Chen didn't respond, waved her hand and went downstairs.

  With renewed confidence, Chen Yi thought for a moment and followed her, saying in tandem: "Mom, I'll go with you."

  "Are you going to the company with me too?" Chen's mother glared at him but didn't show any displeasure.

  Chen Yi smiled and said, "Dad is at home, what are you doing going to the company?"

  Ms. Fang Manwei is one of the top philanthropists in Jiangning, and her charitable foundation appears almost every month in major newspapers and TV stations at a considerable cost. Of course, the role played by the foundation is also extraordinary, and it can be said that it is a classic example of using small money to make big money. Not only did it open up the market for the Chen family and attract attention, but it also reduced countless troubles.

  Such a large foundation made Fang Manyi have to devote himself full-time and could not afford to hold a part-time job in the group. Chen Yi was clear on this point, so he knew that when his father was not around, his mother's personal identity was meaningless in managing a standardized company.

  There was a beautiful policewoman in the living room, so Chen's mother couldn't say anything. The two of them quietly left the room, and only then did she let out a sigh and say: "A Yi, you understand the situation at home, your father and I will handle it, you and your sister just need to study hard, your older brother is the same."

  Chen Yi's elder brother was in the army and would likely be implicated as well.

  "It's inconvenient for you to be alone, I'll accompany you." Chen Yi was more serious than ever in wanting to participate in this dramatic change. He firmly believed that even if he couldn't solve the problem now, there was still a great possibility of finding a way to solve it.

  Thinking of this, he pinched his backpack tightly behind him.

  Fang Man-yi saw his serious attitude and couldn't help but say: "Since you want to go, then go, but don't make a sound later."

  Chen Yi was overjoyed and said "good", then asked: "Where are we going?"

  "Pawnshop."

  Chen Yi was stunned, and when he came back to his senses, his mother had already disappeared.

  The tax bureau's inspector, Miss, was still sitting on the sofa, discussing something with Chen Zongyu. The latter's eyebrows occasionally furrowed, and it seemed that he had indeed encountered some trouble.

  Hesitating on the stairs for a moment, Chen Yi boldly took out a deep red third-level intelligence scroll and tore it open with force.

  At the same time, his fingers drew three circles in the air, vaguely pointing at his father.

  The scroll "popped" and shattered into powder, disappearing without a trace. Looking from afar, on the left hand's tiger mouth, there were twinkling flashes of light that suddenly appeared.

  "It seems to be working." Chen Yizheng let out a sigh of relief, while Liu Xiyu raised her head thoughtfully and looked up at the top.

  Chen Yi's head immediately withdrew.

  Liu Xinyu didn't see anything and suspiciously looked around, still nothing was found.

  "Miss Liu?" Chen Congyu, who had obtained the third-level intelligence scroll buff, felt a clarity in his mind and flipped through the accounts he had looked at before with his left hand, saying: "Allow me to re-explain this part of the content..."

  Liu Xinyu couldn't help but turn her head around, but her puzzled emotions didn't decrease in the slightest.

  Chen Yi found that after releasing the scroll, his father was unaware, Wang Weigang at the door was unaware, and his little sister upstairs was also unaware. Only Liu Xiyu's expression was abnormal.

  "It's kind of strange." he thought silently.

  At this time, doing something within one's power can at least alleviate some of the pressure on parents.

  Ran out of the door, a familiar Mercedes-Benz happened to pass by, Chen Yi happily stopped it, looking like a spring outing.

  Madam Chen couldn't help but laugh and said after he came up: "You don't seem worried?"

  "Worried. Is the situation that bad?" Chen Yi tried to appear relaxed, but in fact, he was much more relaxed than his mother had imagined.

  Needless to say, the subway that connects the magical world has been a huge help.

  "350 million yuan in taxes must be paid immediately," she said, pointing to her bag and adding, "The things inside are worth at least 50 million, so don't worry."

  She still has unfinished words, and there is a tax of 3.5 million to be paid, those who look for trouble can still find trouble, 1.5 million is not enough to grease the wheels.

  On the other hand, the most serious problem faced by the company is the drying up of cash flow. If the bank does not provide a loan again, it will be impossible to hold on no matter what.

  The problem of taxation is no longer just a matter of money, otherwise, there would be no need for the appearance of tax inspectors.

  She skipped the most difficult part and said with a refreshed spirit: "I haven't spent last year's lucky money yet..."

  "You keep it yourself."

  Fang Man-yi said with a smile on her face.

  Mercedes-Benz slowly drove into a small courtyard, where you can see evergreen cypress and pine trees. There are two security guards at the gate, and after entering the iron gate, you can see more.

  "Isn't this place quite remote?" Chen Yi asked.

  "Close to the sea, it's easy to get on a boat." Chen Mu explained and slowly stopped the car.

  This is the warehouse of the pawnshop.

  The boss looks very old, but his footsteps are agile, his body is healthy, especially a pair of eyes that shine surprisingly bright.

  He invited the mother and son in, then silently poured tea for them.

  The teapot is made of purple clay, the tea leaves are Longjing, and the old man's movements are elegant and orderly, with a strong flavor of the Way of Tea.

  After drinking tea for 10 minutes, the dizziness from driving far away has completely disappeared, and the refreshing tea leaves have made people gradually relax.

  "Ah, Mrs. Chen," said the boss, finally speaking up, "I hear you've brought some things with you?"

  Fang Man'ui nodded slightly and took out a jewelry box from her bag.

  The box was new, but the jewelry inside was all too familiar to Chen Yi. They were the ones his mother used to wear often. His heart skipped a beat as he didn't want to continue looking and stood up, pacing around the room.

  This is the center of the pawnshop, and what's on display in the room isn't just decorations, but more often than not, "dead collateral" - that is, items customers have failed to redeem by the deadline.

  As a business operator of a pawnshop, it naturally has to be resold at a price that is several percentage points lower than similar products on the market.

  Chen Yi couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, and walked around the large room twice before slowly stopping in front of a cabinet displaying porcelain.

  Due to his grandfather's obsession with being a family of scholars, the Chen family had bought many expensive porcelain pieces before, so he knew a thing or two about them.

  The pawnshop's collection of porcelain was a mixed bag, with the well-known and high-quality items mostly being sent to auction houses, leaving behind either mid-range, decent antique porcelain or cheap, unidentifiable pieces that even appraisers couldn't be sure about.

  A heavily bruised incense burner caught his attention. Its full name was Green Land Powder Color Depicting Gold Inlaid Hollow Floral Pattern Incense Burner, only 30 cm in height, with a plump body, as if it had been beaten up by someone.

  Chen Yi found it somewhat amusing, and when he looked at the price again, he couldn't help but click his tongue in dismay.

  For an absolute broken pot, a price of 800,000 is too shocking.

  The boss who handed the job to the appraiser heard the sound, rubbed his neck and walked over, smiling: "Interested in ceramics? This object is not simple, it was used in the Qing palace, if it wasn't fake, the price would be 10 times higher."

  "Is this fake?" Chen Yi asked strangely. Such an obvious wound, what's the point of faking it.

  The boss smiled and said: "It's not all fake, but look at the second piece under the bottleneck?"

  "Is the color lighter?" It's not just lighter, if it weren't for the spotlight, Chen Yi wouldn't have noticed such a small flaw.

  "That's right." The boss smiled: "Because it was repaired, I thought the fragments were all real at first, but unexpectedly this piece revealed its flaws and turned out to be artificially aged. Just because of this one piece, everyone suspected that there were more fake fragments, so a multi-million dollar thing became worth only tens of thousands."

  "If they were all genuine, it would be worth millions?" Chen Yi's expression was somewhat strange.

  "At least." The boss said affirmatively, "This incense burner is top-notch in terms of its shape and history. Although it's broken, the repair is perfect except for that one piece."

  Chen Yi stroked his chin thoughtfully.

  The boss said, "The things I've put out here all have some flaws, so the prices are all lowered to the minimum. If you make a mistake and overpay by ten or twenty times, it's not uncommon."

  He has said this many times before. Many people bet that he would make a mistake, and then bought the item. In fact, an appraiser who has been in the business for decades, how could he easily miss it?

  However, Chen Yi's idea was quite different.

  ……