Chapter 4: Surely You’re Not Planning to Rob a Jewelry Store

These gold, jewels, and jade pieces clearly showed that Cen Junfei had been rather blunt and careless in collecting them; some of the necklace chains were even tangled together... Yun Zhi briefly sorted them by category: piles of gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, gemstones, jade... The heaviest quantities were gold, silver, and jade.

Most of these items had been gathered by Cen Junfei from jewelry stores’ storefronts. Although the quality of the gems and jade was rather ordinary, the sheer volume was impressive! Among them was an imperial green jade bangle, with excellent color and quality—smooth, translucent, and clearly not an ordinary piece.

Cen Junfei said it came from the safe of a wealthy villa owner. The safe contained many valuable things, but since several people were scavenging at the time, he only managed to claim this one item.

Opportunities to acquire goods for zero cost during the apocalypse were numerous, but most of the good stuff ended up in the hands of those powerful elites. Once Cen Junfei had Yun Zhi buy daily necessities for him, she could trade with those elites.

Yun Zhi carefully took out the imperial green jade bangle separately. If it was genuine, Tao Qi’s pawnshop wouldn’t be able to handle it; it would have to go to auction to fetch a high price.

After confirming Tao Qi was free on WeChat, she called him via video. Tao Qi initially thought Yun Zhi wanted to show him the rare stamp again.

As soon as the call connected, his loud voice rang out: “Sister Yun, I’ve contacted one expert who knows about stamp authentication, but the other one’s not available... Wait, what’s all this? Gold, silver, jewelry! Where did you get all these good things?”

What made Tao Qi speechless was that despite having so many valuable items, Yun Zhi still laid them on the floor tiles, using milk tea shop flyers as padding... If he didn’t know Yun Zhi wouldn’t waste his time with fakes, he might have thought these were counterfeit!

So many gold and silver jewels casually piled up looked like they were bought wholesale from a two-yuan store!

Tao Qi clutched his chest in distress: “You haven’t gone crazy with poverty and started robbing jewelry stores, have you? Sis, we can’t do anything illegal!”

Yun Zhi replied, “A friend of a friend owns a jewelry store. Their family had some misfortune and everyone passed away, leaving only these belongings. They entrusted me to quickly liquidate the items. Don’t worry, no stealing or robbing, definitely legal! Tao Ge, do you want to take them?”

Yun Zhi knew that trying to sell such a large amount of obvious jewelry from a store, whether in one big batch or multiple small batches, would draw attention. It was better to hand everything to Tao Qi.

His pawnshop maintained long-term partnerships with several jewelry stores.

Compared to the things Yun Zhi’s family had him sell before, this batch of gold, silver, and jewels was valuable, but not excessively so.

Tao Qi, as a pawnbroker and middleman, followed the rule of not asking too many questions. As long as the source was legal, he was at ease.

He said, “Of course I’ll take them! I’m at the shop now. Bring the items over, and I’ll pay you the highest buyback price.”

Then he changed his mind before she could reply: “Wait, send me your location, I’ll come pick you up! I’m afraid you might get robbed on the way!”

Yun Zhi was speechless: “I’m just putting these in a few plastic bags and taking a shared electric scooter. Who would rob me?”

Tao Qi clutched his chest again. But as a miser, the thought of making a big profit soon made him grin widely: “I’m not coming to pick you up—I’m coming for the treasures that will soon belong to me! Anyway, send me your location immediately! I’m on my way.”

Then, he hung up.

Yun Zhi: ...

Tao Qi’s style was still so fiery and impulsive. It was almost noon, near lunchtime—couldn’t he wait until the afternoon?

---

Still, Yun Zhi was anxious herself, eager to liquidate the goods quickly. Her two major clients, Tang Panpan and Cen Junfei, who had paid in advance, still hadn’t eaten enough. She could skip a meal without issue.

Yun Zhi knew quite a few middlemen, and Tao Qi was the closest. He was a decent guy, principled, and loyal.

He knew she was struggling financially and always gave her the highest buyback prices or helped find customers who offered better deals.

Overall, Tao Qi was reliable.

Of course, if he tried to cheat her, she could always store the items in her personal space.

She sent her location.

Tao Qi: “Okay, not far. Wait for me twenty minutes.”

Yun Zhi told the leader of the online comment group that she had an emergency and couldn’t continue working in the afternoon. She organized screenshots of the comments she had already posted and emailed them to the employer’s work address, planning to settle payment once confirmed.

After a morning spent fiercely rebutting online trolls, Yun Zhi had earned 88 yuan with tears of effort! It was much easier than handing out flyers in a mascot costume, though such jobs were rare.

After wrapping up the online army’s work, Yun Zhi packed the roughly sorted gold, silver, jewels, and jade into several plastic bags, then placed those bags into a large kraft paper bag.

Since the imperial green jade bangle was more valuable, she first stored it in her space. If this batch of ordinary treasures sold well, she would then take it out, concealed in her canvas shoulder bag.

Just as Yun Zhi reached the community gate, Tao Qi arrived driving a Wuling Hongguang.

Yun Zhi: ...

Knowing Tao Qi well, she was sure he had at least several small goals and a net worth in the hundreds of millions, yet he drove a Wuling Hongguang?

And he still had the nerve to complain about her using flyers to cushion rare stamps and jewelry!

Tao Qi looked roguishly handsome and had a somewhat carefree demeanor.

He was displeased: “Sis, what’s with that look? I’m picking up a customer, not chasing girls. What’s wrong with driving a Wuling Hongguang? My Land Rover’s in for routine maintenance since yesterday!”

The Wuling Hongguang was bought for the shop’s convenience in transporting large goods.

Yun Zhi said “Oh” and, seeing the back had seats, got in the rear.

As for the front passenger seat, it was generally reserved for close acquaintances; if there was space in the back, she wouldn’t sit up front.

Seeing the large kraft paper bag filled to the brim placed casually at her feet, Tao Qi twitched his mouth.

He didn’t rush to inspect the bag’s contents but reminded Yun Zhi to fasten her seatbelt in the back.

Yun Zhi had been to Tao Qi’s pawnshop several times. Once, she encountered a disheveled woman causing a scene, who was soon arrested by the police.

Curious, Yun Zhi asked Tian Tian, the familiar front desk clerk, what had happened.

It wasn’t a secret; many people knew. Tian Tian told her the story.

Apparently, their boss Tao Qi had a childhood sweetheart whom he had liked for many years. She was a rich and beautiful socialite, but Tao Qi was insecure about being an unloved illegitimate son of the Tao family and never confessed his feelings.

When his sweetheart was in college, she was deceived by a charming but poor man and married him soon after graduation. On their wedding day, she died in a car accident...

Tao Qi discovered that his sweetheart had found out her husband was having an affair with her best friend! On their wedding night, the husband made an excuse to visit the hospital to see the mistress, who was pretending to have a miscarriage. Enraged, the sweetheart rushed to the hospital to catch them, but crashed on the way.

Tao Qi then went on a rampage, ruining the scumbag husband and mistress. He got the husband fired, destroyed their reputations among family and friends, and the mistress’s unborn child was lost when the husband pushed her during their fight.

As for the sweetheart’s inheritance, they never received a single cent, and Tao Qi ended up losing everything in the process.

---

The disgraced and penniless couple occasionally came to the shop to cause trouble.

This showed that Tao Qi was a man who valued loyalty and emotions deeply.

Yun Zhi was a little curious whether the scumbag and mistress still caused trouble but didn’t want to pry into painful matters. She quietly fastened her seatbelt.

Tao Qi drove steadily, stopping and yielding whenever possible.

Soon, they arrived at Miracle Pawnshop.

The front desk clerk was the familiar Tian Tian.

She greeted with a bright smile: “Miss Yun, hello.”

Then she looked at Tao Qi: “Boss, Master Chen and Master Liu are waiting upstairs in the office. They came after lunch.”

The two masters were jewel and jade appraisers who frequently cooperated with the pawnshop.

Tao Qi said, “I haven’t eaten lunch with Sister Yun yet. Order two fast meals.”

Tian Tian quickly fetched some flyers from nearby fast food restaurants and handed them to Yun Zhi: “Miss Yun, take a look and pick whatever you want. They’ll prepare it and have the waiter bring it over. It’s faster than delivery and tastes decent.”

Tao Qi grumbled and gave Tian Tian a playful head knock: “Why didn’t you ask your boss what he wants?”

Tian Tian was the daughter of Tao Qi’s mother’s cousin. Before Tao Qi returned to the Tao family as a child, he had lived at Tian Tian’s house for several years. The cousins got along well.

Tian Tian rolled her eyes: “Obviously! You always order the dishes Ms. Mu Xue likes.”

The mention of “Mu Xue” instantly cooled the atmosphere.

Tao Qi snorted: “I’m heading upstairs first. Yun Zhi, come up once you’ve ordered.”

When Yun Zhi heard the name “Mu Xue,” she suddenly thought of the member in the Time Traveler chat group who had only posted twice but with great authority—Mu Xue, who had traveled to the eerie world!

Following Tian Tian’s recommendation, Yun Zhi chose a sweet and sour pork ribs meal.

Tian Tian, familiar with Tao Qi’s tastes, ordered tomato beef brisket for him and also got sweet and sour pork ribs for herself.

After Tian Tian hung up the order call, Yun Zhi asked, “Tian Tian, who exactly is this Mu Xue?”

Tian Tian lowered her voice: “Oh, the one I told you about before? My cousin’s longtime crush.”

Seeing Tao Qi playfully knocking her head in front of Yun Zhi, it was clear they had a good relationship, and Tian Tian no longer called him “boss” so formally.

Yun Zhi was surprised to learn that Tian Tian and Tao Qi were cousins, which explained why she dared to joke about the boss behind his back—well, with just a little respect.

Yun Zhi asked, “Which ‘Mu’ is it?”

No need to ask about ‘Xue’—there was only one character suitable as a girl’s name: “Xue” meaning "snow."

Tian Tian said, “It’s the ‘Mu’ from ‘bathe’—a beautiful name and a cool, elegant woman. Such a pity. If only Mu Xue had liked my cousin back then... Anyway, don’t want to talk about that. Do you want coffee, milk tea, or black tea? I’ll bring it up to you shortly.”

Yun Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. Could this Mu Xue really be the same one?

“Coffee, thanks!”

She didn’t ask further and went upstairs first.