In the early morning, several little birds frolicked on the branches, emitting clear and crisp chirping sounds.
Strands of sunlight pierced through the thin clouds, falling on the slightly worn houses, and penetrating into a rented room in Happiness Community, spreading on the floor, bright and warm.
The breeze blew gently, carrying the freshness of the old city's dense trees and a hint of life, and it entered the small room, as well as Lin Chuan's dreams.
Hu—
Lin Chuan exhaled a large breath of stale air, stretched lazily, then rolled out of bed and opened the metal door.
"Morning, Little Landlady."
Lin Chuan looked at Zhang Xinxin, who had just reached the staircase, and revealed a sincere smile.
The Little Landlady today was wearing stone-washed blue skinny jeans, paired with a white cartoon T-shirt. The killer was the casual and loose T-shirt, which the Little Landlady wore tightly, outlining unspeakable, exquisite curves from top to bottom.
When she saw Lin Chuan waiting for her at the door, her face immediately showed a hint of surprise, and her eyes sparkled: "Chairman, I didn't even knock yet, and you knew I was here. Is this what they call telepathy?"
Leaning on the iron door, Lin Chuan smiled: "Not really, I'm just hungry."
"Humph."
The Little Landlady pouted, her pretty face revealing a bright smile, "Then I'll cook breakfast for you."
"Sure," Lin Chuan replied with a smile.
Zhang Xinxin then squeezed into the rented room, tied on a blue and white checkered apron, and got busy in the tiny kitchen.
Before long, she brought out a big bowl of millet porridge, a plate of steamed dumplings, two eggs, and some prepared soy milk, a hearty breakfast that appeared on the table.
"You drank last night, eat something light."
The Little Landlady placed the peeled eggs in front of Lin Chuan, smiling.
"Little Landlady, you're almost becoming a nutritionist," Lin Chuan said as he took the eggs, nodding in appreciation.
"Chairman, about Old Zhang's plan to open an antique shop last night, where should we choose for our shop location?" the Little Landlady asked, resting her delicate, fair face on her hand while looking at Lin Chuan.
Lin Chuan pondered for a moment: "Let's go for East Street."
"Then let's go check out which shop is good later, and take it over," the Little Landlady said excitedly with a laugh.
"You seem really interested?" Lin Chuan raised an eyebrow and asked.
"I was thinking about it last night. If we enter the antiques circle, wouldn't we make money faster than the Network Security Company?" The Little Landlady blinked her eyes.
A piece of ice-type green jadeite Guanyin pendant is worth two hundred thousand.
A 'Fengtian One Tael' coin is worth forty-six million.
In the antiques circle, money seems to be just a string of numbers.
Lin Chuan took a sip of the millet porridge, smiled, and said, "If you have the right connections, it is indeed a lucrative line of business. However, because of the mixture of good and bad, and the prevalence of fakes, there are also many people who have gone bankrupt."
"With our capabilities, we won't lose money, right?"
The Little Landlady blinked her eyes again.
Though she was a little rich lady, she loved the sensation of money rushing in—not for the money itself, but for the feeling of achievement it brought, a reflection of self-worth.
In her eyes, collecting rent was really boring.
Lin Chuan lifted his eyes to look at the Little Landlady and shook his head: "We're not ruthless enough; we won't make much money. It can only be a side hustle for us."
"Ruthless, like the kind Liu Qing does with mixing fakes among the real?" the Little Landlady asked with a twist of her mouth.
"Something like that," Lin Chuan nodded.
"So where will we get our stock from?" the Little Landlady asked.
"That's easy. Once we take over the shop, suppliers will naturally come to us, and we just have to choose the best. There'll also be some mysterious people who will bring items to sell to us," Lin Chuan said with a smile.
"Mysterious people?" The Little Landlady seemed curious.
"You know, 'Touch Gold Captains', especially some independent ones. They don't have a fixed buyer, so they'll roam between shops to secretly sell their finds," Lin Chuan explained with an air of experience.
"Touch Gold Captains?"
"Tomb Robbers."
"So they're from Tomb Robbers." The Little Landlady had an epiphany, "Then let's go check out the shops this afternoon, how about that?"
"No problem," Lin Chuan replied with a smile.
Myanmar area Old Street Factory District.
The morning sun shone on the desolate and lonely factory buildings, casting mottled shadows that danced on the stark white walls like specters with bared fangs and claws.
Here, there was no eight-hour workday; the hustle and bustle continued around the clock.
Inside the office.
Old Bao wore a floral shirt, his bald head shining like a boiled egg, but it did not make him look friendly. Instead, his face was exceptionally gloomy and ferocious.
Because he had just lost another active fraud gang.
The last time, Sister Mei's fifteen-member gang was busted all at once, and it hadn't been a month since then when Liu Qing, active in Anling City, was also taken down.
Old Wolf, who went to make the transaction, was caught as well.
The money obtained through fraud wasn't clean, so it needed to be laundered.
And Liu Qing's main responsibility was the money laundering operation in the factory district. The loss of this key component was a fatal blow to the Old Street Factory District's fraud operations.
"Have you figured out the ins and outs?" As the leader of the Old Street Factory District, Old Bao was very angry.
In front of him stood Mi, one of his underlings.
Clad in a printed shirt that accentuated his lean frame, Mi carefully bent forward, presenting a stack of information: "Boss, this is the relevant information we've gathered so far."
Old Bao's expression darkened as his predatory eyes fell on the stack of papers.
Detailed notes on Liu Qing's activities before her arrest were recorded there.
'On May 19th, Liu Qing had dinner with Zhang De, Zhang Xinxin, and Lin Chuan at Youran Villa. During the meal, Liu Qing gifted a century-old red agate bracelet to Zhang Xinxin.'
'On May 26th, Liu Qing instructed Li Xin to visit the Network Security Company. Li Xin expressed admiration for the century-old red agate bracelet worn by Zhang Xinxin and wanted to buy it at a high price.'
'On May 27th, at the Yueming Tea House, Li Xin successfully bought the century-old red agate bracelet for the high price of 120,000.'
'That same afternoon, Liu Qing took Zhang De, Zhang Xinxin, and Lin Chuan to the Antique Market on East Street in Anling City, where they purchased an ice-green Guanyin pendant for Zhang Xinxin valued at 200,000.'
'On May 28th, Zhang Xinxin and Lin Chuan made an appointment with Li Xin at the Yueming Tea House. Lin Chuan and Zhang Xinxin asked Li Xin for help in appraising treasures. Li Xin discovered a coin suspected of being a "Fengtian One Tael" and immediately reported it to Liu Qing.
Liu Qing had Li Xin take photos of it and requested Master Zhang from Anling's antiques circle to appraise it, confirming it as a "Fengtian One Tael" coin.'
'That same evening at eight o'clock, Li Xin and Lin Chuan met at the Yueming Tea House, where they agreed to trade Lin Chuan's "Fengtian One Tael" for three million in cash plus three million via bank transfer.'
'On May 29th, at three in the afternoon, the two parties completed the transaction.'
'That same evening at seven o'clock, Liu Qing and Li Xin met with Old Wolf at the Green Leaf Ceramic Factory in Anling City to hand over the "Fengtian One Tael". Police arrived, and Liu Qing, Li Xin, and Old Wolf were arrested.'
The more Old Bao read, the angrier he became!
"Idiots! Real damn idiots!"
"Liu Qing, you fool, what Fengtian One Tael, and to think you once boasted you'd never slipped up!"
His gaze turned menacing as he angrily slammed the papers to the ground, cursing nonstop.
Mi stood beside him, silent as a cicada in winter, afraid to speak lest Old Bao's wrath be brought down upon him.
Because experience taught him that once you caught Old Bao's eye in the factory district, the outcome was worse than death!
After a long moment.
Old Bao's anger had somewhat subsided, and he looked again at Mi: "Mi, any other leads?"
"This morning, the Anling Police issued a case announcement saying that two conscientious citizens reported the case, which led to the discovery of Liu Qing's case. Swift action was taken, resulting in their immediate arrest," Mi said, his voice quivering.
"What a conscientious citizen, truly conscientious!"
With mock laughter erupting from him, Old Bao's face was twisted with a sinister smile that made Mi shiver.
"Boss, what should we do now?" Mi took a deep breath and asked.
"Idiots, what can we do? We deal with him!" Old Bao growled savagely.
Although he was hot-tempered, he wasn't stupid.
After reading Liu Qing's records, he knew that this was the doing of the unseen web novel writer—Lin Chuan.
By now, they had two scores to settle.
Sister Mei was caught by Lin Chuan.
Liu Qing was taken down by Lin Chuan.
Anger coursed through Old Bao, a man accustomed to living on the edge and regarding human life as worthless, his face now full of murderous intent.
"I'll arrange for someone to take care of it right away!" Mi said immediately.
"Wait!"
Old Bao stopped Mi, his eyes shadowy, "I want them alive! Both of them!"

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