Ch3 - Stay away from me 

Wei Shi called his pawn shop ‘Prosperous Pawn Shop’ in the hopes that his business would thrive and be prosperous just like the name.

When I really dived into the job, I realised that I had to manage slightly more people than what Wei Shi had previously mentioned. There were actually three of them, finance manager Liu Yue, store staff member Shen Xiao Shi, and housekeeper Wang that was hired specifically to help cook and clean around the place. 

Working at a pawn shop sounds quite intimidating sometimes, like it’s a business where once you walk into the store you’re bound to lose something. From possibly the golden necklace your mother gave to you, to one of your livers, there’s nothing a pawn shop would reject.

But that’s honestly a demonised perception.

 

 

As a pawn shop, only legal items are accepted, so really it’s a fair and ethical platform to trade. If it’s something we are able to accept, we will gladly take it in, but otherwise we wouldn’t want anything else from the customer.

The electronic sensor played a woman’s voice greeting ‘Welcome’ as I raised my head up, interrupted from my reading of the magazine Zhi Yin. When I saw how he was dressed, a handsome man wearing a floral shirt pushing the door and entering the store, I knew business had come. 

Wei Shi was very strategic in choosing the location of his store, the pawn shop was at the intersection of a nightclub and a large shopping centre. After the beautiful hostesses and handsome hosts received their presents, they could quickly come to the pawn shop to check out how much their gifts were worth. At the same time, those that were tired of seeing the same stores in the shopping centres could come into the pawn shop and see what new items had just come in and were for sale.

 

The person in front of me was dressed unconventionally but he was still stylish. The buttons of his shirt might as well be all the way open until his belly button, and once he took off his sunglasses, the first thing he did was check out Liu Yue and send flirty glances her way, clearly being experienced in enacting this routine.

“Boss, how much is this watch worth?” He asked me, handing over the red leather box in his hands.

“Wow, it’s a famous watch.” Shen Xiao Shi commented. He was initially reclining at the sofa by the entrance swiping on his phone, but came over after seeing a customer come in, curious about the potential deal in place.

 

I tossed the magazine in my hand to one side and slipped on the white gloves, bringing over the magnifying class to begin my appraisal.

The metallic gold plating of the watch and the watch straps didn’t have any visible scratches. The logo was clearly visible, the paint on the hands of the watch were the original colours without any fading and the watch hands itself were still straight and proper. I flipped the watch and examined its back, each gear of all different sizes were working meticulously and grinding in perfect synchronisation, the handiwork overall impeccable.

“This watch seems to still be very new,” I said. A watch of this calibre being brand new would be worth at least two hundred thousand renminbi.

 

Floral shirt’s face showed a trace of a smugness. “I recently got to know this beautiful lady and she gave it to me. I’ve never even worn it once, it’s brand new.” 

I placed the watch back in the box, and told him our price. “If you want to pawn it off to us and give up your ownership over the watch completely, I’ll give you one hundred and twenty thousand renminbi. Otherwise, if you’re still intending to get the watch back, you can pawn it here for one month and we’ll give you a hundred thousand. Or, you can also pawn it for three months and we’ll give you eighty thousand renminbi for it.”

The smile on floral shirt’s face froze, and he looked at me in disbelief. “Surely you’re cutting the price way too steeply, this watch is brand new I’ve never even worn it once. If you’re not willing to offer two hundred thousand, it’s at least worth one hundred and fifty thousand?”

I closed the lid of the leather box and pushed it back to its owner, taking my time negotiating the price of the watch.

“One hundred and thirty thousand renminbi, once we finish signing the documentation the money will be immediately transferred to your account.” 

He lowered his head and thought for a moment, before gritting his teeth and gingerly passing over the red leather box to me.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Deal.”

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“One hundred and fifty thousand,” I quietly whispered to him, confirming the amount we would ask for.

Operating a pawn shop meant we would mostly be gunning for money that came quickly, with the philosophy of getting rid of inventory with the shortest turnaround time possible. Asking for a high price that made people desire the item but hesitate to purchase was the worst possible strategy for us. We firmly believed that it was better to earn less profits on reselling the item rather than asking for a high price that no one could commit to, resulting in said item rotting at the back of our inventory. So to summarise, it was better to earn less profits than have deficits from not being able to resell a highly priced good.

 

Wei Shi always said that I had a talent for this line of business, and I was a natural apprentice, but I know a lot of what he said was flattery. If being able to negotiate prices was a talent, then my mother would be the kind of earth splitting rare gem in terms of how ‘talented’ she was.

“Sasha?” I looked at the name of the invoice that floral shirt had signed, and unhesitatingly scrunched up the piece of paper to give him another sheet. 

“You need to write your real name.”

He curled his lip before accepting the new sheet of paper and wrote his real name, Fang Lei.

“For the beautiful lady, if you have time call me and I’ll take you around. I can get you a 20% discount off alcohol if you need.” He said, notioning at Liu Yue.

He then tucked away the invoice and checked his bank account, before having a few more words with Liu Yue, passing her a perfumed business card. 

Liu Yue smiled and accepted the card whilst storing the one hundred and thirty thousand renminbi watch in the safe.

After floral shirt left, Shen Xiao Shi laid back on the comfortable and plush sofa, raising his phone high in the air and let out a sigh.

“Life is so good when you’re born handsome, you don’t have to do anything and it’s an easy one hundred and thirty thousand renminbi to the bank account. That much money is two whole years of my base salary.”

Liu Yue alt-tabbed and brought forth the over exaggerated kdrama she was watching before, and nonchalantly replied, “He’s not that handsome though, at least not as good looking as my idol. He just has a good body, I mean, look at those pecs….” She lowered her head to look at her own chest, then regretfully shook her head. “I mean, if I had two hundred thousand renminbi to burn, I would never have given a watch to him. He didn’t even wear that watch once, and just pawned it off as soon as he could. Clearly it didn’t mean much to him at all. Honestly, this just proves that liking idols is better than chasing after a real person.” 

“If you could afford to spend two hundred thousand renminbi on a man would you really lose sleep over how he dealt with the gift? That amount of money is just a drop in the ocean for them.” I said, naturally adding my two cents to their conversation as I returned to my magazine, resuming my reading of the article ‘Salvation of the Fallen Girl’.

“That’s true. Every day after work finishes I have to pass that luxurious club, ‘Golden Days’. From six p.m. onwards the customers start heading in, and they all drive luxury cars, from Bentleys to Ferraris to Lamborghini’s, it’s as if they were holding an expensive car exhibition.” Liu Yue said, agreeing. “The girls that came over before, Jennie and Pearl, their roles were to be beautiful hostesses inside that club, and every so often they would come over with some of the luxury bags that they were given. They’re always dropping seven, eight bags at a time too, and it never fails to amaze me.”

“How do you know they’re hostesses?” I remembered the two of them, and they did come over each time with many bags, but because each time they came they were not wearing makeup, their skin appeared horrible and their complexion was frail. It looked as if they had played mahjong all through the night for three days and three nights straight, so I had initially assumed they worked in an antique shop of some sort.

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“I added them as a friend on WeChat,” Liu Yue explained, waving her phone in her hands. “Honestly, every day they’re either thanking this boss for gifting them diamonds or that boss for a new luxury bag. With every post I get closer to hating the rich.” 

Shen Xiao Shi suddenly jumped up from the sofa, “Woah, someone’s already expressed interest for the watch!”

Liu Yue and I both got startled at his sudden exclamation as we turned to look at him.

He whistled, “A one hundred and fifty thousand renminbi watch, off our hands now.”

Floral shirts watch had just been on our WeChat account for less than half an hour before someone staked their claim on it. As we’d authenticated it was an expensive luxury item, it was worth too much for any damage to happen to it in transit if we had a courier deliver it. After reaching out to the client, he coincidentally turned out to be in Qing Wan City on a business trip, and was currently living in one of the five star hotels in the city. I passed that hotel on my way home, so I decided to personally deliver the parcel to him. 

It was worth over a hundred thousand renminbi, so I was too scared to even take the metro in case of any accident. I called a taxi to take me directly to the hotel, and then I planned to find Wei Shi to get this fee reimbursed.

The hotel was an intimidatingly tall skyscraper, entirely cased in glass panels that appeared iridescent when bathed in the city night lights. The grand hall of the hotel was spotlessly clean and was elegant in design, carrying a refreshing scent.

 

Perhaps there was some kind of banquet being held in one of the halls tonight, as I saw many people step out of their cars and come through the entrance. They wore decked out in impeccable formal wear, suits pressed and gowns sparkling, and were the embodiment of the elite in society.

However, possibly due to how I was dressed and looking sorely out of place like I wasn’t someone who had been invited here, once I stepped in that hall a doorman can over to ask if they could assist me with anything. 

“I’m looking for someone.”

I told the client that I had already arrived, and the client responded quickly too, telling me to wait for a second and that he’d come down shortly. I smiled at the doorman and walked to the reception area where there were lounges.

I hadn’t even sat down yet when a sleek silver sportscar stopped by the door and I couldn’t help but take a closer glance at it.

From the passenger seat sat a young female with a curvaceous figure, her red dress hugging her body so that it complimented her extremely thin waist. The temperature was slightly chilly, so she had worn a black feathered shawl draped across her shoulders. WIth her soft curls and red lip, she looked extremely beautiful. 

She strutted and crossed the front of the car to get to the drivers seat. She waited for the driver to open the door and get up before looping her arm through his as if she was utterly familiar with the movement. She then walked with him to the hotel and passed through its revolving doors with the air of a queen, taking each step with her stiletto heels and leaving clicking sounds in her wake.

I remained where I was, and my sight landed without missing on the man beside her.

It had only been a few days, but it appeared that we crossed paths again.

He, like many of the other men in the room, wore a formal three piece suit with a black tie around his neck. His pocket square tucked pristinely in his chest pocket, with only a corner of the pure white fabric peeking out. 

However, unlike many of the other men, he had a great body, and his choice to only button up one of the buttons in his suit made him appear more toned and fit. It was evident he possessed a very enviable upper body physique and his strides also showed off his long legs.

If they were to enter the elevator, they would have to pass me, and if they passed me, then it was impossible for Sheng Min Ou to pretend that he did not see me. At this moment, Sheng Min Ou did indeed see me, and absent mindedly stopped in his footsteps.

For a split second, I met his solemn, cold gaze and saw a piercing maliciousness that could make anyone tremble. It was as if he was a tyrant, with a personality no one dared oppose, who had just discovered a filthy parasitic bug on his bed.

Should he just brush it away? No, the bug was so tiny and insignificant that it was not even worth mentioning, but it did not mean that he should provoke it unnecessarily. Through his gaze, I understood how desperately he wanted to crush me, this ‘bug’ he despised, and all the torturous ordeals he would put me through if he could. 

However, all of this was only for a second, as just in a blink of the eye, the frosty expression and malice disappeared, as he appeared and acted human once more.

“This is…” The red lipped beauty asked, her eyes darting back and forth from me and Sheng Min Ou, a confused expression on her face.

Sheng Min Ou looked towards her and his lips curved in a slight smile as he opened his mouth about to say something, but I was faster and moved to interrupt him.

“Ge, who is this?” I asked him with a smile on my face, “Perhaps, is she your girlfriend?” 

The smile that was on Sheng Min Ou’s face froze, and the gaze that came sweeping at me was so cold it was like falling into an icy abyss.

He slowly opened his mouth to speak, “He is my younger brother.”

 

The beautiful lady appeared to be quite taken aback, “You have a younger brother? How come I’ve never heard of you mention him?”

I spoke unflinchingly and met his gaze, which was as sharp as knives, and smiled again, “Because for the past ten years I’ve been serving my sentence in prison.” 

Her face paled as she stared hesitatingly at me.

Sheng Min Ou’s expression completely darkened, and dragged the beautiful lady by her elbow saying, “Mo Yu, you can go up first, I will just have a few words with… my younger brother.”

She looked as if she still wanted to ask a question, but at this time another party of impeccably dressed guests came in. As if she was scared of attracting attention, she immediately shut her mouth, relaxed her expression and nodded slightly at Sheng Min Ou, before leaving a faint pleasant scent behind as she left.

After she left, Sheng Min Ou didn’t even spare me a glance before walking towards the doors, as if he were certain I would follow him. 

I tugged at the corners of my mouth and waited for him to be quite a few paces ahead before dragging my feet as I followed him.

Sheng Min Ou leaned against the walls of the hotel as he lowered his head and cupped the flame of the lighter as he lit up the cigarette in his mouth.

He inhaled deeply, before slowly exhaling it out. Amidst the darkening night, the orange embers of his cigarette glowed. He held the cigarette between his fingers, the smoke shrouding his appearance, his eyes through the haze appeared seemingly worn down.

I walked towards him, attempting to liven the atmosphere. “So, is she really your girlfriend?” 

“Lu Feng…” The deep rumble of his voice reached me, carried by the night breeze, and took me slightly off guard.

It’s been ten years. Ten years, and this is the first time I’ve heard him call my name.

He looked at me, finally no longer concealing the cold ruthlessness in his eyes.

“Stay away from me.” 

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