Dusk.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
After Chunlan left, Xie An practiced the Five Animal Play for another whole afternoon, sweating buckets from exhaustion.
Five Animal Play: Integration of Movement and Stillness (99/100) Remaining lifespan: Fifteen years
Although his progress had only increased by two points, Xie An took great pleasure in feeling himself improve bit by bit.
"There's only one more point of progress before I break through. There's no need to rush. I'll break through sooner or later."
With the Lifelong Legacy, he had no need to worry about being unable to break through.
At most, it would merely take a little more time.
Knock, knock, knock.
With a burst of knocking, He Chunli arrived with dinner.
Since Xie An had not asked He Chunli to buy extra ingredients and prepare a supplementary meal today, he could only eat the pawnshop's food.
A bowl of white rice, a bowl of plain-fried tofu, and half a bowl of braised pork.
"Where's Zhang Bing?"
As He Chunli set the food on the table, he said, "Brother Zhang went to Li Manor this afternoon to see the eldest son-in-law. He just came back. Oh, right... Brother Zhang also slipped into the kitchen just now. When I saw him, he looked flustered."
The moment Xie An heard this, he realized something.
He did not pick up his chopsticks to eat. Instead, he waited until the dead of night, when the pawnshop had closed, then carried the food and secretly slipped into the kitchen to find the wooden barrel used for kitchen waste.
He saw three rats stealing leftovers from the barrel.
Xie An poured the food in all at once. After a brief moment of panic, the three rats began wolfing down the fresh food, squeaking excitedly.
Xie An, meanwhile, stared wide-eyed at every move the rats made.
Three months earlier, Xie An had keenly sensed that Zhang Bing was up to no good, jumping all over the place with ulterior motives, so he had specifically asked He Chunli to keep an eye on Zhang Bing.
He Chunli had also told Xie An about the conversation between Chunlan and Zhang Bing at the pawnshop today.
Adding that Zhang Bing had gone to Li Manor to see the eldest son-in-law that afternoon and had then hurried into the kitchen...
Taking all the information together, Xie An felt that Zhang Bing might be making a desperate last stand.
Caution could carry one safely through ten thousand years.
Sure enough—
The three rats were suddenly subjected to intense stimulation. They instantly grew frantic, scurrying wildly in every direction and shrieking and howling. In no time, they kicked out their hind legs, foamed at the mouth, and convulsed all over... dead.
Hiss!
Even though Xie An had been mentally prepared, actually witnessing this scene still sent a shiver of horror through him.
Luckily, he had been thorough. Otherwise... the one dying tonight would not have been the rats, but him.
"Your master is still your master!"
"My good disciple, learn how to be human properly in your next life."
Xie An did not fly into a rage. Instead, he went to the pawnshop in the dead of night and looked through the pawn tickets.
Although Xie An had not visited the pawnshop in the past three months, he had learned through He Chunli, his eyes and ears, that Zhang Bing's clothing and accessories had grown increasingly expensive. He even had enough silver to give gifts to the son-in-law of Li Manor.
What was more, even if Zhang Bing wanted to rise in rank, he would not risk poisoning and killing someone merely for the position of Appraisal Master—especially when he knew perfectly well that Xie An was healthy... No matter how he looked at it, it seemed as though Zhang Bing was covering something up.
Xie An keenly sensed that Zhang Bing might have tampered with the pawn tickets.
The trade of an Appraisal Master was a line of work with abundant oil to skim. But embezzlement ultimately carried risks. Xie An had previously valued stability, taking only some private jobs on the side.
As he continued flipping through the tickets, Xie An sensed that something was wrong.
"Why are the appraisal prices fluctuating so wildly?"
Overall, the pawnshop was somewhat like a combination of antique shop and bank from his previous life. Its income mainly came from four sources: lending money and collecting interest, disposing of items, service fees, and the appreciation of goods.
Lending money worked the same way as in his previous life, except the interest was high—three percent per month.
As for disposing of items, if a borrower could not redeem the collateral within the agreed-upon period, the pawnshop could dispose of it at its own discretion and profit from it.
Some collateral also appreciated over time. Even if the customer redeemed it, they had to pay an increased price based on the current market value. This was the appreciation business.
In addition, pawnshops charged a certain service fee for handling pawn transactions.
Clearly, a pawnshop was a business that only made money and never lost.
There were only a few pawnshops in Wuqiao Town, and most dealt with acquaintances, emphasizing honest business.
After all, everyone was a neighbor. They saw each other every day, and if their reputation were ruined, the pawnshop would not be able to stay open.
While looking through the pawn tickets, Xie An discovered that the prices of several antique collateral items were far higher than their market value.
For example, a bronze pot had reached the astonishing price of twenty taels. That very bronze pot was sitting on the counter. Xie An had examined it before... Though its imitation techniques were extremely sophisticated, it had clearly been artificially aged and was completely worthless.
The shopkeeper, Chen Yuan, was not proficient at identifying objects, so naturally he could not see anything amiss.
But Xie An, who possessed extraordinary appraisal skills, had still seen through it.
Adding together all these irregular pawn tickets, the total came to more than two hundred taels!
Taking everything into account, one fact surfaced in Xie An's mind:
Zhang Bing had embezzled the money.
The amount was astonishing!
Xie An would have to earn for ten years without eating or drinking to make that much. As for Zhang Bing... he might not earn that much in his entire life.
If he reported it to Master Li, Zhang Bing, with his status as a slave, would most likely be unable to escape the fate of being beaten to death by Master Li.
At this thought, Xie An could not help shaking his head.
"No wonder you risked poisoning me. You were afraid that after I took the shop's work back, I'd discover your embezzlement..."
Just like that, a person had gone far away.
Perhaps Zhang Bing had truly believed that Xie An was doomed to die. Having also ingratiated himself with the son-in-law of Li Manor, he had decided that he was destined to become the future Appraisal Master.
Yet he had never imagined that Xie An... had returned!
But Zhang Bing had embezzled two hundred taels in a single stroke. Wasn't he being far too bold? Something about this just felt wrong...
Xie An put away the pawn tickets and extinguished the oil lamp before leaving the pawnshop. But he did not return to the small rear-courtyard room to sleep. Instead, he went out again under cover of night...
Two days later.
"Master, Brother Zhang is about to be beaten to death by Master Li!"
He Chunli knocked frantically on Xie An's door early in the morning.
Xie An followed He Chunli to the rear courtyard of Li Manor. The moment he entered, he heard Master Li's furious roar, along with Zhang Bing's miserable wails.
Quite a few maids and servants of Li Manor had gathered around. Even the pawnshop's shopkeeper, Chen Yuan, was among them.
Xie An walked over to Chen Yuan. "Old Chen, what happened?"
Chen Yuan sighed. "Sigh, yesterday Chen He brought Appraisal Master Liu Jiang to the pawnshop to buy a bronze pot at a high price, only for Liu Jiang to discover that it was a fake. I looked into it a little and found that Zhang Bing had been embezzling. He'd stolen a total of two hundred taels! So I told Master Li... I really never thought that a mere servant like Zhang Bing would dare to betray the household and take from it. He deserves to be beaten to death..."
At this point, Chen Yuan's anger flared. "He even got me scolded by Master Li. Luckily, Old Xie, you've been recuperating lately. Otherwise, you wouldn't have escaped a beating and a scolding either."
Xie An put on a regretful expression. Through the crowd, he saw Zhang Bing beaten until his skin was split and his flesh hung in ragged strips, a horrifying sight. Several times, Zhang Bing tried to speak, but a filthy rag had been stuffed into his mouth, making it impossible for him to utter a word.
Naturally, Master Li of Li Manor would not beat someone himself. Instead, he had handed the task to his son-in-law... the eldest son-in-law Lu Wei from Chunlan's account.
"You ungrateful cur! My Li Manor kindly took you in, yet you dared to steal our money. A lowly slave like you deserves to be beaten to death."
The son-in-law, Lu Wei, raised the wooden club high and slammed it viciously onto Zhang Bing's back.
Crack!
The crisp sound of breaking bones made everyone around shudder.
In the end, Zhang Bing was beaten to death by the son-in-law of Li Manor. Two household servants wrapped him in a straw mat and carried him away.
Many of the servants and maids were so frightened that their faces turned pale. He Chunli most of all—he had lived with Zhang Bing for ten years, sleeping on the same communal bed, so it was inevitable that they had formed some bond. Seeing Zhang Bing's fate made him realize even more deeply how lowly and worthless a servant's life was.
Clearly, Master Li of Li Manor had deliberately summoned everyone here to kill the chicken and scare the monkeys.
Xie An was undoubtedly the calmest of them all.
Only Xie An knew best how this had happened...
As he was leaving, Xie An seemed to remember something and asked Chen Yuan, "Old Chen, who stuffed the rag into Zhang Bing's mouth?"
Xie An had sharp eyes, and he knew the inside story. He could tell that Zhang Bing had had something to say before he died, but his mouth had been blocked.
Chen Yuan replied, "The eldest son-in-law brought two guards to the pawnshop first thing in the morning to bind Zhang Bing. He stuffed the rag into Zhang Bing's mouth right then..."
Xie An's heart tightened.
The eldest son-in-law... Lu Wei.
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